[I've found myself looking for more tangible ways to express my love to my family and friends, especially for this Christmas season. I am determined right now to begin fashioning what I'm calling my Handmade Christmas. My goal is to make all of my gifts this year. If you'll follow along with me, I might share an idea or two that you hadn't thought of, and I look forward to some comments with wonderful handmade Christmas present ideas from you, too. Hopefully we'll all be ready to celebrate together when we have a cozy little stash of homemade gifts waiting under our trees for our loved ones in December.]
On the first day of handmade Christmas, my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree! But as there's a shortage of partridges around here (as well as pear trees), I'll settle for a stamped bird on a handmade Christmas card. Since I started stamping three years ago I haven't bought a store bought card for anything. I love creating the design, choosing the colors, and even making and remaking the card until it looks just right. For Christmas, I try to keep my ideas very basic, because I just don't want to spend hours and hours stamping cards for my whole Christmas list. Here are some of my ideas for this year, created for my yearly Christmas Card Stamping Class, so that there will be plenty of ideas for everyone.
…the traditional red and green above, and the more elegant cream and gold with organdy ribbon below.
Red and aqua, inspired by Selena & Sara's swap. That butterfly card is one of my favorite recent creations.
more red and green, with a bit of a vintage olive twist, and another favorite color combo, red white and black, below.
I love navy and light blue and white, too. The middle card was my card two years ago, and is still one of my simple favorites.
Here's the card I would love to do for this year, along with the simplified version that I will most likely end up with. That's okay, often simpler is better, in card-making and in life.
All of the stamps and paper shown were purchased from Stampin' Up! (email me if you need a source) and most can be done by even the newest stamper. Most designs are mine, but several are from my wonderful stamping club…thank you Bridget, Marni, Rebecca, Tandra, Alora, Jeanne, Gigi, Cindy & Tina for your inspiration and your beautiful designs! If you've never stamped, your necessities to purchase are: extra smooth (but not glossy) white or cream cardstock for stamping on, a paper trimmer, a few inkpads and coordinating cardstock colors, and a few image stamps and a few sentiment (word) stamps. I also like to add ribbon and rhinestones to lots of my designs. I generally start with the main image I want to use and a color scheme, and start experimenting until I like what I have. If you have any questions about specific cards, send me an email @ cozyliving@cox.net and I'll help you as much as I can.
I so enjoy making my own cards, especially for Christmas. Come back for the second day of (handmade) Christmas soon…
Great idea to get started on the gift-giving ideas now! This planning ahead will certainly help eliminate my usual holiday tradition: a sleep-deprived December.
Hi Linn, I also make all my birthday gifts, so I try to make Christmas gifts for those recipients at the same time, and put them away. I have a large family so that works for me! Looking forward to seeing some of your gift ideas. Hashi
All your cards are beautiful. I, too, haven’t bought a card in years. I either make my own or I make a phone call when I’ve none to send. I keep mine simple…use my own digital images (imagine YOUR beautiful photos on a card!) for the front with a poem or verse of my own inside. I don’t have nearly as large a collection for many different occasions. But, maybe one day.
Thank you for this new series of entries to come. I’ll look forward to your gift ideas.
Your cards are stunning! I am so impressed.
That bird is awesome! I’m floored that you’ve already started holiday crafting. You go girl!
My goal is to have one homemade gift for everyone this year. I have a head start because of the raspberry jam I made this summer. I love your cards-you are so talented in the card/stamping area!
Beautiful cards…I’ve been starting to think about what to make for Christmas gifts this year also.
Wow Linn, these are so professional looking. I would swear that they were purchased. Of course I love the aqua and red the best. I too am going to work on a handmade Christmas. Gone are the silly, stale Amazon wish lists. So far I have a list of people with a present idea next to their name. Of course the hardest part will be explaining this to the Amazon wish list families members.
Oh how wonderful! I think I will try my hand at homemade cards this year. Too much cuteness!
<3
kristal @ aksarbenlove.com
oh my, your cards are truly beautiful! i look forward to the many handmade ideas you’ll be sharing here and am super impressed you have begun so early!
All those cards are so, so, so beautiful. I love scrapbooking too! I just posted about it, but yours are amazing!
You have so many great ideas for your cards – thanks for sharing!! Your post has gotten me very excited for the Stampin’ Up party that I’m hosting this weekend. I try to at least make cards every year, I’ve been expanding to handmade gifts, but some people still end up with store bought as I just don’t start early enough. Hope you have a wonderful vacation.