Control Freaks Blog Hop - Happy Holidays

Welcome to the Control Freaks Blog Hop for November! This month, our theme is Happy Holidays. I hope you’re getting into the holiday spirit. I know I am, as this month seems to be whizzing by!

Whether you’re starting the blog hop here or just came from Cindy Elam’s blog at Hearts Delight Cards, be sure to continue on by clicking the “Next” button at the bottom of this post for even more holiday inspiration.

I decided to take some inspiration from two of my favorite Fall cards and turn them into Christmas cards!!! For both cards, I used the Arrange A Wreath Bundle, which is one of my favorites. I also had a secondary motive, I wanted to try out the new Blending Brushes that I had just pre-ordered from the January-June Mini Catalog. (See my second project below.)

My first card is watercolored. I cut out the flowers and one of the wreaths from Shimmery White Cardstock so I could watercolor them for a soft, pretty look. I used Old Olive ink to watercolor the top wreath and a combination of Real Red and Cherry Cobbler ink to watercolor the poinsettia flowers.

The original card I used for inspiration had a black Stitched Nested Die-Cut in the background, so I picked one of the darkest prints of In Good Taste Designer Series Paper for this one. I love the contrast of the lightly colored wreath against the dark background. For this card, I cut the bottom wreaths out of Pear Pizzazz and Soft Sea Foam Cardstock.

For my next card, I used the new Blending Brushes to create an ink blended background!!! So fun!

These brushes are my absolute FAVORITE new tool! While they may look like sponges, they are actually made of thousands of tiny, little soft bristles. And, they work like sheer HEAVEN! It was so much easier to create the background on this card than my original Fall card, which I had created with Sponge Daubers. The ink just flowed smoothly onto the paper. I hardly had to think about applying even pressure. I used Real Red and Cherry Cobbler ink on one side and Mossy Meadow and Old Olive ink on the other. Afterwards, I simply rinsed the brushes with water to clean them off and they are ready for my next project. So cool!!!

For this card, I used Whisper White Cardstock. Therefore, I chose to color the poinsettias with Real Red and Cherry Cobbler Stampin’ Blends Markers. I cut the wreaths from Mossy Meadow, Whisper White, and Vellum Cardstock. Then, I added some white embossed leaves on Vellum and small Whisper White flower die-cuts. Both my cards also include some Wonderful Gems. They have gold glitter embedded in them and are perfect for the holidays!

Next up is Debbie Henderson at Debbie’s Designs.