Polkadoodles Digi Coosday | 65 Days Until Christmas | 6 Clean & Simple Christmas Cards with Christmas at the Cottage

Hi Everyone! Only 65 days until Christmas! Can you believe how quickly the holiday season is approaching? This week's Digi Choosday project is all about creating beautiful Christmas cards without spending hours at your craft table. I made not one, not two, but six Clean & Simple (CAS) Christmas cards using the gorgeous Christmas at the Cottage collection from Polkadoodles, and I can't wait to share them with you!

As Christmas gets closer, our calendars quickly fill up with holiday parties, family gatherings, gift shopping, decorating, baking, and everything else that comes with the most wonderful time of the year. That's why I wanted to create a set of cards that are quick to make but still look elegant and handmade. Whether you're sending cards to loved ones, adding them to your gift packaging, stocking up for the season, or creating cards to sell at craft fairs and markets, these designs come together in no time while still making a beautiful impression.

One of my favorite parts of this project was finally pulling out some of my Christmas embossing folders! I always look forward to using these seasonal designs, and this was the perfect opportunity to give six different embossing folders their moment to shine. Pairing crisp white embossed backgrounds with the colorful clipart and ephemera from Christmas at the Cottage creates a timeless look that's festive without being overly complicated.

The best part? The clipart and ephemera do most of the work for you! With a simple embossed background, dimensional foam tape, and a sentiment strip, you can create professional-looking Christmas cards in just a few easy steps.

Materials Used

• White cardstock
• Embossing folders (I used six different Christmas designs)
• Polkadoodles Christmas Message Sheets (sentiments)
• Polkadoodles Christmas at the Cottage Clipart & Ephemera
• Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue
• Sizzix Big Shot
• Foam Tape
• Tim Holtz Guillotine Paper Trimmer
• Scissors

Here are the embossing folders I used for these cards.

Instructions

1. Cut a piece of white cardstock to 5.5" x 8.5" for your card base.

2. Score at 4.25" on the long side and fold.

3. Cut another piece of white cardstock to 4" x 5.25".

4. Emboss the smaller cardstock using your favorite embossing folder by running it through your Sizzix Big Shot (or any die-cutting/embossing machine).

5. Adhere the embossed panel to the card base using Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue.
Prepare your embellishments. I used the Christmas at the Cottage Clipart and Ephemera. 

6. Attach the die-cut embellishments using foam tape for added dimension.

7. Finish your card by adhering one of the Christmas Message Sheets sentiments.

And that's it, you now have a beautiful Clean & Simple Christmas card that's ready to brighten someone's holiday!

I hope these cards inspire you to start your Christmas card-making early. Sometimes the simplest designs are the most impactful, especially when paired with gorgeous illustrations and lots of texture from embossed backgrounds.

If you'd like to join in the fun, don't forget to participate in this week's Digi Choosday Challenge! We'd love to see what you create.

If you're as obsessed with Christmas crafting as I am, then the Christmas at the Cottage collection is definitely one to add to your stash. It includes beautiful clipart, ephemera, papers, sentiments, and so much more for all your festive makes.

And don't forget, you can use my code ANA-10 before checkout to enjoy 10% off your Polkadoodles purchase.

Happy crafting, and I'll see you again next time!

Instagram: @my.cat.and.crafts

Facebook: My Cat and Crafts

Weekly Happy Planner Update - A Week Full of Kindness, Creativity, and Little Wins

This week’s Happy Planner spread is just a burst of stickers everywhere, it's kinda mehhh after I finished but I still love it! I used The Happy Planner - The Encourager sticker book because someone very special has been reminding me lately how much kindness can brighten someone’s day.

