Photo Finish Holiday Card Challenge

Do you enclose photos in your Christmas cards? So many of us do that this month Nichole tossed out a challenge for PaperTrey designers to create a holiday card incorporating a photograph.  My first challenge was finding a picture that I liked.

My Christmas pictures need serious help! I take the obligatory pictures of the family opening gifts, but I have to confess that they are generally ill-lit and poorly composed. (Have you ever seen a photogenic recliner, or great looking piles of gift wrap?) They document that we were there, and that's about it. 

Then I remembered some sweet pictures that I had taken for a church Christmas program almost two years ago. The program was my all-time favorite I think. All of the kids met at a local farm dressed in their pageant costumes and posed for pictures. Besides having all of the elements of cuteness--kids, animals, dress-up, and smiles--it took a lot of pressure out of the actual Christmas program. All of the work was done by someone on a computer, and we parents got to sit there and enjoy it that night rather than stressing over whether our child would be the one to trip someone with a shepherd's staff. . . So, now you know what my picture is--my son, on that snowy afternoon a.k.a Joseph.

In looking for an interesting way to showcase the picture, I remembered having made a stand-up card a couple of years ago as a stamping workshop project.  More recently, my stamping friend Mary Jo Albright wrote a fabulous tutorial on Stand Up Cards for a SplitCoastStamper's newsletter. I thought that this would be a great way to showcase a favorite photograph--thanks, MJ, for such a well-done tutorial!

For the envelope, I used a snowflake punch to punch Eclipse Masking paper, then laid the snowflake mask down on my envelope and airbrushed a tan color reminiscent of Kraft cardstock (E43), before stamping the sentiment in Pure Poppy. It took less than a minute, but really helps tie the card in with the envelope. Finished size of the card, excluding the ribbon at the top, is 5-1/4" x 4-1/4"--slightly shorter than normal. You could go 1/4" taller if you needed to do so. I went a bit wider with my bookmark than MJ's instructions showed because I wanted the photo as large as possible.

Products Used
Stamps: Believe, Rustic Snowflakes (PaperTrey Ink)
Cardstock: Kraft, Pure Poppy, Dark Chocolate, and Spring Moss (PaperTrey Ink)
Ink: Pure Poppy, New Canvas Palette (PTI), Adirondack Latte
Accessories: Stitched Pure Poppy Grosgrain (PTI), large copper brad that I dipped into vanilla embossing powder after heating it to get a large vanilla brad, Stardust Stickles, Making Memories Antique Copper jumbo brad
Tools:  Spellbinders Double Ended Tags die and Classic Plain and Scalloped circle dies; sewing machine, Marvy snowflake punch, Copic Airbrush System and E43 marker, masking paper

Be sure to check out what these other players came up with! : Lisa Johnson, Lauren Meader, Heather  Nichols,  Mish Wooderson, and Becky Oehlers.  Nichole might even play too. If I find out that anyone else is playing, I'll come back and add a link. Have a great day!

Comments

[Travelingmama]

This is such a great project! Love your son's Joseph costume! He would fit in nicely in Morocco!

[Becca Feeken]

Debbie, this is such a classic look. I love the mechanics of the card and yours is just so darn pretty!

[Heather Fullerton (Retired Heather)]

Great photo of your son. I love the card. It would be such fun to receive a card like this. Great idea.
Heather

[Joan Fricker]

Debbie, what a great idea for a card! Very, very nice!

Joan

[Marlou McAlees]

such a fantastic idea for Christmas card, really beautiful :)

[Sharon (notimetostamp)]

This is just darling!!! Love the stand up card, tho I have yet to try one I'd surely like to!!! Love your photo as well - oh, how it reminds me of our boys -- I have sewn a great number of those costumes for our church over the years -- big ones and little ones -- and they all look JUST like this one!!! TFS!

[VickiF]

Great project!!

[Michele]

You are friggin amazing! Seriously! Does your brain EVER shut off with the creativity? This is sooooooooo awesome! LOVE it!!!!

[Loydene]

Thank you for that link! I've been searching for directions for this pop up card for quite a while!

[Danielle]

This is fabulous! What a great idea to display a photo Christmas card! I love the tag top and ribbon slider sentiment!!

[Cindy H.]

This is so adorable!! Love how you stamped and decorated the holder and your son looks so fabulous in his Joseph outfit! Great project!!

[Barb]

This is a wonderful idea! Very, very pretty tag card and what a cutie your son is :) !

[Michelle R]

OMGosh....this is gorgeous! I LOVE your creativity. Heck, I love everything you do! I'm going to check out the tutorial you referred to.

BTW....what is wrapped around the ribbon on the tag? I enlarged the photo, but couldn't really tell what you did there.

[10570Fan]

Fabulous card - great idea. I was going to include two pictures this year, so this motivates me to rethink the presentation. Thanks so much -LOVE the blog.

[diane mcvey]

Wow, another beauty! I don't know how you have such great ideas, day after day! This is just wonderful :D

[Niki Estes]

This is so neat, Debbie! I love the idea of making a pop up with a photo! Such a great idea!

[Sandra Smart]

Oh, I love this...thanks for the inspiration as I now know what my holiday cards will be this year!

[Lauren (mytime)]

THis came out great! I think its a fabulous photo too!!

[Julia Aston]

I made one of these stand alone pop up cards when it was highlighted on SCS but never thought to use it for a picture ! so clever and perfect for a holiday card! thanks for sharing this great idea Debbie!!

[Rachelle]

How awesome is this! That is the perfect christmas card, and great photo too.

[cards4u]

Wow this is simply a wonderful idea - thanks so much! BTW it looks great too : )

[Steph K]

Oh, what a wonderful and clever card! I just made a mockup of my Christmas card using the great tutorial!

Thanks Debbie and Mary Jo!

[Kimberly]

what a great idea, no fabulous idea!! I will have to check out that tutorial!! thanks for pointing it out! :)

[Anthonette]

What a great idea for a stand up card! Lovely work and I love your details.

[Jennifer]

What a great idea this is! And I love that you didn't forget the envelope...really nice touches here.

[Gabriela]

Tag! You're it! (you've been tagged)

[Donelda]

Wow, what a great project. I've got to share that I LOVE the envelope that I can see sitting under the card/holder! Your attention to the WHOLE package never fails to amaze me Debbie!! Thanks for the inspiration!