A Christmas Poinsettia

Along with Halloween cards, I finished a few Christmas cards last weekend as well. There’s now a small stash, but it certainly needs to grow by leaps and bounds by the end of next month! This card was made with two challenges in mind. One of my favorite challenges (which I’ve neglected recently) is The Flower Challenge. They are celebrating their 5th birthday, and I wanted to be sure to celebrate with them. The challenge calls for Using a Shape. The second challenge is a Christmas challenge. I ought to participate in these all year long, but I seem to wait until the time is drawing near. The CAS Christmas Challenge calls for Red & Gray.

It’s a color combination I like, so I set out to create a Christmas card with a flower, on a shape, using red and gray. I’m pretty happy with the outcome:

The poinsettia is one of my favorites, Altenew’s “Modern Poinsettia.” I watercolored it with The Stamp Market watercolors. I struggle with those sometimes, but I slowed down and finished this over two days, letting the previous coats dry completely. After finishing it, I splattered it with white ink.

It’s hard to tell in the photo, but the “Braided Circle” die from Pinkfresh Studio was cut from light gray cardstock which looks more cream in the photo than it does IRL. 

The circle and poinsettia were layered onto a dark gray card base. I used a few small pieces of dimensional tape behind the leaves of the poinsettia. According to Google, poinsettias do not have petals, just leaves which are different colors given the amount of light they’ve had. Technically, they’re called bracts. The flowers are actually the small centers of the poinsettia which I colored in a yellow green. They are one of two favorite holiday flowers, the other being cyclamens which are available all year, but were always a Christmas gift from my father when he was alive.

The sentiment, embossed in silver, is from a Colorado Craft set I ordered at the end of last year and have never used, “Slimline Poinsettias.” I’ve yet to stamp or color the beautiful flowers in that set, but I used all three of the accompanying sentiments this weekend while I was crafting Christmas cards. I think you’ll see them on lots of cards. The fonts are really lovely, and they’re universal holiday greetings. The final touch was to add a few silver pearls from Trinity Stamps.