Hello, Crafters.
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Last week, hubby wrote our Christmas newsletter which we send out with our Christmas cards. As always he sent me the draft to read through and to add anything I thought he’d missed out. Othman writes a great newsletter and it is sprinkled with his sense of humour! As I read though it, I enjoyed the smiles and changed some minor bits until the last two sentences of the newsletter. That was my year summed up! 🤣🤣🤣 It didn’t take long to change that into two paragraphs; the newsletter was ready!
Well, I knew it was going to happen but when I’m not being like a dog with a bone, I can be like an ostrich with my head buried in the sand! I prepared my Christmas card list, and horror of horrors, I didn’t have anywhere near enough cards! I knew this was going to happen because I had stopped blogging on a daily basis which is where my Christmas cards normally come from. After I had counted the cards, I sort of had enough, but about three-quarters of them were the fancy fold cards I’ve made in my videos and a lot of these aren’t suitable to be sent out to non-crafters. My first thought was I’d just have to put a Post It note on each card with brief instructions on how to open them! Hubby didn’t consider that to be a good idea and he suggested I went out and bought some Christmas cards! After I had finished coughing and spluttering, he decided that wasn’t a good idea either! After calming down and talking it through sensibly, we agreed that I should just take a day or two and concentrate on making Christmas cards. This explains why I have made four each of two different designs for today’s blog! I still have a long way to go but it won’t be as bad as my worst year ever when I was still making Christmas cards on Christmas Eve. When that happened several years ago, I said “Never again!”
I decided to start my cards using the Gingerbread & Peppermint bundle – because there are a lot of shapes which can be die-cut and a couple that can be fussy cut from the matching DSP, and I knew I already had several shapes ready to go! The Create with Us Bundle Tutorial PDF which we released at the beginning of December features the Gingerbread & Peppermint Bundle – view it in my Tutorial Shop. (This bundle is available from my Tutorial Shop worldwide for just £15!) I had a look at the Tutorial Bundle PDF for inspiration and saw something that sparked my mojo! The designs I’m using can be made totally Cinnamon Cider and white, like these first two cards or more Christmassy with green & red. I’m share my cards as I go along so you’ll see what I mean. To keep things straightforward I’m going to use the same layout and after I feel I have exhausted this monotone look, I’ll change to the coloured scheme.
I have used a portrait card with my regular measurements and a landscape card which I cut at 11½” x 4⅛” scored and folded at 5¾”. Whichever way I decide to make my card i.e. portrait or landscape, I always like my fold to be at the side. The reason for this is that I think it’s too easy for cards with a fold across the top to do the splits when it’s sitting on a shelf and finish flat on the deck!
Both my cards have a card base of Cinnamon Cider Cardstock (CS), a middle layer in Basic White CS (inside and on the card front) and a layer of the Gingerbread & Peppermint 6″ x 6″ DSP Pack on the card front. The top Cinnamon Cider CS layer inside the card is the regular top layer size. I decorated the inside of all the cards with a ⅝” wide strip in the same design as the layer on the front of the card. The measurement of the Basic White layer on the front of the card is 3⅞” x 2¼” and is layered on to a piece of Cinnamon Cider CS that measures 4″ x 2⅜”. If you’re a letter-size cardstock user, you might like to test these sizes on scrap paper first to make sure they suit the size of your regular card base.
To decorate my Basic White CS layer for the front of my portrait card I used Cinnamon Cider Ink and the WISHING YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS sentiment from the Frosted Gingerbread Stamp Set. I stamped the sentiment at the bottom of the layer making sure I left enough room for the Christmas Tree. I used Dimensionals to adhere the tree in position and then I used more Dimensionals to add the complete layer to the card front. My final touch was adding some 2020 – 2022 InColour Dots in Cinnamon Cider to the tree and near the sentiment.
I created the image layer for the landscape card the same was as the portrait card. To finish this card off, I used my ancient bow maker to make double bows using White Baker’s Twine from the Baker’s Twine Essentials Pack. After I had adhered the bows in place using Tombow I placed a stamping block on top of each to anchor the bow down while Tombow did its job! My final touch was adding some clear gems from the Wonderful Gems Pack which had red and clear gems with a varying amount of gold glitter on. The plain ones without glitter are from the Elegant Faceted Gems.
My day starts with an appointment at the opticians to have my news lens fitted to my existing frames and also to collect my prescription Maui Jim sunglasses. Apparently these are the only sunglasses in the world that the World Cancer Research Organisation say actually prevent cancer round the eyes. I’ve already had two Basel Cell Carcinomas removed from near my eyes so this is very re-assuring for me (not that I knew such sunglasses existed). I think you know what I’ll be doing when I get home from the opticians! 😀 Yes, making more Christmas cards! I look forward to being back with you soon. In the meantime, take care and stay safe. Happy crafting.
JanB. xx
Basic Card Cardstock Measurements: A4 (Metric) US
Card base 8¼” x 5¾” (21cm x 14.6cm) US 8½” x 5½”
Scored and folded at 4⅛” (10.5cm) US 4¼”
Middle layer: 2 pieces 3⅞” x 5½” (9.9cm x 14cm) US 4” x 5¼”
Top layer: 2 pieces 3¾” x 5⅜” (9.6cm x 13.7cm) US 3⅞” x 5⅛”
PRODUCTS USED for this project: please click on any of the links to be taken to my 24/7 online Stampin’ Up! shop. The Hostess Code for DECEMBER 2021 is GPYZHUB7 Thank you. xx
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I had to laugh when I read this post! I can just imagine you sputtering at the thought of buying Christmas cards. These cards a cute and will be great for non-crafters. I’m still working on mine. Hope you have a great day!
Many thanks, Lisa. I made another eight yesterday. It I carry on at this rate, I should be OK by the weekend! 🙏🏻 xx