Sometimes You Feel Like a Nut(cracker)

Especially when it's a week before Christmas and you suddenly discover you're a few cards short of what you need to cover the ENTIRE list; which seems, mysteriously, to have somehow grown since last year?! At least, that's what happened to me recently. And you know that I love to make every card unique and special, but in crisis mode, what I need are a few flat, mail-able cards... FAST! Luckily I have a good supply of Eyelet Outlet Nutcracker Brads and Washi Tape, so I'm already half way there.

Of course the other half is a background and a sentiment, so some seriously "cheating" is in order. Rather than stamp or paint I'm going to jumpstart with patterned papers from a collection that coordinates with the brads I've chosen, in this case those handsome Nutcrackers. My LSS, Paper Anthology, has the entire gorgeous line of Authentique's "Rejoice" which features traditional xmas colors and a few absolutely stunning plaids, as you can see. For my first card, I started with a plaid panel and added an inset just tall enough to accommodate the height of the Nutcrackers and two strips of XO Gold Foil Tape to really set them off. I'm excited that sets of "wordfetti" sticker sentiments are making a comeback because they are the ultimate in quick customization!

For my second card I decided to get a little fancier with my background, so I chose another plaid, and added tape accents as if they were part of the design. Since the patterned paper has such nice strong horizontal and vertical lines it was easy to incorporate Checked Tape plus two coordinating shades of Glitter Skinny Tape which even add a bit of texture, with no fear of extraneous glitter shedding everywhere! This time my two Nutcracker Brads are standing right on top of their sticker sentiment and framed up in a couple of nesting label-shape diecuts. 

Since the possibilities of Brads + Tape + patterned paper are nearly endless, I think I might make a few more "extra" cards... just in case!