One of our family friends, who is amazing at card making, has a big collection of cards she has made for any and every occasion, so that she never runs out. Like me, she is a collector of all small things, which seem interesting and could be used at some point in crafty projects. Unlike me, she is rather quick at using them. I do have a big collection of things, see many opportunities, but it can take years until I actually use any of the collected items.
The cards I have made today are using some of the things I have owned for years, and some leftovers from the wedding.
Top left: I have used a dark green, pre-made card from a set of about 50 green and red ones. The edges are decorated with festive duct tape I have had for about a year - it came in a set of 3, if I remember correctly. I have used gold-coloured metallic marker and a stencil from the Nov 2015 Crafts beautiful magazine to write 'Noel'. Sticky dots, recently acquired from Hobbycraft, and bows bought in the same shop about a year ago are keeping the main theme simple, light and yet slightly 3D.
Top right: Not my design, I admit. I have seen a very similar version last year on some website or other. The red card is from the same set as the green one - I still regard them as a bargain, as I seem to recall that I have bought them shortly after Christmas at a highly reduced rate. I have cut 3 roughly equally broad strips from black foam sheets and used sticky dots to affix them to the card to make a + shape. Gold-coloured metallic marker drew a square around the middle where the strips meet, to make the outline of a buckle. I have used white foam sheets to cut out two semicircles, which are only slightly larger than the squares they cover, and again affixed them with sticky dots. The same adhesive was used on the buttons, which I have selected from a huge bagful of assorted brown and beige buttons. A slim strip of foam, some white card from the backing of a set of ribbon bows and black pen decorated the little sign coming off the belt.
Bottom: I have used pale yellow card, which I have cut into the size and shape of a normal greeting card, and stuck blue 'Merry Christmas' decorative paper on top. Both have been in my possession for a number of years and, having been banned from spreading my craft items beyond the boundaries of my tiny office, I have vowed to use up as many old bits as I can to have an excuse to buy new stuff! The top is decorated with an old wooden house shape and wedding gemstone stickers to give the appearance of snow. Silver-coloured metallic marker made some landscape shapes at the bottom of the blue paper and was also used, together with another Crafts beautiful stencil to write the caption 'Let it snow'.
I keep my cards simplistic, both for my sanity and my purse. I try to bear in mind that most of the cards have to be sent off and therefore should roughly keep in line with postage restrictions.
Hopefully, the next few days will allow me to carry on Christmas crafting my way to equilibrium :-)
