Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Christmas Cheer...Inspired by Benjamin


Hello and Happy Tuesday! This card was about 5 different cards before this end result was achieved. Eeek, ever have THAT kind of day?! It all started because I REALLY wanted to give the fun color challenge from The Playdate Cafe a whirl. For some reason all I could think of creating with this combo was a Christmas card! Why?? If you have visited my blog before, you know my aversion to traditional colored holiday cards. The red/green combo is NOT my favorite. So it's completely logical why I would think of creating a holiday card with this mix of colors, right? HaHa! :) 

Anyway, I used Real Red, Garden Green, Bermuda Bay...and of course, Whisper White and Basic Black.
From there I started THREE (yes, three) different sketch challenges before I decided on this week's Mojo Monday sketch. I'm just really having an "off" day today...must be the gloomy, rainy weather here in Texas today. 
I found these great patterned papers in my stash of non-SU! goodies (there are quite a few on this card today) and they seemed to do the trick for the color combo. The striped paper had kind of a strange, lighter shade of blue-ish turquoise, that almost seemed too light for the card. So I just grabbed my Bermuda Bay ink pad and a sponge and magically changed it to a shade that matched a little better. Ha, take that patterned paper! :)

The decision on the stamped image was also a process for me today. First it was a snowman, then an ornament, then a different snowman, back to the ornament...then I remembered this cute stamp I bought because it reminded me of my chunky, "beef-cake" kitty, Benjamin Maxwell. The whole image is much larger then this, I just used a circle punch to highlight the area I needed. 

**Side note: my husband is completely giving me a hard time for never mentioning our other fur-kids here, so to be fair, I added everyone to the sidebar.**
I attempted to color and shade my image, like a pro, with about 10 different shades and kinds of markers. I realize it looks NOTHING like my cat's coloring, but just imagine I really KNOW what I'm doing with shading. I promise I will get there eventually! I also added some Crystal Effects to the ornaments on the image to give them some "pop".

The sentiment is a (retired) SU! rub-on, simply because, with all of my indecisiveness today, I hadn't really planned on adding a sentiment until the card was finally finished. I actually just noticed that my bling is crooked, too...oops! It's just one of those days. After all was said and done, I really kind of liked using this color combo for a holiday card. Shhhhh! 



Because I can't mention Benjamin Maxwell without providing a photo...I have added a classic of the chunk-ster in his "party tie". This was taken last year and he has since outgrown the tie.  His brother, Tomas, will be sporting it this weekend at our BBQ we are hosting. I'm sure he is thrilled! :)
Thanks so much for visiting, 

16 comments:

  1. So GREAT to have you play along with us for the first time! This is a terrific use of The Play Date Cafe colors and I think this year's Christmas creations are going to be showing a lot of 'creative' color combos! Look forward to seeing you more : )

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  2. Cute image, wonderful use of this weeks colors, the black really makes your panels pop. Fun picture of your cat too! Thanks for playing at the PDCC.

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  3. How fun and great take on the colors and sketch. Sweet cat and love your image on the card too! Glad you joined us at the PDCC.

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  4. So creative! Love your non-traditional Christmas card.

    I also love how you featured your furry children. I have three myself, Two Bengals cats and one Chihuahua.

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  5. I love that you made a Christmas card--what a fab idea! I never would have thought of that--love your cat! So glad you joined in the fun this week--THANKS so much for playing along with us at the PDCC:}

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  6. I haven't even read your post yet but when I opened your blog and saw the title with that cat stamp, it made me TOTALLY laugh out loud!! LOVE IT! :)

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  7. OMWORD!!! Dying of laughter now, with your, "ha, take that patterned paper"...and your hysterical indecisiveness recall!! Hope we can pull it together on Wed! :)

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  8. Love the cat image and the real deal in his tie. Good idea to alter the blue shade on the paper, looks good, great card!

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  9. Cute! Great color combo! I love Christmas cards done in non traditional colors! And I love the Fluffles stamps! And look at Benjamin in his party tie! That is so adorable!!

    Thanks so much for sharing!

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  10. Glad you persevered with your card - that cat image is very cute! Thanks for playing along at the cafe :)

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  11. I just love this card and the colors you used, it all just fits perfectly and so the bling may be off a bit, wouldn't really notice since the card is so great :)So happy your little fur babies made your blog, they are just so cute and Benjamin, seems to be the ham in the crowd.

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  12. Super cute card! I love the way you colored your image. :)

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  13. You may have had troubles getting started, but you would sure never know it by the final result. This is absolutely wonderful and I love your "Christmas colours". Your real life kitty (well, all your pets) is (are) adorable.

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  14. awesome card...and both cats are adorable...great work changing the paper...that inspired me thanks

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  15. This is so cute! It really turned out adorable.

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  16. Wow! I am totally in love with this card! The colors rock and the image is adorable! Great job!

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Have a great day! :)
Anne Marie