Christmas Joy Christmas Cards

Here it is nearly August and the entire country is in a heat wave.  How is it that I can be thinking of Christmas?  First of all, it always sneaks up on everyone every year.  It will be here before we know it.  Second, I have to be prepared because of my impending hand surgery.  Without the use of my hand from mid-August to nearly Thanksgiving, I have spent my summer racing to design as many Christmas cards as is humanly possible.

I am that person who is always overly prepared and looking into the future.  I don't like to Christmas shop during the season and try to finish before Halloween.  It drives those around me crazy.  To me it is just normal.

I found this Joy rubber stamp in my collection and realized that in the thousands of cards that I have made over the past couple of years, I had forgotten that I had it.  So, I quickly got it out and decided to play with some new embossing powder.

I love how the cards turned out.  I made several different styles and colors (I will be releasing more types soon).  With these three styles, I wanted to dress them up a bit more and try using the pine leaf die cuts from Stampin' Up's Pretty Pines.

It is always wonderful to find new or forgotten rubber stamps in your collection.  I always use it as an opportunity to mix things up.  These cards don't actually have many layers, but with the embossing and the small amount of embellishments, it brought out the dimensions.

What do you think of these cards?  Can you think of any new ways I could use this particular stamp?

Christmas 2017 All Wrapped Up

Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without the traditional red and green.  These beautiful cards bring tradition to the forefront.

Although you would think that designing a traditional Christmas card would be easy, it really is not.  Here is why.

When you begin a Christmas card with the traditional red and green, after awhile they can all seem to look the same over time.  The cards get boring and monotonous.  Sometimes, all it takes is to add a touch of sparkle or a slight tone change in one or the other color.  You see that is both of these cards.

I added a bit of silver.  The one below is not only silver, but mirrored which adds dimension.  In the top card, I deepened and brightened the green ribbon and went a bit wider than you would expect.  That coupled with the silver makes the design pop.

Below, I used a slightly different tone of green.  Not quite lime, just a bit darker.

When I have either given advice or taught new card makers how to bring their designs to life, I have always suggested that they start by making Christmas cards.  Not only because this is where I began, but because I believe that Christmas cards are the easiest to design.  Even though there are a lot of directions you can go with them, you simply start with a traditional card and build your skills from there.

Christmas in Teal

I am still reeling with joy over the introduction of my Christmas 2017 line.  It makes me happy not only to create these gorgeous cards, but to release them to friends, family and customers for the first time.  

I began this home-based business of card making many years ago with the support of family and friends.  They knew that my therapy was designing and creating cards.  Although they enjoyed receiving my cards for every occasion, they knew I had hundreds more at home and enough paper and embellishments to make thousands more.  Several people made the suggestion of selling them for others to enjoy.  When my husband got the idea in his head, the urging became overwhelming.

I am so glad that I took my hobby and turned it into my job.  I love my job!

This year's line is different than any other year so far.  I concentrated on stretching my skills and adding more details and embellishments than ever before.  Due to my couponing hobby and may I say, great sale shopping, I was able to accomplish this without having to raise the cost of my cards.  So it is win, win!

Keep watching my blog, Facebook fan page, and my Ebay store to see and purchase all of my cards! 

Sneak Peek of Christmas Cards 2017

It has been awhile since I have posted.  I apologize for this.  I first took a much needed week of vacation.  Once vacation was over, I have spent every spare moment creating new cards for the Christmas 2017 line.  As you can tell, I tend to get caught up in my work and forget everything else.

The good news for you is that at this time, you will have over 500 new Christmas cards in my line to choose from.  It has been a long road to get here, but I am happy to show you the first sneak peek that will be available next week.

Creating these cards were so much fun for me.  I would never have dreamed of using black on a Christmas card, but am surprised how well it blends all the traditional colors together.

Next week you will be able to begin your Christmas card selection in my Ebay Store.  Each year, these cards go fast, so you will want to grab yours quickly.  Because some of the cards are so unique that they cannot be recreated, you will want to own your favorites.

Stay tuned to see more cards unveiled.