Times are tough these days, budgets are a little tighter, and if you haven't been able to spend as much as you'd like on crafting, you're not alone.
The good news is that even if you haven't been able to go out and pick up those Christmas stamps/papers you wanted to get, you can still make some beautiful, and fun cards.
I wanted to share three cards with you today that were made without any Christmas stamps or paper. (OK, I'll admit that two of them have a Christmas sentiment, but it's from the Say it in Style stamp set which technically isn't a holiday stamp set.)
The first (above) has almost no stamping. For this card, I cut (freehand) a tall triangle (and you can use any scrap of paper you have - even one that's already been stamped on because it's just going to be covered up). Then I took a skinny strip (about 2") of Topiary card stock and tore small (about 1/2" wide) strips off of it. I adhered the strips to the triangle piece, and then trimmed the sides down when I was done. I very lightly ran the edge distresser along the sides as well.
The snow banks/sky were made the same way, just tearing strips from a longer piece of paper. You really don't need a lot of paper for this at all. In fact, the snow drifts are actually the same: the piece I tore off, and the piece I tore it from - just one tear required. I freehand cut some tree trunks, adhered it all to some Holiday Red cardstock, stamped the sentiment, and Voila! This card is one that you could easily do with kids....what kid doesn't like to tear paper?
The next card is one that I made from a Paper Smooches stamp set called Hot Concoctions that I received as blog candy from Simon Says Stamp...thanks Simon! I really wanted to show that you can take something completely non-holiday, and make it work for you! You can stamp a lot of things into a Christmas tree shape!
This one was a little more time intensive because of the paper piecing, but I love how it turned out. The tree trunk is actually the 'huggie' portion of the coffee cup turned upside down. The sentiment inside came with the set and says Warm Wishes...not holiday, but it totally works.
Finally, a wreath. Most larger stamp sets have some darling little stamps that you might not use that much. But take a look at them. They are often abstract enough to use in this manner. All I did was lightly trace a small circle and then randomly stamp the green swirls around it. Then I added the little red flowers throughout.
Both of these little gems came from a retired set I have called Endless Love, but there are dozens of little images that I could have used, and in fact, as you'll see below, I have two other wreaths made up that I haven't yet gotten to. The stamps for the one with the larger images are from Cupcake Sprinkles (the little oval), and Paper Smooches Hot Concoctions (the little leaf). The stamp for the other wreath is from Pair-a-Phrase.
So take a look again at what you have on hand. Chances are you already have some stamps to make unique and affordable cards for the ones you love.
Pssst. If you are able to spend some money on stamps this season, you'll want to consider Close to My Heart. With every $25 you spend in November, you can pick up the Holiday Wishes set for only $5. It's a great stamp set that has four images that coordinate with the Cricut Art Philosphy cartridge. Take a look....
