Triple round baubles

Tracy's final challenge as host of the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown is a technique.

I decided to change it up by using circles instead of rectangles. I have a nested set of dies with narrow increments, although the borders are still a little wider than usual I think.

I stamped the image, and embossed in black. For the colour I used pergaliner pens, and a waterpen. The background is coloured with bundled sage distress ink.

Finally, the sentiment is printed with a fun font.

I put the image onto a 5x5 card blank.

 

Bright and colourful, with a different twist!

 

 

 

 

 

 

To play along do head over to our blog 52CCT. The design team have some wonderful cards. You have until Friday 4th June to join in with this challenge.

Nativity Wreath

Tracy's theme choice at the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week is Nativity.

This gave me a bit of a challenge - not being religious, I don't have any Nativity stamps or images. And I don't receive Nativity cards for the same reason. However, my mum came to my rescue, and we found a Nativity scene in her cards from last year.

To make the card my own, I cut the card into a round topper with a die, focussing on the three figures at the centre and losing most of the rest. I die cut a black frame to match, then various foliage dies, including ivy and some generic ones. These were arranged into a sort of wreath - more of a sun burst!

The background is stamped and stencilled, using colours to tie in with the topper. I edged with a black marker, to tie in with the foliage frame.

 

This is definitely a first for me! Old Christmas cards usually become tags not toppers. I do like the drama of the black, I think it would look very different done in greens, or white. Another idea to try sometime!

 

 

To play along, visit us at the 52CCT blog. You'll find all the inspiration from the design team, as well as the link to enter your card. The challenge is open for a week, until Friday 27th May.

Happy crafting!!

Christmas Fairy

Tracy's colour selection at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown is festive through and through!

I got this stamp set years ago, and have wanted to colour this image, so this seemed a good opportunity.

The inital layers are watercolour, a mixture of distress inks and markers, and pergaliner markers. But the image was a little detailed for watercolour, so I went back in with my polychromo pencils.

The background frame is stencilled in bundled sage distress ink, and both pieces are edged with red sharpie.

It's not great, but it was relaxing to do, and it's all practice.

 

 

 

 

 

 To play along, pop over to the 52CCT blog, check out the great inspiration from the design team, and enter your own card.

This challenge closes on Friday 20th May.

Faux Printed Christmas Tree

It feels like a long time since our last 52 Christmas Card Throwdown challenge - only two weeks really.

Tracy is with us as host this month, and she kicks off, as always, with a sketch.

I've added some wobble to Tracy's layout. All the pieces are torn with the deckle edge on my blending mat.

The base has been inked and splattered with antique linen and pumice stone oxides.

The music pieces were printed then grunged with inks.

The design papers are from my stash.

I love this topper, if I do say so myself! I put the stamp in my stamping platform, then used distress markers to selectively ink up and restamp, to get the different colours where I wanted them. It's come out better than I hoped, doesn't really looked stamped, more like a print. Now I need to go through my other stamps to see which ones this technique will work for!

I printed the sentiment using a downloaded font.

Once put together, I went round each piece with a dark grey inktense pencil and a water pen, to give depth.

I really like these warm, grungy colours, with the pop from the central tree, and the old, well worn and well loved feel.

 

 

 

 

 

To play along, visit us at the 52CCT blog. You have until Friday 13th May to enter your card.