Christmas Already?

Time sure flies.

The flurry of post-wedding sorting, tidying, organising and documenting has only just started to calm down, and I find myself half-buried under an avalanche of card-making materials.

But it's the life I signed up for, I guess! Actually, this year, without a wedding looming in the near distance I feel very relaxed about Christmas preparations. Good thing, too, since I have nearly 100 cards to make for customers! The first batch has already gone, and I'm working on the second next week.

rolled paper scraps make a great Christmas tree

and give such interesting dimension to a card

the brief was traditional, but I like to add my own twist

again, great dimension from these baubles

and reusing last year's gift tags? genius!

 How about you? Have you started with Christmas yet? 

It's All About Cards

As those two ladies of Good Mail Day write, there's nothing quite like receiving something personalised and made and sent just for you in the post; emails and e-cards just don't cut it. They talk about the rules of mail art sending - that you should honour everything you receive with a reply - and then reiterate this in a softer way - that if you want to receive something, all you have to do is send something and wait for the response. I'm happy to say it's working: my Postcard-a-Week postcards have resulted in this, which came through my letterbox yesterday:

 

Which spurred me to on make a reply, even though I didn't have an awful lot to say. Last week was very full of work and not much play. The weekend, however, was full of relaxing, wood walking and going to the market on Sunday to buy yummy artisanal food for lunch (and dinner, it turned out. Never shop for food when you're hungry!). So that's what informed the reply I sent:

 

The little play I did get to have last week was very time-pressured and resulted in a handful of little-effort cards that I'm not thrilled with. But freelancers must not say no to work. I did make it a bit difficult for myself, but at least I didn't fall to pieces.

I used my Letterpress for the sentiment on this card - I'm waiting for the opportunity to use it more!

 

 

 

And finally... Tuesday was the 25th. That means, according to my resolution, and like Sandra and my mum and probably many others, Christmas creation day. I stuck with a theme and got some cards under my belt (11 to be exact. It would've been 12, but I stamped the inside of one of them upside down):

And with that I think I'll have a little break from card-making. Got to save my efforts for wedding invitations (coming very soon!).

Christmas Came and Went

I trust everyone had a very merry Christmas! The biggest surprise here was that my brother gave some brilliantly creative, skilfully put together handmade gifts that really blew me away: he made me a bag, and my fiance some bowls from old vinyl records.

It's a little bit late to share the last batch of Christmas cards; however, there's an early card-related resolution I'd like to make, and it seems like the right time to say it.

I've used a lot of new paper this year making my Christmas cards. Even paper that isn't strictly Christmassy. Like this Sassafras Lass paper:

I even resorted to stealing and using an image off the web in place of the Bombshell stamps I don't have yet:

And I loved my Basic Grey Jovial 6x6 pad, and am thrilled that I still have some paper left from it for next year.

 

 

However, I've realised I have a lot of paper that I don't really like. There are, of course, a lot of cards to make. So... my early resolution is to only make cards from the paper I don't like. I'll post more about this in the new year. Happy Boxing Day everyone!

It's Chrrrrriiissssstmaaaaasssss!

Now my fiance's birthday has come and gone, we can officially begin to get into the spirit of Christmas. As if to confirm this, at a music club's Christmas get together on Wednesday he performed an acoustic version of Slade's 'Merry Christmas Everybody', which went down a storm.

About a month ago, he told me a joke, as he does from time to time.

Q. What's the best thing about being an insomniac?
A. Only three sleeps till Christmas!

Back then, it was hilarious. Now I'm kind of wiping the smile from my face as I see Christmas looming and know that I am un(der)prepared. That's not to say I haven't been doing anything. Oh no. I've got a million photos as proof, mostly of the cards and tags I made for a Christmas fair stall I had on Wednesday (I kept that one quiet, didn't I?). Well, it might not have happened, so I didn't want to shout about it. Or, it might've been a flop, so I didn't want to shout about it. I spent some time (I'm not going to disclose how much time) rush-making things to sell, and in the end it turned out quite well, but I'm too exhausted to shout about it. I didn't even get a photo of me in market mode.

