Hi, crafty friends. I’m back with another Christmas in July card. It’s still July – barely. I don’t want summer to end, and at the same time, I love creating Christmas cards, so I’m not entirely sure what to make of that. The card I shared two weeks ago featured felt snowflakes and a branch die that I used to create my arrangement. I wanted to revisit the idea of a wreath of snowflakes (which was my original plan for the last card), but once I’d die cut and decorated my branches, I wound up skipping the snowflakes on this one.
I started by die cutting the branch four times from a piece of green patterned paper from the Key to my Heart Collection from Kaisercraft. I then painted unevenly with a VersaMarker and added White puff embossing powder from Wow! for a snowy effect on parts of the leaves. I then cut each of the branches up into little mini branches to create my wreath.
I splattered white reinker onto a panel of Wheat cardstock from Concord & 9th and adhered it to a top fold white card base. I added my mini sprigs of leaves in a wreath formation, popped up a sticker sentiment near the base of the wreath and added three red pearls to embellish. I also put little pieces of foam squares behind some of the leaves to make it more dimensional.
Kort & Godt products used:
I colored the image with Copics, opting for the cool grays for the bench. I wasn’t planning on making it this dark originally, but when my C9 made a blob, dark was the only way to go. It still works, and I don’t think you can really see where the blob was. I used the largest die in the A2 Stitched Rectangles STAX 1 set from My Favorite Things to trim the panel down a little, then a large blending brush to add some soft blue to the background. I didn’t add any ink to the brush, I simply used whatever was left from a previous project.
I stamped a sentiment from the Småtekster stamp set from Norsk Stempelblad AS next to the bench using Tide Blue ink from Altenew. I added my colored piece to a panel of Buttercup cardstock from Concord & 9th, which I then adhered to a top fold white card base. I die cut the word hei twice from Green Parakeet cardstock from Papertrey Ink, stacked them and adhered my double die cut next to the boy on the bench before adding a few die cut clouds and some dew drops. Both the cloud dies and dew drops are from Concord & 9th.
I used quite a few colors for this very simple image.
This card was a bit of an evolution. I originally wanted to make a snowflake wreath, but quickly decided that that was too simple. I then had an idea of half a very layered wreath, and this stems from that.
I die cut a sprig of leaves a few times – two from 40 lb vellum from Bazzill and a couple from Ocean Tides cardstock from Papertrey Ink. I dry embossed a couple of circle dies into a panel of Blue Breeze cardstock from My Favorite Things and adhered the two vellum pieces in the bottom left of my impressed circle. I cut the green leaves apart and added them here and there, before topping with felt snowflakes, alternating between large and small.
I wanted a white sentiment, and started with white glitter cardstock. The white didn’t match the snowflakes, so I went to regular white cardstock and die cut four of each word and stacked them. The sentiment got lost, there was too much going on in the background. I then die cut the words from Blueberry Sky cardstock from Papertrey Ink and added that on top. I also cut down the panel slightly and added a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2″ panel of Blueberrry Sky cardstock behind the lighter one to pick up the color from the sentiment. Guess what? The sentiment was still lost in the busy background. Plan D: die cut one more layer from Enchanted Evening cardstock from Papertrey Ink and add that on top. This is one of my most used blue cardstocks, I love it. The sentiment was finally legible.
I embellished with a mix of faceted white pearls and some blue diamonds, and the card was finished. I kind of wish I’d made my half wreath tighter, it’s very wide, but I’ll revisit the snowflake wreath idea, I might have a plan for a new card using these products.
I stamped the 
I used my Mijello Mission Gold watercolors and brushes in varying sizes to color in my scene, cut it down and stamped a sentiment from the 
I adhered the panel to a 5 3/4 x 5 1/2″ top fold card base I created from Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink, before finishing off with a few Raindrops from Little Things from Lucy’s Cards.
