Peace on Earth

I have a pretty Christmas mat pack from K&CO, and I wanted to make a card that worked with this paper from it. Since the paper is kind of old fashioned, sort of like wallpaper, I decided I shouldn't make it too fancy.

I antiqued around the edges of the mat with Distress Antique Linen, then mounted it onto an ivory 5x7 card, then drew around the edges with a Pentouch gold pen.

I decided to use this older JustRite stamp for the focal point. After stamping the border and the center onto ivory CS, I cut them out with Spellbinders Labels Eighteen, and went around each piece with the Antique Linen and the Pentouch. The wreath is colored with Copics, and the verse is colored with chalks.

When I was in Rochester, I got something called Fantastix because I liked the fact that I would be able to use chalks in small spaces. When I got home, I read the reviews, and many people didn't like the fantastix. They had problems blending with them. I must say, that I really liked them. I used the finer point one to color and shade the chalk on this one, and it seemed quick and easy. (I thought I'd add that in case anyone else is wondering about them. Some people really hate them, but I liked them).

Anyway, when I got the centerpiece done, I held it onto the card, and it needed something. I decided to die cut all of the Spellbinders Fancy Tags Two, and tried them around my centerpiece, to see if any of them would look good around it. I liked this one, and went over it with the distress ink, then cut it up and put the pieces around my wreath. It added just enough to the design to fill out the empty space and look nice on the card. I attached the wreath and tag pieces, then mounted the verse dimensionally over that.

Then I added Queen & Co pearls to the corners. It still looked kind of blank, but I didn't want to get too fancy, so I tried a bow on it. That seemed to dress it up enough so it looked finished. (There isn't antiquing under the bow, it's a shadow from the flash on my camera). Anyway, it looks quite different from most of my Christmas cards, but I kind of liked it when it was done.