One Layer Christmas

52 Christmas Card Throwdown has a challenge that I find very challenging: creating a one layer Christmas card. But knowing I needed to complete my goal to create 10 Christmas cards each month, I decided to see what I could come up with. It wasn’t a particularly quick card to design. I knew I wanted to use the large image of holly and a sentiment from Simon Says “Joyful Season.” The placement of images wasn’t a problem, but deciding how to color the holly berries turned out to take some time. I wasn’t happy with the Copics or the Tombow markers. I wasn’t using watercolor paper, so that was out. I finally decided on two colors of PolyChromos pencils which worked out nicely.

On one version I added some gold pearls, but my husband vetoed those. (A stamping friend who saw it this morning, liked it however!) He also voted for the gold embossed sentiment. In order to add just another touch of gold. I used a gold pen to highlight each of the berries.

Once the placement and design were worked out, creating a set of these took little time, thanks to the MISTI. I colored the berries while watching the news! 

I’m also adding this to two Christmas card challenges where anything goes: The Merry Little Christmas Challenge, and Addicted to Stamps and More: Christmas.