Homemade cards

I managed to get through another work week!  I actually had training at Iowa State University today.  It is an annual training that the accounting department puts on and is really enjoyable each year.  It is a contemporary issues conference and is taught by professors so feels a little like school again.  I know I am a little deranged, but I really liked college, so it is fun to go back.

After training, I ventured to Mary Perry's to hang out for a few hours and work on my Christmas cards....finally.  It was so nice to see Mary, Joan, and Karla again and just hang out and laugh.  Amazingly, I was productive too.  I only had an idea in my head when I arrived.  I was really pleased with the results, so I went ahead and made 40 cards.  I probably should have gone with 50 or 60, but I will try to remember to plan for more next year.

I used the same stamps and twine I am using for gift wrapping, and I printed my own patterned paper from a design I purchased on etsy.com.  I used the new Tim Holtz distress ink colors issued for Christmas and a Tim Holtz silver paint dauber also.  Thanks, Mary, for letting me borrow your Tim Holtz label die cut too.  Sensing a theme?    Gotta love the Tim Holtz products.   Here is a picture of this year's card it is a pocket, so the 4x6 photo can be removed and kept after the card is discarded.  I love the family photo.  Grandpa David took it.  We posed in the ravine behind our house on Thanksgiving day before heading to Joell's for dinner.  I wanted to get some pictures before the leaves were covered with snow or blackened by frost.  I just loved the gorgeous fall colors in the background.

Here are a couple of pictures documenting how I display the cards we receive. I got this awesome plastic clothespin and string kit at the antique store in town 2 years ago.  It was already open, so I didn't feel bad about actually using it.  I just think it is the cutest.