Elegant Santa Christmas Card

Hello Everyone!  This week is Thanksgiving and I hope you are all enjoying the holiday season! 

We live far away from our family so we won't be celebrating with them this Thanksgiving.  Our kids may be grown now with families of their own, but my husband and I still have each other and we will have a cozy little Thanksgiving of our own, just the two of us.

When our home was bustling with children, I wondered what it would be like someday when our kids were grown.  I must admit that it can be lonely sometimes; however, there are wonderful things about it, too.  My husband and I really do enjoy each other's company and have lots of fun together.  Our life isn't quite as serious as it used to be when we were raising our family, which means we don't worry like we used to.  We are having fun dating again, too--something I thought was long over, and now we actually have time to stop and smell the roses!

We thank The Lord for our wonderful family and all of our beautiful grandchildren, but we are also thankful for our little family of two.  God has blessed us with so many gifts, and among them a most precious gift--the gift of us.  Together we've lived through a lifetime of experiences and we're looking forward to many more adventures to come! 

In the spirit of the holiday season, I'm sharing a Christmas card I made using one of the Santas that I shared with you in my last post here.  I decided to do an elegant card with this image and I really like the way it turned out.  I entered this card in the Cardz TV Design Challenge #21, "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas".

My card base is a bit larger to accommodate the image and its mat.  I folded an 8-1/2x11 piece of cardstock in half to create a finished size of 5-1/2 x 8-1/2.  I used my Cricut Expression and Elegant Edges Cricut Cartridge-Stamp (Pg. 37) to create the "stamp" mat for Santa.  You can read more about that in my last post here.

Santa is mounted on foam tape to set him apart from the card base.  I also added two strips of silver embossed foil cardstock to the left edge, topped with a silver snowflake cut from a Martha Stewart punch.  A rhinestone was added to the center for a little sparkle.

Just right of Santa is matted cardstock tied with a bow.  I added two more rhinestone studded snowflakes, along with a small ornament that I cut with my Cricut Expression using the Christmas Cheer cartridge (HohohoS - Pg.89).  Here is a closer look:

The ornament base is cut from silver embossed foil cardstock and topped with a circle from black sparkle cardstock.  Centered on that is a Merry Christmas stamp from the Whimsy Holiday Postmark set.

For the inside of the card, I followed a similar layout to the card front.  The sentiment is stamped in black and embossed with silver metallic embossing powder.  Hopefully you can see the shimmer below...

For the right edge, I tied a small bow and added three rhinestones in graduating sizes.

 

Well, that's my card for today.  I hope you enjoyed it!  I'll be back soon to post another card using the same Santa image, only this time in sepia tone.  You can view the image in my previous post here.  I plan to do a card with an entirely different feel.  It will be fun to compare the two once I'm finished.

I'm sending you wishes for a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving, whether celebrating with a large family or simply among yourselves.  May God bless you all with health and happiness this holiday season!

I hope to see you again soon!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Merilee

Recipe

Cardstock:  Best Occasions Glitter Paper Pack; Fancy Pants Designs-My Family Collection; AC Specialty Paper-Foil; Recollections Cardstock; X-Press It-Blending Card
Stamps:  Flourishes-Santa I Believe SS085; Whimsy Stamps-Holiday Circle Postmarks
Inks:  Memento-Tuxedo Black; Tim Holtz-Black Soot, Festive Berries
Markers and Pens: Letraset Promarkers - Sets 1 and 2, Skin Tones and Skin Accents; Sharpie Extra Fine Point Markers; Sakura Stardust Galaxy Gelly Roll Pens and Classic Bright White Gelly Roll Pens
Ribbons and Cord:  Really Reasonable Ribbon-November Assortment; Cousin-Waxed Linen Cord
Embellishments:  Rhinestones-In Bloom by Bead Design; Snowflakes-Martha Stewart Snowflake Punch
Cricut Cartridges:  Elegant Edges-Stamp (Pg. 37); Christmas Cheer-HohohoS (Pg. 89)
Adhesives:  Zig 3-Way Glue Pen; Pop Dots; Zots Mini Glue Dots; Scor-Tape; Scotch Mounting Tape; Scotch ATG
Tools:  Tim Holtz Blending Tool; Martha Stewart Score Board; Fiskars Paper Trimmer; Fiskars Easy Stamp Press; T-Square; Ink Daubers; Heat Gun; The Paper Studio Paper Snips; Scotch ATG Gun; Becca's Peg Bow Maker; Martha Stewart Snowflake Punch; Martha Stewart Self Healing Mat; Bazzill Basics Splat Mat