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oooyyyiieeeeee........ way to much effort!!! ;-) But a brillant idea!! If it didn't involve soooo much work, I might be tempted.
I also should add that if I don't get all the cards out by Christmas, then oh well, they just become New Year's card!!
jennik
Not as much effort as it seems because I usually upload the cards to my SCS gallery anyway (eventually). Giving them a title that indicates the year/recipient ensures my uploads have unique titles and don't get deleted from the gallery.
I have a much-used stamp that says "It may be late but it's handstamped" for the holiday cards amiled after 12/25.
And toward the end of holiday cardmaking I start to use more snowflakes so the designs can more easily be for new Year's.
I usually find just one special Christmas stamp that I like each year, buy it and plan my card with it. I make them all alike and usually make about 40.
It's a funny thing about repetition, some of us like it and some can't stand it. I love to mass produce cards and find the whole process appealing. But then I like to crochet afghans, too, and you are just doing the same row over and over.
After I make the Christmas cards with the stamp, I pass it along to another stamper who can make use of it as I don't like to repeat designs each Christmas.
This is what I do, although I only have 10 people I send cards to each year so its not that big of a job.
I was one of Annette's generous donations of a cute little christmas stamp with cats on it a couple years ago. Annette mentioned that she spent a lot of time here and that's how I found this place.
Thanks Annette! (waving hi!)
For years I chose one design and mass produced them. They were usually quite intricate cards that required a lot of steps. After some time, I chose two designs, ones that were more intricate for family and close friends and one that was less fussy for co-workers. Both ways were quite stressful though because I would wait until late November and it would take me forever and I hated every minute of it. Hubby would ask why I torture myself and why don't I just buy pre-made cards like everyone else.
This year I followed the lead of a friend and decided that instead of making all my holiday cards at one time that I would make one a week for the year. By the end of November, I should have 45 cards - just what I need. I have kept up with that personal challenge and am actually ahead a bit. It has been much more fun this way. And this way every card is different. I'm definitely going to be doing this again in future years.
Since I always use a photo as the main component of the card, I mass produce them. There is no way I am going to come up with 75 different ways to use the Christmas photo!
Same here! The paper or the brads may be a little different, but the layout is the exact same!
When you make your Christmas cards do you pick one design to do and mass produce the cards so that they are all the same? Or are you like me and feel bad that you have so many Christmas stamps that you need to show your love to all of them and just create?
I finished 75 Christmas cards a few weeks ago-----used about 6 different embossing folders and went from there! I made 10 of each embossing folder and then made varieties of each. Some were duplicates but when I got bored I would make a change in embellishment. But I always feel sad when I don't use all my holiday stamps----
I have been making Xmas cards on and off during the year, whenever I saw an idea that appealed to me and yet I didn't have an occasion to make it for, it would become a Xmas card.
I'm working hard on keeping them flat though - any layering and certainly any brads or charms - means that we have to pay extra postage (thickness, not weight anymore) so I try to avoid that unless it's for special people.
I don't actually worry about duplicating the previous year's efforts, not many people would remember what they got the year before would they?
Currently I'm loving GinaK's Xmas in July ideas - especially the one with the swipe of distress inks and then a tree stamped on top - really atmospheric and very quick (and flat:smile.
I mass produce--it takes me too long to decide that a design is "just right" so when I get one the way I like it I go with it. I usually make around 100! And, like others have said, I'm afraid of repeating a stamp next year to the same person, so I keep it simple that way!
When you make your Christmas cards do you pick one design to do and mass produce the cards so that they are all the same? Or are you like me and feel bad that you have so many Christmas stamps that you need to show your love to all of them and just create?
Well, like you, I have a ton of Christmas stamps and feel bad if I don't use them all. However, it is unreasonable to think that I can make individual cards for everyone as we send out between 80 and 100 cards every year. My solution to this guilty problem of ours, is to choose the stamps that I really love that year and I make 5 to 10 cards with each. I tend to get bored with a stamp if I make too many of the same card, so this seems to solve the guilty feelings and the problem of boredom.
The other thing that I do, is make personalized cards for the "special" people in my life. These are for the best friend, Father, Husband, etc... Also for the circle of friends that I craft with. I mean, I can't send the same card to my crafting friends...what would they think of me? LOL
Hope this helps.
__________________ Trish Everything in life happens for a reason...especially in crafting!
I create 3 different cards - my parents (about 100), my dad's business (about 50) and my own (about 50)...those I mass produce. I design another for my girlfriend and her daughter to make. I also create 4 or 5 of a about six each for the ladies at work to purchase. So I guess I'm a blending of both. My parents were done in February (whoohoo!), my dad's business - two weeks ago (whoohoo!), and mine...well, let's call mine a work in progress.:rolleyes:
So many ideas, so few cards! So everyone of the 75 or so cards I send out are different each year. That way I will never repeat a card to anyone, as they are all unique. For the last 3 years I have also been making about 60 cards for my father in law to send and they are all the same. I choose a design I think he would like and then my DH helps me step by step and we have a great time, but that wouldn't be the case if I was doing them by myself.
