Merry Monday: Believe in the Magic

Way back in 2013, the amazing Lesley Croghan, the founder of Merry Monday and so many other challenges that we all love, asked me to be a guest designer in 2014.  It didn't take any thought at all to say "Yes"!  Then she said "How about February?"  Hmmm...how many of us want to be making Christmas cards so soon after surviving the last Christmas?

The answer is "I do!" First of all, my first Christmas card in 2013 was on January 12 for a Merry Monday challenge.  By playing along all year, I was ready to go in December.  I didn't have to squeeze in a single last-minute card, nor do a stack of cards in bulk just to have enough!  Second, I still have Christmas supplies in my NBUS stash (Never-Before-Used-Schtuff) and I would really like to get them out of the way so they don't sit there all the way until next Christmas!!

So bring on the Merry Monday challenge!

Stockings!!!  Funny enough, I had a few stockings to choose from in my NBUS stash.  At some point last year, I actually realized that I didn't have a single stocking stamp that was fresh and new-looking and fit my current style.  So I went shopping. The little stocking that I used on this card came from a set with a variety of Christmas motifs but the stocking (and the fat little Christmas tree that's also part of the set) were the big reason for the purchase!!


The motifs are by Paper Smooches and I also happened to have two new-to-me Christmas sentiment sets by Paper Smooches that I picked up at Archiver's Going-Out-of-Business. {Sadness}  Stockings have always been important in my family.  It's fairly easy to get the big gifts - but filling the stockings with little items that still had great meaning is what takes the thought and the time. So throughout my childhood and now throughout my children's childhoods - the stocking is the "magical" moment.

Have fun with stockings this week!  I look forward to seeing what you create.

• Stamps: Paper Smooches Merry Motifs, Joyful Greetings
• Ink: Copics and Memento Black
• Paper: scrap (sorry!)
• Accessories: Paper Smooches Merry Motifs die, Lil' Inkers Stitched Rectangles, misc enamel dots, Hemptique 10-lb black twine