JustRite 12 Weeks of Christmas Blog Hop 8

Welcome to JustRite Stampers’ newest Wednesday feature, 12 Weeks of Christmas Blog Hops 8! Every Wednesday up until Thanksgiving some of your favorite designers will be joining some of the JustRite design team for a series of Christmas blog hops, showcasing JustRite’s entire Christmas Collection of stamps! This week, the designers joining the JustRite design team are the Flower Soft Design Team and The Shabby Tea Room challenge blog team! How fun is that?

I used the Backyard Birds set to create my Christmas card. When I trimmed out the cardinal image I noticed that the top branch image wasn't connected to the rest of the image, and could be used separately.... so I cut it off! I stamped the cardinal in Pesto dye ink on pearlescent cardstock, and masked the bird, branch and pine cone. Next, I traced a faint circle in pencil and began stamping the separate branch (stamping several times before reinking) around the circle, creating the wreath form. When my stamping was done, I used a circle template (Coluzzle) to create the round panel, then misted the piece with water so the Pesto ink would bleed and feather a little. I used a large stipple brush to even out the color.

The cardinal was colored first with Neopiko alcohol markers and then shaded and highlighted with Prismacolor pencils. I trimmed along the underside of his wing and lifted it slightly with a craft knife for dimension. I used Polar White Flower Soft on the snowy branch and pine cone.

Did you notice the gold borders along the edge of each layer? Those are called Peel-Offs, and they are also a Flower Soft product. They are really fun to work with, and the narrowness of these stickers them allows them to 'bend' around curves and such. They really add dimension and style to a project. Please visit these designers blogs to see what fabulous Christmas projects they have for you on the hop today! And mark your calendars for Wednesdays at 9am Central for great Christmas gift, card & project ideas, starting at the JustRite Inspiration blog! And don’t forget that JustRite has some Christmas stamps in their newly released CLING line of stamp sets -- you can find them HERE.

JustRite Design Team:

Sharon Harnist
Angela Barkhouse
Sankari Wegman
Stephanie Kraft
Kazan Clark
Michele Kovack
Kellie Fortin
Barb Schram
Debbie Olson
Becca Feeken
Heidi Blankenship

Flower Soft Design Team:

Jeanne Streiff
Debbie Seyer
Gini Cagle
Linda Beeson
Deb Felts
Cibele Glazer
Vicki Garrett
Dina Kowal **you're here!**

The Shabby Tea Room Design Team:

Debbie Marcinkiewicz
Nicole Segnere
Clare Buswell
Pattie Goldman
Lisa Golzbein
Cathy Clark-Sanite

Thanks for stopping by today! Today is my blog's 4th birthday, so this was a fun way to celebrate. Enjoy the hop!!

P.S. You'll notice in the photo above that I used the clear acrylic blocks for my stamping on this project, because I was working with single images, and also wanted to be able to see right where I was stamping the small branch. If you purchase the Backyard Birds set, you'll need the 3-1/4" round wooden block to be able to stamp the borders.