Stampin’ Up! My Hero Makes Christmas in July Merry!

Good morning, y’all!  As I type this, it’s thundering outside, maybe getting a splatter of rain.  Well…I went and closed my cracked-so-the-little-Soul-doesn’t-explode-in-the-heat-windows, so it won’t actually rain, I’m sure! 😉

Since I’m not at home, there haven’t been many Duck Duck updates – sorry about that (she’s become something of a celebrity….).  But yesterday, while Wayne was feeding the horses, I was on the phone with him, so I got a bit of an update.

Right from the Goose’s beak, so to speak.

Apparently he was wasting a lot of time giving the ponies a cool shower when they came in the barn.  And she was giving him H-E-DOUBLE-HOCKEY-STICKS for it, too.  And his phone headset (Wayne’s – Duck Duck doesn’t have a phone of her own.  Yet) was picking up every word!  So I could hear her griping and moaning and complaining, and him laughing and telling her he was coming….it was quite the cacophony in my ear, I can tell you!  Then I got to listen as he tried to get her to go out of the barn ahead of him – we obviously need a very low energy Australian Sheperd to help us help her to not get run over!  She’s quite content to be right underfoot!

I miss the goose.

Which is one of the weirdest statements I’ve ever written…. 😉

So, let’s get on with some card making, shall we?

This one is another Christmas in July card.  I was playing with challenges and the design teams like the theme.  I combined the Ronald McDonald charity stamp set called My Hero (check it out on page 209 of the catalog – it’s got lots of fun images, covering a myriad of occasions – and SU! will give $3 to the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) for each set sold!) and the Host-exclusive set called Time of Year.  Take a look-see:

The color scheme, for some reason, actually strikes me as Christmas-y.  It’s kind of an old-fashioned looking card, isn’t it?

I mentioned that I was playing along with a few challenges on this one.  The color scheme came from The Paper Players color challenge #303:

My layout was based – a little loosely, maybe – on the sketch challenge from Freshly Made Sketches.  Challenge #245:

Finally – my theme wasn’t my own, either.  In this case, the Stamp Ink Paper theme challenge #56 had me making a Christmas card in July!

Whew!  That’s a lot of inspiration – it’s almost like my own brain had nothing to do with the card at all! 🙂

So – I started by running a panel of Very Vanilla card stock thru the Big Shot in the brand new Holly TIEF.  I just love how this embossing folder looks with the Vanilla paper.  Like I said – very old-fashioned.  And quite elegant!

For the sentiment, I pulled out the RMHC stamp set called My Hero.  I inked the entire image in Island Indigo and then covered the word “Christmas” with a couple of pieces of scotch tape.  My Stamp-A-Ma-Jig helped me get it lined up all straight on my small rectangle of Very Vanilla card stock.  Like the card front, it’s matted on Mint Macaron.

The little holly berry images – which are just too danged cute! – are from the Host-exclusive set called Time of Year.  I used my Sweet Sugarplum and Mint Macaron Stampin’ Write Markers to ink the stamp and then stamped the panel.  Being a photopolymer set – it makes the images a little watercolor-y.  On my first attempt, I used the markers to color the image in more deeply – adding the color after I’d stamped it.  It looked pretty – but it was too much for the card (and it didn’t fit with my old-fashioned look).  So I did it again – but left the images just like they turned out when I stamped them.

The banner is also from the Time of Year set.  I stamped it in Island Indigo on Very Vanilla and fussy cut it.  Then I cut a piece of Mint Macaron card stock with the matching banner die in the Bunch of Banners framelits set.  That’s a pretty easy and effective way to get just the right sized mat for these banners!  I used Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue to adhere them together.

I did some dry fitting and figured out where the sentiment panel and banner were going to be placed.  Once I had that nailed down, I made the horizontal element of the FMS sketch with a piece of Sweet Sugarplum 3/8″ Ruched Ribbon.  I moved it down the card front a little more than the sketch called for to have it align with the Christmas banner.  It just looked goofy when not lined up with the banner!

I popped the sentiment panel over the ribbon with Stampin’ Dimensionals and then used some more of the Liquid Glue to adhere the banner.  And that was it for the card front!

On the inside, I used the Holly TIEF again.  This time I took a Very Vanilla panel and only stuck about an inch of it into the TIEF before running it thru my Big Shot.  Then I wrapped another length of the Sweet Sugarplum 3/8″ Ruched Ribbon around the panel at the “seam” and secured it in the back with scotch tape.

