December 8, 2012

Christmas cards in the making...

Hey everyone, it's been a very busy week here with lots of basketball games.  The girls are in a tournament an hour away and we've had games 3 days in a row.  Tonight we play for the championship!  

I had some time to sneak in some Christmas card making sessions and am happy to share with you today how I mass produced my cards this year. It's always nice to create special cards for friends and family....I know it means so much to me to receive a card in the mail with a handwritten note.  
I had a handful of cards already made for Design Team assignments but I needed a dozen or so more.  I reached for all of my October Afternoon Make it Merry goodies + a few items from my shop.  
I used an A2 base cardstock for my cards, my usual size. I've found that a very simply way to create cards is to create a collage of sorts on a piece of patterned paper then attach it to the card base.  I wanted some of my base card to show through so I cut my patterned papers to approximately 4" x 5.25".
Next I used some of the vintages images from the OA Make it Merry collection to just build my card collages.  Using these cut images made for some quick card making.....no tedious stamping or die cutting.  I also used some doilies from my shop, Washi tape and a little vintage sheet music.  I kept the collage layout pretty much the same....all the cut images were placed on the bottom right edge of my patterned paper with a doily peeking out on the left side.
Next I used my red stitching that I'm loving this holiday season to add some detail to the collages.  This gives a real homespun look to my cards. On each collage, I also the Christmas date stamp + a few images from the stamp set from the Very Merry December 2012 Mini-Book Kit.
Next it was time to adhere all the assembled collages to my card fronts.  By assembling the collages separately from the card fronts, the card bases are kept nice and clean and any mistakes you make can be covered up or fixed more easily.  To finish up my cards I tied on some red and white baker's twine and added some sparkly wood accents, Washi tape, brads and enamel dots.
And here's the first six of my completed cards.  Something about a grouping of cards together just makes me happy.  I completed all 12 of the cards I'm showing today in just a couple of hours.  I think I had two card making sessions. You'll notice that instead of centering my collage pieces on the card base, I placed them all in the bottom right corner.  Just a little something I've been doing with my cards lately.
Here's the next batch of 6 completed cards.
The snowmen are some of my faves, just so holly jolly.
And the cute vintage images of the children are so cute.
Some of my favorite features are the paper doilies peeking out.  I cut each doily in half for each card.
The Washi tape was another fun accent I pulled from my holiday product stash.  Just another fun way to add some color to my cards.
And all the glittery accents.  You can see how I altered my wood embellishments in this post.
And that's a wrap.  I'm so glad to have this big stash of cards completed.  I need to snap a family photo and get these sent out the door.  So, did you create your own cards this year?  I'd love to hear your process and how many cards you send out.  I know that some of you make astonishing amounts of holiday cards.

Well, I'm off to wash some basketball uniforms and put a cheeseburger meatloaf in the crock pot.  I'll be working on my Project December pages early next week so stay tuned for my first update near the middle of the week.  The temps are supposed to drop and I have to admit I'm looking forward to spending some time in my big green chair by the fire and staring at my pretty Christmas tree.  Have a great weekend everyone!

A little reminder.......let the stress of the holiday hubbub go this year.  I see people scurrying around and  sometimes it all just gets to me.  I still cherish the "everyday" of December....watching my girls play ball, sitting down to a family meal, playing with my naughty little puppy.  The holiday is magical time of year but I always need a reminder to keep it simple.....don't stress....just have fun.  :)

12 comments:

Ulrika said...

What a wonderful bunch of Christmas cards! I really like the vintage images and how the design comes together so beautifully. Great inspiration, thank you for sharing!

JennyKozar said...

These are just adorable - I would love to receive hand made cards like this. And thank you for the reminder to ENJOY this season.

Alicia K said...

Beautiful cards and thank you so much for the reminder to keep things simple! We are hosting an orphan this Christmas from Latvia (who we hope to adopt) and the one thing which has been repeated over and over again in training is to keep Christmas simple - enjoy the small things with your hosted child. We are looking forward to an old-fashioned Christmas ... baking and crafting, sitting in front of the fire.

Michelle McClure said...

Thanks so much for sharing your process. The cards look so layered and complicated. Maybe I can give this technique a whirl.

Angie@Echoes of Laughter said...

I love these Michelle! You are so talented and everything that you create is absolutely stunning! Have a wonderful weekend! Angie xo

Jytte said...

These cards are so lovely!! I would LOVE to get a card like these ... I love the colors and the layers!

Beautiful work..

Mari K. said...

Beautiful cards! I've heard of cheeseburger meatloaf before, but never in the crockpot. Recipe please?

Pam said...

Beautiful cards! I love all the layers and the little extra details make a gig impact. I make my cards, too. I usually send 25-30 in the mail. The rest are delivered with gifts, so those can be more fussy. Enjoy!

Unknown said...

I read this post three times, I enjoy reading about your process and seeing all that colorful eye candy. Love it!! I just love the OA Christmas line and those adorable vintage card images. I am going to order another paper pack of this line b/c I want to use some of this again next year. I especially loved the green and red gingham papers, they are so me and it's a "perfect" gingham.
I just mailed out on Friday, twenty-five hand made/stamped cards. I made three more of duplicates to keep for my DD album. Most of the 25 were all individual designs, five were mass produced. I started making them the first of Nov. I also went to a SU Christmas Card Camp and made 10 of them, so that really helped me get going on the number of cards I needed.
I agree with the comment about slowing down. After a very long week at work on Friday I went walking with friends after work to de-stress, came home and reheated some homemade apple butternut soup and turned on the Christmas tree and twinkle lights in my house, turned on the tv and lo and behold, my favorite movie, You've Got Mail was on and I thought, "yeah, this is the good life"--soup, twinkle lights and a cute movie.--Diana Finlay.

Anonymous said...


love your cards.

Unknown said...

Really fun cards - you sure know how to coordinate all the little details. You are so right about the holidays - we do tend to let all the preparations overwhelm us. Thanks for the reminder to slow down & enjoy the everyday. Hugs.

Cindy said...

Great cards! Wonderful blog too!

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