Scrappy trees

Valerie takes over as host at the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this month.

She has designed this sketch for us:

I thought about other ways to use the triangles, but came back to - Trees!

I use two different sized tree dies to cut bases from junk mail, then raided my strip scraps stash for pieces to build up the trees.

The reindeer is an old stamp, coloured with pergaliner watercolour pens and cut out. I printed the sentiment.

My background has a piece of thread looped around for texture - I dipped it in glue, wiped the excess off, then lowered it onto the card. With wax paper over it, I pressed it to adhere. I saw this on a Luisa Heinzl video - she then changed her mind and took the thread off to leave an impression in her gesso, but I liked the effect so have left mine. I brushed distress ink round the edge of the card, then edged the base and the sentiment in dark brown.

As the trees are quite thick due to the layers, I added pieces of card beneath parts of the second tree and sentiment to have them level, then put the reindeer on foam pads.

 

 

 

Neither of the photos show the texture that well, but I'm pleased with how these have come out, the trees are fun!

 

 

 

 

 

Now it's your turn. Visit the 52CCT blog for more inspiration and to enter your our card made with our sketch. The challenge closes on Friday 12th August.

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.

Vintage stag

It's time for Andreja L's colour challenge at the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. She's chosen shades of brown.

I've seen this frame idea a couple of times recently and wanted to emulate it.

The scene is very simple - one tree stamp, one stag stamp and one ink pad - potting soil archival ink. I used first, second and third generation for the trees, then repeat stamped the stag with my stamping platform.

For the background, I used pumice stone oxide ink, then walnut stain and frayed burlap for the stamping and stencilling over it. I added some holly to give a more Christmassy feel! Once the frame was adhered, I used a brown pencil to go round to add a little definition.

This was an interesting challenge - I would normally have added at least a touch of another colour. But I like the vintage feel and the calm this creates.

So now it's your turn - how will you use browns to make a card? Visit us at 52CCT to see the rest of the design team inspiration, and to share your card. The challenge is open for a week, until Friday 21st January.

Moonlight deer

Happy New Year!!

It's good to be back with the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown in 2022.

A slightly slow start due to covid visiting us over Christmas, and still making itself felt, but here's my first card, using the sketch Andreja L has set for the week.

I have rotated the sketch for my card.

The moon was made with an outer mask then a small gel plate with grey ink, splattered with water. I love the way this turned out!

The sky uses a Lavinia stencil and stormy sky oxide ink (both Christmas presents!). The mask inner was used.

The background trees are a Clarity mask, with iced spruce, bundled sage and old paper oxides.

I overstamped with archival inks and Lavinia stamps.

The die cuts are Tim Holtz (the tree) and Tattered Lace (the deer). I smooshed oxide onto them to colour them.

The sentiment is from an old set, stamped in archival, blue then grey the black at the bottom (using a stamping platform).

And black soot oxide blended round the edge, then black archival swiped on the edges, to frame.

 

 

This is what I think of as a very Lavinia style card, despite using a range of products. Lots of depth from the layers. It's good to be off the mark!

 

 

 

 

 

To join in, visit us on the 52CCT blog. You'll be able to see the rest of the design team inspiration, and share your card with us. You have until Friday 14th January to enter.

Snow Globe

Super quick post tonight, as I'm late again with my 52 Christmas Card Throwdown card for the week. At least I have already made my card for next week, so I have no excuse for posting that late!!!

Majda has chosen the theme of "Snow Globe". Such fun!

I wanted dimension in my card, like you're looking into the snow globe. I die cut the circle out of both sides of a card blank, and the front of a second one.

The stand is from a Clarity stamp, I edged the circle in silver sharpie, and added stars, some grounding, and brushed chipped sapphire ink around.

I used die cuts of trees and Santa between the back of the front card and the front of the back one. I attached the cards to make a "Z" shape.

