Celebrating Christmas in July with the Dueling Darlings!

It's the 15th of July so that means it's time for another duel with the Dueling Darling Divas and Dazzlers.  This month our hostesses are Suzy for the Divas (my team!) and Debby for the Dazzlers.  These two spent Christmas together in December and knowing they would be the hosts for the month of July it would be a fun theme for this month.  As Suzy said "Plus, it was the perfect time to go shopping for paper, ribbon, embellishments, etc....all on sale!!  Can you say 'major shopping'!!!"
It seem a little strange when I'm sweltering in 100+ degree temps here in the Arizona desert to be creating Christmas cards.  I wouldn't mind having some December weather right now!

Suzy's card kit included these items:
Stamp set:  SU Christmas Lodge
DSP:  Ornamental Christmas pad (The Paper Studio)
Embellishments:  ribbon (Offray/Aqua; Ribbon Boutique/green), silver cord (stash), snowflake sequins (stash) snowflake dies (Poppy Stamps), bling (Gemstones/The Paper Studio).

I decided to make two cards this month from most of the lovely items Suzy included in her kit.  Here are my cards:

I added some red  and aqua cardstock from my stash to mount the DSP on.  I die cut the centerpiece and colored with my Twinkling H20s the sentiment and added the the silver cord.  The snowflake sequins were popped on two of the red snowflakes.  I used the CAS(E) this Sketch CTS# 330 as the basis for my design here:

For the second card I colored the SU Christmas Lodge stamped image with Twinkling H20s and die cut it and mounted in on a red die cut oval.  The only addition was the ribbon from the kit.  The design was based on the Freshly Made Sketches  FMS396 here:

Suzy challenged us "to share a recipe that you like to make at Christmas time."  Here is a favorite recipe I received from my Aunt Pearl when I was first married 56 years ago.  I make Christmas cutout cookies with this recipe every year with a friend's children.

Sugar Cookies

(Makes approximately 50 cookies)

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon lemon extract

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 cups flour

Cream together butter and sugar until well blended, add eggs, lemon extract, and vanilla extract and mix well.  Combine flour and baking soda and slowly add to the wet ingredients.  Chill in refrigerator a minimum of 1 hour.  Roll on well floured board to maximum 1/8 inch thickness.  Cut with cookie cutters.  Place on non-greased cookie sheet.  Bake in 400 degree oven 5-6 minutes or 375 degree oven for 6 - 8 minutes.  Cool thoroughly on absorbent material like paper towels or brown paper sack.

Decorate when completely cooled or sprinkle with decorator sugars prior to baking.  

Enjoy!!

Hope you'll check out the many lovely creations made by my paper crafting Dueling Darling friends on Splitcoast Stampers:

Divas

Kelly     http://sandcastlestamper.blogspot.com/

Barb      http://inkingintoretirement.blogspot.com/

Carol    http://lostinmycraftroom.blogspot.com/

Heather  https://landofstamping.wordpress.com/

Laura Jean http://buckygirl.blogspot.com/

Suzy     http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showgallery.php?si=SuzyS1104

Tami    http://blueinksdesign.blogspot.com/

Dazzlers

Jeanette    http://creativeplayischeaperthantherapy.blogspot.com/

Beth        https://www.sunflowers-dragonflies.ca/blog/

Debby B  http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showgallery.php?si=littledeb&x=18&y=13

Shelly      http://shellymc2.blogspot.com/

Terry L.   http://itstotallyterry.blogspot.com/

Terry S.  http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=11182

Tracie  http://tracie-craftycreations.blogspot.com/

Thanks for stopping by!