Christmas in July

The weather here is undoubtedly hot!  Highs in the upper 90s and high humidity doesn't really make for a feeling of Christmas, but I wanted to make some anyway!  I should have listened to the song by Jimmy Buffett's "Christmas in the Carribbean" while making these because that sure is what I felt like!  

So here are the thre 3 versions of Christmas card I made, and in showing these I think I need a bit of advice as well on one of them, so I am open to suggestions!

I will start with my Gingerbread Man!  The background paper on this is a fun pattern and kind of shimmery (although you can't really tell in the picture!  And, the bright green that you see (in the words "Jolly," "Joy" and the end part of "Christmas") is fuzzy!  Too fun!  So I thought a Gingerbread Man from Stretch Your Imagination would be appropriate.  I just colors him in with marker and my white gel pen.  The "Merry Christmas" Stamp is one I have had in my stash as well and thought the fun font of that stamp would work well!  A little doodling, and done!

My next card is a bit more sophisticated looking, but the same style as the Gingerbread Man!  This background paper doesn't have any fuzziness to it, but I like what the text was on the paper.  The big "Believe" is what sold it for me.  That could mean many things.  believing in Santa, believing that Reindeer can fly, believing in the magic that is Christmas, or believing in the true meaning of Christmas.  Because the paper looked more sophisticated, I decided to cut the beautiful reindeer from my Christmas cartridge that was free with Gypsy upgrade.  I have been wanting to use this guy for a while (okay since last year when I did the download) but I thought this year I am going to use him!  The "Believe" stamp was once again in my stash and I loved that font as well (there isn't much I don't like is there?).  A little doodling and done!

Alright, my last one (I swear I am almost done!) Is more along the fun lines, but this is where some advice would help me out a lot!  My hubby and I LOVE Christmas lights, as a child my hubby's parents would deck out their house, and I have seen picutres.  It is clearly reminiscant of the Griswald house in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  He was with me at Joann's one day, and he pulled this paper off the rack and said "I love it."  I had to buy some and thought it would be perfect to cut out a cute Christmas Tree and put it over top.  The background shape of the light paper is a frame from Storybook, while the tree is cut from Designer's Calendar.  I love this fun, funky tree...  However, once I put it together, the tree kind of gets lost.  I want to keep it simple, but would love ideas on how to make the tree stand out a bit more.  It's too narrow to pop-dot (already tried that), but don't want to go too crazy with embellishments (as mass producing these suckers would take forever!  Any suggestions? 



I hope you enjoyed looking and THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for stopping by!  I really appreciate your time!

Hugs and Paper Love,
Mary