MCV1, CTS122 - Merry Christmas

I was so excited when I saw Kimberly's gorgeous card for our very first Muse: ChristmasVisions challenge.

I decided to combine it with this week's sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch:

I focused on the colour scheme and techniques from Kimberly's card, as well as the poinsettia. I recently purchased some Japanese watercolours and have been dying to make that deep blue/purple night sky that many people have been making. The technique is perfect for someone like me (ie a newbie to watercolouring!) - just smoosh some blue and purple around and then let it dry. Then, I used a technique I saw Emily use at one of our stamping days - I loaded up my brush with gold watercolour and tapped it on my finger to get shimmery speckles all over! I made enough 'sky' for two cards - this is my first one, where I've used bits of it as my blue and gold poinsettia (using a Paper Smooches set of dies). I chose to use my two-word sentiment as my two banner elements from the sketch. These Merry Christmas dies from Ellen Hutson are elegant and look beautiful inlaid into the white panel.

I hope you'll get a chance to join us for our first Muse: ChristmasVisions challenge - there's still lots of time! The deadline is next Wednesday at 8 am EDT.