Christmas card 2011

I make so many cards during the year that I want to really go all out for my Christmas cards. Here is my card for this year.

It is a tri-shutter card. You can get more details on how to make a tri shutter card here. 


When I look at this card, i see the outward beauty as well as an inward beauty. As many of my followers know, I broke my hip when I was 11, had it replaced at 36, and have had severe extensive nerve damage ever since the hip replacement 5 years ago. (yes, if you do the math, I am 41) As you can imagine, the past few years have been extremely  difficult and painful. I have had to live with pain on a daily basis that most people will never experience in a lifetime. I can no longer physically do so many things that we usually take for granted. I have had to mourn the fact that my life is never really going to be the way I imagined or wanted. At first I tried to tell God that I was just not string enough to handle all the pain and disappointment. God has allowed me to realize that I don't have to be string enough, because He is strong and through my weakness He will be my strength. My situation has caused me to grow closer to Him and to see so many ways that God takes the things that are so painful in our lives and make something beautiful out of it.


What does all this have to do with my Christmas card??? Well, see all the pretty silver foil paper that I have cut and embossed? That is the inside packaging of the Lidocaine pain patches that I put on every day.

The medicine never actually touches the package so it is safe to use. I cut the pouch open and it is a light weight paper that has a foil lining on one side. Everyday, as I apply a pain patch , I have learned not to focus on the obvious pain, but to look at the cool new craft product I can use. I am constantly reminded that even in my pain, God can make something beautiful out of my life just as I can make something beautiful out of the package.


So when I look at my card, I see a year's worth of pain patches but a lesson that will last me a lifetime.


Here are a few more pictures. I used a Sizzix embossing folder for the dry embossing and a Stampabilities "snowflake background" stamp with Stazon ink and silver embossing folder for the heat embossing. The snowflakes and labels are cut files that I made in Inkscape.

Hope you enjoy looking at this.
I have some cool new poinsettias that I made to share tomorrow. I am getting a video camera for Christmas so I will finally be able to make tutorials for my paper flowers. (just as soon as I learn how to use the camera that is...LOL)