The first card of the year

Happy New Year!

It's the first 52 Christmas Card Throwdown challenge of 2016, a sketch challenge.

I've had a difficult week, and been away a lot, but I didn't want to miss the first card of the year, so I fell back on my stash of Christmas papers and some dies for a simple make.

The wreath is a spellbinders die; I cut it twice to try different patterns. The one I didn't like was a double sided paper, and serendipitously the brown reverse works well as a "shadow" effect under the green wreath, to make it stand out from the background.

The bird is a Tattered Lace die; it comes with a flowery wreath, but I hope that by cutting it in a red pattern and pairing it with the holly wreath it suggests a robin, or at least has a Christmassy feel.

The tag I made as I couldn't find a sentiment that fitted. I designed a page of Christmas sentiments in different fonts and colours, in Word, and printed it out on card.

I cut the Noel out with a small tag die, and coloured it with antique linen distress ink, then edged it with vintage photo. The rest will go into the stash for now. I also edged the backing paper with vintage photo distress ink.

I used a small piece of string to "attach" the tag, and used foam pads to mount the tag, wreath and bird for dimension.

It all went onto a 5x7 card base.

So there you have it, my first Christmas card of 2016. Approximately 9 months earlier than I've ever managed before!