December 21, 2009

Challenge - Use those Holiday cards

Oh Christmas Card. Oh Christmas card (sing with me now). It seems like there is the same dilemma every year. Create your own with your blood, sweat, and tears? Order one from an online service and try not to feel guilty about it?

After all that hard work in deciding what to do, what happens? You send them all out and are left wondering if the stress was worth it. Does anyone really care if you make it or buy it, as long as you send one? You know, not there's anything wrong with NOT sending one....

This is not something to be worrying about this time of year!

One dilemma I have had is what to do with the Christmas cards I have received. Steve's grandmother used to date hers every time she sent us a card for any occasion, which made me feel she must think we intend to keep them. Now don't get me wrong. I don't throw all of my cards away. I keep the special ones. But after a while, they tend to pile up, don't they?

What do you do with yours?

My challenge for you this week involves your Christmas cards, either the one you sent, or the cards you've received.

Below I have some very VERY old projects to share with you, ideas on what I've done in the past. Be nice.

In this first one, I took the photo I used for our 2005 Christmas card (I was about 20 weeks pregnant with Payton here) and put it in the center of my layout. Then I trimmed squares (no square punch for me at the time) from the Christmas cards I had received, and layered them around my photo. How fancy. Do I want to rip off those Quickutz alphas right now and switch them for something bigger? YES I DO, lol. I will work to restrain myself though. heeeeeee.



If you are the type of person who likes to save your Christmas cards, though, especially if they come from Grandma and have a special message, you might try making a special notebook.

The following project is Morgan's card book. I simply trimmed two pieces of chipboard, covered them with paper and embellished them a bit, and then attached them with jump rings. Every time she receives a card, be it for her birthday, Valentines, or just because, after it's been displayed for a bit, I punch holes in it, and put it in her book. This book is currently getting full and needs bigger rings, but it's a great keepsake and fun to look back on the cards she's received, from Congratulations at her birth to a random postcard she received from her Grandmother.



I know it might be a busy week at your house, but my challenge to you is to think about those Christmas cards, and do a project with them. Make a mini album, create a layout, etc. I plan to create a layout with my 4x8 photo card and will share it later this week.

You have until Saturday night at midnight, PST. I'll then draw a winner for that weekly $5 gift certificate to the SC store. It'll help with those star punches that work perfectly with the main kit coming up. This one. And this one for sure.

3 comments:

Kim said...

great challenge... I have kept mine for years and then taken the whole box of them to school to let my students recycle the images for their own hand-made Christmas cards...

Melanie said...

I love your idea of making a mini-album out of your DD's cards--easy and gorgeous-looking! The most I've done with mine are putting them in a pocket page. Most of my cards are in plastic bags waiting for a page. Thanks for some ideas!

Alex Hardy said...

Your "love notes" binder is a FANTASTIC idea.
(Now I have guilt because I just threw a bunch of cards away!) Now I know what to do with them.

Thanks!