Christmas Cards ... & More

Here's my last two cards (sort of) for October's Challenges at CCAYR ... yup! I'm well aware that I've only just made it in time! LOL. The first is a fab pocket card with removeable bookmark - clever stuff & totally not my idea - the instructions were republished on the CCAYR Blog earlier in the week.

We made some of these in my card making group today & the ladies had some fab alternatives ... like replacing the bookmark with a shopping list & adding a magnet to the back to keep it on the fridge, or making a perpetual birthday list by adding 12 index cards to the pocket (I'm totally stealing that idea!!) This fits the CCAYR 'Christmas Is ...' challenge: Holly ... that's my thing! Sure, I might like to think of snow (or not ... the UK gets grey slushy stuff, not the fluffy stuff that holiday cards show you!), angels, trees etc etc ... but Holly (& Poinsettias) are the thing that most make me think about Christmas!
Luuuurve this bookmark & it was so easy to make with a freebie pack of paper from one of last Christmas's mags - artwork & alphas included! A big shout out to Wendy - she had the most ideas for alternatives - look forward to seeing them IRL! LOL


Technically this one isn't a card at all but a Christmas planner. Deanne had a link to it on her blog in a previous 'Blurfing Friday' post ... you seriously need to check those out - she finds the most fabulous links! Anyway, the Inspirational Tips & Techniques blog has instructions for making a planner from file folders & I have adapted that to make mine from A4 cardstock. The site also has a link for the free downloads for all the lists n stuff - I'm hoping Deanne is gonna let me get away with using it for my final CCAYR entry ... under the non-traditional colours category, even tho' it's technically not a card. Blue & green isn't my idea of traditional & isn't particularly a combo I'd have thought of - it's that same pack of freebie papers but I have to say I do like them together. I downloaded several shopping list pages & made them into a li'l removable pad (there's a staple hidden under the ribbon holding it all together). The other lists (gift lists, gift ideas, stocking stuffers & cards) are matted onto cardstock to give them strength but could be made into more removeable pads if you need additional pages. The last page just has a li'l pocket (there's actually another on the reverse) for receipts n stuff & the whole thing ties up with ribbon.
Hoping to get the 2 sketches for you challenges made & blogged by tomorrow's deadline - love doing them but I've been away this week so haven't papercrafted at all!