Christmas at Pink Flamingo Handcrafting!

I know it's only September and summer's still in recent memory (just about!), but I feel like it's December already! I've been busily working on my Christmas cards ready to sell at the markets I've booked, in my online shops and for actual 'real' shops too. I thought I'd share with you some of my festive creations and the ideas that brought them to life.

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One of the main things I liked about selling at markets in the summer was listening to customers and their feedback. One comment a heard a few times was along these lines, 'That's a lovely card. It's a pity it's for a birthday as it would have been a great thank you card for my friend'. And this got me thinking. Something I can offer with handmade cards that it's difficult to do with printed cards is a personalised greeting; so this is what I'm going to do with my Christmas cards this year. I'll display the different cards I've made for a customer to choose from and then have a range of greetings which I can add to give people more choice. And even better, the cards sold online can have any greeting added to include names, date or occasions too! (This also explains why some of the cards in these pictures don't have greetings on.)

Love Bird Robins

I first made a card similar to this last Christmas to send to my family. I love the little robins who visit my garden in the winter and wanted to add them to a card, but I'm not a great drawer so they became stylised robins! I played around with a few designs and favoured them sitting on their branches with some little hearts in between. Each card is made with a different variation of patterns and colours to make them unique - and so I can play around with all my different papers!

I also make a version using an old falling to pieces copy of 'A Christmas Carol' and have great fun reading through the text to pick out Christmassy words to use and colouring the pages.

Festive Mrs Fox

I love little foxes and especially all the cute ones that have been around recently on stationery and clothes, so I designed one of my own. At first she was on some birthday cards but to make her more festive I've sat her next to a Christmas tree - each of which is unique. I've given her eyelashes to make her extra cute and think she's perfect to send to sisters, best friends, mums and daughters.

There are some urban foxes that I see sometimes in the early mornings wandering around behind my house which I always like to watch, but they're not as cute as these!

Christmas Russian Dolls

Anyone who's seen my bookshelves will know I have a thing about Russian Dolls. I can't even remember when I got my first set (and anyone who knows me will also know my memory isn't that great!) but I've always been fascinated with them. I love the patterns and colours which are so intricate and the stories that can be told with the images going down the dolls.

There's a continental market which visits Sheffield city centre a few times each year and there's a stall there that sells dolls from the Ukraine. I can't resist looking at them all and buying a set (and a brooch, and some Christmas decorations, and a magnet, and a jewellery box...well, you get the idea). I have a few sets of Christmas related ones too so thought it only natural to include Russian dolls in my cards. Again, each one is unique with a range of different colours and patterns available.

So, there are some of the inspirations behind my Christmas range of cards. I've also started work on decorations too and I'll share the story of those as the festive season gets closer (only 98 days til the big day!).

To help you get a head start preparing for Christmas and as a SPECIAL OFFER for blog readers, you can get 25% off all personalised Christmas cards in my Etsy shop until 30th September 2013.  Just use the code XMASBLOG25 at the checkout! Pink Flamingo Crafting on Etsy