A Holiday Lucky Double!

 Ho-Ho-Ho, Blog Friends. Hope this finds everyone well and warm. Nope, I have not been to Vegas or to Louisiana to gamble, but I did find a couple of half-finished 4x6" home decorations in my UFAP box lids that luckily fit the themes for last week and this week at Sunday Postcard Art. To me and my still-limited art time (yes, will have to wear the neck brace some daily for the near future), that is like hitting the jackpot and I was able to finish them to share. Apparently, I had put these aside to dry after coating them with glittery goodness, and forgot about them. All that was left for me to do to them was add the top layers and bling! SPA's theme last week was "Wreath". This week it's "Christmas or Anything Goes". And both of these cards have wreaths, so to my mind they both qualify for both weeks, hence a Lucky Double. 

This first card was begun back in July after purchasing Catherine Pooler's Joy Wreath dies. I cut two wreaths and the sentiment out of white card stock scrap and colored them using an assortment of Posca Paint Pens, Sakura Gel Pens, Promarkers and ClearSnap Smooch inks and Glitzes. That is what I had laid aside to dry and then forgot on this card. The base is a piece of card stock front or back from a paper pad that already had that flowery boho design on it. It was glossy so I'd sanded it down to make it easier to adhere to and then added a very very old gold metallic doily rub-on in the center, mostly to see if I could still transfer it well enough to use.  I also used some red Smooch inks to color over some of the flowers in the pattern. That is how I'd left everything in my UFAP box lid (UFAP=Unfinished Art Projects).

Fast forward to now. I cut the card down a bit and mounted it onto a thicker 4x6 chipboard piece that came in a pack by Grafix. I have several packs of these and need to use them! All I had to do was glue on the 2 wreath layers and the Joy sentiment; add the red poinsettia sequins and flat-back pearl to each corner; and then paint the exposed chipboard border with metallic blue Posca and blue Smooch. (I also added a piece of patterned card stock to the back and painted the exposed chipboard so it wouldn't look unfinished.) I do love the shimmer, shine and glitter that comes off of it all. I'm glad my final touch was brushing on multiple coats of clear Wink of Stella. I may be slightly addicted to that stuff. <3 ;-)

MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST FOR "JOY WREATH":

1.   Sunday Postcard Art: Wreath theme

2.   A Place to Start December: Anything Vintage  #2/8

3.   ABC Christmas: Y is for Your Favorite Things -- Joy and shiny stuff!

4.   The Card Concept #HOL20: Share Holiday Decorations  -- My inspiration came from the red, green and gold colors, the round shape like a wreath, the word Joy and my style is vintage. We did not put up our tree this year or decorate outside, so all we have out are my home decoration art pieces, and this is a new favorite because I love the gold doily and wreath.

5.   Crafty Calendar Challenge: Christmas   #1/3

6.   Fezziwigs Festive Frolics #26: Last Minute Makes   #1/3

7.   Outlawz Sundays Songs & Rhymes 12/13-12/26: Christmas Carol by Sara Teasdale -- #1/3 gold and joy

8.   613 Avenue Create: AG + Opt. Anything Vintage -- #2/8 Option Played!

9.   Colour Crazy Craft Challenge Wk 49: AG w/colouring --  #2/2  I've used a variety of colorants list above in post.

10.  Creative Artiste #67: Anything Mixed Media Goes --  #2/3  My media: paper, paint, inks, glitter and created texture with paper layering and paint.

11.  The Crafter's Cafe #257: Holidays  #1/5 (11 challenges max)

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My second 4x6" card began as a piece of deep blue designer card stock. I used a very old Hero Arts wooden background stamp called Sparkle to stamp it in Versamark and heat-emboss with white powder, then brushed the entire card with my Wink of Stella. I also used an old Cuttlebug diecut/embossing folder combo to cut out and dry emboss a white wreath. Those were the contents of my UFAP box lid. 

So fast forward to now: I cut down the card a bit and mounted it onto another 4x6 Grafix chipboard piece. Then I took a Silver Posca paint pen and painted the chipboard edge. On top of that once dry, I added a turquoise blue Smooch Glitz, which is highly concentrated glitter in a clear glue, brushing it on in layers, drying well between each. (In real life it covers the entire outside border, but the camera only picks it up in photos here and there.) 

I adhered the white embossed wreath and an Avery Elle Star Frame die cut out of DCWV silver glitter card stock on top of that. The frame die also cuts nested stars, so I had many of those to arrange. Then I cut a Penny Black Happy New Year die out of some blue DWCV glitter card stock and mounted that on some white card stock, took my blue Smooch Glitz and dabbed it on the white part of the HNY, then cut out the 3 words to adhere to my piece. Some silver and white sequins arranged randomly among the stars and I was done! 

Okay, almost done! LOL After letting it sit, I revisited it and decided it just looked too plain, I added some little Studio Katia Sparkling Crystals to every silver sequin center and also a tiny one to the center of the white sequin in the bottom silver star. Then, I took my Cropadile hole puncher and made 5 holes at the top. I picked out some ribbons and fibers from my Black Hole of Stash and tied them on and around some silver wired tinsel. Okay, tired of it, so now I was really done! ;-)

Thanks for visiting! Let me wish everyone a splendid Christmas, be it cozy or crazy, whatever makes you happy! XOX

MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST FOR "HAPPY NEW YEAR":

1.   Sunday Postcard Art: Christmas or Anything Goes

2.   12 Months of Christmas Link Up: Dec. AG + Opt. AG  #5/10

3.   Winter Wonderland: Dec. ACG  #2/3

4.   Jingle Belles: ACG Share

5.   Outlawz Festive Fridays 12/11-12/24: AG

6.   Christmas Craft Creations: Winter Blues -- #1/3  

7.   Time Out #177: Photo Inspired --   Looks like New Years to me!

8.   Creative Sketchy Girls #55: Anything Is Allowed Theme 

9.   Classic Design #12: AAG  

10. NBUS #21: AG w/NBUS -- First time to use the Penny Black Happy New Year die  (10 challenges max)