Holiday Cards Workshop 2013

My Creative Crew and I just finished our 6x6 One Sheet Wonder (OSW) Holiday Card Workshop.  Most people followed my OSW very loosely, using them for inspiration instead of reproducing them in their entirety.  We ended up with quite a creative variety of Holiday cards and Christmas cards.  Some people finished all 6 cards and others only 3 or 4.  I asked each participant to choose their favourite card for show and tell.  (It was very hard to choose in some cases!)

So, I have seven cards to present!  Here they are in alphabetic order.  (Click any image to enlarge the view.)

Claire

Claire's "Winter Cheer" snowman card is quite cute and I think it was the first one she finished.  The felt snowman is adorable and mounted on a shimmery paper.

"Lady Hamilton"

Debbie's "Joy" card features the lovely little Christmas tree stamp that I picked up at the Michaels Craft Store not long ago.  She used a snowflake embossing folder (by Darice) in the background.  I think this card is very well balanced.

Lara

Lara was using cards from Studio G. that had a scalloped edge, so she had a little less room on the card front to work with.  No matter, this simple but graphically impressive reindeer card takes care of that!  I like the clever framing of the sentiment around the ribbon tail background.

Monika

One of two new additions to the Creative Crew, Monika put a lot of effort into the design of this Christmas ornament card.  She used die cutting, punching and heat embossing to make this card.  (Methinks I have a fellow tool junkie in the making!)  I think that keeping the colour scheme simple on this card combines perfectly with the intricate background paper.

Nicole

My other new addition to the Creative Crew for this workshop is Nicole.  She was the brave one to make her "happy Holidays" sentiment the focal part of the card.  It's something I've often thought about but have yet to accomplish!  The bling on this card brings out the shine in the metallic ink used on the sentiment.  It's important to bring that sentiment to the eye when it doubles as the focal and she did a great job of it.

Norma

Speaking of bling... Norma really blinged it up on this Penguin card!  She used a black and white paper and them framed her penguin on silver glitter paper.  The snowflakes on the patterned paper really burst when paired with the glitter frame and using red instead of white in the middle creates the Christmassy feel!

Terri-Lynn

I guess mother and daughter think alike!  Like her mother, Norma, Terri-Lynn's penguin card also uses glitter and reds to make her design pop.  Her "Merry Christmas" card is a stunning red and white classic.  I think the layers on this card definitely add to the interest.

There were so many great things about this workshop:

• I got to introduce new people to my paper fanatics!
• We raised $47 for the Southern Ontario Animal Rescue, which means I almost hit my annual fundraising goal.  (Missed it by only a hair.  Participants did donate extra personally too so, combined, the total Crew met the goal.)
• I was inspired to make something new - more on that in a future post!

 There you have it: seven very different holiday cards all made from the same basic starting designs.  I hope these handmade cards inspire you to get in gear and start crafting your Christmas!