Year of the Ox Card

I made a sweet angel card from a template from Keiko Nakazawa's wonderful 3D Pop-up Greeting Cards book that I got for Christmas (also, by the way, I apologize for the smugness of my Chrismas post -- I hadn't meant to sound so obnoxious but I was just so pleased that day!)

I used the principals I learned from making that angel card to create the above card, celebrating the upcoming Year of the Ox, Chinese New Year. I found a really beautiful ox illustration on istockphoto.com:

It was perfect for what I wanted because it is standing on two legs on a nice, straight level surface.

Plus the artist was kind enough to include the chinese symbols for luck (I think), which I also used on the card.

My initial design included the ox in all its color glory, but eventually I decided that the profile of the ox looked more dramatic in pure, simple white against the deep red of the card.

I was going to post this card for sale on etsy, but the photos I took today didn't do it justice.

On other papercrafting news, I recently ordered envelopes from http://www.envelopemall.com/. They have a variety of envelopes in various sizes and colors at quite reasonable prices. While I have to buy 100 at a time, as opposed to 25 from Paper Zone, a local store, the cost is less than half (though I do have to spring for shipping as well). In any case, I have been pleased with how quickly they got my order into the mail and was so happy with the 400 5" square envelopes I received that I immediately put in another order for envelopes of other sizes and colors.