And they wrapped the Babe in swaddling clothes...

When I first saw Waltzingmouse Stamps' "Celtic Heritage" set, I knew the baby wrapped in a cable or "plaited" blanket would be on this year's Christmas card. It made me think of Baby Jesus right away! Other stamps are from Waltzingmouse "Irish Blessings" set and the inside sentiment is by Sweetgrass Stamps. (Note - Edited to add Labels, a forgotten photo and a stamp credit)

Cardstock is SU Chocolate Chip, Bravo Burgundy, Handsome Hunter and Not Quite Navy. Light cardstock is SU Natural Confetti - it has great little flecks in it that add a lot of interest.

Here is a closeup of the inside, with a passage from Isaiah (Sweetgrass) stamped in Rich Cocoa Memento ink and a beautiful knotwork border (Celtic Heritage) stamped with VersaMark and heat embossed in Ranger Gold embossing powder. The sentiment is the only "Christmas" stamp used in the whole card!! (Am I the only person who hears Handel's Messiah singing in my head whenever I read this passage? Just wondering!!)


First the shield (Celtic Heritage) was stamped, embossed and masked, and then the braided borders (Irish Blessings) were added plus the Welcome (Irish Blessings). The knotwork squares(Irish Blessings) were added last using a Stamp-a-ma-jig for placement. The opening was cut out with an Xacto knife. The baby (Celtic Heritage) was stamped in Rich Cocoa Memento, then I masked the baby and the stamped the small open Lunette (Irish Blessings) twice to form a full circle for the halo. There are larger solid and open versions of the Lunette in Celtic Heritage, but this is the tiny one from Irish Blessings. The baby is colored with Copics, then adhered to the inside of the cardfront to show through the window opening. I drew in a little star in the upper shield opening using a Sakura Stardust clear pen.



Because the Copics that I colored the baby with saturated the backside of the paper, which showed inside the top of the card, I used a Nestibilities Label Four to cover it up on the inside. It is gold embossed with Nestie-friendly Waltzingmouse stamp (Vintage Labels Four) and then stamped with "One hundred thousand welcomes" in Gaelic and English (Irish Blessings) and "Little One" (Celtic Heritage). I thought this was a really elegant cover up and it continued the idea from the front of welcoming the baby Jesus!

More closeups of the card fronts:








It was so much fun to create these cards without using ANY stamps that would be normally thought of as being for Christmas, with the exception of the inside sentiment of course! I thought Welcome was an appropriate message for Jesus' arrival on Earth; it is certainly expressive of the spirit in my heart at this, or anytime of year! Please leave a comment to let me know what you think of my little swaddled Baby Jesus!