Christmas is on it's way!

 Good morning, I know we are in the middle of a heatwave and I hope everyone is keeping healthy during it.....

BUT.....

It's July which means it's less than 6 months until Christmas and as a crafter I need to start designing my cards and promoting Christmas products. 

My card today showcases Maker Forte products so read on for inspiration.

I have used Modern Christmas Watercolors Stamp Set as the main focus of my card, this stamp set has some gorgeous winter stamps. I started with the pine branch. Using Iced Spruce Distress Ink and stamped it randomly on watercolor cardstock. This gave me a background without the need for pre-printed paper.

While the ink was drying on this I stamped the wreath onto the same cardstock. I used British Racing Green Ink, this is a water reactive ink, parts of the wreath are just outlined so using water and a paint brush I pulled the stamped ink out coloring in the holly.

Once this was dry I fussy cut it from the card. I am not a lover of fussy cutting but this image was so easy to cut around.

My card needed a pop of color and as it's a Christmas card red was the perfect color. I cut a red mat 1/8in smaller than an A7 cardbase and trimmed my image so it was 1/4in smaller than my base. This is my favorite size for matting.

I added the mats to my card base and moved on to a sentiment. For this I used Easy Winter Watercolor Scenes stamp set. It has a Merry Christmas that is perfect size for my card. I used the red cardstock for this. after prepping the card with an Anti-Static Pad I stamped using Clear Embossing Glue. This was the heat embossed using Meteor Shower Embossing Powder. Once this was set I again fussy cut so it would fit my card.

I added both the wreath and sentiment to my card using Foam Squares. This gave dimension to my card and, by lifting the images, they didn't get lost in the stamped pattern below them.

The design still needed some thing and as I had used red for the mat I decided some red on the wreath would pull it all together. Roller Skate Crown Jewel Gems were perfect. I added them with Maker's Magic Glue which is great for small objects. 

Finally I tied a bow from some red ribbon and added this to the top of the wreath.

Thank you for taking time to read my post, stay safe in the heat and happy crafting!