Challenge: Make 20 Cards From Scraps

If you've been reading my blog, you know that I am shopping-impaired, especially when it comes to Christmas shopping. But you should also know that I am card-impaired. This is really ironic, since I actually teach card-making classes. I make and send all sorts of cards throughout the year, but when it comes to Christmas cards, I just don't do it. We always laugh about this at the store where I teach.

There are a couple of reasons why I don't make Christmas cards. 1) We often send New Year's cards and letters instead of Christmas cards, just to take a little pressure off the Christmas season. 2) I would never want to make 60 of a single design. I enjoy the design process too much to create cards in volume.

Yet this year, under the heading of "What Else Could I Possibly Do Instead of Christmas Shopping?", I got the wild idea to make a few Christmas cards. I issued a challenge to myself: No additional supplies are to be purchased to make these cards. Designs can be repeated, and only leftover materials, regardless of age, are to be used. I decided that I would try to make 20 cards, covering about 1/3 of the people on my list.

This little challenge actually ended up being fun, and it was a good way to get rid of some odds and ends that I'll never otherwise use. Each card is different, and that alleviated my concern about making a lot of cards with the same design. So as of this evening, all the cards are done, the envelopes are addressed and they will be mailed tomorrow.

Tomorrow. The day that I finish the Christmas shopping. Unless, of course, the line at the post office is really, really long.