I'm dreaming of a GREEN Christmas.

In an earlier post I said I would be making a set of cards using each of the stamps on a new Chocolate Baroque plate, so here is the first one.

I'm not sure why I chose to make it green. Maybe I was getting withdrawal symptoms. There is very little green out here right now, after an exceptionally hot, dry summer. Or maybe it is excitement about a long awaited holiday in Ireland in October, where I am expecting to see the renowned 'Forty shades of green'.

I am a bit of a realist and I tend to colour things in the 'right' colour, but I felt a poinsettia all in green wasn't too unrealistic, and I actually rather like the way it turned out. I stamped the image complete in Memento olive ink, and used Adirondak juniper and a water brush to add a pale tint to the sky. (Memento is not waterproof so I had to be careful with this). I then cut all around the outside leaving a very narrow white border, and added some stickles for sparkle on the trees, church and ground. I stamped the flower again and coloured it with copics, and then cut it out and snipped between the petals so I could layer it on different levels without adding too much bulk. The base card is a very old, pearlescent olive one from my stash, and the backing paper is from a Crafters Companions CD.

There is a very tiny church in the image so I am entering this in:

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge 86: Use a Building.

And also in:

Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge: Monochromatic Christmas.

Party Time Tuesday Challenge 82: Shades of Green.