I made a whole bunch of small (4 x 4 in) cards using kraft paper. The first two I already posted about, I know. But I love it so much - I only want to make cards with kraft paper now. I can't believe it took me so long to find it. Resourceful as I am, I used the cutouts from these cards to make a topper in themselves. The padded gingham stars speak for themselves.

 

I got really stuck on stars. I cut quite a lot of them, and didn't vary too wildly from the layout above.
Some I stamped with snowflakes, inked the edges, and stuck on with foam pads. I made some into matching gift tags too.

Some I stamped with winter foliage:

That snowman paper from the Basic Grey 'Jovial' collection is so fun! I also made matching gift tags for these stars:

Then I went back to the shop and bought some more gingham stars. I used a little bit of border and a little bit of swiss dot paper to accent these cards.

I got off the star train for a bit to experiment with some stamping. I drew a little pencil circle on white card, and joined up a few wintry stamps in a few colours to make a wreath. I still don't consider myself a 'stamper' so I was quite please with how these came out.

 

I also made some cards I really did not want to part with. I love the cleanness of these ones - there are a few white snowflake stickers on the card which you probably can't see in these photos, but that is it. Nothing fancy. Just a nice cookie of a fallen branch and a little cutout.

 

 

The warmth of the wood against the white card really feels Christmassy. I am going to make some more of these for my own personal collection, because they sold out at the fair!

I had to go back to stars in the end. I went with some more gift tags. I really like that it looks like I've cut the star from patterned paper. In fact, I covered my acrylic block with stamps and made sure it was all too big for the star, and just stamped:

And here is my little basket of gift tags, which also sold out:

If you weren't before, you'll definitely have the Christmas spirit now you've read through this post. Happy penultimate shopping Sunday!

A Snowstorm before Christmas

With all the snow outside there's every excuse to hole up and make, make, make! I've been quite busy with my cards these past two weeks.

First of all, I'm LOVING using kraft card for Christmas this year - it gives that homey, warm feeling of being around a tree and a fire, surrounded by presents and family.

 

I love the gingham fabric stars too - they're lightly padded, which really gives the cards dimension.

Next, I was asked by a friend to make her a few cards for her family, which would feature her daughter. She sent me a cute christmassy photo, and I immediately knew I wanted to put little Rosie in a bauble...

 

 

 

I used a big rectangle mask to make a snowflake border, and - as always with Christmas cards - stamped a few images on the envelopes.

Then, I made some simple gift tags:

 

After that, I turned away from the traditional colours and used the gorgeous Christmas scene stamp from LaBlanche, which I talked about in Tuesday's post.

 

Again, I used a big circle mask to get the snowflake border. Also, I highlighted the snowy parts of the stamp with Stickles (although you can't really see that in the photos). BIG disappointment though - the two products didn't combine well. The ink was Memento (Tuxedo Black) and the Stickles were Ranger (Frosted Lace). I'm not sure which one to blame, but after applying the Stickles to the inked parts, the (black) ink seeped out and into the (white) Stickles, resulting in a pink-tinted snow. I'm really disappointed as the ink is supposed to be fast. And I did let it dry before applying the Stickles. Any recommendations for better inks, anyone?

Better Not Shout

As I mentioned last week, I've been making a few cards lately. The ones I've been preparing most manically are Christmas cards - I've had orders which so far have amounted to 65 cards, you see... I am pleased to report that I can still say I'm not sick of making cards. I've just packaged and sent 60 of them off to customers, and am feeling quite pleased - and, I guess, relieved.

I appreciate, though, that I'd better not shout, or blow my own trumpet, too much, because I still have a long way to go before my Christmas card-making duties are over for this year. Pride comes before a fall, and all that. So, in a very meek and modest manner, I'd like to show you my designs from this latest (but not the first) batch.

Thanks for looking. If you want more, there will be more. It's more than a promise - it's an obligation.