Christmas Card Cram Weekend

This weekend I had to put away all my sewing stuff and get out all of my card making things. I designated this weekend as the one to make all the Christmas & December birthday cards I would need for my co-workers. I need 14 cards total by Tuesday. The good news is I have 11 finished! I think I will be able to make my deadline.
The not so good news is, I had to do this without the use of my Cricut or my new Cameo! I only had the few punches and shapers that I purchased before I bought paper cutting machines. The blade on my Cameo is defective, so that was a no go; and I like to use the MTC software with my Cricut, but I must have updated my software at some point as it was not working with the Cricut, even though I hadn't used it since last Christmas time.
Anyway here are two of the cards. To make this a bit faster and easier I made two of each design. And, since I'm making cards, I'll enter them into a challenge or two along the way.

This is the Bugaboo stamp JJ Christmas Cheers
She looks like she's having quite a merry Christmas!
I colored with my Promarkers, without trying to blend and shade, no time for that!
The papers are SEI from a few years ago.
The green trim is from AC Moore.
The sentiment is Studio G


I'm entering this in the "Santa Baby" card challenge at Catch the Bug Challenge Blog.

I told myself I wasn't going to do this...

But it seems I can't resist! Making a few Halloween cards, that is. I don't personally have much use for them, perhaps send one to my grandniece, other than that no need for them.

However, my plans go astray when I keep seeing all the fun Halloween images out there. For example, this set that I purchased from Rick's Goodies on Etsy. He has a whole sheet of images for only $10.00, and they are so nicely done (trying to avoid the word "cute", it's becoming overused). Some of you Swap-botters may have encountered Rick1949 in swaps, if you're into digital stamps, you should check out his shop.

These two cards are from his Simply Halloween sheet and I have kept the cards simple. That's pretty much what I'm working with this week, nice and simple. Sometimes cardmaking (and other crafting, I'm sure) can become stressful because we are trying to do too much to what we are making. At least that's the way I've been feeling.

These are available in my Etsy Card Shop.

Mo's Digital Pencil #42 Christmas in July

I'm loving all of the Christmas themed challenges that are going on right now and this one's no exception. The latest challenge at Mo's Digital Pencil is Christmas in July and I'm hoping that my entry of Bella and Bronte skating will qualify as Christmassy. I've made this as a recessed window card featuring the pond background digi by The Stamping Boutique.

I've used some dimensional glue on the trees and snow, some stickles for the hats, skates, scarves and snow flurries, colored with Promarkers and chalk. Papers are by DCWV and the pearl border is from Jo-ann Fabrics(only .10/yd!).

Other challenges this is entered in:

Stamp Something: Christmas in July

Pollycraft Challenge #54 Love & Marriage

This cute couple, Cuthbert and Kiki is a free digital stamp from Pollycraft. The challenge this week at Pollycraft challenge blog is Love & Marriage, so this freebie fits right in! I have colored the stamp with the Promarkers and went a little crazy with my white ink pen. The gate fold card template that I cut with my Cricut is from Monica's Creative Room. There are a lot of useful svg files for free on her site. The inside sentiment is from Cricut Tie the Knot. DP is from Sandylion.