January Christmas cards: Merry snowflakes

It’s been very challenging to feel merry with all of the “immigration enforcement” activities and the resulting chaos that is happening in Minnesota. (I use that phrase loosely as that doesn’t seem to be the government’s goal anymore.) People, regardless of their immigration status, shouldn’t be afraid to leave their homes to go to work, school, or even the grocery store. People shouldn’t be stopped or detained based on the color of their skin. It’s all stressful and overwhelming, so I haven’t done much crafting at all this month. I did, though, manage to make some January Christmas cards a few weeks ago, and I figured I should post them before the month ends. I made two different designs with snowflakes and the phrase “be merry.”

For the first design I used some wrapping paper from a Christmas gift I received. I usually try to remove wrapping paper carefully so I can reuse it. But I loved the colors and style of the snowflakes on this paper, so I decided to use it to make some cards. I used a stitched rectangle die to cut out background panels for six cards and then glued the panels to light gray card bases.

I had a hard time choosing a color for the die-cut sentiment — nothing seemed quite right. Then I remembered I had some holographic card stock, and that seemed perfect. For each card I die cut “be merry” (Lawn Fawn) out of the holographic card stock and out of the same light gray as the card bases. I layered the two pieces together and glued them to the card bases. I know the sentiment is a bit hard to read, but I love how it reflects different colors. I finished each card with a few silver sequins.

For the second group of snowflake cards I used the Snowflake Soirée products (The Greetery) — stamps, layering stencils, and dies. I started by using the layering stencils to make a bunch of light blue and mint green snowflakes (some of the images are one color, some are two-tone). I cut them all out with the coordinating dies and then spritzed them with shimmer spray.

I divided up the snowflakes for four cards: two light blue and two mint. I stamped the sentiment “be merry and celebrate the season” in the lower-right quadrant of each card base using coordinating ink. I glued four snowflakes onto the front of each card and stamped smaller snowflakes using white ink and the coordinating stamps. I finished the cards by adding a rhinestone to the middle of each die-cut snowflake.

Wishing us all peace in this chaotic world,

2026 desk calendars

Now that the holidays have passed and everyone has received their 2026 desk calendars, I can share them here. I didn’t start making my calendars until December, so I had to keep the designs fairly simple. I made three different calendar styles: one with ink blending and die cuts, and two versions with patterned card stock as the base.

For the first style, I used masking stencils to ink blend a square near the top of each white panel. I added a bit of splatter then stamped a sentiment and added a die-cut shape. I matted each calendar sheet with coordinating card stock.

For the second design I used a pack of floral patterned card stock and added a layer of vellum to each panel. I added a word die cut from gold card stock near the top of the vellum, glued the calendar sheet underneath, and finished with a few gold sequins.

For the final design, I used a pack of patterned card stock in neutral colors with copper metallic accents. I stamped a sentiment for each page and die cut it with a circle die. I used a variety of embellishments, including buttons, doilies, and punched or die-cut shapes, and matted the calendar sheets with either dark brown or copper card stock.

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2025 Christmas cards in review

I am woefully behind on getting my Christmas cards out this year. I think it's a little funny that, while I start making holiday cards in January and am usually finished around September, actually sitting down to write and address them seems like such a chore. Next year I'll have to come up with some kind of strategy because trying to do them all less than a week before Christmas is silly.

At any rate, here is a recap of the different Christmas card layouts I made this year. Click on the name of any post for more details about that card design.

January Christmas cards: Northern lights

February Christmas cards: Vintage style

March Christmas cards: Holiday Blocks

April Christmas cards: Vintage ornaments

May Christmas cards: Shaker stickers

June Christmas cards: Forest flora mixed media

July Christmas cards: Joyful Christmas Flora

August Christmas cards: Gel print kit

I also made a variety of winter-themed cards for seniors using patterned paper and ephemera.

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It’s getting there!

Over the last few weeks I’ve been working on relocating my craft room to the newly (re)finished basement. The furniture is moved, and I also bought and assembled a few new IKEA shelves, too. Most of my craft supplies are downstairs, although I’ve been sort of throwing things on shelves to just get it put away. I do still have a few boxes and bags of stuff sitting on the basement floor, as well as some supplies upstairs that need to be brought down. I’m planning todo some better organizing after Christmas.

Here’s where the room is right now:

It looks a lot more organized than it is. I keep having trouble finding things that I know are there somewhere.

Yesterday I had my first chance to craft in the new space. Here is my view:

We still have a lot to set up in the other side of the room. We’re planning to use that space for games/puzzles and sewing. My sister and I don’t sew much, but our mom loved to sew, and we have a lot of her old sewing supplies. I think we’re hoping that if we have a space to set things up, then we’ll be more likely to do it. We’ll have to wait and see if that happens.

At any rate, my first priority is to get desk calendars made for Christmas gifts. (How is it December tomorrow?!) I won’t share those until after the new year, so hopefully I’ll be able to make some other cards or projects to post, too.

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Winter cards for seniors

I’ve been sloooowly making progress on my craft room. Today we moved the furniture downstairs. I need to get a few more shelves for storage, and then I’ll be able to start reorganizing everything. I’m hoping to have it set up by Thanksgiving; I have so much Christmas stuff to work on!

For now I have some winter cards to share. Most of these are the cards I created during my craft weekend a few weeks ago. I posted group photos at the time, but I also wanted to share pictures where you can see the individual cards. These cards, which are for the Cards Connect program at the Friends and Co. organization, will be sent to senior citizens around the state. (See my Sept. 20, 2025, post for fall cards I made for this same cause.) I was able to create 71 cards this time.

I have quite a few pictures, so I won’t share individual details of cards. My main supplies were the Simple Vintage Flannel Season paper pad and ephemera (Simple Stories) and the Chilling with My Snowmies paper pad and coordinating dies (Echo Park). Embellishments are minimal, as the organization requests that cards be fairly flat for mailing. If you have a question about a specific card, leave a comment and I’ll do my best to answer it.

Whew! I still need to write a message in each card, and then I have to drop them off by Dec. 5. How are we halfway through November already?!

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