52CCT - Technique ....

... Morning!  It's time for our technique challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown and April has picked my favourite technique - Emboss Resist.  Here's my card:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - A Cottage Home; Stampin' Up! - Wonderland
Inks: Versamark; Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress - Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Salty Ocean, Dusty Concord, Blueprint Sketch; SU - Garden Green
Dies: Die-namics - Pierced Rectangle Frames #3
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Silver Mirri Card; Clear Embossing Powder; Copic Markers; Glitter

I stamped the trees first, using Versamark and green on top, directly on the card and then randomly stamped some snowflakes.  I heat embossed them all with clear powder.  The fun part was next - I added colour to the card with distress inks to create the night sky and allow the snowflakes (and trees) to pop!  I added some glitter to the trees and snowflakes.  I stamped the house on white card, coloured it with Copic markers, cut it out, edged it with a black marker and added some sparkle to the house too.  I cut out a frame in silver mirri card and adhered it, using dimensional tape, over the finished image.  I decided not to add a greeting to the front of the card.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of silver mirri card and added a Christmas message to the white panel.

I'm submitting this card to CASE-ing Christmas Challenge - CCC#30 - I love Asha's winter scene with the lovely castle.  And I'm also submitting to Merry Monday - MM#175 where the team would like to see a frame.  For more inspiration with the Emboss Resist technique, check out our blog to see what the team have made for you.

This week has simply flown by.  It's so nice to have Ben and Sophie here with us, it always makes going out fun, as I look at things with a new eye!  We've been incredibly lucky with the weather this past week - temperature in excess of 70°F in mid October - a lovely Indian Summer.  We've been shopping as well as going to to see the skeletons in Northville - I'll share photos later.  That's it for now.  See you soon.

52CCT - Colour ....

....  Morning.  I'm sharing the first card that I made for this week's colour challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown.  Fabiola picked the colours - RED, WHITE and ANOTHER colour, but NOT green.  Sadly, I didn't read the instructions properly and I have a touch of honey behind the snowman, and worse, I've got the tiniest hint of green!  But I'm really pleased how it turned out.  However, it didn't follow the rules, so I made another card and that's the one you saw yesterday.  This is the first card:

Stamps: Chocolate Baroque - Falling Snow; Uniko - Simply Said Christmas; Stampin' Up! - More Merry Message; Stampendous - SSC112 (Can't remember the name of the set)
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black, London Fog; Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress - Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Weathered Wood, Festive Berries, Wild Honey, Shabby Shutters
Dies: Die-namics - In & Out Diagonal Stitched Rectangles #3
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU DP - Real Red, Pacific Point; Copic Markers; Wink of Stella - Clear; SU Glitter - Dazzling Diamonds; Pigma Black Fine Point Pen

I'm playing along with the current CASE-ing Christmas Challenge - CCC#29, Jingle Belles - JB:15:19 and Shopping our Stash - SOS/JB.  I decided to use a snowman stamp that I've had for years made by Chocolate Baroque (and sadly discontinued).  I die cut a rectangle, stamped the image and coloured it with Copic markers - making the hat bold red, black and blue.  I added a touch of colour to the staff, star and snowman.  I masked the snowman and created the hills by tearing paper and sponging on colour.  I made a sunset sky by adding a touch of honey, warm red and dark blue distress inks.  I used my clear Wink of Stella all over the snowman to give him a subtle shimmer and used glitter on the falling snowflakes. I layered the finished image on blue design paper and white card.  I cut a piece of red design paper slightly smaller than the card and attached the snowman panel to the centre of the card.  I finished the front with a simple sentiment.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of blue design paper and on the white panel stamped a Christmas greeting along with a few more snowflakes.

I took a close up of the snowman where you can just about see the shimmer on his body - no sun here today, so the sparkle isn't showing up much!

We had a fun day out yesterday - at a photo shoot up in Pontiac.  I took loads of photos - as always - photos to follow.  Yesterday evening was the start of Kathryn's Birthday Week!!  She had dinner with a group of friends - they had fun.  We heard them, but enjoyed a quiet dinner at a table of our own :)))  This was followed by a sleepover here.  Why do they call it a Sleepover?  The girls were chatting until quite late!!  That's all for now - have a good day.

52CCT - Colours ....

.... Well, hello!  It's time for our colour challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown.  This week we have some really pretty pastel colours for you to play with and non-traditional ones too!  Here's my card:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Wondrous Wreath
Inks: SU - Soft Sky, Pretty in Pink; Encore - Silver; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Dies: SU/Sizzix - Wonderful Wreath Framelits; Memory Box - Cross Stitched Frame Borders #7
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Soft Sky; Silver Mirri Card; Enamel Dots

I've gone for a very soft, subtle look and I'm really pleased how it turned out.  Mind, it's really difficult taking photos of mirri card.  I got the idea of a wreath from this week's CASE-ing Christmas Challenge - CCC#11, Anita's wreath is so pretty.  I used pale blue card to make the base and cut a couple of white panels with the largest Memory Box die - just love the border.  I stamped the wreath (3 stage stamping) on white card, using blue, silver and pink and then cut it out with the matching die.  I die cut the sentiment and bow from silver mirri card.  I adhered the sentiment and wreath falt to the card and used dimensional gel for the bow.  I added a tiny pink enamel dot to the bow.  On the inside I simply stamped the blue wreath and a Christmas greeting.

