new experience #35: make my own christmas cards!

on the second day of december...

so who thinks about next year’s christmas in january? me, that’s who!

making my own christmas cards was another of the kiki projects that i knew i wanted to do right when i dreamed up my 41 new experiences idea. and almost eleven months later, i finally got to put my plans into action!

step one: for the past few years, i’ve admired the ink + stamp gift cards, thank you cards, invitations etc that sil ana has created. i knew she had a whole kit of inks/stamp designs/doodads so i asked to borrow her supplies.

a box and a tin full o' fun! where to start?!

project error #1: due to our schedules, i did not have a chance to actually get a hands-on introduction to stamping from sil ana. i just collected the supplies and took them home. in retrospect, it would have been better to have ana show me the ropes before i began the cards because i had absolutely no clue as to that the heck i was doing. you will see what i mean in a minute!…

step two: i went over to michaels and bought my blank cards. i had thought i’d like to make about twenty cards – and they must all be unique designs! – and i was able to get a pack of 24 cards. perfect! i also could not resist picking up some embellishments. hey, everything (including the cards) was 40% off! groovy! [sidenote: i’ll point out, here, that my intention in making my own cards was NOT to save money. when all was said and done, it would have been cheaper to buy boxed cards – making my own cards was strictly to enjoy the artsy experience!].

day one:

i set up shop on the dining room table:

my michaels purchases...

some of sil ana's stamping stash...

my 24 cards - i love the two shades each of red + green to play with!

i decided to start with something simple:

ok, those look good!...

how about four more?

all right! that’s eight, and they look very nice…but they’re a bit B-O-R-I-N-G!! [ok, just conservative. i want pizzazz!]

time to dive into the stamping!!

i don’t have pictures of this part because it was all i could do to juggle ink + stamps + thinking creatively.

the good news is that i didn’t goof anything up too badly. however, by the time my kitchen counter looked like this…

i cleaned as i went along!...

…i was feeling a little disheartened. similar to my cake decorating efforts, the images in my head were not translating to the project. i decided to call it quits for day one after stickering and stamping sixteen cards (to various degrees of completion):

the fruits of my labours

step three: back to michaels! after two days of reflection, i concluded that i love stickering more than stamping. so i bought a few more stickery embellishments (at 40% off!) to finish up the cards:

sequins, snowflakes, baubles - now we're talkin'!

day two: i picked up with the sixteen cards that needed some oomph added to them.

for example:

before (ink stamped snowflakes)...

and after! (saved by the addition of snowflake stickers!)

ok, here’s a funny story: when we were little, and mom would bake cookies, there would usually be one or two cookies that turned out a little mis-shapen or squooshed. we called these cookies “gorps” – and they’d be the first ones eaten.

well, after day one, i had a “gorp” card that needed some serious help:

wah! amateur-level stamping at it's finest! notice the smudge by the big "E" and the lines by the "s" and the "!"

i bedazzled to the best of my ability in order to save the merry xmas gorp:

strategically placed sequinning!

upon whom will i inflict this poor card??? no one who reads the blog, that is for sure!

day two really was super-enjoyable. i got daring and hauled out the glitter, even!

glittering was not messy at all, really!

in the final analysis, i had a lot of fun with this project, and am pleased with the results (except for the gorp card). i will not be too embarrassed to send these cards out. i made twenty-four different cards, i got to putter around with art supplies, and i have christmas cards ready to use. will i do this project again? no! this is going to be a once-is-enough-just-fine experience!

here are the final results:

cards 1-6 (i kept the clean look although i did add sequins to "seasons greetings," there)

cards 7-12...

cards 13-18...

cards 19-24!

and my favourite four:

the snow theme rules!

the next step: address and mail/deliver the cards! i am excited because i like to match cards to the recipients’ personalities, so this will be extra fun, this year! (i usually send out about 40-50 christmas cards, and i have a box of regular, purchased cards to also use).

do you send out holiday cards? ever made your own? i started sending out my own cards when i was a teenager, and have never missed a year, since!