Christmas Bells and Holly

Hello Blogger Friends! Thanks for taking the time to stop and visit with the Charmed Life Blog this last Saturday in November.

 

Well our Thanksgiving Day celebration has come and gone for another year. We had a wonderful time with 4 generations sitting around our table having our Thanksgiving dinner. I spent days preparing for it and compliments were abounding. I love preparing a special meal for my family.

 

Now it's time to think seriously about Christmas.  So if you haven't started your cards as yet, I am showing one today that could very easily be mass produced. You could change it up by simply using a different designer paper.

 

So let's get started on some details of how I created my card. The bells are part of the Christmas Holly Bells die and the corner holly is from the Holly & Berries die.

 

Looks like both these dies are on a 50% off sale. In fact there is a Black Friday blowout sale going on as well as a new Black Friday "camping" release. So it's a good day to shop with this being small business Saturday. Plus you can get some great deals on Christmas dies. Check out the CottageCutz Pinterest Board for lots of inspiration from the design team.

 

Real Red Card Base: 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"

Soft Suede Layering Panel: 4" x 5 5/16"
Deck The Halls Designer Paper Layer: 3 7/8" x 5 1/8"

I started my card by choosing my designer paper. It's from the Stampin'-Up "deck the halls" collection. That determined my card colors and the shades of red and green I would use for my holly die cuts. I used real red from Stampin'-Up and a ivy green cardstock from Bazzill. I cut the holly leaves 2x because I like a bit of dimension with my dies.

Cut all the dies and now I am ready for assembling. The bells are cut from a metallic gold on kraft cardstock. I thought this shade of gold went well with the soft suede color on the designer paper. I tried a lighter shade of gold but didn't like it as well.

Decided on my sentiment and stamped that in a real red ink on crumb cake cardstock.  I cut it out with the stitched rounded rectangle die.  It makes it stand out a bit and adds interest to the card. The patterned paper was a bit busy to stamp directly on there.

 

To complete my card I added a few drops of glossy accents to the holly berries. I hope this card has given you some inspiration. If you want to recreate it for your Christmas cards, the dies are on sale including the stitched rectangle die.

 

Well, that's it for me for this post so until next time.........God bless.

 

 

I am also entering:

1.  AllSorts has an anything Christmas challenge.

2.  My Sheri Crafts has a winter/Christmas challenge.

3.  Brown Sugar Blog has an anything goes challenge.

4.  Creative Knockouts has a Tis the Season challenge.

5.  Moving Along with the Times has an anything goes with Christmas.

6.  Time Out Challenge has a Christmas theme w/optional of glitter or shimmer. I used metallic gold cardstock and glossy accents.