Christmas Cards - monochromatic challenge

Christmas cards!! I have started on Christmas cards so I will have the amount I need in November!! I started in January last year but for some reason I have had a slow start this year but I am planning on catching up!! I created these for Sylvia's Christmas Card Challenge for March - Monochromatic!!

I started with the ribbon, found cardstock to coordinate and auditioned my stamps to see what would work. I had originally wanted to use the stand of trees from the Lovely as a Tree (SU) set but it was a bit too long to work well. I am happy with the fir tree. I stamped it in white pigment ink and embossed it with a mixture of white embossing powder and Iridescent Ice (SU). Added a little greeting and embossed it the same way. I layered this element onto a white layer with distressed edges.

I added the ribbon, a green punchie with a small white snowflake sequin and attached it with a tiny white brad. I embossed the background green layer using the Swiss Dots embossing folder (CB), ran my white pigment pad gently over the bumps and embossed them with the same mixture of embossing powders. Added a couple of pieces of ribbon and mounted it to a white card front. The image layer is attached to the card front using 3D foam tape to raise it from the surface for a bit of dimension. I made six of these cards!! I do plan on adding inserts and envelopes yet before I store these away because that will finish them off completely and they will only require addresses, postage and a newsletter to be on their way!! I had not prepared inserts last year for most of the cards I made and it just took more time to get them out the door!!

Have you started your Christmas cards?? I highly recommend doing them monthly!! There are so many benefits including spending a bit more time to make them special, having a variety of designs and they are ready to go when you are ready to send them!! I have several Christmas card challenge blogs listed at the top of "Places I like to visit" on the right hand sidebar. Go check them out and see if you can get inspired to start your Christmas cards early this year!!

Therese