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Before I started stamping I found that if I had more than one design of store-bought cards it would take me FOREVER to decide which should be sent to who(m?). So to keep the 'who got what' straight I make 100 of the same card design. Once started I dedicate most of my time to that project (interrupting to make the 20 Thanksgiving cards I send to family). I do coloring and hand-cutting while 'watching' TV to keep hubby company. After 30+ years my DH knows that nothing works for me like having a deadline! He is very capable of 'fending for himself' when I'm preoccupied, and he is very supportive of whatever makes me happy. He even offers to help (and I have taken him up on that occasionally). Toward the tail end 'what was I thinking!' and 'I can't wait to get this done' might crop up but over-all I enjoy the process. I also have myself convinced that people mean it when they say "I can't wait to see what you made for this year's card!" I do know they're appreciated.
Before I started stamping I found that if I had more than one design of store-bought cards it would take me FOREVER to decide which should be sent to who(m?). So to keep the 'who got what' straight I make 100 of the same card design. Once started I dedicate most of my time to that project (interrupting to make the 20 Thanksgiving cards I send to family). I do coloring and hand-cutting while 'watching' TV to keep hubby company. After 30+ years my DH knows that nothing works for me like having a deadline! He is very capable of 'fending for himself' when I'm preoccupied, and he is very supportive of whatever makes me happy. He even offers to help (and I have taken him up on that occasionally). Toward the tail end 'what was I thinking!' and 'I can't wait to get this done' might crop up but over-all I enjoy the process. I also have myself convinced that people mean it when they say "I can't wait to see what you made for this year's card!" I do know they're appreciated.
One of the things I totally enjoy about having each card different is the selection process for who gets what. Sometimes as I make the card or when it is completed, I know exactly who it goes to, but for the others, I spread them all out on the floor and go down my list, selecting the perfect card for each recipient. It's fun for me and then I also get to review all the different cards I've made.
I do both. Usually 50 cards the same for husband's work and 30 to 40 all-different for
me to send to friends, family, etc. This year hubby thinks he needs 150 so I'm doing 3 designs, 50 each. He's paying for my next SU! order, BTW!
Mary Beth
I just love your system!!!! I have to do the same!
I'm big into repurposing...so mine are all different. After Christms every year I'll wait until things go to 75% off. I then go buy ribbons, mini tree ornaments (great for embellishments), and fancy deco wrapping paper, etc. I add them to my stash of Christmas stamps, old cards, tissue boxes, and anything else Christmasy I saved, then during the year I have friends over--I pull everything out and we sit down and make Christmas cards. It's a lot of fun, and really helps get your creative juices flowing when you bounce ideas off others.
I take photos and save them with a filename that indicate the recipient and year. I review this before making cards for the following year.
HTH and ...
Happy Crafting! Tina aka TeeGeeDee
Wow, and my friends thought I was organized and uber ocd ...... I could learn something here from TeeGeeDee on the pictures, filename though! I love color coding - might give me an excuse to use it!!
I typically make no more than 10 cards of the same style. Like others, I get bored after a bit. However, any extras, I typically hold for a year before using them again - that way if I accidentally send someone the same card, it's not quite as obvious. :oops:
I used to hand paint 100 cards- took quite a while to do this. In recent years I have made about 40-45 cards, sort of mass-produced, but not what you would find at the local $ store. I use a different stamp or theme every year, and so far I have not duplicated any I have done. It is really great to get nice comments about the cards I make, some have told me that they have framed them!! I have a whole drawer full of Christmas stamps, and I TRY not to buy any more, but then, occasionally I will see one that I just HAVE to have. Don't you feel sorry for me? Mwa ha ha.
I take photos and save them with a filename that indicate the recipient and year. I review this before making cards for the following year.
HTH and ...
Happy Crafting! Tina aka TeeGeeDee
Wow! that is organised - many years ago I thought it would be a good idea, then never carried it through. Ah well!
I run a couple of rubber stamp clubs - so those are "mass produced" - with a different style for each club. Then personal ones tend to be different, on a theme.
For a change I have actually started early this year. Some are not stamped, but I make them all with some papercraft technique.
I'm going to hopefully make about 100 cards between now and the beginning of December (I know lots to do right). I wont be using all of them, but we have some single guy friends that I'm thinking of giving some to so they can send them out to atleast their sisters/family members. What can I say, I'm the only wife of a bunch of my hubby's friends.
