I haven't put much up here this month as I have been very busy making Christmas cards and gifts. I tell myself every year to get them done early, but I never do!

For my Christmas cards this year I decided to mass-produce one style of card, instead of making a few cards in different designs (which is what I did last year). Here's a little peak at the process I have going to make my Christmas cards...

2011 Christmas Cards

If I am not interupted I can make 10-12 cards in 1-1/2 hours! So far I have made 50 cards (opps I mean 49 as one fell on an open stamp pad - grrr). Here's the finished Christmas card...

2011 Christmas Card

Stamps: Tidings of Joy (wood: 125024, clear: 122687), Teeny Tiny Sentiments (wood: 119185, clear: 120024). Card/Paper: Whisper White (106549), Silver Glimmer Paper (124005). Ink: Island Indigo (122937), Baja Breeze (111833), Elegant Eggplant (105210), Sahara Sand (105208), VersaMark (102283), VersaMarker (100901). Accessories: Iridescent Ice Embossing Powder (101930), Island Indigo Stampin' Write Marker (2011-2013 In Colour Stampin' Write Markers: 123002). Tools: Petite Pennants Builder Punch (122361), Heat Tool (106586), Embossing Buddy (103083), Sponge Daubers (102892), Stamping Sponges (101610), Stampin' Dimensionals (104430).

This is a clean-and-simple one-layer card. However, it has quite a few elements to it. I firstly masked the area that I wanted to sponge using post-it notes (as you can see in the top photo) and then embossed a star before sponging. The star is from the Tidings of Joy stamp set and is an outline so, after stamping it in VersaMark, I coloured it in using the VersaMarker before embossing it with the new Iridescent Ice embossing powder (page 15 of the Summer Mini). Look how it sparkles...

2011 Christmas Card

After sponging in Baja Breeze and Island Indigo for the sky and Sahara Sand and Elegant Eggplant, I added paper piercing to frame and "Merry Christmas" from Teeny Tiny Sentiments. The Christmas trees are punched from Silver Glimmer Paper (page 13 of the Summer Mini) using the Pennent Punch. I came across the idea to colour the Silver Glimmer Paper from a Christmas card that Delys created. So I sponged the trees, one in Island Indigo and one in Elegant Eggplant, and then heat-set the ink with the Heat Tool before popping them on the front of the card...

2011 Christmas Card

Phew! Only a few more to make...