Christmas is in the box ....

... a lovely lie in this morning - that's what I'd planned, but I was still up in time to check out some of my favourite challenge blogs this morning!!!  Still, it meant that we had plenty of time to pack away Christmas.  Mum, Kathryn and I spent the morning putting away the tinsel, baubles, lights and taking the Christmas tree down and putting it all into the Christmas box!  The house seems rather bare now.

This afternoon I've been in my craft room making a birthday card (which will be from Mum) for my niece, Anne.  For Anne's card I've used the layout from Mojo Monday - MOJO222, the gorgeous pastel colours from The Play Date Cafe - PDCC113 and the theme from DYSU#53 - Let it Snow.

I knew exactly what effect I wanted to achieve with this card and I'm really pleased that the finished card is almost exactly as I imagined it.  I thought the Let it Snow theme from DYSU was perfect for a winter birthday, and the PDCC113 colours are just right.  The hardest part of the card was getting the proportions for the different elements right - I've got a lot of scrap paper on my desk now!  The backing paper is from Artylicious Season's Greetings CD - lots of pretty snowflakes shading from mint green to juniper!  I stamped a pretty doily in pearlescent ice blue onto vellum (inspiration from Charmaine) and cut it out with my nesties.  I used a Cuttlebug die to cut out the pretty snowflake.  Finally, I attached a simple birthday sentiment.

Actually, I think the hardest thing about this card has been getting a decent photo!  It's dark here now and the daylight bulb in my craft room drained the colour, the desk light at my computer gave a yellow cast, so I tried a flash - which is about as good as I can get at the moment.  It does show the pretty doily very well!  I'll try again tomorrow for a better picture.

Stamps:  Waltzingmouse - Dainty Doilies 2 Small, Flourishes - Scallops & Dots; Personal Impressions - Wording Stamps (PIC5066)
Inks: Brilliance - Pearlescent Ice Blue; Distress - Bundled Sage
Spellbinders: Labels Eighteen (S4-310) # 2, Big Scalloped Circles Lg (S4-249) #7
Accessories: Cuttlebug - Ice Crystals die; Stampin' Up! - Filigree brad, gems, Very Vanilla card; Chocolate Baroque - Season's Greetings CD

That's all for today.  I'm off to make supper for us all now.  I'll be back tomorrow with another card using our CR84FN45 colours - I love these colours.  To be fair, I might be a bit biased as I picked them ;)  See you tomorrow!