The December 2024 Pinkfresh Challenge Theme is Magical Holiday and the color palette is Mermaid Cove, Cherry Blossom, Berrylicious, Sunkissed, and Spruce Tips. For this card I opted for the theme and a more restrained palette.

I started out by stamping and heat embossing the foliage arrangement (twice) and two sentiments from the Kat Scrappiness Christmas Add-On Stamp for the Holiday Lantern in Silver. Then I colored the arrangement with my Ohuhu Alcohol Markers. See above for the markers I used.

The theme of this month’s YouTube hop was Out of My Comfort Zone. So I tried alcohol inks.

At that point the only dark green color on the card was the present that the bottom reindeer is holding. So I added smaller elements with some dark green to other parts of the card to spread it around a bit more.

I created these cards using Bibi Cameron’s Cheerful Kittens Die Set and leftover die cuts from recent projects. You can make two cats with this die set: one who hangs from a banner and one who sits. The head is the same for both. So if you want to make two cats, you need to cut most of the head and face parts twice.

The shark and friends are from a Lawn Fawn Stamp and Die Set called Shark Duh-Nuh Flip Flop. I colored them with my Distress Watercolor Pencils.

The starting point for today’s card was a fall-themed cupcake die set from Spellbinders. It was the Large Die of the Month for September last year. I didn’t get around to playing with it then, so it’s just the right thing for a new cardmaking hop that I’m participating in.

It’s called the Procraftinators Club and the idea is to help us finish cardmaking kits, monthly subscriptions and other unfinished projects. This cupcake die set is perfect for it!

Here in Silicon Valley the Chinese New Year is celebrated almost as much as Valentine’s Day. Next year is the year of the dragon, so there are lots of dragon toys and dragon-shaped sweets in stores right now. The Lunar New Year is on February 10, 2024. Traditionally red and gold are associated with the Lunar New Year.