Christmas Cards 2014

No, I haven't forgotten about making Christmas Cards!

As I said, this teaching full time really cuts into my crafting time!  I finally feel like I'm getting my head above water... so I've taken some time to get back to it (a little).  I still don't like it one little bit.

 This wreath was the first WOW I saw in the fall/Christmas Holiday catalog.  It's right at the beginning when you open up the catalog (p. 9), and I could see lots of possibilities with this. 

The wreath stamp set is bundled with the die cuts  (don't skip that!) and is a clear stamp set so you can see very clearly where to place the stamps.  I used Pear Pizzazz for the base,  Garden Green for the darker leaves, and Real Red for the berries.  I added Christmas Red Stickles to give the card a little sparkle on the berries.  Cherry Cobbler Seam binding bow, and the Decorative label punch for the Merry Christmas.
The wood grain background is stamped in Crumb Cake.

This card has some of my very favorite things...  the Merry Christmas stamp, and the double seam binding bow.  Yes, I've come around to the seam binding side!  :) 

Christmas in July - July 7, 2014

I saw this picture online, and I just had to share it!

 Sometimes, you just get that Christmas "JOY" that washes over you - no matter what!

My card for today fits this picture, as you'll see in a moment.

REALLY sorry for the head-tilt needed to view this card...  the camera on my phone forgot about Blogger's idiosyncrasies, and I took the picture the wrong way.  I can assure you it won't happen again.

HERE it is!!  I took the picture again, and made sure I was in the correct camera mode.

This card actually took me about 10 minutes to put together.  Regular A2 card base, 3 3/4" square patterned paper, 3 1/2" square overlay, cut with the tree die cut.  Adhere all the layers, using dimensionals on the very top piece.  A double bow at the top, and a sentiment at the bottom, and it's a Christmas card!

Even though this was quite an easy card to make, I really love the design.  I hope you do too, and yes, I'm sorry about the crick in your neck.  :)

2014 Christmas Cards - July

Because I'm currently working on my Christmas in July cards, I made only four of these for this month's Christmas Cards throughout the year.

I really love this wreath.  It's 3 different sized stamps, all turned and placed together to make the concentric circles.
Real Red, Garden Green are the colors, with an old stamp set's sentiment Noel, and a Real Red taffeta bow.

It's not my usual busy, complicated card... it's very simple and straightforward.  I'm working on it!

Christmas Cards 2014 - June

As always, I made 6 cards, completed the inside as you'll see below, stamped the envelopes - have them signed and sealed - just waiting for right after Thanksgiving!

We've even set up our printer (again) that allows me to print address labels in color - so they won't be so boring any longer! :)

This card took just a little bit of time, even though there are lots of steps.

I stamped the background with a music stamp I had, added a tree in Garden Green,  the Joy stamp, and a seam binding bow accented with a brass brad.

The inside is the verse that belongs with the Joy stamp on the outside of the card stamped in Crumb Cake, and accented with a Merry Christmas over the top.

May 2014 Christmas Cards

May!  2014 is flying right by...  With these 6 cards, I have 33 Christmas cards already finished!  A few years ago, that would have been MORE than enough.  This project allows me to send cards to extended family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and acquaintances.

I CASE'D this design from a card I saw on Pinterest - changed a few details, and here you go.... Ho Ho Ho!

Cherry Cobbler, Fiesta paper stack, Gumball Green (ret.), a snowflake punch I've had for a long time, and regular brads with glitter.

Do they look a little crooked?  Maybe so, but the chevron design in the background doesn't help your eyes either.  Please enjoy!

I've already got June's cards in the planning phase.  SO many ideas! :)

April Christmas Cards

Oh!  April already!  This year is flying by at the speed of light!

This is a design I used years ago.  I really love this medallion!  It's cut from the Winter Woodlands cartridge in 4 pieces.  Just choose your paper, cut and go!  I love the holly mat paper, and the berries lend themselves very well to a touch of Stickles.

Here you can see the inside view with the sentiment.

 Of course, "No naked envelopes!"

This month, even though I made 9 cards took me a little time to get together.  I knew I'd get the cards done, I just had to work a little harder to get motivated.

Christmas Cards - March 2014

I love Christmas trees! 
I collect them!  I have Christmas trees around the house all year long... we keep our tree up in the living room way too long (usually until just before Valentine's Day), but I don't care!  I just love Christmas trees!  They make me very happy.  Plus, when I look at these, I can hear Bing Crosby's song Mele Kalikimaka.  :)

I saw this technique in a simpler form and thought to give it more detail.

I especially like Christmas trees that have Merry Christmas in different languages.  At school, almost every year, I have the kids color a tree with the Merry Christmas sayings in the ornaments and turn it into a card for their parents, or a favorite grandparent.

The effect I was going for was glowing lights on the tree with this technique.  The original had just triangles of green with just the circular ornaments.  I had this stamp - and this is how I made these trees happen.

I used Garden Green cardstock, and stamped the trees in Garden Green.  Use a white gel pen to color in the stars, circles, squares, and triangles on each tree.  Dig out the pastels from your stash (come on, I know you have some!), and color over the white gel pen with the pastel chalks.  While you're in the middle of the technique, it doesn't look so, but when you're finished you can see the lights glowing on the Christmas trees!

In hindsight I should have embossed the red background, but the trees are so busy I decided to let them have the entire focus.

I used the Artisan punch on its side for the sentiment and scraps of the Garden Green as a frame.

Here you can see the inside of the card, and the envelope.  Remember the saying... "No naked envelopes!"

February, 2014 Christmas Cards

Here is the next installment of 2014's Christmas cards.

We finally got our Christmas tree taken down, and I'm always a little sad when that happens - even though I have Christmas trees around the house all year - ceramic mostly. :)

 I saw some cards made with the stamp set Gorgeous Grunge and started playing around with color combinations.  I really love how this works with Cherry Cobbler and Gumball Green.  They didn't take too long to put together, but the vertical lines were all lined up with the Stamp-a-ma-jig.

Broken lines, paint splats, dots, and paint flicks....  my very favorite Christmas stamp, and a Christmas ornament.  I just had to add the bow to make the grouping of 3.  Have to follow those rules, you know!

Here you can see the inside of the card.  I used the dots stamp, and of course, you know the quote, "No naked envelopes!"

After hearing that the cards get torn because of embellishments, I'm adding an extra piece of cardstock to protect the card and keep it from bulging because of the ribbon and rhinestones.

2014 Christmas Cards - January

Christmas cards for 2014?  Yes!

This past Christmas was wonderful!  I heard so many people say they didn't send cards because they ran out of time - haven't gotten around to it yet, won't send cards this year because they don't have time, etc.  I sat down one evening, signed our cards, added the address labels, and had them out in the post the very next morning.

Even though I stopped running the contest for prizes and participation of others mid year last year, I am going to still keep on making the cards - simply for my own peace of mind.


This card is inspired by the card I received from my friend Melissa.  She used the same stamp set, and I then took the idea and moved it around a bit.

Here's the inside view and envelope.

One change I'm making to work the cards even faster this coming November is to have them already signed and sealed.  I'll just have to add the address labels and stamps!  I thought of adding the stamps already but most of the cards are actually hand delivered, so I'll wait on that til the last minute.