Christmas in July

All over the cardmaking universe, it seems to be Christmas in July! And what better time to make Christmas cards than in the middle of a heatwave? So I gathered some supplies and a few challenges, and got to work. 
Both my cards are inspired by my friend Jo's Christmas Kickstart Challenge, where the current theme is Hatty Christmas. For my first card, I was also inspired by the current challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch: 

Although I turned the sketch and took a few other liberties, I think the inspiration is still clear. I love this pair of bears from Picket Fence Studios! Their little in-turned feet are so cute. The only drawback for me with this stamp is the bear cub's hat and scarf are solid, so if it's stamped in black, he's wearing a black Santa hat with a black scarf. This is where making Christmas cards in July is helpful: there's time to decide on a workaround. ;) For this card, I stamped the top half of the cub again in red so I could cut out the hat and scarf and paper piece them. I also added some sparkle, because why not? For the background, I cut masks with a curved die and blended the path with mauves and blue. Then I masked the path and stencilled some sparkly snowflakes on the banks. I used one of the mauve inks to sponge the background colour for the sentiment as well as the border of the card base itself. 

My second card features a hatted snowman instead of a bear: 

This snowman is from the same stamp set as the bears, and I like him too! For the background, I masked off the bottom of the watercolour cardstock panel with some torn masking tape then used Twinkling H2Os and the plastic wrap technique for a sparkly sky. While it dried, I painted my snowman with Gansai Tambi watercolours. Once the sky background was dry, I added some white watercolour and iridescent medium so the snow would sparkle, too. The same sentiment as above seemed to work with this card, too.  

I'm also adding these cards to the Christmas in July challenge at Shopping Our Stash (while the bears and snowman are only a year old, the sentiment is ancient) and Fezziwig's Festive Frolics where anything festive goes. (Any challenge with a Dickens reference is a winner for me!) 

I'm hoping to build up my Christmas card stash even more this weekend! Time will tell... ;) 

Supplies: (bears) Neenah white & Stampin' Up basic black cardstock, Picket Fence Studios A Christmas Walk & Hero Arts Snow Much Joy stamps, Versafine onyx black & shaded lilac, milled lavender & tumbled glass distress inks, Wow clear gloss & clear sparkle embossing powder, Copic markers, Memory Box Winter Tiny Snowflakes stencil, iridescent glitz glitter gel, Sugar Pea Designs card front element builder die, Spectrum Noir clear glitter marker; (snowman) Canson watercolour paper, Ranger/Tim Holtz distress watercolour cardstock, Picket Fence Studios A Christmas Walk & Hero Arts Snow Much Joy stamps, Versafine onyx black ink, Wow clear gloss & clear sparkle embossing powder, Gansai Tambi watercolours, Twinkling H2Os, Winsor & Newton iridescent medium, foam tape