I grew up in a part of the country that didn’t have lightning bugs, so it wasn’t until I was an adult visiting my in-laws in North Carolina one summer that I got to see them up close and in person. The the lightning bugs were as magical to watch in person as seeing them on tv and reading about them in books. So, when the Summer Nights kit arrived I immediately remembered spending a quite evening at my husband’s Grandmother’s house in North Carolina, sitting on a wood porch swing, and having good conversation while watching my young daughter experience the magic of watching lightning bugs for the first time. And, quite frankly, watching lightning bugs is a great distraction from the sweltering heat and humidity of the South.

Summer Nights features images of lanterns, fireworks and lightning bugs (or fireflies depending on where you’re from).

In addition to a Night of Navy mini ink pad, the kit also contains all the supplies to make the nine cards and six paper bag lanterns featured in the above image. Stampin’ Up also released an add-on kit containing more card bases and coordinating envelopes.

I have two alternate card ideas to share. These cards are made with the card bases from the add-on kit because I got so excited and used up the ones in the kit before I started creating alternatives.

On this first card, I dug out April’s Paper Pumpkin kit, My Wonderful Family, and used the negative from the tree punch out as a stencil to create the branch coming across the sky.

This second card, doesn’t use the stamp set at all. Even though it’s still summer, I have Christmas cards on the brain, so I dug out my Merry Moose stamp set and created this peaceful holiday card.

I didn’t use the stamp set from the Summer Nights kit on this card, but this goes to show that you can always use the kit supplies and combine them with other items you have in your crafting stash.

That’s it for this month. I already have the August kit sitting at my table ready to play with.

At the end of the month, I’ll be holding my first in-person workshop since we went into quarantine back in March. You can find the Meetup details here.