Christmas in July Blog Hop!

https://shoppingourstash.blogspot.com/2021/07/shopping-our-stash-449-christmas-in-july.html

Hello Crafty Friends and Happy Saturday! Today, The Paper Funday Challenges  and the Inspiration Station Challenges are hosting a Christmas in July Blog Hop! Please Hop along with us today for some fantastic holiday crafting inspiration and there are Prizes too!If you were directed here from Rocky's Blog  you’re in the right place. Should you get lost, please start at The Paper Funday Challenge Blog.  Here is my card, my very first light up card ever!

The house lit up

And the house normal.

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
Pre-made Oxide Ink Background, splattered w/ Gansai Tambi Starry Colors, White Gold
Pear Blossom Press EZ-Light
Lawn Fawn Build a House Die Set, #LF2046
Lawn Fawn Build a House Gingerbread Add On, #LF2438
Lawn Fawn Build a House Christmas Add On, #LF2048
Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Backdrop, Landscape, #LF1502
Lawn Fawn Stitched Tree Borders, #LF1236
Lawn Fawn Toboggan Together Stamp Set, #LF976
Lawn Fawn Push Here Stamp Set, #LF1415
Glitter Card in White and Red
Various Shades of Brown
Scrap Vellum and Green Card

Now, it might seem a bit overwhelming when you look at the number of products I used; but most of them I only used a piece or two; I've explained what I've used from what set a bit further down. Once I had found the pre-made back piece, I splattered it with the White Gold watercolor paint then I set it aside to dry.  I began to figure out how I was going to assemble my card; I knew I wanted the window to light up and I knew I wanted to light that window by pressing the door {I don't know, it made sense to me to have the light go on if you pressed the door bell} so I cut a foam piece using the house die. I ended up cutting almost all of the inside of the foam piece out, similar to a shaker card, so save yourself some trouble and cut a slit in the bottom {since you won't see it anyway} and cut out most of the house part of the foam, leaving the window top shape intact and save that excess foam, you will need it later. 

The Pear Blossom EZ-Lights are a miracle product if you can't get the whole tape connection battery light concept, which I cannot.  All you need to do is insert the battery and press the little button and BOOM, you have light!  The EZ-Light comes with three little bulbs attached and plenty of wire so you can spread those lights out or cut them off if you don't want to use all three {which is great because I accidentally cut one off and I was concerned I'd set the house - both the card one and the real one - on fire}.  I meant to take a picture for you of the back of the house as it began to take shape, but honestly, it was SO ugly I just couldn't.  I glued the vellum to the foam window, then glued my house base {the brown card} over that as well as the rest of the foam base; like I said, similar to a shaker card.  I positioned the lights in the window and kept testing them so that they wouldn't look funny when they lit up and to figure the door placement.  I was worried that the recipient wouldn't press right on the button the card would not work, but that was no issue either.  I glued the lights down and the pressing mechanism down inside the foam and I had a working light!  

The rest of the card was really just the finishing touches; the sentiment came from the Toboggan Together stamp set, the wreath from the Christmas Add On, the trees were cut from the Stitched Tree Borders and I modified the Landscape version of the Hillside Backdrop to fit the portrait card.  And those left over pieces of foam were used under the steps and the chimney!  The bow on the wreath and the card behind the candy canes are Red Glitter Card, the hills and the icing is White Glitter Card.

Well, if you haven't tried a light up card yet I hope I took some of your fear away and I highly recommend the EZ-Lights.  I have tons of batteries, copper tape and all sorts of tiny lights that I hope to use someday when my brain finally recognizes how to actually complete a connection, but until then I have four more EZ-Lights to use; and who knows, I might just sell all that other stuff and stick to the EZ way out {see what I did there?} 

For this Hop, 6 prizes will be awarded to 6 randomly chosen commenters. To be eligible for a prize, you must answer this Question below: How many light up cards have I made? I have provided the answer in my blog post.

