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Saturday 27 August 2022

Layered (but not) snowflakes


 

Valerie's final challenge as host of 52 Christmas Card Throwdown is "One Layer CAS".



This was a bit tricky for me, as it's not my usual style - all the white space ideas I had involved layers of die cuts! Or I kept going back to this card I made in July. 

But I got there.

I stamped the sentiment first, in stormy sky oxide ink, then heat embossed with clear powder. I masked it with a strip of sticky note, then stamped the snowflakes. This is a layering stamp set from Simon Says Stamp. I stamped the base first, and added the white powder, then the top layer with gold powder. The white was hard to see so my lining up wasn't perfect! I then heated both layers together.

Finally I brushed stormy sky oxide over the side (with the mask still in place) to make the snowflakes pop out.

 

 It definitely looks better when you can see the shine!!

 


So I hope this is clean and simple enough for Valerie!

 

 

And now your turn.

You have until Friday 2nd September to visit us at the 52CCT blog and share your card.

Tuesday 23 August 2022

Vintage sleds

 

Valerie has chosen "Skiing or Sledding" for her theme challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. Such a fun inspiration!




I decided to use some vintage images from design paper to fulfil the theme. I edged them in vintage photo, then layered onto hand made paper.

My background is a Christmas napkin. I drew spirals onto my card in black and grey pen, glued the top layer of the napkin down, then knocked it back with white gesso. I inked the edges in vintage photo.

I added coffee dyed lint fabirc and a strip of crochet lace under the toppers.

I stamped "Joy" on the right, and some crosses, and heat embossed in gold. I also used an embossing pen to add touches of gold around the edge.


 

The matte behind is bright red polka dot paper, I inked it with aged mahogany to get a more vintage feel.

This is a DL size.

I also made a 5x7 version, but don't like it - the Merry Christmas is wonky and the black writing looks odd. It'll go in the "I'll fix it when I have time" box.




This is the first time I've used a napkin like this, I like the pen marks showing through.

 

 

I'm looking forward to seeing what you all come up with! The challenge is open until Friday 26th August on the 52CCT blog. Happy crafting!

Saturday 13 August 2022

Framed Baubles


Valerie, our August host at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, has chosen a very pretty colour combination. It's not traditionally festive, but nonetheless is opulent and has a Christmas vibe (to my eye!).

 


I made this card as part of an online workshop with Angela Simpson.

The two layer frame was die cut with square stitched nesting dies. The baubles and foliage were stamped and embossed, then coloured with distress oxides and a water pen. I fussy cut them out (not my favourite job!) then arranged them inside and outside the frame.



As always, gold is hard to photograph, this was the best I could do to show the shine.

The frame does give a strong structure to the card, such a neat technique.

 

 

 

 

So now, over to you. Do pop over to the 52CCT blog to see the rest of the design team cards for inspiration. The challenge is open until Friday 19th August.

Saturday 6 August 2022

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.

Saturday 23 July 2022

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!

Saturday 16 July 2022

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!

Saturday 9 July 2022

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.

Saturday 2 July 2022

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!

Saturday 25 June 2022

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.

 

 

 

 

Saturday 18 June 2022

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.

Saturday 11 June 2022

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.

Saturday 4 June 2022

Black and White


For June, Branka is hosting the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. She starts with a sketch for us to play with.

 


I have a lot on at the moment, so am trying to keep it simple for my cards.

This one started with the base sqaure, I die cut a circle into it. I edged the circle and outside edge in black, then ran it through an embossing folder.

I cut a smaller square to go behind, and stamped the poinsettia, from Tina Cox for Clarity. I used versafine clair for a strong black.

I stamped the swirl stamp in the same ink, and cut the strips. They looked a little odd individually, but together you can see the swirl pattern and it works much better. The sentiment is printed. The strips and sentiment were edged in black, then I put it all together.

 



 

Simple and stylish in black and white - at least I think so!

 

 

 

 

 

Now over to you, how will you interpret the sketch? You have a week to join in on the 52CCT blog, until Friday 10th June.

Saturday 28 May 2022

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.

Saturday 21 May 2022

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!!