Bits&Pieces

Holiday Survival Tip Series Installment No. 1: Make Cards Early (Video Tutorial Blog)

I know what you're thinking.

"Cathy? What the? Halloween isn't even here yet and you're thinking Christmas cards already? That's just messed up!"

Au contraire, mes petit chiens… (I think I just called all of you little doggies in French, but keep in mind: my bad French aside, I love dogs.)

Yes, I realize Halloween is just around the corner, but there's another big holiday some of you may be familiar with. It's called Christmas. Maybe you've heard of it? Baby Jesus? Trees? Presents?. Endless lines? Tangled lights? 

Oh yes, and one more component that is commonly referred to as the CHRISTMAS CARD.

As creative women (and men) who have the reputation of knowing their way around a paper trimmer, the pressure to create Christmas cards is constant. Why? Because we are crafty. We have all of the stuff we need to create right here! Some of us even have ENTIRE ROOMS in which we can use our knowledge and tools to prepare messages of holiday merriment to share with our family and friends.

Now I'm going to admit something that I haven't told anyone except my closest of friends and family (and everyone I know on the Internet): the reason you didn't get a card from me last year is because I didn't make any.

(And a collective GASP falls across the crafting blogosphere.)

Last year I said, rather petulantly, "Not gonna do it," and I didn't. And to be honest with you, I really wasn't guilt-ridden over the decision. To me, it was one less thing to do in a season that already has an exorbitant number of things that need doing.

But inevitably, it happened: I found myself missing it. I missed the process of making cards to share with my closest family and friends, and I vowed that this year, I would not only make cards, but I'd do them in a timely, non-stressed fashion, leaving plenty of time to simply enjoy the season when it comes, and not feel the burden of 80 some odd names on a Christmas card list staring me in the face. Waiting.

In short, this year, I've got a plan.

 

It all started with a new set of word art which I designed for Designer Digitals (on sale next weekend). I dig type and words and I plan to create many more sets using fonts and phrases that I love. These sets come as PNG files, and can be used in any program. (They also come as .abr files for you Photoshop users.)

 

You can use them on scrapbook pages, of course, but you can also use them to make holiday cards.

Here's a quick tutorial on how to take some word art and make multiple, colored copies on a single sheet of cardstock to use for making some easy, crafty Christmas cards.

CZ Design Word Art Card Tutorial from Cathy Zielske on Vimeo.

Supplies Ho-Ho-Holiday 1 Brushes&Stamps (coming Nov. 1 to Designer Digitals) • Dasher and Garland papers from BasicGrey • Fiskars Squeeze Punch • pop dots • kraft cardstock

Once you have your word art file ready, you simply load in a sheet of cardstock, print, and cut into strips. Then, grab your punch tool and punch away.

This is definitely a card you can do production-line style. Just punch a bunch of holiday paper swatches, and then punch a bunch of word art print outs, glue down and presto: cute holiday cards.

(Note: the patterned papers I'm using are from an older BasicGrey collection that might be hard to find online, but any holiday themed papers will work!)

And for those of you who just can't stand the idea of holiday card making in October, I've got just the word art set to fit with the current season:

 

But at this point, there's no pressure on anyone to make cards. I'm not THAT crazy.

Look for these new word art sets this weekend at Designer Digitals.

p.s. And to everyone on my Christmas card list, please act surprised when this design shows up in your mailbox. Thank you.

Quizzes, and Printables and Pages (oh my!)

(click on layout for bigness!) DIGITAL SUPPLIES: Aryanna Paper Pack, Weathered Neutrals Paperie, Ella Publishing Printable, Avenir font.

One of the ways I've been keeping busy since entering the realm of "I don't have a full-time job with a regular check " is by freelancing. I'm incredibly lucky to have built some good relationships over the years which let me continue to follow my passion and design from the safety of my cozy little office.

One of my newest clients is Ella Publishing Co. Ella, as many of you know, was launched by two of my former Simple Scrapbooks colleagues, Angie Lucas and Lain Ehmann, and is an eBook publishing company focusing on our favorite subject: memory keeping. Ah yes… memories.

While most of my work is the behind-the-scenes sort that most graphic designers do (I design the books and make them readable and pretty and then get the heck out of the way), Angie asked me to create a special collection of printables—pre-designed PDF journaling & title files—that corresponded to one of Ella's first eBooks, Quick&Creative Quizzes.

This inspiring collection of quizzes, written by Angie and Wendy Smedley, is designed to get you thinking and writing with the goal of creating some truly authentic slices of your life in the here and now.

I have designed a companion to the book. It's called Quick & Creative Quizzes Printables. This 37-page downloadable PDF book contains 10 sketches for 12 x 12 layouts that all correspond directly to the eBook, and included are printables that help you complete each layout. The cost is $3.99.

I've taken Angie and Wendy's quiz questions and created my own sketch interpretations. You simply print them onto cardstock, trim and use as part of your finished page.

The cool thing about printables is that you don't have to be a full-on digital expert to use them. You just need to have Adobe Acrobat and presto—you get to play with stuff that's designed and ready to go and create a truly hybrid final page. (You can also use the files to create a digital design, like I did.)

I just wanted to share the page above as an example of one of the sketches (and printables) that are part of the collection. Enjoy!

Just a little something to help with your weekend wrapping

And no, I'm not talking about personalized lessons from LL Cool J, though wouldn't THAT be a giveaway?

No, I'm talking about gift tags. I did some major wrapping last night, but first had to design a quick and simple tagger for my packages. (I don't use bows on my gifts. Just tags. It's... cleaner somehow.)

Anyhoo, these couldn't be easier. Just print and trim.

Download gift_tags.pdf

If you don't like the colors, you can open the PDF in Photoshop Elements or Photoshop  (File > Open), and change the color quite easily.

Enjoy!