So one of the things I find incredibly difficult every year is making beautiful cards to send people at the holiday season that are not holiday themed.  Needless to say I make a lot of snowmen cards, but I always feel that gets old.  However, in the new collection by Krista Schneider over at Elizabeth Craft Designs, there are all kinds of great winter themed images that are just asking to be colored, but neutral in their appearance.

My project today I feel says winter, without being a winter cliché.

Step One:  Trim a piece of Dusky Sky Soft Finish Cardstock to 12×6 inches, and scor and fold at 6 inches to make a 6×6 card frame.

Trim a piece of feather paper from the Butterfly Dream printed paper pack and a piece of Silver Gray Soft Finish Cardstock to 6×6 inches.

Step Two:  Die cut circles out of the printed paper and the gray paper using Garden Notes Frame It/ Stitched Circles die set.

Step Three:  Stamp the girl from the new Christmas Kids stamp set onto some 85lb White Soft Finish Cardstock.  Die cut it using the coordinating Christmas Kids die set.

Step Four:  Color the image with alcohol markers.  I used my copics.

Step Five:  Using the three different stars from the Christmas Kids stamp set, stamp a random array of stars over the card base using some blue ink.  I used cornflower blue Archival Ink.

Step Six:  Using a white colored pencil, shade in the stars.

Step Seven:  Layer the gray die cut paper and the printed paper over the card frame using some 6mm Clear Double Sided Adhesive.

Step Eight:  Using a scrap of Dusky Sky Soft Finish Cardstock, stamp the sentiment from the Winter Sentiments stamp set using black ink.  Trim the paper to look like a flagged banner and add it to the card using 3D tape.

Step Nine:  Adhere the girl’s head so it looks like she is peeking out of the window.

Finally I added a few flat sided pearls to the card to give it a bit of special flair.  I hope you enjoyed looking at my non traditional holiday card.  I think the feathers give it a sense of whimsy and yet it still holds that winter feel.