Christmas Ornaments Christmas Card

“This card is dedicated to my mother.
Filled with the Spirit of Christmas,
She always made sure the holidays were all about the special
details.
Whether it was a hand-made Christmas tree ornament
Or a beautifully wrapped package,
Christmas always had her signature style.
All the ornaments illustrated on this card have hung from
My mom’s Christmas tree.
Some of them are hand-made and decades old,
While other ornaments are more recent.”

This is the written dedication that appears on the back of the 2011 wrap-around Christmas card.

This card was a long time in-the-making.  The last time I had created a Christmas card was 1998.  And since 13 years had passed, I wanted this design to be very special.  It doesn’t get any more special (for me) than Christmas and my mom. 

Having worked from older photographs, the pencil sketches for this card had been drawn years ago.  I always knew I wanted to create a card like this, so much of the necessary ground work had already been started.  Comparing the existing pencil drawings to the photos, I did make some minor revisions to some of the sketches.  I then scanned them and created the black line work using Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop.  For example: the stocking, candle, Christmas tree, reindeer cup cake, pine tree candles and star were easier to create using Illustrator.  The balance of the card: the twink elf and the bearded elf were created using Photoshop.  The starburst and snowflakes are Photoshop brushes that I downloaded from online.  This is the first art work posted to this blog that was predominantly created digitally.  Yes, the sketches were created traditionally using pencil and paper, but going forward, most of my work will begin with pencil sketches.  That is what I know.  That is comfortable for me.  And I would like to keep some of the creative process grounded in tradition.  But, the bulk of this design was created using CAD programs, which was pretty much a milestone for me. 

The ornaments on the face of the card are very special to me and hold treasured sentimental significance.  Both the candle and stocking were made by my mother from felt.  They were created from a felt ornament kit purchased at a local craft store.  They were cut, sewn and stuffed in the late 1960’s or early 1970’s.  These ornaments are embellished with beads and decorative cording.  There were multiple felt creations that not only hung from the Christmas tree, but decorated our house every year at Christmas time.  These hand-made treasures have been divided up by my mother and gifted to my brother, my sister and myself throughout the years at Christmas. 

When I was younger, my parents would purchase a Christmas ornament each year, for each child.  Eventually, these ornaments would be gifted or “passed down” (by our mom) to my brother, my sister or myself throughout our adult years as our “special Christmas present” that year.  Of course, we loved this because most of those ornaments were made by her.  But some were not.  The twink elf, the bearded elf and the cup cake reindeer were all purchased when I was a child.  I do remember the first year the cup cake reindeer was placed on the tree, but I don’t remember where it came from.  The two elves are ornaments that I remember always being on our tree, so I don’t know when they were introduced.  But I’ve always loved these three ornaments, especially the cup cake reindeer.  It’s so unique and colorful.  The Christmas tree ornament is dimensional and made of wood.  It was made in Germany and purchased at Disney’s Epcot Center in one of the German gift shops.  It was purchased in the early 1990’s when my mom, my (then) partner, his son and I vacationed at Disney in Orlando.    

On the back of the card are pine tree candles and a star.  These adorn one of my mom’s smaller Christmas trees, as these are mini-ornaments.  My mom is a big fan of all things colonial.  She loves anything relating to Williamsburg, VA.  So when she came across these common-wick “hand dipped” candles in the shape of Christmas trees I’m certain she felt the need to have them.  The star is ivory bisque porcelain with painted trees in each of the star’s five points.  Because my mom is a star (in my book) of course, I had to include it.