SIP #79, Anything But Christmas! Theme Challenge

Hello!  Hope your week is off to an awesome start!  It's hard to believe that this Sunday will be Christmas Day!  This month has flown by!  This week at Stamp, Ink, Paper we have an Anything But Christmas Challenge!  How easy is that??  If you haven't finished your Christmas Cards by now, just give up like I did!  lol  Seriously this has been a terrible month for me.  I had strep throat one week, pneumonia the next week and last Friday I was back at the doctor and was diagnosed with acute bronchitis!  All I can say is what I have gotten done, was done, and what was left won't get done!  My body has definitely told me to take it easy!   Well, back to this week's fun challenge, here's the challenge badge with link to the SIP Challenge Blog!

So since I've been so sick and unfortunately been out of work way more than I should have, I made a card for my sweet assistant, Nikki.  She has taken on a lot of my work these past three weeks as I'm super grateful for her!

Now I have to tell you that I am in love with this Distress Ink Watercolor Smooshed Background.  I was lucky enough to be the winner of 2 classes from Online Card Classes in the Facebook group Stamp Junkies.  One of the classes I took was called Background Check and it has some fabulous background techniques.  The classes were donated by Jennifer McGuire and she has been such an inspiration to me since I've been making cards.  I believe I have seen every video that she has ever put on Youtube!  I had heard her mention the classes but had never really checked them out.  Well let me tell you that they are definitely wonderful and video and information packed.  There are so many downloadable resources and I definitely believe they are well worth the money if you are looking for something like that!  I'm sure I'll purchase classes in the future now that I realize how much information and access you get!    Ok, so on to my card.  I made this background with Ink Smooshing Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, and Peacock Feathers Distress Inks onto Watercolor Paper.  I loved it so much that I didn't want to cover much of it up so I kept this one really simple.  I used Mama Elephant Basic Creative Cuts Dies to cut a pretty scallop panel from the watercolored background.  I used the Simon Says Stamp "You Matter" stamp set and coordinaing "You" die for my sentiment.  The "You" was cut out of SU Basic Black Cardstock twice and then glued together before placing on the card front for more dimension.  The "are pretty amazing" sentiment from the You Matter stamp set was stamped in Memento Luxe Tuxedo Black Ink and then clear embossed.  I used my Misti to stamp to make sure that it got good coverage and was lined up exactly where I wanted it.  I didn't want to take a chance of messing up my gorgeous background.  Once I had the sentiment on, I added 3 black enamel dots and added a few splatters from some Distress markers.  I mounted my panel on a Basic Black A2 cardbase and then added three loops of black baker's twine around the top portion of the card and tied it into a small bow.  I absolutely adore how it came out and hope you love it too!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Blessings, Tina