Top 10 Christmas cards of 2017

Hello everyone,

I'm back as promised with a look back at my favourite Christmas cards of 2017. I made more Christmas cards this year than ever before, thanks to doubling up each one I made, but I still had a shortfall in the end and had to buy some. I'm thinking that next year I'll make a few designs suitable for mass production and do a few piles to give me a good start. I also need to give some thought to postage costs and do some cards with a slimmer profile. How did yours work out? I hope you had enough for your needs and didn't have a last minute panic. The regular challenges really helped me and, although I won't be able to join in with the January ones because of my current home responsibilities, if all goes to plan, I'll be back again in February with Happy Little Stampers and ABC Christmas challenges.


This was the first Christmas card I made last year and it was my favourite. I love that silver burst in the background and the scarlet jewel card and ink really pops against the white.

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I really like the traditional look of this card. Red, green, cream, and gold coupled with that gorgeous sentiment from Clearly Besotted Most Wonderful stamp set made a pretty card. It still looked in need of something though, until I added the little gold dots that were waste from another die cut that I hadn't been able to throw away. 

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I tried a lot of masking techniques this year, and I enjoyed playing with this one. This is my favourite Christmas tree and was a freebie from Penny Black which came with a magazine. I added a lot of sparkle to the tree, which sadly doesn't show well in this picture

but you can see it a little better here:-

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The colours on this card make me happy and I love the mugs with the hearts and creamy swirls from My Favorite Things. The sprinkles are a perfect finishing touch and the stripey paper from Papertrey Ink is so cheery and festive.

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I really like this clean design and I enjoy mixing my supplies on my cards. This one used Penny Black, Clearly Besotted, Papertrey Ink and Happy Little Stampers products and I love the way they come together.

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The My Favorite Things Merry Christmoose stamp set is really cute, and I loved creating a sitting room scene for him to sit and drink his hot chocolate next to the tree. I found some patterned paper in my stash that reminded me of some wallpaper we had years ago, and I hung a picture on the wall to show the sentiment.

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I always find white on white cards difficult, but the addition of the silver embossed sentiment and spots of red for the berries really lifted this design. The die cut flowers and leaves were made with Creative Expressions dies and I love how you can add texture with the embossed detail.

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For this card, I used the Papertrey Ink Scene it: Bethlehem die set. I love using kraft card and I was so pleased with how it took colour. I inked the buildings with distress ink and the palm trees with alcohol markers. Paper piecing the windows and doors is little fiddly but it really adds interest to the finished card.

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This card used a non-Christmas stamp in an attempt to stretch my supplies and was another of my masking experiments. I did a step by step photo tutorial on the blog if you'd like to see it.

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I loved blending the background of this card using distress inks. I used some Oxide inks alongside the original ones and they worked beautifully together. I don't have many silhouette stamps, but this one from Paper Smooches is gorgeous. I really like those stars from Clearly besotted too, but I'm looking for small Christmas star dies if you can point me in the direction of some.

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Well that rounds up my look back at 2017, and all that remains is for me to wish you a very happy, healthy and crafty New Year, and I hope 2018 brings all that you hope for. It's going to be a better one for me with my husband being able to get on with things again, my daughter buying her first house and most of all with the addition of this little darling to our family.

Thank you so much for visiting and leaving lots of encouragement throughout the year - it means such a lot.

Sending big hugs.

Carol xx