Colour Challenges

I don't know how you feel about colour challenges but I do very few of them - I really have to like the colours to be inspired to do them.  The new 52 Christmas Card Throwdown is a colour challenge - red, kraft, and white.  That's a combination I really happen to like so I made this card for it.

Kraft card base, die cut kraft tree (cut twice and glued together for more dimension), a white focal panel cut with a stitched rectangle die, and then lovely bits of red for the stamped sentiment and the die cut cardinals.

Then I needed a masculine birthday card and thought the Seize the Birthday challenge of green and one other colour (I chose black to keep it masculine) would work.  And I was on a roll with birds so dug out another bird die.

I smooshed a background with various green Distress inks, then stamped a bit of cross-hatched texture and the sentiment on it.  I die cut the branch and bird out of black cs, glued it on the green panel and popped it up on fun foam for more dimension.

  

I'm curious - if you leave a comment, let me know if you like colour challenges or not.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Hero Arts sentiment
Ink - SU Real Red
Paper - kraft, red, and white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Impression Obsession tree and cardinals, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - A Muse sentiment, unknown cross-hatching stamp
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, various green Distress inks
Paper - white and black cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Memory Box bird die, Sizzix branch die

Kraft with a Christmas Tree, a Jolly Owl, and Forget-Me-Nots

Sparkles Christmas Challenge wants to see "kraft card". And the Christmas Kickstart Challenge is "Out on a Limb" - something you find on a limb of a tree.  I have created a snowy effect on all the limbs of my tree.

In keeping with the rustic look of kraft, I wrapped a piece of burlap around my top layer of kraft (which I'd trimmed with a wonky stitched rectangle die) and topped it with a Christmas tree die cut once out of green cs and once out of white, layered so that the white shows as if it were snow on the tree branches.  I embellished the tree with a few tiny die cut stars.

Jingle Belles challenge is "Text Me" - I picked the option of having the sentiment be the star. Stamping Sensations wants "Animals, Birds, and Creatures" - I have an owl.

I stamped the owl / sentiment (they are all on one stamp), coloured everything but the crown with coloured pencils, and coloured the crown with a gold glitter gel pen. Trimmed the panel with a square hemstitch die, added it to a red card base, and embellished with three tiny red gemstones on the holly sprig.

Just to balance out the Christmas cards, here's a non-Christmas one.  Festive Friday is celebrating International Women's Day.  I made a birthday card for a close girlfriend who loves blue and flowers.  It uses three things from the challenge list - blue, white, and a bouquet.

Stamped, coloured with coloured pencils, die cut with a stitched rectangle die, and bordered with blue cs. The sentiment is on a vellum strip wrapped around the focal panel.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - TH sentiment
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - kraft, green, and white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Christmas tree die, tiny star die, burlap, wonky stitched rectangle die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Crafty Individuals
Ink - Versafine Onyx black
Paper - bristol and red cs
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - coloured pencils, gold glitter gel pen, Spellbinders square hemstitch die, small red gemstones

Supplies for card 3:
Stamps - Memory Box sentiment, Penny Black forget-me-nots collag
Ink - Versafine Onyx black
Paper - white and blue cs, vellum
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die

Two Colour Challenges

Two recent colour challenges inspired my most recent Christmas cards.

First for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown "Kraft, Black, and White" and also for Cardz 4 Guyz "A Winter Scene":

I die cut the birch trees out of white cs and layered them over black shimmer cs.  I added a few snowflakes cut from white glitter cs.  The deer are cut twice from kraft cs, glued together, and sponged a little bit with Distress Brushed Corduroy.  Their legs are glued to the white ground and their upper bodies popped up on the black background.  

Then a very traditional colour challenge from The Paper Players - "Red, Green, and Gold":

I put the berry branch stamp in my MISTI and inked it up with red and green markers, spritzed lightly with water, and stamped on watercolour paper.  Repeated until I was happy with the results.  I trimmed the panel with a pierced dot rectangle die, and layered it over a gold shimmer card base.  I die cut the sentiment twice out of the same gold cs, glued them together, and added to the card.

