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Saturday, July 25, 2015

Christmas is coming...

Hello, sweet friends! Can you believe that Christmas is just five months away? Today I am sharing my first Christmas card for this year. I know some of my friends work on their cards throughout the year, and I so admire them. But, I've finally made my first one...yay!

Power Poppy, Hollyberries, Digital Image, Christmas CherylQuilts, Designed by Cheryl Scrivens

It's the 25th of month, which means it's time for the newest freshly remixed digital stamp by Marcella Hawley. This new set is called Hollyberries and is a beautiful botanical image with two sentiments, and (as always) is available for purchase now...ready to print, color, and make a card. And there's another big surprise (for today only)...but, I'll leave that to the end! (What a tease, eh?)

Holly is such a traditional image for Christmas, and this image lends itself to so many design possibilities...especially as a digital image. I envisioned the image "cascading" across my card with a sentiment below. I downloaded the Hollyberries image, used GIMP to erase the left portion, saved it as a temporary .png file, and pulled it into Microsoft Word. I also pulled in the original Hollyberries image, and I resized and arranged the two images to allow room for a sentiment from the clear stamp set, O Holy Night. (You can also use GIMP to do the same thing and print directly from GIMP.) After I finished coloring, I used my MISTI tool to stamp my sentiment for perfect placement. Once again, I kept it simple with an out-of-the-box technique and a matting of red...taking care to fussy cut around the holly leaves...then matted that with some striped designer paper. I decided to pierce it (guess you could have expected that, right?), rounded the corners, used a Copic marker to go around the edge of the designer paper for a finished look...and then adhered it to a white card base. It still seemed to be missing that little something, so I added some medium green rhinestones to dress it up a bit...did it work?  

It's a "Christmas in July Sale!" Stock up early and get a head start on your Christmas cards and creations! Power Poppy is offering 20% off all its Happiest Holiday Collection clear stamps for 24 hours only. And Hollyberries is half off for 24 hours too. The sale is today only, July 25, until 11:59 p.m. (Central Time).


Power Poppy, One-Day Holiday Sale - July 25, 2015 - Central Time, 20% off Happiest Holiday Clear Stamps, Hollyberries digi set $3

Now it's time to see what some my sweet friends have to show you! And be sure to visit the Power Poppy blog to read and see what Marcy has for us!
I'm not sure about you, but this was just what I needed to get me into the Christmas spirit! Christmas is a time for giving, and we cannot begin to give what God has given us through His Son Jesus.

Thanks so much for "stopping by" and sharing a comment, thought or question, and I hope you have a wonderful week! 

Blessings,

Stamps:  HollyberriesO Holy Night (Power Poppy) 
Paper: Solar White (Neenah), Patterns & Solids/Home Sweet Home (Graphic 45), Poppy Red and White (PTI)
Tools/Accessories: Copic markers, MISTI tool, Perfect Layers tool, piercing tool, Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers), rhinestones (Jolee), Diamond Glaze adhesive, red tape
Techniques: Digital images using Microsoft Word, out-of-the-box, paper-piercing, fussy cutting
Card Size:  4¼” x 5¾”     
Copics used:  Holly leaves - G20, YG25, YG17, G43, G46, YG21; Berries - R22, R35, R29, YR02; Branches - E35; Designer paper edge - G40



22 comments:

Kelly-Anne said...

Dearest Cheryl...oh, what a perfectly beautiful and Christmassy card!
I just love it! You creations are always so lovely and neat...and your layout is wonderful too!
I just finished a little meeting with my dear sister...guess what we were discussing over a cup of tea...? Christmas table decorations!
Yes indeed...Christmas is actually just around the corner and how quickly the months fly by! :) That delightful time will be here before we know it...
Christmas falls in our Summer - the busiest time of year when there is pickling, jam making and lots of gardening to be done, so now is the time to plan and make cards and such!
Thank you for the sweet inspiration today...hope you are enjoying a blessed weekend!
All my love and hugs,
Kelly-Anne

Pretty Paper Junkie said...

Guess what just jumped into my cart? Who'es the enabler now? You are not playing fair with this beautiful card. I love how you've made the holly dance across the card. You've framed perfectly with the very festive green striped paper.

Lin said...

I don't know what it is, but holly is so appealing to me! Love this card with the pretty green bias stripe around the edges, Cheryl! The sentiment is one of my favorite carols, so this is an A+ with me, and I'm pinning it for when I finally get started on my Christmas cards.

