Cards & More Holiday Projects

My Cards & More Club met for the final time this year a few weeks ago and we worked on holiday projects together. Life is just too busy in December for everyone, so we take the month off to enjoy our families and the holiday season instead.

In addition to enjoying the holiday, I will be having much fun preparing for the next season with all new products from Close To My Heart! And I will be giving little sneak peaks along the way, so you'll want to stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I would love to share the Cards & More projects from November.

We started off with this cute gingerbread house which serves not only as a cute holiday decoration, but a wonderful holder for holiday treats. To give you an idea of the size, it's about 4 inches wide and about 5 inches tall. The roof opens with a little velcro tab.

The template for this little house is from one of my favorite template sites called My Time Made Easy. This particular template is called "Carry It" and it's a digital download for only $5 and you own it forever! Just print directly to your cardstock or paper of choice. (I printed mine on Brown Bag cardstock). They have many wonderful templates on their site. Some are even free! And others are included in all-inclusive kits you can purchase and have shipped to you. Check 'em out sometime when you get a chance.

The windows, shutters and doors are from Close To My Heart's stamp set called "Around the Block" (D1377) which is a great set with roof tops, different windows doors, bricks, clouds and phrases like "Welcome to the Neighborhood" and "Home is Where the Heart is" and "We've Moved". A very versatile set.

With the help of my Cricut and QuicKutz dies, I added the candy canes and wreath. Fun Flock (Z263) adds a touch of snow to the ground around the house. The "Warm Wishes" on the roof is a sticker from the dollar bin at Michael's craft store, and the paper comes from the "Mistletoe" paper pack (X7130B).

This card fits in a standard size business envelope. I like to design large, long cards like this because they are a little different than the norm and they have such impact because of the length. I used CTMH's stamp set called "Nature's Gift" (C1424) and added the "Peace on Earth" phrase and the background snowflakes from the "Snow Flurries" stamp set (D1384). I think this would make an excellent holiday card for a man, don't you? The stitching across the pattern paper is a stamp as well. It's from the "Circle Around" stamp set (D1300). I used Cocoa, Bamboo and Barn Red color combinations.

This tag is my personal favorite of the projects we did because it's so inspired by Tim Holtz, who most of you know I am a huge fan of. (I even had a dream about him the other night, but don't tell him, okay?)

This tag measures about 4 x 6 inches and will serve nicely as an impressive tag on a bottle of wine or on a very special gift for someone extremely deserving.  That old world Santa is from the stamp set aptly named "Father Christmas" (D1449). He's been stamped on Colonial White and the colors have all been added with sponge daubers and inks, along with markers, the blender pen, and some red Stickles. The background swirls are from the Snow Flurries set I mentioned earlier, and the Happy Holidays is from the "Holiday Joy" stamp set (D1224). I added a poinsettia paper flower from the Mistletoe Assortment embellishments (Z1330)  and the metal frame from the Antique Copper mini medley (Z1275). The music note pattern paper is also from the Mistletoe paper pack I mentioned.

The tag is mounted on Barn Red cardstock and all the ink distressing is done with Cocoa ink. I even distressed the poinsettia to age it a bit.

Remember, to get a closer look, you can always click on the image. And of course, all Close To My Heart products mentioned here can be purchased on my CTMH website.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to have a wonderful day!