Off the Edge Sympathy

The Group of Seven Cardmakers are highlighting a Design Element this month - "Off the Edge".  Here's my card:

I masked a circle on the right side of my focal panel with part of the circle going off the edge, and sponged light blue ink through a wood grain stencil. I added a stamped sentiment and a die cut branch, again with the branch going off the edge. I stamped the sentiment so that part of it goes off the edge of the stencilled circle.

I had a scrap of sponged cs that had some faint text stamping on it so I die cut the bird from that and sponged some red on his breast. The panel is popped up on fun foam.

For more ideas of how to use "off the edge" as a design element, head over to the Group of Seven Cardmakers!  Feel free to add a card of your own to the link if you like.

Supplies:
Stamps - Wordsworth sentiment
Ink - Distress Broken China, Archival Potting Soil, red and brown inks for bird
Paper - white and brown cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Memory Box Grove Branch die, Memory Box Nestled Bird die, TH woodgrain stencil, fun foam

Baubles and Christmas Colours

Usually with a mood board I am inspired by one particular image in it but for this Peace on Earth challenge, I used a mixture of elements from the mood board - the colours in the top two images and the baubles in the bottom left.

The image is stamped and watercoloured, with a shimmery white watercolour paint used for the candle (unfortunately the photo doesn't show the shimmer).  I used a narrow black mat, popped the panel up on fun foam on a red card base, and added a Tim Holtz sentiment sticker.

Here's the Peace on Earth mood board:

You can either be inspired by it or enter an "anything Christmas" card in our challenge.

Supplies:
Stamps - Jofy candle
Ink - Versafine Onyx black
Paper - watercolour paper, red and black cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, TH sentiment sticker, fun foam

Christmas Farm Animals

Christmas Cards All Year Round wants "Farm Animals" - I've gone with sheep.

The sheeps' sweaters are coloured with coloured pencils (including a metallic gold one for the stars on one sweater and the big star in the sky).  The small stars are stencilled with gold ink.  I used a matching gold cs for the card base.

Christmas Cards All Year Round  "Farm Animals"

Supplies:
Stamps - Inky Doodle Sheep, Great Impressions sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Delicata gold
Paper - gold shimmer and white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, metallic gold pencil, fun foam, SSS falling stars stencil

Trees and Reindeer with No Stamping

A card for a few challenges and for my Christmas stash:

I sprayed a piece of black cs with some shimmery blue spray.  Then created a scene with die cuts to go on top of it - white cs for the trees, white glitter cs for the snowflakes, and pale gold cs for the reindeer and sentiment.

Challenges:

Sparkles Christmas Challenge "Trees"

My Time to Craft Christmas "Deer / Reindeer" 

Christmas Craft Creations "No Stamping" 

Inkspirational Challenges "Seasonal" 

Shopping our Stash "Masculine" 

The Paper Players "Masculine" 

My Time to Craft Challenge "Masculine" 

Cardz 4 Guyz "Masculine with Lots of Layers"

Supplies:
Paper - pale gold, white glitter, white, and black cs
Size - A2
Accessories - TH reindeer die, Paper Roses birch trees die, Cheery Lynn snowflakes die, Tattered Lace sentiment dies

A Bird with an Embossed Background

I've been very busy with a friend visiting me and trying to catch up on my gardening after being away.  But I must try and keep up with my Christmas cards so here's one:

 

The collage stamp is stamped and coloured with coloured pencils, then die cut with an oval die and layered on the dry embossed background.

Challenges:

The Sisterhood of Crafters - "Birds"

Can You Handle the Pressure - "Dry Embossing with a Twist of Birds"

Sweet Stampin' - "Things with Wings"

NBUS - I've never used the collage stamp before

Supplies:
Stamps - Viva Decor bird collage
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, script embossing folder, Spellbinders oval die

Icy Christmas

Time for the new Peace on Earth challenge.  Here's my card:

I was inspired by the bottom right image on our mood board to create something that picked up on the icy feel of it and had the black and silvery colours of it.

I used silver glitter paste through a snowflake stencil on black cs for the background.  Using two different sizes of rectangular dies, I created a frame to go over it out of silver glitter cs, cut the shadow of the greeting out of the same silver glitter cs, and cut the sentiment part of the greeting out of black cs.

Here's the mood board that inspired me (I used the bottom right image):

Please come and join us at Peace on Earth.  If you're not inspired by the mood board, you can do "anything Christmas".

Supplies:
Paper - silver glitter, black, and white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - silver glitter paste, snowflake stencil, SSS snowy greetings die, Spellbinders rectangle dies

Using Up Scraps

It's always good to use up some of my scraps (instead of tossing them in recycling).  And that's exactly what Snippets Pixie Playground and 52 Christmas Card Throwdown want us to do.  My Time to Craft Christmas wants branches or greenery.  And I'm using a new die so it's going to the NBUS Challenge.

The tag was in my leftovers box - I'd cut it out to test out a new die.  It has raised ridges that you can rub over with ink (red, in my case) and then when you die cut it, the colour transfers to the cs and makes the coloured border on the tag.

Then I die cut some greenery from leftovers.  One piece is die cut from a piece of coated cs coloured with green alcohol inks and the other pieces are cut from scraps of two shades of green shimmer cs. The sentiment is stamped in green and a scrap of red ribbon is added to the tag.

The background is a bit of leftover dry embossed cs (embossed with the Sizzix pine branch embossing folder).

      

 

Supplies:
Stamps - Rubber Soul Joy
Ink - Distress Fired Brick, Archival Library Green
Paper - white cs, two shades of green shimmer cs, coated cs
Size - 7.25x3.75"
Accessories - TH tag and greenery dies, Sizzix embossing folder, red ribbon, green alcohol inks