Christmas in August

Hello. My name is Jenny and I am a freak who insists on making handmade Christmas cards every year. You're probably thinking that doesn't sounds that terrible. That is until you hear how many cards I actually make.by.hand.

We're talking in the ballpark of 150+ cards.

Go ahead, call me a freak. I have earned that name.

It all started innocently back in 2003. I thought to myself, "I'll make my own Christmas cards this year. Won't that be fun and save me a TON of $$". Flash forward to 2011 and I am still making my own Christmas cards, because I can't seem to stop. And I'm afraid if I sent out store bought cards, everyone on my Christmas list would call me a fake, or worse. 

Why is the number of cards I make so high, you ask? Well, because my husband is a fire captain, and every year we receive cards from almost everyone in the fire department. So it's really all my husband's fault.

And because I need to make 150+ cards, I have to get started on them in the Summer, when most people haven't even begun to think about Christmas.

Anyways, I came up with my design for our Christmas card this weekend. One for family and friends, which is a little more detailed. And then one for the fire department, which is a little easier to mass produce. I have to confess that they both are SUPER CUTE! But I can't show them to you yet, because I don't want to ruin the surprise in case anyone on my Christmas card list also reads my blog. So instead I will show you a few of my cards from Christmases past.

The card that started it all. The base and photo were computer generated.

2003 Family & Friend Card. The snowman was made from a technique called quilling.

The snowman was stamped and the glitter square frame was heat embossed. The Joy was a die-cut.

This card consisted entirely of stamps. A lot of stamping went into this card!

The snowman was stamped and then colored in with markers. The red strip was embossed.

The snow flake and dot border were stamped, as was the Joy. A tiny jewel was placed in the center of the snowflake.

2010 Christmas card. The reindeer, snowflake border and greeting were all stamped. And a bit of red glitter was placed on Rudolph's red nose.

My apologies if this post now has you now thinking about Christmas. In August!

Jenny

Wedding Card & A Family Wedding

On Saturday, we attended the wedding of my little cousin, Joylani. I still remember the day my Aunt Gail brought her home from the hospital. I was in love the first time I laid eyes on her. I used to spend summers at my aunt's and would often babysit Joylani. We'd play dress up, bake cookies, build forts. I can't believe my little cousin grew up when I wasn't looking! But I am so proud of the beautiful woman she has become.

Here is the card I made for her wedding. It has sort of become my "go to" design for weddings. It's simple, elegant and quick to make. The roses are made with an embossing folder from Stampin Up!

And here's just a few photos from the wedding...

Husband and Wife!

Two of my favorite aunts. My Aunt Gail (mother of the bride) and Aunt Debbie.

Grandpa Richard and Grandma Joy said a blessing before the dinner. Grandpa Richard married Jim and I 15 years ago.

The first dance.

The wedding cake looked like roses. It was so life like!

It was a beautiful night and wedding!

I wish Joylani a lifetime of love and happiness.

Jenny

Card Swap

I finally got around to taking pictures of the cards I received from the card swap I participated in a few weeks back. I received 13 cards in all, one of mine back, and 12 other pretty cards which I am going to have a hard time parting with. 

Aren't they pretty?

Jenny

Flower Card & Award

Here is my card for my friend Berta's card swap. I made 13 cards. A card swap is where you make as many cards as people signed up for the swap. You usually have a month to make your cards, and of course I wait till the last minute every.single.time! The Swap is due on Saturday and I'm still working on my cards on Monday night. Anyhoo, after you finish making your cards, you mail/drop them off to the hostess, and she then swaps the cards back out from all 13 participants. You receive back 1 of your cards and 12 other cards. It's a fun way to collect beautifully handmade cards. Once I receive the swap back from Berta, I will post all the cards from the swap so you can ooh and ahhh.

I used the stamp set One of a Kind (Close To My Heart). The cards are to supposed to be blank (no sentiment) but I added a sentiment just for my blog readers :)

A close-up of the flowers. I hand stamped the flowers and cut them out and used foam squares to "pop" the flowers and give them dimension.

A side view where you can kinda see the flowers raised.

On another note, Vikki from My House, My Garden nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award before realizing I had already received the award from The Rich Life on A Budget. What a treat to be nominated for the same award in one week! Here is my original post from the award in case you missed it.  I want to thank Vikki for thinking of me. I found her blog while blog hopping one day and fell in love with her bedroom makeover. If I could make my bed over like hers, I would. Vikki has a beautiful house and family and is one of my favorite blogs to read.

Jenny

Graduation Card

On Saturday, we attended my friend Narda's daughter's graduation party. It was a lovely party and the rain managed to hold off while we were there. Narda's daughter, Dayna, told us all about her project graduation party and the fun she had, and I couldn't help think back on my project graduation party...20 years ago! Where does the time go?? I'm on the planning committee for my 20 year high school reunion, which is taking place this summer, and I still can't believe it's been 20 years. 

Here's the graduation card I made Dayna...

I used a bunch of different stamps, but let me know if you want to know a particular stamp I used and I can look it up.

Jenny

Summery Card

This card was fun to make. It reminds me of summer. I've had this stamp set for awhile and finally got around to using it. The stamp set is Dream Big (Close To My Heart) and has over 36 fun little images.

This was a quick and easy card to make. I just punched some circles out of my scrap paper stash. Stamped various images in different inks. Used my favorite scallop punch on the edge of my card and added a thin strip of red paper to draw your eye to the scallops. Done in under 10 minutes!

I will definitely be using this stamp set more often!

Jenny

Birdcage Card

I made this card the other weekend while at a crop. I made two cards, that way I could keep one and give one away. I gave my mom a copy of this card for Mother's Day. She loved it of course.

The birdcage, eggs and text are from the stamp set Nature Walk (Stampin' Up!),

 The bird inside the cage is from the stamp set Vintage Birdcages (TPC Studio),

The dots on the base of the card are from Boutique Borders (Close To My Heart),

And the frame is the die Top Note (Stampin' Up!).

For a dimensional look, I cut out the eggs and birdcage, and placed them on the card with foam squares.

Here's a close-up  of the birdcage and eggs. I colored in the bird and eggs with Copic markers, but unfortunately did not write down the colors I used. I tied some Waxy Flax around the frame because every card needs ribbon or some sort of fiber ;-)

Here you can kinda see how I popped the birdcage and eggs. I stamped the images on the card, and then stamped them again on some scrap card stock, cut them out, and placed them on the card with foam squares.

I'll share the other cards I made in future posts. And one of these days when I straighten up my craftroom, I will post pictures of my creative space. In fact, by putting that out there in cyberspace, maybe it will help me to clean my room!

Jenny