Christmas cards in Summer?!!?

Hello again!

Ok so I know Summer has finally come and it’s actually one of the hottest days so far today.... but... I for some reason just wanted to make some Christmas cards. I’ve been trying to use more of the stamp sets I already have versus looking to always buy more. I know that at least 15% of my stash is completely new and never used before. So I’ve been watching a bunch of YouTube tutorials with the sets I already have for inspiration. And hey since it fits the bill, I will also be entering these in Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, which is called “Use More Than One Stamp”. It is featuring Honey Bee Stamps but I actually don’t have any. I do, however, have a couple sets that I just ordered that I’m shipment tracking right now.

So the first two cards were stamped with Altenew’s Majestic Mistletoe stamp set. I used a combination of the Altenew Green Fields, Tropical Forest and Green Meadows ink sets, along with the Red Sunset Ink Set for the berries. I really like lining up my layers so I used the Misti for this. The sentiment on the left card was from the Mistletoe set and the sentiment on the right card was from the Altenew BAF: Poinsettia Set.

On the left card I stamped two small bows from the Altenew Bells and Bows stamp set in Altenew Red Sunset inks. For all my outlines I use MFT Black Licorice hybrid ink. I love this ink  because it dries nicely and gives a crisp image since it is a hybrid ink. I cut this out using an exacto knife since I don’t have the dies and I didn’t want a white border. I propped them up with some foam squares and adhered it to a dark red card base.

On the right card I stamped a bell and ribbon from the same Bells and Bows Set. I used some Hero Arts Soft Granite and Charcoal for the colours on the bell and the Altenew Pocket Full of Sunshine inks (2 darkest inks) for the ribbon. I also chose to add some dimension by propping up the sentiment section on some cream cardstock (I saw this idea on one of Jennifer McGuire’s videos. I,  in no way know her but I figure why not give credit where it is due). I used a Green card base to tie into the mistletoe.

I finished both cards off with some Glossy Accents on the bell and ribbon and some Autumn Red Nuvo Drops. I also used some clear gems and Pearl embellishments on either card.

For the last card I chose to keep it one dimensional. I simply stamped the Poinsettia using Altenew Red Sunset inks. The greeting was done using Hero Arts Royal Red Ink. I chose a darker colour to somehow separate it from the poinsettia image.

I then added some Ranger gold heat embossing with some stripes on the top edge and corner and bottom corner. The stripes are from the Reverse Confetti So Stripey stamp set.  And I finished this off with some gold sequin embellishments and a Kraft card base.

Anyways, I know this isn’t conventional - Christmas cards in May- but Inspiration hits when it hits! I hope you enjoyed viewing my page!