Pure and Simple

 

Hello everyone.  We have the bare bones of our Christmas tree up with the little ones waiting patiently for me to go get some new lights.  How do they burn out sitting in a box all year?  It's a mystery.  But before I go on my errands today, I wanted to share some inspiration with you.

There are so many talented artists in this field of stamping and creating, I am in awe of their work.  Surely I spend too much time wandering through different blogs and challenges amazed at what I see.  The City Crafter challenge this week is "Little Children" ... such sweetness to see there.  Play Date Cafe combines the colors of red, olive, and turquoise into a gorgeous combination.  The Waltzing Mouse sketch this week is simplicity at it's best and I tried to do the same ... keep it simple.  Here's a look at my inspiration -

Digging through my drawer of scraps, I found my three colors.  We often think of red and green together, especially this time of year, but adding just a little turquoise makes the colors sing!  The bow is made from my favorite ribbon (it ties like a dream) Old Olive Striped Ribbon.  I know it's a bit big but with so little embellishment on this simple layout, I thought the card could "carry the weight" ... so to speak.  I added another touch of red with a button from the  Candy Cane Big Designer Buttons collection tied on with Natural Hemp Twine.

I used the children sledding image from Welcome Christmas stamped in Basic Black Classic ink on Very Vanilla cardstock.  The silhouettes in this stamp set are just beautiful.  Various dies along with our Decorative Label Punch created the layered shapes.  Edges were antiqued with the Distressing Essentials kit.  And I just couldn't resist placing a few Basic Pearls above the silhouettes and then raising the focal point with Dimsensionals.

Time to go get some lights and garland for the house ... thanks for visiting with me today!

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