52CCT - Colours ...

... Good morning! It's time for our colour challenge here at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 52CCT36-16. Fabiola has picked a really simple colour scheme for us to play with this week. She wants to see WHITE with a splash of RED. I had lots of fun making this very clean and simple card:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - Warmth & Wonder; Clearly Besotted - All Occasion Sentiments
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; SU - Real Red; Delicata - Silvery Shimmer
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU DP - Real Red; SU/Sizzix EF - Softly Falling; Wink of Stella - Clear; Glossy Accents

Earlier this week I was really struggling with this challenge - all my ideas had red as a flood of colour, rather than a splash! So I spent a while going through my stamp catalogue and saw this tree and the little dot lights. I had a light bulb moment! I cut a panel of white card slightly smaller than the base. I stamped the tree in black ink and added little red Christmas lights. I stamped a greeting using a lovely script stamp.Then I embossed the panel to suggest falling snow and finished by adding some sparkle to the lights and covering them with glossy accents. I used dimensional tape to attach the panel to the front of the card. On the inside I cut a mat layer of red design paper. On the white panel I stamped a greeting in red and added a few silver snowflakes.

I'm submitting this card to the current challenge at Christmas Cards All Year Round - CCAYRSep, where they want to see Shabby Chic (not so much) or monochromatic - yes! Do visit our blog to see more inspiration from the rest of the team. You've got until midnight (BST) Friday 16th September (7.00pm EDT) to play along. I took a close-up photo of the little Christmas tree to show the dimension and sparkle in the little red Christmas lights:

I really like this design - it's quick and easy to produce, so I think I'm going to make a few more. I'll change up the colours, but I like that it's flat and will be easy to post. That's all for now! Have fun.

52CCT - Sketch ...

... Good morning!  So, January flew by and we're at the first Saturday in February.  It's time for our new challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 52CCT05-16 and our host this month is April. She has a lovely sketch for us to play with this week.  You don't have to use a Christmas tree as the focal image, and you can flip or turn the sketch, but we must still be able to see it in your finished card. Here's my take:

Stamps: Dylusions - One Two Tree; Uniko - Simply Said Christmas; Stampin' Up! - Warmth and Wonder
Inks: Distress - Lucky Clover, Twisted Citron, Cracked Pistachio; Versafine - Onyx Black; Dylusions - Lemon Zest, Fresh Lime, Cut Grass
Accessories: Watercolour Paper; Vellum; Copic Markers; Signo White Pen; Sharpie Black Pen; Dylusion Stencils - Bubbles, Blocks, Christmas Trees

I decided to stick with a tree as the focal image and had fun playing with my Dylusions stamps and inks.  I was showing Kat how to use Dylusion inks last week and had some pieces of watercolour card ready with shades of green. I cut a panel to fit the front of the card and added some background detail with various stencils and inks.  I defined some of the images with a black Sharpie and white Signo.  I stamped the sentiment directly on the card and coloured in the open sentiment with a Copic marker.  I didn't want to hide the lovely background so I made the vertical strip with some snowflake embossed vellum.  I stamped the tree on a scrap of paper, cut it out and adhered it flat to the front of the card.  On the inside I cut another panel of watercolour card for the mat.  On the white panel I stamped a simple Christmas greeting and added some stencil details.

Do visit our blog to see the inspiration cards from the rest of the team - they're gorgeous.  You've got plenty of time to play along - submission deadline is midnight (GMT) Friday 12th February (7.00pm EDT for those of us in the States).  Have fun!  That's all for now.

52CCT - Colours .....

.... Morning all!  It was lovely to see so many fabulous cards for our sketch challenge last week; it's going to be very difficult to pick a winner.  Now it's time for our colour challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown and Mynnette has picked gorgeous colours.  Here's my take:

Stamps: Stampin' Up! - A Banner Christmas, Sassy Salutations, Warmth and Wonder
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Distress - Squeezed Lemonade; SU - Elegant Eggplant
Accessories: SU Card - Wild Wisteria, Bermuda Bay; White Lustre Card; SU Punches - 1¼" and 1/8" Circles; Papertrey Ink - Linen & Canvas Impression Plate; SU Marker - Bermuda Bay

I love the colours Mynn picked (you must use at least three) and my original thought was snowflakes (surrounded by quite a lot here), but I decided to go for a clean, graphic look.  I used the layout from Clean & Simple Stamping - FTL274 and am also submitting the card to the current Jingle Belles - JB:14:01 to use something old and something new on your card.

I was going to try and get all five colours on the front of the card, but ended up with three; I managed to add another colour on the inside!  I made the card base from Wild Wisteria.  All the yellow card I have is very gold, but I felt that the yellow should be a bit more acid, so I made my own.  I cut a panel of white card and sponged it all over with Squeezed Lemonade - it works perfectly.  I cut some Bermuda Bay card, embossed it with a linen texture (which you can just about see in the photo) and punched out some circles.  I stamped the graphic image three times on white card, punched them out and attached them to the card with dimensional tape.  On the inside I cut a panel of white card, stamped a simple tree and sentiment and finished off with a simple hand drawn border.

We have a super selection of inspiration cards to share with you over at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown.  I'm looking forward to seeing your creations with our non-traditional colours!  See you soon.