Thank you so much for reading this post, I know it was long but I wanted to share my struggle.  I sincerely hope you are enjoying the blog hop and next you will be visiting Anita, and should you get lost, you can start again at The Paper Funday Challenge .  Thanks again & until next time, Christi

I am entering my card in the following challenges:
Krafty Chicks, #567 - Christmas
DL Art, #281 - Christmas in July
Through the Purple Haze, #182 - Anything Goes or Christmas in July
Little Red Wagon - Midway to Christmas
Shopping Our Stash, #499 - Christmas in July
Creative Craft Cottage Challenge, #142 - Christmas in July
Incy Wincy Designs Challenge - Christmas in July

Merry Christmas or Yappy Wolfmas?

Mama Elephant is one of my favorite stamp companies; they make the cutest critters!  My very good friend loves dogs so I thought what is better card for her than one that features dogs doing all kinds of crazy things??

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
Light Blue Card
Navy Card
Mama Elephant Yappy Woofmas Stamp Set
Mama Elephant Yappy Woofmas Die Set
Lawn Fawn Snowfall Backdrop, Portrait, #LF1803
Mama Elephant Winter Forest Cover
Merry Christmas Script Die
Watercolor Paper {I use this}
Zig Clean Color Brush Markers
Gina K Amalgam Ink Pad in Obsidian Ink
Gel Pens

As always, I stamped, colored, and die cut all the dogs that I wanted to use in my scene.  Then I cut out the background; the snowfall out of light blue card and the forest out of white card and adhered them to the card.  I placed the critters in the scene where I wanted them and I was done!

Another Christmas card posted!  I feel I am making progress :) At least now the madness is over! Now we move on to the winter cards & New Years!! I for one cannot WAIT for this year to be over; to be fair, something happens every year that makes me yearn for the upcoming year, BUT this year was a doozy!!!  Hugs! Christi

I am entering my card in the following challenges:
Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge, #522 - Anything Goes, Christmas
Sweet Stampin' - Let it Snow
Crafters Castle - Anything Goes
Alphabet Challenge - S is for Snow Scene
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge, #581 - Christmas, the last stretch
Little Red Wagon, #581 - Merry Christmas

A Meowy Christmas To All

I love cats. I have five fabulous felines and they are the loves of my life.  Since I can't possibly get any more cats {well, I could, but I'd need a better paying job!}, I collect cat stamps and I have since I began stamping a long, long, time ago.  The set I used to make this card is one of my new favorites; I mean, who wouldn't want a Christmas tree full of cats? A Catmas tree!!  Here is my design team entry for Not Just Cards - why not link up one of your holiday creations and join us?

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
Scrap White Card
Watercolor Paper {I use this}
Mama Elephant Oh Kitty Tree stamps
Mama Elephant Oh Kitty Tree dies
Zig Clean Color Markers
Sakura Gelly Roll Pens, Stardust Set
Distress Ink in Hickory Smoke
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black

I have to tell you, I couldn't remember if I posted this card or not. I made it a few months ago and I looked through my blog posts to see if I had posted the card, couldn't find it, but I still wasn't sure.  To keep track of the products I use when I am making something, I have a notebook where I write the card name and then the items I used to create the card or project. I couldn't find the list in my book.  Now I KNOW I made the card because it's sitting right here in front of me.  For me not to write down something, even if I only get as far as the stamps and dies I've used, is not like me.  This card was a mystery.  I asked my friend who helps me with my blog if she'd seen the card before, and I checked my pictures.  Turns out I'd taken a few pictures, but the card wasn't ever posted.  Lucky you, I figured it out!  I can tell what I used by looking at the card and I know I started this one by stamping the Catmas tree on a panel of watercolor paper, then I colored in the cats, and cut out the tree.  The tree looked lost when I placed it onto the white card base, so I used a scrap piece of white card and inked it up with a light coat of Hickory Smoke just to give the tree something to be "on."

