Sing Unto the Lord Christmas Card

Happy Sunday, my sweet friends! I hope your day is beautiful. :o)

Two posts in two days... this is truly magical! ;) For a couple of days I've had an idea for a very special card inspired by a few challenges. Against all odds, I'm ecstatic that it came together last night to beat the first deadline. :o) I had a particular vision for this card and I'm happy to say it mostly came to pass as intended. On the surface, it's a rich purple Christmas card (my first handmade Christmas card!)... but it's truly so much more.

"Sing unto the Lord, all the earth" (Psalm 96:1)

While purple Christmas cards aren't the norm, I went this route because it's a personal card that required my favorite color. Celebrating Christmas with songs of love and praise... while also honoring my grandparents. As some of you know, I lost my grandpa this summer. So I made this card especially with him in mind, and also my other grandparents who have been gone for a long time. My vision is singing praises up above to my Lord, where my sweet grandpa now resides. Looking upward to see him and keep him closer. I used those particular Elegant Edges cuts to make it like the angel is nestled amongst fluffy clouds. When I first saw this stamp, I thought it was a dancer. While technically she's a fairy, to me she's a dancing angel... dancing her heart out for the Lord and her loved ones on a purple Christmas morning. It's too new to elaborate beyond that right now, but I'm sure you understand the inspiration (despite my poor wording).

It's so windy outside that I had a hard time getting a picture, which is unfortunate. Unseen are details such as the tiny yellow glow I put around the angel because she's glowing with the inner light of faith. The ribbon separating the colors is sheer glitter, adding a gorgeous shimmer along the top half of the embossed pearlescent cardstock. I made the rosette with sheet music patterned paper, so in person you can see music notes tucked all along the scallops and folds. I centered it with a fabric flower inked with a Copic, then added a butterfly punched out of the same purple paper as the background. (And of course lined the body with tiny rhinestones.)

The angel's hair has silver stars, her wings are completely coated in Stardust, and the entire card was given a spritz (or three) of Sparkle Shimmer Spritz because everything sparkles in the heavenlies.. especially with my grandpa there.

Challenges entered:
 * Cooking With Cricut~ Heritage/Grandparents
 * Fantabulous Cricut~ Make Some Music (instruments or musical notes)
 * Frosted Designs~ Punches
 * Jingle Belles~ Hybrid Holidays (incorporate at least one digital stamp or element)

Thank you for dancing on over to see me today! Have a gorgeous rest of the weekend. :o)

Key Recipe Components:
 * Cricut cartridge: Elegant Edges, Gypsy Wanderings
 * Cuttlebug embossing folder: Victoria
 * Paper: Core'dinations, DCWV, stash
 * Stamp: Tiddly Inks~ Fairy Fae Catches a Star (I removed the stars so I could use music notes)
 * Copics: E000, E00 (skin); E25, E31, E50 (hair); V12, V15, V17 (dress); BV0000 (wing accents beneath Stardust)
 * Sentiment: Computer generated
 * Punches: Fiskars butterfly, Martha Stewart Small Monarch
 * Flower: Paperbilities
 * Miscellaneous: Fiskars Seagull paper edgers, iRock, Shimmer Spritz, Stickles