Card Twenty-Four, Christmas in July

It's still July, isn't it?

This is a very simple yet elegant card, one which I may mass produce.  All it took was red, green, and white cardstock, a Christmas tree stamp, an embossing folder, some washi tape and a glittery star for the top.


Inside:

Card Six - Homespun Christmas Scraps Banner

I had lots of strips of this paper leftover from yesterday's card, so I figured I'd do more banners.  The goal is to try to make each card different so I couldn't just copy, that would be cheating.  (Although I might do a couple of the same ones if I like them, so call me a cheater.)

Again, I used a one inch square punch to cut the banner ends.  I used a plain pre-made card from Michaels.  I placed the banner strips so that they were not straight up and down this time - I wanted a more homespun look to match the paper.  I glued them on just using a glue stick, and then used this wonderful leaf ribbon I found in some little store.

I love that ribbon, I've used it in several other projects.  It comes in other colors so I will probably get more.  It's one of those things that seems to come in handy more often than you would expect.  They have it on Amazon in the green and gold, and I've seen it in cream, which is a good buy as you can then use alcohol markers and make your own colors.   I've gotten in the habit of buying things in white so I can color them myself.

Back to the card -  I cut a few individual leaves (leafs?) off and added them on the vine to make it appear there were two coming from the same area.  I glued it down, and I added some red jewel dazzles. Now it looks like holly, right?  

RIGHT?

Well, festive anyway.

I thought I'd outline the card in a cranberry color ink as it looked so plain.  Well.  Um.  I think the word for this is "homespun" right?  My cranberry ink pad crumbled as I was edging the card. Literally -  big hunks of foam came off on the paper, streaking it and making a mess.  It was an old pad, ten years or more, but I use it regularly; it is one of my favorites. Last time I used it it was fine. This time?

 I thought ink pads just dried up and blew away when they become too old.  This one had plenty of ink, but disintegrated.  On my card.

Actually, on your card.

I decided to call the edges artistic, but the mess also made my hands "artistic."  My plan was to stamp the word "believe" above the ribbon on the left and call it a day but I got a red dot of ink right in the center of the card.

I tried erasing it with an art eraser.  I tried using a clear alcohol marker to erase it.  Nope.  I had to cover it up or junk the card.

I took a spellbinders nestabilities label and cut out the two parts you see above.  On the inside part, I stamped "believe" and again used the Zing Leaf embossing powder and heat set it.  I coated the outside frame with versamark, used a red embossing powder and also heat set it, and placed it where my smear was.

This card became my nemesis.  I dropped everything.  I had to re-emboss the frame twice because I wiped off the versamark in a spot.  There are prints where there shouldn't be. The jewelled dots kept falling off.  Making this card created a mess, all because of the curse of the cranberry ink pad.  Whoever gets it may not get the prettiest card in the world but they will know I continued on in spite of hardship.  It's a symbol of resilience in adversity - or something.    Hopefully, it won't be a crumbled pile of paper in the envelope!  That would be a bad symbol.

When you see the word "homespun" you know what it means -- visible mistakes.  :)

For those who don't know, I am linking to the products I use on Amazon.  If you click a link and buy anything in that shopping trip (even things I haven't linked to, like a lawn mower or a book) I will get a very small percentage of your purchase.  So please start your Amazon shopping from either of my pages, even if you aren't buying scrapbook stuff.  That's how I pay for the items to make these cards, and I now I have to buy some cranberry ink.

Card Five - Christmas Banners

I have a paper pack by We R Memory Keepers called North Pole. It has the traditional red and green with some pale blues, and many of the papers have that cool scuffed look. Because I am into the December Daily I always look for matching Christmas papers, and this set is perfect, they all match each other so you can't go wrong.

I have the 12 x 12 pad, which also comes in several sheets of 6x6 designs. I wanted to do a banner page, so I took one of the 6x6 pages and cut it in strips, and again in a variety of sized pieces. To make the banner ends, I used my square punch and clipped the strips to get the design.  That means you aren't left with any funky cuts as you get when doing it by hand.  I got a sheet of robin's egg blue paper, which was also a color in one of the designs, and I played with it until I got the look I wanted and glued it down.

I'd intended to do a ribbon and bow for the strip across, but I didn't have any thick enough ribbon.  I also felt it looked funny with blue on the bottom and nowhere else.  So I cut a blue stripe and glued it across, then took a leftover red strip, and then added a vanilla piece, same color as the card.  I stamped the word "believe" using Versamark, and then added a few stars.  I love to heat emboss, so I embossed with some Zing Leaf powder.

I have a lot of strips left!  I wonder what will happen to them?

What do you think of this card? What could I have done to improve it?

Card Three - Quilted Embossed Christmas

I'd seen a technique where you glue paper to cardstock and run it through the embosser, so I wanted to try it.  After seeing the final product, I think I'll try it again only not have the embossed part facing up.

Again, a vanilla pre-made card from Michaels.   Pretty soon I'll dig into my cardstock but I have a lot of these cards to use up.  I got something like 50 for $5.00 so couldn't resist.

 I took a red sheet of cardstock and cut it to size.  (I am waiting for a Spellbinders card die to arrive from Amazon so I can get cleaner cuts, and a more professional appearance.  Until then.....)

I took a square one inch punch and cut out some squares from some Tim Holtz Ideology vintage paper I had around.  I liked the washed out colors and got really freaked out when I had to start cutting through the design.  You paper addicts will know what I mean!

I glued the squares on the paper as you see above, and then ran them through my Big Kick using a CuttleBug Swiss Dots embossing folder.  It didn't cover the whole paper so I had to carefully place it and run it through to get the entire thing dotted.  I then wrapped the red cardstock with baker's twine and attached a red flower.  I had a Christmas brad from somewhere, so used that in the center.  Using the same Holtz paper, I die cut a tag and stamped "Cheers" on it.  I wrapped the the twine, attached the tag and glued the whole shebang to the card.  Easy peasy for a nice, quilted, homemade Christmas card.

Card Two - Precious

This is a card I made for a friend about to have a baby girl.  Yes, it's pink, as I am a member of the patriarchal society that imposes gender stereotypes upon innocent babies.

The inside is blank, but I have plans to fix that when the baby is born.

The actual card is again a Michael's premade pack of vanilla cardstock.  I started with a creamy pink Elizabeth Crafts Shimmer Sheet, which is one of my favorite products. These sheets are mylar and pearlized, very pretty.  They come in two tones.   You will see me use them often, and when I get my photography set up so things are a bit clearer, you'll be amazed at how truly beautiful they look, and how even a novice like me can get a lovely card.

I embossed the shimmer sheet with a Cuttlebug D'Vine Swirls Embossing Folder.  At each point in the swirl, I added a flat back pearl.   I matted the shimmer sheet onto Hot off the Press's suede paper and used a dotted pink sheer ribbon on the bottom.  I topped it with a Bella Blvd feather in Carnation, and had some sparkly word stickers, I think from American Crafts.  I chose "precious" because that is what a baby is.

When I know the baby's name, I will cut it out with an alphabet die using the leftover pink suede paper and put that inside, maybe with more of the ribbon to anchor it.  After this photo was taken, I used some e6000 glue to better secure the word to the card so it looks flatter.

I freely confess to being an amateur at this card-making thing but this is really a very nice card in person.

Tomorrow, a Christmas card!