It is time for the first challenge of March over at Christmas Card Throwdown.  This time we are having a sketch challenge, and please remember that you can flip or turn the sketch, just as long as we still see the original sketch in your design.

For me, there are times that sketch challenges are so difficult.  I am not a natural paper piecer.  No, I’m a colorist by trade, so there are times that sketches just make me flustered.  This was especially true for this sketch.  I don’t know what made me so lost on this sketch, but I was.

I started playing with stripes, turning things this way or that, but I just couldn’t come up with a design that excited me.  Finally, I decided to forget about the sketch and sink into the art of the card.  I pulled out a fun warm weather Christmas stamp from Inkadinkadoo.  I decided to used watercolor paper and watercolor markers to color this Christmas flamingo image.  I used a combination of distress markers and spectrum aqua makers to create the color.  With the image colored, finally the sketch started coming in for me.  I realized that if I flipped the sketch, the flamingo would work.  I started digging through my vertical stripped papers, and found one that would go with my color scheme.  I realized I didn’t have to do anything fancy to make the sketch work.  I pulled out a Reflection stamp set and stamped out the merry, merry sentiment three times.  You can’t see it in the red real well in the picture, but you can see it in real life.

From the same sentiment stamp set, I stamped out the center sentiment stamp of the sketch.  I die cut it and adhered it to the card.

This may not be my best Christmas Card of 2017, but there is something intriguing about it.

I can’t wait to see how you use this sketch.  Hopefully, you will have an easier time with it than I did.