Christmas in July

My largest recurring project each year (and the one I both look forward to and dread the most), is making my personal Christmas cards. Every year when I start, I have no idea what I'm going to make. Sometimes I have a stamp that I like, sometimes I find some paper I like, sometimes I have to wander around a craft/scrapbooking store for a long time before I find something that inspires me. 

Here are some of my previous cards:

I have made my cards as early as August , and as late as winter break (sent out as New Years cards that year). This last year (2012), I made them over MEA break (October) while scrapping with a friend at Archivers. My inspiration this year came with a set of washi tape. 

Oh, washi tape, how I love you! so versatile, so pretty, so (relatively) cheap. (I will be extolling the virtues of washi tape in another post soon.)

I got some matching paper and found a stamp that went along with the whole theme, and away I went!

Like I said before, I never know what I'm going to do till I sit down and actually do it. 

So I began to experiment. 
A cut here, a stamp there. 
What does this element look like by this one? 
How about over here? 
What if I do it this way? 

Soon, a pleasing design came out of all my fiddling.

I like to work assembly line style, so once I had a prototype, it was easy to make all the components needed for all my cards. 

And just like that, I had made 60 cards!

I love the slightly grungy style of my cards this year, I usually make much more put-together and neat-looking cards, so this was fun for me to just rip and tape and mix and match. It also took a lot less time! 

That same friend and I already have plans to get together this summer and make cards. Maybe Christmas cards, maybe not. Probably not for me - it's a bit early, but you never know!

So, do you make Christmas cards? How many do you make? When do you make them and how long does it take?

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Also, as an aside, I've always wanted to do something to necessitate the use of the phrase "Christmas in July"! Check that one off my bucket list!