Rudolph Days Challenge - July 2020 and NBUS #16 Challenge

At long last, I managed to finish off the batch of 10 very Christmas similar cards I've been working on intermittently for a few weeks. I knew from the outset what I was aiming for - but soon learned that there were umpteen steps (times 10 of course) to get there!

Here are three of the resulting cards:

For each card I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" white card blank

- a piece of white card approximately the same size as the card front, which I covered with double sided adhesive sheet and then covered that with paper from Crafters Delight pads called 'Starry Night' and also 'Watercolour Galaxy', by Leska Hamaty. Bought from Amazon UK HERE - and there's a huge selection to choose from including plaid and many, many other designs.

- I needed to back the papers with card as they are fairly thin and I also wanted to die cut them using a 'Stitched Rectangle' die by Lil' Inkers

- then cut some strips of white card, approximately 2" x 5.5" - which were then die cut along one long edge using a Lawn Fawn 'Stitched Hillside Borders' die

- die cut the sides and bottom using the same stitched rectangle die I'd used for the main panel. Two reasons, to get a perfect match in width and also to continue the stitched edge right around the finished panel

- next stamped the sentiment plus a little heart, using stamps from Lawn Fawn's 'Winter Skies' set of stamps, Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink and a mini Misti

- glued the 'hillside' onto the bottom of the main panel, then glued it to the card front and put it one side for now

- stamped the flying Santa and his reindeer plus an assortment of trees and 'critters' onto white card

- coloured the trees and 'critters' using Pro markers (carefully selected to pick out elements of the sky background where possible) before then die cutting them, and the flying Santa(s), using dies to match the 'Winter Skies' set of stamps

- however, the fun part was coming - I sat and played for ages arranging the little scenes onto the card fronts - then glued them all into place - and went to lie down in a darkened room to recover

What a marathon and I did almost lost the will to live along the way - it seemed endless! But, I'm quietly pleased with the results and didn't drop any major 'boo boo's' along the way. Finding those backing papers was a dream, they're gorgeous!

I'm entering into July's Rudolph Days challenge over at Scrappy Mo's.

And entering into Darnell's NBUS challenge #16 as the papers, stamps & dies plus the hillside dies were having a first outing.

Phew, just squeaked into both challenges at the last minute!