So Christmas is 6 months Away. . .

and I have started on my cards! Honestly, I probably won't make another until after Halloween (my favorite holiday!) but, I like to delude myself sometimes. One of my very favorite things about JittoBear is their "alternative" items.  They make things for the quirky, a tad off crowd as well as the standard chipboard die cuts. I have had this adorable chipboard cut since I began designing for JittoBear and I am so glad I finally got a chance to use it. I truly think this fits my style, don't you? Cute little cared with a cute little attitude ~

 
What I Used to Make my Card:
Bite Me JittoBear Chipboard
Kraft Card Base
KaiserCraft paper from Yuletide Paper Pack
Distress Paint in Gathered Twigs & Fired Brick
Golden Acrylic Paint in Quinacridone Red
Birds Cards Cut File - Santa's Hat Circle (I only used the Santa Hat portion)
Ranger Glossy Accents
Scrap of Red Cardstock
Scrap of White Cardstock

First, if you have an electronic cutting machine, like a Silhouette, you HAVE to go to Birds Cards and take a look at the amazing cut files that Bird shares FREE! And the designs are always so cool!! OK, the first thing I did was gesso the

chipboard (truthfully, I had gessoed this a long time ago) and decided what colors I wanted to paint my gingerbread man and the saying.  I used Distress Paint in Gathered Twigs for the happy little bitten gingerbread guy and Fired Brick for the saying.  I was happy with the brown paint, and I liked the matte look on the gingerbread, but, I wanted a more red red for the saying. So, I broke out my acrylics and painted over the Fired Brick with Quinacridone Red. I like the shine of the acrylic next to the matte of the Distress Paint.  I have also decided no more gesso on the chipboard unless I know I need it - lemme tell you, that white stuck out like a sore thumb and I saw new white spots every day I looked at it! I think I finally have them

all covered, but if you see one, don't tell me! I used one of Birds Files for the Hat, it's called Santa's Hat Circle, ungrouped the files and just used the hat.  Cut the hat out of red cardstock and the trim and the pom pom, glued it together and then used Glossy Accents  to cover the red part of the hat.  It felt the hat needed a little pop since the card is so brown.

Next step was picking out the background paper. I wanted a holiday themed paper, but, I  didn't want it to over power the chipboard.  And no Santa's or anything jolly - just wouldn't fit.  I found the paper I used in the KaiserCraft Yuletide Paper Pack. I don't have the exact name of the paper as it was cut off

long ago, but I felt the music background added something as well as being subtle enough to not overpower the gingerbread man.  I like all the textures on this card; the shine of the acrylic paint, the matte of the gingerbread man and the pop of the hat.  Well, there you go - my first holiday card of 2015.  Now I must go back to making the birthday cards.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed the gingerbread man! Please consider becoming a follower on my blog - I am trying to get 100 new subscribers in 2015. Blessings, Christi 

I would like to enter my Gingerbread Man Card in the following challenges:
Ink on my Fingers - Sunday Stamper, #358, No Stamping
Natalie & Amy's Challenge - (M) #33, Christmas
Brown Sugar Challenges - #139, Anything Goes
Loves Rubber Stamping - #154, Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes
Through the Craft Room Door - wk of 6/2 - 6/8, Always Anything Goes
ABC Christmas Challenge - K is for Keep it Simple

Whew, finished just in time for our daily storm!! Stay safe everyone!! :)