Monday, June 7, 2021

HAI Merry Little Christmas

 Hi there and welcome back! Can you believe it is June already? Where is the time going? For me things are starting to open up a lot, so I am at least getting to join up with my Master Gardener friends as we get some outside work done. Lots of work to get our garden areas back to where they were, after lying dormant for two seasons! Also, the weather is so hot. We were out mulching this morning in 85° - 92° heat - not fun. But it is so nice to be working with other people again! 

My garden is thriving, though I've still got to mulch (lucky I have a strapping 21 year old home for the summer), to help me with the barrowing!

I spotted my first Monarch at my Waystation on Saturday (almost a month ahead of last year), which is my June header! That's the good news, the bad is the Spotted Lanternfly is sharing the milkweed. This is a terribly invasive insect which was discovered in 2014 in Pennsylvania and is quite quickly taking a firm standing in surrounding areas. 

Anyway, on to my card today for the Holly and Ivy Challenge, which is always Anything Goes. 


I chose to use one of the Stamper's Anonymous Holiday Scenes stamps, which has not seen any ink for quite some time. I inked it up with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink. Love the clarity I get with these inks, especially using them as embossing inks. I added some Sparkle embossing powder to give it a little shine.


Here you can see the sparkle!


Then on to the frame! I used (a new to me) Pink Fresh Studio Slim Stitched Scallop Rectangles die to make a frame from black cardstock. I didn't need to use the entire length of the die.


I then put the image behind it to see how long I needed the cut to be and placed the die cut down the left hand side to allow for enough space.  After cutting it I put little strips of tape to hold the corners in place (you don't notice it as it is black).


I marked on the image the corners of the image and then cut the panel down slightly, so that it would fit behind the frame. 


The moon was colored with a yellow Copic marker and then 1/8" Tear-ific Tape was used to attach the frame to the image. This was then mounted with mounting strips added to the back of the frame and placed on a 7" x 3 1/2" glossy white card base. A piece of white and gold bakers twine across the top finished off this card for today!


Hope I've inspired you to take a look at what the rest of the Design Team has done over on the
Challenge? Below is a list of the ingredients for my card today:

Stamper’s Anonymous Holiday Scenes CMS425
Versafine Clair Nocturne Ink
Sparkle embossing powder
Yellow Copic
PinkFresh Studio Slim Stitched Scallop Rectangles die
Gold and white bakers twine
Mounting Strips

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be back tomorrow for another card for the Christmas Craft Creations Design Team! Trying to get that Christmas card stash on it's way!!

Shona


5 comments:

  1. What a great design tip regarding your oversized die. The frame looks, marvelous, Shona! Beautiful stamp, and such a lovely, festive, vintage creation. I hope the lantern fly does not come this far south. Luckily I captured seeds from the milkweed last month because last week those orange aphids that love the plant arrived en masse. The caterpillars have been chomping away all winter, and the older plants look terribly scraggly. We used to have ladybugs by the bazillions, but not for a few years. We miss them. Our heat index was over a hundred again today. Wishing you a great week! xx

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  2. I love the design of your Christmas card. Wonderful scene. And you always have such wonderful headers on your blog. Happy mulching. We have been having 100 degree days here too.

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  3. Beautiful card Shona, lovely traditional Christmas scene, looks great uncoloured apart from the golden moon. Great tip for altering the size of the die cut frame too.
    As always your header photograph is fantastic, don't envy you working in the garden in all that heat!
    Enjoy your butterflies!
    xx

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  4. A Beautiful shiny card Shona, love you adapted the die to size, great tip, thanks. As for the temperature, we thought we were roasting today in 75f, guess you'll laugh at that, because you know what I mean :)
    Enjoy your gardening and a lovely header for this month too.
    Faith x

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  5. Oh Shona this is gorgeous. Great framing and love the black and white with the shimmer. Great touch with the moon and that lovely twine.

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Thanks so much for stopping by and letting me share in part of your day. I would love to hear what you think about my latest creation!