My blog is called "Creative Smiles" because my designs are the result of incorporating mistakes. With fumble fingers that drop whatever they are holding - repeatedly, it takes a lot of giggles, smiles and creative patience during my crafting process. xx

Wednesday, September 02, 2015

Distressed Blue and White Christmas

Greetings, Sweet Friends! Hope this finds you doing well. So happy you could stop by.


Today I'm showing a Christmas card for the Scrapy Land ANYTHING GOES challenge, with this flat, easy-to-mail, distressed style card. The die cuts are "mix-and-match" from several Scrapy Land manufacturers

(Scrapy Land dies shown below with their links)
Colors are monochromatic theme in blues, including the holly leaf border done in navy. The white layer is one piece with the Sue Wilson Gemini die creating a beautiful border, and the holly punch on top. Then the panel was run through the Swiss Dot embossing folder. The Sue Wilson tag has glitter on it, and is backed with a matching tag done in navy to give depth.

Although the card is A7 (5x7), the design easily could be broken in half and still look pretty!

1. Use on an A2 "small size" card (top portion).


2. Or use on a "business size" card (bottom portion).




A tiny scallop edge from Impression Obsession provides a finishing touch along the bottom.


Sparkle N Sprinkle Cloud Nine Microfine Velvet Glitter accents the distressed edges, the area around Santa's sleigh, and the 3 snow flakes.

Looking forward to seeing your entry at the Scrapy Land ANYTHING GOES challenge, for a chance to win $15 prize!

Products Used:
Scrapy Land Dies:
Other:

Thankful to play in the following Challenges:
  1. Crafting With Friends - #5 Anything Goes 9/12
  2. Simply Papercraft - #12 Anything Goes  9/12
  3. Kitty Bee Designs - #55 "In The Sky" (Santa's Sleigh) 9/13
  4. Christmas Card Challenges - #39 Anything Goes Christmas 9/4
  5. Outlawz Monday Greeting Card Challenge GCC083115, Anything Goes with a sentiment 9/7
  6. Merry Monday Christmas - #170 - Use Holly (my card is framed in navy blue holly, and the top border is also white holly) 9/13
  7. Creative Card Crew - #95 Christmas 9/12
  8. Holly Jolly Christmas - (Sept) Use a die cut 9/13
  9. A Snowflake's Promise - #4 Christmas Theme 9/8
Wishing you the best and lots of hugs!


57 comments:

maria's knutselplezier said...

Great , beautiful Christmascard , dear Donna, I love the contrast between your bleu and white background, and I love your beautiful dies!!! Great early Christmas inpirations!!!

Greetings
Maria

Shona Erlenborn said...

Wow, this is superb Donna! Love how you combined all the different dies to create this masterpiece. The monochromatic look really works well too, with the sparkle from the glitter. The swirling blue ink makes for an impressive sky. Truly gorgeous.

brenda said...

Where to start Donna, your glorious Christmas card or that Poppy blog header - think it might be a new once whilst I was on 'sick leave' or maybe holidays. Whatever I adore it as you might guess.

As for you card, such a super collections of dies all so cleverly placed as thought that was just how they were meant to be and the monochromatic colours work a treat.

Hope you are doing as well as can be.

B x

Dr Sonia S V said...

So beautifully yo have showcased the fabulous dies Donna. Love the soothing blue too
Cheers
Dr Sonia
Cards Crafts Kids Projects

craftieodmae said...

Love this gorgeous card!!

Pat K said...

Gorgeous card Donna. Love the colours for Christmas and your wonderful design. hugs, Pat K x

Shirley said...

Whoever receives this Christmas card will be over the moon Donna. So beautifully put together with very delicate colours. Love it.

Warm crafty hugs from Shirl x x x
ShirlsCards.

Lori Kobular said...

What a gorgeous Blue & White Christmas card! It reminds of the Delft dishes! I love how you combined so many wonderful dies together, they go together perfectly!

SD pooja said...

Lovely monochromatic card ! The layering of die-cuts looks nice too :)

KarinsArtScrap said...

wow this is so beautiful Donna, great design hope you put the christmas card in my facebookgroup only christmas cards.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1060810930603477/


Gr Karin

Anne Temple said...

Gorgeous! You are the best at mixing and matching various dies! Love everything about this.

I'm a Little Teapot said...

Oh my word, Donna! This is so pretty and elegant!!

Michelle N. said...

