Today, Henry asked me to let him play Santa. He loves Christmas and likes to start getting ready early. He was quite sure he had grown out of his Santa Suit from last year (he's put on a few pounds) so he asked if I would make him a new one.
He wanted to make sure that it had lots of pretty white fur on his Santa Hat and down the front and on the cuffs. So, I pulled out my Snowfall Accents Puff Paint to give him all the white fur he wanted. Puff Paint is really fun to play with. It's like magic when you heat it with the heat tool, and it puffs up.
Henry also said he needed some Spruce trees to put him in the Christmas Spirit, so I used the Tree Lot Dies, (a Sale-A-Bration FREEBIE) to cut a couple trees for him from Shaded Spruce cardstock. He said, "Every good Christmas Tree needs a little snow on it", so I used another die from the Tree Lot Dies, and Shimmery White cardstock to give him some snow.
After all this sewing and tree-chopping I had done for him, Henry still wasn't satisfied. He said he needed someplace to store the presents he was collecting for all his friends -- especially his newest friend Hilda.
Henry's request sort of reminded me how I am always looking for places to store my growing collection of stamping supplies, so I thought his point was valid. He did need a place to organize and store his gifts. So, I started looking for something he could use. First, I asked him if he could use his boat, but he said he still needed to use that for the rest of the summer, so then I asked him, "What about a washtub?" He thought about it for a while and decided that would be OK. He said he can take his baths in the lake for a while, so he could get along without it.
Henry's wash tub/storage bin is made from the darkest of the Silver Specialty Foils and a die from Hippo Dies. It is decorated with a small wreath and bow also made with a couple more Hippo Dies.
Finally, Henry was happy! He had a brand-new Santa Suit that fit, a couple of pretty Spruce Trees with Snow on them and a place to store his growing collection of gifts for his friends.
He wasn't really interested in the background behind all these things. So, because I was tired after doing all this work for Henry, I decided I needed to keep the background quick and simple. Since I find water coloring relaxing, I decided to do a color wash on watercolor paper. I gave Henry a Bermuda Bay sky and Shaded Spruce grass. I didn't really ask him if he liked it, but since he didn't complain, it must have been OK.
I did use the retired Sweet Little Stockings Bundle to create Henry's Santa Hat and Gifts, but Henry didn't mind. He told me I have so much stuff that I bought because I really liked it, and so I should just use it. What do you think? Did Henry give me good advice or bad?
Henry insisted on being on the inside of the card, also.
But this time he insisted on a summer version of his Santa Suit. He was complaining that the full suit was just too hot for August, so for his summer suit, he just got a vest. It was also made with the paper piecing technique, and he did agree to a little fur, but only if it just was on the front of his vest. Henry also had one extra gift that he couldn't fit in his wash tub. I told him he was buying too many gifts, but he told me that as long as he already bought it, I should put it next to him on the inside of the card. I obeyed.
I hope you have enjoyed getting to know Henry this week. He started getting a little bossy towards the end of the week, so next week I'm going to have some fun selling trees without him.
You got a sneak peak of my Trees for Sale in today's card, so next week we'll see what else is in that set to play with. But we're going to leave Henry to fend for himself.
If you would like to make this card, I have a FREE TUTORIAL for you to download at this link.
The products I used are shown in the Product List below. All Products are current except the Sweet Little Stockings Bundle. If you don't have a package or Santa Hat stamp in your stash, there is a cute package stamp in the current Santa's Delivery Stamp Set that would work great with the wash bucket, and the Jingle Jingle Jingle Stamp Set has a cute little Santa Hat.
