An unexpected guest flew in and landed on this card. The little golden bird from the Beautiful Trees Dies was a left over from a card project from a long time ago and has been sitting on my craft table just waiting for the perfect card to land on.

The inspiration for this card started with the Card Concept photo below. As usual, there are so many things in the photo to use for inspiration! Candles, bows, wreaths, hedgehogs, a tree, the lighted sign…the more you look, the more ideas you see. I decided to pull out my Christmas Pines Dies and the coordinating Christmas to Remember stamp set.

This card falls loosely into the Classy and Elegant Style. It has a rich color scheme, sparkling embellishments, layered textures and a sophisticated sentiment. It has an old world feel. Be sure to click HERE and see more cards inspired by this awesome photo.

I wanted to add the greeting over the ribbon, but I also wanted to let the gold ribbon show, so I decided to simply fussy cut around the words to allow as much ribbon as possible to show. The little bird was gilded with the Gold Gilding.

If you have all of your Christmas cards tucked into their envelopes and sent on their way, CONGRATULATIONS! I hope that you can use this card for inspiration for next year. If, however, you are like me and still have a pile of address labels without cards, I hope that this card inspires you to get crackin’.

Don’t forget that any orders placed today, December 8 will include FREE SHIPPING! I like to snap up some fun designer papers around this time of year for my scrapbook pages, and of course a stray stamp set or two usually finds it’s way onto the order too. Be sure to check the Clearance Rack and Last Chance Products for even more savings.

Product List – The Always Artichoke and Peaceful Prints papers are no longer available, but I listed them, because some of you may have a stack of retired papers on the shelf and may want to use them. Old Olive and Tidings of Christmas would be good substitutesh.C

Christmas To Remember Bundle (English) [156806] $60.25	Christmas Pinecone Dies [156309] $45.00	Early Espresso Classic Stampin’ Pad [147114] $7.50
Very Vanilla 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock [101650] $9.75	Early Espresso 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock [119686] $8.75	Always Artichoke 8-1/2″ X 11″ Card Stock [105119] $8.00
Evening Evergreen 8 1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock [155574] $8.75	Peaceful Prints 12″ X 12″ (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [156628] $0.00	Crumb Cake 8-1/2″ X 11″ Cardstock [120953] $8.75
Gilded Leafing Embellishment [154560] $9.00	Gold 3/8″ (1 Cm) Shimmer Ribbon [156470] $8.00	Multipurpose Liquid Glue [110755] $4.00
Beautiful Trees Dies [155840] $36.00