Christmas in July...well, technically, June.

Hidy Ho crafty peeps!

Summer just appeared out of nowhere here in Texas.  One day it was raining and 60° F, the next day...

BAM!

The mercury topped out around 97° F (that's 36° C for you Canadian peeps and those across "the Pond"). Add the humidity to that and you get air that's like a hot, wet sock.

Thank heavens for air conditioning.

Over at House Mouse & Friends they're having a "Holiday" challenge. And, I decided what better way to keep cool than to pretend it's December and make a holiday card. I didn't stop there.

NO SIR-EEEE, Charlie.

I cranked up the A/C, put a sweater and fuzzy slippers on, popped some Christmas music in the CD player, had some hot chocolate, and whipped up this little beauty of a card.

Okay, so it wasn't HOT chocolate.

It was chocolate ice cream.

Oh, just go with it!

My husband couldn't figure out why it was so cold in the house. Then he saw me sitting there, in a sweater, listening to Bing Crosby, making this Christmas-themed card.

I know he thought I had completely lost it.

Hey, I do what I have to do to get "inspired".

The image I picked is "Funny Face" with Maxwell and Mudpie (or is that Muzzie? I can't see his left ear, so I'm guessing. Maybe it is Muzzie--he is rather fuzzy). This image was kind of a bear to color. Ok, it was a TOTAL bear to color. It was a PILL. It was...an anathema.

I studied several photos of reflections in ornaments to see what the ornament color does to the reflected image's color. Guess what? The reflection totally turns to a monochromatic version of whatever the ornament color is. So, I colored Maxwell's reflection in monochromatic reds.

I futzed with coloring that ornament for more than an hour, possibly even 2. I used a combination of Prismacolor pencils and Polychromos pencils. I'm SLOWLY transitioning to Polychromos pencils. They're MUCH more durable (leads don't break like they do with Prismacolors). The points stay sharp a whole lot longer too. I'm not loving the Polychromos color selection, however. They lack in "subtle" shades...lighter tints and muted tones. Their colors are more saturated. So for the pale colors, I'll stick with Prismas.

I paper-toled (decoupaged) the image into several layers. When I do paper-toling, I use a big ball sylus and cup the pieces so they aren't flat anymore. This TOTALLY worked for the ornament which ended up basically being a half sphere, and it created a nice rounded shape to Mudpie/Muzzy's arm. I framed the image with a Spellbinders die.

When I finished the card I decided it needed some finishing touch, so I added the diecut tree branch (Impression Obsession) over the top of the image. AND...I tied floss in all the buttons. Every time I do this I think of my bestee, Jodi. She INSISTS that ALL buttons on projects have to be tied with floss or ribbon.

H A V E   T O.

I, however, don't share that conviction. Most of the time I leave my buttons nekked. But today, I dressed them up because Jodi was on my mind.

Here is a detail shot of the coloring:

I would like to enter this card in the following challenges:

•  House Mouse & Friends "Holiday" challenge #196
• Through the Craft Room Door "Anything Goes" 
• Tuesday Throwdown #248 "Frame It"
• Crafty Hazelnut's challenge "Patterned Paper" 
• The Ribbon Girl challenge "Animals" 
• Stamping Sensations "Dies and Punches"  
• ABC Challenges "K is for Kritter" 
• Corrosive Challenges #226 "Pile it ON" - I just kept adding stuff to this card...finally had to stop.
• Artistic Inspirations #133 "Layers"

Thanks, as always, for venturing out to Left Field!