Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Christmas in July

'We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave': are you all tired of singing that song yet? I know most of us are in the middle of a heat wave here in the U.S. I live in a house that's over 100 years old and without air conditioning so I have never been happier to have to go to work everyday as I am now. Sunday and Monday were my days off this week. On Sunday I felt fine, but on Monday I didn't feel 'hot', I just felt very sick and lethargic. All I wanted to do was lay down and sleep. Then I got frustrated with myself because I always have so much I want to do on my days off, and all my body wanted was to do sleep. It was not cooperating! Heat doesn't usually bother me, I'm usually freezing, even on warm days I'm cold, but I think the duration of the heat wave is starting to bother me. Yesterday my shift ended at 3:00 and I usually 'rush home to get things done', instead I decided to go to the mall where it was 'cool' and do some much needed shopping. I recently lost 30lbs and I am in desperate need of new clothes. All my old clothes are just falling off me (or as my husband teases 'I now wear clown pants') but I didn't want to take the time to go shopping so I've just been pinning them with safety pins. I look ridiculous I know, but I'm not a clothes person and consider them such a waste of money. Anyway, I wasn't even sure what size I was and even though I'm smaller now I still feel large so I kept grabbing larger sizes like a size 8 since I knew I wore size 10 before I lost weight. I had to keep going back on to the sales floor to grab smaller and smaller sizes and finally ended up with a size 4 in pants/skirt and a size small for a top. Wow! No wonder my old clothes didn't fit. But I also think sizes have gotten bigger. I use to be a size 8 in high school and no one I knew was a double 00. That size didn't even exist. I think a size 8 is now the new size 4 and a double 00 is probably a size 4. LOL! Gosh, what merchants have to do to make us overweight consumers feel better about ourselves so that we buy more clothes!

Anyway, enough rambling, I said all that just to set you up for some Christmas Cards because I think we could all use some cooling off right now and thinking of Christmas will surely help. As most of you already know, I play the Christmas Card Challenge on Splitcoaststampers. I make four Christmas Cards a month, so that by the end of the year I'll have about 48 Christmas Cards and I won't have to drive myself crazy trying to get them done in November/December.

Here is my first card. My image is a digital image from Heather Ellis. My sketch is from Penny Black, and my papers are Basic Grey 'Eskimo Kisses'. I put Liquid Applique on her hat and boots and Stickles on the tree lights. My next card uses a digital image from Dustin Pike. It's an old one, so I don't think it's available anymore. I put Liquid Applique on the cat's hat and the stocking. The paper is from Papertrey Ink, and the sketch is unknown.


Here's a close up of this sweet little kitty for you:






This card uses an digital image from Blackleaf Studios called 'Traditional Christmas Stamps'. The paper is from Papertrey Ink and the sketch is by MFT (MFTWSC9). The ornament is popped up on dimensionals and there is a crystal in the center.






And finally, for my last card I used a sketch by Verve and paper from DCWV 'The Winter MatStack'. The snowflake was cut with a Sizzix die and covered with glitter. The image is from the Dollar Bins at JoAnn's Fabrics and Crafts.





Stay cool and Have a Great Day! Amy






9 comments:

  1. Amy, these are all so adorable.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a great pleasure to see all your wonderful cards. You gave me inspiration for making one of my own. I love your first card so much!! Thanks, Hugs Ageeth xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. These are beautiful! What an honor to get one of your cards at Christmas time.

    ReplyDelete
  4. i love all the textures you added! beautiful holiday cards! love them all!

    ReplyDelete
  5. lovely cards Amy - you are so creative with them.
    Blessings
    Maxine

    ReplyDelete
  6. Such "cool" cards! I bet you were scurrying trying to find a place with AC!! ACs around here are dying from overwork. Incredible heat. Your cards are so cute. Love the layout of #1...fantastic papers. Cute little window idea for the second and beautiful artwork on the last two. You are so amazing. Wonderful collection of cards. So glad I get to peek into your art world so often!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh my gosh...30 lbs is awesome. Congrats. That must have been some fun shopping. Your Christmas cards are wonderful. I love them all.

    ReplyDelete
  8. These are all adorable Amy :) we all have to get ready early , avoiding all last minute panic :) beautiful work x

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow Amy this is a stunning selection of Christmas cards all so wonderfully different I love each and every one, I wish I could lose weight like you have it must be a wonderful feeling to have lost so much and to be able to treat yourself to some new clothes, well done you.
    Hugs
    Lorraine x

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving a comment. I love feedback from my readers. If you have a blog, I always return the love by visiting within a week whoever leaves a comment.