Christmas at Sweet Stampin'

I'm on time for a change for the mid-month post at
Christmas at Sweet Stampin'

where our challenge is
A Tropical Christmas
and we are lucky enough to be sponsored by
The Hobby House

My fellow CASSettes have come up with fabulous creations and I urge you to drop by them for a visit, share some love, then grab your Christmas stash and get ahead of the game with your Christmas cards.

I had a lot of fun with my card this month using a lovely sentiment from Papertrey Ink as my focus with My Mind's Eye Merry Little Christmas papers and this little guy cut from my Cricut and coloured with Copics.

I felt my cut flamingo didn't have enough realism so I hand cut a bit off the body of a second cut, flipped it and placed it upside down across his back.  IRL flamingos do not have upward pointing tails, they have downward ones. I added a punched wing from a Stampin Up punch which gave my guy a little more detail even though it shouldn't really be there and I coloured on a face onto a third cut on white paper.  Now of course he looks much more real - especially wearing his Santa hat!  The garland is by Memory Box, the red divider is a Sizzix embossing folder which is straight but looks wonky and I just added a couple of banners to fill up the corner.

I am entering my card into the challenge at
Stamping Sensations - wings, fantasy and fiction.

I don't want to worry you but Christmas is just a whisper over 300 days away...

And having gone for a visit to my fellow CASSettes and spotted a few Santas on the beach, I thought I would amend my post to add my very own photo of Santa on the beach taken last November.  This is Siesta Key Beach (voted best beach in the USA in 2012).  The sculpture is made of sand!  Those people can't possibly be me and the hubster surely.  Goodness the camera adds pounds!!!