Non Traditional Christmas in August

In a private facebook group of cardmakers, the challenge was to make something with pink and purple.  I knew I had two of Tim Holtz's crazy birds colored with pink.  I did not know it would lead me down the road to a Christmas card.  It was not going to be a Christmas card but once I stamped the branch on the card front to ground the bird, it became and Christmas card.  Probably because it is a stamp from a very old Hero Arts set.

This is a square card approximately 4.25 inches.  The base is mixed media paper.  I scribbled a purple gelato on the front and used a baby wipe to blend it.  I placed a stencil over the top and rubbed out some of the color because I thought it was too dark.  You can see the faint circle in the background.  This did not lighten it enough for me so I watered down some gesso and swiped it across the front.  I finally got a soft lavender for my color.  (I know it looks darker in the picture - let's say I am not a good photographer.)  The bird was stamped on gessoed dictionary pages and colored with distress paints.  It was fussy cut.  I adhered the bird to the card front with glue and he was floating so the branch was added.  Now he is grounded.  I clear embossed both the sentiment and the branch.  I splattered watered down gesso across the front of the card.  White string was colored and tied around the top of the card.  The front is mounted with foam tape.  I even finished the inside of the card so it is ready to be mailed.

I am entering this card in two different challenges.

The Paper Players challenge is Hip To be Square.  The card is square.

The other challenge is Merry Monday Christmas where the challenge is to use pastels.

Thanks for stopping by.  I did enjoy the journey my crazy pink bird took me on yesterday thanks to Cora's color challenge.  Come back tomorrow to see my snarky, texty card.