Christmas Tree for JAI

Today is the first Tuesday in November and so is Melbourne Cup Day! The day when one horse race "stops a nation" as they say. And so it is a Public Holiday here in Victoria and the race is due to run at 3pm (I think? ). I can't say it interests me really - I did go to Flemington Race Track once some years ago with a group of girlfriends and while it was lovely to have a reason to get dressed up, there were a few too many drinks had by some….and at least one ended up being spilled over me…. so never again!! So today is a beautiful 29 degrees now although the wind is picking up a bit and has been a lovely day! After taking Sally the Lab for a walk and a trip to the garden shop for some more veggie plants…it's time to get back to some cards :-)

Yes, I'm sorry, the blog has taken a back seat the last couple of weeks as life has gotten in the way but hopefully we are back on track now. Yesterday I had 5 cards on the table that I was sending off in the mail but sadly none could be shared yet….

And so today I finally have a new card for you - and for the great sketch challenge at Just Add Ink. I have so missed taking part in their challenges of late! This week they have a great sketch:

And here is my card:

Yes, it's a shaker card :-) I couldn't resist the idea of trying to find the smallest circle the Tree Punch would fit into and this is compliments of the 21/2' Circle Punch rather than Framelits as their intervals were too large for what I wanted here.

The card base is Lost Lagoon and there is a layer of white card under the beautiful DSP as I wanted to add the DSP on Dimensionals so as the Circle shaker window doesn't stand out too high above the rest of the card and I find that DSP doesn't sit up on dimensionals on its own so well - it tends to sag in between them! The beautiful DSP is all from the All is Calm pack - so gorgeous and is the real star of this card:-) and so I added some of the Frosted Sequins on top of the snowflakes on the DSP as well as the top of the tree.

To create the Tree circle shaker I first punched a Tree from scrap paper and then traced the outline onto the white circle for the top of the shaker as a guide to where to punch the tree. Then I also punched a circle of White card for the bottom under the DSP and of course some Window Sheet. I use the Shaker Frame adhesive and cut the individual circles and this means I can easily mould them into the shapes I need. I find it is quick and easy to join up the ends where you need them so the filling is secure inside.And for the filling here I used the Confetti Star punch with some Silver Glimmer and Lost Lagoon card and added a few silver sequins for a bit of added bling :-) The greeting is from the Good Greetings stamp set and is cut using the Itty Bitty Banner framelits and then the front end cut to fit in with the circle theme.

Card stock: Lost Lagoon, Whisper White

Designer Series Paper: All Is Calm

Inks: Lost Lagoon

Stamps: Good Greetings

Accessories: Big Shot, Stars EF, Bitty Banners Framelits, 2 1/2 Circle Punch, Tree Punch, Window Sheets, Frosted Sequins, Silver Twine

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have time to check out the great cards by the Team at Just Add Ink and maybe you too might be inspired to join in too :-)

And do come back later if you can as I will be sharing some of the the lovely cards I received for my birthday and they are all very special too!!

Happy stamping until next time,

Jan