Christmas in July: Holly Swag Fence

I was checking out the challenge on the Cheery Lynn Designs blog, and this week's challenge is Christmas in July.  I love making Christmas cards!  For this card, I went with a wintery Christmas lights scene.  I started out by sponging some Stormy Sky distress ink on white cardstock, and then I sponged some Chipped Sapphire distress ink around the edges.  The falling snow is created by using a white gel pen and just adding dots here and there.  You could also use the new white Picket Fence distress ink marker to create the dots of snow.

I cut out some snow drifts with my scissors and sponged the very top edges with Chipped Sapphire distress ink.  I adhered the larger snow drift to the falling snow background, then added a Victorian Picket Fence (Cheery Lynn Designs) over that.  The Christmas Lights Swag (Cheery Lynn Designs) was die cut from black cardstock and red cardstock and added to the fence.  I wanted a little bit of greenery, so I die cut some Holly Lace Flourishes (Cheery Lynn Designs), snipped the leaves, and glued the leaves down on the fence.  I added some Red Rhinestones to the cluster of holly leaves in the center of the fence.  To give my fence the look of real snow falling on it, I used the Distress Fuzz technique from Technique Junkies and added pieces here and there.  A smaller snow drift was glued over the base of the fence and I used some word stickers at the bottom for a Christmas sentiment.

I'm entering this card into the following challenges:

Cheery Lynn Designs #35 - Christmas in July
Christmas Cards All Year 'Round - Christmas Flowers/Holly
Third Coast Challenges #1 - Deck our blog with Boughs of Holly
Through the Craft Room Door - Christmas in July
Hotshot Craft #9 - Distress Inks

I hope you have a safe and wonderful 4th of July today!  Happy Independence Day!