Get some card planning and making tips from our Design Team and two handy tools to help you countdown the six months until Christmas!

Rubbernecker Stamps has rebranded and is now Brass & Bliss Craft Co. The items in this blog post can be found on our new website at www.BrassandBliss.com. The shopping links in this blog have been updated to take you to the correct location for purchasing.

Today marks six months until Christmas and while it feels like that is forever, the time WILL fly. Especially as we get closer to the the winter holidays. As we say, it is never too early to start planning your holiday cards and the earlier you have them made, the more time you have in those last minutes to be relaxed and even had some fun.

Today we asked our Design Team if they had any tips for holiday and Christmas card making and a few of them had some great insights.

Dawn says “While I don’t bulk make my cards, if I did i would die cut everything out first then make all of my card bases and cut all of my mats. If you are coloring images I would stamp out everything and color them all then die cut them as well. Coordinate all of your die cuts so you can assemble your cards in a assembly line fashion.” You know we love batch making and doing each step at a time can let you squeeze things in around other tasks.

“Plan a design that you love since you’ll be making multiples. But – be careful about techniques that may be time consuming or tiring like ink blending lots of card panel. Also beware of super intricate designs/die cuts. Break each step into separate tasks, ie do all the die cuts one day, all the stamping another day, and so on.” This from Carol echoes the idea that breaking things down really helps! And thanks for the reminder to keep it simple!

Ricky chimes in with “Just a few from me 1. Plan accordingly based on the number of cards you need to make. Making 5 cards compared to a list of 50 definitely takes more time. 2. If possible keep photos of the previous cards you have made. This will help you design your next card, but also keeps you from making duplicate designs the next year. 3. Start by using products you already have and then start making with any new products ordered, that way you can have a head start since most Christmas products don’t come out until Late October.” Of course, we always do a Christmas in July release so you can browse your stash of things you have that you know you want to use and combine those with any of our new goodies.

“My advice is stay true to your style when making multiple cards of the same design. It’s fun to try new things when you see your favorite designer make a card that you wanna try (the “hey, I can do that” syndrome”) but not so fun when you are trying to make 50 cards and it’s not in your normal comfort zone of card making. I have learned this the hard way!” This from Sammi is EXCELLENT advice! Keep the experimenting to one card so you aren’t in panic mode doing something that is supposed to SAVE you time and fuss!

To help you plan we have our two very popular tools to help you both plan your timeline and plan your projects. Just click on them, download them and even print them if it helps you to take notes. Preplanning is SO helpful!

Six months until Christmas makes it sound like “half a year” or “two quarters” and while that’s true, we all know that in crafting days, that’s like TOMORROW! Get a head start on your card making, get them all out the door at the start of the season and then spend that extra time crafting something special for yourself!