Vicki Burdick said...

Wow Cheryl, I love this card, that image! I am in awe of your ability to change those images, I don't even know what some of those words are that you used....lol I am so computer challenges when it comes to those things! Anyway i love your card and the striped paper around the image is wonderful!

Allison Cope said...

Good golly... that is an amazing card Cheryl! I LOVE the colouring of your holly - it's so textural! Love that you trimmed it and duplicated your mini holly to fit your beautiful arch of greenery. A stunner! PS... I added your link to my blog post ;)

Tracy said...

You really put this digi into a gorgeous design my friend. Such lovely coloring and your simple design lets the image take the spotlight. Hugs!

Leslie Miller said...

Cheryl, that's so pretty the way you arched the holly and used the beautiful sentiment from O Holy Night. It's a perfect fit. The striped border makes it very festive, too. I needed a nudge for my Christmas cards this year, too. My holly card makes #2 so far. Got you linked up now.

Jerri Jimenez said...

Stunning Cheryl, I so love your layout, the green striped paper is perfect!

Becky said...

Christmas already!! Say it ain't so :)... I am counting down for Spring myself..
I love your card, just stunning.

Karen Dunbrook said...

Three cheers for you mf and getting a Christmas card made!! It is gorgeous as is all our work. I just can't get into Christmas right now but when you mention how close it is well WOW!
I am feeling a bit frustrated at the moment...our printer won't work and there are a few digis I want to get. I think the problem is in our computer but can't get it to work.
Oh well, think happy and carry on.
hugs mf...have a great wknd.

Monika/Buzsy said...

Gorgeous card Cheryl. Love the pretty holly berries. The cascading look is perfect. Amazing coloring as always. The paper-piercing looks perfect around the edges.

Conniecrafter said...

Beautiful, I love the way you arched them, you did such a great job with the out of box cutting of them, the gems are a lovely touch! Thanks so much again for all your prayers for Evelyn, she is drinking from a bottle now, Praise the Lord!

Stacy Morgan said...

Beautiful Cheryl! I like how you worked the digi for this one. The piercing is a great touch around the border. Beautiful.

Christina Hor said...

Cheer Cheryl for starting on your Christmas card early! I don't think I'll be touching mine until December as I always do. Such a procrastinator I am. BUT I did made my purchased early over the weekend - two of Power Poppy's set. Yay! Now I'll just have to get myself to ink them up when they arrived.

I LOVE this shade of green and red for your holly and berries. Oh yes, haha your paper piercing and thanks so much for sharing about GIMP and MISTI. I don't have photoshop and never can stamp my sentiments straight. So both tools will come very handy. Have a lovely week Cheryl. Hugs.

Stephanie said...

Dearest Cheryl, what a beautiful and fesitve card :) No, I can't believe Christmas is only 5 months away! The last 5 months have flown by so I'm guessing the next 5 will do the same :)

Your card is delightful, my friend, and now I will be humming "Joy To The World" today {{smiles}} Love to you!

Gunilla/Nilla said...

Just five months until Christmas??!!! We haven´t had any proper summer yet, just rain and cold. Hopefully it will come when my hubby is having his vaccation.

Your card is so elegent. The coloring is stunning and I love how you have put the card together.

Hope you have a wonderful day.
Big hugs for you Cheryl!!

Robin Clendenning said...

So lovely Cheryl!! I know I probably say this every time but I just love these Power Poppy stamps!! All of the florals are so gorgeous! You do such a beautiful job of coloring them too! Very theraputic isn't it!
Love your card my sweet friend!

Irish Cherokee said...

Beautifully done Cheryl. Never to soon to start the Christmas cards.

Love, Hugs and Blessings
Jim

Irish Cherokee said...

Beautifully done Cheryl. Never to soon to start the Christmas cards.

Love, Hugs and Blessings
Jim

Susan (rainy) said...

Oh my, Cheryl. This is GORGEOUS. Love the diagonal stripe paper behind the image and how the holly extends past the image panel. Beautifully colored and a beautiful start to your Christmas cards.

Heather T said...

Oh, I love this, Cheryl. Your layout and colouring is superb and of course your choice of mat and patterned paper is as always perfect. Thanks again for your sweet encouragement. A visit from you always makes me smile.

Heather T said...

Oh, I love this, Cheryl. Your layout and colouring is superb and of course your choice of mat and patterned paper is as always perfect. Thanks again for your sweet encouragement. A visit from you always makes me smile.