Christmas in July

I love Christmas! Every year I send out about 60-70 handmade Christmas cards to family and friends. The secret: I make them all year! Really there's no other way! If you wait until Nov. to sit down and make your cards you will be overwhelmed and just give up and go buy them, vowing to yourself you will do it next year!

Here are 6 Christmas cards I made using the 3 kits CTMH sells right now that are Christmas patterns (I'm sure there will be at least one more Christmas pattern in the fall catalog so be on the lookout!); the top card is from the Evensong kit, the second card is Aspen paper and the last card is Everlasting. Another secret for making a big batch of cards is to use stickease instead of a lot of stamping on cards-this will save you lots of time plus you will still have darling cards. All of these cards use minimal stamping and I've used stickease instead. What I do every year is buy a level 2 paper packet and the coordinating stickease; then use one of our card pattern books (Originals or Wishes), pick out 3-4 patterns max. and make your cards in bulk.

One thing I loved about CTMH when I found them was that they have stickease, stamps and embellishments that match their paper. This saves you tons of time and makes it much easier to make layouts and cards. For embellishing Christmas cards you can use ribbon, rub ons, sparkles, buttons, brads and we also sell fabric Christmas labels that are darling! You can then stamp a sentiment on the inside of your card and you're done!

Ok.....it's July now, do you want to send out handmade cards this Christmas? If so, get started now and use the tips I've shared, make a few every week and by the time late Nov. rolls around you'll have all your beautiful cards done and ready to send out!