Latest work: Christmas in August

Much as I hate the idea of even contemplating Christmas when the temperatures are hovering around 30°C, there is one thing I have learned from experience that I hate more and that is making Christmas cards in December. To be honest, I’m not that keen on making them in November either. Way too stressful.

So. Christmas in August. It doesn’t feel right, but at the same time, it is when all the Christmas stamp sets are in the craft shops — they actually started appearing in July but you have to draw the line somewhere…

I have no idea how many cards we’re going to need, which doesn’t help. I’m getting a bit ruthless with the Christmas card list this year; I can’t keep making cards for people who don’t reciprocate (and that includes now-grown-up relatives who still get their names added to “from the family” cards rather than sending their own). There is a core of people who will get individually made cards, but I’ve decided to make more small batches of cards this year.

To that end, I decided to sit down and come up with five designs that could be easily recreated and that wouldn’t involve an hour of Copic colouring for each card. Not that any of them — apart from one — were particularly quick makes. I’ll be doing individual blog posts for each of the designs with more detail about the products and techniques used.

Avoiding time-consuming colouring meant returning to other card-making techniques: die-cutting, die-cutting with inlay, masking, stencilling, and stamping. I used products that have been sitting unloved: Brusho for some background colour, Neocolor II to create a watercolour moon, We R Memory Keepers tear guides for torn edges, and oh so much detail sparkle for a bit of bling.

And I made five of each. I could have made more and not had to worry about running out of cards, but I’d rather keep the batches small and then repeat the process with another couple of designs once I’ve decided how many cards I really need.

Inevitably some of the designs I try out don’t really work — at least not as batch designs — but I don’t like to waste anything if I can avoid it. So I took the leftover pieces and turned them into a few individual cards.

And that was August. That and getting my head around writing regular posts for the GESSO: Primed Creatives blogging challenge of course.

GESSO: Primed Creatives – Update us on your latest work