January's Christmas card

After all the hubbub of Christmas died down, I decided that this year I'm going to work on making Christmas cards all year long. Usually I end up making most of my Christmas cards in October and November, when all the new holiday products are coming out and I'm starting to feel the Christmas spirit. I always manage to get my cards done, but that's really when I should be working on making gifts or other crafty projects. I figured if I make a few cards every month I should be able to have 50 or 60 done by the end of September, which is a big chunk of what I need. So here is my card for January:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Paper: Thick Very Vanilla, Old Olive card stock; silver and gold papers (retired); sheet music (recycled); Natural Composition Specialty Designer Series Paper
Ink: Gold metallic paint pen (Sharpie)
Accessories: Joyful Noel dies (Corncord & 9th), gold Wink of Stella glitter brush pen, Stitching Lines dies (Essentials by Ellen), Year of Cheer washi tape, linen thread, 4mm and 6mm cupped sparkling clear sequins (Pretty Pink Posh), Dimensionals, Art Glitter Glue (Art Institute Glitter)

I made six cards with this design, and I really love the way they turned out. I bought this die set and the coordinating stamps in November, but I didn't have a chance to use them before Christmas, so I knew I wanted to use them for my first 2018 Christmas card. (I didn't use the stamps on the card front, but I did stamp one of the sentiments inside the card.) I die cut each letter from a different type of paper, mixing textures and patterns. On the Old Olive wreath I used a metallic paint pen to create gold "berries" and added a linen thread bow on the bottom.

I wanted to keep a simple background, so I used my gold Wink of Stella glitter brush pen to flick gold spatter on a thick Very Vanilla card base. I adhered a strip of thin gold washi tape along the bottom of the card and added a strip of faux stitching above that. The finishing touch was three clear sequins, which add a little extra sparkle but don't detract from the focal image.

Now that I've got a start on my Christmas cards for this year I just have to keep it up! Thanks for stopping by!