Simplicity Christmas Priority

This is my third year making Christmas ornaments for our Stephen Ministry at church. For those who don't know, Stephen Ministry is an international, non-denominational, caring ministry started over 30 years ago here in the States by a minister who realized that lots of people were suffering very real pain without the support they needed.

Stephen Ministers today are trained to provide one-on-one care for people who are in pain. The pain can come from almost anything...from the loss of a loved one to coping with a loved one's addiction to dealing with major life changes like empty nest or retirement or divorce. The support Stephen Ministers provide is primarily through listening, encouragement, and prayer.

It is a wonderful ministry, and I'm so privileged to have become a part of it three years ago.

During Advent, our Stephen Ministry group reminds our congregation that not everyone is happy this time of year. For some, the joy of the season feels completely out of tune with their sadness, grief, or fear. We encourage others to pay attention to the needs of those who might be silently suffering, and we hand out ornaments during Advent to promote awareness.

These ornaments include a verse or saying to encourage those who are suffering. Every year, we get requests for additional ornaments for friends or extended family. It's truly a wonderful gift.

This year's ornament is below. We will add a Bible verse on the back later (still deciding that part), but here's the design.

2 1/8" x 5 1/2"

Our group will make about 250 of these this year. The logistics for this year's ornaments are pretty simple. A single sheet of card stock cut into half and then quarters yields 8 ornaments, which are flat enough and big enough to also serve as bookmarks. A corner rounder and small circle punch are the only two tools needed. We'll print the verse on avery labels and stick them on the back.

I like the way these ornaments hang, with the peace flowing down to the bottom of the ornament just as peace flows down from heaven in the form of Jesus Christ.

As you begin your preparations for the holidays, I ask you to take a few minutes to think of friends or family who may need a little extra care this season. A number of you have shared with me your losses and grief from this year, the fears you face right now, and challenges that are weighing you down. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to pray for you. But please don't deny that privilege to those closest to you, those who can hug you in real life. Reach out and get help when you need it.

And if you want a Stephen Minister, call your church and ask for a referral. Not all churches have active programs, but most know how to get in touch with one.

Peace to you all this holiday season.

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Peaceful Snowflakes, Wreath for all Seasons
ink: Kaleidacolor
paper: Papertrey Ink white
accessories: corner rounder, circle punch, craft floss, avery labels, printer

OLW166--Christmas Gift Tags

I had so much fun making these two tags for OLW166 on Cheryl's Blog!

The red tag uses A Muse's Nordic Noel set...and a spot of bling. The baker's twine is from Papertrey, as is the card stock, and the ink is SU's real red.

This tree tag uses an old, old stamp from Northwoods (tree) and a sentiment from Papertrey's Sign Language. The ink is Brilliance thyme and poppy, the thread is DMC embroidery floss, and the paper is Papertrey' white. The Doodlebug white glitter was applied with a Quickie Glue Pen.

The corner punch for both tags comes from StampinUp.

I've got some small rolls of nice, heavy, white wrapping paper and red ribbon to use these with. So exciting!

Almost makes me want to start Christmas shopping.

Almost.

Thanks, Cheryl, for such a great challenge!

OLW This Week!

This week's One-Layer Wednesday is on Cheryl's blog, and it's a timely one! If your Simplicity Christmas includes making simple gift tags, this is the challenge for you.

OLW166 Christmas/Holiday Tags

Happy Stamping!

I'm Back

Whew. What a busy visit from my in-laws...and so much fun!

And now for some more Simplicity Christmas. First, we varied red berry embellishments, and now we're varying color. Today's post is further evidence that having lots of supplies can be a very good thing.

A VERY good thing.

Blue Christmas

 

 

Red and Pink Christmas

 

 

Red and Green Christmas

 

 

Green Christmas

Here, we've covered all the main colors of the season, with a little pink thrown in because I could and it was cool.

To make these, I first stamped the wreath in gray, and then the berries in a light color to compliment the Smooch. The Smooch is opaque, so it completely covers the color you stamp and allowed the red and green card easily. It was so much fun to vary the colors this way, and it allowed me to use a whole bunch of my Smooch colors in one go.

Fun, eh? Which is your favorite?

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Wreath for All Seasons
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: Smooch, corner rounder

Quick Post

My in-laws are visiting, and I don't have much computer time right now (we're having way too much fun!). But here's a quick card for you...a two-layer, white-on-white that I just love!

This card uses the set A Wreath for All Seasons as a garland on a narrow white panel and a sentiment from Happiest of Holidays...both sets from Papertrey Ink. It's a great--and easy--way to use the wreath a little differently!

And bling. Because everything's better with bling.

Back when I can!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Happiest of Holidays, Wreath for All Seasons
ink: Memento cottage green, SU real red
paper: Papertrey
accessories: rhinestones, dimensionals

Inspired by Courtney Kelley

Courtney Kelly had a fabulous "Ka-Pow!" card published on page 41 of Paper Crafts Handmade Cards. It's made to showcase using ready-made embellishments, and Courtney came up with such a fun design and layout!

