An Elegant Trio / What Makes a Great Christmas Card?

I have an elegant trio of cards for you today, all in gold and white.  We'll take a look at them and then talk a bit about what goes into the making of a great Christmas card.  We're making these cards at our Christmas Retreat this Saturday, too.  They're even prettier in real life.   

They're all alike, actually, except for the design of the vellum.  I've used our new thick white CS for the card base.  This makes for a sturdier card that can handle the extra layers on the front of the card.

The pine bough sprig is a stamp from our Wonderland stamp set.

My vellum layer is cut 1/4" wider than the layer of white CS beneath it, wrapped around that CS layer, and attached to the back.  This makes for a beautiful layer with NO adhesive showing through the vellum.  This vellum/CS layer is then attached to the card base with Liquid Tombow.  I attached the small focal piece with dimensionals.

The wooden snowflake is altered to coordinate with the card by embossing it with Gold EP..  It is then attached with Liquid Tombow.

So... what makes a great Christmas card?  
     Easy...
-- layers (or appearance of layers)
-- texture (vellum always works well)
-- touches of gold (or silver)
-- bits of sparkle
-- touches of embossing
-- rich embellishments
-- rich colors or bold elegance (such as this set of cards)
-- good images
Be sure to coordinate the inside of your card and the envelope, for a complete look of elegance. 

Now... design your card including as many of these elements as possible and you're likely to come up with a great Christmas card!