Christmas in July

Don't you just love getting fun mail? I sure do!! Yesterday afternoon I received a real treat. It was just like Christmas in July!!! I participated in the Gallery Comments Contest on Splitcoaststampers last month, and I found out on July 1 that I was one of five randomly drawn winners. Boy, was I surprised! Anyway, my prize package, sent by the sweet contest hostess, Anita, arrived yesterday. Just take a look at the fun goodies she sent me! And all for doing something I enjoy doing anyway, browsing the galleries of fantastic card creations on SCS and commenting on the cards I like. Sweet!

And speaking of Christmas in July, that is what the card I enjoyed making today is all about! I was inspired by these colors
and this card sketch.

I was also inspired by a third challenge to try my hand at making my own buttons, either from fabric, paper, plastic, polymer clay, wool, etc. I had read about making faux buttons from paper on the {ippity} blog in May, so that's the route I took. I'm glad I tried it, but I doubt I'll make faux buttons again. I have so many actual buttons in my vast collection, in so many different colors, that I can't imagine many situations in which I'd need to make my own! And I have to say, it was rather time consuming. So, been there, done that, don't need to return. Finally, here's my result of all that inspiration.

Oh, there's one more thing I wanted to say about my Christmas in July card. A few days ago I saw this fabulous card by fellow SCSer KopyKat. I thought her image treatment was just beautiful! I've tried this Poppin' Pastels technique with chalks before, but was never happy with it. So I was determined to try it again and did so on this card with that fabulous amaryllis image from Flourishes. I'm much happier with my results this time around and so pleased with my first Christmas card of the year!

For the supplies used in this card project, please click here. Thanks for stopping by!