Just a reminder: There are three challenges currently going on in my little corner of the interwebs.
1. One-Layer Simplicity #32: Colour Challenge
2. Thanksgiving Crusade Challenge
3. Altenew Ultimate Blog Hop
It's sort of odd how I tend to work better with some sort of structure to my stamping. To get to work on my Christmas cards, I pulled out all the clear Christmas stamp sets and put them in a CD bin on my desk, thinking that would inspire me. But it's just sort of overwhelming.
There are so many of them!
So it occurred to me that working methodically through the stash (not just clear but wood as well) might be less intimidating. I grabbed four wood-mounted tree stamps that work for Christmas cards and started making a card with each.
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| Clockwise from top left: Hero Arts, A Muse, PSX, and another PSX. |
Here's the first result, an old PSX scene colored with Copics.
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| card size 6.5" x 3.5" |
My son Nick said that this may be his favorite of all the cards I've ever made. While my Copic skills are not very refined (seeing as how rarely I practice, LOL!), this card blisses me out!
Doesn't this evoke the peace and silence of a winter's evening in the woods? Oh, my. My original intent was to add a small sentiment in the empty snow under the hill, but that would have marred unsullied peace of the scene. Better left alone, I say.
*happy sigh*
I made one card with each of the four wood-mounted trees in short order, and three are blog-worthy. That's fairly reasonable for me. Now, I'm tackling the clear sets and already made three blog-worthy cards each with two different sets (plus a few that ended up in the recycle bin). Nine Christmas cards finished in one day...something's working here.
So that's the plan for using my holiday stash: three cards from each clear set and one from each wood-mounted single stamp. I'm feeling pumped for Christmas now!!!!!
How do you tackle the challenge of and get yourself excited about making lots of Christmas cards?
Supplies
stamps: PSX
paper: Gina K deluxe white
ink: Memento black
accessories: Copics (C1, C3, BG70, BG72), craft foam, glue
Ooooo!!! I want to jump into that scene!
ReplyDeleteI do, too! With a parka and warm boots and ear muffs.
DeleteWhat a beautiful card! To make all of my Christmas cards, I tend to respond to challenges - they give me the starting point of colour, sketch, inspiration, something! When I stare at my Christmas stamps and try to think up ideas I get nowhere. ;-)
ReplyDeleteYou know, I actually tried that but fell flat this year. Not sure why, but my challenge mojo has definitely trended toward fall/Thanksgiving cards.
DeleteI just need permission to focus on one stamp or set at a time...and the urge to use them all. At least until I've got enough cards.
Isn't it great when we find something that works for us? Thanks for sharing your method because plenty of people will find mine unhelpful!
Absolutely gorgeous card!
ReplyDeleteI am an avid stamper/scrapbooker, but I no longer make handmade Christmas cards. I realized a few years ago that creating 100 cards does not bring me joy and most people want photos of my boys. So... I switched to Shutterfly photo cards for Christmas and send out "everyday" cards throughout the year. Win-win!
I still make a dozen or so cards to attach to packages. That is how I justify my excessive Christmas stamp/paper/embellishment stash!
What a beautiful PSX stamp and what a lovely card you made with it!!! The colors are wonderful. Can't wait to see what you create with the other stamps, too.
ReplyDeleteSuch a totally gorgeous card, Susan! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! Can't wait to see what you do with the Hero Arts stamp. I have this stamp myself but have never managed to create anything with it that I like, Jo x
ReplyDeleteThat is just beautiful and I agree that it doesn't need a sentiment!
ReplyDeleteWell done! This is gorgeous~
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous card! The scene says it all so it doesn't need a sentiment. I also own this beautiful stamp so I may be tempted to CASE your lovely card :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful card! I love the idea of one stamp at a time, much less overwhelming.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful serene scene. Last year I found my mojo by pulling out random already cut to size patterned papers and then designing my card around it usually using one of a handful of stamps. That isn't appealing this year as I'm tired of the same already cut up patterned papers. One 12x12 sheet gives you even backgrounds for 6 cards. So I have a lot of already cut papers. So far I've been tucking them in to with cards I send to stamping friends so they can play with those papers. I got myself a new pad of 6x6 this year but I'm still not sure I can let the paper do the driving this time. We'll see.
ReplyDeleteAwesome scene!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, peaceful. Gorgeous. All the cards in these Christmas instalments make say "wow".
ReplyDelete