Merry Christmas!

Again, behind posting.  Trying to squeeze in.  Yikes!  Merry Christmas two days late!

This is my Christmas card this year.  When I saw the Heartfelt Creations Shepherd Scene stamps three years ago at the scrapbook convention I fell in love.  I resisted the purchase- times were financially tough then and I couldn't afford the purchase and attending the scrapbook convention too.  In 2012, I could resist no longer mainly because I got a free stamp set for taking a Heartfelt Creations class.  Still, the 2012 Christmas card design was already in development and this stamp set didn't make the cut. 

2013 seemed just the right year to make this card the highlight.  I wanted to play with watercoloring- not my forte.  Here's the details:

• The Shepherd Scene is stamped with black Archival Ink.  The shading is done with a Faded Jeans Distress Marker.  A water pen was then loaded with a little Faded Jeans Distress Ink and washed over the entire image.  This is what created the "cloud" like effect over the image.  It might be hard to see in the picture.
• The star was enhanced with a glue pen and some microfine silver glitter. 
• The image was cut out using Brandy's Nestabilities Labels 4.  It was a perfect fit for the card.
• The frame image was cut out using Brandy's Nestabilities Romantic Rectangles using a blue cardstock.  Truthfully, this cut and that color of paper simply made my Christmas cards this year.  It also sold me on getting a Grand Calibur which I achieved much later in the year after I borrowed all these supplies from Brandy.
• The poinsettia was stamped with Faded Jeans Distress Ink and cut using my Heartfelt Creations stamps and dies.  The poinsettia leaves were cut using a Magnolia Doohickies die.  The size is just perfect for the Spellbinders/Heartfelt Creations Layered Poinsettia dies.
• The branched leaf was cut using my Spellbinders Foliage die.  The posies were cut using my Heartfelt Creations Posy Patch die.  The centers of the posies were created using a white Pearl Pen. 

• The inside was embellished with a sentiment stamp I found at Hobby Lobby, stamped in Faded Jeans Distress Ink.

All in all, I am most proud of this year's Christmas card.  I think I say that each year, but this year I really mean it.  It will take some thinking as to what I'm going to accomplish next year.  The layers/height of this card was probably borderline appropriate for the post office.  It was a pleasure making all 50 of these cards.  I can't hardly wait to start on next years!