🎄 The Merry Mini Challenge ✨

This month’s challenge was a great reminder that crafting is really just making decisions and trusting yourself enough not to undo them 🎄

I used the Echo Park Christmas Joy Collection Kit for all of the paper. Several of the stickers in the collection were on the larger side, so I supplemented with Christmas embellishments from my stash and carried on as if that was always part of the plan.

In Frances’ tutorial, she used a Christmas tree punch to create a small peek-a-boo window on the pocket. I didn’t have that punch, but I did have a metal sleigh cutting die. The sleigh was larger than the window called for, so the question became: How do I use this without committing to a sleigh-sized hole in every pocket?

The answer was to cut sleigh windows out of all six pockets and then intentionally swap the sleighs between the cards. Same sleighs, new pockets. It solved the problem, added interest, and gave me that quiet “yes, this was the right call” feeling 🛷

The tutorial also called for vellum behind the window to create a frosted look. I didn’t have vellum, but I did have a plastic grocery bag — which turns out to work beautifully when you lean into creativity over perfection ♻️

This project was a fun reminder that you don’t need the exact supplies to follow a tutorial — just confidence, flexibility, and a willingness to make it work.