Christmas in January or February or March?

There is a challenge that has been continued  at Waltzingmouse Stamps to create a Christmas Card every month.  Each month one of the host's will issue a challenge on what technique, layout, color, etc. to use.  I think this really helps get the creative juices flowing and gives us all a huge jump on getting a head start on next years cards.  I for one could use all the help.  I participated in a card exchange this past Christmas and that was the ONLY card I sent.  My hubby wondered why I did that but didn't send any others out to family and friends.  Of course my reply was, because this is fun and you get to correspond with new people.  So, this will hopefully help get a head start and I can mail cards to family and friends in 2013! 

Here is some additional information regarding the challenge:  If you'd like to see more feel free to hop on over to http://www.waltzingmousestamps.com/ and join the forum.  There's plenty of other great information there as well!

This months challenge is a Sketch Challenge designed by very talented Anya.   I thought this looked pretty simple, but my projects never end up that way.  Here's my creation(s) based on the sketch, yes, I had to do two as I thought this first one was a little over the top.

Candy Canes are my favorite candies at Christmas time.  I love the mint and sweetness to them and enjoy them way into February (I buy lots of them after Christmas when they are on sale).  I thought the Papertrey Ink Pillow Box Die matched the shape in Anya's card and thought I'd make my own candy bowl that I could drool over (LOL).  Recently I say Kelly Schirmer color in her candy canes with Stickles and loved the look so I copied the technique for my candy canes and love the way they turned out.

Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse Sewing Box Christmas, Candy Jar Christmas

Dies:  Papertrey Ink Pillow Box Die, MFT Chevron Stripe, MFT Sentiment Strips

Misc:  Ribbon, Mambi Paper, Papertrey ink white, leaf green patterned paper, Green Felt, Red and Crystal Stickles, Red Buttons, and Glitter.

Then I decided I'd try to find a shape that was more similar to the sketch and came up with this version.  It was a lot simpler to complete and I like the way the harlequin and stamping makes this look like a wrapped present.  So it finished it off with more ribbon and a bow. Too bad there's nothing inside, but wait maybe it could be a gift card holder, oh the possibilities are endless. 

I started out with the coverplate and used the cut out shapes from the Scarlet Jewel and Leaf Green patterned paper.  I didn't want to fill the whole card in as I wanted a few stripe lines that I could stamp in between.   Then I took a strip of paper and cut the fishtails out and folded it to look like a banner and added some bling, always need some bling.   

Supplies Used:

Paper:  Papertrey ink Vintage Cream, Scarlet Jewel, Scarlet Jewel and Leaf Green patterned paper
Dies:  Spellbinders label, Papertrey ink Harlequin cover plate
Stamps:  Waltzingmouse Sewing Box Christmas Snowflake, A Cottage Christmas.
Ink:  SU Sahara Sand, Memento Black
Miscellaneous:  Green Ribbon, Red embellishments

I hope this gives you some inspiration to start playing along with us!