Less Work, More Cards

I don't think that I (Lauren) know anyone who has too much time on their hands. Especially crafters. Especially around the holidays! So I'm always excited when I stumble upon a way to make a whole bunch of cool Christmas cards at one sitting. In this case the trick was to combine premade mini journaling cards with Eyelet Outlet Brads!

My favorite thing about the pocket scrapbooking craze that hit a few years ago is the fact that nearly all the big paper companies started producing sheets made up of 12 or more little cards with sentiments and scaled-down designs right on them. These are such a boon for cardmakers as well as scrappers. This sheet from American crafts has three dozen 2x2" designs! Not only are they super cuuuuute, the scale is exactly right to add a lot of my favorite holiday styles of Eyelet Outlet brads. Before I cut into the paper, I sat down with my box of Christmas brads and laid out the ones I thought would look coolest. Then I snapped a quick photo with my phone, so I'd remember which ones to use where. Then I got to work separating the cards. Since this particular page was paper-weight, before I did anything else, I used my Xyron machine to cover an entire sheet of thin white cardstock with adhesive, and used it to back the page of cards. This made it a lot sturdier, and kept it from wrinkling when I set my brads.

My first two cards are classic A2's so I was able to fit four designs on each. On first I added a Christmas Cookie to the plate on the card, a Snowflake to the center of the red flower, I gave the cute printed snowman an awesome new Sled Brad to ride, and my adorable Mitten Brads were just a teeeeeeny bit bigger than the pair in the original design-- even the strings line up perfectly. I mounted the embellished cards to a mat of rich red and trimmed out with a strip of  Red Dots Washi and a little classic baker's twine.

For my second card I chose a beautiful prussian blue cardstock and grabbed that Red Dots tape again, with some velvet flower trim on top. I went vertical this time, though, and rounded the outer corners of the mini cards for a different look. It was easy to add a Cardinal to the sprig of holly, a Poinsettia Brad atop that yummy cupcake, a Holiday Tree and Snowman in front of the little trees, plus a very handsome Moose Brad to the florals surrounding the Merry Christmas banner.

For my third card I went long! At 4x8" this one will fit (with a little room to spare) in a #10 envelope. Or, if I add it to the front of a wrapped present, or slip it into a gift bag, I won't need an envelope at all. This time I chose three mini cards with white backgrounds, and got a little more imaginative with my additions. The Cardinal seems very much at home next to the globe, doesn't he? A Heart Brad is the perfect addition to a sprig of mistletoe, and a Prancing Deer was exactly the right touch for the pretty banner. I made mats for each card... and accented my ribbon tie... with some Glitter Copper Tape for extra sparkle.

I chose four kraft designs for the last card, but plussed up a bit to a 5x6" card (which will fit beautifully in an A7 envelope) to give them a little more breathing room. I embellished the elves' existing Hat and Candy Cane with EO brads in those designs, added a Holly Brad to the sprig of holly, covered the printed tree on top of the car with a (perfectly sized!) Pine Tree Brad and nestled a Poinsettia Brad into that little spray of flowers. I added two strips of Pine Tree Washi, a little red ribbon and one more Snowflake Brad and called it good!

I'm guessing you have plenty journal cards in your paper collection, and many of them are exactly the right size to coordinate with your favorite EO Brads! What's that? You don't have enough brads?! Well, this is a great time to hit the Thanksgiving Sale at the Online Store, where all brads and bling are 20% off when you use the code "turkeytrot"! Hurry though, the sale ends this Friday, Nov 17th! ♥

Lauren Bergold 

loves making Christmas cards all year long 

with Stephanie Severin 

at Jingle Belles!