My Christmas Cards

Hi.  I know it's a bit late now, over mid-way through January (how did that happen?!), but I wanted to share the Christmas cards I made for 2014.  My colour scheme was a lot of white, with Smoky Slate, Soft, Sky, Pear Pizzazz and Lost Lagoon.   I really like the non-traditional colour scheme and look for my Christmas cards.

 

When I first saw the Autumn/Winter SU catalogue, I knew that my first order would be for the Festival of Trees stamp set and matching punch, as well as the All is Calm DSP.  I also fell in love with the Endless Wishes stamp set, as the sentiments have so many possibilities and I knew I would get plenty of use out of them.  And then a couple of other things were added: the adorable Frosted Sequins, the All is Calm Washi Tape and the Lucky Stars embossing folder.  I was all set!

 

I tried to keep my designs simple, I'm a real fan of Less is More.  But simple does not always mean quick!  The first two cards were the quickest of the batch.  Just two strips of washi tape, a couple of stamped and punched trees, a sentiment and some glitter glue.

 

This second design, however, was not so straightforward.  First I sponged the stars - two lots of sponging per card (and cleaning after each go).  The I embossed white card with the Lucky Stars and then cut circles, which I adhered to the front of the card.  Then I stamped and punched trees which went on top of the circle, then the sentiments followed suit.  After that I stuck on the sequins and finally added some glitter glue.  Oh, I neglected to mention that I had to cut out the white panel and the coloured panel first.  I made 22 of these cards!  Worth it though.

The final design (which I shamelessly stole from Vicky Hayes at Crafting Clare's Paper Moments), took the longest of the three.  It looks deceptively simple.  Cut a panel, then an aperture.  Pierce around the edge of the panel.  Stick a circle of All is Calm DSP in the aperture.  A little bit of silver ribbon, some glitter glue and a sentiment and there you go.  Simple.  But not when you make 22 of them in one afternoon.  My hands ached so much from the piercing, I really wished that had I scored some lines instead.  However, (and luckily) I was very happy with the results.

So, two weeks into term, four weeks until half term - yay!  We had to go to a Parents' Evening on Thursday for Edward - last one in Year 11.  Apparently, it's only 16 teaching weeks until GCSEs start!  Pretty scary stuff - well I'm scared.  Not too sure about Edward - teenage boys don't really give much away.  We are all hoping that his Xbox doesn't have to have a little holiday for the next few months!

Emily is back at University.  It was really hard taking her back, worse than September I think.  She has exams on Monday, so contact is minimal at the moment.  I really miss her but I know it'll all be worth it.  We are going to visit in half term and actually get to spend some time exploring Canterbury rather than just picking her up and dropping her off.  I think our dog Chloe really misses her too, she's so cuddly of late, although I'm not too impressed when she comes for a cuddle at 5 O'clock in the morning!

That's all from me today.  Take care and wrap up warm!

Michelle x