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.

Alcohol and gelli

This week on the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, Andreja has set us a colour challenge.

 

Last weekend I did an online workshop with Angela, using alcohol inks with the gel plate and stencils. I came away with a huge stash of gorgeous backgrounds, not least because I kept going after she finished, there was just one more stencil to try, one more mop up, one more idea....

Some of them I made with this challenge in mind, using Clarity Christmas aperture stencils.

I've made two of these into cards, the rest are waiting (along with so much else) for another day!

For this one, I dabbed purple twilight and aubergine ink through the stencil onto the gel plate, then pressed bubble wrap into it. Once the ink was dry, I brayered white acrylic paint over the plate and pulled my print. There was yellow ink residue on the plate, which wouldn't clean off, which has given the background a pale golden glow.

I cut the print to size, using a scrap from the side for the gold embossed sentiment. I edged with a gold sharpie, then doodled on the star, tree and border with a gold gel pen. I do like the bubble wrap baubles.

 

 

This card is the "waste" from the technique used above. With IPA on my felt, I swiped the excess ink from the stencil onto a clean piece of card. I then pressed the bubble wrap in - I think it would have had purple ink on to start with (from another print) then I spritzed it with the IPA and pressed, for the subtle impression.

The background of this one was therefore clean white card at the start.

I replaced the stencil and used an embossing pen over the cap area, then embossed in gold. I also embossed a border (after cutting to size).

I placed the "innie" stencil over the bauble, along with a piece of card to protect the loop, then used gold pigment ink to stamp the script in the background. I also sponged this ink round the edge to give the aged, vintage feel.

On the bauble, I stamped the sleigh and heat embossed in white. I added the stars/snow and line with a posca pen, then the larger star, again embossed.

The final touch is a slight drop shadow with light and dark grey polychromo pencils, to give the bauble some depth.

 

 

The paint pull on this gives a grungy feel that the photo doesn't capture. I like the looseness and imperfectness of this image.

This one has taken a grungy feel I didn't anticipate from the starting print. Blending the ink around the egde softened the script print, which I over did a bit, and gave a balance. The sleigh stamp is so pretty and delicate, even when embossed.This was overlooked in my stash for a long time, I'm glad I've "discovered" it now.

To join in and share your ideas for using these colours, head over to the 52CCT blog, where you'll find all the inspiration from my design team colleagues.

The challenge is open for a week, to Friday 16th July.

Have fun!

July sketch at 52CCT

Andreja M is our July host at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. She has chosen this lovely sketch for us to play with.

I had the brushos out again for this one. I wanted to try brushos over a dry embossed card, I was hoping they'd take up the embossed pattern.

I tried 4 different folders. The shallow emboss didn't work well, the water from the brushos took out a lot of the emboss. The deeper emboss was better, although it still didn't steer the colour as I'd hoped. One was a bit better, but I have put that aside and not used it here.

I also used brushos for the backgrounds.

For this card, I used prussian blue and black, I love the drama. This was a deeper emboss. The sentiment is from a new to me stamp set, I edged everything with a black permanent pen.

 This one has brighter, more Christmassy colours. I used yellow brusho, paired with leaf green in the background and brilliant red on the topper.

The emboss was shallow on this one, so I put it back through with an extra layer in my sandwich after I'd coloured the card. I then added drops of the red to run around the emboss, although it's still "subtle".

 

 

The other two I made, I've kept back without the sentiment, for when I need a quick card, as there's nothing on them that's specific to Christmas.

To play along with this sketch, head over to the 52CCT blog. The challenge is open until Friday 9th July.

Triple embossing

Tracy has mixed it up a bit for the technique/stash challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown, and has chosen a tic tac toe grid for us to play with.

I have gone with the right hand column, although if you count the knitted embossing on the front tag as faux stitching, I've also done the top row!

I used three different embossing folders (I couldn't choose!) for the base and two tags. The distress oxide colours are ripe persimmon, peeled paint and peacock feathers, with chipped sapphire for definition. Not traditional Christmas but I fancied a bit of zing!

I love the background, so the rest is kept simple!

 

 

 

 

 

To play along this week, head over to the 52CCT blog.

The challenge is open until Friday 2nd July.

Gnome!!

I'm a bit late joining in with Tracy's challenge at the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week. She's chosen "Gnomes" as our theme for June.

I looked through my papers and stamps to see if any had crept in, but I didn't have any. So I improvised!

I downloaded a free colouring image, and watched some of the Clarity video where they started to draw gnomes, and with a sheet of tracing paper combined the two to come up with my own version.

I traced this down onto card, went over with a black permanent pen, then coloured with inktense and polychromo pencils. I fussy cut him out, and added to die cut papers, the top one distressed with distress ink and inktense pencils.

The background is made from strips of designer paper, torn and adhered together. I distressed with vintage photo distress ink, and knocked back around the toppers with cream paint. It is edged with dark brown stazon ink.

The sentiment was stamped onto another paper, die cut and edged.

The final touch was the lattice die cut, which I painted in cream then brushed with vintage photo ink.

It went onto a 5x7 card blank.

 

I'm quite pleased with how this little chap has come out! Drawing is not my comfort zone.

Also nice to get out the designer papers, I don't often use them.

Have a look on the 52CCT blog for the inspiration from the rest of the design team, and to share your own Gnome characters. The challenge is open until Friday 25th. Enjoy your making.

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.