My Own Creations

I thought I'd take a break this weekend from sharing other people's creations -- ie, all those moo-velous fiberglass cows -- and share something of my own, which I realize I haven't done in some time. Most of you know that I have been making my own greeting cards for several years now. Odd as it may seem when we've had one of the hottest summers on record, I've already started making Thanksgiving and Christmas cards. Anyone who crafts understands the importance of getting a head start. If you want it finished in time for the holidays you have to start it months, sometimes even a full year, in advance.

I typically send out about 75 Christmas cards every year, but for the past few years have also been involved with a group who make assorted handmade greeting cards for troops stationed overseas. It's not like they have the option of walking into a Hallmark to find something to send home to friends and loved ones, and they truly are appreciated -- by both the sender and the recipient.

Last year I was involved in a "holiday image" swap at SCS, in which we all chose one of our favorite stamp sets, then stamped images on ten sheets of quality white or vanilla cardstock. For each ten you sent you got ten back, and I sent twenty. The upside of such a swap is that you get a bunch of images for sets you don't own, and can then cut, color and piece them together however you wish. The downside is that sometimes you get some you do already own, as I did, but even then it just means half the work is already done. Plus it was a lot of fun and gave me more options for playing around this year.

Which is what I've been doing for the past two months. Last year when those images came I already had my personal Christmas cards planned out and had already sent off some 100 cards for the troops. Due to turn-around time, we try to get Halloween cards sent by end of August, Thanksgiving cards by end of September, and Christmas cards by the end of October. That allows plenty of time for cards to get there and gives them time to send them back home before the holidays.

So, having already done holiday cards for the troops, I put those image sets away and finally pulled them out again last month. I've been trying to do a few cards every day or so, managing more some days than others. I color while watching TV, then cut, mat and arrange however the mood strikes me, sometimes following the week's sketch challenge from SCS. I have a rapidly growing collection, but unfortunately cannot share any of those at the moment. I'm still trying to find a serial to USB adapter in order to hook the scanner up to the new computer. Everyone has parallel to USB, but not serial. *Sigh* Hope to locate what I need soon!

I've also done a bunch of "one sheet wonder" cards (OSW) and was able to scan them before setting up the new computer. This technique makes for some quick cards, all of which are similar yet different. You start with a sheet of quality white or vanilla cardstock, then randomly stamp images to create a background. I pulled out my as yet unused "Reindeer Print" set ordered last year from Stampin' Up and used Stampin Up inks in Always Artichoke, Certainly Celery, Real Red, and Sahara Sand. Using different colors for card bases and matting, in addition to cutting the OSW at different sizes, and adding various ribbon and trims resulted in about twenty different cards. Here are a few of the end results...