It's that time, already!

Hello crafters!

Kristie from 

Kristie Kreates here.

It's the first Wednesday of the month

and I'm back with a tutorial.

These last few months have been hectic,

so much going on and I took the summer off from 

doing craft tutorials here on 

Mashed Potatoes and Crafts,

but now I'm back and will be posting every month.

(Why not pop over to my blog and see what I've been up to)

I know it's just the beginning of October, but 

it's that time already!

Time to get started on Christmas cards.

Yes!  I said Christmas cards.  

If you are making your cards, you should get an early start

 so you don't have that hectic rush at the last minute.

I've got an easy card for you to make using scraps of Christmas paper.

And to make things even better, this is a technique you can use with any

type of paper, so it can be used for any holiday or occasion.

First thing you need to do is gather some coordinating papers

together.  You can see I have different shapes and sizes here, 

but they all have Christmas theme and colors that coordinate well.

Cut strips of all the papers.  They can be any length, but 

all should be the same width.
I cut all mine 1/2" wide.

You will be making a standard 5 1/2 x 4 1/4" card.

(But this can be done in whatever size you want.)

You will need a piece of white card stock cut to about that size.

You will be cutting it down to size later, so it can be a little larger or

 a little smaller than the card size.

Starting at one corner, begin gluing down the strips of paper at an

angle, leaving a small space between pieces (about 1/8")

Try to stagger the pieces as you go.

Continue gluing pieces in a random order.

I like to try not to have like pieces next to each other.

Continue this until the entire piece of card stock is covered.

Turn your piece over, it should look like this with odd pieces 

over the edges.

Now with a sharp scissors, cut the extra off all edges.

This is what your piece should look like.

Trim it to approximately 5 1/4" x 4"  and adhere it to 

the front of a standard 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" white card stock base.

You can see in the picture I trimmed off about 1/2" from the side 

of my card. 

Now we are ready for the sentiment.

I found this paper in my scrap stash and trimmed out

Merry Christmas.

If you have something like this, adhere it to a piece of white card stock

 and trimmed a narrow mat around it.

If you don't have a paper like this to use, you can stamp a greeting

or print something from your computer, or even hand write it.

Adhere that greeting to your card.

You can glue it directly to the front of the card

or, as I did, use foam tape to give a little more dimension.

Now you have a lovely card ready to send.

You can stamp a message inside or hand write a personal note.

This type of card can be made with any kind of papers.

You could use all plain colored papers, a combination of plain colors and

patterned papers.  Any type of patterned paper could be used,

How pretty would this be with some flowers and dots or stripes?

Look through your scraps and use your imagination

I'm sure you'll find some fun combinations.

Thanks for stopping by today,

I hope you've been inspired.

Now go get crafting!

Until next month, have fun crafting!