Christmas Card 2012 - Red Nose Knows!

These are my "bulk" Christmas cards this year.  I know "Shock" "Horror" "Gasp" "How can you"?  I have my reasons.  Even when I used to buy my cards from the shop I didn't like trying to select which card went best to whom.  It just isn't me.  It is far better for my own personal well being this time of year to send almost everyone the same card.  I admire those who don't stress with these small decisions however, that is not me.  So help me celebrate me and let me know what you think.

To be honest I think the process is pretty self evident.  The stamps are Clear dollar dear stamp and the greeting from Kitchen Sink Stamps.  I did test out some combinations before I went with the black sentiment, but it was the most pleasing to my eye on this card. 

It took about 8 hours to complete 104 cards.  I will be honest I thought I was making 100 but somewhere along the line miscounted.  Better to be on the safe side right? LOL!  I cut 26 sheets of white cardstock down into four 5 x 3 3/4 rectangles. I was able to stamp both the sentiment and the deer at one time so I just kept stamping until I got to the bottom of the stack.  Then I took the stack and colored until I got to the bottom of the stack.  As I colored with Copics I made certain to move the card onto a piece of paper to color because of color saturation through the cardstock.  Once those were done, I went through and colored the noses red.  This was more of a safety feature in case the rhinestones came off the card the reindeer would still have a red nose.

At this point I scored and cut down 52 pieces of kraft cardstock for the base.  Once I folded these, I attached the top layer to the base.  Then I glued on red rhinestones.  I will be honest with you, these rhinestones were self adhesive but the adhesive was very flexible and I just didn't feel it was secure enough.  I did a test run with some Martha Stewart glitter adhesive and boy does that stick! So I used it on all the cards to adhere the rhinestones.

My next worry was the post office machinery destroying them.  So I decided to line my envelopes with cardstock.  Because it is best if the cardstock is texture I just went for it and sent all this through a wintery embossing folder before I adhered it to the inside of the envelope.

Once the envelopes were complete I set out to make my inserts for the cards I will send out and stamped the backs.  I won't go into trying to sort out my printer/computer- ok my brain so that it all looked right!

The other thing I do is try to hand address the cards.  I have had bad experiences in the past with using labels and they don't get delivered because it is assumed they must be from businesses etc.  So hand address I do.

Ingredients
Card Size - 5.5 x 4.25 inches (13.97 cm x 10.79 cm)
Cardstock - Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Smooth, Recollections Kraft, Georgia Pacific white cardstock
Stamps - Clear Dollar Stamps - deer, Kitchen Sink Stamps
Ink - Memento
Color - Copic, Sakura Red Stardust gel pen
Accessories - 3mm red rhinestone, Embossing folder