Beat the Christmas Rush - April

The 25th is upon us again, which means it's time for Creative Craft World's linky party plan to get a head start on your Christmas card making - Beat the Christmas Rush! :)

 

If you're new to the idea, it's very simple... each month make 1-5 Christmas cards, post them to your blog and link your entry at the CCW blog before the 25th of the month. It's a lot of fun seeing everyone else's creations and by the time we get to November you'll have a stash of cards ready to go - and may even by lucky enough to pick yourself up a prize along the way. :)

 

For my card this month I went with a fairly Clean and Simple design:

 

 

The starting point for this card was these insanely cute little wooden robot cut-outs that I got recently at Hobbycraft (it was one of those impulse purchases where you have no idea what you're actually going to *do* with them, they're just so cute that you've got to have them! :D).

 

 

I thought they'd look cute on a plain white card so I coloured them with my Promarkers in christmassy colours... and then I suddenly remembered that I have an old Dymo machine that would be perfect for the greeting! After a bit of digging around in the craft room, I found it and it even had red tape in it - perfect! :)

 

 

I ripped a bit of red card and a strip of punchinella and layered them onto my card blank for attaching the robots over the top. I stuck down my Dymo sentiment strip and finished things off with a couple of little gemstones.

 

 

And now onto my choice of my favourite card(s) from last month's BtCR entries.

 

We had some great entries this month but my favourite was this adorable card by Tracey Boley:

 

 

I love the pretty beige and purple colour scheme, the cute image with touches of glitter, and the asymetrical ribbon. Overall, a very striking, but cute, card. :) You can read more about how Tracey made this card at her blog.

 

I'm finding myself really enjoying BtCR as the months go on... it's a nice feeling to actually be ahead of myself a bit for once and to think that I won't be rushing around making Christms cards at the last minute this year! :lol:

 

I'm going to enter my card into the following challenges:

Celebrate the Occasion - Clean and Simple

Craft-Room Challenge - So Sentimental

Ladybug Crafts - Red and White

Cutie Pie Challenge - Clean and Simple

 

 

 

 

Beat the Christmas Rush

The 25th of the month is upon us once again - Gosh, isn't this year going quickly? And would someone please tell Mother Nature that it's the 25th of March and we are done with the snow now, please?! - and that means it's once again time for Creative Craft World's monthly Beat the Christmas Rush linky party.

 

If you're new to BtCR, the premise is simple... each month, make one (or more, if you'd like) Christmas card, post it to your blog by the 25th of the month and link up your creation at the Creative Craft World blog. The idea is that by November, you'll have a bunch of Christmas cards all ready to go - and there'll be some prizes to be won also. :)

 

So here's my card(s) for this month:

 

 

Yes, this time I actually managed to make more than one! :D I went with a fairly simple design that was suited to mass production.

 

 

I started with a panel of white card and embossed the top of it with a dotted embossing folder.

 

 

I then stamped my images and my sentiment (both Stampin' Up! stamps) and added a length of velvet ribbon and finished things off with a pearl centre for each of the baubles. The completed panels were attached to card blanks using foam pads.

 

Just for fun, I'm going to enter these cards into a couple of challenges:
Christmas Card Challenges - Clean and Simple
Pile It On - Dots
Christmas Stampin' All Year Long - Anything Goes
 

So that's my cards for this month, how about the cards entered in February's BtCR? Each month, each of the CCW Design Team pick their favourite from the previous month's entries and this month I've chosen this lovely set of bauble-themed cards by Wendy:

 

 

Aren't they lovely? I love the simple yet striking design and the 3D element to them. Read more about how Wendy made these cards are her blog.

 

Beat the Christmas Rush

It's that time again.

 

It's the 25th of the month and time for the second installment of Creative Craft World's fun new monthly linky party - Beat the Christmas Rush. It's easy to join in with the fun - just make a Christmas card - or more than one if you like! - and link up your BtCR card at the Creative Craft World blog.

 

The idea is that if we all make even just one Christmas card each month during 2013, by the time Christmas come around, we'll have a head start of 11 cards ready to send out. There will be some prizes along the way and also each month the members of the CCW Design Team will each be choosing their favourite from the previous month's entries and posting it on their blog.

 

So with no further ado, here's my card for this month:

 

 

 

I went with a very simple look for my card this month because I was inspired by some of my online crafty friends who've been getting into papercutting. I wanted to have a go at this technique and liked the idea of cutting a simple design from white card and layering it over a white card blank with a simple stamped sentiment. I drew the design in reverse onto the back of the card and cut it out from the reverse side using a craft knife on a glass cutting mat. I quite like the result.*

 

*Note to self for future attempts: Make sure your cutting mat is really nice and clean cos it's a shame to do all that hard work cutting out the design from the rear side and then find that your cutting mat has left a dirty smudge on the front side! :/

 

And now for my favourite card from the January BtCR entries.

 

I loved looking at everyone's creations so thanks to everyone who entered last month, some really gorgeous cards. My favourite is....

 

 

This lovely set of coordinating cards by Wendy. I love the simple but striking design and the way it lends itself to "production line" making. :) You can see full details of how she made them at her blog here.