Getting ready for Christmas

I really find it hard to believe that December is fast approaching and there is a Christmas buzz in the air! Mind you, I think it starts too early in the shops, but I don't want to sound like Scrooge!

For my CHNC challenge 204 this week I'm asking to see any creation that shows 'getting ready for Christmas'. Please click on the challenge link to join in - I'm sure that most keen crafters are making things in readiness for Christmas, so it should be easy to enter the challenge.

I wonder how much baking you do for Christmas. Do you make or buy a Christmas pudding? Or perhaps you give it a miss. I'm not a lover of Christmas pudding (or Christmas cake, come to that) - don't really like the dried fruit - I can only eat it if it's plastered with come cointreau or brandy butter, enough to take the full flavour of the pudding away - lol! John loves Christmas pudding and as he's a diabetic I've always made ours. In recent years, because of the strain on his poor kidneys, he's had to be on a low potassium diet (as well as watching other things like sugar, salt, fat ... it can be a bit of a nightmare sometimes). Anyway, I digress. There's potassium in mixed fruit, so he rarely has any, but has a treat at Christmas (and a mince pie or two as well). So I will be getting ready for Christmas, making Christmas pudding, mince pies (can't stand those either), cookies, cakes etc.

My card depicts a mixture of a Christmas cupcake and Christmas pudding - now there's an idea ... combine the two!

I used one of the Christmas cupcakes images kindly supplied by Crafts 4 eternity, one of the sponsors of CHNC challenge 204, coloured with spectrum noir pens and mounted on to a piece of deep green velvet paper (lovely to touch, although not much around the edge). The background paper is an offcut piece of Papermania, mounted on to a piece of red mirror card. The holly berries on the paper are red foiled, although most of them look almost black here because of the difficulty of taking a photo of foiled card.

I based the card on the sketch given for Atlantic hearts 82:

This is also for:

The 12 months of Christmas card link up
Baffies creative 38: time for the approaching Christmas season
Sparkles Christmas 46: Christmas candy
Red carpet studio 83: Julie & Julia - inspired by food
Crafting by designs: get ready for Christmas
Digi sketch: food
Jingle belles: Christmas feast
Stamp and create  November: ribbons or bows
Digistamps4Joy 104: preparing for the holidays
Scrappers delights 36: anything goes or traditional Christmas
Delicious doodles 111: traditional Christmas
Without words November: preparing for Christmas
Oddball: any winter holiday
Hiding in my craft room 175: any holiday
3 girl jam November: Christmas/holidays
Card and scrap 86: Christmas card
Let's craft and create 99: Christmas
Creative moments 56: anything goes/make it sparkle
Clear it out: anything goes (had the papers for ages)
Treasured time 29: anything goes
Creative fingers 57: anything goes
Penny's 204: anything goes
Fitztown 62: anything goes
613 avenue create 98: anything goes
Dream valley 95: anything goes
Crafter's cafe 91: anything goes
A crafty mess 1: anything goes
My craft creations: anything goes
Crafting by designs November: anything goes
DL.ART thankful Thursday 144: anything Christmas
Sister act 84: anything goes