While I cannot make a nice card with premade embellishments to save my life, I felt totally inspired by her layout and lifted it almost completely for today's Christmas card.

The poinsettias are made using daisy punches, layered, and yellowish green rhinestones. I had originally only used the large flower, but the design felt incomplete and just too plain, so I added the small one and like the way it moves your eye around the design.

I couldn't have made this card without being inspired by Courtney's fab card, so thanks so much Courtney!

And check out Courtney's blog HERE for some amazingly beautiful, hip, and trendy paper craft awesomeness!


Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts (shadow), Papertrey sentiment
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey white, SU real red
accessories: flower punches, rhinestones

Can You Have Too Much Stuff?

Y'all know I don't mass-produce cards because I have stamper's ADHD and get sooooo bored making dozens of the same thing. This is more of a problem at Christmas because I need about 120 cards, and making 120 different cards is hard work.

Y'all also know that the simpler the card design, the happier I am. Oh, I like making funky, experimental cards with unusual placements and white-on-white layers, but the results rarely fill me with as much joy as the simplest image and sentiment placed perfectly centered or following the rule of thirds on one white layer.

As part of this year's Simplicity Christmas, I wanted to capitalize on a lesson I learned last year...making a few simple product variations on a simple design adds fun and decreases time spent on making Christmas cards.

Of course, variations are easier if you have, ahem, a bunch of stuff in your stash.

So a very simple, basic design gets a little different treatment using three different forms of red embellishments, proving once again that you can never have too much stuff. Having three forms of essentially the same thing can serve a stamper quite well, thank you very much.

And here's the proof:



Small Red Pearls

Close-up of Small Red Pearls

Red Nail Heads

Close-up of Red Nail Heads

Red Rhinestones

Close-up of Red Rhinestones

 

Of the three, the nail heads are the most postal-friendly embellishment because they are the flattest. But the pearls and rhinestones look better to me.

You are, of course, entitled to your own opinion as to which looks better.

No matter which you prefer, however, you simply must admit that having all three is preferable to only having one or two.

And if you only have one or two in your stash, I won't judge you if you run out and buy the ones you don't have.

That way, I won't have to feel guilty about longing for those stupid enamel-looking dots all the super-star stampers are using on their cards these days, right?

Of course I'm right.

Happy shopping stamping!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Wreath for All Seasons
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: rhinestones, pearls, nail heads, corner rounder

 

Using What I Have

Years ago...and I do mean years...I purchased a bunch of Fabriano Medioevalis cards and envelopes. These blank cards, made from beautiful, deckle-edge watercolor paper, feel too good to use.

How silly is that?

I have occasionally screwed up the courage to use a few of them and even messed up some of the cards (the horror!), leaving me with extra envelopes. Of course, using other supplies as part of my Use Your Stamps Challenge makes sense, and I'm happy to say I've now used up all my FM cards and envelopes.

The world, as far as I know, is still spinning.

Here are the results. Note that the cards are not standard A2 size; they are about 3.25" x 5.25".

The last card isn't Fabriano. It's Papertrey vintage cream cut o Fabriano size. The texture of the watercolor paper didn't work with the solid block stamps (Hero Arts) of the nativity scene (I ruined a card trying to make them work). This card and a bunch like it will go into one of the leftover envelopes from the cards.

The grand total made with these cards and envelopes was 15 cards...not too shabby!

What do you have lying around in your stash that you could use up?

Supplies
stamps: various Papertrey and Hero Arts
ink: various
paper: Fabriano Medioevalis, Papertrey Vintage Cream
accessories: none

Shimmery Christmas Cards

Today's cards are a trio of Christmas simplicity that may become mass-produced if I don't get my butt in gear and make more Christmas cards.

These three cards use two different clear sets from Hero Arts: Merry Christmas Trees for the sentiment and Swirl Christmas for the images. The images are accented with tiny metallic half beads, but those are optional. Never underestimate the power of swirly, pretty images! These stamped in the shimmer of the Brilliance ink really do stand nicely all by themselves.

I'm loving the Dew Drop metallic Brilliance inks and the pearlescent thyme and poppy. The metallics especially are over-inked, however, so I use an old fake credit card from junk mailings to scrape off the excess and then smoosh it back into the pad when I finish. It's annoying and messy, but I imagine these over-inked pads will last a good, long time.

On another, somewhat related note...I'm contemplating what I want to say about Christmas and crafting, and it's still rather disjointed and incoherent. I'll get there. Just know I haven't forgotten about it.

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Merry Christmas Trees, Swirl Christmas
ink: Brilliance
paper: Papertrey White
accessories: metallic half beads

A Couple of Non-Holiday Cards and Some Talk about Simplicity and Christmas

How about a couple of birthday cards for today? They're made with Dare 2B Artzy's Eat More Cake set and represent my playing around with color and placement. One is, in my opinion, more successful than the other, even though I like them both.

