Black Series Christmas Cards

Last year I started doing a black series of Christmas cards.  I found that they were very elegant.  So this year I brought back two previous designs and added a new one.

ORNAMENTS CARD

 I call this one my ornaments card.  The ornaments are embossed in bronze, silver and gold.  The threads are hand drawn and the small "Merry Christmas" sentiment is also hand written.

CARDINAL SEASON'S GREETINGS CARD

 This is my favorite of the black series cards.  I got this concept from a convention I went to a couple of years ago.  It is a gate fold card.  (Meaning it closes in the front like a gate.)  It is a very elegant yet festive card.  The sentiment is layered on shiny gold cardstock which gives it an executive look.  Then the background has clear embossed hollies to give it a subtle decoration.  The card is held closed with a burgundy ribbon to match the stamped image of the cardinal.

WISHING YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS

This is the newest edition to the black series cards.  This is a rather simple card, but still very elegant.  The border is embossed with "Stampin' Up!" Tulip embossing folder on black cardstock.  The trees are actually one stamp, but I arranged them so that they looked like trees covered in snow in the wilderness.  It seemed natural that the sentiment would go under the trees.  It reminds me of a forest on a snowy winter night.  The only difference between these two, is that the bottom one has the border sponged in white ink to make it more defined.  I also like the way it looked without the sponged edge so I made this version as well.