it's beginning to look a lot like ♥MONSTAS♥!

which, for me, means that it's really starting to feel like the build up to the official holiday card-making season has begun. ok, yeah, granted, i've been making my christmas cards all year long over at ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ but this is the first official monsta card of 2012-- made in honor of our "creature feature" prompt that will run for the next fortnight-- so it's quite a special day! for the record, YOU do not have to make a card with a monsta on it! in fact, ANY living creature will qualify, from reindeer to elves to penguins to angels to moose to... well, heck, i s'pose you could even put PEOPLE on there, in a pinch!

but i like monstas. i might have mentioned that before. maybe even a few times. like, for instance, here and here and even waaaaaaaay back here! :)

(monsta cut from a roll of (sadly discontinued) "mini mutant" giftwrap by paperchase; vintage: ledger paper; patterned paper: echo park, love elsie, basic grey, dcwv, bo bunny; glossy black cardstock: ranger; pearls: kaiser; labels: dymo; santa hat: recollections; ink: colorbox; pen: copic multiliner; adhesives: staples brand gluetape runner, 3m foam tape, sewing machine; other: typewriter)

ok, yeah, there's A LOT of color and pattern goin' on here; and, i mean, it's a lot even for ME, which is already a lot, isn't it?! but what can i say? monstas enjoy a lively environment! actually, if you place a monsta in a dull environment, they will immediately want to liven it up, in quite spectacular ways, so really you're better off not fighting it. they also enjoy a tasty christmas tree from time to time, although apparently, the trouble with evergreens being so... ummmmm... GREEN, is that it makes it harder to tell which ones are ripe. occupational hazard.

i'm quite proudly linkin' this little dude up at 52-card-pickup; (hi, patrice!) and i've used this week's rather fab  merry monday sketch, which is #37 and looks a bit like this. actually, it looks EXACTLY like this. go figure:

i hope you'll hop over to ♥JINGLE BELLES♥ to see stephanie's card and link up your own "creature feature" between now and halloween, because i cannot wait to see what you will make! ♥