20 Cards from 3 sheets of cardstock

Hi, everyone, this is Charlotte C.   Thank you, Sheila, for once again inviting me to be here.  I'm still overwhelmed at the privilege of contributing to your amazing site.
Yes, 20 A2 cards from two sheets of 12 x 12 printed cardstock and one solid coordinating sheet of 12 x 12 card stock.  Additionally, you will need 20 5 ½ x 4 ¼ card bases, some stamps or stickers and embellishments to your heart’s content.

 When I saw this done on one of the Close To My Heart groups on Facebook I thought, wow, neat, I’ll try it.  So I downloaded the template that you see here.

I don’t know who Antoinette Herrin is that’s mentioned on the template, but I thank her for sharing the directions.  Note on the template to alter the sizes on the extreme right-hand column.  Cut the pink vertical lines first.

Okay, so now I did all that cutting with my 3 sheets of cardstock and, following the directions, I began laying my cut pieces down on the blank card bases starting with the largest cuts first.  And this is what it looked like.

At which point I said to myself, what the heck were you thinking?  I stared at that “mess” and almost used the candle nearby (nice touch, don’t you think?) to set the stuff on fire.  It took me two or three more sessions of staring at it and checking one or two posts on FB before the “light bulb” went off.  I was lucky enough to have some packages of 3D floral and bow stickers in my stash and the colors, by golly, went with my cards!  And this is what they looked like when I was done gluing the pieces down, stamping and adding the embellishments.

I really like how they turned out (hope you do too).  I got the hang of it, so I decided to do a set with all Close to My Heart Sparkle and Shine cardstock and stamps and lots of pop dots (except for two embellishments that carried over from the first set). 

Mine are all holiday cards (tis the season, you know), however, with more neutral cardstocks you can use different sentiments and embellishments that would suit various occasions.  And if you use CTMH B&T cardstock or any two-sided printed cardstock, you will have more of a variety of patterns to keep you busy (or dizzy, depending how you look at it)!

Thank you for visiting today.  I wish each and every one of you the merriest Christmas and the happiest, healthiest new year filled with many blessings.