This year's Christmas cards - Part 1

 In one way, I am shocked that it's been so long since I've blog. In another way, I'm not surprised at all. At some point, I realized that during the biggest part of the stay at home period of Covid, I coped with shopping. And for some reason I'm still working towards fully reorganizing my space to get my stash under control. I've actually already done a lot of purging. I participated in two successful garage sales in the summer of 2022 and summer of 2023. I don't do my own - I get a table at our local stamp/scrapbook store. It's just easier than trying to sell online via Facebook & then figure out getting the items to the person. 

That said, I have been crafting. I have two groups of friends who I make cards with consistently. One is a monthly meet up & the other is twice monthly/every two weeks. Plus I scrapbook with a friend once a month. So I am doing stuff... I just haven't been good at sharing it online, particularly on my blog. I will be changing that starting this month. I commit to one post a week. My hope is that somehow I can figure out how to promote my blog so people comment on it. The lack of comments/acknowledgement of the effort it takes to get photos of the projects & post is what brought me down & deterred me from posting, if I'm honest. 

In the title of this post I said 'Part 1,' I swear there will be a part two. These cards were made for a friend to send out; she specifically wants Christian themed Christmas cards. The next set I will be making this week will be secular, because they are for people at work. 

The first two cards were made using the December sheetload of cards from Call Me Crafty Al. I love her Youtube channel. I made 8 cards with it, 4 of each of the two you see here.

This was the November sheetload. The original doesn't have the border punch at the bottom. It was a 'happy accident' because I needed to do something to make the gold cardstock strip look better; I cut the pattern paper strips shorter than the original by mistake. I'm still not sure if I read the diagram incorrectly or I lined my paper up wrong in my trimmer. Either way, I'm happy with the result. It's another where I made 4 of each combo.

This final set of cards is the May 2022 sheetload of cards. It used 6x6 paper, which I really like because I have so much of it and it was good to use up some of it. 

 

Card details: All products Stampin' Up unless noted otherwise

Sets 1 & 2:

Pattern paper: Photo Play Silent Night                                                                                                 

Ink: Bumble Bee

Cardstock: Basic White, So Saffron, Bumble Bee 
Sentiment: Peace to You

Set 3

Pattern paper: Echo Park, collection unknown                                                                                          

Ink: Bumble Bee

Cardstock: Basic White, Always Artichoke
Sentiment: Peace to You

Valentine's Day challenge cards

 I am back. Let's see if I can FINALLY get in a groove. I have been trying to do more crafting, so far with minimal success. The 'New Normal' of the current pandemic scenario means I can't use my usual space to craft. My building has a common space that normally we are all allowed to use. It has much larger tables than either my desk or my kitchen table. 

Despite the limited space, I did finally find some mojo again & make 4 cards.  Although the kids aren't meeting face to face, the GEMS group from our church still wanted to do a Valentine's Day project. They made cards for seniors at one of the local facilities. It was all arranged by our leaders in terms of how to drop off the cards, etc, so that all the rules continue to be followed. As stressful as things have been for me, it's even harder on those who are in extended care facilities, cut off from many of their visitors, and pretty dependent on staff. I know at least here, the staff are all working as hard as they can to provide the necessary support. So anything we can do to help them provide some cheer to our local seniors is worth it. 

Between us, myself & two friends made 22 cards. I am only sharing mine, because I don't have a picture of one friend's cards, and I don't have permission to share the one my other friend made, though she did ask me to photograph it for her. 

I was inspired, again by the sketch at Call Me Crafty Al. It is the January 2021 Sheetload of Cards. Alicia's sheetloads have become some of my favorites; I love her Youtube channel. She has a great hop every month so viewers can see different takes on the sketch. One of the things I love about using sheetloads is that it's a great way to use a bunch of my older cardstock & patterned paper, because you can make a lot of cards at once. I have 5 more ready to finish & I hope to share them soon, as they will be a different sentiment, and and I may make a few other changes. Although Alicia did make the flag the same colour as her matting cardstock, and it worked nicely, I don't like it as much on mine. I have a few ideas. 

I am entering the following challenges:

Paper Players 527: Theme: Hearts and/or Stars

Double D Challenges: Inspiration challenge: Valentine/Love - New to me challenge blog

Just Us Girls: Word Week - Valentine 

Card Details:

Cardstock: Pink Pirouette (I think?), Primrose Petals (SU)

DSP: Flowers (SU), Pink Polka dot, Black & White Hearts (random paper stack)

Stamps: Heartfelt

Ink: Primrose Petals (SU)

Tools:  Scallop Heart, Heart punches  (SU)