The first card is fine, although I would like the candles and sentiment to be placed slightly closer together. The colors are fresh and fun citrus and perfect for a summer birthday, don't you think? But analogous color schemes (three in a row on the color wheel) can be a little flat if there's not something for contrast (such as black). Note that the first and last candles are lime, just like the sentiment, to create a better sense of unity for the design. The flames are accented with yellow Stickles.

The next card has a much more successful layout.

Adding the bow to the sentiment as if it were a wrapped present is much more unifying and visually interesting than the row of candles. The colors are essentially complementary (opposites on the color wheel), which gives a huge amount of pop to them. Also, taking advantage of the rule of thirds and placing the whole design on the 1/3rd line at the bottom of the card adds interest and stability.

At least, that's how I read the two cards. You might have a different opinion!



And Now for Some Holiday Talk

I'm a hypocrite.

You see, I posted a Christmas card for Friday, but Saturday morning at JCPenney I ranted to my son about how retailers start the holidays too soon.

"Maybe they're just trying to draw out the holiday spirit, Mom."

"No, Nick. They are trying to sell stuff. Lots of stuff. And they want you to start buying Christmas presents right now, hide them, forget about them, and buy more the day after Thanksgiving."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

Holiday cynicism. It's justified.

Of course, in making holiday cards early, there's no sinister ulterior motive...I'm simply trying to prevent a last-minute panic of having to make 120 or so cards in a rush at the busiest time of the year. Been there, done that, not a lot of fun.

But some of you, I know, can't stand seeing Christmas cards on blogs this early. You either don't make holiday cards, or mass-produce them at some point closer to the holiday, or have really short lists of people you send cards to and don't fret about it as I do. You feel like I did at JC Penney. Or at Hobby Lobby in July when the Christmas stuff started appearing there. I get that. And I'm sorry.

Now, since I became a mommy, I've been rushing from one crisis to another as they pop up in my life. I just sent a whole pile of birthday cards for October late, for instance. Oh, the cards were made months in advance, but I didn't send them out until late. I'm human and forgetful and distracted and hate myself, but there you have it.

Christmas, however, usually gets more planning...and this makes my AR/OC self happy.

By the middle of November, I'm usually finished making cards and turn my focus to making some larger crafty items (teacher gifts and such) and tracking down addresses of people who have moved. After Thanksgiving, I start shopping for gifts and decorating my house, the family goes to a tree farm to chop down our own tree, and I start writing my Advent posts for Questioning my Intelligence.

In other words, I'm fairly organized when it comes to Christmas. Since 2004, I have kept a Christmas planning journal...just started volume two this year. I read back over it to remind myself where I've gone wrong before, and of tips I found that were really helpful.

What I have learned from this journal is that most of what we stress over is pretty pointless. The holidays should be a time of joy and love and peace and happiness and celebration. Anything that keeps us from feeling that joy is unnecessary baggage.

This Christmas, things are changing somewhat. With my recent diagnosis of specific allergies, a lot of our décor will need to be reconsidered. A live tree? Is that any worse than a fake tree full of dust mites? I have the same allergic reaction to putting together a fake tree as I have to trimming a live one. What will we do this year?

After I decorated our new house last year, I was extremely dissatisfied with the results. Our decorations had looked great in the old house, with its 18-foot ceilings and balconies and showcase stairs, but here, in our one-story home with 9-foot ceilings and much darker decor, they were just too much. Too much garland, too many dusty old nick-knacks, too much clutter. I want a simpler, cleaner Christmas this year.

My sinuses will thank me for it. I hope.

So even though it's not yet Halloween and I hate the early commercialism of Christmas, I'm going to start sharing my thoughts and experiences with Christmas planning and our family's move toward a minimalist Christmas.

I'm going to focus on the following question: What is the least I must do to make this Christmas our most festive ever? In other words, where's the balance? It's time to evaluate what is really important and what we do because everyone else does or because we think we must or because we're trying to live up to other people's expectations or because it's what we've always done even if it's not exactly fun anymore.

It's time to be kind to ourselves this holiday season and not run ourselves ragged trying to do everything and be everything. And because I'm a Stephen Minister and think about these things, I'll also address things you can do (or not do) when you're having a very blue Christmas full of uncertainty, pain, grief, or fear.

I sincerely hope my thoughts and experiences help you find your own way to Christmas peace and joy this year, even if you're a maximalist sort of Christmas person. As usual, my advice is to be yourself...intentionally. Find your own balance, your own happy place in the holiday season. By sharing my intentional process, perhaps you will find your own more easily.

That would make me very happy, indeed!


PS I'm going to start using labels for posts again. I know at least one reader will be happy about it (yes, you, kegbo!). I will not go back and label past posts, but I will move forward using them. Or at least try.

Supplies
stamps: Dare 2B Artzy Eat More Cake
ink: versacolor
paper: Papertrey
accessories: Stickles, rhinestone