52CCT - Theme ....

.... Hello!  It's time for our theme challenge here at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown - 52CCT38-15.  Fabiola wants us to make a Christmas (or winter) card for a man.  Yea!  I love making guy cards.  Here's my take:

Stamps: Kaisercraft - Home for Christmas
Inks: Versafine - Onyx Black; Stampin' Up! - Crumb Cake
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Canvas Photo Paper; Kaisercraft DP - Home for Christmas; Gem; Clear Embossing Powder

I've gone for texture on my masculine Christmas card.  I stamped the sentiment along the side of the card and then added some canvas photo paper (which I've had in my stash for years).  So, as I've used old stash I'm going to submit this card to Jingle Belles - JB:15:19 and Shopping our Stash - SOS/JB.  I'm also playing along with this week's Cardz 4 Guys - C4G#88 where the team want to see embossing - dry or heat.  I heat embossed the black Christmas tree onto the photo canvas.  I cut out the rest of the Christmas trees from a sheet of design paper, ran them through my Xyron to make them self-adhesive and adhered them to the card.  On the inside I cut a mat layer of design paper and added a Christmas greeting to the white panel.

Do visit our 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown blog to see what the rest of the team have made to inspire you.  I don't want to scare you, but there are only 13 Saturdays left before Christmas!!!  Still time to join in with our prompts to get your Christmas stash going.  Deadline for submission for this week's challenge is midnight (BST) Friday 25th September (7.00PM EDT).  Have a super weekend!

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.

Rainbow grunge ....

.... Good afternoon - it's been another glorious day here in Northville, sadly I've had a headache pretty much all day!!!  But life goes on and at Addicted to Stamps and More! it's our Anything Goes challenge.  Here's my card:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Offbeat Backgrounds; Uniko Studio - Today, Tomorrow & Always; PTI - Grunge Me; Hot off the Press - Swirls
Inks: Distress - Festive Berries, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Salty Ocean, Seedless Preserves; Versamark; Versafine - Onyx Black; Memento - London Fog
Accessories:  SU Card - Basic Black; White Lustre Card; Clear and White Embossing Powders

I'm sure that like me, many of you have Pinterest boards, and I have to admit that I tend to Pin more than I use them.  But last night I came across this picture and immediately thought it would make a fabulous card for me to send to Ben.

Photo credit

I cut a panel of white card and used a mixture of stamps from Waltzingmouse, Uniko Studio, Papertrey and Hot off the Press to create the main image.  All images were stamped and embossed.  I then cut the image into strips measuring ¾" × 3¼".  Then I sponged on rainbow colours using my Distress inks.  On a few of the strips I stamped the edge of the clock in Versamark and heat embossed with white powder.  I finished the front with a simple sentiment - I think of Ben all the time and miss him very much, but I'll see him at Christmas.  I'm sure that he only thinks of his Mum when he needs something :) For the inside I edged the white panel with a number of the images used on the front panel and left a space for me to write a note to Ben.

I'm submitting this card to a couple of challenges that are new to me: Shopping our Stash - SOS#122 where the theme is embossing times two; by that they mean two different colour powders, dry or heat embossing or two different patterns.  I got black, white and grey embossing!  Over at LEJ Designs - LEJD#74 they have a theme for Dark or Gothic, and I certainly think this card is dark, despite the rainbow!!

Don't forget to check out the inspiration cards from the rest of the Team - we have a super variety of styles for you.  Looking forward to seeing your creations soon!!