Lace Angel

This card is for yet another challenge at Jingle Belles. They have the best challenges! This time the challenge is to create a holiday card using NEUTRAL Colors.  Here's a direct quote to help clarify:  "...create holiday cards which embrace ONLY the neutral colors: white, cream, ivory, ecru, black, grey, charcoal, obsidian, brown, tan, kraft, camel, oatmeal, sienna; use them all together, or choose one and rock the monochrome,  whatever you desire; if it's NEUTRAL, it's *IN*!!! And yes, for the record, we consider gold, copper and silver to be the "bling" equivalent of neutrals, so you may use them as much (or as little) as you'd like!"  

So, as you can see I have used black, Kraft, cream, and gold. I began by dry embossing a piece of black cardstock using a Fiskar's Texture Template. Next I punched a circle in the black cardstock as well as a piece of cream cardstock that was slightly bigger than the black cardstock. I layered them together leaving a cream border around the black cardstock. Then I used embroidery thread and a needle to stitch around the outside of the circle. To create the angel, I used a punch to create "lace" and then folded and rolled the lace to create the angel's dress and sleeves. I cut out a head, added eyes and a mouth and shaded the cheeks with a tan colored pencil. Her hair is made from moss colored straw. I used a piece of gold wire to create a halo and added a gold colored trumpet. I added more "paper lace" to the black embossed cardstock and included a strip of black decorative tape in the center of the bottom piece of lace and finished by adding a cream bow. I adhered the mat to the cardbase with dimensional adhesive.

Although it is hard to tell from the photo, the angel's dress and the lace are really created from the same cream colored cardstock. I must admit that the photo of this card isn't the best. I couldn't seem to capture a photo that showed the real cream color and the deep black embossed background. This is as close as I could get after way too many attempts....so, I apologize for the "fair" photo. 

Supplies:  Cardstock: Bazzill cream, Recollections black & Kraft,  Punch: Martha Stewart (lace), Stampin' Up circle, Decorative Tape: Darice, Moss Straw? garage sale item, Ribbon Offray, Embossing: Fiskar's Texture Plate, Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Scrapbook Adhesive 3D Foam Tape, Glue Spots