Happy 4th Firecracker Card

Happy Summer Everyone! With summer official and the weather being hot, it is a good time for me to spend the hours away inside my Craftroom! I hope you are having a great summer so far!

I have many wonderful summer memories.  We moved almost one year ago and our last house had a pool. All our family and friends would come over to BBQ, swim, and celebrate holidays like Memorial Day & July 4th.  Independence Day was huge for us and we would spend $300-$400 easily on fireworks (Safe and Sane) to light off on our block.  My hubby is a huge pyromaniac and the kids loved it!  Our new house is in the hills. We don't have a pool and fireworks are not allowed. We haven't had any BBQ's and I'm not sure what we will do to celebrate the 4th this year.  Don't get me wrong, I do love my new house. There just isn't as much for guests to do here.  I figured I would make some 4th of July cards to send out since I probably won't be seeing friends and family this holiday. 

   I decided to make a Firecracker shaped 4th of July card. I wasn't sure what size to make it because it is so long and skinny. I ended up making 3.  This shaped card is from the Cricut Something to Celebrate cartridge. I love this cartridge. There are so many neat cuts and when I saw this one I knew it would make an adorable card.

I made the cuts at 6 inches, 7.75 inches, and 8 inches. The 7.75 inch card is perfect for a long narrow envelope that I have plenty of.  The 8 inch fits a little tight because of the many layers.  

I used Coordinations cardstock for all my layers. I ran the white layer through my Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder to give it some texture.  I double cut the stripes layer in both red and blue to give it an extra color.  The face is from Peachy Keen's Everyday Character Assortment.  I cut out extra layers to give the flame more colors and layers. I finished off with some red glitter at the center of the flame base.  

The star sentiment bubble is from the Artiste cartridge and I cut 2 layers. I used my K. Andrews Designs Stamps for the sentiments.  The striped firecracker base and the 3 layer flame is popped up with 1 layer of foam tape.  The head layer is popped up from the striped layer, and finally I popped up the white layer of the sentiment. 

I inked everything. I wanted to add some bling so I found some Red, White, and Blue rhinestones and added them to each sentiment. This little one will make a great tag on a gift or maybe a small card for my son.

I added a white layer and stamped the inside with another sentiment from the same set. I hope you liked my cards. They sure were fun to make!

I will participate in the following challenges:

Cuttin and Stampin- Week 25 4th of July

PDE Linky Party #13- Many Layers

My Craft Spot Monday Challenge #141- Shaped Cards

Craftin Desert Diva's Link It Up #34- Red, White, Blue

Die Cuttin Divas Challenge #171-I VowTo Thee My Country

Little Scrap Pieces- Anything Goes

Word Art Wednesday Challenge #138- Anything Goes

DL Art Thankful Thursday #135- Patriotic

Hope you have a blessed and crafty day!