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.

Christmas in Autumn?

Goga's final challenge as host of the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown for April, is a technique - Emboss Resist.

I'll let you into a secret - I was going to choose this for my month, but Goga got there first. So I'm obviously very happy with the challenge!

The scene is stamped - from an old Hobby Art set - and heat embossed in white, on watercolour paper. I then coloured with distress inks and a water pen. I realised that, with the white embossing, I couldn't do white snowy rooves or fields, so it doesn't look very Christmassy!

I wasn't sure if this was "resist" enough, so repeated the technique on the background. This time I stamped the poinsettia and heat embossed in white again. I then dipped this into the leftover ink on my mat from my colouring. This meant the colours matched beautifully, but it was very pale, so I added more ink, repeating until I got the intensity I wanted. I blended walnut stain ink around the outside to frame.

The frame and snowflakes were die cut from watercolour paper. I raised the centre up (with foam tape) to help the snowflakes stand out from the background.

 

It looks more Autumnal than Christmas, but never mind! I do really like the colours, especially in the background, against the delicate white lines.

 

 

 

 

To play along with this fun and versatile technique, pay us a visit at the 52CCT blog. You can see the amazing inspiration from my DT colleagues, and link your own card up. You have 2 weeks to play along with this challenge, as there are 5 Saturdays in April, it closes on Friday 6th May.

Happy crafting!

Snowball fight!

Goga has chosen "Children" as her theme for April at the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.

 

This is children on the card, rather than a card for a child - I had thought about making something for my daughter!

I used the Clarity frame dies for this card. 

The background has snowflakes heat embossed in white, then I added prussion blue brushos. While this dried, I made the topper.

I die cut the frame first - it cuts the holes out of the card - then masked to leave the central square. Using denim adirondack ink and a sponge, I created the hills with torn paper, then added the children and trees, all Clarity stamps. I then cut down around the frame.

I die cut the background with a larger die, and trimmed that too. I sponged the denim ink around the edge to give a stronger contrast with the white card.

This all went onto a 7x7 card blank.

I haven't done one of these little scenes for ages - at one time they were my crafting go to!

The background I really like - one of my favourite techniques. And the dies finish it nicely, give another element.

To join in with this theme, visit us at the 52CCT blog - you can check out the beautiful cards from my DT colleagues, and share your card. You have until Friday 22nd April to play along. Enjoy!

Frosty snowflakes

Goga is our host at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this month, and she has chosen a lovely frosty set of colours for us to play with.

 

I had to go with snowflakes for these!

I made my backgroundwith distress oxides (mainly stormy sky, with a bit of faded jeans and chipped sapphire) and a silver pigment ink. I haven't used pigment ink for a while, I had to use washing up liquid to clean the sticky off my stamps!

A mixture of stamps and stencils built up the pattern. I love doing these, it's such fun to put things together.

I die cut the large snowflake from centura pearl card. The sentiment was die cut from a scrap, stamped in the pigment ink and edged with stormy sky. Then it and the background were edged in cornflower blue archival ink.

 

 

Impossible to photograph the shimmer on the die cut or silver ink, and the photo also loses some of the drama. But hopefully you can see the prettiness!

The challenge is open until Friday 15th April - pop on over to the 52CCT blog to see all the Design Team inspiration, and to share your card with us.