Jolly Ol St Nick

I don't make too many cards featuring the jolly old elf, himself, but these stamps just called for it. I used the Yuletide CMS356 set and paired it with the Inventor 6 CMS360 stamps to make the mat.

The background mat was made using the Mint Stripe Shifter Stencil THS112 with Fired Brick and Black Soot Distress Inks and a Blending Brushes.

The frame I made by cutting the center out of the mat piece with one of the smaller Stacked Label dies. Once that was finished I stamped both of the stamps from the Inventor 6 in Hickory Smoke Distress Ink, making sure that the images were visable along the sides of the mat.
I added another very thin Fired Brick mat just slightly larger than the Inventor Mat that I adhered when I assembled the card at the end.

The focal image was this fabulous vintage Santa from the Yultide set. I stamped him on a piece of Distress Mixed Media Heavystock in Black Soot Archival Ink and then watercolored him with Distress Markers.

I finished the card with a silver embossed sentiment from Yultide and then I tied a bow with a piece of Crafter's Thread in red.

I also added additional metallic touches by cutting the largest mat from Ideaology silver metallic kraftstock and added two silver Long Fasteners to the sentiment.