Vintage Holly for Happy Little Stampers

I'm on the Design Team for the Happy Little Stampers Christmas Challenge.  The October challenge is "Holly".  Here's my card:

My good friend, Loll Thompson, of Stamping with Loll, taught me her "faux mother-of-pearl" technique.  I used it for the background of this card.  But it's really hard to photograph!  In real life, there is lovely pearlescent shimmer where you see splotchy sections on the background in the photo! 

Loll did a video tutorial here on the faux mother-of-pearl technique if you're interested.

The style of the holly stamp and the font of the sentiment gave me the slight vintage feel I wanted to go with the faded background colours, and I added a bit of text for good measure.

After dabbing on the pearly paint, I sponged first with Bundled Sage and then with Shabby Shutters.  I stamped the text in Frayed Burlap with some of the ink dabbed off the stamp before stamping, then stamped the sentiment and image in Versafine Olympia Green, and watercoloured the holly with Mowed Lawn and Fired Brick.  I then went around the edges with Frayed Burlap.  The panel is popped up with foam tape and a bow added for embellishment.

Please come and join us at Happy Little Stampers.  The "Holly" challenge runs all through September.

I'm also entering the card in the Merry Monday "Use Holly" challenge.

Supplies:

Stamps: Great Impressions holly and sentiment, Memory Box script
Inks: Distress Bundled Sage, Shabby Shutters, Frayed Burlap, Fired Brick, and Mowed  Lawn; Versafine Olympia Green
Paper: PTI Vintage Cream cs
Size: A2
Accessories: Tsukineko Frost White paint, red/green ribbon, foam tape