Welcome to the middle of the week

Morning readers,

I hope your Christmas shopping is about done, maybe even wrapped .. your cards written and in the post. If not ... I should just point out that, in two weeks, it'll all be over for another year! That's certainly got my attention ... two weeks? How can that be? It seems like I spend all year preparing for it and then it's gone in an instant! Or is it just me? Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Christmas and I enjoy making Christmas cards all year round but it's a bit like a meal you spend hours preparing for and get eaten in no time flat! I sometimes wonder if I set myself the impossible goal of "THE perfect Christmas" .. anyone else have the same dilemma?

Anyhoo, enough of pondering the imponderable and unsolvable and on to the crafting! This is definitely NOT the fastest ATC ever made as there was quite a lot of drying time - for the gesso, ink and glue stick foiling!

My finished music and dance themed Artist Trading Card

And a closer view to show the foiling/music paper/stamping

Materials used:

• Snippets of card in black and white + some music paper
• Having ripped a section of music paper I glued it to the white card snippet and gesso'd it
• Daler Rowney acrylic ink (genesis green which is a lovely pearlised ink giving a lovely waterproof sheen to the ATC) drizzled, spritzed and generally spread about the gesso'd piece till I was happy, set aside to dry
• Kaisercraft script and mini grid images stamped using Ranger Archival watering can
• Piano keys washi tape adhered to the stamped and inked panel
• Penny Black image (from the 12 Days of Christmas) stamped on to another white snippet using Memento tuxedo black and then coloured using copic markers before fussy cutting out and adhering to my panel
• Close to My Heart sentiment (D1523) stamped using Ranger Archival jet black ink
• Using a Memory Box stencil (88568) I applied a glue stick through the stencil and trying to avoid most of the sentiment and image. Once I removed the stencil, I applied silver sheet foil, pressing and burnishing firmly before leaving to dry thoroughly
• Sakura white gelly roll gel pen used to doodle corner detail on the black matting layer

I'll be entering the above make for the following challenges:-

1. The Happy Craft Challenge - December challenge - ANYTHING GOES - 3rd entry
2. Pixie's Crafty Workshop - challenge No. 341 - USE SNIPPETS
3. Through The Craft Room Door - December 11th challenge - ANYTHING GOES
4. Retarte - challenge No. 134 (FINAL challenge) - ANYTHING GOES
5. Incy Wincy - December 3rd challenge - CREATE YOUR OWN BACKGROUND - 2nd entry