Christmas in July - Holly Swag Merry Christmas

 I made six cards using this image.  I haven't used it before, but I thought it would be good with the Merry Christmas banners I needed to finish using up... and I knew it would look amazing with some watercolor pencils.

 I took this picture below because the pic above looks muted.  I thought this card needed some sparkle so I got out my pearl Shimmer Mists and sprayed each of the 6 images.  It's not shiny like Wink of Stella or sparkly like rhinestones or Stickles... it gives the paper a glow. 

On another post I talked about options for using this embossing folder.  Here I wanted the bulk of the snow towards the bottom, and little falling flakes towards the top.  How?  Turn the paper in the embossing folder.

I really like the watercoloring effect on this image.   I think next time...a purple ribbon!
Now all 12 banners are finished.  I have a set of circles to use - stay tuned!

Christmas in July - Merry Christmas, Santa!

 I really enjoy this Santa image.  I got out some country/woodsy DSP and cut different length banners to give Santa a background.

The new Stampin' Up! Pretty Label punch is perfect for my very favorite Merry Christmas stamp!  It also looks great backed by the Layering Ovals. 

Of course, Santa is watercolored.  I tried using the blender pen with  ink pads and I'm just not happy with the look so I stick with the watercolor pencils. 

Christmas in July - French Horn in Watercolor

I made 12 of these Merry Christmas banners.  If you've been following my posts all month, you'll see that I used them earlier - BUT they just didn't quite work.  I've been keeping them in a safe place until I found the perfect spot for them!

 Here we go.  I stamped and watercolored the ivy and ribbon then used gold Wink of Stella to color in the french horn.  SO sparkly!

In addition to using the Merry Christmas banner, the card just needed something.  I used my Softly Falling embossing folder and added some snow.

Please enjoy!  I have a few more cards that will pop up here. 

Stop by my Stampin' Up! blog to see a card each day. 
search for: Susan Vilar Stamps!

Follow me to see my daily creations in July, and my other creations during the year.

Christmas in July - Bouncing Here Today!

I really LOVE this Noel stamp.  It has a wood cut look that for some reason really speaks to me. 

I used a Cherry Cobbler base for this card, and some of the new Stampin' Up! DSP called Be Merry.

Click HERE to return to my Stampin' Up! Blog.  Check back tomorrow for the new Christmas Card.

Christmas Card Santa!

Here are two of my very favorite Christmas Card designs!  I LOVE the Santa Stamp - it's so Victorian!  The other is the wood-cut look NOEL stamp.  It's just spectacular by itself without much embellishment.

 On the Santa Stamp, I used the NEW Stampin' Up! Watercolor pencils.  They're SPECTACULAR!  Wait til you can play with them!

The NOEL is stamped in Emerald Envy ink, Stickles were added for the holly berries.  I used Real Red cardstock for the card base, and ribbon.

2016 Christmas Cards

I really love this stamp.  It has a wood-cut look and stamps well in any color.  I used some of my favorite Stampin' Up! Christmas paper - and color coordinated in reds and greens. 

First Birthday!

We have a family member celebrating his FIRST birthday today!

 Though we live quite far away, we send messages and packages his way often.

I made this birthday card for him.  Elmo is perfect for celebrating birthdays!

Christmas in July - July 25, 2015

Hello Santa!
July 25 it is, and this is one of my very favorite Santa images.  I've seen this before in a coloring book from years ago of "A Night Before Christmas".

He is a CTMH stamp I've had for quite awhile and will always use.  It's such a great image! 
I used lots of techniques on this card.  Water color, marker work, and Stickles!  Santa has to have some sparkle!

Christmas in July - July 18, 2015

This card I did some extra work on the inside.

I'm still in watercoloring mode - the bow and candle both got some attention.  These are again some of the CTMH stamps I've got - their sentiments are always very nice.  I like the sayings and fonts they use.

Christmas in July - July 17, 2015

Here's another one of the nostalgic CTMH Christmas stamp sets I so enjoy.  These images lend themselves so well to water coloring!

I wanted to keep the colors a little muted - it IS winter after all!  When everything is covered in snow, even the darkest house looks lighter.

Christmas in July - July 16, 2015

 It feels good posting on the Cricut and Crafts blog again!  I need to make a point, that's all.

This card is again a Close to My Heart design.  I love the Noel wood cut look.  It doesn't need much in addition.

Christmas in July - July 15, 2015

Here you have another of the Close to My Heart stamp sets I have for Christmas.  I don't have many.  I do love the old timey nostalgic look of the holly with the bow.

It sure seems like I dropped off the face of the Earth again...  trying to do as much crafting as I'd like and teach full time doesn't always work well.  SO even though I got the Christmas cards done in July.  I'm now finally posting them in November!

So bad.....
Here the rest of the cards are, by the dates I made them.  Please enjoy

Christmas in July - July 22, 2014

This card uses one of the new photo-polymer stamp sets from Stampin' Up called What's My Type.  It has so many possibilities! This stamp will get lots of use!  The catalog shows an entire alphabet stamped with the shapes.
Here, I used it as a type of awning (I hope that's the impression you get).
As I work with this set more often, I see endless possiblities - and have learned about getting the images lined up.  It takes only a little practice.  Once you get started, it's not as daunting as it seems.

The bottom piece of cardstock is the piece I tore from the card earlier this week - I couldn't just let it go to waste!
In the center snowflake are some more Christmas Red Stickles.

Christmas in July - July 21, 2014

LOVE this card!  It features a small piece of the Candlelight Christmas DSP, a double bow from the Cherry Cobbler seam binding, and NOEL!

This NOEL is so much more informal that the earlier card this month - but cute!  So why do I have a bow in the center of the middle image, you ask?  Because my original plan didn't quite work the way I wanted it to... but I didn't hate the image.  SO, I added some Christmas Red stickles to the package dots... and because the center NOEL was a little to crowded, the bow seemed to add some way to break up the "crowdiness"....  Yes, a new word!