The background is from my stash - I made it using brushos and gold mica powder, with clingfilm. I thought it looked quite magical behind my little scene.

I like the depth this design has created, it came together quite well. This Santa die is new, I'm very pleased with it.

 

 

 

 

To join in, visit us on the 52CCT blog. You have until Friday 22nd October to play along. Have fun!!

Feeling blue

Rosi has chosen "3 shades of blue" as her colour challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week.

I have used 3 archival ink shades - cobalt blue, cornflower blue and manganese blue. The card design is from a workshop I did with Angela Simpson in May.

I built the wreath with a stamp set I got secondhand and I suspect was from a magazine. It had the perfect stamps for a wreath so would guess this was one of the projects! I drew a pencil circle on the card, then used my stamp platform - placing the stamp then turning the card a quarter to stamp 4 times. I realised I didn't rub out the pencil mark - it doesn't show too much but might go back and do that!

The hills were created with torn paper and a sponge, with the cornflower blue. The tree is from an old rubber set, and the stag is a stand alone stamp I've also had for ages. I think the tree had ink left on it so came out a little more green than the cornflower colour - which works well for the card and I hope Rosi will forgive for the challenge!

The stars added interest in the sky, although I think I overdid them. The final touch was clear glitter in the berries and tree, however, my glue pen is obviously too old so came out yellow! Oops. I added blue mica instead of the glitter, to cover the yellow colour, which has worked. Again I ask Rosi's forgiveness for a fourth shade of blue!

To finish, I brushed the cornflower blue around the outside to give a subtle edge.

While I'm still in shock(!) that I haven't included a single snowflake on a blue card, I am very happy with this. It's a beautiful Winter scene, and the wreath gives a different aspect to it.

 

 

 

To join in, pop over to the 52CCT blog, where you'll see the inspiration from my DT colleagues and can enter your card. You have a week, to Friday 17th September, to join in.

Golden moon

Tracy has chosen an unusual colour combination for us at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week.

It took me a while to think of how to use these together to make a Christmas Card without getting dreary - any two I could do but not the three! Then I thought of the art of a friend of ours, Bridget Davies. She often uses gold leaf to surround her figures. I don't begin to aspire to her standard, but that gave me the idea for the gold background, which became the sky, even if I'm using paint rather than real gold!!

I created the moon first, using my round petite gel plate. I brayered on hickory smoke distress oxide, then flicked splashes of grey brusho.

I die cut a round paper mask for the moon and held it in position while I sponged on the gold paint. This gave a lovely crisp circle, much more than the gel plate had; I went over the edge of the gel printed circle.

The sleigh and trees I didn't originally intend to emboss, but the ink didn't stamp consistently across the paint and ink. This solved the problem - thank goodness I was using my stamp platform, I had to emboss twice to get the strong black.

The words across the sky are second generation black stazon, as I was stamping on paint. I held the mask in place again, although it slipped once - I don't think it is too noticeable, although I was very annoyed at the time!

I mounted on black card then onto a 6x6 card blank.

This is an unusally elegant card for me! I really quite like my gold background, the drama of the black against it, and the mottled detail on the moon (which you can't really see in the photo).

So now it's your turn to play with these colours - I can't wait to see the imaginative interpretations you come up with! The challenge is open for a week, until Friday 18th June. Check out the rest of the Design Team inspiration and share your card on the 52CCT blog.

A delicate snow flurry

I've had a little bit of a break, and now I'm back with a sketch card for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.

Tracy is our host for June, and she has chosen this layout for us.

I went with a simple stamped, layered card.

I have made versions of this card with dandelions, for new babies and a sympathy card. Here I swapped in snowflakes and this very elegant stamp set, which I got from a charity shop recently.

The stamping is in watering can archival ink, then I splattered with hickory smoke, iced spruce and chipped sapphire reinkers.

The colours in the splatters don't show that well in small photos, the card has a lovely delicacy.

