Christmas in turquoise

Yet another of those "I need this" buys every crafter knows. This time, I returned from the crafting store with this beautiful turquoise & black background paper (and as they happened to have it in pink & black, too, you can probably guess that I needed that one as well). 

Even though the paper itself might not be the most Christmas-themed thing you've ever seen, I decided to use it for a Christmas card. Or rather, to combine it with a stitching pattern that reminds me of Christmas.
Of course, it could be seen as a floral ornament as well, but with this particular colour combination, the shimmering yarns and the star-shaped gemstones I used, it looks like a snowflake or an ice crystal to me. 

And despite all the bling, it still looks like a guy's card to me, which is good for two reasons: not only it is never too early to make a Christmas card (or two), but also, I usually find it a bit difficult to come up with Christmas cards for guys - simple, elegant Christmas cards without this overload of cuteness that usually comes with the winter holidays. 

A little contribution to the June collection of Create in Austria - artwork created by Austrians and/or in Austria.
A little contribution to the collection of hand-stitching at made with Blümchen.

challenges: 
- 613 avenue create: ATG
- a bit more time to craft: ATG
- Christmas cards all year round: non-traditional Christmas colours
- crafty catz: ATG
- crafty sentiments: strass/pearls
- craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge: ATG as long as it's Christmas
- craftyhazelnutschristmaschallenge2: ATG as long as it's Christmas
- craftyhazelnutspatternedpaper
- create and inspire: ATG
- creative moments: ATG
- bawion: ATG
- inspiration destination: ATG
- love to craft: ATG 
- 12 months of Christmas: optional theme "masculine"
- through the craftroom door: ATG
- unicorn challengeblog: masculine
- wortartwednesday: ATG
- worldwide open design team challenge: ATG