My Christmas Village

Hello there, my friends! I'm back with a Christmas concoction. This time I'm playing with the good folks at Technique Tuesday and the challenge for July is to make a cascading card. Mynnette has an excellent tutorial on how to get started with the card base, so hop on over to make your own. It's a lot of fun. Once you have the base sorted out, all that's left is to let your imagination soar. Go crazy... I did!

Admittedly, I got a teensy bit carried away and before long there was no turning back. I must warn you that my card is bumptious, bodacious and very very busy! I also came to the sobering realisation that I am the Anti-CAS. The need to fill up every inch of real estate on a card is confounding. I can't help myself. Perhaps it's my choice of music. Maybe there's too much sugar in my diet. Who knows...

For this project I wanted to make something literally bursting with all the things that remind me of Christmas. The tastes, the sights, the sounds, the sentiments  - I wanted to cram it all into a Christmas village. And here's what I've come up with:

Here it is, lying flat. There's a lot going on. Let's start with the patterned paper. It's from the Cozy Christmas 6x6 pack. This paper has little ginger-bread houses - an entire village of it! Yummmm! The trees are made of sugar cookies, even the snow men. Delicious! Ok ok, I'm 46 but this makes me feel like a 6 year-old. 

Here it is standing up. Now do you believe me there's a lot going? We have poinsettia, santa's hat, ornaments, glitter, bling, candy canes - there's even a tree sticking out of the card! Of course, right at the top is the Star. Dies for santa's hat, candy cane, ornaments and star are by Spellbinders - Christmas Cheer Shapeabilities . I cut the poinsettia and Christmas tree with Marriane Creatables dies.

The 2 photos above show the side view. You can see that it's very 3-dimensional with bits sticking out everywhere. I'm not sure if this is what Mynnette had in mind for a cascading card - but here we are! On the right below the Star, I've added a musical note for all the wonderful carols and hymns we sing (or try to) at this time. 

I think this sentiment is beautiful and oh so true. There's a gingerbread home for everyone!  The sentiment is from WMS "Seasons of Love Tags" set, stamped with Memento Potters Clay and cut with Spellbinders Labels 18. And as always, there's no end to my stitching! 

The star and sentiment within are also from WMS "Seasons of Love Tags" set. I stamped the star with Versamark, heat embossed with Metallic Gold EP and cut with Spellbinders Star Nestabilities die. I heat embossed the sentiment with Fine White EP and cut it out with Spellbinders Circles Nestabilities die.

I decided to layer the inside with the some CS embossed with Cuttlebug's D'Vine Swirls folder.

 Here's the behind. 

A worn-out model resting on my cutting mat after an exhausting photo shoot!

That's my card. Thanks for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed the tour. I really had fun making it and playing with it. There is no way I would stick this in an envelope and send it in the mail. In fact, I don't think it's going anywhere by any mode of transport! Contrary to the whole spirit of Christmas, I might just keep this for myself... maybe. Come December, I'll probably change my mind but for now it's staying put!

In the meantime, I'm doing a little show and tell over at Bearly Mine #45 "Shaped Card", Paper & Such "Stitch It" (as I've got plenty of it... on every panel), Crafty Sentiments "Food" (oh yeah - candy canes, gingerbread houses, sugar cookies), Christmas Cards All Year Round July "Holly / Poinsettia" and for Christmas in July challenges: Flourishes Timeless Tuesday #179,  Party Time Tuesday #78, Lexi's Creations #70, Cutie Pie Challenge #23, Creative Belli #148, My Craft Spot #63 and Stampin' for Pleasure July. Finally, dont forget to swing by MIM #100. You dont get to be centenarian without dishing out some extraordinary fare.

Until the next post my friends, have a wonderful Wednesday.

Beijinhos!





Blogged to:
Ice-tea, butter cookies and

A little mood music!