 

 

 

To join in, head over to 52CCT. The challenge is open for a week, to Friday 11th June.

Inky tree

Branka is hosting the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown for April. This is the sketch she has chosen:

I got out my gel plate and distress oxides for this one, and used them with some snowflake stamps. However, it was the waste where I cleaned the brayer and stamp that I ended up using for this card.

I used one of the other prints to die cut the tree, and then contrasting scraps for the stars - and a bit of centura pearl.

I stamped the sentiment in chipped sapphire, to match the background. And sponged it around the edge of the card, and the tree.

 

This isn't my favourite card ever, it lacks contrast. Maybe I'll go back and change it up some time!

To play with this sketch yourself, head over to the 52CCT blog. You'll find the inspiration from the rest of the design team. The challenge is open for a week, you have until Friday 9th April to enter.

Welcome to 2021

 

Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's the first 52 Christmas Card Throwdown challenge of 2021.

I hope you'll join us through the year to build up a selection of cards ready to send to your loved ones when we reach the next festive season.

Andreja is our first host for this year, and here is the sketch she has chosen:

I got an oval frame die for Christmas so had to use that!

I started with cutting the oval inner, and inking with iced spruce distress oxide.

I cut trees and a deer with dies, and inked the deer with frayed burlap.

I put a little scene together, the  decided the "sky" was too plain. So I covered the other areas over, flicked water on and blotted, for a dappled faux bleach for some interest.

I cut the frame twice and layered up together for depth.

The sentiment I simply stamped onto a scrap in iced spruce, then layered onto card inked with frayed burlap.

For my base, I inked card in the frayed burlap again. It is identical to my kraft card so I could have used that, but wanted the smoother finish.

I inked a wood grain embossing folder with the iced spruce and ran the inked card through.

Plan A was to use string around the base for the green part of the sketch. This raised one side of the oval up a lot. I tried adding foam pads to lift the other side (plan B) but didn't like the effect. So I took the string and foam pads away and plan C was a flat card, relying on the wood grain for the vertical element.

 

 

 

This ended up with quite a Scandi feel, I like the crisp lines and soft colours (I tried to add brighter/more colours but they just wouldn't work!) 

To join us and kick off your Christmas card stash for 2021, head over to our 52CCT blog. You have until Friday 8th January to enter.

The final strait

 

For our final challenge of the year at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, we've given you plenty of choice. Just choose one (or more!) of the 44 challenges from this year, to play along.

I went back to the April theme challenge - my original card for this was about my favourite card I've ever made.

 

This card also qualifies for the March technique challenge,

and the March colour challenge - just about, there are hints of orange in the background.

The base of the card was made with brushos in olive green and leaf green.

The die cut birch trees were brushed with brushed corduroy distress ink.

The deer is a Clarity stamp, archival black on kraft card. I fussy cut it out. I scribbled round the edge of the stamped sentiment with a black drawing pen.

The front piece had the aperture cut, and I edged with the brushed corduroy. It has all been mounted on a 6x6 card blank.

 

 

I quite like the clean look of this, with the wildness of the brushos behind.

 

 

 

 

To play along as you finalise your cards for the year, visit us at the 52CCT blog. There's plenty of inspiration from my design team colleagues, and we're holding a DT call to find another member to join us.

All the challenges from the year are listed in the archives tabs for you to choose how to play.

For this one, you have until Friday 1st January 2021 to play along - so you can share cards you don't want to show until after Christmas!

 Happy crafting and a Merry Christmas!

Winter Wonderland

 Gill's theme choice for the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown is:

 

I wanted to create a snow scene with a bit of fantasy and sparkle.

The idea for this card started out as a 3D card, inspired by the gorgeous designs from our fancy folds challenge a few weeks ago. However, it's busy time of the year as we have a birthday as well as the run up to Christmas, so it became a flat card.

The background is violet, ultramarine and cobalt blue brushos. I stamped into them with a tree stamp and snowflakes, although it doesn't really show.

