Christmas in July #8

This might be my favorite Christmas in July card so far.  I really like the color scheme I ended up going with and the stamp set is one that I've always admired from afar.  Luckily for me my mom owns it so that means I get to play with it!

I'm really liking the fact that most of these cards I've been making are really easy to replicate.  It gives me a little peace of mind knowing that if it comes down to it, I can crank out extras pretty quickly.  I usually try to send all different cards to people (mostly because I don't always have the patience to mass produce a design) but if any of these have to be repeated I really don't think I'll feel all that bad about it.

Identifiable Elements:

• Green paper & ink- Wild Wasabi by Stampin' Up!
• Brown ink- Chocolate Chip by Stampin' Up!
• Stamp set- "Ornamental Pine" by Stampin' Up!

Hoarder's Hump Day

This birthday card is more proof that I really love my monochromatic color schemes.  I've been trying to break out of them lately, but not today.

I designed the whole card around the pretty metallic blue floral paper that I just love.  It's almost all gone but I can't bear to through a good thing away.  (I understand that's probably 100% my hoarding talking but I can't help it).

I wasn't planning on doing the entire background in the splatter but I messed a small part and the only way to hide it was to keep going.  If I ever made the card again, I'd definitely stick with my original plan to leave more negative space and just try to be more careful.

That being said, I think the card turned out swell overall and I know the person I sent it to will appreciate it.

Identifiable elements:

• Ink- Bermuda Bay by Stampin' Up!
• Flower punch- Stampin' Up!
• Blue paper- Bermuda Bay by Stampin' Up!
• Splatter stamp- "Swirly Bird" set by Stampin' Up!
• Sentiment- "Create a Cupcake" set by Stampin' Up!

Christmas in July #7

This card would've turned out so clean and perfect if I had only noticed that there was still a bit of ink on my thumb when I picked it up to go photograph it.  Unfortunately I smudged it a bit, but I'm not entirely sure that anyone but me would examine it that closely.

As you can see, I've been on a bit of a washi tape binge lately.  I usually don't use it that often, but my mom has an extensive collection and I couldn't resist.  I think it really brought in a cool texture for the look of this card and I'm starting to think I'll have to expand my own collection when I move out in October.

Identifiable Elements:

• Red paper & ink- Poppy Parade by Stampin' Up!
• Sentiment stamp- "Snow Place" by Stampin' Up!
• Mug stamp- "Scentsational Season" by Stampin' Up!

Christmas in July #6

The journey to the holiday season continues with this super simple card that I still managed to mess up a bit (but I hid it under some bling).

I accidentally bent back the corner of my greeting but managed to cover it up pretty well.  My main goal for this card was to use the pretty Crumb Cake brown from Stampin' Up! that I found among my mom's supplies.  I think I was able to jazz it up fairly well and once again make a card that I can easily replicate if I need to when December comes.

Identifiable Elements:

• Green paper & ink- Wild Wasabi by Stampin' Up!
• Brown ink- Crumb Cake by Stampin' Up!
• Stamp set- "Holly Berry Happiness" by Stampin' Up!

Scrap The Girls July Challenge

It's another great day to take on another great scrapbooking challenge!  Today's challenge was a color pallet inspiration one from Scrap The Girls.  I made the page for a photo I had pinned up on a bulletin board when I was in elementary school which is why the photo itself is pretty beat up.

The color inspiration really spoke to me since they're a combination of colors that I don't often lean towards.

I also tried to use a lot of my mom's old stash which is why I actually have no idea where any of the pieces came from, unfortunately.  There's a chance that some of it was even left over from my grandmother's stash when she gave up crafting.

I tried to keep the sketchy watercolor feel that the image accompanying the pallet had with the watercolor paper, die cuts, and the tiny sketched flowers on the large golden background paper.  Of course, because it's me, I made sure to get some bling and glitter on the page as well!

This was a very fun challenge and I can't wait to see what they come up with next!

