3 November: Wrapping Up a Project

I believe I can say with some certainty that I am close to wrapping up my holiday card-making project for 2010.  Unfortunately I didn't get this up yesterday, but hopefully the arrival of my mom is a valid excuse for missing my post!  She's here for only a few days, and the kids were excited for her to be here, dinner was more of an affair than normal, and so on.

Indulging myself with the holiday cards has been enjoyable.  Christmas has always been my favorite holiday, hands down, even when I was a kid.  The way the house is transformed with the festive decorations, the getting of and decorating of a tree (always a real one), the colors of the wrapping paper on the presents, the songs . . . I just love it all.

So it's been fun to play with the different papers, colors, and embellishments this year, but next year it will be different.  (Isn't that always what people say?)  Possibly what I'll do is decorate large sheets of paper to use as base panels on cards, and then  . . . hmm, I'm not sure what then.  Will ponder that one some more.

What I'm aiming for is a way to keep pushing myself to let a little of myself into what I'm doing so that my cards are truly unique--and not have the process take so long.  There are books I want to make, that I have wanted to make since my trip to Houston the first week of August, and I just haven't had a chance.

Not that I regret this, at all, but I do hope to streamline the process next year, and that's only going to happen by thinking and planning now while it's all fresh in my head.

Progress on Holiday Cards

Today I made good progress on getting my holiday cards finished and photographed so I can post them up to my site.

They aren't really for anyone else to buy, but some of my family like to purchase handmade cards from me for their own friends, and using a site makes it easy for everyone (I use a free site at shophandmade.com.).  I still haven't figured out exactly how I want to approach making holiday cards (generally the only really "crafty" thing I do in the year), but I did manage to stay consistent by having the entire process take about five times longer than planned.  I've been working on these since the second week of August!  I have learned a lot of new techniques and gotten some great ideas for book covers; it's definitely not wasted time.

Even when I was in high school, I loved selecting and sending holiday cards.  I used to write long-winded messages to my friends full of very sincere and probably now highly embarrassing thoughts in my cards, as I felt it was a time to say all those things that one felt throughout the year but never quite had the guts to say out loud.  I guess I've come full circle, because now I have plenty of things in my head that I have no intention of saying out loud!  But I still like making holiday cards.

Holiday Bottle Caps

This summer I started drinking mineral water (couldn't stand the stuff before, but suddenly it appeals to me), and I found myself compelled to keep the bottle caps.  It seemed such a waste to throw them away.  So I gave in to the compulsion and figured if I didn't do anything with them after a while, then I'd get rid of them, but I'd give it a chance first.

So last weekend I got a really rotten cold (of course when my husband was away on a business trip, so the kids had to put up with their mom feeling awful), and on the second day when I was beginning to recover, I figured what better to do than bang on some bottle caps with a hammer?  Turns out it's pretty easy to get them into a pleasing shape and also kinda fun.

Then I discovered that even with all the things I have, I lacked a 1" circle punch.  Now that situation is remedied, and with some Graphic 45 paper and a little Glossy Accents, I have some great holiday embellishments!  I may use some on cards, but I'm also thinking that for anyone who buys cards from me, I could wrap the cards up in tissue paper, tie a ribbon around the package, and glue a bottle cap onto the ribbon.  A nice presentation can make people feel their money was well spent, and makes them feel special into the bargain.

Windy Snowmen

Although I am still fighting off a cold and don't sound too pretty, I have had a productive morning finishing up the set of five snowmen blowing in the wind. Hard to get into the mood when our high here is supposed to be in the low nineties today! But I have so many other things I want to do, and I can't allow myself to do them until I get the cards finished that I have started. (My problem is always finishing things--I like the fun part but then there's always the homework with the finishing touches--that's why I say this is good therapy for me.)

The tags are from projects on Tim Holtz's blog, but he leaves it up to you to decide what to do with the tag once you're finished. I finally came up with copying Vince Guaraldi's "Christmas is Coming" piano music (I play the piano so had it easily to hand) after reducing it to 80%, inking with Distress Inks, and then adhering the tag to that. The name of the music isn't on there anywhere, but I know what it is, and it makes me happy. I can even hear it playing in the background while the snowman does a happy dance!

Faux Vintage Glass Shards

Been plugging away at those holiday cards, and look what I discovered the other day . . . the excess Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint that I brushed off the edges of a tag looked like this.
They would be great in a mixed media project or in one of those cute little Ranger Memory Capsules. Everywhere you look, there's beauty if you're open to it.

Stalled and Figuring Out How to Escape

I am stalled on my holiday cards, which is a real shame because I have bits & pieces of works-in-progress scattered all over my desk and the dining table. It's driving me nuts! So tonight I realized what I need to do is blog about it to help figure out WHY exactly I am stalled and HOW in the heck I'm going to get out of this. I want to do some other things, but I am disciplined enough to not start any other projects while these are unfinished (also, I would have nowhere to put new materials!), but I find myself avoiding the situation instead of buckling down and getting them done.



Why is that, I finally asked myself this afternoon? I was hoping that this year I'd be more efficient with my holiday card-making (the only time of the year I ever make cards), but it is turning into a slog. Part of the problem is having to create materials from scratch. Some of the cards use die-cuts (store-bought) of Tim Holtz' grungeboard, but often only one of an item comes in the package, so if I want, say, three of something, I either have to buy another whole package to get one element (NOT an option), or I have to use the punched-out piece as a stencil, trace the shape on a new piece of grungeboard, and then cut it out. That's not fun, I don't like doing it, and that's a large part of what I'm avoiding.

So, in the future, what I need to understand is that I am simply not going to make multiples of something if I have to do that. I thought making just a couple extra wouldn't be a big deal, but it turns out it is. At least now I recognize that and can apply to future holiday seasons.

I also need to have giant inking sessions. It's a pain in the neck to get everything out & put it back all the time, plus it takes forever to scrub the ink off my fingers. I'd rather do it all at once, because I do like doing it, just not the cleaning up so many times.


Good, that's two big things dealt with. Now I need a plan to prod myself back into action and wrap this stuff up by next weekend. I think it's doable, but it will take some work on my part. Maybe an incentive as to what I can do when I'm finished would be a good idea? Not a bad thought, I believe. Will have to ponder what it could be. . . .