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!

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.

 

 

 

 

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!!

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.

Brusho sketch

I'm hosting the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this month , and this is the sketch I've chosen.

I wanted to play with the brusho stencil technique I used here. I didn't have any stencils the right shape for my triangles though, so decided to use die cuts instead. I used a snow flake swirl, and an abstract Christmas tree. And this is when this all started to get much trickier than expected! I had a load of trouble doing the die cuts to start with - they wouldn't cut, then wouldn't release from the dies.

Once I finally had them, I realised why stencils are generally made from mylar, not coated paper! Brushing ink round then without moving them proved a bit of an art.

Once inked, I spritzed with water, removed the sdie cuts, and sprinkled on some brusho. For the snowflakes, I used blue shades. 

 

The simple sentiment is cobalt blue archival ink, which also edged the card.

For the tree, I inked in green, then added  green brushos. I went for a tiny touch of a festive red - but was heavy handed and ended up with loads! But think it looks bright and cheery, and as I didn't add more water to mix the colours, haven't got too much mud between the red and green.

The brighter colours needed a more striking sentiment - I'm not sure I've used this one before. I stamped in fern green archival, then coloured with polychromos. I blended the forest moss oxide around the edge - my current favourite colour! Then edged in the fern green.

I then realised that my hard won die cuts now had ink on them! The snowflakes I haven't used yet, but for the trees, I made another background with the same brushos as above, then added them to it as per the sketch.

Then a bit of finessing. I edged as above, and stamped some holly to add interest. I lightly coloured these with polychromos. The sentiment is black, and I use a white gel pen to help it stand out against the busy background. Then to help the contrast in the trees, I went round them loosely with a fine black pen.

This one using the "waste" may be my favourite!

To join in visit us at 52CCT - you can be inspired by my design team colleagues, and share your interpretation of the sketch with us. You have until Friday 11th March to join in.

Green, White and Gold

I've not been able to join in at the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown for a few weeks, but am back with a colour card for you.

Andreja M is our host this month, and she has chosen green, white and gold.

I used my distress oxides for the green - mainly forest moss and crushed olive, but with others thrown in. I smooshed using an acrylic block - firstly onto a piece I covered completely, for the ivy die cuts, and then when the ink had been broken up, onto the main piece to create the "splash.

I then splattered gold acrylic paint, mixed with a little water, to give my gold touch.

The sentiment is printed, then cut out and the corners cut with a hole punch to give the ticket shape. I edged with gold gel pen.

I used a Clarity die to cut out the fretwork farme, and then cut to size for a 6x6 card blank.

 Simple, but I hope also a little stylish.

 

 

 

 

 

Share your version of our colour combination with us on the 52CCT blog. You have until Friday 18th February to play along.

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!!

Framed Stag

Rosi is our host for September at the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. To start us off, she's chosen a sketch for us to play with.

 

I have stuck to this one pretty much as it is, without any flips or tweaks! I even managed to keep some of the open space, which I love, but am very bad at leaving on a card.

The first step was to heat emboss the stag silhouette on the card. I tried two different scales, one with the full stamp, and one with the body masked off to just give the head. I seem to be doing cards in pairs at the moment, trying out two versions of the same thing. The larger is a mix of black and copper powder, to give a bronze effect, the smaller is just black.

I then added brushos, using an aperture stencil to contain them and the water within an oval area around the stag. This worked a bit better than I hoped - the areas are more defined than I had in mind, especially the larger one.

I also added brushos to scrap pieces to cut the strips from, using darker colours for contrast. I edged these with walnut stain distress oxide.

The frames are die cut, the two came as a set.

The sentiments are different to suit the different sizes. For the larger one I die cut the sentiment, then heat embossed in black. The smaller has a stamped sentiment on a scrap of card. I edged both in black permanent pen, then mounted on a 7x7 and a 6x6 card blank.

 

 

I do love the brushos, and these warm, natural colours are such a great backdrop to a stag image, suggesting a woodland scene.

 

Now it's your turn to show us your interpretation of the sketch. Share it with us at the 52CCT blog, where you can see all the wonderful inspiration cards from my design team colleagues.

The challenge is open for a week, until Friday 10th September. Have fun!

 

Groovi snowflakes

I'm a little late posting my card for Andreja's technique challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - my daughter decided we needed to make a Dalek cake for hubby's 50th on Friday, so that took precedence!

Andreja's technique choice is:

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do a Groovi card! I do so little, but do like it, and have the kit so feel I should make use of it!!

For this I used blue parchment. After marking the area to fill with pencil, I put the manuscript style letters in for NOEL, then filled around with snowflakes from various plates.

Using a white eraser pencil, I removed the ink from the open areas of the letters and snowflakes. I then did some white work on the letters (very inexpertly, I don't so this a lot and don't have the patience!)

This means that the letters are white all the time, whereas the snowflakes are see through, so are coloured when there's something behind but white when the card is open, as you can sort of see below.

I coloured the vines around the letters with perga pens, which I got on sale a little while ago.

For inside the card and the die cut snowflake swirl, I blended various blue oxides onto card, then flicked with water and blotted to create the snow effect.

To construct, I measured and marked with pencil on a card blank for the aperture, then cut with a craft knife. I repeated on another piece of white card just smaller than the card front, to go on the inside. I then attached the parchment behind the first aperture and added the liner, matching the apertures up. 

With a grey pen and ruler, I added faux stitching around the aperture.

Finally, I added the blue inside the card, and the die cut on the front.

 

 

This was a bit more fiddly that I anticipated, with the cutting etc, but not too bad!

I do like the icy shades of blue, and snowflakes are my favourite Christmas (really Winter I guess) motif, they look so pretty here!

 

 

 

To join in with this challenge, come and visit us at the 52CCT blog. As there are 5 Saturdays in July, you have 2 weeks to play along, this challenge closes on 6th August.

Alternative pinecones

At 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week, Andreja has chosen a theme I really like - pinecones.

I had only two options for this from my craft "collection" - a mini stamp from Lavinia stamps, and a die. So I decided to use both!

My two cards are very similar, and use a design I've used before, but have very different colour schemes, made in different ways.

The green and brown version started with a smoosh using the plastic folder technique, and oxides in iced spruce, weathered wood and bundled sage. I made another piece in brown shades.

I overstamped the greeny background with the pinecone stamp and the same oxides, second generation.

The brown background I cut to a matt, then die cut the pinecones and sentiment from the centre and offcuts. The sentiment I sponged with some extra walnut stain distress ink, so it was dark enough to stand out, and the matt I did the same with brushed corduroy. I use distress ink rather than oxide as it's translucent so the mottled pattern shows through. The pine cones I left with some white on. I edged the card front with the iced spruce.

The base of this card uses alcohol inks. I applied them to a solid stencil (I used an aperture stencil with the innie replaced). I then used the grand calibur due cutting machine to transfer the ink to card with blending solution applied to it.

To overstamp, I used archival inks this time, in matching colours.

I did make a background piece using mushroom alcohol ink, but it didn't stand out on the bright background, so I swapped in some black coated card, again die cutting the sentiment and pinecones from the centre.

This has turned out to be a very pretty, naturalistic card. The pinecone stamp makes a great pattern in the background, enough detail to be interesting without being overwhelming.

This one, on the other hand, is deliberately unnatural. The colours really zing, they may not be that Christmassy but they're bright and cheerful, and lift my spirits.

 

 

 

So, now over to you - what pinecone themed design will you come up with?

The challenge is open for a week, until Friday 23rd July. Pop along to the 52CCT blog to see the rest of the design team inspiration, and link up your card.