I stamped the large floral image using Memento Espresso Truffle ink, which sits somewhere between brown and grey, it’s a nice color to use when you don’t want black. I then die cut the image, before I used the coloring stencils and fresh dye inks from Altenew to do the “coloring”. I used the North Shore set for the blues, Sun-kissed Delights for the yellows, Jade Dreams for the greens and Warm Gray for the gray (which I covered up with the green). I didn’t want the centers green, so I started out with grey, which got very flat and dull. I covered it with green, which then made it very dark, and still pretty flat, so in the end, I went over with lots of dots of a white Sharpie paint marker and a black glaze pen. It turned out okay in the end, but if I were to remake this card, I think I’d go in with a couple of greens anyway. Live and learn, I guess.
I created a large card base (5 x 6 1/4″) and ink blended Winter Lake ink onto the bottom for a nice, gradient effect. I used the Stippled Plaid press plate from Pinkfresh Studio to create some subtle interest in the background on a separate piece of paper. I inked up the plate with Icy Water ink, spritzed water on the back and front of the piece of white cardstock, then ran it through my die cutting machine with an embossing mat to create some deep texture. I then adhered this panel in the center of the card base using foam tape.
Behind my die cut floral, I stacked another 3 die cuts from white cardstock and adhered my stack to my card, letting equal amounts hang off the sides on the left and the right. I also die cut the Waterbrush Hello die from Altenew four times from white cardstock. I inked up the top layer with Arctic Mountain ink and adhered it to my flowers.
To finish off the design, I added some ombré glitter drops from Pinkfresh Studio in a visual triangle across the card.
I stamped the image with black ink onto X-Press It blending card and colored it with Copics.
I added a mask to my image, then used the Bokeh Elements stencil duo from Waffle Flower to softly ink blend additional bubbles in an ombré effect in the background. I used Sweet Pea, Grapefruit and Buttercup inks, all colors from Concord & 9th, making sure to add slightly more color on the smaller circles than the large ones, while still keeping it fairly light.
I stamped a sentiment from the 
I trimmed my panel down slightly and added it with of dimension to a top fold white card base that I ombré ink blended using the same three colors I used with the stencils. I did also add a dot of black Glaze pen to the eyes of the ducks for a finishing touch.
Simple color palette for this one.
I started with a panel of Stamper’s Select White cardstock from Papertrey Ink that I dry embossed. I then used a stencil set (the Butterfly Blooms set from Concord & 9th) to add the color. I used all inks from Concord & 9th: Powder for the background, Sprout and Parsley for the greens, Sunshine and Buttercup for the florals and Pink Lemonade and Honeysuckle for the pinks.
Once the panel was all inked, I adhered it to a white card base, created half circle notches at the top and bottom with a small circle die and thread some cotton thread through, which I tied off in a bow. I added pink sparkly gems to act as the bodies of the butterflies and finished off with a couple of black sentiment sticker strips that I mounted on foam tape. I love the softness of the background against the bold of the black. The black really draws your eye.
I fit a lot of images into this scene. 
I colored in my scene with Copics, opting for very vibrant colors for all the floating elements and the details on the boat house, while keeping the rest fairly muted. The lake is lighter the further back you get, and the sky is a bit moody off in the distance. I added a bit of black glaze pen to the eyes of the gang on the pier for a little bit of dimension and shine.
I stamped a sentiment from the 
I adhered the panel to a card base that measures 6 1/8″ x 4 1/4″. This is an irregular size for a card, but when I create scenes like this, I let the scene dictate the size of the card. I can always make a custom envelope to fit.
I used lots of Copics for this one.
I knew I had to color up this image as soon as I saw it. This is so adorable with the corgi hanging off the top of the glass. And so funny, and very typical of Pei’s illustration style. I love it!
I colored the image with Copics, fussy cut him, then added VersaMarker pen to the rim of the glass and used white puff embossing powder from Wow! to mimic a salt rim. The embossing also adds some fun texture to the glass. I also used a black glaze pen to add a little bit of shine and dimension to his eyes.
I ink blended Parsley and Starfruit inks from Concord & 9th onto a white cardstock panel for an ombré effect, then used the Geometric embossing folder from WRMK to create some subtle dimension. I added the panel to a card base I’d covered with Parsley cardstock from Concord & 9th, before mounting the image using foam tape.
In this release there are also a few sentiment sets, and this one from the 
Simple color palette for this one. This was so fun to color!!!
Papirmølla 