Friday, July 21, 2023

CHRISTMAS IN JULY 2023 {BYSHC} LINKY PARTY

 Hello, hello!  Welcome back to my blog!  It's time for another Build Your Stash Holiday Cardmakers Linky Party, WOOT, WOOT!  And since it IS July, that means it's a Christmas in July Linky Party!  Today is Day 1, and this party will be going strong until the 28th, so get those Christmas and winter holiday cardmaking supplies dusted off and get creating!

For my first card, I followed {BYSHC} Sketch 35:

And here is my card:

I decided I wanted to get a little fun and fancy with my layers for this card, so I used the Wavy Pierced Rectangles dies from Whimsy Stamps to die cut my patterned papers.  These papers come from the Fa La La La 12x12 paper pad from Recollections that I have had in my stash for several years now.  I just love the bright colors in this paper pad, and of course this gingerbread paper was the perfect match for this fun-loving gingie!  The image and sentiment are also from Whimsy Stamps and come from the Gingerbread Fun stamp set.  This stamp set is too cute, and I need to use it more often!  I also used a lot of my favorite white glitter paper from Pen + Gear (Walmart); once as the mat for the gingie paper, and then again to make the little snowy hill.  I partially die cut it with the same Wavy Pierced Rectangle die I used for the dotted paper so it would have the same edge.  I realized during the photo shoot that I hadn't followed the sketch exactly on the small panel, but I did hurry up and add some black enamel dots to at least have that element of the sketch.  The sentiment was stamped with VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink using my MISTI.  I love that tool!  It has definitely changed the game when it comes to stamping!  Oh, and the cute gingie was colored with Copic markers.  I love those too!

Additional items used:  Bearly Art Glue, foam adhesives from the Dollar Tree

Thanks for stopping by today!  I really appreciate you all taking time out from your busy days to drop by and read a bit about the creation of my card.  Ok, now it's time for you to get busy and create your own Christmas and/or winter holiday cards and get them linked up to the Linky Party!  Remember, you have until the 28th to join, and I forgot to mention that we have some fabulous sponsors joining us again, so you don't want to miss out!

~ Marie



Saturday, July 1, 2023

SQUIRRELZ STASH BASH -- CHRISTMAS IN JULY W/FOIL -- JULY 1, 2023

Hello, and welcome back to my blog!  My Squirrel Sisters and I are back again to inspire you with some Christmas in July cards for our Squirrelz Stash Bash Hop!


This month's supply is FOIL, in any form that it comes in.  I don't have a hot foil system, so I simply used some foil cardstock on my card:

So, I went WAY OFF BASE with my card this month by making a pastel rainbow unicorn slimline card!  OK, so technically it's a Pegasus, but I had it already stamped and cut out, so it fit the bill for our challenge, which is to use the stuff we have not been using!  By the way, almost of all the stamps and dies I've used on this card are from Whimsy Stamps.  The Slimline Fancy Frame die cut was also sitting around from a recent 180-degree card making turn.  So, I inked up the panel with the 6x9 It's Cloudy stencil, and while that dried a bit, I dug around for the light pink foil cardstock I KNEW I had (I couldn't find it at first!) to die cut this rainbow from the Array of Rainbows die set.  I die cut the larger cloud from the set from my favorite Pen+Gear white glitter paper and adhered that to the top of the rainbow with glue and foam tape.  The unicorn is from the Unicorn Wishes stamp set and I colored it with Copics.  It was suggested to me by a good friend (thanks, Karen!) that the unicorn needed a Santa hat.  I knew that I could most likely find something in one of my Lawn Fawn sets that sadly don't get enough use either.  The only hat I found that would fit was this one from the Yeti or Not stamp set.  I colored and fussy cut it out and glued it to the top of the unicorn's head.  This necessitated the removal of one of the unicorn's ears that stuck out from above the hat. 😨  The unicorn is also popped up on foam tape.  Oh, and the sentiment is from Lawn Fawn's Winter Unicorn mini stamp set. 😉  The card base is a 3.5x 8.5 slimline.  Here is a better pic of the true foil colors (except for the holographic stripe in the middle) 😒


OK, friends, your next stop on the hop is the incredible Karen at Misplaced Mojo.  In case you get lost somehow, here is the full hop list (it's small!)

Marie (that's me!)

Thanks for stopping by today, and Merry Christmas in July!  

~Marie





ABC CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE -- U IS FOR UNUSUAL CHRISTMAS COLORS; V IS FOR VELVET

Hello crafty friends!  Welcome back to my blog!  It's time again for a new challenge at the ABC Christmas Challenge blog: U is for UNUS...