She was actually a customer I met during the Spring Bazaar earlier this year, and over time she became a friend. She randomly sends me encouraging voice notes and videos about my art, and they always make my day. She even invited me to apply for their compound’s upcoming bazaar, and I’ve already submitted my application. Fingers crossed I make it through because the screening sounds pretty tough! But yes... remember my blog about kind people somehow gravitating towards me? She is definitely one of those people. I blogged about here on my Spring Bazaar blog too! Read about it here if you haven't!

For this layout, I simply filled the pages with all things happy, smiley washi tape, "Today's To Do" boxes across the week, and sweet reminders like "Be Kind Always" and "Be Kind Even on Your Bad Days."

Health-wise, last week was much better than the one before. I still have cough and colds, but at least the feverish feeling and headaches are finally gone.

I've also committed to cooking every day, and I think it helps. It keeps me moving, fights that "I feel sick" mindset, and helps me stay on top of my chores. Well... every day except one. We declared it a date night and had dinner at Kojo, our new favorite Japanese restaurant here. After being shocked by how expensive our Japanese dinner was the other week, we wanted somewhere that delivered great taste, generous portions, and good value. Kojo definitely did not disappoint!

I also had another craft-and-chika date with my friend and her daughter. This time, my friend brought a huge tray of homemade pesto pasta, along with pandesal and Reno liver spread. I told her the pasta she brought last time lasted us four more meals, yet somehow she brought even more food this time! Her daughter also made me the sweetest little charm keychain. I want to attach it to my junk journal, but it doesn't have a loop on the outside, so I'll have to figure something out.

Lucky has been sneezing these past few weeks, and I started worrying he might've caught whatever we had. Thankfully, the vet thinks it's probably just allergies from all the dust after moving, or maybe even from our new candles or home scents. During the visit, the vet also noticed that Lucky needs his teeth cleaned. We've been planning to have the procedure done, but moving from Al Ahsa to Al Khobar delayed those plans. Lucky ended up visiting the vet twice over the weekend. He's still recovering, and I'm really hoping he's back to his usual self before the weekend because I'm already missing our cuddle and massage sessions. 

Only 64 days until Christmas! The weather is finally starting to cool down, which means winter is just around the corner.

Reading has been going well too, I just finished my fourth book of the month!  I'll be starting book number five as soon as I finish writing this blog.

Another small win this week, I finally repotted some of our plants! We picked up a sack of soil while running errands and finally gave them some fresh homes.

Projects Completed Last Week

Rosie's Studio

I officially started my World Card Making Day entries and now have six cards, which I've been sharing daily since Sunday. I'll keep making more once I finish this week's design team commitments, with the goal of posting one card every day until the end of the month.

One really exciting surprise was seeing my winning card from last year's challenge featured in Rosie's Studio's Card Making Challenge email!  I'm also linking my Rosie's Studio Card Making Challenge 2025 blog post, and note to self... I should definitely make one for this year's challenge too!

Polkadoodles

I completed four cards and seven blog posts for the resto of October and November. I've also started working with a brand-new release collection, and hopefully I'll finish all of my assigned projects before the week ends so I can squeeze in a few extras. I can't share the projects just yet since they're still under wraps, but here are a few behind-the-scenes photos!

Bee Happy

I'm happy to say I'm already 1.5 out of 2 projects done for tomorrow's deadline! The remaining half should be the easy part.

Traci Reed Designs

I created two scrapbook layouts, and I'm sharing one of them this week, a Halloween layout. Since Halloween isn't celebrated here in Saudi Arabia, it was actually quite a challenge. Instead, I documented last year's Halloween trip to Bahrain and titled it "BOO!" Whether it's Boo! for Halloween or Boooo... there's no Halloween in Saudi and Bahrain, one thing's for sure, it was still a wonderful weekend spent in Bahrain with my boo. 

You can also read all about the layout on Traci's blog and check out the rest of the design team's amazing projects featuring the Jack and Skelly collection.

I think that's about everything for this week! Slowly but surely, things are falling back into place, and hopefully I'll be feeling 100% again very soon.

Sharing this week's menu too, of course!