May Christmas cards: Mittens & Mistletoe

When I was on the craft retreat last weekend, I had two main goals: to finish my May Christmas cards and to make two card sets. And I accomplished both of them -- plus some. Today I'm going to share the Christmas cards I made using the Mittens & Mistletoe paper and coordinating ephemera from American Crafts.

I used less than half the paper pack and most of the ephemera to make twenty-three Christmas cards, which puts me at fifty-two for the year so far. (I don't think I'll need to make too many more.) I also have the Mitten & Mistletoe washi tape, but I didn't end up using it on the card fronts. I think I'll add it to the envelopes when I mail the cards. In addition to the patterned paper and ephemera, I used colored card stock for card bases and layers, gold card stock for accents, sentiment and shape dies, sequins, twine, and metallic watercolor paint for splatter.

The top middle card in this photo and the one below are Cherry Cobbler card stock, although it looks brownish. (I was taking pictures outside and trying to hurry because it started to rain.) I really like the colors in this patterned paper. Pink is a little challenging for me with Christmas cards, but I do think it works really well with the other colors.

I think the snowy camper and tree on the second card in the bottom row is one of my favorite pieces from the ephemera pack. I also love the little woodland animals and mushrooms in the first photo. There were so many cute pieces!

For these four cards I used the same layout because they were part of a sketch challenge. The woman who organized the retreat created a BINGO board filled with a variety of scrapbooking and cardmaking challenges. When you completed challenges and got a BINGO you earned tickets for a prize drawing. Anyway, for this challenge, I had to make four cards in one hour using a sketch from an idea book. I don't usually use angled paper layers, but I really like how these turned out. And it even inspired me for another card I made later during the retreat. :)

I'll be sharing more of my retreat cards next week. Thanks for stopping by!