Joys of the Season

(As ever, apologies for the minimal attendance this blog is getting from me of late, but I’ve had a tough year health wise, so like some others in the blogosphere, just haven’t been up to doing too much until recently.)

I love, Love, LOVE this time of year - I love the dark nights, colder weather (you can always warm up but SO much tougher to cool down!!), & especially the colours of Autumn, running into Winter, & all the glitz & glamour of beautiful Christmas cards.  What's not to love!!!

Because of my horrendous health decline this year I figured when I finally escaped from hospital (after 3 months in), that I might be safer to start into making my C. cards a little earlier than usual, so began them at the start of July (I’d normally have held off until August).  And just as well I did as I managed to end up spending most of September in as well ultimately :(. 

Unfortunately because of all the time constraints & my continuing poor health, I felt I really didn’t have the time luxury to make my boxed “specials”, plus few people really want them at Christmas unless they can hand them over, as the postage is just so prohibitive on them, esp for the elderly in my family.  So, I’ve concentrated on the quick & cheap for the most part, yet somehow seem to have managed to still spend an utter fortune on new stuff (utterly unnecessary but heck, it’s so nice to treat myself now & again, well ok, monthly!!)

So this is just a couple – I’ll put more up as & when I’m able.

The first one is using a downloaded vector graphic (can't find this particular one again, but many others are freely available online) which you literally just print and use. This design was very easily decoupaged by printing off a couple of extra copies.  There were quite a few of this style of design, some of which work wonderfully for decoupage, with others only suitable to use as single flat images or pyramage etc.  When I’ve more time I’ll probably add to this design by putting on some thin 3 mm ribbon around the baubles which would really work wonderfully I think.

This second one has rapidly become a favourite of mine for this season – so quick & simple, yet, to me, really effective & beautiful.  Easily made, you just print off a verse or quote onto A6 card, then cut that smaller than your A6 base card and border cut the bottom, before matting it on (same would apply if you want to make other sizes). I’ve just stuck the card mat at the top so that it has some movement, but you can obviously stick the entire card on if you prefer.  Then, put whatever you want in the space at the top or the side (depending whether you’re making portrait or landscape designs).  I’ve used the wonderful K&Co Glad Tidings Poinsettia & Holly Layered Accents for most of mine, although I’ve also used some smaller decoupage designs on some too.  But the poinsettias go so wonderfully with the red card & ribbon etc.  I then finished them off with some gold holographic peeloff borders & small snowflakes or stars etc.

These cards will all just get simple inserts rather than anything requiring more work, just so I can ensure I get as many made as possible.

I invested (LOL!!) in the wonderful Heartfelt Creations superb Christmas 12 x 12 pad which has lots (!) of readymade card fronts available just for the sticking on, so will show you some of those next time around, hopefully in a few days.

Enjoy!