Saturday, May 24, 2008

My 2008 Christmas card challenge

What is it about Christmas? I think I could never, ever have too many Christmas stamps and papers. When the new holiday stuff starts coming out, that's a really dangerous time for me to go into a stamp or scrapbook store because I never come out empty-handed.

This morning, when I saw the SCS inspiration challenge, I decided to make some Christmas cards - my first for 2008. And as I was digging through my huge stash of Christmas papers, I came up with a challenge for myself. This will be an ongoing challenge, and if you'd like to join in, feel free to play at any time!

This challenge will have two parts. The first part is that I'm going to challenge myself to make at least one Christmas card each week (I'm not going to try to hold myself to a particular day, though). The second part is to see how long I can hold out without buying anything new that's Christmas-related. So let's see how many Christmas cards I can come up with before I cave - and that way I'll have a good stash of cards ready for the holidays, and I'll also have used up some of my stash of paper and inked up my many - MANY - holiday stamps.

I have two cards to kick off my challenge today. Both use Beate's current weekend sketch challenge and also the same wreath stamp from A Muse.


The first card is really quick and easy - I could see coming back to this one for a holiday make & take card. I colored the wreath with my always artichoke and ruby red markers, then stamped on vanilla cardstock and punched out. I layered it onto an artichoke large scalloped circle. I paired it with two printed paper panels: a dot panel from the artichoke paper pack and a scrap of Christmas paper - sorry, no clue what it was - that matches the ruby red. I wanted another layer underneath, so I used the same artichoke and ruby red cardstocks and put them behind the opposite color paper. The sentiment is by Stampendous and is stamped in artichoke. I added some wide ivory organdy ribbon, mounted the wreath on dimensionals, and put everything on a 5 1/4" square vanilla card.

The second card is actually the one I made first, for the inspiration challenge. Stephanie picked the most gorgeous fabrics from an advertisement for Schumacher. If you click the link, you'll see several fabric collections, and I started out with the green ones. (I also love the red collection, but that card isn't done yet and won't be a Christmas card, so I'll post that one later.) I wanted to do some embossing and chose the CHF Pretty Pattern background. I stamped with Versamark on artichoke cardstock and embossed with clear EP.

For the layers I chose a sheet of Bazzill capers cardstock since I wanted an even darker green. I cut the embossed image into a 4" square then layered onto a square with one edge scalloped with my corner rounder punch. That was mounted onto a 5" square vanilla card.

This wreath is stamped in artichoke on vanilla, with the berries colored with my Sakura clear glitter pen. I stamped the sentiment from Many Merry Messages in artichoke on vanilla, and then I thought that looked too stark so I used the dot stamp from Itty Bitty Backgrounds in 2nd generation artichoke to fill in that space and then sponged the edges with artichoke.

For assembly I put the sentiment onto another panel of capers cardstock with the bottom edge scalloped. I left room at the top to tie the vanilla taffeta ribbon. That panel is mounted on foam tape. I mounted the wreath with dimensionals, using two layers at the top so that would lie evenly.

I forgot how much I love making Christmas cards - I think my challenge is going to be great fun, and I'd love to see your Christmas cards if you decide to join in!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lori,

What a great challenge and I love your two cards. I have bookmarked your site so I can come back each week and see your new creations. I've been thinking about starting on my Christmas cards too- you have inspired me.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Diane
SCS Lost in the 60's

Anonymous said...

Wow! I love both versions. The lower one is my favorite though. I love the embossed background on it.
Thanks for playing. Hugs and smiles

Marisa said...

Love the embossed background! Great challenges too - best of luck with them!

jjcreations said...

Both of these are beautiful. I love the colours, the designs on the papers and your layouts. Awesome. Joan

JoLynn said...

Cool! I love the idea of using what I have. I have so many things that I have not used them all, and the potential that I will is slim, as I usually mass produce one card. This idea of different cards is interesting. Hmmm... thanks for the challenge.