52CCT - Stash .....

.... Morning! It's been a while since my blog was so busy!! We come to the last Saturday on November and that means it's time for our new challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 52CCT47-16. Gill has been our host this month, and she has picked a Stash challenge for us. She wants to see GLITTER on your Christmas cards. I had so much fun with this one:

Stamps: Uniko - Background Builders Christmas, Pure Florals Poinsettia, Winter Foliage
Inks: Kaleidacolor - Fresh Greens; Stampin' Up! - Real Red
Dies: Winnie & Walter Cutaway - Joy
Accessories: White Lustre Card; Red Glitter Paper; Stick It; SU DP - Real Red; Wink of Stella - Clear

This is a really clean and simple card and I know that CAS is normally lots of crisp, clean white space, but here it's lots of sparkly red space!! I cut a panel of red glitter paper slightly smaller than the card and placed it on some Stick It adhesive. I like the glitter paper as the glitter doesn't come off! I placed the large word JOY die cut towards the bottom right of the card. I removed the word and attached the panel to the card and put the centre of the "o" back in place. I added a spring of holly and some berries to the top left corner. I stamped them on plain white card, cut them out and added sparkle with a clear Wink of Stella brush. On the inside I cut a mat layer of red design paper and on the white panel I stamped a line of holly and berries and a clean, crisp greeting.

I got the inspiration for this card from the graphic photo at Fusion Card Challenge - FUSION#62 - the die cut word is simple white, as in the picture. I'm also playing along with TIME OUT challenge - TOC#71 where the theme is CHRISTMAS with the optional twist of GLITTER - oh yes, there's glitter!!

As you've probably realised, removing the die cut word from the red glitter panel above meant that I was able to make another card:

Stamps: Uniko - Winter Foliage, Simply Said Christmas
Inks: SU - Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Tip Top Taupe, Chocolate Chip
Dies: Winnie & Walter Cutaways - Joy
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Always Artichoke; Kaisercraft 12" x 12" DP - Silent Night; Gold Pen; Red Glitter Paper

This is one of the design papers that I got for last week's Old Fashioned Christmas challenge. The card was so quick and easy to make. I ran a gold pen around the edge of the paper panel and adhered it to the card. Then I attached the JOY die cut word. Simples!! On the inside I cut a mat layer of dark green card and on the white panel stamped a pine branch and cone along with a crisp greeting.

The challenge at Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - SSWC is to use a die cut on your card, so I'm submitting this card. And I'm also playing along with Addicted to Stamps and More! - ATSM#221 where it is the ANYTHING GOES week.

Do visit our blog to see more sparkling inspiration from the rest of the Design Team. You've got plenty of time to join us - deadline for submission is midnight (GMT) Friday 2nd December (that's 7.00pm EST).

Do come back later this morning when I'll be introducing another of the new Uniko release - Rustic Wreath. See you later!

Uniko - Revisit and Blog Hop ...

... Good Morning!  This is the first of several posts today.  It's time for our last Blog Hop of the year.  Bev releases new stamps every other month (the last ones were in November) and in the "off" month we revist some of Bev's older stamp sets.  This month we're continuing the Christmas theme with Background Builders Christmas.  This is a super set with lots of stamps that you can use to build a background, or simply feature!  I decided to make a background:

Stamps: Uniko - Background Builders Christmas, Simply Said Christmas, All Occasion Sentiments #4
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Midnight Muse; Versamark
Accessories: Cream Lustre Card; SU Card - Midnight Muse; Martha Stewart Glitter; Stampendous - Shabby White Embossing Powder

The challenge at The Card Concept - CC#45 uses cream and navy and the challenge graphic features snowflakes - the perfect inspiration!  My style is clean and layered.  Over at The Paper Players - PP#274  their theme this week is "Let it Snow", here's a blizzard.

I made the base from navy card (sadly now discontinued).  I cut a panel of cream card slightly smaller and used my MISTI to stamp the repeat pattern of snowflakes in navy.  I cut a strip of navy card, stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed with a new embossing powder - it contains gold glitter and works perfectly with the cream card.  I finished the front with a simple sparkly Christmas tree.  I stamped it in navy ink, cut it out, added glue to the inside and then lots of glitter.  On the inside I cut another panel of cream card.  I stamped a couple more of the border stamps from Background Builders Christmas and finished with a bold Christmas greeting made up from stamps from two different sets.  I love the way Bev's stamps all work together perfectly.

Now, as I mentioned this is a DT Blog Hop and you should now check out what the rest of the team have made this month:

Bev - Uniko

Deborah (that's me)

Jane

Nicki

Sarah G

Sarah P

Before I go, I should mention that we have a GIVEAWAY this month too.  Simply comment as you go along the Hop for your chance to win this fabulous set or an e-certificate to the same value if you already have the set.  Don't forget to stop by again later - I've lots more to share today.

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 - Colours .....

.....  Good morning - it's the weekend already!!!!  It's also time for our new challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown - we've got some fabulous colours for you too - silver, grey and white.  Here's my take:

Stamps: Uniko Studio - Rustic Christmas, Simply Said Christmas, Background Builders Christmas
Inks: Memento - Grey Flannel; Versamark; Encore - Silver; Stampin' Up! - Whisper White
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Basic Grey; Kanban DP - Silver/Grey Metallic; Silver Tinsel Embossing Powder

I've gone for a very contemporary look for this card.  I used the sketch from this week's CAS - Colours & Sketches - CASC&S#111, flipping it to fit my design.  I cut the checked design paper to fit the corner of the card and then cut the darker grey card to fit.  I stamped some snowflakes in white pigment ink over the dark grey card.  I stamped the Christmas tree in Versamark and embossed it with silver tinsel embossing powder.  It has a lovely shimmer!  I finished the front with a very clean, crisp sentiment in grey.  On the inside I added a mat layer of the pale grey design paper and on the white panel added a row of tiny Christmas trees in silver and a simple sentiment.

For more inspiration with our fabulous colours, check out the blog to see what my team mates have made for you.  You've got plenty of time to play along - deadline is Friday 20th February midnight GMT (7.00pm EST).  Have fun!!