I admit that I fretted over my 2021 Christmas cards more than I have ever fretted over any card before. It took months for me to decide upon a design and then, when time was running out, I discovered I did not have ANY Christmas themed card stock or designer series paper on hand. None. Nada. Additionally, I didn’t have enough of the real red card stock I wanted for my bases.
Yikes!
So, what did I do? I got creative.
My Inspiration Design
I’ve been following Call Me Crafty Al over on YouTube for a while now and her monthly Sheetload of Cards series has been fantastic!
Each month on the first, Al posts her newest sheetload card design video and the first set of cards she designed from that sheetload. She also tells you how and where to get all the information for free. On the second of the month, she posts her video showing how she made the cards. Later in the month, she shares cards she received in the mail and the cards her collaborators made from that sheetload.
Lots of great information and inspiration.
Here is the video of the design I chose for my 2021 Christmas cards:
Everything you need is included in the free printable. All you need to do is provide the materials. You can shop for them or pull from your stash. Or both. The beauty of Al’s design is that you have the freedom to adjust it to what you want the end result to look like.
Speaking of End Results
Before I share my cards with you, I want to tell you how I came up with them. As I mentioned, I didn’t have any holiday paper on hand but I did have an old 6×6 paper pack that was Valentine’s Day themed.
The colors were right and the back side of the papers were stripes, polka dots or what I interpreted to be snowballs. <shrug> Depends upon how you looked at it. I also had some gold foiled paper on hand along with some ephemera that I could use to decorate the inside and the outside of the cards.
I had planned to do some heat embossing on the sentiment, but frankly, I forgot. 😉
The moral of the story is to check your stash to see what you can use. I have to admit, I’ve been looking at that paper pack for quite a long time but it wasn’t until I turned the papers over that I found a use for them. I might actually make a Valentine’s card out of them one day, but for now I’m just pleased I could use them and not spend money on more paper.
What do you think?
