Merry Monday #282 {Silent Night, Holy Night}

The weeks are just flying by way too fast! How is it already Monday again? I need time to SSSSSSSLLLLLLOOOOOWWWW down! Well, regardless, it IS Monday, so that means I have a new card for the Merry Monday Christmas Challenge!

This week Linda has asked us to make a card using this photo as inspiration! I'm realizing that I definitely need to get a candle image. I have needed/wanted one for a few challenges now and have just had to go in a different direction! Anyway, this photo is chock full of inspiration, regardless of the candle. I decided to use a lot of red, greenery and a few other touches that I will explain in my post.

To begin, I dry embossed a piece of Pure Poppy cardstock using a quatrefoil embossing folder by The Paper Studio that I picked up at Hobby Lobby. If you look closely at the ribbon in the photo, it also has this pattern so I thought that was a good starting point. Whenever I do dry embossing, I feel the need to simplify my card to let the embossing shine.

I also really liked all of the gold in the photo, so I decided to heat emboss one of the sentiments from the Happiest of Holidays stamp set in Antique Gold embossing powder. I matted the sentiment piece onto a piece of Kraft cardstock. I liked how that set off the gold in the sentiment, so I also mounted the dry embossed red piece onto an A2 Kraft base for continuity.

I loved the sprigs of greenery framing the candle so I made some of my own using the Pinecone Greetings stamp set. It has a great mix of greens and pinecones that work perfectly for this challenge. I stamped them and then die cut them using the coordinating Pinecone Greetings Sugar Cuts. I arranged them above the sentiment. It felt a little naked to me, and even though I was covering up the dry embossing, I decided to add a strip of pattern paper for some added texture and warmth. The finishing touch is a few Bright Gold Nuvo Drops around the greenery. Thanks for fluttering by!

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