I stamped the sentiment onto the inked panel, then attached the Catmas tree to the panel, the panel to the card, and I have this adorable card.  I am in love with the cats that Mama Elephant puts out and I am so happy I got this set {I got it as soon as I saw it - I just could not help myself.}  I have a few other cards in the works using this same set and you will be seeing them soon.  Do you have a system for keeping track of what you've posted on your blog, or Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, or any of the other social medias?  How do you know when a card, or project has been "done"?  In addition to my book, I used to keep my cards in separate piles by my computer, but my little, fat, black, cat, Mew, has decided I actually put them there for her to chew, so that system was abandoned.  Now I keep them out of her immediate reach; she's too lazy to figure out how she can get to them, thank goodness!  I hope you enjoyed my post for Not Just Cards! Thanks for stopping by and reading my post; I truly appreciate it!  I'd love it if you'd drop me a comment so I can come and see your blog and share some blog love with you!  Fondly, Christi

I am entering my Meowy Christmas card into the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Warm Winter Wishes
Papercraft Challenges - #26, Winter, Wintertime
Show Us Your Pussies - #37, Anything Goes with Cats
Coloring in Scrapland - Anything Goes - Option - Christmas
Winter Wonderland - End of Year Anything Christmas Goes
Crimbo Crackers - #173, Anything Goes
Christmas Sweet Stampin' - Anything Christmas Goes
The Little Red Wagon - #475 House Pets
Card Mania Challenge - #111, Christmas
Stampin Sensations - Winter Sparkle {the little ornaments really do sparkle!}
Archi-scraps - Anything Christmas
Do-Al(l) Creative - #24, Christmas/New Years Eve/New Years Day
2 Crafty Critter Crazies - #21, Anything Goes with a Critter
Merry Little Christmas Blog - #5, Anything Christmas Goes
Inkspirational - #175, Designers Choice, Anything Christmas

Christmas Has Gone to the Dogs

Settle in, dear readers, this is a slightly long story, but it is a story of miracles and things happening at just the right time.  As some of you may recall, my next door neighbor has an adorable dog named Lolly.  Well, Lolly now has a boyfriend, Bear.  Bear literally showed up next door, matted, hungry, & thirsty.  My neighbor was going out, so I took Bear into my fenced-in backyard.  I looked him up, found a rabies tag, and tried to find his owner.  The local animal shelters attempted to make contact with the information they had but, no one contacted me or the shelters.  It began to get dark and I couldn't have Bear come to my house, not knowing if he was ill and could possibly infect, or attack, the Fabulous Feline Four, so I called my good friend, Tom, to come and take Bear until his owner could be found.  Fast forward a week and no one was looking for Bear.  The Man and I even drove around the neighborhood where Bear used to live to see if there were lost dog signs.  Tom and Bear fell head over heels for each other and have been inseparable.  Tom was going through a very lonely time and Bear couldn't have showed up at a better time.  It's been about nine months and Bear is healthy, happy, and has a fabulous owner.  Bear and Lola are medium, mixed-breed dogs, but they appear to be mixes of the same breeds.  They are almost exactly the same size and they LOVE to play when Bear comes over.  They run around the yard like little race cars, yipping, following each other and sharing treats.  Both dogs have been introduced to the Fabulous Feline Four with only small squabbles, mostly due to Sylvester's temper. To celebrate how happy everyone is, for Christmas this year I made Helen, Lolly's mom, and Tom, Bear's dad the exact same cards with just a few differences.

What I Used to Make my Cards:
Blue Card Base
White Card
Vanilla Card
Gold Card
Tim Holtz Mini Cats & Dogs Stamps, CMS272
Tim Holtz Framelits Mini Cats & Dogs Dies, #661594
Newton's Nook Newton's Curious Christmas
Spellbinders Petite Labels One, #S3-205
Tim Holtz Scribbly Christmas Stamps, CMS249
Wendy Vecchi Ink in Potting Soil & Fern Green
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
Derwent Inktense Pencils
Word Bubbles made with Silhouette Cameo
Tim Holtz Boneyard, TH93596
Ranger Glossy Accents
Various Gel Pens
Gold Star Sequins
Tissue Paper {Dollar Tree}
Blue Ribbon
Dimensional Dots

Bear has a silver skull charm hanging from his collar; Lolly has a festive red acrylic bow.

