GCA #114 - Not Your Usual Christmas Items!

Hello all!!!  Today has been one of those lazy, don't move too fast, kind of days!  Hence the late posting for today.  Starting with this GCA, through the month of December, we will be focusing on the upcoming Christmas holiday.  If there is anyone out there like me, I still have plenty of projects to finish and need the push and ideas to get them done!!!

Luckily, for me, the majority of my Christmas cards are completed.  Now to get them addressed and off in the mail!!  With that being said, that is how I came up with this week's challenge.  I think my all time favorite stamp set will always be Lovely as a Tree.  There is so much that you can do with it, for so many different occasions.  I have seen many cards completed using the row of trees and the reverse masking technique.  Most times I, and others, use the single pine tree as the focal image.  The background is in Crumb Cake with the trees in Early Espresso.

Well, I just received the new "Have a Seat" set and was playing around with it, when the light bulb went off!!  Why not use the bench as my focal image?  So, I went from there.  I have two cards here, alike but different.  I started with stamping the bench in Poppy Parade, but when I put it on the card front with the Espresso trees, I didn't like it.  So, I stamped it again, in Soft Suede.  The bench seat is also stamped in Garden Green and popped up, as is the pot of poinsettias.  I used the Champagne glass glitter in the center of the flowers.

And yes, I cut out each of the benches and then used my craft knife to cut out the legs!  Wouldn't want to make to many of these like that!!

The second card uses Pear Pizazz as the background and Always Artichoke for the trees.  As I was sponging the background, I noticed I was getting the edges of the card, so I fixed that!!  I sponged all around the edges too!  I really like the framed effect it gives here.  I used the bench I already had stamped in Poppy, and added the flowers and owl.  The flowers are from the Punch Potpourri set and are supposed to be poinsettias!!  The owl comes from the Inch by Inch set.

So, what unusual items/images can you think of to create Christmas cards, projects, scrapbook pages or whatever!!!  I'm sure we all have plenty of them around.

Upload your creation to either your blog or to an online gallery and post a link to your creation to this blog entry by December 4, 2010 at 12 midnight. I will choose the winner the next day. If you upload your card to SCS, PaperCraft Planet, Stampin' Addicts, Stampin' Connection (for SU! demos) or Stamp TV, please put GCA114 in your keywords. That way everyone can see all of the wonderful creations at once!


Even if you can't make the drawing deadline, PLEASE feel free to participate in the challenges and upload your creations at any time. I would love to see it! And yes, my challenge is open to everyone who visits, even if you live outside the US!


Happy Stamping!!!!
~~~Ann~~~~