DIGISTAMPS 4 JOY CHALLENGE : Create a Christmas Card

I just love this time of year!!! In South Africa the weather is warming up (or getting hot and humid in the case of Durban where I live), It's exam time, school holidays, and that means it's nearly Christmas!

So, in preparation for Christmas, the Digistamps 4 Joy challenge this fortnight is to create a Christmas project. My chosen project is a traditional Christmas card, and making it untraditional.

A little out of the box thinking for me here ... so I started out using a sentiment that is very close to my heart (How many of us remember to say "Happy Birthday" to Jesus on Christmas Day?) Is Christmas really only about gifts and holly, huge meals and lots of parties? Yes, if we use those to celebrate the birth of our Saviour, but I think Christmas means a little bit more.

In the words of Dr Seuss ..."

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags.
And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.
What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store?
What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?

The shades of blue I chose are not traditionally Christmas colours, but they were inspired by the colour we all perceived Mary's robe to have been. Blue is also a serene peaceful colour, a feeling I wanted to evoke in my card.

The sentiment is from digistamps4joy.com and the flourish of sewn-on sequins and beads has been made using a template from scrapbooking-scrapbook.co.za. I added a spray of roses and a satin ribbon, and some Cola glitter glue (crystal).

I would love to hear what you think of this card - Is it too far removed from tradition to be Christmassy? or have I achieved my goal of a peaceful, thought-provoking card?