Frugal Phindy Challenge

One might wonder if there is anything frugal about making cards, and to that I would have to respond "not much". However there are artists/designers out there that are very generous with their creations. This week's challenge over on the Phindy's Place Challenge Blog was to make a frugal card in which at least one element was free. Now Phindy has been more than generous with free images. You can get them by becoming a member of her PCP group HERE(we'd love to have you become a member of the group and join us in the discussions). This image wasn't free, but I've been wanting to use it in a card forever. It's called First Christmas, and you can find it along with a whole bucket of wonderful images at Phindy's Store. My niece and nephew had their first child in September, so this card will be perfect for them. He's colored with Copics, and I love him in red on that Christmas paper. Don't you just want to pinch his cheeks?

So you're asking where's the free part of this challenge? Well I've gotten hooked on digital papers. With my CISS ink system, I don't have to worry about replacing cartridges so I've been collecting papers(I've got an extra external hard drive that I'm loading up with papers). This paper is a freebie from Summer Drigg's Old Fashioned Kit that she just recently put up on her blog, Summertime Designs. This train paper was perfect for a little boy. I love all her papers, and her talent and generosity are amazing. My sentiment is also free, since I created it in Photoshop. The train tag is a Dingbat font, so this worked out perfectly. Final touch was to add a Christmas bow under the baby, so he looks like he's all but wrapped as a gift. I do think babies are the best presents ever, don't you agree?