Hey, folks! What a week! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Did you get lots of shopping done on Black Friday? I don’t go out anymore because my sister is with me that day, and this year was no exception. I spent Black Friday with her, totally engrossed in a 2-day Deal or No Deal mega-marathon (nothing but Deal or No Deal on the Game Show Network from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm both Thursday and Friday). It was very stimulating (NOT!). It seems like it’s been one thing after another for the last couple of weeks, but I did finally finish a project that’s been percolating in the back of my mind for a month or so. I don’t know if you remember, but back in October I shared a link to a terrific project that Linda Elbourne posted on her blog. I decided then and there that I wanted to make a special Christmas card for my dad based on her project. Well, I have to say that this is probably the most ambitious project I’ve ever tried. I’ve struggled, cussed, messed up, started over, and changed directions more times than I can count while doing this, but I think in the end it turned out OK. Let me know what you think about it!
Here’s a picture of the front of the card.
Ignore the thing sticking out of the side for now. You really shouldn’t be able to see it, but the danged thing is too bulky to close. You can see I tried the icicle technique Tim Holtz used on his first tag, but mine doesn’t look as good as his (of course!). Part of that is because when it comes to some things, I’m so impatient! I knew I had Picket Fence Stickles, but when I couldn’t find them I decided to improvise with a combination of Rock Candy and the pewter color. Of course, as soon as I had that combo globbed on, I found the Picket Fence, so I put that on top of it. That’s why the whole thing looks pretty bulky. Oh well. One thing I am happy about is the way the Prima poinsettia turned out. I found the red brads in the center at Archiver’s in the $1.99 bin awhile ago—I wasn’t sure what I would ever use them for, but they looked interesting. I think they add the perfect touch of sparkle. There’s a lot more sparkle and shine on this—I don’t know how well it shows up in the photo. The bells were added this morning to cover a mistake—I got punch happy with the Crop-a-dile last night and punched holes where I shouldn’t have. Ergo, bells.
When you open the first flap, this is what the card looks like:
I really dug into the grungeboard shapes for this card! The letters, holly, trees, and reindeer are all grungeboard.
Now here’s the card opened fully:
The verse isn’t specifically a Christmas verse, but somehow it feels like a Christmas sentiment to me. It was especially appropriate for what I wanted to say to my dad. The thing in the middle of the center panel is a door made out of Ten Seconds Studio metal. The snowflake is cut out of the same metal using the Spellbinder’s Build A Flake 1, just like the one I gave away. Of course, I’ve already lost one. (Like I said—what a week!) I’m hopeful it will turn up at some point. The door is hanging a little wonky, despite all my efforts to glue the brad butts to within an inch of their lives!
Finally, here is the door opened:
Let me tell you—that little box was a pain to make, attach, and decorate! I think it turned out pretty cute, though. Aren’t the ornaments cute? I found those at Hobby Lobby a couple of weeks ago.
So—there you have it—my dad’s Christmas card! I’m going to link this to the Gingersnap Creations blog for their Winter Wonderland challenge. I think it fits the bill!
Now I need to get to grocery. I have to make a dish for a Christmas party tonight and wrap my white elephant gift. I hope to be back tomorrow to show you something else (assuming I don’t have too good a time at the party tonight!).
