Another Card for Merry Monday #23

Happy Monday friends!  This is one of 3 cards I made this week using the sketch above from Lesley at the Merry Monday Challenge #23.  If you popped into my previous post today you saw that I was asked to be a guest designer this week for the Merry Monday Challenge #23 (my punchy snowman was chosen as Lesley's top pick from the MM#21 Challenge!!).  I was so excited to be chosen, and I must admit very, very nervous about being spotlighted this week.  As a first time guest designer, the thought that more people will be seeing my card, and wanting it to be extra special was - well...yikes (LOL)!  So... with my heart beating with excitement and a tiny touch of fear (still LOL),  I immediately went to work with the sketch and created 3 different cards (all quite different in style).  I couldn't decide which one to submit as my guest designer card, so I put the cards to a family vote and they helped me pick and the polar bear with the slight interpretation of the sketch as my guest designer card. 

I still really liked this card too so I decided to still play along as a participant in the challenge and share with you :o).  I tried this paper bow technique for the first time.  It's really pretty simple to do - but I did find that it is easier to work with the patterned paper instead of cardstock though as it is a bit more pliable. I definitely will do it again as I liked how it turned out and can think of lots more ways to use this.  I stamped the trees first on the Very Vanilla cardstock and then again on gumball green cardstock, then I snipped them out to highlight on the original stamped image.  The middle tree got some extra bling in the form of ornaments by using one of the sets of eyes from the Owl Builder Punch.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Hope you liked what you saw - and maybe was a bit inspired to go create something fun.  The Merry Monday challenge is a great way to get a jump start on your Christmas cards and stretch your creativity at the same time.  Hugs!

Supplies (all from Stampin Up!):  Cardstock - Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Riding Hood Red (ornaments) and Gumball Green (NEW In-color for 2012-2014). Stamps - Polar Party (trees), Jolly Bingo Bits (snowflake) and Petite Pairs (sentiment).  Ink - Gumball Green (NEW), Riding Hood Red and Basic Grey.  DSP - Be of Good Cheer (NEW and now available in the new SU Idea Book and Catalog - you can order by clicking on my link at the top of the blog).   I used the 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches for the sentiment. I used a retired snowflake embossing texture folder for the layer behind the trees (you can see just a little bit of it peeking out).