March Christmas card: Winter songbird

After all the birthday cards, I thought I'd share my March Christmas card for a little change of pace.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Songbird (Concord & 9th), Sincere Salutations
Paper: Thick Very Vanilla card stock
Ink: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, gold paint pen (Sharpie)
Accessories: Gold pearls (Paper Pumpkin leftover), sponge

I love the Songbird stamp set from Concord & 9th. The main image is just the bird on the branch, but you can customize it for any season by adding leaves, flowers, pinecones, etc. So fun!

I wasn't in the mood to color multiples of the same card (partly because I'm still intimidated about coloring realistic image), so I went with a very clean and simple monochrome design for my Christmas card. I stamped the bird on a Very Vanilla card base and then added a few pine branchlets, two pinecones, and two berry clusters, all in Early Espresso ink.

I did want to have a little glitz on my card, so I used a gold paint pen to color the berries and add a frame. To make the frame I cut a piece of card stock about 3-3/4" x 5" and placed it on top of the stamped card front. I held it in place while I traced around the edge, lifting my pen to skip over any stamped images.

I sponged Crumb Cake ink around the edges of the card front and finished it off with a simple gold pearl in the upper left corner. What do you think: clean and elegant or too plain and simple?

Thanks for stopping by!