Author: Catherine

So today’s Christmas in July I went with traditional colour scheme of red gold green but decided to go for a modern look rather than a traditional look!

I started with the cover plate die from Altenew which isn’t specific for Christmas and cut it from white and then cut it from scraps of the Kingston foiled cardstock to create a mix of green and gold in the background. I didn’t need to cover it all as it turns out as I chose a big panel for the focal element and so could have saved some time and cardstock just doing the outside but I didn’t know it when I was doing that part!

Once that was all done I decided to use the Waffle flower layered stencil that creates the fab words with the coordinating die. After stencilling I die cut it out and then die cut it a few more times to stack them up so they are nice and chunky words.

I decided I needed the base panel of the red to separate it from the background and using the negative die cut I got the spacing correct (although a little wonky on the panel so decided to lay it wonky on purpose on the card to disguise the ooops!)

I added some scrap card behind the red panel to raise it up so that also gave some dimension.

I decided it needed an image so I went with the small poinsettia from spellbinders that I embossed in gold and then used the same colour of inks but water colored them to colour in the image.

I fussy cut the two floral elements and used foam adhesive to stick them in place.

I finished off with tying the twine around the top of the card (I had a moment of channeling Catherine Pooler who used to use twine like this a lot on her cards).

And then with the shiny background, the fun large words and the sweet little flowers I decided it was done!

So a modern take on traditional colours – what do you think? I think it works well!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I went back to the Kendra’s card challenge and made card 8 for today’s Christmas in July card. It was a case of really enjoying and slowing down whilst making this card – which sometimes we need and it is what the crafting is about!

I used the fab Dimond Press stamp and die set I bought a while ago and hadn’t really used much – such a lovely vintage feel!

I coloured the image with alcohol markers and then added the shimmer ink for the details on the sleigh.

I also splattered the shimmer ink at the end.

The sentiment is from the same set of stamps – I embossed it on the red and then fussy cut it out.

I embossed one of the layers (the brown) with Timeworn Type and then added some additional ink to show the detail.

Love how this came out and how cute it is even with the vintage theme!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

For today’s Christmas in July I created another sketch …

… please feel free to use as you wish … but I would love to see what you do with it if you do so please tag me on Instagram or better yet pop over to the Christmas in July Facebook group and share it there so we can all get inspired!

Here are my makes with the sketch …

I used my last pieces of the Painted Christmas suite (I think I have enough cut off these for a couple of tags if I am lucky) for the large background banners and then stamped the foliage and die cut it. I added the sentiment label/ banner from the same green as the mat for the background.

It’s difficult to see on the photo but I did add a layer of vellum under the foliage cluster and the sentiment banner to add some separation – it’s clearer in real life I think and helps.

I added the script delicate die cut words – I thought they worked well against the bold green die cut.

I added some ribbon bows just to add some more texture and then called it done!

I just loved working with this paper over the years – sad this is the last large pieces left – but maybe that means I am allowed to buy new patterned paper soon as the stash is now severely depleted!

Hmmmm …. We will see!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

This set of cards was a bit of a chore and not entirely sure about the colours but hey sometimes you have to try these things! The theme for today’s Christmas in July was Night Sky. I ended up with these patterned papers from the magazine kit as they had stars on them!

Definitely more of an autumnal colour scheme than traditional Christmas… but with those cute animals I do think that they look cool!

I kept all the coloring of the images as greys – some cool and some warm greys because at night there is less colour saturation with less light – of course the bold paper colours contrast that!

I chose the orange toned foiled cardstock – I’ve decided to describe it as Bronze for the video though as it sounds less odd as a Christmas colour! 🤣

And can we have a round of applause 👏 for this super adorable moose! He is the entire reason I bought the stamp set – I just love him!

So here are my night sky cards. Yes it’s a weird colour scheme but hey I’ve gone with it!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

I decided to challenge myself for today’s Christmas in July with a colour scheme I don’t often think to do for Christmas cards – Navy, Purple and Silver.

I chose to use the Tracey Hay Alpaca Pals stamps and did lots of embossing with silver powder to create the snow globes.

I used my inks to watercolor the images and then added them to the panels of navy checked paper that was in the stash.

I then added a lovely purple sentiment and ribbon.

I used some gems to add the finishing bit of silver sparkle!

Super cute and quick striking cards!

