Mix it Up Challenge: Christmas Cards by Courtney Lee

Hello out there! This is Courtney Lee from Court's Crafts here with my final cards on the Doodlebug team. I decided to step down this coming year. With three small children at home I want to be enjoying them more and I think I am getting into quilting! My heart is heavy leaving Doodlebug. They are truly the best company to "work" for as it always feels like play. Cynthea is the most generous person I have ever met in the crafty world and her encouragement along with Lori's keeps me going. I will miss it so. With that said, here are my cards for the mix it up challenge! 

Santa down the Chimney

I had such a great time grabbing my supplies from all over the place! I was really in love with this red, green and black palate and so I went diving into my extensive doodlebug stash to find my supplies. :) 

A Forth of July line, a Halloween line, and some staples? yes please. This santa going down the chimney from the Milk and Cookies odds and ends had me at hello. I added some liquid adhesive and tinsel glitter and gave Mr. Claus some pizzaz! 

kraft in color: beetle black stripe/houndstooth (4178)
booville 6x6 paper pad (5805) (green polka dot paper and black and white stripe paper)
yankee doodle: festive flowers (5619)
milk and cookies: odds and ends (5766)
milk and cookies: this and that (5776)
mini doily in beetle black

Merry Christmas

This card was so much fun to put together. Again I wanted to showcase this stocking odds and ends. I added some tinsel glitter to the top mantle and the tops of the stockings. The Merry Christmas sentiment is a sticker that comes pre-made from doodlebug and the little dog came from the mini icons in the milk and cookies collection. The velvet black cardstock gives it a lovely depth. 

I had my 5 year old encouraging me when I thought of the idea to cut the gingerbread and candy cane sprinkles and "stuff" them down the stockings. I cut the bottoms off at an angle to make it look like they were going down. It was so hard to do. I kept hearing that gingerbread man from Shrek™ say, "not my buttons! Not my gumdrop buttons!!!" brutal. But alas, it looks darling. tee hee.  

kraft in color: ladybug/chevron (4161)
kraft in color: beetle black stripe/houndstooth (4178)
yankee doodle: festive flowers (5619)
milk and cookies: odds and ends (5766)
crushed velvet cardstock: beetle black (1898)
yankee doodle: patriotic paisley (5620)
milk and cookies: mini icons (5768)
shape sprinkles: sugarplums (5754)
doodles: merry christmas - beetle black (3157)
mini clothespins: black and white (4448)
doodle twine: beetle black (2994)

Christmas Cake

Last but not least I felt like I was missing some green in my life so I grabbed this 6x6 paper pad from Booville and this fabulous green on green tone paper stood out to me. Isn't it vivid!?! And of course this Christmas cake doodlepop looked good enough to eat.  

Look at the depth of that doodle pop? I layered it onto two pieces from the This and That sheet and tied a twine bow around the base. I also added the candy cane stripe arrows to the four corners of the green panel and pulled all three cards together using the black on black houndstooth patterned paper from the kraft in color line (the BEST staples).

yankee doodle: festive flowers (5619)
kraft in color: beetle black stripe/houndstooth (4178)
booville 6x6 paper pad (5805)
doodle pops: Christmas cake (5759)
milk and cookies: this and that (5776)
doodle twine: beetle black (2994)
doodles: cardstock stickers: merry Christmas (3155)

And that is all I have for you today! I wish you a VERY merry Christmas and I will miss you all dearly! Luckily you have the BEST design team sticking around to inspire you (and myself). Did you mix and match any doodlebug lines to make Christmas cards this year? We would LOVE to see them! Please share them on any of our social media sites! 

Milk & Cookies Collection: Layout by Melinda

Here I was hoarding my Cream & Sugar Valentine's collection because I thought nothing could be cuter... until now! The new Milk & Cookies literally makes me smile as I craft because those darling little faces on the icons are just so 'happy'. And the addition of pink and mint to the Christmas colour palette is simply perfect!

After drawing a rough sketch I set about preparing the background with holes for a hand stitched bauble. My intentions were to make a paper bow however I felt it might make the layout top heavy and take away from the icon cluster I had planned.

Crazy stitching is so effective and fun to do but keep in mind that it uses allot of thread and takes far more time than a regular stitch.

This photo of myself was a little crazy which portrays exactly how I feel on the Eve of Christmas after the mad lead up... I usually finish the day with a glass of wine or two whilst waiting for the 'hayseeds' to go to sleep before we can sneak in and deliver the Santa sacks to the end of their beds.

TIP: I love, love, love the speech bubbles from the 'This & That cardstock sticker sheets. However I do like to place them slightly over my photos so I always rub the backs with baby-powder first to remove the sticker adhesive before adding a dimensional pop dot to the back.

Foam adhesive pop dots were also added to the icon clusters as I really wanted lots of layering around the stitching. "Aren't those wee faces just the cutes things?"

To soften the overall look I placed random scatters of Glitter Sprinkles, Matte Sprinkles and Shape Sprinkles then finished the layout with a few splats of white ink.

And just in case you missed them... have a look at the shaped sprinkles from this collection. Now you know why it's hard not to want to hoard them forever.

So, that's a wrap for our Christmas inspiration, hopefully we've given you lots of creative ideas to help you with your festive preparations.

Melinda Spinks

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