I make them all unique as I often do a Christmas-themed card for a SCS challenge. I also make a bunch for my mother and sister to mail out. This year, for the first time, I'm taking part in SCS's Christmas Card Challenge - you specify the number you'll do each month and then post on the Christmas Card Challenge forum as you get them done. I put down 10 for each month and so far I've stuck with it. It works really well as it eliminates the stress of making them all in November.
__________________ Susan
My SCS gallery is here should you care to look! Or please visit my blog, Cardmaker's Garret.
Its funny because when I started I only made about 50-60 cards and they all would be different. I'd go to my sil and borrow her stamps and just start making. The last couple of years have been stressful and tiring with being pg, then new baby then last year new job that I've totally cheated and done 10 cards and everyone else gets a photo card. This year I'm hoping to be back to all handmade cards.
Usually I start my cards in October so I don't feel pressured, but sometimes it takes a while to come up with the "perfect" idea. I better start thinking- October is creeping up.
I hate to mass produce so mine are usually all different or variations on a theme. If I dont make enough I go to the store and buy some cute cards. I never feel guilty about it either.
I like to make a few different cards every year. This year it turned out to be five designs. Yes, I am already done with my Christmas cards. Now I am working on a few for Operation Write Home and for a friend. I agree with those that say 8 or 12 is a good number for one design. I send out between 80 and 100 cards each year, and I like to show all my stamp sets a little bit of love!
I used to try to mass produce one card, but I always got bored. I make about 4-6 of a design, then think of something else that would be cute--and I keep falling for every Christmas stamp on the planet. I have an ongoing Christmas organizer--each year I jot a word or two next to everyone on the card list to indicate which card they got--just "santa" or "snowman" or something like that. My big issue is actually finishing the cards. I do the fronts throughout the year as the spirit moves me, then don't bother to stamp anything inside or stamp an envelope. When I get around to organizing them (usually in November), I end up with a mass production job anyway.
Maybe I should start on that this weekend. I'm a tennis fan, so I can watch and organize and stamp greetings and envelopes during the commercials!
Last year, I had an order for 50 cards in only 2 styles. I loved the cards when I started, but I hated them by the time I was done! They were all stamped and then hand painted with Tombow markers. Now, I just make what ever comes into my little mind. If someone wants a special order, they will have to choose several designs. I don't mind doing maybe 10 of each style, but that is it! :-0
We've cut down our Christmas list over the years from 100 down to about 60 or less. I used to make about 40 handmade cards at a time, but now I take classes at my local stamping store regularly and have been making cards throughout the year. So, this will be my second year of not having to mass produce cards, but I do need to get in gear and make about 25-30 Thanksgiving cards.
I mass produce the masses (about a hundred which also includes a yearly fairly generic update printed on the inside, try to keep the layers and size down as about half go overseas) and send special one off cards to immediate family.
I mass produce the masses (about a hundred which also includes a yearly fairly generic update printed on the inside, try to keep the layers and size down as about half go overseas) and send special one off cards to immediate family.
Hiya i have just paid a visit to your blog ...lovin your xmas cards xx jo xx
Hiya i have just paid a visit to your blog ...lovin your xmas cards xx jo xx
It's sadly neglected ATM! Hopefully I will get back to it soon.
BTW on topic - It used to drive me nuts before I made cards that I would have multi packs and have to choose for individuals and then couldn't remember from year to year who got what; which would doubly drive me crazy as couldn't stand the waste of throwing away a half a box/but not remembering who I sent what the previous year so couldn't send them in case it was a duplicate sort of thing... well you get the picture. I had to simplify.
When I first started sending handstamped cards at Christmas I only made one design. It always takes me a few weeks of 'playing' to come up with the 'perfect' card. So, for a few years I stuck with a single design. Then one year I used the same stamped image & challenged myself to try to make each card a little different by changing up the layout, using different colors for layering, & stamping different style holiday greetings on the front. Still kinda mass producing but made cardmaking a lot more fun.
In more recent years the 'playing' results in several designs & I make 6 of each. I make 40-50 cards, a couple to keep & if I need a last minute card. I like it when I have come up with several designs so that I can send different cards to members of the same family. If they should happen to see each other's cards, they can think I send a different card to everyone.
I always scan my cards so I can see what stamps I've used in years past. The first year that I sent out several different designs, I made a document with a thumbnail of each of the cards & who received them. Decided that was way too much work & I've never looked at it (nor done it again).
Time is always a factor too. If I've waited too long to start the designing process, I may not come up with the variety I like to have. I always want to start earlier but just can't get my head into it before December. That's why my cards usually arrive just a day or two before Christmas. When I think that some people like to display their cards through the holidays, I feel bad that after all my hard work, my card has missed out on that.
I know some make cards their much earlier or even throughout the year. But I'm afraid if I did that, I would hate them in December & end up making other cards in the same time frame I do now.
Then I pick which ones fit whom 
