Vintage "Joy to the World"

Well, if you've participated in each monthly challenge so far with Christmas Cards All Year 'Round then you have five  Christmas cards made and ready for the holidays which will be here before we know it!  This time the theme for the month of June  at Christmas Cards All Year 'Round is "Vintage."  I love a vintage theme and had a great time creating this card.  The challenge starts on their blog tomorrow, June 1st and runs through the entire month of June.

I started off by inking the edges of my white cardbase with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. This card was created with lots of things from my stash plus bits and pieces of different elements.  The background paper was a scrap from a 12x12 sheet of My Mind's Eye "About Me" Lavender Collage Paper.  I also inked it with the Frayed Burlap.  I created the shabby bow by using some beige Hug Snug Seam Binding Ribbon and spritzing it with Forever Red Perfect Pearls Mist and Dylusions Cherry Pie Ink Spray.  I scrunched it up while wet and dried it with my Tim Holtz heat gun.  Once it was dry, I tied it into a loose bow which I wrapped around the background paper and attached it to the card with a foam dot.  The fabulous vintage Santa was from a scrap of paper that I've been saving because he is so wonderful.  I cannot remember what paper line he is from.  I trimmed it down to fit my card, rounded the corners with my Chomper and then wadded it up a bit to give it crease lines which I then inked with the Frayed Burlap.  Next, I glued a sprig of Petaloo berries trim to the top of the bow and added loops of stringed pearls.  While that all dried, I took a bit of beige crochet lace and used a needle and thread to gather it up into a flower.  I held the center together with an off-white pearl brad from American Crafts "Dear Lizzy" Elements pack and glued the crochet  flower on top of the sprig of berries.  

Here's a close up of my flower:

To finish it off, I added sticker words from my stash to spell out "Joy"  and "To the World."  To make those stickers a bit more vintage, I lightly sanded the surface of them and touched a bit of the Frayed Burlap ink to each one.

This will be my last card that I will design for Christmas Cards All Year 'Round.  My six month term has gone by very quickly and while I could have stayed on for another six months, I felt that I was not able to give my full creative attention to the team because of my other challenges and because I will be teaching classes now and then at my LSS.  However, I do encourage each of you to continue to visit the Christmas Cards All Year 'Round blog for inspiration and to join in on the challenges.  After all, it's a great way to make a few Christmas cards throughout the year!

Happy Crafting,