For more inspiration using our soft pastel colours check out the cards from the rest of the team - they're gorgeous!  If you've been playing along with us since the beginning of January you will already have 10 cards in your stash, or more!  This is a great way to get your cards ready without rushing.

What a difference a week makes, this time last week we had below freezing temperatures (-10°C in fact).  Today (Friday), much better we're already at 2°C (36°F) and should reach about 12°C (54°F) this afternoon.  Spring is definitely getting here!!  What are you plans for the weekend?  Whatever they are - have fun and be safe.  See you soon.

52CCT - Sketch ...

....  Good morning!   Welcome to the first of our March challenges here at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown.  Our aim is to get a stash of Christmas cards ready for the holiday season, so that we can enjoy the season and not have a last minute rush to get cards made.  Our host this month is Gill and she has a fabulous sketch for us to play with.  You can flip it, turn it - but we must be able to see the basic sketch in your project.  Here's my card:

Stamps: Christmas Baubles (no maker's name on the stamp); Uniko Studio - Background Builders Christmas, Simply Said Christmas
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Distress - Mowed Lawn, Festive Berries
Dies: Spellbinders - Labels 14 (S4-290) #4
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Stampin' Up! Card - Real Red; Cuttlebug EF - Winter Wonderland; Copic Markers; Ribbon; Craftwork Label Sentiment; Glitter

I like this sketch, it's very versatile.  I turned the sketch through 90° as it worked better for for the image I used.  I used the colours from this week's Merry Monday - MM#148 and have finally joined in with CASE-ing Christmas Challenge - CCC#10.  I love Christmas baubles and this is such a nice stamp (but I can't find who made it).  I cut a panel of white card which I embossed with baubles to match the image.  I stamped the image onto white card, coloured it with Copic markers, die cut it and edged the image with a red Copic marker.  I stamped the image again to layer the bauble in the front.  I added some glitter to the finished image.  I coloured the ribbon with my Copic marker to match the green bauble.  The sentiment is from my stash of Craftwork card labels and works really well with the image.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of red card, added a border of Christmas holly and a simply greeting.

For more inspiration using Gill's sketch, visit our blog and check out the team's projects. 

I'm typing this on Friday morning and our current temperature is -10°C with bright sunshine, but it looks like we're in for a warm up!!  Saturday should reach a high of 3°C, and about time too!  In fact next week looks like a relative heatwave. 

We get excited when the temperature goes above freezing for the first time in months !!!!  It'll be nice to see grass after all that snow!  Yea, spring is almost here.  Sorry about that!  Have fun with the challenge and see you soon.

52CCT - Sketch ....

.... Hello - good morning!  Well, January simply flew by.  It was a pleasure to be your host for the month at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown.  Now that we're into February we start again with a sketch challenge.  Jacqueline (who owns the challenge) has selected some wonderful challenges for us this month, but owing to some family issues, she is unable to host the month - so Patricia is looking after us!  Here's my take on the sketch:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Alpine Christmas
Inks: Versamark; Stampin' Up! - Garden Green; Archival - Sepia
Dies: Waltzingmouse - Alpine Christmas
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Crumb Cake; Staedtler - Ergo Soft Aquarell Pencils; Glitter; Sakura Stardust Pens; Copic Markers

You can use any shape for the white areas of the sketch and you flip too - but we must be able to see the basic sketch in your design.  I've finally got around to joining in with the new(ish) CASE-ing Christmas Challenge - CCC#6 and I've taken the colours from this week's card.  I cut a piece of kraft card slightly smaller than the base and then die cut the shape of the house.  I placed the cut card onto the white, traced around the aperture and then stamped the house directly onto the card.  I used archival ink (waterproof) as I decided to use my watercolour pencils to colour the image.  I added a touch of sparkle to the roof.  I used Versamark ink to stamp snowflakes all over the kraft card and then carefully adhered it over the coloured image.  I finished the front with a simple sentiment and added a sparkly snowflake.  On the inside I cut another piece of kraft card and on the white panel added a snowy scene at the bottom and a simple greeting.  I've also taken a close up of the house showing the sparkly roof!

For more inspiration using our sketch - check out the blog to see what the rest of the team have made.  You've got until Friday 13th February midnight GMT (7.00pm EDT) to play along - have fun!