Christmas, Again

It’s hard to believe it’s been over a week since I posted. I’ve been busy crafting, but not much I’ve made can be shared yet. I’m trying to work ahead for my Design Team commitments so when the summer schedule becomes hectic, I’ll be all set. And that’s soon to happen. The next week is the first of three where we’ll be spending lots of time with family, so the blog is likely to continue to be on the quiet side.

I did make a Christmas card for two Christmas challenges:  Christmas Craft Creations (Trees) and 52 Christmas Card Throwdown (Dry Embossing) that I can share.

When I was looking for my mermaid stamp awhile ago, I came upon an old Sizzix embossing folder of pine trees and immediately thought of these two challenges.

I started by die cutting a piece of Concord & 9th Evergreen cardstock with one of the dies from Gina K’s Master Layout 1, and then embossing it in the folder. Die cutting first keeps the embossed panel sharp. I used a brayer to add white pigment ink to the panel to enhance the trees.

I add it to the larger panel in the Master Layout 1 die cut with Gina K’s Cherry Red cardstock. It appears darker than it is in the first photo, but is the correct color here where I’ve embossed a sentiment from Gina K’s Holiday Tapestry in gold that was die cut with a Stitched Circle from Simon Says.

Next week is the first week in July. Someone told me that in their family, it marked the beginning of the end of summer! I was shocked. For school teachers in New York where school ended just last week, July marks the true beginning of summer. Despite the fact that I’ve been retired for 14 years (another unbelieveable fact!), I’ll be operating on an academic schedule for the rest of my life. And September always seems to be a new beginning, which I rather like.