Christmas in July and a Summer Sunflower

I jump-started my Christmas cards with this one.  The stamp is by Outlines, and I used Copic and Spectrum Noir markers to color it in.  The glitter is crystal, and it's made by Stampendous.

Here's a birthday card that I made for my sister using the sunflower dies from Spellbinders.  I inked the sunflower and leaf with inks by Stampin' Up (Tangerine Tango), Palette (Sunflower), and Hero Arts (Field Greens & Cup O' Joe).  I adhered the sunflower to the left panel of the gatefold card and the leaf to the right side.  The crystal glitter is by Stampendous, and the green is a very old one from Stampin' Up.  The paper is from a 6 x 6 pad by Die Cuts With a View.  I used gold and clear sequins in the center.

Thanks for looking, and Happy 4th of July!!

Tip for Using Intricate Dies

Do you find it frustrating to poke all of those itty bitty pieces out of your intricate dies? I tried this today, and it worked really well. If you have a Cricut/Silhouette mat, stick the die to the mat. Burnish it well, being careful not to rip the die cut. Using a spatula tool or sharp craft knife, peel the die cut off the mat, again being very careful not to tear it. Of course, you'll have to scrape all of those pieces off your mat, but I found that to be much easier than trying to poke out all of those pieces out of my die. I only had to poke a few. This works best with a mat that isn't super-sticky, so hold on to those old mats.

If you don't have a die-cut machine, I think low-tack/masking tape will work just as well.


Have fun, and remember to be your crafty self!