Wish for Peace with a Little Vintage Feel

Hi Everyone.  Happy Monday night.  I hope you all had a great weekend.

So…… yep…. it's that time of year again.  CHRISTMAS CARDS!  I promised that I wasn't going to do Christmas cards so early this year, but… with the card drive in place and a couple of challenge sites looking for Christmas cards, well…. I had to participate, right?  The card features one of my all time favorite sets – A Wish for Peace

For all of you who have participated in our OWH card drives – and are planning to join us for the Christmas Card drive – here's a little something to keep you going.  OWH have created this fabulous video commercial along the lines of the Old Spice ad.  You know…. THAT old spice ad.  Who could forget the "look at your husband and now look back at me" old spice ad…. anyway, enough of thinking about THAT ad :-)  Go check out THIS AD FROM OWH.  I know you will enjoy it!  Oh…. and if you haven't seen the Old Spice ad – check this link

For some reason this year I have been drawn to doing something a little more vintage for Christmas.  The fabulous design team across at ourcreativecorner are having a theme challenge this week – Christmas cards.  I used an archive sketch (tms10) from the talented team across at tuesdaymorningsketches to create this card.  

Card recipe:  (all supplies SU unless otherwise noted)

• Card stock:  Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, Whisper White
• Stamps:  A Wish for Peace, Soft Holly wheel
• Accessories:  Markers, Embossing Powder, grosgrain ribbon, Shimmer Paint, Embossing plate (non-SU)
• Tools, Big Shot, Wheel Guide, Heat Gun, paper snips, Stampin' Dimensionals

Card instructions:

• Cut Cherry Cobbler to A2 (4 1/4" x 11 – scored and folded oat 5 1/2")
• Run front of card base through the big shot with an embossing folder and rub Sanding Block over the top of the embossed image to highlight the holly
• Stamp sentiment with White Craft Ink and emboss with White Embossing powder and heat set
• Cut Always Artichoke to 5 1/2 x 2".  Ink up Soft Holly wheel with Always Artichoke ink and stamp twice onto Always Artichoke layer
• Cut another Always Artichoke layer this time ti 3 1/4" square.  Run through Big Shot with the same embossing plate that you used for the card base
• Stamp image onto Whisper White card stock and color using your favorite markers.  I then painted "snow" (using the Shimmer Paint) onto the tree branches, the roof of the church steeple, the roof of the church and the ground. 
• I cut the Whisper White layer to 3" square and adhered it to the Always Artichoke square using dimensionals
• Adhere focal image to card base using dimensionals
• Stamp the dove onto Whisper white card stock and cut around it using your paper snips.  Adhere to the top right hand corner of the card.
• Final thing – wrap a piece of ribbon around the card and tie.  Insert a piece of white card stock or paper on the inside of the card, watermark the dove image on the middle of the inside page and stamp inside sentiment

Tips:

• A vintage feel to your cards doesn't have to mean lots of embelishments.  Sometimes its the colors and the images that work to give you the vintage feel.  In this case, the Always Artichoke and Cherry Cobbler colors give you that "old fashioned" look.  I love these two colors together. 
• Many of us will remember Christmas cards from our youth – they had lots of glittery, shimmery light on the trees and elements like lighted lamp posts.  In this case, I tried to create that feel by coloring the window in the steeple warmer shades of yellow
• the soft holly also adds to the older feel and perfectly echoes the embossed card base.  Lastly, the sentiment itself has an "older" feel.
• What was my inspiration for this card – it all came from the Holly Wheel.  I realized I just don't give it enough ink.  When I saw the sketch from TMS – it really allowed me to build the card around the stamped vertical strip.

Adelle, I can't wait to see pics of your new stamping space… it's going to be all worth it in the end!  Brenda, Bethany and Cherie – so sorry we couldn't connect yesterday!  I really missed seeing you all!  Janna's OWH cards will be featured tomorrow night, so don't forget to come back and take a look for some inspiration!  Oh…. pop along to Nance's blog and check out this particular card, made with the Just Believe set.  Nance is incredibly creative, so pop along and browse her blog posts.  You can check out her cards HERE

Prayers as always for Trish.  Trish, wonderful to see your comment.  Remember to stay strong, my friend and remember the end goal.  I know its tough, but we all think about you and pray for your continued strength.  Germaine, I hope they manage to find out what is really wrong this time!  Sue – you and John are in my thoughts and prayers as you go through this recovery process.  For T and Pri, Arthur (who is still waiting for his procedure), Robin and Lou's dad, Hugo.  Sue is a regular visitor and commenter on my blog, so, please would you pop along to her site and leave her and John a little love – they really could do with it right now.

I hope you all have a fabulous Tuesday and get to spend time doing the things you love with those you love the most.

Don't forget to smile at a stranger – it may change their life.

Hugs to you all and thank you all so much for spending a little time in my area of the blogosphere.

Jaydee