Merry Monday #259 "Wishing you Peace, Love & Joy"

It's good to be back today sharing another Christmas card for this week's Merry Monday Challenge! I'm getting so excited to use all of the these holiday cards I've been making! 

Deanne has asked us to add a Christmas tree to our cards this week! Seems simple enough, right? Today's card is my THIRD attempt at creating something for this challenge. I decided to go for a "Boutique Chic" look and I really like how it turned out, despite all of my previous failed attempts at anything decent.  You can check out the rules and details for this challenge HERE as well as see what the other designers have come up with. I hope you get a chance to play along!

To begin, I stamped the tree and stand images using Versamark ink onto a piece of Pure Poppy cardstock and then heat embossed it using gold powder. I've had the Tree Trimming Trio stamp set for years, but I don't think I have EVER used this particular image. I was glad to put it to good use. I like how striking it looks all in gold.

I stamped a few of the included "ornament" images onto a scrap of Stamper's Select White Cardstock using Pure Poppy ink and then punched them out with a small circle punch. I added them to the tree image using foam squares for some added dimension. I also added some Wink of Stella on the top of each one as well as some Nuvo Glaze for some realistic shine. The finishing touch to the tree is a handful of gold sequins glued to the centers of a few of the gold circles making up the tree. I just love how it looks...simple, but special.

I thought the tree looked naked without a star on the top, so I cut a star shape from the center of one of the Fancy Flakes Dies using glitter paper. I attached it to the top using a foam square for some dimension.  

The sentiment, which is also included in the Tree Trimming Trio set, is heat embossed in gold as well onto vellum and then wrapped around the card. I didn't want anything to hide the base of the tree, so vellum was the perfect finishing touch.