Havin' a Heat Wave...

... and making Christmas cards?? Yeah, it sounds crazy, until you know that my craft room is in our basement.  Unfortunately,  like furnaces in a cold snap, our AC has gone down at the worst time. My craft space is a good place to be during this heat wave.

It has been wonderful getting back to my crafting desk this week with the start of my summer break from school. I finally got to actually make the cards that were shared with us during the Stampin' Up! Creativity Now event in June. Periodically,  demonstrators get to participants events during which we get a sneak peek at upcoming products. This was one such event.  

This time around, it was the Winterly Tree Tops suite of products. As part of it, those registered were able to pre-order the products before the usual pre-order time period. There were 6 different projects that were shared with us, including dimensions and how to details. I loved the techniques used to make these cards. I even left two unfinished as I waited on my new watercolor pencils to arrive. The bird and branch die cuts turned out so well with the more subtle colour of the pencils. They were so easy to use, and the colours coordinate so well!

The green card used the negative left over from the grey border die cut. I used one colour of ink, Mossy Meadow, to ink around the outside of the negative "stencil" and then rotated it and did it again, just lighter. Blending brushes make inking images look so good and it is truly so easy. Using very few colours, or even just one, you can get depth and variation in colour that makes such a huge difference. 

I added in the Greetings of the Season stamp set to make a few Christmas cards with them. I love how they turned out. The stamps and paper and dies are not themselves specifically Christmas ones, but they lend themselves well to the season. The berries, the boughs and the birds can be coloured in so many ways. Change up the colours and it is spring. Do it again and the images are great for fall and the holidays.

Another product I used that I often forget about is the enamel effects. They are liquid paint like colours that add shimmer, dimension and texture to your work. The wreath card has the copper from the Metallic Enamel Effects trio. I used a palette knife and applied it across the middle of a Basic White panel and allowed it to dry. I also used the copper, gold and red to add to the berries on the boughs. At first it was just the two metallics, but I really wanted the card to have a touch more colour. I popped some red on top of the other colours randomly, and on the sentiment banner and I think it finished off perfectly.

The green card used the DSP rather than stamping the images. I am not that good at colouring! I just fussy cut the birds from one of the pages. The background has a combination of the same die cut from the top pair of cards, this time in white, and an embossed piece of Crumb Cake cardstock. I used Shaded Spruce and Basic Black blends to colour the cutout for the background, not worrying about the "neatness" factor. It has a bit of a rustic feel. The new embossing folder is a full size one, bigger than the folders we have had in the past. It allows for positioning the paper where you like and getting different looks. 

I used the same embossing folder to step up the background piece on the Blackberry Bliss card. The original sample image didn't have this, but I tend to change things up. I did the same with the bottom card, which originally did not have a reveal around the edge of the Copper Clay base, nor did it reveal the DSP around the edge of the Basic White focal piece. 

The swag uses several of the die cuts, as well as stamps. These are all tied together with Pecan Pie twine, and then attached to the boughs underneath. I also added the Red Enamel Effects to add a bit more texture and colour to the card. 

I love how all of these cards turned out, and that I finally took the time to put them together.  Have you thought about making Christmas cards yet? I think I will keep going. Working with new products can be so much fun!