My five for January, turned into fourteen... :)

As most of you who follow me know, I have participated in a challenge to do five Christmas cards a month for the last four years.  Originally, it was to have enough cards for the early call to Operation Write Home in July and then final call in October.  OWH closed it's doors in August of 2016 so they are not going to be the recipient of my cards going forward.  However, since marrying the Ernman, we have sent Christmas cards as a couple AND he likes to give a card to each of his work peers (each one different), not to mention the ones we send to our clients.  SO, I still need to and want to make Christmas cards.  Even with my best efforts last year, I came up short...

 

My challenge THIS year is not only to make five Christmas cards a month but to make at least two different types so I have enough "different" for the Ernman's work peers.  THIS month I made fourteen cards with only three of those being duplicate... yay me!!  Off and running...

 

 So, on that note, I purchased the "Simon Says Stamp Christmas Card Kit" back in December to give me a jump on my challenge.  I purchased it because of this image.  I thought it would be an awesome card for the Ernman's boss.  I, however, never got it done in time. BUT, it will be ready for next year.  I did three of these before I moved on to the rest...

 

The stockings are stamped.  I used the puffy stickers and dove from the kit.  I added faux stitching for interest...

 

I stamped the "Merry Christmas" on this printed paper, layered it, added sequins and thought, is this it?  I added faux stitching again, for interest.  By this time, I had made three of the six "pictured" cards from the kit and thought, "This is just not doing it for me."  I had no ideas on what to do with all the stuff.  I "googled" the kit and came up with a YouTube video of a woman in Greece who had made ten different cards using the items in the kit.  I was THRILLED!!  SO, the rest of these cards were influenced by her...

 

 I made my own snow bank to add the polar bear to but this made me wish, again, that I had those curved dies...

 

 

Papers and puffy stickers...

 

Then OMG!! I made my first ever "Shaker" card!  Wicked fun!  And way easier than I anticipated...

 

So, I made another.  In this one, I think the glitter is too fine.  It looks messy.  BUT, it's still a shaker card... :)

 

 I thought this was pretty clever.  The red papers are popped with dimensionals and look like they are part of the same "tying".  I can see using this layout with several of my scrap papers and come up with a relatively simple card... 

 

Papers , puffy stickers and sequins.  The sequins in the kit have adhesive on the back.  Really easy to work with...

Papers and puffy stickers...



Super simple but darn adorable...

 

This was the last card I did last night just using bits and pieces left on the desk...

So, although I started out not too enthusiastic about this kit, I was quite thrilled with the end results.  There are still enough papers to make a few more cards so I can say, this was worth the money.  And in my first month of the challenge, I ROCKED it!! 

 

Oops... a little old!

I'm only 16 months behind in getting to this kit... oops!  This is a Simon Says Stamp Card Kit from October of 2012.  I've opened it many times but the colors just never really appealed to me and I would just close the box and move on.  However, now that I finally bit the bullet and just did it, the cards are lovely.  There are so many delightful elements in the kit, which you can see here.  I still have more paper but I just may move on since this was such a stumbling block for me, for so long...



Blizzard of 2013... Card #7

 

Another card from the February Simon Says Stamp monthly card kit.  I'm so tired right now, I can't even think of what to say about this.  I've been up since 3:30am in anticipation of digging out from our NOW historic Blizzard of 2013...



Blizzard of 2013... Cards # 4, 5 & 6

 

This was a perfect opportunity to work with the Simon Says Stamp monthly card kit for February, so that's what I did... and it's still February!  Woo hoo!!

 

There are some neat ingredients in this kit like the tiny wooden hearts, polka dot envelope and doily on the card on the left, the metal hangar on the middle card and the metal tag on the card on the right.  I paper-pieced the three dresses with some of the delicious papers that are so delicate and feminine.  I enjoyed working with them...



September Card Kit...

This September kit from Simon Says Stamp was full of so many wonderful items to play with... I LOVED it!  As of today, I have completed 21 cards and still have some miscellaneous items to use on other projects.  I think I made my money back on this one... :)

 

 

The kit came with a 2" x 2" chalkboard which is too bulky to be mailed... but not too bulky for an Any Hero card... yay!  I loved the "look" of the chalkboard that I then recreated it with chalkboard paper from Michaels layered on craft paper.  I like the white stickers or white emboss on it as it makes it look like a real chalkboard...

 

 

It also came with a gift pouch.  I followed this tutorial to convert it to a card.  Since I put all my cards on a card back, I was able to make TWO cards instead of one... another yay!

 

Once again, I LOVED this kit!  Not only do I have almost a whole roll of washi tape left over (my first time using washi tape), a few scraps of paper and sticker letters but I have a fantastic set of acrylic stamps that I KNOW I'll be using over and over again...

 

 

August Card Kit...

These are from the Simon Says Stamp monthly card kit for August. Yes, I know it's September but I am not the quickest draw in the west. I only made two types of cards from the kit of possibilities because I couldn't find the corresponding videos on the website. That's not because they aren't there. It's because I am the WORST navigator of the web!! BUT... I still loved making these cards!

What is really great about these kits (this was my first btw) is that it gives you an opportunity to use products you might normally walk on by. That would be the case with these flowers. They are velvet and are made by Maya Road. I wouldn't have given them a second look in the store but they really work on this layout. Also in the kit was some rick-rack. That was SO FUN to work with and I loved the effect. I've made a dozen cards and counting so far... woo hoo!! The kit also includes a set of acrylic stamps that I can continue to use on other projects. So, for the money, it is a great resource for stepping out of your comfort zone and trying new things...