   

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Simon Says Stamp sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne, Distress Brushed Corduroy
Paper - black shimmer cs, white and kraft cs, white glitter cs
Size - A2
Accessories - deer dies, birch tree die, small snowflake die, pop dots

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black
Paper - watercolour paper, gold shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - red and green markers, Spellbinders pierced dot rectangle die, Penny Black Be Merry die

Neutral Christmas Scene

The Jingle Belles Christmas challenge is "Keep It Neutral".  I went with browns for this card:

I stamped the image and sentiment in brown ink. Using torn paper masks, I created snow hills, sponging white ink over most of the area, leaving just a little at the top of each hill. I continued to add sponged snow hills down the card front. I lightly sponged the sky as well (leaving a halo around images).

Using a white acrylic paint pen, I added snow on the buildings, trees, etc. and then splattered diluted white acrylic paint to add falling snow.

I then trimmed the panel, cut a dark brown panel to border the main panel, and added it to a kraft card base.

 

 

Supplies:
Stamps - Art-Kure church, PTI sentiment
Ink - Distress Walnut Stain, ColorBox White
Paper - kraft and dark brown cs
Size - A2
Accessories - white acrylic paint, white paint pen

White Pine on Kraft

This month at CAS Christmas, Trina is asking us to use "Pine" as our theme.  Here's my card:

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment and pine branch in white on kraft cs.  Then did the same with the pine cone on a scrap of kraft cs and fussy cut it.  I glued its stem to the branch and popped the rest of it up a bit with foam tape.  Trimmed the panel and added it to a kraft card base, bordering it with a white thin rectangle die cut frame.

Please come and join us at CAS Christmas.  There's lots more inspiration from the Design Team and this month's Guest Designers, Elizabeth (Paper Sweetness) and Lucie (Lucie G Cards).

Supplies:
Stamps - SU Ornamental Pine
Ink - ColorBox white
Paper - kraft and white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - white embossing powder, SSS thin rectangle frame die, foam tape

Monochrome Brown and a CAS Nativity

The Double D challenge is "Monochromatic (any colour)" and the ABC Christmas Challenge is "K for Kraft" so I've combined the two for this card:

This uses a wonderful technique that my friend Loll taught me.  Here are the steps:

-       Stamp image in brown permanent ink

-       Using torn masks, create snow hills, sponging white over most of the area, leaving just a little at the top of each hill

-       Continue to add sponged snow hills down your card front…you can add in some trees, or whatever you want along the way to add depth to the scene. Sponge sky as well (leave halo around images).

-       Use white pigment ink, white acrylic ink, or white acrylic pen to add snow on buildings, trees, etc.

-       Splatter diluted white acrylic paint to add falling snow

-       Stamp sentiment in same brown ink as image

I then trimmed the panel, cut a dark brown panel and angled it behind the main panel, and added it to a kraft card base. 

While that card took a fair bit of time to make, my second card was quite a quick card.  It's for the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown theme challenge "Nativity".

The image and sentiment are heat embossed in gold and then trimmed with a hemstitch die.  I created a matching gold panel to go behind it by rubbing gold ink around the edges of the piece and heat embossing in the same gold.  Popped it up on fun foam and it was done.

Double D Challenge "Monochromatic (any colour)"

ABC Christmas Challenge "K is for kraft"

52 Christmas Card Throwdown

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Art-Kure St. Mellion Church
Ink - Distress Walnut Stain, ColorBox white
Paper - kraft and dark brown cs
Size - A2
Accessories - white acrylic paint

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - unknown nativity stamp, Penny Black sentiment
Ink - ColorBox gold
Paper - Gina K ivory cs
Size - A2
Accessories - gold embossing powder, Spellbinders hemstitch rectangle die, fun foam

Kraft Tag, Red Poinsettias

Mid month already so time to remind you to enter the March CAS Christmas challenge.  Loll is asking for kraft, red, and white as your colour theme.  Here's my reminder card:

I started by getting out a couple of shades of red Glimmer Mist sprays and spraying them on white cs.  When it was dry, I die cut the poinsettias and layered them together.  I added them to a kraft corrugated tag, tied some red and white baker's twine to the top, and layered it on the card base.  I heat embossed the sentiment on a scrap of kraft cs and added red gemstones to both the sentiment strip and the poinsettias.

Head over to CAS Christmas to see more inspiration from the Design Team and this month's fabulous Guest Designer, Gundi (papierelle).  Please come and join us - and help us celebrate our third birthday.  Because of this milestone, there will be prizes this month!!