TIP:  I got a little het up about the ribbon being “loose” on the card.  So I used Liquid Glue to stick it down.  And you can see it! 🙁  So I added more glue across the length of the ribbon to even it out.  I’m still not too happy with it, but decided to let y’all see it.  Don’t make this mistake.  Let the ribbon be loose!  It’s not going anywhere – cuz it’s taped down in the back and then the panel is SNAILd to a mat.  So…don’t be like me! 🙂

I added a couple more of the Time of Year holly berry images, inked with my Stampin’ Write Markers, in the top corners, SNAILd it to its Mint Macaron mat, and then into my Very Vanilla card base.  I popped the card front on with more Stampin’ Dimensionals and the card was done.

I gave my Very Vanilla Medium Envelope a few more Time of Year holly berry images on the front…

…and then I embossed the flap in the Holly TIEF.

Et Voila!  Although I’m really (really!!) glad that Christmas is not in July (cuz I’d be soooooo behind!), I love this card.  Even with my glue malfunction!  I love the embossing, and I really love the color scheme.  And the holly images from Time of Year might be one of my favorites in this catalog.  Especially in Mint Macaron and Sweet Sugarplum!  I hope that you like it, too!

Scroll on down for the card cuts and all the goodies you need to make this for yourself! 

HOST CODE FOR 14 Jul – 31 Jul 16: J62ZFZYG

Use this host code when you order and receive a free gift from me! But, if your order is over $150, please don’t use this code (you’ll miss out on your own Stampin’ Rewards if you use it) but you’ll still get the free gift – your choice of any item valued up to $8.00 in the 2015-16 Annual Catalog.

GOING ON RIGHT NOW!

For every $50 you spend* between July 7 and July 31, you’ll get a $5 Bonus Days coupon that you can use between August 2–31, 2016! This is a great opportunity for you to get items from your wish list, whether you buy them now or with your coupons in August. This is the first time Stampin’ Up! has offered this type of promotion, and it’s a deal everyone will want in on!

NOTE: Bonus Days coupon codes will be delivered via email, so an email address is required to participate in this promotion. Stampin’ Up! cannot resend emails with coupon codes, so make sure you save the email and write down the codes in a safe place so you don’t miss out on the coupons you earn.
*Participants will receive a Bonus Days coupon code via email for every $50 they spend in a single order (catalog price before shipping and tax).

Details:

• An email address is required to participate in this promotion; Bonus Days coupon codes can only be delivered to participants via email.
  Stampin’ Up! strongly recommends that participants both save emails containing their Bonus Days coupon codes AND write down the coupon codes in a safe place—the codes cannot be resent if the participant loses the email, and Demonstrator Support cannot recover lost codes.
  
• Participants will receive a $5 Bonus Days coupon code via email for every $50 they spend in a single order (catalog price before shipping and tax). There is no limit to the number of coupons participants can receive per order or throughout the duration of the promotion. There is no limit on the number of coupons participants can use on an order during redemption.
  
• Bonus Days coupons codes can be used in the checkout process during the redemption period.
  
• All order types qualify for this promotion. Coupons can be redeemed on any order type.
  
• Email addresses must still be provided in order to qualify for Bonus Days coupons during the promotion period.
  
• Bonus Days coupon codes can be redeemed for any product, excluding Starter Kits and Paper Pumpkin subscriptions. New prepaid Paper Pumpkin codes can be redeemed.
  

Dates:

• Promotion period: July 7–31, 2016
  
• Promotion Deadlines: July 31, 2016 by 11:50 PM (MT)
  
• Redemption period: August 2–31, 2016
  
• Redemption Deadlines: August 31, 2016 by 11:50 PM (MT)

You can get this RMHC set – My Hero – by ordering it at any time!  The Host set – Time of Year – can only be purchased with Stampin’ Rewards.   Host a workshop – or place an individual order over $150 to earn the rewards dollars – and it can be yours! Drop me a line and I’ll tell you how!

I’ll be back tomorrow – hopefully with a sneak peek of the brand new – not even available to customers yet!! – stamp set called Thoughtful Branches.  Fingers crossed.  🙂

TTFN

Mary

STAMPIN’ UP! PRODUCTS USED IN THIS PROJECT:      

CARD CUTS FOR THIS PROJECT:

Very Vanilla Card Stock: 4 1/4″ x 11″ (card base, scored and folded at 5 1/2″); 4″ x 5 1/4″ (card front and inner liner); 2″ x 3″ (front sentiment panel); fussy cut sentiment banner from Time of Year

Mint Macaron Card Stock: 4 1/8″ x 5 3/8″ (mats for card front and for the inner liner); 2 1/8″ x 3 1/8″ (mat for front sentiment panel); Bunch of Banners die cut (mat for sentiment banner)

If you need any stamping supplies, I’d be very happy to be your Demonstrator. Just click on the Order Stampin’ Up! Online Now button on the right side of the screen to go directly to my online store or drop me an email if you have any questions. Happy Stamping!