I had already colored and die cut the two dogs; Bear is a darker grey, with one white leg, whereas Lolly is all grey and white.  Each of their noses got a dot of Glossy Accents and they were set aside.  The cats were also pre-colored and I chose the two I did due to the similarity to my cats.

Bear's Card

I designed and cut out the word bubbles using my Silhouette Cameo and stamped the sentiments in the bubbles.    I then used the Labels die to cut out the "Dear Santa, define good" sentiment and the gold paper. I glued them together and set them aside.

To begin my scene, I stamped the tree, which I inked with the Wendy Vecchi inks, slightly off the edge of the card.  I wanted to ensure I had enough room, plus I wanted the dogs to be the focal point. I colored in the baubles with various gel pens and attached a gold sequin star to each tree.  I "wrapped" each bone with tissue paper and ripped the sides to make it seem like the dog had done it.  I used dimensional dots to pop out the dogs, adding little pieces of the tissue paper to each dog; Bear has it in his mouth while Lolly got some on her head during her ravaging of the bone.  I made sure there was enough space

Lolly's Card

between the dog and the tree so I had room to add some more tissue paper scraps.  

I attached the gold and white card sentiments above each dog's head, while using the word bubble sentiment off to the right side of the card so it appeared that someone out of the scene was telling the dog not to peek.  That little warning came a bit too late.  Now, neither dog lives with any cats, but, knowing how curious cats are, I decided to add a cat to the side of the card, with a wide eyed look.  I wanted it to seem like the cats were both amazed and appalled at what the dog was doing, and quite possibly, might tattle. 

I had a great time figuring out how I was going to get my message across; and everyone loved the cards.  You can bet you will be seeing these two rascals in more of my creations. Thank you so much for reading this post; I know it was long :) Hugs!! Christi

I am entering my Christmas has Gone to the Dogs cards in the following challenges:
Fussy & Fancy - #202, Christmas Challenge
Stamplorations - December Challenge, Stamps & Gold
Stamplorations Anything Goes - Ongoing
Kraftin' Kimmie - Anything Goes or Sketch
Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - #100, N is for Naughty Christmas
Sweet Stampin' Christmas - Anything Goes Christmas
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
The Merry Christmas Challenge - #49, Anything Goes & Christmas

Merry Christmas Wreath

One of my favorite things is when I can stretch my crafting supplies - I love it when I can make something intended for something else, another holiday or project and shape it into something entirely different.  Today I am sharing a card I made with what I'd call a spring die, after I turned it into a holiday die.

What I Used to Make my Card:
Red Card Base
Small Fairytale Oval, Memory Box, #99172 {Calla Oval Wreath will work also!}
Poinsettia Mini, PoppyStamps, #1971 {could use this poinsettia set}
Stitched Oval Stax, MFT/Die-Namics, #MFT-521
Sentiment, Merry Christmas, My Sentiments Exactly! #G545
Wendy Vecchi Ink in Red Geranium
White and Green Card
Red Glitter Card
Stickles in Gold

I got the idea for this card after I spied the Poinsettia dies in the Dies R Us store.  I had to have them and the flower is so tiny and cute, I hope to be able to incorporate it into some other projects.  First, I cut the Small Fairytale Oval out of green card.  Then I set to work on the poinsettias.  I cut each layer out of red glitter card {there are three layers to each flower}, glued them together, then added the gold stamen.  The gold Stickles came out really dark and I was thinking I might have to make the flowers all over again, but once it dried it was fine. 

