Merry Monday #265 {Winter Wonderland}

Happy Monday, Everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! I'm here today with this week's Merry Monday Christmas Challenge! I absolutely love the theme this week; Nina has asked us to create a card with an outdoor Winter activity! I knew immediately what I wanted to do! Before I rush into the details of my card this week, I want to let you know that the details, rules and other designers cards can be found HERE. You'll definitely want to head over there to see some fabulous inspiration!

As I mentioned earlier, I knew exactly which set I wanted to use for this challenge, and it really is the PERFECT set: Two Feet Deep from Papertrey Ink. It is one of my favorites of all time! It makes an appearance every Christmas and this year it has gotten a workout already! LOL! So...I knew what set I wanted to use, but after that, I hadn't really settled on anything as far as layout, colors, etc. My husband took me to see Thor Ragnarok last weekend and the lady in front of us had on some cute boots that immediately inspired me. I was a TOTAL creeper and got out of line while my husband was buying popcorn to take a picture of her boots! LOL! I was worried that if I didn't snap a picture, after the excitement of the movie, I might forget. So...the inspiration for the rest of the card comes directly from the poor, unsuspecting boot wearer in front of me!

The boots had a Fair Isle knitted top and a dreamy Winter White suede toe. The boots also boasted two large creamy buttons which were only decorative, I believe. I pulled out another favorite, Fair Isle Motifs and stamped it in Soft Snow and then heat embossed the images in white onto a piece of SU!'s Sahara Sand cardstock. I loved the look of the spooky hill I created on THIS card, and thought it would be fun to try it again for today's design. I know that it looks nothing like a hill for this card, but I wanted the same design element.

I knew that it would be difficult to recreate the suede look of the boots, but I knew that this amazing "knitted" embossing folder would look perfect paired with the Fair Isle pattern. I chose to dry emboss it using a piece of speckled cardstock from SU! that I am sure has since been retired. It turned out exactly like I was hoping for.

The skis are die cut using the coordinating Two Feet Deep die cuts out of Kraft Cardstock and then stamped using "Walnut Stain" distress ink for a vintage, wooden ski look. I heat embossed the metal portions using silver detail embossing powder. I love how they turned out! The sentiment is heat embossed in gold onto a strip of Linen Vellum cardstock. I just love the mix of gold and silver, especially this time of year.

The two Buttons are threaded with Rustic Jute Button Twine and then adhered to the card using glue dots. I was happy with the results of my card in translating the boots into a greeting card. I hope you all get a chance to play along this week! It is so much fun! Thanks for fluttering by!