Don't be alarmed

I know that Christmas is over, LOL. What am I doing making a Christmas card, then? Well, I'm not exactly sure. All I know is that I sat down to make a card to submit for the most recent Take Ten sketch challenge, and this is what I was inspired to make. If it's selected for publication, who knows when it might appear - so why not let my holiday cheer linger a bit? The sketch, by the way, was by Jen del Muro so you know it's a good one.

I wanted to have a nice mix of textures on my card, so I started with the stamp from A Christmas Cardinal and the Birds and Swirls cuttlebug folder. I really liked how the cardinal came out colored with markers at my Christmas stamp camp so I used that approach again, but using riding hood red instead of real red here. I cut the cardinal out with one of my rectangle Nestabilities and embossed it as well. I layered everything with black for a crisp look. The old olive houndstooth paper comes from the Holiday Treasures DP. For contrast I added a bit of black and white dot organdy ribbon, and then a Hero Arts sentiment with circle punches.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out! I almost hate to send it away. But since getting published was one of my New Year's resolutions, I might as well start now. I actually pulled five other cards from my stash to send to the magazine at the same time. We'll just have to wait and see what happens!