Santa's Sleigh Archives - Shannon Kay Paperie

I’ve been on a roll with fall cards and colors, and will go BACK to fall cards and colors, but I wanted to take a moment to remind us all that there are only 13 Fridays before Christmas! Eek! So if I only make one Christmas card a week from here on out, I will only have 13 made. That will NOT do at all…what is on YOUR to-do list? Anything yet?

Measurements:

Card Base 4 1/2″ x 11″, scored at 5 1/2″
Next layer 4″ x 5 1/4″
Top layer (DSP) 2 1/2″ (cut at 1 1/2″) x 4 1/2

Details:

I wasn’t sure about black as a Christmas card but have to say that after using this fabulous paper, I’m a convert! Basic Black and Old Olive look stunning together…very classy.

I kept very close to the sketch with this card, simply changing out the rectangle on the left hand side for the Christmas Tree from Santa’s Sleigh. I stamped the tree in Tuxedo Black right onto a simple pattern from the Merry Little Christmas DSP pack, and then die cut the tree with the coordinating die.
The tree is popped up off of the simple black star pattern DSP, also from the Merry Little Christmas DSP pack, and next to it is a sweet sentiment from the Christmas in the Making stamp set. I stamped the sentiment in Tuxedo Black and then again in Versamark and then heat set clear embossing powder on it to make the sentiment really pop.

Simple Black Baker’s Twine looped around the card and tied in a pretty bow give the card a nice balance of the three elements. Old Olive Enamel Dots are the perfect finishing touch!
I purposely kept all of the design elements clean, no layers or extras. This would be a good card to mass produce.
And isn’t the plaid pattern I used for the envelope liner fabulous?!? It’s so pretty, it’s hard to cut into!

I kept the inside simple as well with just a simple sentiment from the Snowflake Sentiments stamp set stamped in Tuxedo Black. The set also as this A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E little swirl which I stamped in Old Olive. I used my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to get the placement I wanted.

Thank you to the Freshly Made Sketches design team for another outstanding and inspirational sketch! Without it this card would never have been born!

And remember, only THIRTEEN more Fridays until Christmas!!! 🙂

Supplies:

Card Stock: Stamper’s Select White by Papertrey Ink

Pattern Paper: Merry Little Christmas by Stampin’ Up!

Ink: Old Olive by Stampin’ Up! and Tuxedo Black by Memento

Stamps: Santa’s Sleigh, Christmas in the Making and Snowflake Sentiments by Stampin’ Up!

Dies: Santa’s Sleigh, Layering Circles and Envelope Liner Die (retired) by Stampin’ Up!

Tools: Big Shot, Heat Tool, Clear Embossing Powder, Embossing Buddy, Stamp-A-Ma-Jig by Stampin’ Up!; MISTI by My Sweet Petunia

Embellishments: Old Olive Enamel Dots and Basic Black Baker’s Twine by Stampin’ Up!

Other: Medium Whisper White Envelope by Stampin’ Up!

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I know…you’re thinking “whhaaaattttt????” But it IS July and despite the fact that it was 106 degrees yesterday, we cannot hide from the fact that Christmas is only 170 days away! Time to start thinking about those beautiful handmade cards we promise ourselves we are going to create and send out every year…let’s make THIS the year we actually DO it!!

Details:

When I think of Christmas cards, I think of sending everyone a beautifully detailed, intricate one-of-a-kind Christmas card…and then I wake up and realize that the only way I will EVER get done is to mass produce! So…I make cards that can easily be recreated and for me that means simple and BOLD.
I absolutely adore this particular pattern from the Be Merry Designer Series Paper pack, it is SO striking! I originally had the entire background as this pattern paper but in the end relented, if only to follow the challenge sketch…so I added it as an envelope liner instead 🙂

Are you wondering if those white splatters are a mistake?? Nope! The paper comes that way and I LOVE it! It adds such a fun texture to the design!
Simple stamps and their coordinating dies, both called Santa’s Sleigh, make an eye-catching focal point without a lot of fuss – always a plus in my book! Santa’s Sleigh is a carryover from last year’s holiday catalog and I am delighted to have another year to play with it!!
I have been pondering this Merry Christmas sentiment from the Better Together stamp set for a long time, trying to figure out what to use it with so it would look good…I think it works perfectly in this design, very graphic and clean!
The simple wreath, stamped in Garden Green, around the reindeer’s neck added a sweet pop of color to an otherwise monochromatic card. I stamped it, die cut it, and made a snip at the top so I could wrap it around the reindeer’s neck.
I added a small strip of Cherry Cobbler card stock at the top of the pattern paper. I thought it was a nice detail to have it popping out above the ribbon. The ribbon is retired, probably from last year, but I didn’t have any current ribbon in Cherry Cobbler and this ribbon is so soft and flexible, it makes a great looking knot!
The large enamel dot is retired product as well but I used it in conjunction with two other sizes of Cherry Cobbler Enamel Shapes for a fun detail that also goes along with the sketch. So cute!

I used the coordinating stamp from the Better Together stamp set to stamp the inside of my holiday card. You could easily stamp directly onto the inside of the card without adding the Cherry Cobbler card stock frame…I just like layers 🙂

This sketch from Narelle of the Freshly Made Sketches design team was my jumping off point for my first Christmas card of the year: