Christmas Blessings Card

Happy Monday, my sweet friends! I hope everyone had a sparkling weekend. :o)

Today I have a Christmas card to share with you! My first one that is actually red and green, which was fun. And the blurry factor in the photograph? Just pretend it's the snow blurring your vision. ;)

"Christmas blessings" (Interior sentiment... with no picture. Grr.)

If only the picture truly captured the inspiration and depth of this card. This is one of the stamps that pushed me to try Copics... I so badly wanted to color her! Our sweet Christmas fairy/angel is battling the winter storm to deliver a very special blessing. It may look a wee bit busy... but that is intentional. Hopefully it does not detract, which I somewhat question now that I'm finished. There is a layer of sheer glitter ribbon beneath the filigree border, which replicates the sparkling path of faith. The filigree border portrays the depth of the Lord's love for us... the sparkly intricacies represent the details of His plans, which we often do not know (if ever) until our blessing has come. The tiny bell attached to the angel's wing is sparkling with silver glitter, as are the tie thingies on her arm and legs. Her wings are trimmed in Stardust and her hair is topped with a bouquet made of Flower Soft. Why so extra lovely? She is delivering a Christmas miracle, so her inner light is sparkling bright with love. The card is softly encircled with red ribbon because we are always safe, guarded, protected, and preserved in the ultimate heavenly embrace of love. :o)

A few technical aspects... for some reason, I decided to try my hand at the beautiful (yet dreaded) hard-to-blend-well Copic reds and making folds in clothing. Why I did this in the same card is beyond me. Both were hard, particularly the folds. I studied pictures and watched videos beforehand, but proper execution clearly needs oodles of practice. But I am on my way (ish)! :o) Her wings are illuminated in red because she's just bursting with love and being propelled by that exquisite faithful love. I used several snowy elements in an attempt to depict a lot of snow in a few different ways. The dots on the sheer red ribbon, the embossing of the pearlescent base, the red and green snowflake paper, the sheer glitter ribbon on the scalloped piece, and of course the Cricut'ed snowflake and tiny smattering of rhinestones. (And of course a dusting of Sparkle Shimmer Spritz.) I wanted it to be a beautiful snowstorm since the purpose is our angel fighting to help us. Plus, even the storms of life behold beauty... we just need to train ourselves to search for it. :o) Our angel is pop-dotted not only for dimension, but also to encourage us to rise above our storms. :o)

Challenges entered:
 * Cooking With Cricut~ Purple and/or Green (with optional sketches)
 * Jingle Belles~ Softly Falling Snow (incorporate a 'soft' element)
 * Love To Crop~ Encircled and Hugged (loving circles)

Thank you for fluttering on over to visit me. :o) I wish you a sparkly beautiful day!

Key Recipe Components:
 * Cricut cartridges: Elegant Edges, Gypsy Wanderings, Storybook
 * Cuttlebug embossing folder: Swiss Dots
 * Paper: Core'dinations, DCWV, SEI
 * Stamp: Wee Stamps (Silver Fairy)
 * Copics: E25, E31, E50 (hair); E0000, E000, E00 (skin); YG11, YG13, YG17 (dress); R29, R27, R24, R22, R20 (wings)
 * Ribbon: Hobby Lobby, Casa Collection Special Occasion (Jo-Anns)
 * Twine: Trendy Twine
 * Miscellaneous: Flower Soft, iRock, Shimmer Spritz, Stickles