Bowl Full of Cherries

I was at the pharmacy without children last night so picked up Paper Crafts Card Creations Volume 10.  I was going to put it back until I got to the Holiday section.  Then I was inspired!  I loved the red striped card on page 117 by Jacqueline Nimrichter  (see below).  Since I am always looking for fantastic ways to use scraps, I had to try it.  I decided to use green since I rarely have much red scraps.  My stripes are wider - 3/4 of an inch rather than 1/2.  I'd love to try it thinner but even with 3 paper cutters, none of them do 1/2 inch well.  If you have one that does, please let me know the brand!

My green seemed more spring or summer than Christmasy so I thought I'd make some teacher thank you cards with an apple but I think every teacher gets tired of apples.  I wanted to celebrate summer and cherries always mean summer.  The set is Stamping Up's retired Tart and Tangy set.  Interestingly, I could not get my SU Real Red to give me good coverage no matter what type of conditioning I did on the stamp so I pulled out TH Barn Door and it was perfect!  Has anyone else had trouble with Real Red?

I couldn't decide whether I like the red boarder or not.  It does give the card a bit more oomph but I love how the eye is drawn the smaller amount of red in the first card.  What do you think?  Either way, what a fantastic way to make your own DP and both cards were made completely from my scrap bin, including the bases.  I think I'm going to challenge myself to try this with different colours and see what other effects I can create.

Challenges this Card Meets:
MilkCoffee - Use those Diecuts (Circle and Scalloped Circle)
Oldie but Goodie - Anything Goes  (Stamp is 2011 Sale-abration. Green paper is over 2 years, left over from cousin's wedding invites.)
Simon Says - Anything Goes