Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Very Fast Ornaments on Cards


I finally finished mailing out all my Christmas cards yesterday - I did it a little differently than I usually do this year. I wrote out all the envelopes first and wow did I have a lot to mail out! I had made many cards throughout the year, but not quite enough to fill them all. So, when I was looking last Friday for some quick cards to mail to local friends and relatives (I mailed the out-of-state and Lower Peninsula cards last week), I came across a few challenges I thought I would like to try - but NO inspiration at that moment. Later in the day, when I was at the local St. Vinny's store, picking up some furniture for my daughter's apartment, I saw they had Christmas stuff marked 75% off...so I took a look and as soon as I saw these ornaments, I "saw" my cards.
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The challenges were (1) to make a card that was at least 75% blue, and only one embellishment that wasn't paper...which would is the single brass ornament. (2) to make a card that was beyond quick, or average about 5 minutes per. I set my timer for 30 minutes and went to work.
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Once started, the framing and attaching took a bit longer to figure out how to get the look I wanted, because the ornaments I used were slightly varied in sizes, and I had to use a combination of a colluzzle circle first, and then the scallop punched around the circle hole to make the frame. Next I needed to figure out how to attach the ornament so that it would be simple to take apart, and not show the string on the front. So, I when I attached the ornament, I pierced a hole through the middle of the card front and poked the string through it, pulled the string up (which would be down on the inside) and taped it with clear tape, and then covered the hole with the scalloped frame on the front, which makes it nearly invisible. As I was finishing my first card, the timer went off. I was amazed time went so quickly, but realized I had to put some design-time into the "little glitches" which seemed to be worked out.
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So I re-set it, and started on the remaining 5 and was done with them before the timer went off. A set of Nestabilities Circles would have definately made things much quicker, but I don't have the circle set in my collection yet!
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So there you have them! And they are all on their way to dear friends or family. Today - my daughters, Gretchen and Natalie and I are going to do all our baking, so I better clear the decks!
Enjoy your day!

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

You did great on that challenge! And what a clever idea to incorporate a Christmas ornament in your card!

Vicki Burdick said...

These are so adorable and such a great idea!!! You got my addy right? Lol!!! Seriously they are super cute!

Jacquel said...

Beautiful and a fab idea...you did an awesome job!!

Covered In Crafts said...

Great job!

Michelle said...

Those are beautiful! Great idea! Some lucky people on your list this year to recieve one of those.....can you add me?! JK!

Jaspere said...

Wow so wonderful and creative. They turned out amazing.

Sharon said...

Beautiful cards!! Gift & card in one swoop!

*Sally* said...

Gorgeous! and shiny :)
What a good idea, I may have to have a go at a 5 min card!

Anonymous said...

great cards.. the ornaments look great on them

Rina said...

Happy Holidays Cheryl. Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing. I feel so truly blessed.

I love your cards. Wow, it's all so beautiful, with the ornaments. TFS!!!

Have a safe and blessed New Years in Jesus.

God Bless~

Sharon (notimetostamp) said...

Beautiful cards, Cheryl, and I can say that from a first hand IRL look -- LOL -- as I received one of these beauties in the mail the other day!!! What a great find on those gorgeous ornaments and what a clever and creative way to use them in your card design!!! Very impressive!!! Thank you so much for playing and THANK YOU so much for sending one to me!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Tina said...

Your ornament cards are great! love the idea and your colors are just yummy!

Joanne Travis said...

These are spectacular!! I love that gorgeous, elegant color combination. Breathtaking.

Tammy said...

Great job. I love blue colors in Christmas cards.