Christmas cards in the making...

Hey everyone, it's been a very busy week here with lots of basketball games.  The girls are in a tournament an hour away and we've had games 3 days in a row.  Tonight we play for the championship!  

I had some time to sneak in some Christmas card making sessions and am happy to share with you today how I mass produced my cards this year. It's always nice to create special cards for friends and family....I know it means so much to me to receive a card in the mail with a handwritten note.  

I had a handful of cards already made for Design Team assignments but I needed a dozen or so more.  I reached for all of my October Afternoon Make it Merry goodies + a few items from my shop.  

I used an A2 base cardstock for my cards, my usual size. I've found that a very simply way to create cards is to create a collage of sorts on a piece of patterned paper then attach it to the card base.  I wanted some of my base card to show through so I cut my patterned papers to approximately 4" x 5.25".

Next I used some of the vintages images from the OA Make it Merry collection to just build my card collages.  Using these cut images made for some quick card making.....no tedious stamping or die cutting.  I also used some doilies from my shop, Washi tape and a little vintage sheet music.  I kept the collage layout pretty much the same....all the cut images were placed on the bottom right edge of my patterned paper with a doily peeking out on the left side.

Next I used my red stitching that I'm loving this holiday season to add some detail to the collages.  This gives a real homespun look to my cards. On each collage, I also the Christmas date stamp + a few images from the stamp set from the Very Merry December 2012 Mini-Book Kit.

Next it was time to adhere all the assembled collages to my card fronts.  By assembling the collages separately from the card fronts, the card bases are kept nice and clean and any mistakes you make can be covered up or fixed more easily.  To finish up my cards I tied on some red and white baker's twine and added some sparkly wood accents, Washi tape, brads and enamel dots.

And here's the first six of my completed cards.  Something about a grouping of cards together just makes me happy.  I completed all 12 of the cards I'm showing today in just a couple of hours.  I think I had two card making sessions. You'll notice that instead of centering my collage pieces on the card base, I placed them all in the bottom right corner.  Just a little something I've been doing with my cards lately.

Here's the next batch of 6 completed cards.

The snowmen are some of my faves, just so holly jolly.

And the cute vintage images of the children are so cute.

Some of my favorite features are the paper doilies peeking out.  I cut each doily in half for each card.

The Washi tape was another fun accent I pulled from my holiday product stash.  Just another fun way to add some color to my cards.

And all the glittery accents.  You can see how I altered my wood embellishments in this post.

And that's a wrap.  I'm so glad to have this big stash of cards completed.  I need to snap a family photo and get these sent out the door.  So, did you create your own cards this year?  I'd love to hear your process and how many cards you send out.  I know that some of you make astonishing amounts of holiday cards.

Well, I'm off to wash some basketball uniforms and put a cheeseburger meatloaf in the crock pot.  I'll be working on my Project December pages early next week so stay tuned for my first update near the middle of the week.  The temps are supposed to drop and I have to admit I'm looking forward to spending some time in my big green chair by the fire and staring at my pretty Christmas tree.  Have a great weekend everyone!

A little reminder.......let the stress of the holiday hubbub go this year.  I see people scurrying around and  sometimes it all just gets to me.  I still cherish the "everyday" of December....watching my girls play ball, sitting down to a family meal, playing with my naughty little puppy.  The holiday is magical time of year but I always need a reminder to keep it simple.....don't stress....just have fun.  :)