And here’s the finished card based on her suggestions:

Now, interestingly enough, Tracy actually voted for design number three in the comments yesterday. So, Tracy, I’ll give you the choice of this card or Design 3. Please send me your choice and your contact information via the form linked at the top of the page.

Thank you to everyone else who offered suggestions and voted. I had a lot of fun, and will definitely do this again with some other rejects.

Materials:
Cardstock: Red and white from my stash.
Dies: Sizzix Christmas Light
Cord: Celebrate It 151488
Glitter: Glitter Ritz Highlight, Stardust, Emerald Green and Regal Red
Stamp: JudiKins
Ink: Distress Ink Bundled Sage, Spica 21
Sentiment: Printed

Equipment:
Paper Trimmer: Fiskars
Adhesive: Glue Glider Pro High Tac, 3D Dots, Glossy Accents

First, I want to thank everyone for their helpful ideals on the Christmas light card. There were so many great suggestions, that it’s going to be hard to pick a winner.

Some of the ideas, while great, weren’t really workable with the supplies I have on hand. For example, several people suggested using smaller lights. Unfortunately, I used a Sizzix die, so making the cuts smaller is much easier said than done. Now, if I (hint!) had a Pazzles (hint!), that would be a different story.

I would also love to experiment with different colored lights, but that would require buying a lot more glitter. While I would love to do that, my craft budget tells me I can’t.

Luckily, there were also a lot of workable suggestions, many of which I liked enough to try out.

So, here’s how this is going to work. I’ve posted prototypes of the design finalists below, and put a poll in the sidebar. You have 24 hours to vote, and I’ll formally announce the winner at 3:30pm Pacific time tomorrow.

Please note that as these are prototypes; your voting should be based on the design rather than on the neatness or sloppiness of the card itself. I didn’t glue anything down before I snapped these pictures, and in some of them I didn’t even bother to glitter up the lightbulbs. I also used the same printed sentiment for each, so that may change. Obviously, the finished product will actually be finished.

Design 1

buy clomid and nolvadex online uk said…I’d add a layer underneath, either red or green, then the cream layer, but string the bulbs straight across the top, and put an embossed label with the sentiment centered on the bottom.

I don’t know what I was thinking when I capitalized that sentiment. I’ll redo it, most likely in title caps, and raise it just slightly to reduce some of the white space in the middle of the card. I’ll also probably add more cording at the top so the lights are attached to something. And of course, I don’t plan on gluing anything down that’s this crooked.

Design 2

buy clomid and metformin online said… This is a really pretty card. I like the idea. But only because you asked, I would suggest that you take off one bulb (the green one, I like red :) ) Stamp a sentiment on white cardstock, then back the sentiment with some pattern paper with red +green in it. 

The stamping here is quick and sloppy, but it gives you an idea. I’d probably ink up the edges to give it a better blend, and I might add a little red to the berries in the stamp design.

Design 3

Your Godmother said… So many good ideas… if you send one to me, don’t sign it……

I came up with this one myself after playing around with some of the other designs. For the sake of choosing a winner I’ll credit it to my Godmother, because I make the rules and I do what I want. Keep in mind that the sentiment would be printed directly onto the background stock.

Design 4

Angela said… I agree you need an odd number of lights, but think 3 is too few, so I would use 5. I also agree the cord should be silver and I like Jamie’s idea of using the words “Merry and Bright” on the outside. Other than that, I like the simplicity of the white or cream background, but would like to see pine needles embossed on the cardstock. 

Just imagine that center bulb is green. The sentiment will have to be smaller, and I’ll have to find an alternative to the elastic cord, because it’s too stiff to work with in such a tight space.

So, there you go. Vote early and vote often!