Christmas, New Year and Winter

Christmas in July 2024 – Day 1

Happy Monday everyone!

It’s that time of year again! LucieG’s Christmas in July! Woohoo! How can we be at the start of July already? The first six months of the year have flown by!

Since 2019, I’ve dedicated July to Christmas cardmaking and had always felt thatI reaped the benefits in November/December when life always seems to get super busy! Up until last year, I had a good supply of cards to send to all my friends and didn’t stress about making them before the posting deadline.

However, last year, I noticed that I ended up making a lot more cards to post out in late November last year because many of my Christmas in July cards didn’t really seem ‘right’. It’s difficult to explain, but by November many of the cards seemed a little too… engineered. Some were larger than I wanted to mail, others were a little too busy – I know many of my recipients prefer my CAS cards.

So this year, I will be making Christmas in July cards with this in mind. It may be that I don’t participate in certain challenges but that’s OK! I just want to have fun with some amazing products and create cards that I KNOW I will want to send in November!

First up, for Christmas in July Day 1, I’m playing along with the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge .

I used a couple of older Memory Box dies – the Fresh Pine Curved Border and the Quiet Cabin Landscape. I actually cut the border die on the reverse of my glitter card and then flipped it over so that the curve aligned more closely with the sketch. There’s a bit of artistic licence with the strip in the sketch though as I used the Santa sleigh from Spellbinders’ Simon’s Snow Globe die set and a few die cut stars instead!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Festive tree

 

Happy Festive Friyay!

Today I’m playing along with the current colour challenge over at the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown!

When I saw that this week’s colour palette was green, white and gold I knew I would have to make a card with a tree!

I decided to use the larger tree from the Concord & 9th Cloche die set that I bought before last Christmas and oddly used for the February Colour Challenge! I cut it from Craft Consortium paper and then die cut elements from glitter and mirror card. for the card base, I used a Simply Graphic die and a few hand punches.

To complete my card, I added a sentiment from a Hero Arts set from 2005!

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Cardinal in June

Happy Festive Friyay!

My training for Christmas in July continues today with my card for the current sketch challenge over at the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown!

What a great sketch! I had originally planned to use a snowflake die set for my focal point but soon realised that the image would be too big – so I pivoted and pulled out the new-to-me Poppystamps Bird House Pop Up Easel die set that I picked up in a sale earlier this year. I have to confess that I bought the entire set because I LOVED that cardinal die!

I created the background strip using some coloured card, a Simon Says Stamp embossing folder and tons of distress oxide ink. The sentiment is by Clearly Besotted.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

 

Hark the Herald Angels sing

Happy Festive Friyay!

It’s been a while but I’m back with a festive card – after all, I’ve got to get into training for Christmas in July! Today I’m playing along with the current technique challenge over at the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown!

The DT had a Tic-Tac-Toe challenge for us this week and I chose the centre line – Angel/Favourite Colour/Holiday Sentiment.

It was the perfect challenge for the bargain Memory Box Gilded Angel Backdrop die that I picked up in September last year, but didn’t use… until now! I paired it with a Memory Box background die, some blended purple ink and a Hero Arts stamped sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.

Snowflake Tree Cloche

Happy Festive Friyay!

Today I’m playing along with the current colour challenge over at the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown!

When I saw that this week’s colour palette was blue and white I was excited to play along with the challenge – it’s the perfect combo for icy cards!

I decided that I wanted to use one of my wood mounted rubber stamps and had already decided that I would pair the stamp with the Concord & 9th Cloche die set that I bought before Christmas but never got round to using! I have two snowflake tree stamps – one was too large but this one, by Inkadinkadoo, was perfect! I heat embossed it and then blended some distress ink across the background.

I used a number of the Concord & 9th dies to create the cloche scene which I adhered to a blue card base and then added the flourish and flakes from the Memory Box Wintry Snowflake Bundle set.

Thanks for stopping by!

LucieG.