Once the poinsettia flowers were dry, I added them to the Small Fairytale Oval.  I trimmed some of the green flora to accommodate the flowers and also the

sentiment. The sentiment I chose fit just so even after I trimmed the inside of the oval a bit, so in order to ensure that I'd get the Merry Christmas in the right spot I taped the oval with washi tape around the sentiment while I glued it.  You can see the washi tape right under the ink; I used a scrap piece of white card since I knew I was going to cut the entire design out again.  Before I go further, I have to gush about the Red Geranium Wendy Vecchi ink.  In my opinion, it is the truest red ink I've found.  You may not be able to tell with the sentiment being so thin, but it is the only ink I use on my holiday projects that call for red ink.  Plus, it's archival so it dries permanent on most surfaces and it's waterproof.  I don't care for tomato red or orange reds when I need a true deep red.  Enough about the ink. 

When the oval dried around my sentiment, I cut it out using one of the Stitched Oval Stax dies and adhered it to a red card base.  This is all part of my attempt to be a bit more clean and simple with my card designs.  I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and are enjoying the holiday season! 

I do hope you will continue to join us at the Dies R Us Inspiration blog - we are there through the holidays with tons of brilliant inspiration! Fondly, Christi

Don't forget to join in on all the fun at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog.  

There's  a new challenge theme offered on the 1st and 15th of each month

 and one lucky  randomly drawn winner will receive a gift voucher prize to 

the Dies R Us Store.  For your convenience, all the important Dies R Us 

links are provided below.

click below for:

STORE
CHALLENGE BLOG
FACEBOOK
INSPIRATION BLOG

FRIENDS OF DIES R US PINTEREST PAGE

I am entering my Merry Christmas Wreath card in the following challenges:

Muse:Christmas Visions - ANY Holiday Card, #90

Happy Little Stampers Christmas - Anything Goes

Outlaws Twisted Thursday - Anything Goes, Twist: Poinsettia 

Die Cut Diva's -Winter Time

The Artistic Stamper - Christmas

Lost Coast Portal to Creativity - #43, Christmas/Winter

Incy Wincy - Red & Green

Gltzy Gold Merry Christmas Card

My name is Christi and I am a paper hoarder.  I love beautiful papers.  I have some papers that are so lovely, I can't cut them - but, I have made a pledge to start to use some of my more beautiful papers, so this card was born.  The paper I used is Italian, I think it is supposed to be used used as gift wrap.  I can't recall where I purchased it from (it's at least 12 years old) but the detail is amazing! I tried to capture the richness of the paper the best I could.  I hope you get inspired to dig out some of your favorite papers & play a bit!  

What I Used to Make my Card:
Italian Paper
Vanilla Base Card
Ornamental Script Stamp from Penny Black, 3995F
Piece of Vellum
Piece of Mirror Gold Paper
Embossing Fluid
Vintage Gold Embossing Enamel from Globecraft & Piccolo
Krylon Gold Leafing Pen
2 Gold Brads
Sparkle Gold Tape from the Dollar Tree

You really need to click this!

While there are a lot of ingredients, this card was easy to make. First thing I did was match the gold in the Italian paper since that was my focal point.  I had also found this scrap of mirror gold cardstock (it was ALL the rage years ago) so I tossed that into the mix. The mirror gold caught the gold in the paper.    I took the vanilla base and outlined it with the Krylon Gold Leafing Pen and set it aside.  I then took the piece of vellum and stamped the Ornamental Script stamp on it in embossing fluid and embossed the saying in Vintage Gold Embossing Enamel. 

The embossed sentiment, attached to mirror gold card

I trimmed the sentiment to sit on the mirror gold cardstock and I used 2 gold brads to hold it in place.  Nice, but it needed a bit more pizazz.  So I used a piece of the Sparkle Gold tape at the very top.  Easy!!

Another view - complete with cat hair!

I have a few more cards to share with you so I'll be back soon.  I also want to wish you and yours a FANTASTIC Holiday Season! Thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to pop by and read my blog - without all of your comments & encouragement this blog wouldn't exist! Blessings ~ Christi

I would like to enter my card in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp - Wednesday Challenge - Winter Inspiration 
Crafty Card Maker - #129, Christmas
Cute Card Thursday - #352, Add Some Sparkle
Red Rubber Inspirational - #151, Christmas Cheer
Creative Inspirations - #294, Christmas/New Year
Penny Black & More - December Challenge, Special Occasions