So I just realized that November was almost half way through.  Seriously, how is it already the 15th.  I don’t know where time has gone, but I know I am behind.  I like to make all my holiday cards, and I’ll be real honest with you, I am behind.  I mean BEHIND.

So I spent some time this weekend knocking out some holiday cards trying to make a dent in the vast number I need.  I may not have made a dent, but I was able to at least put a bump in the numbers.

The problem of course always is trying to come up with fun new ideas.  So once more I reached for my list of card making challenges and dialed into their weekly themes to help leap over my writers block.

The first card was inspired by Always Playing with Paper‘s The Challenge.  This week they had a colour challenge asking us to be inspired by red, silver, kraft, and white.

Well living in So. Cal, I felt a beach christmas card was in order.  I cut out two dune shapped kraft paper boarders and ran some Memento desert sand ink around the edges.  Then I used a Paper Smooches Swanky Snowdudes stamp, and colored him in with my Spectrum Noir markers.  Finally I used my Brushed Pewter Distress Paint to color in the ocean behind.  Both the sentiment and the beach ball were done by hand, and the back ground with sprayed with my Pewter Perfect Pearls Mists.  I know this card is going to be sent to someone who has lots of snow and cold weather.

The next challenge, from Freshly Made Sketches, was a bit more of a challenge for me.  This challenge group seriously promotes clean (ie not distressing or splattering) cards.  I like a good distressed or raw edge, so it is always fun to work outside of my comfort zone.  This week FMS had a fun boxy sketch as their inspiration.

I decided against using a stamp here, and reached for some old holiday paper and layered pieces to match the sketch.  I wish I could tell you who’s paper this was, but it is seriously that old of a pack that I no longer have any clue.  But the little snowmen were sweet all on their own, so I went with it.  I added a little wink of stella to the snowmen’s hats and gloves to just add a little shin to it.  I embossed a holiday sentiment from another old rubber stamp and added a few crystals.  I know the card is simple but there is something endearing about it to me.

Finally, I reached out to a year round christmas card challenge, Jingle Belles, who had a fun theme of holiday food and drinks.  I did not have a stamp however that made me think of holiday food and drinks.  That was until I remembered my Paper Smooches Cheers stamp pack.

I remembered there was a cocktail glass that looked like the ones my family uses to drink eggnog.  And I love eggnog, be it on its own or with a little extra holiday cheer inside, eggnog is one of the things that make feel like Christmas is around the corner.  I used a little painters tape to tape out a christmas tree, and colored in the glasses with my Spectrum Noir markers so they looked like eggnog.  I feel I got them a little dark, but I love the card none the less.  A few glued sequins and an embossed sentiment and I was done.

So that’s three more cards done, countless more to do.  But at least I’m really thinking about it now.