Wow! What a gorgeous card! Love the coloring and dies-you certainly have a knack for composition! Thanks for joining us at Kitty Bee Designs In the Sky challenge!

Sue said...

Donna, I love this one. Reminds me of the blue willow china.

Hope you are having a good week. Sue

Lisa said...

This is absolutely stunning, Donna!! I love the dies you've used!! They all combine perfectly for a beautiful card!! The distressing and inking are fabulous!! I love this!! So much detail yet it's flat enough to mail!! Genius!! Have a great day :)

Lisa
A Mermaid's Crafts

Jacee said...

A really lovely festive card, fab design.
hugs Jacee
Simply Paper Card Design

Patricia St Martin said...

Donna, So gorgeous, I love EVERYTHING all the die cuts. I did not see the name for the holly you need to tell me what die that is??? You must like blues, fantastic job because I love all the shades you added so much wonderful glitter, sparkle and the distress edges, WONDERFUL! The more I look the more I see how you did things, pretty awesome girl friend, love how you did with the Sue Wilson corner and used the holly on top, pretty creative. Great idea to use the embossing folder. I could go on.
Hugs, Pat♥

Linda said...

Saw your card and MM and think it is so beautiful.

cotnob said...

A gorgeous card Donna, such pretty blues and fabulous details - a lovely delicate design.
Pauline
x

Pia S said...

This card looks wonderful!! Love your layout and detailing and how this card looks in blue and white only. Well done!!

McCrafty's Cards said...

What a beautiful Christmas card Donna,I love the design and the colours
Kevin xx

Sue said...

This is gorgeous Donna, such a beautiful design and I love the colours.
hugs Sue xx

Verna Angerhofer said...

Your card is so gorgeous and I love the blue and white design. All the dies you used are so beautiful and work so well together on your card.

pam said...

Gorgeous winter scene card Donna, love these background colours and die cuts.
Hugs pam x

Stampsnob. said...

The die cuts are so pretty , my favorite part is the outer edge beautiful.........Lis

Karenladd said...

What a gorgeous winter card and I love how you added those little embossed swiss dots to your die cut border! I like to make flat cards for holiday mailing and this design shows that flat doesn't have to mean boring!! The inking along the edge gives nice dimension to your card, as well as color.

KT Fit Kitty said...

Hello, Donna! What a gorgeous Christmas card! I love the dies you used! Wow, you have some awesome dies! Love how you inked the edges! Beautiful monochrome card! I like that it's flat for mailing - I've been doing that too. Wonderful card, my friend!

Bonnie said...

This is beautiful, Donna! I love all the shades and textures of blue and white! It's so nice to see you at Merry Monday!

NanaConnie said...

WOW, Donna! This really is magnificent. Love the distressed paper edges and your blue and white color combo sets off the Santa and reindeer. I love everything about this one. :-D

Christina Hor said...

Oh this is absolutely breathtaking Donna! LOVE your use of the different dies elements and the Santa and his team! WOW! A stunning monochrome Christmas card!

Christina, DT
Outlawz Monday Greetings

Monica said...

Hello dearest Donna,

How I wish I could find time to send an email to you but I am sure that you can feel my vibe.
Lol.

Your monochrome card is awesome and I love it's gentle colours.
Thank you for all your kind words and loving support which I greatly cherish and value.

Life is good and with it comes other stuff like Zeenya taking longer than expected to settle in her new school. I know it will work out but as a mother you know how we are. We wish we could make their life easier knowing that they have to go through the storms that life brings to them.

How are you doing, dear kind lady?

Lots of love,

M

Becky said...

Blue is my favorite color, and it looks great on this Christmas card. I love the snowflake tag. A very elegant card. Thanks for sharing. :-)

Desire Fourie said...

WOW Donna this is really a beautiful winters Christmas creation. Adore the sparkle on the snowflake and Santa with his team flying through the sky on their way to make a special child happy.
Hugs
Desíre
{Doing Life – my personal blog}

coldwaters2 said...

Oh my Donna this is beautiful what an amazing, wonderful design I love the die cuts and borders you have used to create such a divine Christmas card, the blue and white is a favourite colour of mine it always reminds me of Dresden china, looking at your card real close you can see the amount of work you have put into it, superb make. Donna thank you for your comment on my latest post, every time I see your picture I always think how beautiful you look if you had black hair in your younger years you must have been a stunner.
hugs
lorraine x

crafty-stamper said...

Fabulous Christmas card love the beautiful die-cuts and the holly border looks great in navy
Carol x

Peanut said...

