Hello, blogging lovelies. We are now fully into the Dog Days of Summer down here in Texas. I'm aware that the origin of that phrase goes back to ancient Greek and Roman times and the Dog Star. But what the American Southern colloquial phrase means is that any outside activity will leave you panting like a dog. And don't get too active inside, either, lol. But Honey and I do make sure to spend time outside every day to acclimate ourselves to the heat. Believe it or not, it does help.
This Christmas card began with the image and wanting to make a CAS card. It was Gecko Galz's March image for their Christmas blog challenge. I printed it out then but did not get to it in time to play. If I print it, I'm gonna use it, and I also wanted to use my SeeD's Santa Sleigh stamp and sentiment, so when I found a sketch that would work with all that I went to it.
I used this Splitcoaststampers sketch, but rotated it clockwise and then resized it to 6x6 in PSE. In that orientation I could use the sleigh stamp. I've included my card so you can see how I followed it.
I embossed the background with white card and a Crafters Companion Vintage Decor folder, keeping it white for the CAS white space. Santa's sleigh was stamped in Versamark on a blue paper scrap and white heat-embossed, then cut with a Little B's scalloped circle die. I used DCWV gold foil card as the base mat (cut with Spellbinders 6x6 Matting Basics die), to cut a frame for the image (Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Rectangle cut into fourths and arranged like photo corners), and then I used my Coluzzle circle cutting tool to cut that big circle behind the sleigh. Finally, after stamping and white heat-embossing the sentiment, I cut it with a Lawn Fawn banner die.
Inside, a mashup of stamped sentiments by SeeD's, Pink Persimmon and Papertrey Ink.
And the back of the card along with the front for continuity check. The gold foil-dotted paper is by The Paper Studio. The blue mat was colored by me:
I didn't want to cut into a whole sheet of SU blue card for the back base mat, so I colored me some, and a Q-tip was the perfect "brush". It blended right in with the front blue and that was my goal.
Final view. About the focal image: It's an illustration by Haddon Sundbloom which appeared on the 1928 premiere cover of Country Gentleman Magazine.
It's called "Sleeping Through Santa's Visit". Sundbloom was the famous creator of the Coca-Cola Santas, as well as creating images for other iconic American product brands. In 1931 he created his first of many Santas for Coca-Cola. Click on his name above to read a good bio of him. I love American illustrators of the 20th century (Norman Rockwell, etc.). One thing I learned is that the proper art world treated them like step children and refused to call them real artists. That means in Rockwell's career, for instance, he could never reap the critical respect he earned and was worthy of. Who does not consider him an artist of the highest caliber today?
Thanks for visiting and I hope you manage to stay cool and keep your mind off the heat with some fun art playtime! XOX
MY CHALLENGE PLAYLIST:
I've used a digital image from Gecko Galz
Everything I used on this card is OLD
I used a Crafters Companion 6x6 Vintage Decor folder on the white background
Spellbinders scalloped rectangle die to frame image; Little B scalloped circle die to cut Santa's sleigh.
Santa is magical!
Dies Used: Spellbinders, Lawn Fawn, Little B's
31 comments:
Beautiful Santa image and I love how you placed Santa with his reindeer behind it. Clever sentiment, too...isn't that what Santa says as he takes off from the roof? Thanks so much for playing along with us at CAS Christmas!
Fantastic Christmas card. Love the embossed background and stamped image of the sleigh and reindeer. Thanks for sharing with us at 613 Avenue Create's July, "Anything Goes with a Twist/Black & White Challenge".
What an amazing card to showcase that iconic image! So many details, so well done. Thank you so much for joining us at The Paper Dragonfly Creative Challenge!
Wonderful. So creative. Thanks for sharing over at Aud Sentiments, Crafty Gals Corner.
A fab christmascard with great embossing. I like the LO
Lia DT POE
I am not surprised you are dog tired after all that wonderful work to make your card. I love Norman Rockwell's paintings but haven't thought about him for a while. I use to collect wall plates of his paintings but when I 'left home' it wasn't one of the things I packed.