Fun to push out of the comfort zone!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Another week of #indexcardaday and back at home so back to full use of my stamps again.

Started with a Darcy tree stamp – love the whimsical design and decided to create a scene behind them.

The next day I used a couple of triangle stamps to create a pattern and then added the doodle pattern in the gaps and then added the coloring! Fun and funky!

I decided to grab the Indigo Blu stamps for the lightbulb and the sentiment and then built the doodles around them. Used all warm colors then for the added colour.

For this one I stamped the striped panels and then outlined them. After colouring them with the blues and lilacs I decided to contrast the structure of the stamped images with some doodled circles.

I then missed a day so made Fridays on Saturday along with Saturdays! I used the same stamp set for both but totally different effect and techniques.

Loved both of these though! Such fun!

And there you go – another week done!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hi

So for today’s Christmas in July there are two videos because I decided to join in with Kendra’s Card Challenge 19 so I did a video on the process of making up the envelopes for each of the 15 sketches but then I did a second video on making two of the sketches into the cards for today’s theme of Hang the Stockings.

I chose card sketches 1 & 3 for these two cards.

I also added some foiled elements for the star and the square at the centre of the other card.

It was good to use patterned paper in such a fun way and it’s always good to use these sketches to break me out of my usual designs. I would never have come up with these designs and I love them!

I used the Tidings and Trimmings set for the stockings (and the star). I also used the waffle flower sentiments – I was keeping it easy for myself using ones that were already stamped and die cut and stacked ready!

Fun cards!

Really recommend using something like KCC to push your boundaries and make something a little different!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Hello! Today I’ve been at a crop so lots of scrapbooking has been done but I’ve not got around to taking pictures just yet so you will have wait for those another time instead for today’s Scrappin Saturday post I wanted to use the Flip Its from Kingston Crafts on a traditional scrapbook page so then I could include more photos on the page as each of the three flip its are double sided! And back in June this one became famous … yes it was on tv! 🤣

Let’s start with the actual page though. I used both the solid and patterned papers from the Summer Collection which I’ve had a for a while and used on lots of projects already – but with the blue in the photos it seemed perfect for this page.

I started with the three main photos and mat each of them on white and then decided they would cluster to the left.

Then on the vertical panel on the right I would add the three flip its. I added a square of the yellow paper in each and then each photo was added to that. Word of warning – you need to remember that the photo needs to be the right way up when it is flipped up so take note when adding! You can probably tell from this I didn’t and had to redo them several times because I put them the wrong way up by accident!

Under each I added some journalling panels and then the final one an extra photo!

The page was all about our day in Southport when we walked five miles in total to try and get to the sea and found the shipwreck!

I added embellishments from the Summer Collection kit to the page and some stickers from one of the Everyday Stories collections (I love those puffy stickers).

A fun way to use the flip its in traditional scrapbooking not just in the pocket page albums.

Also here is it making its tv debut…

Happy crafting!

Catherine

The theme I chose for today for Christmas in July was Get Cosy! Think woolly jumpers, scarf and mittens, fireside snuggles!

And I made three tags plus a card – and ended up with some leftovers for future projects too!

I used the cute Forest friends stamps from an old magazine kit. I stamped and coloured and fussy cut them all out and then just chose the ones I wanted for each tag and the card.

The background I created using the Altenew cosy knit stencil and then on the card I used some of the foiled cardstock and embossed the central circle with the knit embossing folder from Spellbinders.

I added fun flick to the rabbits cotton tails and on all the images I added wink of Stella to their knitwear!

I added sequins and some wired chiffon ribbon to the tags and all the sentiments were stamped from a MFT stamp set.

So so cute! and absolutely says cosy to me! Hope you all have a great Festive Friday!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Today’s card is quite a simple one for my Christmas in July project. The theme I chose was Frosty the Snowman and I decided to use the Pretty Pink Posh layered snowman stencil to create a panel.

From this I created the two panels for the card (was originally going to do two cards but decided to do the inside of the card instead) by cutting it at an angle.

I did get inky splodges on the inside panel so I covered them up with the foiled sentiment banners.

On the outside I kept it very simple with the stamping on the card blank and then some sequins…

A simple card – easy to replicate with either patterned papers or other stencils! Certainly far simpler in design than most I’ve made so far for Christmas in July!

Happy crafting!

Catherine