Oh so glorious, Donna. Love the dies you've used to make this card.
hugs, Asha

Marilyn said...

Beautiful card with all those pretty shades of blue and the contrasting white. And the dies... it makes me weak just looking at them.

Karen said...

My lovely friend, what a joy it is to see your heartfelt creations. :o) This Christmas card is impeccably designed with the loveliest products. The design is brilliant, with everything woven together to holiday perfection. I truly adore every single die, along with the extra touches of crafty happiness... the sparkling distressed edges, the pretty embossing, and the gorgeous color palette. Everything you make is so beautiful that it could only come from a heart of love. Stunning as always, Donna. I hope you have a wonderful weekend ahead, my precious friend. :o)

Hugs and blessings,
Karen

applejack cards by sue said...

Sorry... I lost my comment, so you may receive this twice. This is amazing, so beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing this with us over at Simply Papercraft. Would you please consider sharing this with us in our Christmas challenge here http://asnowflakespromise.blogspot.co.uk/ Sue DT xx

stampingvickisvisions said...

You sure have used a lot of different dies on this card but they all look great together! Thanks for joining us at Creative Card Crews Christmas challenge. Vicki DT

Leslie Miller said...

Oh, my, that is one amazing mix 'n match up of dies on your gorgeous Christmas card, Donna! I'm especially smitten with the beautiful Sue Wilson snowflake set. I'll have to look into that one. What a fabulous winter wonderland you've created!

aussie aNNie said...

Hi sweet De, this is just gorgeous, love the different elements and spectacular dies used. the colours are just perfect.xx

Petra Swart said...

You have the most amazing dies, Donna and you surely know how to use them to have them really shine!!!! Love this monochromatic card with all the lovely detail on it!!! So beautifully put together and I love the distressing!!!! A fabulous Christmas card, my friend!!!
Keep well, Donna!!
Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon/evening!!!
Hugz

Susan Joyce said...

Awesome design, love the colours you used and the way you framed and used the holly elements on your Christmas card. Thanks for joining us at Merry Monday.

MaryH said...

Stunning! Of course you know that I'm drooling over this SW border die! Love the way you've used it on this card, and of course that wonderful Sleigh die. So many fab dies and marvelously used to create this blue & white lovely. Also liked the distressed look of the card, and the navy of the ivy was gorgeous paired with the other blue shades! Brilliant card...as you always do. TFS & Hugs.

Linda said...

Dearest Donna, this is gorgeous! I know that many people don't like to think about Christmas so early, but I love Christmas and don't mind thinking about it or talking about it anytime of the year! Love your creativity. :)

Lynn (aka Lynnpenguin) said...

This is just lovely Donna. Great texture and shading. Thanks for joining us at Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge this week. Good luck.

Lynn, Holly Jolly DT

Sue said...

Donna, love this beautiful blue and white creation. Santa and the reindeer are my favorite die on this one, but so many wonderful dies. The distressing is beautiful. Those Sue Wilson dies just add so much to a card don't they, I just love them!!

Hugs
sue

Debbie Henderson Debbie's Designs said...

Gorgeous card and love the colors you choose! Thanks for playing Merry Monday with us!

Migdalia said...

Simply beautiful!! The background is just lovely. New follower
Have a blessed day,
Migdalia
Crafting With Creative M

Jennifer_GlitterInMyHair said...

Beautiful monochromatic card! I LOVE all the dies you used......awesome!! Thanks for sharing it with us at Kitty Bee's Aloha Friday and good luck!
Jennifer, DT

Jean Bullock said...

Oh, this is beautiful. I love the Nordic feel you achieve. Everything is just right and I love the Cloud Nine you added.

Stampsnob. said...

That center die looks fabulous and of course I love the blue.............Lis

Silvis Kreativstube said...

Hallo liebe Donna,

wow, was für eine wundervolle Weihnachtskarte. Ich bin total begeistert von der wunderschönen Gestaltung. Wundervolle Schablonen sind zum Einsatz gekommen und die Farbe ist ja absolut mein Traum. Ich liebe diese Karte. Sie ist perfekt. Hugs Silvi

JD/ Jill said...

Pretty card...like all the blue!

Christi Conley said...

Oh my goodness!! Blue is my favorite color and I love how the shades you have chosen are so soft - delightful Christmas card! Hugs! Christi
Art without Anxiety {My Personal Blog}

Monica said...

So truly Christmas. Love the blue and white colour combo here. BEAUTIFUL.