The die cuts are in Centura Peral hint of silver card. The dies I used are a tattered lace reindeer, Tim Holtz trees and large snowflake; I'm not sure of the brand for the smaller snowflakes.

The frame idea came from the original 3D plan. I saw a beautiful mixed media piece with a stamped background outside the frame, so used the same idea here.

 

 

As always, the camera doesn't capture the shine on the card, or how pretty the brusho background is - I think this is lovely in real life!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you are inspired to play along with this challenge. There's lots more inspiration from my design team colleagues on the 52CCT blog, as well as the link to enter. You have until Friday 27th November to join in.

A krafty blue deer

Majda has chosen blue, white and kraft for her colour pick on 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.

I usually struggle to use kraft card, and end up die cutting it. This time I went for a different approach and used the kraft as my base.

Starting with two pieces (in case one went wrong), I stamped across each in gesso, using a wooden tree stamp I bought second hand.

 

I added a moon with gesso on a sponge, masking the trees. I used two different sizes of moon mask to see how they looked.

 

For the blue, I dabbed distress oxides out onto my craft mat - broken china, faded jeans and chipped sapphire. I spritzed then swooshed the top of the card through.

I wiped the ink off the moon.

When they dried, I stamped a holly deer from Clarity onto each in versamark, and heat embossed in white. The different sized moons meant I had to position one higher and one lower for them to look right.

At this point I wasn't sure I liked them, they didn't have the feel I'd anticipated. However, when I cut them down to size (17x11.9cm for a 5x7 card blank) they came together somehow.

I framed each with a snowflake border wooden stamp. I mixed the gesso and heat embossing for a less uniform look.

I decided for the sentiment to use a blue drop shadow behind white embossing. Should be easy! However, I couldn't get the cobalt archival ink to dry - it must have been the surface. So the embossing powder stuck to my drop shadow as well as to the versamark. I brushed it off and tried heating to dry it, then left it overnight, then used my antistatic bag (which to be fair is nearly empty). In the end I had to leave it for a day then smother it in talcum powder to get the powder just where I wanted it.

To finish, I edged in the cobalt archival and mounted on the card blank.

 

These have ended up with a delicacy that I think is pretty, and are quite atmospheric. I don't often make scenes, this is the closest I get!

To join in with our colour challenge, head to the 5CCT blog. This challenge is open until Friday 16th October.

Christmas shadows

For her technique challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, Andreja has chosen 

There are some videos showing how to do this on the 52CCT blog.

I used my stamp platform, and tried a few different stamps.

I started by stamping in black archival ink.

I then moved the card left and down slightly to stamp again in versamark, and added white embossing powder and heated. I repeated this step to get a strong white.

This obviously makes the images sink back, so we need colour to bring them out again.

I added distress ink to an acrylic block and spritzed. I stamped off on spare card to take off the first "blob" of ink, then pressed it over my images repeatedly. The embossing resisted the ink, and the black showed through the translucent ink.

I love this one!

This one I was less sure about - I added more blue to the left, trimmed it down and stamped in colour and then black in the corners using a stamp from the same set as the tree.

This one didn't work at all! Maybe I could save it with some specific colouring, for the moment it's gone into the file of "to be rescued" pieces.

For the sentiment, I also shadow stamped. I used coloured distress inks first (co-ordinating with the cards). I used more than one colour on the words.

I moved the card slightly then added black archival. For the baubles I used a scrap of white card, for the tree I used an offcut with ink on.

I really like how the ink came out on this one, it's very pretty. The bauble is lovely too, I'm not sure I've used it before!

This one took a bit more work before I was happy with it, and I still don't like it as much as the first. But the colours are lovely and bright.






To try your hand at shadow stamping and join the challenge, head over to 52CCT.

As there are 5 Saturdays in August, you have two weeks to complete this challenge, it closes on Friday 4th September. Have fun!