Christmas Caroling

My big worktop is completely covered with all the bits and bobs needed to create my Christmas cards. With barely an inch of space left, I am forced to glue my cards together over on the smaller left hand side of my room.
So with the printer to my left, my cricut ahead of me and my computer to the right, I am creating cards on about a 30 inch wide by 18 inch deep space...and I am surprised that I have managed to keep that uncluttered!!!

Somehow, no matter what, I always find something after I am done that I decide would have looked perfect on my card. I'm sure I am not the only one...so my solution is to spread out everything that I can in the hopes that I will not miss that perfect finishing touch...teehee.

So here is the first Xmas card of what I hope will be a sea of many. I stickled the fur trim on the penguin's hats and ended up having to stickle the penguin bodies as well. I do not know how to shade properly...actually, in all honesty, I do not know how to shade at all!!!

I coloured the black on the penguins and the nib marks from my copic pens seemed to show no matter what I did. I didn't have a script tip, just a fine pointy tip so maybe it was because of that. Using the blending pen seemed to change the colour to grey...I have decided that I hate colouring things black, so I stickled all over the blackffeathers as well!!! Well, that took care of that!

This card will be hand delivered so I used one of the thick corrugated kraft card bases. I wasn't worrying about keeping the thickness down for the mail, so I added a wee bit of decoupaged ivy in the bottom right hand corner to balance the diecuts on all the other corners.

Here is a close up of the snowflakes. The largest one is from a pack of 30 or so, from the dollar store. I layered it with a Martha Stewart punched kraft snowflake. The little red one is from another pack of 100 or more, from the dollar store as well. It is a  shimmery, fabric flake that looks almost pinky/ivory translucent on the front side...so I turned it over and colored the back of it with the copic pen I coloured the Santa hats with. I think I need to add another coat of pen ink as now I notice that it doesn't quite match! Yikes!

Here is a shot of the wee piece of decoupaged ivy.

This one makes just under 20 finished...and what seems like a zillion more to go!  I'm getting into the Christmas spirit with a little Michael Buble to help me along...now as long as I manage to avoid the Christmas spirits, I should be able to finish 3 or 4 more tonight!!!

Recipe:
Card base and envelope -  Michaels,  Recollections,  Kraft corrugated (from my stash)
Designer paper - Michaels, MME Christmas
Cardstock - kraft and red from my stash
Copic paper - from my stash
Ribbon - red velvet scalloped ribbon from my stash
Nestabilities - Deckle edge large
Memory Box Die - Snowflake corner
Snowflakes - Dollar Store, large white flake
                   - Martha Stewart Punch, kraft medium size flake
                   - Dollar store, small flake (coloured red with copic pen)
 Stamp - Caroling Penguins  Penny Black
I am entering my card into the following challenges:
1. Pixies Crafty Workshop http://pixiescraftyworkshop.blogspot.ca/ Use snippets. The kraft and red cardstock are snippets and also the Memory Box Dies are from my diecut snippet photo albums.
2. Come And Get It challenge  http://comeandgetitchallenges.blogspot.ca/  -  Swirls and flourishes. My Memory Box snowflake flourishes
3. Joanna Sheen Challenges   http://joannasheenchallenge.blogspot.ca/  Cold and Frosty
4. The Ribbon Girl   http://ribbongirls.blogspot.ca/   Add Sparkle. My penguins Santa hats are stickled on the white fur trim and the penguins black feathers are stickled as well. The large white snoeflake is heavily sparkley.
5. 2 Sisters Challenge   http://2sisterschallengeblog.blogspot.ca/  Use your favourite Xmas image.  These penguins are my fave image for the Xmas season.
6. Hiding in my Craftroom  http://www.hidinginmycraftroom.com/ http://www.hidinginmycraftroom.com/2012/11/himcr-71-super-scraps-saturday.html     Super Scraps Saturday. I used my stash for the red and kraft cardstock. I also used diecut stash, the Snowflake corners The snowflakes have been in my  Xmas stash for about 3 years now.
7. Sweet Stamping Challenge   http://sweetstampinchallengeblog.blogspot.ca/ Anything goes, must include stamp The singing penguins are a stamp.
8. Christmas Stamping All Year Long  http://christmasstampin.blogspot.ca/   Anything goes
9. PaperPlay Challenges   http://paperplaychallenges.blogspot.ca/   Snowflakes
10.  ABC Christmas Challenge http://abcchristmaschallenge.blogspot.ca/  V is for vibrant colours
11.  Penny Black Saturday Challenge http://pennybfriendssaturdaychallenge.blogspot.ca/ Cute Christmas
12. Whimsey Stamps http://whimsyinspires.blogspot.ca/ Traditional Christmas colours