It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

I don't mean to alarm you, but did you know that there are only 108 days left until Christmas?  After the hustle and bustle of the holidays each year, I always breath a little sigh of relief knowing  that next Christmas is a whole 365 days away.  Sometimes we even write the numbers 365 on our little chalkboard countdown calendar before we put it away.   It's not that I don't like Christmas, it just seems like after Halloween, the whole season becomes a blur.  It's hurry up and make plans for Thanksgiving and who is coming and what will we eat.  And then there's Black Friday shopping, finding the perfect gifts for everyone on the list, wrapping gifts, making cards, sending out cards, making yummy treats and any fun crafts I might want to make for the season. Whew!!!! It makes me tired just thinking of it all.

So this year, and maybe several other years that I have failed at, I'm once again making a vow to start much earlier.  I want to be able to enjoy the time with my family and decorating my house and making cookies.  I want to make the most of the entire holiday season.  I'm even going to be featuring a countdown to Christmas with some fun treat boxes, tags and other holiday essentials.  Stay tuned. 

This brings me to the creation of a snowman card when the leaves haven't even started to change color yet.  I usually mail around 100 Christmas cards.  If I can make a few each week, and a few of each design, then by the beginning of December, I should have them all created.  It's a great concept, and I'm hoping to keep up with it this year.  I will be issuing a few holiday challenges over on my Facebook Group.  Come on over and join us and let's make the holiday season peaceful and joyful this year with no holiday rush.  OK.  Maybe a little less. 

Here are the products from Stampin' Up!  I used to create this card:

• Under the Mistletoe Designer Series Paper (item #146921)
• Seasonal Tags Framelits Dies (item #144685)
• Seasonal Chums Clear Mount Stamp Set (item #144948)
• Silver 3/8" Metallic Edge Ribbon (item #144213)
• Whisper White Cardstock (item #100730)
• Stampin Blends markers (Pool Party dark #144594  Pumpkin Pie dark #144577, Cherry Cobbler dark #144575)
• 1 1/4" circle punch (item #119861)
• Christmas Pines stamp set (item #142049)
• Pool Party, cherry cobbler and Memento Black ink pads

Here's how I create the card:

• Cut a piece of whisper white cardstock to 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" and score at 4 1/4"
• Cut a piece of designer paper to 4" x 5 1/4". Adhere to the front of the card base.
• Cut a piece of Whisper white cardstock to 2 1/4" x 5 1/4".  
• Draw a 1/2" line, with a pencil, across the bottom edge of the white cardstock.  I used this as a guideline to keep my circles evenly placed.  
• Punch 3 circles using the 1 1/4" circle punch to use as a guide.  Place the circles onto the 2 1/4" x 5 1/4" white cardstock (do NOT use adhesive to place them) making sure they are evenly spaced.  Lightly trace the top of each circle, using a pencil so you can erase it later.   Remove the circles.  
• Using the circle punch and the pencil lines you drew, punch the circles out of the white cardstock piece.
• Using Memento Ink, stamp the snowman images from the Seasonal Chums stamp set onto a scrap piece of whisper white cardstock.  Stamp 3 snowmen.  
• Using the Seasonal Tags framelits and a Big Shot,  cut the snowmen out.  
• Color the snowman using the blender pens.  
• Using Pool Party Ink and the snowflake stamp from Christmas Pines stamp set, stamp snowflakes randomly onto the whisper white card piece. 
• Adhere the 2 1/4" 5 1/4" white piece to the front of the card as shown, using dimensionals. 
• Adhere the snowman using dimensionals.  NOTE:  you will need to tuck the bottom of the snowmen down inside of the holes that you punched.  I positioned each of my snowmen a little differently.  
• Wrap the silver metallic edge ribbon around the card bottom and tie a knot.  
• Cut a piece of whisper white cardstock to 1/2" x 2" and stamp a greeting using cherry cobbler ink.  Attach this piece to the front of the card as shown.

What do you think?  Is this your kind of Christmas card?  Leave me a comment below.  Also, don't forget to click on follow so you never miss a post.  New posts are mailed to you early each morning. 

If you need supplies for this, or any other project, I would love to be your demonstrator.  Please visit my store by clicking HERE and use HOST code 7SDVUZ7B at checkout.  

Happy Stamping,

Debbie