Christmas in July #5

Today was a good day because I got to use framelets for the first time.  I'd never actually taken the time to sit down and use any before so I decided to take advantage of this less than busy day to give them a shot!

I really enjoy how this card turned out and how nice clean the lines are.  It keeps the card simple, but interesting.

Hopefully this month will give me plenty of inspiration for more cards come Christmas time, but this is one that I wouldn't mind making a few more exact replicas of.

Identifiable Elements:

• Red paper & ink- Poppy Parade by Stampin' Up!
• Green paper & ink- Old Olive by Stampin' Up!
• Sentiment- "Versatile Christmas" set by Stampin' Up!
• Ornaments- "Holiday Ornaments" set by Stampin' Up!

Scrap Our Stash July Challenge!

Yesterday I decided that I wanted to get back into making some scrapbook pages, even though I'm still at my parent's house for a bit, and I only have a handful of photos to work with at the moment.  I decided to take on Scrap Our Stash's July sketch challenge.  At first I was hesitant because sketch challenges are harder than others for me and I was worried about not having the right photos for it.  Luckily for me, I found some that work, and I think that the page turned out great!

This was the sketch that we had to work off of:

I stuck close to the sketch until I realized the title I wanted was a bit bigger than theirs, but I think I made it work.  I really wanted to keep the photo positions, long background strip, and the fun accent in between the photos (which is something I would probably have never tried to do on my own).  I'm both glad  to say I kept all three.  For the "Arrow" I made sure to use arrow like pink paper and the thicker with the arrow banner.  I didn't have any true arrows in my personal stash to work with but even if it doesn't fit the challenge absolutely perfectly, I'm very proud of my effort.

This whole color scheme and everything isn't my usual style but I think I might start adopting it as such.  I really love how it turned out and can't wait to do some more like this!

Identifiable elements:

• Chipboard embellishments- "Butterfly Kisses" Layered Chipboard by Bo Bunny
• Coral lettering- Boardwalk glitter foam Thickers in Fireberry by American Crafts

Christmas in July #4

I woke up this morning and found that it's actually overcast out in Arizona today.  With the apocalypse clearly imminent I decided to catch back up on my Christmas in July series and make this cute little card.  

It would be a quick and simple design but unfortunately the letter stickers I decided to use didn't want to stick so I ended up hand gluing each down.  

I'm still considering making a few more though just to be done with the stickers and to knock a few more cards out quickly.

Identifiable elements:

• Snowflake stamps- "Snow is Glistening" by Stampin' Up!
• Green ink- Pear Pizazz by Stampin' Up!
• Grey ink- Smoky Slate by Stampin' Up!
• Green paper- Pear Pizazz by Stampin' Up!
• Alphabet stickers- Recollections

Christmas in July #3

This Christmas in July card I was bound and determined to use some of my massive stash of eyelets.  I have an unnecessarily large collection and yet I never use them.  They're usually annoying for me to line up and get together, but I pushed through and used some for this card.

I really feel like I could've done more with the card style wise but after all the eyelet dealings I had to do I was more exhausted than anything.  I just wanted to be done.  I still like the way it looks but it's definitely not a practical approach if you want a quick and easy Christmas card.

Christmas in July #2

Today's card actually uses a cream background, something that I thought I'd never really do in my modern craft life.  I don't know why but I've always been biased against creams and off whites, partially because I've always just thought of them as scummy white, but I'm learning to move past that particular neurosis.

I really tried to mimic falling snow with my random placement of elements.  I also tried to steer away from my fallback of using large blocks of colors and patterns to create interest.

I really enjoy this fun, simple, and whimsical design.  I might have to make some duplicates for the holiday season!

Christmas in July #1

I'm getting a head start on my Christmas cards again this year!

I really like the idea of some monochromatic holiday cards which are great to send out to just about anyone.

I'm also a fan of using more scrap paper and elements that I've had tucked away for way too long.  

This is a very fast and simple card, but that's probably exactly what I need to make sure I have everything ready this holiday season!