It's Christmas in July at the beach! I'm on The Cut It Up Challenge today. Today's challenge is create your own background. Since I do this 99% of the time, this was a simple task for me. I rarely, if ever, use pattern paper.

We're in the middle of a heatwave, so I wanted to think about winter sports! Spellbinders' Winter Welcome Sled die set was perfect. It has a sled and ice skates to remind me of cooler days! Follow along with me and I'll show you how I made this sweet winter card.

To begin my background, I started off with Spellbinders' Sweater Weather embossing folder and a panel of Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 110lb cardstock. I love all the texture and the design. Tip: try using a panel larger than you need, emboss it, then cut down to desired size. You can use a die or a paper trimmer. The reason I do this is, with 3D embossing folders, the paper "shrinks" due to the dimension added. However, this is a regular folder, so it wasn't necessary.

Here, I lightly ran over the embossed parts of the panel with Azurite and Ultramarine ink pads from Altenew. This accentuates the pattern from the folder and gives added visual interest.

I added some white spatter to my background, using watered-down white gouache and Ranger's Splatter Brush. The effect is subtle here, but obvious in person. 

To add some shine, I spritzed Distress Mica Spray in Brushed Pewter. It sparkles in the light.

Here are the dies inclueded in the Winter Welcome Sled die set. It has everything you need for a sled, ice skates, a poinsettia, and greenery.

I was going to use traditional brown for the sled wood slats, but decided on blue instead. After die-cutting the wood, I ran my Azurite ink pad across the blue paper to resemble wood. This is a tip I learned from Gina K. The dies also create a wood grain pattern when cutting.

The assembled sled. I used matte silver cardstock for the metal sections. Some of the wooden pieces have holes, so you can see the silver peaking through. It appears to be attached to the sled there. Spellbinders always does a great job at adding little details like that to their products!

Finished ice skates. I used matte silver for the blades, white for the boots and dark grey for the laces and soles. I used Copics 100 and B000 to add shadows and a white gel pen to add highlights.

Greenery and poinsettia petals. I cut the plain branch from champagne glitter cardstock. I used Altenew Vanilla Creme ink to darken the middle of the poinsettia petals and a white gel pen to add highlights.

The sentiment was made with dies from Spellbinders' Classic Greetings die set. Every color I tried for the sentiment got lost in the background except for black. I didn't want to use it, so I added two sentiments together to make a "shadow." I used the same blue and silver as I did for the sled.

Finished card. I popped up the sled onto the panel and the panel onto a side-folding A2 note card. I hope you like this card and you're getting crafty to! Are you starting Christmas in July? Leave a comment and let me know!