One Last Card.

Welcome to Magpieheaven! Tomorrow has to be mince-pie day, as the mince-meat is now made and just awaits the little pastry cases! All in all tomorrow looks like it's going to be a day of frenzied preparations so I don't see myself getting very much crafting done! No doubt everyone in Blogland is very busy preparing for the big day, but I just wanted to share one last card before the 25th. I have not made 'batches' of cards, preferring to concentrate on making them just for special friends and family members. This is the one I made to go on the mantelpiece in my mum's new flat close to our home. I should like to enter it for The Artistic Stamper December 'Anything Goes' Challenge.

My mum is 84 years old and she has found moving and settling into a new home very challenging. Mr Magpie and I have been decorating her flat with fairy lights and sparkly winter branches over the past few days to make it cosy and festive for her. I shall take over this card tomorrow to put on her mantel-piece. I wanted to create a card with restful colours and an appealing image and I hope that my mum, who is a great animal lover, will like the little deer die-cut, which has certainly won my heart this Christmas.

 I covered a card blank from some I bought at The Range with some handmade paper sent to me by my dear Magpie Cousin, Dianne. This paper has all kinds of glints and textures and little leaves embedded in it and I can hardly bear to cut it up and use it! For my next layer I used some Bo Bunny double-sided paper with a beautiful holly design, then a golden holly patterned paper also by Bo Bunny from their Silver and Gold Range and finally a layer of Bo Bunny with a tree design on it. I stamped the corners with some script from the Paper Artsy Mini   26, which I've used a lot this Christmas, using Wendy Vecchi Potting Soil Archival Ink. Then it was time for some die-cutting and punching.

I had a die-cut of a little frame from a Tim Holtz tag die and I painted this with Paper Artsy Fresco in Tinned Peas. I then added a little green gem. Next I found all my scraps of painted and stamped papers left over from other projects and stamped out leaves with a little leaf punch. There are some stamped with script, some that are Crackle Glazed - Antarctic over Baltic Blue and I can see a little brown crunchy waxed paper one there too. I also punched out some snowflakes from my scraps and placed pearls at the centre.

My die-cut deer has a necklace of leaves too. For the deer's body, I painted her with Fresco Nougat and edged this with Fresco Cinnamon. I then sprinkled with Shabby Rose Frantage and a little Gesso blobbed in places. A little green gem for an eye finished off this simple card. I was very pleased with the way that the deer's coat turned out. I hope that my mum will feel settled and happy in her flat and that this Christmas will be a time when she begins to feel truly at home there and a little more confident and happy.  Thank you for stopping by at this busy time. I hope you will have some lovely crafty presents for Christmas and time to do some crafty activities too!