Christmas Card Assembly Line

Here we are, Christmas on the 25th again! I have a big project to share, but I am going to push that back until Christmas in July I think....we will see. I haven't had time to do the video or edit the photos, and I don't want to rush it. So...let's talk Christmas cards today instead!

Years ago I used to prep my Christmas cards early in the fall, working on them during my spare time so that my cards would be ready by December. I used to mail over 200 cards per year, also including a letter and a family photo. Well, as life got busy (and different), I stopped doing the prep work ahead of time. Which means I am always scrambling in December to get out my very much abbreviated Christmas card mailing - including 2022 when I mailed STORE BOUGHT cards for the first time in over 30 years! The horror! {grin}

Part of my immediate problem is the state of my paper stash! I have so much paper and it is not organized well, and I have stuffed paper here, there, and everywhere! I organized all my 6x6 pads to make them easier to use and see, but the 12x12....oh my lands! 

I recently did a reorganization and purge of my craft space. I have been in the space for nearly 18 months now, and can see what is working and what is not, plus there were things that never got purged or sorted out during the move in 2021. So...I took a little over two weeks to GET BUSY! I focused mainly on the paper hoard!

I added another row of paper storage, going almost to the ceiling! (I cannot reach the top two bins without a step stool, but I am happy that I am tall so that I only need to step up a little to get to them! No falling off the ladder here!) The stack is a little over 8 feet tall and 5 feet wide. That is a honkin' lot o'paper! And no worries - my husband has affixed all the carts to the wall studs! It will NOT topple over on my head! (smile)

During the sorting process, I was able to make some "kits" of things that I had already pre-cut. I packaged a bunch of pre-cut items that I had already prepared and forgot about, or had prepared for one photo shoot or another. Hence, Christmas 2023 is NOT going to catch me napping!  I already had enough things assembled to create about 50 cards. Yeah, I did. No surprise there!

Next I pulled a few card designs that I had already used to make cards which seemed to lend themselves to bits of scraps and leftover pieces. I wanted something that would be flat for mailing. The card above was one of the chosen few.

Now for the assembly line part. I broke down the original card to its various pieces: card base, basic measurements for the front pieces, focal image, embellishments, inside lining, inside stamping, envelopes, and so forth.

I decided to keep the same scheme of red, green, black, and white which made things easier, plus allowed me to use up lots of paper scraps! I found a bunch of already cut and scored A2 card bases, made from black cardstock - probably left over from a class I taught at some point. I will eventually cut more, but I think I have 30 card bases so far!

I also had a lot of precut strips of patterned paper, cut to 4 1/8" wide so that they are the right size for an A2 card. I chose the colors and patterns that worked together, to make "stripes" of various prints to fill the card front space. I have already started to assemble some!  

Next, I cut pieces of white cardstock to line the inside of the cards. Again, I  had a lot of scraps that I could cut to slightly smaller than A2 size, and gobs of white paper. It was easy to watch a TV program and cut paper! 

Then, after much to-ing and fro-ing I chose a stamp from my stash for the inside message and stamped a bunch of panels. Using a stamping platform made this step SUPER EASY! Again, this is something I can do for 30 minutes and watch a podcast. If my  husband is traveling I can spend all day fussing about in craft world, too! 

Next, I need focal images and sentiments that could work for my card fronts. I have a HUGE bag of these! As I was doing my paper sort of Christmas themed paper, I just tossed everything that was a focal image and was already cut apart into a bag rather than try to sort them back into their matching paper collections.

My next task will be to chose one image or sentiment for each card that I have assembled so far, then I need to choose cardstock mats and other papers to create the focal point of each card. 

As you can see from my card sample, I have several layers of matting around the focal image, plus I added some trims and embellishments. This is the part that takes the longest and I will continue to work on the cards as I have free time throughout the year. I hope to keep this process going so that I am ALWAYS working on the Christmas card (or Birthday card) assembly line for a bit of time each month.

I also pulled out a bag of precut items that I can use for making tags! Or I can start a new group of cards using the colors shown above! 

My other plan is to look in my cardstock scrap bin frequently and cut card bases and card linings of various sizes out of what is lurking in there! Do you have a favorite process for making Christmas cards? I would love to hear about it!

As for the craft room reorganization, I am finished with it! The whole room is tidied up and I am ready for making things. I have some fun news coming next month, so watch out for that. In the mean time, I am still making things for Really Reasonable Ribbon, plus I am deep into my revived hobby of cross stitching! I also hope to get back to my artistic coloring projects! I do have a cruise coming up in March, so that is a new opportunity for a mini album, I think! {grin}

Look for another post on using up scraps and found items. Because...in my reorganization I found a huge bin of castoffs! There are embellishments, tags, journal cards, flowers, and all manner of things that just got dumped when I was too busy to deal with putting them away! I think I will either sort them out into some kit bags for myself....or....pack them up and do some mystery envelopes for y'all. What do you think??!?

Thanks for hanging out with me for a bit! Have a great weekend!