Inklings Christmas in July Blog Hop

Welcome to The INKlings’ Team’s Christmas in July blog hop. You may have arrived here from Dani's blog or just be visiting my blog, whichever way once you’ve checked out my creations you can continue the hop through the links at the end of this post to the next team member.

How quick is this year going! Have you started to think about your Christmas cards and projects yet? The INKlings team has and we thought that this month was the perfect time to host a Christmas in July blog hop. You'll find lots of great ideas provided by 17 team members’ fantastic blogs.

Want to win some Blog Candy? Simply leave a comment on each blog and then email Christie Wallace and let her know you’ve done so and you’ll be in the running for a fantastic prize of 17 handmade cards plus other goodies.

Sorry Blog Candy prize not available to SU! demonstrators but you're more than welcome to leave us a comment!

For my Christmas in July project I thought I would show you a Christmas card made using a non-Christmas set. Not surprisingly it's not a traditionally styled Christmas card, but it works!

I have used the Trendy Trees set in conjunction with Heat & Stick powder and the Supernova glitter to make this fun and funky card. I started by stamping the tree trunks, and then each tree top was done individually. The tree top is first stamped with VersaMark then sprinkled with Heat & Stick powder, and the excess powder tipped off before heating with a heat gun - just like embossing powder. When the Heat & Stick powder has just melted it will be tacky, so turn off the heat gun and cover the image with the glitter of your choice, once again tipping off the excess (and it can be returned to the container). Reheat the Heat & Stick with the heat gun and the glitter will set, and very little glitter will then come off to haunt you, or the card recipient, for the rest of your days...

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Stamp Sets: Trendy Trees, Punches Three
Inks:Certainly Celery, Chocolate Chip, VersaMark
Accessories: Heat & Stick powder, Fine Supernova glitter, 3/16" corner rounder, Regal Rose 5/6" grosgrain

That’s it from me. Your next stop on the INKlings’ Team Blog Hop is Michelle. Have fun and don't forget to leave a comment on each blog to win some great Blog Candy.

Bloghop for Christmas in July
1. Christie
2. Dani H
3. Carol
4. Michelle D
5. Jayne
6. Kylie
7. Kari
8. Dani F
9. Beth
10. Nicky A
11. Clare
12. Amy
13. Fiona B.
14. Michelle F-S
15. Fiona
16. Divya
17. Rachel

A Very Simple Christmas

With Christmas a month away it's about time I shared another Christmas card with you. Above is a snippet of another card I have uploaded at the Elite Challenges blog. There's not a lot of stamping on this card as I couldn't bare covering up any more of that gorgeous Ski Slope paper, which is just fine as t makes for a quick and simple card (the perfect kind when you are feeling crunched for time!).

Chocolate Reindeers

Above is a snippet from the card I just uploaded over at the Elite Challenges blog. When working on this card I decided early on that I wanted the reindeers to be the feature, and to help them stand out even more I would use the Chocolate glitter from the Supernova glitter set. Chocolate reindeers reminds me of Lindt chocolate, we usually include a pack for each of the girls amongst their Christmas stuff. And now that I have got you all thinking about chocolate, I'm off! I'll be back tomorrow with a very different card to the one I have shared tonight

PS my tweak of the double-ball ornament didn't turn out, and now that I have attempted it I have a feeling I may have even tried it last year! Oh well

Lovely As Tree Trimmings

Two Christmas cards in two days and it's only August! It's a bit crazy, but that's all that I have photographed at the moment sorry! This card uses another set from the Spring mini, Tree Trimmings, which features three ornaments and the string/tie image for hanging. With Peaceful Wishes retiring in April, I had to think or another set with greenery I could hang my ornament from for this card. It suddenly hit me that by stamping "the" Lovely As A Tree tree sideways, I could make a branch without a branch stamp! I say "the" Lovely As A Tree tree as this tree gets used a lot on Christmas cards and is quite possibly the most used stamp from that set. I embossed my ornament 'string' in gold, and to compliment this I used gold brads on the sentiment. I also edged the Chocolate layer under the sentiment with my VersaMarker and embossed that with gold too.

It hasn't come up well in the photograph, but the tips of the leaves are a lighter colour than the rest of the branch. After inking the image with Old Olive, and going over the wood part with the Chocolate marker, I stamped off the edges onto scrap paper, then touched them up with the Celery marker.

Most supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Almost Amethyst, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Stamp Sets: Tree Trimmings, Lovely As A Tree, Punches Three
Inks: Lovely Lilac, VersaMark, Old Olive
Accessories: Chocolate Chip marker, Certainly Celery marker, Lovely Lilac marker, Designer Label punch, gold embossing powder, gold brads, 5/8" Old Olive grosgrain ribbon, dimensionals, VersaMarker (not available through SU!)

New Bundle of Joy

It's probably obvious to long-time readers that Bundle of Joy was my favourite baby set. Now that it has retired I don't have an actual baby stamp, but I made sure one of the first hostess sets I got was Punches Three so I could have this "Bundle of Joy" stamp. This card is for my new nephew Karl, using a colour combination I've been dying to use since I physically laid eyes on Pacific Point. Along with the decent splash of purple on the card I sent a couple of Target royal purple suits up for him - he's my nephew he's going to have purple! The chipboard letters have been coloured using a technique picked up from convention, inking them with a dauber and reinker. I actually can't remember if the technique was demonstrated with wetting the letters first but that's what I did by brushing my Aquapainter over them first. The layout was based on WSC81.

All supplies by Stampin' Up!
Cardstock: Taken With Teal, Pacific Point, Orchid Opulence, Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise
Stamp Sets: Polka Dot, Punches Three
Inks: Taken With Teal, Pacific Point, Orchid Opulence, Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: Tempting Turquoise 1/4" grosgrain ribbon, Circle Ice Rhienstone Brads, Onboard Timeless Type, On Board Lots of Letters, dimensionals