Christmas Eve in Watercolour

For her last week as host at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, Jenny has set us a technique challenge.

 

I took a while to settle on a design for this, but these houses are something I'd wanted to try for ages.

I doodled the houses with permanent drawing pens on watercolour paper, then watercoloured them and fussy cut them out.

For the sky, I added masking fluid through a crescent mask for the moon, then splattered for stars. (Where the splatters were too heavy I just rubbed some off again.) I then watercoloured over with dark blue and purple, and when it was dry I rubbed off the masking fluid.

The Santa is a diecut, which I again coloured, and added lines with the drawing pen to tie it in with the houses.

I arranged the houses at the bottom of the card, glued it all down, then edged with black.

 

 

I am really happy with how this has come out, the houses were such fun to do.

 

 

And now it's your turn - let us see your watercolour cards. The 52CCT blog has loads of inspiration, and the link to share your card. Happy watercolouring!

Festive Florals

Jenny has a theme challenge for us this week at the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.

Red poinsettia may not be very original for Christmas, but they are so pretty! I used the stamp by Tina Cox from Claritystamp - I do love her designs.

I started by stamping text in black archival ink, then went over with brusho - brilliant red I think.

The white card is die cut, this is a Tim Holtz design. Part of the red card went behind, then I stamped the poinsettia on the rest, some on the text and some off to see the difference (not a lot), and fussy cut them out. I used a white gel pen to add highlights.

 

The first card was quite clean. I added the holly stamps from the same set, and a printed sentiment.

 

There was quite a lot of white space, so I tried something different for the second, with three flowers. I splattered the background with black gesso (watered down) for a grungier feel.

 

I do like this card, the lattice is so pretty, as well as the poinsettia, and the repetition of the red colour, and then of the white with the highlights, is pleasing to me.

 

 

But it'll be no suprprise that the busier grungier version is my favourite!

 

 

 

 

 

To play along with this challenge, click on over to our 52CCT blog. You have a week, until Friday 22nd July, to enter a card. There's loads of inspiration on the blog from the rest of the Design Team.

Happy crafting!

Simple reindeer

 

Jenny's colour choice at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week is fresh and bold:

 

I've opted for a CAS approach to this one - so it's WHITE red and aqua.

I ran my card through an embossing folder, the stamped the sentiment in black archival. I added the lines with a pen and ruler (with masking tape either end to get them even). I then added the little reindeer.

I tried a landscape version, but the folder edge marked the card when I put it at an angle, then the card warped when I tried to wetting it to get the crease out. I also didn't edge the card before embossing it, so the inked edge looks a bit messy. Hindsight is wonderful!

 

Maybe I'll remount it, with wide super sticky tape for the warping, and trimming the edge and using a matte behind instead.

 

 

 Simple, but quite stylish I think!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are lots more cards for inspiration on the 52CCT blog, then I'd love for you to share your own version of our colour challenge. You have a week, until Friday 15th July, to play along.

Rustic Stag

A new month and a new host at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown! Jenny is with us for July, and as always she kicks off with a sketch.

I used this gorgeous stag head die. I cut it from inked paper, then gently overstamped with a music stamp.

The circle is cut from brown card, embossed then highlighted with oxide inks.

Behind we have a strip from an old dictionary, which I inked to age, then stencilled holly leaves for a more festive feel. The other piece is card which I inked direct to paper in brown, then embossed and highlighted in red.

The background uses a tree stamp from Clarity, and forest moss oxide ink. Finally I matted it onto card I inked with brown, a bit of red, and then a very dark stazon ink around the edge of both pieces.

 

 

The photos don't show the warmth this has in real life. I do like the background, this is one of my favourite distress shades.

 

 

 

 

To play along with this sketch, pop over and visit the 52CCT blog. You have a week to join in, until Friday 8th July. Happy playing!

Embossed Snowflakes

 

Branka rounds off the month of June at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown with a technique challenge, and she's chosen:

I decided to use the letter presse technique, with stormy sky distress oxide. The ink only transferred around the snowflakes, not sure why, but it's very pretty!

After that I kept it simple - a white die cut snowflake, and printed sentiment. I added dyed lint behind to help it stand out.

At this stage, the background looked a bit much, it needed breaking up. Thread didn't work, I wanted something more open, so added the little die cuts from my stash, inked with chipped sapphire. I used water to faux bleach, to knock them back a bit, but think they're still a bit strong. Maybe needs another one at the opposite corner for balance.

 

 

Pretty, delicate, and also has the bonus of fitting with our June challenge at the Berkhamsted Creative Challenge of "Blue".

 

 

 

 

To play along with this challenge, come and visit us at the 52CCT blog. You have a week, until Friday 1st July, to play along.

 

 

 

 

Vintage stamps

 

Edit: I took my own advice and added a sentiment, with a brown drop shadow and coffee dyed lint to help it stand out. Still not perfect, but I'm much happier with it now it has a strong focus.

Branka has chosen "Vintage" for her theme week at the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.

This is such a great theme - and hard to do as it's so broad! It took me a while to settle on an idea.

My background is a letter to Santa that I wrote in Word, used an old fashioned handwriting font, then printed onto coffee dyed paper.

I folded and crumpled, and stained further with vintage photo distress ink.

The stamps are cut from design paper, inked, the mounted onto cream and cut with pinking scissors. You could use a small hole punch for a more authentic look but I didn't have time! I stamped postmarks onto them, and added the "1st" from a stamp stamp.

I added twine to add to the postage feel, and used a grey pencil for a drop shadow around the stampes to make them stand out.

The mount is an olive green, inked in brown.

I'm not sure this works completely. The background is a bit plain, and the composition a bit off, it needs more of a frame and a focal point. Maybe I'll tinker later - a die cut large sentiment in the olive green might work!

 

 

 

 

To play along with this challenge, hop over to the 52CCT blog for more inspiration!

The challenge is open for a week, until Friday 24th June.

Simple greenery

Branka has chosen a simple colour challenge for us at the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week - Green and White.

I'm continuing my simple card theme!

I printed the sentiment out vertically, and cut the card to size for DL cards. The stamp is from Lavinia Stamps. I used bundled sage and old paper distress inks.

I sponged bundled sage round the outside.

The only problem - these cards seem impossible to photograph! I have so many blurry pictures. Must be the white space - not usually a problem for me!

 

Very simple and easy, but I think also pretty.

To play along, visit us at the 52CCT blog. You'll be able to see the inspiration from the rest of the design team, amd enter your own green and white card. You have a week to join in, until Friday 17th June.