This card is a sneak peek of a couple of items from the September – December mini catalog. The stamp set that I used is called “Gift of Giving” and the patterned paper strips at the top and bottom are from a paper pack called “Joy of Christmas”. These items were the first thing that I put on my list for the catalog pre-order. Demonstrators can purchase items from a new catalog for a month before the items in the catalog are available to everyone. One of the big advantages is that we can then get an early start making samples to share for the catalog. I try to manage how much I buy so I don’t go overboard, but Christmas stamps (along with flowers) are my absolute favorite so it’s easy for me to get caught up. I love this set in particular because the line art images are cute and look like they’ll be a lot of fun to color. And I wasn’t wrong – I had a lot of fun coloring Santa with his stack of presents. I used the samples in the catalog as a starting point for my card, and it went pretty quickly. I have a question for you about this image… when I look at it quickly I see “Santa Claws” written on the largest package. It definitely is spelled right, so I think it’s due to the script style used with the closeness of the “a” to the “u”. Do you see it too, or is it just me?

This card sketch was the inspiration for my card design. When the sketch was published I knew immediately that I wanted to use the “Gift of Giving” stamp set for the focal image. I originally planned to use one of the tags dies, but found that the largest one is a teeny bit narrow for the Santa image. So, I had to look through my various dies and I found one of the Deckled Rectangles was sized perfectly for this image. I stamped some sparkles on the layer behind the Santa layer to add a little more around the image without adding too much. I really had fun creating this card for the challenge over the weekend!

Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154880] $10.00	Real Red Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154899] $10.00	Old Olive Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154892] $10.00	Shaded Spruce Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154903] $10.00
Bubble Bath Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack [161675] $10.00	Pecan Pie Stampin’ Blends Combo Pack [161674] $10.00	Balmy Blue Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154830] $10.00	Stampin' Blends Color Lifter [144608] $5.00
Deckled Rectangles Dies [159173] $30.00	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $4.25	Real Red 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [102482] $10.00	Basic Black 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [121045] $10.00
Balmy Blue 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146982] $10.00	More Dazzle 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Specialty Paper [161749] $7.50	Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Thick Cardstock [159229] $9.00	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708] $6.50
Balmy Blue Classic Stampin' Pad [147105] $9.00