Let it snow! My yarn snowman motif.

One of my favorite things about the holidays is making cards. Every year I gather my supplies and start working out card designs.

I work up three or four designs that I love, including a Hanukkah design, and then I make about 30 cards using those motifs and variations of them.

I usually buy a couple of new rubber stamps or some other neat supply to inspire me. I went shopping last weekend and I came home with some really special stamps and a pile of beautiful blank cards.

I didn't have my mojo, though! I just couldn't come up with anything that I wanted to produce over and over. So I stopped for the evening and took to the couch.

One of the magazines on my coffee table was Cloth Paper Scissors and I picked it up to get some inspiration. Cloth Paper Scissors excels at providing clever ideas for using mixed media in unexpected ways. So I started thinking about the materials I had on hand. And what's my favorite material? YARN!

I got out some yarn and pulled out a few materials that I thought might work together. My favorite design, "Let it Snow," is at left. I took some cream yarn and glued it to the card in three spirals to make a snowman body. I added snow by dabbing a small, white stamp pad around the bottom of the snowman.

Then I stamped some snowflakes in white, silver-blue, and silver. I stamped "let it snow" in blue, and outlined the card with blue. The final touches were drawing on arms, a face, and gluing on a top hat. I love it!

I got a little carried away, as is the norm for me when papercrafting, I made a birthday card design and a thank-you card design, too!

Happy Birthday		Thank You

To make the birthday card I used a green piece of yarn for the flower stem and applied stamps for the leaves, flower, and grass. I stamped "happy birthday" and went over everything with a clear glitter pen.

The thank-you card was inspired by a small swatch I had in my yarn closet. I had no idea what it was for, so I decided put it to good use. I thought it looked like a flower pot, so I went with it. I stamped flowers on the card and then glued the swatch pot to the card. I stamped "thank you," and then used yellow and brown ink pads to add some color to the "pot."

I still have all of my materials out on my craft table, so who knows what other yarny creation will emerge?

Next time you feel your mojo ebbing, I encourage you to pick up a copy of Cloth Paper Scissors to get some inspiration (or subscribe to get a regular mojo-booster delivered to your door!)

Cheers,

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