Fear the Beard
Winter Wonderland Hop - Week 4
Good day, fellow crafters. Welcome to our Winter Wonderland Cardmaking Hop Week 4 hosted by @kellysantidesigns ❄️ Each Wednesday in November, we are creating cards with a winter theme. We’re happy to share this week’s theme suggested by teammate @diana.larson ~ Christmas Trees! If this theme inspires your creativity, please use #winterwonderlandcardhop2023
The modern Santa Claus as we know him today finds its historical roots in the 1820s and 1830s in the United States. The figure of Santa Claus evolved from various influences, with a significant contribution from the famous poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (commonly known as "The Night Before Christmas").
Published anonymously in 1823, the poem describes Santa Claus as a joyful, rotund, and cheerful figure who travels in a sleigh pulled by reindeer, delivering gifts to children on Christmas Eve. This depiction, coupled with illustrations that accompanied later publications of the poem, contributed significantly to shaping the popular image of Santa Claus.
The artist Thomas Nast further solidified the modern image of Santa Claus in the 1860s through a series of illustrations for Harper's Weekly. Nast's illustrations portrayed Santa with a white beard, red suit, and North Pole workshop, establishing visual elements that have endured over time.
Therefore, while Santa Claus has historical ties to figures like Saint Nicholas, the 19th-century American poem and subsequent illustrations played a pivotal role in giving us the modern and widely recognized image of Santa Claus. I hope you enjoy my submission to this challenge.
To create this adorable Santa card, I began by working on the background. I aimed for a cozy and inviting atmosphere, so I opted for Gina K's Sweater Weather stencil, shown on the left, to convey that warm feeling in the design. After securing the stencil onto green cardstock, I applied Hero Arts ink in the color Unicorn using an ink-blending brush to fill in the stencil.
Interestingly, as I worked, the cardstock started to remind me of the Grinch, sparking thoughts about playful and festive ugly sweater designs. This unexpected inspiration became the foundation for the concept behind this card.
The next stage was to create the focal point of the card. To this end I employed the Simon Says Stamp The Man The Myth stamp and die set, featured right. Using black ink, white cardstock, and my Misti stamping tool I stamped out all of the pieces. I then utilized the corresponding dies and cut all of the pieces out. For the color, I utilized Tombow blendable markers, and for the added textures, I incorporated Ranger’s Texture Paste which I left purposefully lumpy to imitate the furry nature of the cap and glassy accents for the lenses of the glasses. I then set everything aside and allowed all of the elements time to dry.
While that process was ongoing I created my sentiment. For this card, I chose the “Don’t Fear The Beard” to stay within my design because I felt that would be something you would see on a sweater like I am envisioning. Using some vellum and clear embossing ink I stamped the sentiment a couple of times to ensure complete coverage and then covered the ink in black embossing powder. I then carefully heat set the powder with my heat tool.
The last stage was assembly. I first adhered each of my Santa pieces to the background with liquid glue and then trimmed the background panel down to its final dimensions as well as a black mat for visual interest. I followed that up by trimming the sentiment label to its final size and then to give it a finished look, wrapped the ends of the vellum sentiment label around the background panel and secured it in place. The background panel was then secured to the mat with double-sided tape and then that composite was adhered to a pre-cut and folded white card base. With that, I called the card complete.
