Well, Given that December 7 is a day that lives forever in infamy, this challenge started out well with me spilling nearly 300 ml of V-8 juice all over my work surface! (I was collecting stamps, papers, stencils, etc. for the project, turned without thinking and hit the glass with a pad of 6x6 card stock! Ouch! Not a nice way to start the day so you may forgive me if I didn't feel all that "Holly Jolly" after using an entire roll of kitchen towels to clean up the mess (it didn't help that that same work surface is crammed with bottles of ink, paint, stain and spray I have yet to put away, each of which needed to be wiped clean...). I don't think my cutting mat will ever be the same. Did you know that V-8 juice will remove long-term paint and ink stains? True! As well as the dye that originally colored the mat! Another use for the juice besides de-odorizing skunk smell! LOL Still, my foam stamping mat smells of tomato juice and may forever, as some of the essence soaked in on the edges, so I wouldn't recommend V-8 as a first-line method of cleaning a work surface....
After that fiasco, I took a break, washed a few dishes, read the newspaper, and balanced my checkbook!
Later in the afternoon, I went back downstairs and finished collecting my project materials and set to work. I settled on holly as my theme (although a few poinsettias sneaked in as well) and "Joy". Just a simple card in holiday colors that didn't take (except for fussy cutting the sentiment and that mat behind it) all that long to make:
- Stamps: Hero Arts “Watercolor Holly Outline” (H3711), and “Watercolor Holly Solid” (H 3706); PSX G2344
- Inks: Archival “Jet Black”; Distress Markers “Fired Brick”, “Festive Berries”, “Mowed Lawn”, “Peeled Paint”, “Wild Honey”
- Embellishments: Kreinik Fine Braid #8 (002)
- Papers: scrap white, Watercolor Distress Yardstick
- Adhesives: Foam squares