Craft Hoarders Anonymous October Blog Hop

Welcome to the Craft Hoarders Anonymous October 2016 Blog Hop! Your favorite Hoarders are back with a quarterly hop! We will be hopping once per quarter, starting today! Many of the designers are offering prizes, so make sure you check each blog!

I am offering this prize, which includes two of my Gloria Stengel Designs wood mount stamps by Hampton Art!

Besides the stamps, I found some other duplicates in my stash: a Candied Apple Distress Ink pad, a Fiskars ribbon threading punch, a Zig water brush, a set of ki memories decorative brads, and some washi tape! 

For a chance to win, just post a comment to this post and I will do a random draw on October 16th! 

Let's get started on the Hoarders post! I say, it's never too early to start making Christmas cards. (I don't say that. I procrastinate to the last minute! But, perhaps this year will be different! It could happen!)

My blog is the first blog in the hop! After visiting me, hop over to Bonnie Garby's Blog next! For the full list of Bloggers, see the list at the end of this post!

For my project today, I have decided to share a way to make QUICK Christmas cards - using an assembly line method and using UP your 6x6 paper pads! Let's face it. As hoarders one of the things we love to hoard is paper! I have a huge stash of 6x6 paper pads. And I need to use them!

I know that making Christmas cards can be a chore. The best way to churn out cards in bulk is to design something that's easy to replicate, and set up an assembly line. 

I decided on a very simple, multi-layer card design, with a large sentiment. But, because I am me, I had to complicate it with more layers and some trims!

Here's how I set up my Christmas card assembly.

I pulled out all my non-Graphic 45 Christmas 6x6 pads and spread them out on my desk. (I am still hoarding my Graphic 45 Christmas pads for another project. Don't judge!) I found 16 pads! Most of them barely used!

I decided on a color scheme, and pulled three pads from Authentique - Festive, Joyous, and Wonder. All have the same shades of red and green, and the neutrals for all three are black and vintage white. 

I cut and scored a stack of black cards (5 1/2" x 4 1/4"), and cut a stack of vintage white panels (5 3/8" x 4 1/8").

Next, I decided on a large, die cut sentiment with a smaller stamped sentiment under it. I die cut the script words from black cardstock, then I glued them to the ivory cardstock (2" x 2 3/4"). I used my MISTI tool to stamp the smaller sentiment. Once I had all the sentiment blocks ready, I mated them with black cardstock. 

The reason that there are only 6 cards so far, is that die cutting and gluing the large script sentiment is a huge pain. I have the matching word stamp, so for the rest of my cards, I am going to stamp the "wishing" and "sending" parts!

Once I had all the cardstock panels and sentiment panels ready, I began going through the 6x6 pads and matching up prints. I selected 2 prints for each card. The main print is cut to 5 1/4" x 4". 

I found some left over bits of lace in my stash, as well as some rolls of lace. I cut pieces of lace to about 6" long. I wrapped each main print with the lace and secured the lace to the back of the paper. I then attached the main print to the card front. 

The second print is cut to 5 1/4" long by various widths, depending on how much of the paper was left in the pad. The widths vary from 2 1/4" to 3 1/2". Once I cut the paper to size, I matted each piece with black cardstock and attach the pieces to the center of each card front. I slid the panel under the lace. 

I added the sentiment block to the card. I then used some red twine (I found a huge spool of it in my hoard!) and tied a loopy bow around the lace. I then glued a snowflake button to each bow. (Another thing I hoard, apparently, is snowflake buttons!

I added a second ivory panel to the inside of each card. I can stamp or write a message when it's time to mail the cards.

If you cut all the paper and trims in advance, and set things out ahead of time, assembling cards is a snap. It took me about 1 hour to cut everything for 25 cards. It took about 15-20 minutes to assemble 6 cards. (Fussing with the bows and buttons is a bit time consuming.) If I work on the project while I watch TV, I can probably get 50 or more cards ready in plenty of time for mailing in 2016. 

If you want to have flat cards, don't add the trims and embellishments. Or, go for something low-profile. Another way to save time is to discard the die cut items and stamp the message instead. Or, use a computer generated message or a pre-made message!

Thanks for visiting this month! I hope you are inspired to make something fun with some of your hoard! 

Now hop on to Bonnie Garby's Blog!

Make sure you visit all the ladies in the group. They have some AMAZING projects to share. and there is blog candy to be won! Don't forget to leave a comment for your chance to win my prize!

Craft Hoarders Anonymous Blog Hop List:
Gloria Stengel (you are here)
Bonnie Garby
Tracey Sabella
Jacquie Southas
Pam Bray
Wendi Robinson
Amber Milone
Teresa Horner
Donna Idlet
Marisa Job
Debbie Seyer

The Hoarders will be back again in January with our next hop!

Designer paper: Authentique 6x6

Lace and twine: Really Reasonable Ribbon
Cardstock: black, natural white

Dies: Simon Says Stamp
Stamps: Simon Says Stamp Sending and Wishing
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Buttons: craft supply
Adhesive: Scotch 3M ATG tape runner, hot glue