Christmas in July at Cardz 4 Guyz

This week at Cardz 4 Guyz we're thinking ahead to Christmas, because it's time for our Christmas in July challenge.

I've used this fun "Santa Selfie" image from Dr Digi's House of Stamps, which I printed out 24 hours in advance to prevent smudging then coloured in with Promarkers. I had planned to colour the braces a more realistic dark grey, then I remembered the classic cracker joke:

Why does Santa wear red braces?

To keep his trousers up!

Well, of course after that they HAD to be red, didn't they?

The sentiment is a Dylusions stamp that seems very suitable for Christmas in July, and the backing paper a very old freebie from Craft Creations. The snowflake border is a self adhesive felt one that was a gift from a friend.

 

I am sharing this with:

 

Christmas Card Challenges - Snowman 

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge Extra - July Anything Goes 

Christmas Cards All Year Round - Anything Goes 

   

When life gives you lemons.....

There's a saying, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade", that often appears on handmade cards. In fact I have a stamp of it myself. But I find it a little bit twee for the kind of person I might be sending a card to, so I was delighted to get a sheet of sentiment stamps from Rubber Dance that put a rather different angle on the phrase. I knew the time for its first inking had come when I saw that over at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers this week, Edna wants us to use the theme B is for Booze - a theme that really speaks to me!

I have combined with a background of lemons stamped with the Hero Arts "Stamp Your Own Salad" set.

I am sharing this with

Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - B is for Booze
Sweet Stampin' - Sentiment as Focus
House of Cards - Fruit, Drink and/or Colours

Festive Buttons

Here's another card made using the lovely Christmas buttons I treated myself to. And I enjoyed making this weekend's V-fold card so much I made another. I like the idea of using the V panel to display a Christmas tree, because you get the balance of an upward triangle against a downward one. Maybe that's just the mathematician in me speaking!

The papers were from a Christmas magazine, I think it was Crafters Companion, a couple of years ago.

I am sharing this with Winter Wonderland - Cute and/or Christmas Tree 

Stocking up for Christmas

The other week I bought a pack of really gorgeous Christmas buttons, including some beautiful stockings, and I wanted to showcase one of them as the main feature of a card, so I made this diamond-fold card - again using my Hougie board - so it would really stand out.

 

The card is a small 4" one, perfect for using up some tiny but too-nice-to-throw-away snippets of Christmas paper and mirri

 

I am sharing this with

 

Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Purple 

Pixie's Snippets Playground - week 237   

A Blue Christmas

After making a couple of fancy-fold cards in styles I was already familiar this week, I thought I'd learn a few more, so I've had my Hougie board and accompanying books out to play. The fold I've used for this card is called a V-fold or Art Deco style fold.

The ribbon is actually really glittery - but as usual the sparkle doesn't show on the photo.

I am sharing this with 52 Christmas Card Throwdown where this week it's a colour challenge

Happy Birthday Emma!

Today it's the birthday of my older daughter, Emma. She was immensely cheered this morning when her 4 year old daughter burst into the bedroom and said "Happy birthday Mummy - you're 37 now and that means you're going to die soon!"

Every year, I make her a sunflower themed card and this year was no exception. It's my first attempt at a cascade card, and I'm not going to enter it into any challenges as I carefully followed the instructions and measurements given in an old issue of Making Cards, right down to the positioning of the sunflowers, so although it's all my own work, it isn't my own design. But never fear, now I've mastered the technique I'll be making more of these.

Doesn't time fly when you are crafting?

Well, for me it does - I can lose all sense of time when I'm crafting. IN fact only today I was so engrossed I almost forgot to go out somewhere.

And what was I engrossed in? Making my card for this week's Less is More challenge, where it is one layer week with a theme of Time.

For this card I stamped the pocket watch and brackets, them masked them  and the top and bottom of the card off and stamped the "Time" background. Then I used a water brush to pick up a little of the ink from the words and lightly cover the uinmasked area, to create a band across the cards and give the words a slightly "unfocussed" look which helps the main image to stand out. Finally I added the "Tempus Fugit" (time flies) sentiment.

If you are making a card for this week's Less Is More challenge, and it includes some stamping and no digis, then perhaps you could consider also linking up to our Clocks and/or Time challenge at Twofers, as we only have two entries at the time of writing! The challenge runs until the 15th, and there is a prize of a $15 Alletsyamp voucher for our top pick.