Yesterday I mentioned that I had bought a Christmas patterned paper pad that was a lot more subdued than I had expected. Today I have a card that I made using these papers. 

It has nice patterns just not as bright as it was on the front cover.

For this card I used the Mojo Monday Sketch 319. and the Dovecraft traditional Christmas paper pad and the Clearly Besotted Signature Christmas stamps. 

On the wreath I used some pearls and added some glossy accents to the ribbon to make it shiny. For the stars, I used a cream coloured pastel pencil to add some colour to the white stars and then added some wink of stella glitter pen on top to make them sparkle. I also added some to the holly leaves on the green paper but you can't really see it in the photo.

I really wanted to make some bright and fun Christmas cards this year as the past few years I have bought paper pads that were a lot more subdued.
Even again this year, the first paper pad I bought wasn't as bright as I had hoped it was going to be, as the front cover of the paper pad was very bright but the paper wasn't, very disappointing.

So I decided to purchase the Doodlebug Home for the Holidays paper pad as I had seen it in a haul that Michelle from The Card Grotto did and it was just what I was looking for.

I am a big fan of the colour red so really wanted to pick out the red of the paper and use it for the scallop circle and the flowers.

The flowers are made with 2 punch shapes to make the flowers look fuller and then added a gem to the middle to add some bling. Love them.

To add some more sparkle, I added some red stickles to the tree to continue the red theme.

It is definitely the brightest card I have made recently!

Yesterday I was told that it is 6 weeks to Christmas, So I thought I had better get my act into gear with making Christmas cards and presents. 

On my desk are a couple of Christmas paper pads and stamps which I have been using for inspiration to make some cards. I love all the bright reds and greens in the paper pads, really happy colours. Also I have been using my Clearly Besotted stamps and the stamps and dies from Sizzix that I won recently. 

 I have really got to get prepared for Christmas as I have roughly 9 weeks left in my pregnancy and have no idea how long I will be able to create before the baby arrives as I am getting really uncomfortable already.

So I had better get off and make some more cards.

Enjoy having a look at the other desks. 

Linking up with Julia @ Stamping Ground. 

For today's card I used the current sketch from Mojo Monday 317. I didn't think I would have time to make a card with this sketch but I needed a card for a 50th birthday party last night and so quickly made one yesterday afternoon. 

I was going to use some patterned paper on the background but decided to emboss some white card as there would be enough in the circles. 

As the card was for a man, I decided to just keep the embellishment to the buttons and added a tag with 50th on it.

I don't think it turned out too bad for a card that was last minute and took me about an hour!