Christmas Cards Week 2

Here's the next installment of Christmas Greeting Card ideas. The best part is that these cards are easy to duplicate and don't cost extra to mail.


Supplies you will need: 

• Colonial White, Olive Green, and Cashmere or Dessert Sand Card stock. 
• Again, I utilized the paper packet Pear and Partridge.
• Ink pads used were Cranberry and Everest Green (can be substituted with Olive Green). 
• The embellishments are retired and are called Mistletoe. 
• Current Stamps used are Very Merry Christmas (S1210) and Merry and Bright (C1510)
• Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge or two round punches that measure at 1.25" and 2".
• Gold Metallic Markers (Z1768) used dots around the circle.
• Adhesive, prefer Tombo Adhesive.
• 12"x 12" Paper Trimmer

To create the card bases:
I create the card bases using 12" x 12" Colonial White and Olive Green card stock. 

1. This can be done by first cutting one inch of the edge (1" x 12"). 
2. Then turning the card stock 12"x 11" horizontal on the paper trimmer and cutting the paper down to 8.5" x 11". 
3. Cut the 8.5" x 11" horizontally so that you have two pieces of 8.5" x 5.5"  card stock. 
4. Fold the 8.5" x 5.5" in half creating a 4.25" x 5" greeting card.
5. Save the excess colonial white card stock for stamping sentiments.

To duplicate the greeting cards above cut the patterned paper and card stock at the measurements listed below. Don't forget to stamp you sentiment before adhering.  Then layer and adhere. Last but not least embellish it.

• Wide With of patterned paper or card stock: 2.5" x 5.5"
• Squares Base: 2.25" x 2.25", Inner Squares: 2" x 2"
• Circle Base: 2",  Inner Circle: 1.25"
• Thin bands : 1" x 4.25"
• Medium Band (i.e., all cards in second row): 2" x 4"
• Sentiment mats (i.e., Let the Spirit of Christmas): 1.5"x 2.5"
• Ornament: 1.75"

Next post we will cover more Christmas Cards with a different patterned paper. On Dec. 10th we will focus on Hanukkah greeting cards and gift tags. Lastly, we will cover paper crafting holiday decor before the big day: December 25th. Stay tuned for random posts with new techniques. 

Happy Crafting!

Francis 

57 Greeting cards in just 3 days!

Things become so hectic around the holidays. I feel like this year it just arrived too fast and I'm just trying to catch up. I have decided to create all my holiday cards and to create enough to send to our US troops. So I've forced myself to make time and the results were amazing. I created 57 cards in three sittings of 5 hours each. I will have to create more cards with a Hanukkah them and will share with you once they are completed. 

So you will receive weekly inspiration from now until Christmas. My cards will become simple to duplicate and I hope you will have just as much fun creating them as I did.  Below are the directions for the first installment for the week.

Above I create these greeting cards using the current paper packet Pear & Partridge and the retired embellishment packet called Mistletoe. Using the Cricut Cartridge Art Philosophy, I cut both the circles and the round ornaments. 

To create the card bases I used Colonial White 12"x 12" card stock and cut them to create cards that measure 5.5"x 4.25" folded. This allowed me to create two card bases plus extra card stock for stamping sentiments.

What are greeting cards with out stamping? I utilized two current stamps sets, Very Merry Christmas (S1210) and Merry & Bright Holiday (C1510), and two color ink pads, Cranberry and Everest Green.

To duplicate these cards just cut patterned paper and card stocks at the below measurements. Layer the pieces as shown in the picture, stamp your sentiment, and use an embellishment of your choice.

• Wide With of patterned paper or card stock: 2.5" x 5.5"
• Squares Base: 2.25" x 2.25", Inner Squares: 2" x 2"
• Circle Base: 2",  Inner Circle: 1.25"
• Thin bands (not banner): 1" x 4.25"
• Sentiment mats (i.e., Let the Spirit of Christmas): 1.5"x 2.5"
• Ornament: 1.75"
• Banners: 1" x 2.75"

Happy Crafting! Francis Ames