The endless remodel and making christmas cards with non christmas stamps/die cuts

Hello, and happy Friday!  Our remodel (new floors, paint, new lights, and more) moves along slowly.  The floor is in the hallway, kitchen, dinning room, spare room, baseboard is going in today.  Now we have to get the painter out to paint the hallway and dinning room (which means I also have to empty out two closets).  Then we will need to get the floor in our bedroom (anyone who would like to come over this weekend and pull up carpet with me is welcome to do so lol), then the family room.

Of course then the kitchen, family room and our room will need to get painted, new light fixtures installed and we are going to install recessed lighting in the kitchen, so that has to be done (including the shopping for the recessed lighting).  Oh, and we are trying to get a new cabinet in the kitchen as well, waiting for some estimates.  Our house is in total disarray, and my mind is not far behind.  When all is done there will be pictures.

We cannot afford to redo the kitchen, so we are going to paint the cabinets, and hopefully get one more cabinet with a built in table installed, minor fixes for a very small kitchen.

Anyhow, that is not why you stopped by is it?   Needless to say I have not been crafting much, have been working on a afghan since it can be picked up and put down.

Now, Christmas is coming up and as usual I am making cards (when?  I have no clue).  This year I tried something different, am using a non xmas image to create the card:

This is my draft card, may make a few changes but will not change that much.

The stamp is from Hero Arts, "Dot Flourish Border,"  and it sort of reminded me of branches with berries, like holly.  I  used silver embossing powder that has some glitter in it and then thought that filling in the dots with red glitter would add some bling, and color, and the red paper added that little bit of zing as well.  Used a "Peace" ( may change the silver to red embossing powder for "peace"), stamp and will use a stamp for the inside sentiment "May the peace and wonder of christmas be with you always."

There are so many ideas out there to make cards without having to use a specific Christmas die cut or stamp, here are some great ideas:

Use buttons to make a wreath (the link just takes you to the picture on pinterest)

You could also use buttons as ornaments, hang them with some twine on the front of the card for a really fun effect, or just draw in the lines, like this one:

Note that the buttons are not even in "Christmas colors" What a great idea!

And then there is this:

How cool is that!  You could use any number of shapes, including small flowers, leaves, and just make sure to put them on the card in the shape of a tree.  And think of all the cool paper you could use too.  Really loved this idea.

And:

This person used a branch die cut, the word "joy" and a nice embossed background, so easy, elegant and all using images/die cuts that are not Christmas specific.

Loved this too:

Using a bird on a branch stamp makes for a very nice card, and once again the image is not Christmas specific.  Actually any "winter" scenic stamps would also make a lovely Christmas card, especially with a few additions of "snow," or other winter type decorations.

OH MY!  You really have to spend some time on Tilly's blog, you will be floored by her creativity, her most recent posts have some really cute fairy garden creations, keep going back to find some absolutely mind blowing cards.  Here is one of them (found it on pinterest, did not see it on her blog).

Here she took a bird cage, two birds, used the red, brought in some leaves, berries and added a red and green plaid ribbon, and wow! Wonderful way to take existing die cuts and make them into something for Christmas.

What about all those paint chips you have around the house (I keep purging them, then getting an entire new stack of them, sigh.)  Check this out:

The blogger actually was inspired by a pin on pinterest, and instead of using cardstock she pulled out her paint chips.  Love it!  I thought that you could also do rings and interlock them, that might be interesting....

Black and white for a Christmas card, lovely result (and note that the trees are simply triangles):

You could use a dotted embossed background instead of the snowflakes, or just put some glitter on for the background, in a falling snow pattern.  None of the papers are "christmas" papers, nor is the ribbon, just the "Merry Christmas" is used to turn this card into a Christmas card.

Here is another card using scenic stamps, just trees. 

Lovely, and the light blue brings in the feeling of winter.  Love the specks of gold, reminds me of birds flocking together.

So many ideas on creating holiday cards without having to have a specific holiday stamp, hopefully today's post will inspire you to use what you have and come up with a great card.

Have a great weekend everyone!  Hoping to be able to post again next week, but it will all depend on how the work in the house is going, keep your fingers crossed.

And if you have ideas on creating Christmas cards without using Christmas specific stamps or dies, please make sure to leave a comment.

Thanks for following me all these years, and don't forget I absolutely LOVE to hear from you, if you have a moment leave a comment (or two, or three lol).