Welcome to InKing Royalty’s July Blog Hop! During this year’s blog hops, we are having fun with our stamping favorites – our favorite themes for seasonal cards and projects. This month’s projects feature Christmas! I hope you are in a Holiday mood because there is a lot of Christmas fun headed your way. We are excited to share our creations with you today! After you read my post, I hope you’ll hop over to the next person on the list at the base of this post.

I am a big fan of the NEW In-Color, Polished Pink. So this Christmas card is a non-traditional pink and green poinsettia. Some quick messy watercoloring for the poinsettia, a background created with one of the new decorative masks (available on August 3rd), and a Christmas card was born. Here is the color combination for my Christmas in July card.

Here is my card.

MEASUREMENTS & SUPPLIES

• PAPER
  • Thick Basic White Cardstock
    • 4-1/4″ x 11″ scored at 5-1/2″
    • (2) 3-1/2″ x 4-3/4″ front card panel & message insert
    • 3/4″ x 3-1/4″ backing behind vellum sentiment
  • Fluid 100 Watercolor Paper
  • Vellum: 3/4″ x 3-1/4″ for sentiment
• STAMP SETS
  • Poinsettia Petals
  • Quiet Meadow
• DIES
  • Poinsettia dies
  • Artistic dies
• INKS & MARKERS
  • Polished Pink Ink Pad
  • Granny Apple Green Ink Pad
  • White Craft Ink Pad
• OTHER SUPPLIES
  • Elegant Faceted Gems
  • Multipurpose Liquid Glue
  • Dimensionals
  • White Embossing Powder
  • Clear Embossing Powder
  • Adorning Designs Decorative Masks (Available Aug 3rd – item #156328)
• TOOLS
  • Trimmer & Paper Snips
  • Bone Folder
  • Heat Tool
  • Stamparatus or Acrylic Blocks
  • Blending Brushes
  • Water Painter
  • Stampin’ Spritzer

CREATING PIECES & PARTS

POINSETTIA BUNDLE

I always like to begin by die-cutting as many poinsettia parts that will fit onto a sheet of the Fluid 100 Watercolor paper. When you have all those pieces, you can make design decisions quickly and maybe even make a couple of tags or another card from the odd bits. Cut the branch of leaves using the Artistic dies too.

Do a quick messy watercolor wash on the poinsettias with Polished Pink ink and the leaves with Granny Apple Green ink. Dry with the Heat Tool. Then add another layer of color. Dry with the Heat Tool again. Then spritz the pieces lightly with water to get a mottled effect.

Assemble the layers with a Dimensional between each layer. Take the leaves off the branch and arrange with the poinsettia. Add the berry branches to the back and set aside while you create the background.

BACKGROUND

Lay the striped mask over the card panel. TIP: Check the edges to ensure that they will be covered by your stripes. Using the Blending Brush, add Polished Pink ink lightly onto the card panel. Hold the panel and mask securely so that it does not move. Start the ink off the panel and drag it onto the panel from the edges. Work from the outside in. Remove the mask and lightly add Polished Pink ink to the edges of the panel. TIP: Spritz the mask with water and press it onto other card panels for future projects. Don’t waste that good ink.

I think everyone should have the Quiet Meadow stamp set. In fact, get it and leave it on your work table. You will be reaching for it to add fun interest to almost any card. I used the dot scatter to add white embossed dots onto my background. Stamp the dot scatter with White Craft ink and heat emboss with white embossing powder.

While you have the supplies out, add some fun stripes to the envelope flap.

SENTIMENT

Stamp the sentiment with Granny Apple Green on vellum. Add Clear Embossing Powder and heat emboss. Then add a white cardstock layer under the vellum to make it POP! I adhere the vellum layer to the white cardstock backing with Multipurpse Liquid Glue. Use a light layer of glue and it will not be noticeable. Put 3 Dimensionals behind the sentiment.

ASSEMBLY

Assemble the card as shown. Add some Elegant Faceted Gems to make your card even more gorgeous.

Stamp a sentiment on the message insert. I also added a swoop of Granny Apple Green watercolor and a small poinsettia die-cut.

Thank you for stopping by today.  I hope you’ll hop along to the next stop on the Christmas in July blog hop, Renae Novak at Blessed by Cards. There’s lots of inspiration to be found in this group – and you don’t want to miss it!

Thank you for hopping along with us and enjoyed a bit of Christmas in July.  If you get stuck during the Blog Hop, please use this line-up as a guide:

1. Brian King at Stamp with Brian
2. Sheryl Sharp at Sharp Notes by Sheryl
3. Jackie Beers at Blue Line Stamping
4. Marylin Jones at Stamp with MJ
5. Pam Morris at Tap Tap Stamp
6. Ann Murray at Murray Stamps Ink
7. Renae Novak at Blessed by Cards
8. Sue Jackson at Just Peachy Stamping
9. Lynn Kolcun at Avery’s Owlery

We all love to see your comments. Do you like the project? Are you going to try the technique? Would you like additional details? Are you interested in learning more about Stampin’ Up! and the wonderful products and friendships that are available?

SUPPLIES

Please go to the online blog if the supply list is not visible in your email.