C24C - Colour Challenge ...

.... Morning!! Wow, it's 1 June - this year is flying by. And, we've even had some warm sunshine - at last. Today I'm here with my card for our new challenge at Christmas 24 Challenge - C24C#35. It's a colour challenge - we want to see your Christmas cards that feature the colours WHITE, BLACK and GREY. Here's my take:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse Stamps - Scandi Doodle Christmas, Say It Loud Winter Holiday

Inks: Versamark; Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Gina K - Stormy Sky

Dies: Gina K - Master Layouts 2

Accessories: White & Grey Card; Kanban Black Diamond Card; Copic Markers; Lawn Fawn - Silver Embossing Powder; Nuvo - Clear Aquashimmer Brush

I'm submitting this card to the Holly & Ivy Christmas Challenge - H&ICC#95 where it's always Anything Christmas Goes.

I stamped the Christmas tree image on white card removed it from the MISTI and used several shades of grey Copic to colour sections of the image. I returned it to the MISTI, stamped the image in Versamark ink and heat embossed with silver powder. I then cut out the image. I used dies to cut two mat layers - dark grey and black diamond layer. I adhered them to the card base, added a simple greeting and finished by adding the tree. Inside the card, I cut another mat layer of grey card. On the white panel I stamped a wreath image in black, coloured with grey markers and finished by adding a Christmas greeting in grey ink.

After I'd adhered the panel inside the card, I realised that it would make a wonderful clean and simple Christmas card. So I think I'm going to make a couple of cards with this design - I might change up the colours a bit!!

That's all from me today - don't forget to visit Christmas 24 Challenge blog to see more inspiration ideas from the rest of the team. You've got until 14 June to join the challenge. Have fun!

CCT - Sketch ....

.... Good morning! I do hope that you've all recovered from your holiday celebrations. It always seems to me that it takes ages to get all the preparations done and then Christmas is gone in an instance!

The purpose of our challenges at our revamped Christmas Card Throwdown is to help in your preparations. Get a head start on the season by joining us on the first and third Saturday of each month, where we will provide you a variety of challenges including colours, themes, sketches, techniques and stash to help in your creative process.

The first challenge this year is a sketch - CCT01. It's quite a simple sketch - you can flip it, turn it, keep it very CAS or go full shabby chic - the choice is yours. However, we must be able to see the sketch in your finished card. Here's my take on the sketch:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - Scandi Doodle Christmas, Flurries; Stampin' Up! - Wonderland; Visible Image - Rays of Light
Inks: SU - Soft Sky, Crushed Curry; Versafine - Onyx Black; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Accessories: White Luste Card; Tim Holtz Watercolour Card; Clear Embossing Powder; Zig Clean Colour Brushes; Spectrum Noir Sparkle - Clear; Copics

This card is not the one I had planned! I was going to create an envelope, but going through my stash of stamps I found this wonderful Christmas tree stamp and decided to use that instead. I stamped the image on watercolour card and heat embossed with clear powder. I used my Zig Clean Colour brushes and an aqua brush to colour the image. I find using watercolour paint a bit difficult, but using these pens gives a similar result and, for me, are much easier to use! I did use my clear Spectrum Noir sparkle brush to move some of the colours so the image has a lovely shimmer - sadly not visible above! Once the image was dry I fussy cut it out. I stamped some pale snowflakes all over the base of the card and added a star burst image behind the star. I ran the tree image through my Xyron to make it self-adhesive and then attached it to the card. On the inside I cut a mat layer of pale blue card. On the white panel I stamped a few more images from the Scandi Doodle set (this set is discontinued) and coloured them with a mixture of Copics and Zig Clean Colour. I finished by adding a simple sentiment.

I took a close-up photo of the tree so you can see the details and, hopefully, a bit of the shimmer:

Do visit our blog, Christmas Card Throwdown, to see our lovely new look and to see more inspiration cards from our newly expanded design team. Don't forget to visit them and leave some comments - we all love to receive them. As we now have challenges twice a month, it means you have longer to play. Deadline for submission to this challenge is midnight Friday 20th January, that's 7.00pm EDT.

I'm submitting this card to Love to Craft Challenge Blog - LTCCB#06 where it's ANYTHING GOES. I like this blog as you can submit any type of crafty project - it's worth a look! That's all for now!

TMR - Theme .....

... Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends.  I'm running a day late with today's card - it's my card for our challenge at The Male Room - and I really must apologise to my team mates for being late!  For the next couple of weeks we'd like to see your masculine style projects based on the theme of THANKS/THANKSGIVING.  Here's my card:

Stamps: Uniko - All Occasion Sentiments #6; Waltzingmouse - Scandi Doodle Christmas; Stampin' Up! - Lighthearted Leaves, Endless Thanks
Inks: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versafine - Onyx Black
Accessories: White Lustre Card; SU Card - Crumb Cake; SU DP - Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry; Copic Markers; Clear Embossing Powder

I've used the colour from Colour Q Challenge - cQc#318 as they work perfectly for a masculine style card, and also they are so warm.  I made the base from crumb cake card.  I cut a panel of white card slightly smaller and stamped the wreath directly on the card and coloured it with Copic markers.  I stamped the word "thanks" onto three colours of design paper and on the white panel, embossing them all with clear powder.  I cut the letters out and adhered them to the card and finished by adding a small phrase for the whole sentiment.  On the inside I cut a panel of white card, added a greeting and some colourful leaves.

Do visit our blog to check out the inspiration projects from our Guest Designer, Vicki, and from the rest of the team too - ranging from vintage to CAS.  You've got plenty of time to play along with us, the deadline for submission is midnight (GMT) Tuesday 8th December (that's 7.00pm EDT).

Last year Thanksgiving was absolutely freezing - actually below freezing!!  Ben (our son) and his girlfriend Sophie were here on holiday and we went to downtown Detroit to watch the Thanksgiving Parade - which was great fun.  Here are some photos from last year.

Thanksgiving Day this year is just Jonathan, Kat and me and we're having a very lazy day.  We watched the parade on TV - it was so mild by comparison to last year 11C!!!  That's all for now - have a really good day.  See you soon.