October Afternoon Postcard Challenge...

Hey everyone, how are you adjusting to the time change if you endure it?  I'm not a fan I have to say.  My body does not say, "Yay, one more hour of sleep" anymore.  It says, "Get up!"  Plus, as the cold winter days approach the days get darker earlier.  I like lots of sunshine so I make sure to soak it all up when there is a sunny day.  But I do love all the seasons so I will adjust.  

Today I have some holiday cards to share with you.  Jill is hosting the October Afternoon challenge over at the blog and I am joining in too.  Jill's challenge was to use the flip side of some October Afternoon products.  We both worked with the back sides of some Make it Merry postcards.  I created this set of 3 holiday cards.  

The fronts of the postcards have some darling, vintage images that I just love but the back sides of the postcards feature some nice vintage graphic words as well.  They made the perfect bases for layering on some cut out pieces from the Make a Card patterned paper. 

 I first stitched around all the postcards using red thread.  I then layered on strips of other Make it Merry patterned papers, the vintage images, and some Tidbits.

 I then tied each card with red and white baker's twine.  There is something about red and white for the holidays that really appeals to me.

I just love using an entire collection like Make it Merry for holiday projects.  Everything coordinates but  October Afternoon has a wonderful way of making things look mixy matchy, just what I like.  

 For a finishing touch I adhered some vintage, cancelled postage stamps from my stash.  I then used my date stamp and red ink to stamp on the Christmas date.  This gives the feel that my postcards are perhaps real and were actually sent through the mail.

 I hope you enjoy my cards today.  Have you gotten a start on your holiday crafting?  I am finding that I now prefer to create holiday cards a few at a time.  Although I love the mass production method, my time seems to allow for shorter crafting sessions.  So I end up making 3-5 cards at a time, then put away my supplies....then come back when I have more time.  I really like that I get a variety of cards this way too.  How about you, are you making holiday cards this year?  What is your process?

Okay, lots to share for the holidays.  I'll be back tomorrow with a tutorial on the October Afternoon blog.  Plus Wednesday, you'll be seeing lots of Make it Merry inspiration from the entire team.  Then it's time for Daily December and Project Life.  I'll start sharing my product picks, my process and some of my finished elements later this week.  I hope you'll join me.  :)