Hugs
Carol xx
CD Sunday Plus DT
WOW what a beautiful holiday creation! Thanks so much for playing in our challenge at Can You Handle The Pressure … we appreciate your support and hope to see you again next challenge!
Darlene
CAN YOU HANDLE THE PRESSURE
DAR’S CRAFTY CREATIONS
PS Thanks for also sharing this beauty with us on our Peace on Earth Christmas Challenge! Good Luck
Your card is wonderful with just the right amount of white embossed space. Thank you for sharing with us.
Jocelyn x
CD Sunday Plus DT
Aimeslee: This is a fantastic Christmas card! I enjoyed reading how this was created and the history about the focal image! Amazing! Thanks for including MTTC in your links! We appreciate your support! --Becca/DT
Great card - so glad you could join us in our CAS Christmas Challenge at Happy Little Stampers xx Lynda/Loopyloo DT
Fabulous card, poor tired Santa, I know just how he feels lol! Thank you for joining our challenge at Can You Handle The Pressure!
Diane CYHTP co-owner {Nellies Nest}
{Can You Handle The Pressure}
I like the embossed background it goes really well with the image.
Pamela
CD Sunday Plus DT.
A beautiful card and image Amy!
Thank you for joining us at Paper Dragonfly Creative Challenge! Val DT
https://paperdragonflycreativechallenges.blogspot.com/
What a sweet card. This one works great with magic too, since we all know Santa is a magical guy. And I'm glad you mentioned what they mean by the dog days of summer because so many people don't know that. It's hot here too, but today we have a slight break in humidity. We're only going to hit around 90, but up here most of us rely on the old window AC's, which do work at least. The only problem is you get warmer rooms if there's no AC in them. Sta cool, and thanks for shareing this with us at TIOT. hugs-Erika
I love all of the elements you used to create your wonderful Christmas card. The EF you used works beautifully. I love that you included some details about the artist in the image you used. Thanks so much for playing with us at Can You Handle The Pressure?.
Beautiful card, love that dry embossed background! Thanks for linking up to our July challenge gallery at Die Cut Divas.
Lovely image of Santa and the sleeping child. Beautiful card. Thanks for joining us at CAS Christmas.
Great design. Wonderful Christmas card. Thanks for joining us at the CHNC Christmas Weekly this week for our Anything Goes, optional use a die or punch challenge
Beautiful vintage Santa scene that is perfect for your layout and design Aimslee. Lovely colours and embossing compliment your design. Thanks for sharing with us at CAS Christmas!
How sweet that image is. Beautiful front, inside and back. You do it all so well.
So glad you joined us at Die Cut Divas Christmas for our July Challenge of "Christmas in July" and always using a die cut or embossed panel.
Lovely christmas card, great image and the white embossing goes well with the image
Thank you for joining us
Margaret
CD Sunday plus DT
Wait... Santa sleeps?!?! Santa doesn't have time to sleep! Love the dark blue with the sleigh above. Very elegant card :)
You've captured the magic of Christmas on this card so beautifully 😀. Thanks so much for joining in the fun at Try it on Tuesday! Hugs Jo x
Oh my! This is truly magical. Thanks so much for joining us at Try It On Tuesday, Chrisx ps I'll be back for a catch up soon xx
Pretty...
Thank you for joining HLS dies challenge
Swapna
What a sweet image. I like how you used the scallops edges like photo corners. Thanks for joining us at Happy Little Stampers ~ Clean and Simple Challenge.
sue n.
Beautiful Christmas card. Nicely designed. Thank you for joining us at Crafty Gals Corner this month. Hope to see you back here again soon. Judy DT
A lovely card. Thankyou for joining us at Aud Sentiments.
Mary
Very pretty, Aimeslee! Thanks so much for a fabulous submission to our challenge at 613 Avenue Create!
Hugz,
Chana Malkah, Owner
Wow, that crayon technique really added some interest to the sky portion. Thanks for joining the challenge at Crafty Gals Corner.
Lovely card!
Thanks for playing at the ABC Christmas Challenge!
Helen x
Post a Comment