Christmas card mission adventure

I seem to have lots of "Santa belly" pins, but this one especially caught my eye with its clean and simple style.  It has a little Less is More sparkle going on, and I needed another kid-themed card (one of the previous themes at Festive Friday), so I made my own version:

stamp set - Best of Christmas (on envelope), More Merry Messages; ink - Versamark; Stampin' Emboss powder - Black; card stock - Basic Black, Real Red, Red Glimmer, Whisper White; punches - Full Heart, Owl Builder, Petite Curly Label; Big Shot with Petals-a-Plenty embossing folder

 



In typical Kathe style, I was somewhat distracted from my major Christmas-card-making mission by the idea that Just Us Girls' one layer winter theme would work really well with Jingle Belles' thanks theme.  I don't usually need winter-theme thank you cards, but my Card Buffet participants might, and this one can be repurposed for Christmas or birthday with a different sentiment:

 

stamp sets - Festive Flurry, Many Thanks, Warmth & Wonder; ink - Midnight Muse, Rich Razzleberry; Soft Sky; card stock - Soft Sky

 

Actually, I've already repurposed the design.  My first attempt had a badly embossed sentiment so I cut it in half and used the back side of the stamped portion to try again.  The stamping wasn't well balanced, so I added a Christmas sentiment (not completely ignoring my mission) as a banner in one corner and mounted the whole thing as a layer on a new base.  This version was my third attempt, and now I really like it!