Supplies:
Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - ColorBox white
Paper - white and kraft cs, corrugated kraft tag
Size - A2
Accessories - Dee's Distinctively poinsettia dies, red and white baker's twine, red gemstones, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist (Black Cherry and Oriental Poppy), white embossing powder

Kraft with White Birch and Red Cardinals

Hello All - Loll is hosting the March CAS Christmas Challenge and she's picked a colour challenge for a bit of a change from our usual theme challenge. 

Here's my card:

It's a colour scheme I love for Christmas cards.

I started by die cutting the birch trees.  I was going to leave them stark white but they looked so unnatural that I had to sponge on a little bit of grey.  I die cut them twice and stacked them together as they are so flimsy otherwise.  Likewise I die cut the cardinals twice.

I splattered some white spray on a piece on a piece of kraft cs, then assembled my scene.  Added a white heat embossed sentiment on the same red cs I used for the cardinals and also added a border of it.

I was going to leave it there but it needed something more so I also added a thin white border.

There's lots more inspiration over at CAS Christmas from the Design Team and this month's fabulous Guest Designer, Gundi (papierelle).  Please come and join us - and help us celebrate our third birthday.  Because of this milestone, there will be prizes this month!!

Supplies:
Stamps - SU sentiment
Ink - ColorBox white, Distress Hickory Smoke
Paper - white, red, and kraft cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Impression Obsession birch trees die, Memory Box cardinal dies, Hero Arts Unicorn White spray, white embossing powder, narrow rectangle die

Flower Garden Twofer

Sneaking in under the wire for this month's Twofer Challenge "Garden".

 

I used a stamp that looks like one of my flower beds - a bit overgrown and chaotic!

 

Here's the first card, a thank you card:

I stamped and heat embossed the image in white on kraft cs and then coloured the poppies with a white coloured pencil.  I cut the image into three even sections and carefully spaced them on a linen card base.  Finished off by adding a sentiment die cut from a snippet of kraft cs.

The second one is a birthday card:

This time I stamped the image in black archival ink on watercolour paper and watercoloured the poppies in red.  I trimmed the panel and added strips of red cs to the two ends so that it would be perfectly centred on the cream card base.  I popped it up on fun foam for some dimension and added a drop of black enamel to the centre of each poppy.

Thanks, Darnell, for a great theme - perfect for me as I'm a passionate gardener!

Supplies for card one:

Stamps - IndigoBlu flowers

Ink - ColorBox white

Paper - cream linen cs, kraft cs

Size - 6x4.25"

Accessories - white embossing powder, Tattered Lace sentiment die

Supplies for card two:

Stamps - IndigoBlu flowers, PTI sentiment

Ink - Archival Jet Black

Paper - watercolour paper, cream and red cs

Size - 6.25x3.5"

Accessories - watercolour paints, fun foam, black enamel liquid dots

A New Delphinium Stamp

This month's Flower Challenge is:

One of my favourite flowers is the delphinium so when I saw this stamp by Magenta, I had to have it.  Here's the first card I made with it:

I chose to stamp it on kraft so that I could also enter it in the SCS Technique Lover's Challenge to colour an image on kraft cs.

I love the look of white heat embossing on kraft so used that for my stamp, and then coloured with Faber Castell coloured pencils. I trimmed the panel and edged it with a narrow strip of dark blue, then popped it up on fun foam for dimension.

I have a couple of other new flower stamps so hope to get another card made for this month's Flower Challenge - always good to be inspired to ink up new stamps!

Supplies:

Stamps - Magenta delphiniums, Chocolate Baroque sentiment

Ink - ColorBox white

Paper - white, kraft, and dark blue cs

Size - A2

Accessories - coloured pencils, white embossing powder, fun foam

Inspired Wooden Snowflake

I made this card for two challenges - Addicted to CAS "Code Word: Wood" and SCS Inspiration Challenge (to choose something from a great Pinterest board called Details: Ribbons & Bows).  I chose this image:

and created this card:

I used embossing paste on kraft cs using a small section of a Tim Holtz stencil. When dry, I wrapped linen thread around it, tying a bow and attached a wooden snowflake that I'd darkened with metallic rub-ons.

I popped the panel up on fun foam and added a sentiment die cut out of the same kraft cs. I kept it at just the word "Greetings" as "Season's Greetings" and "Merry Christmas" were both too long and bulky for my focal panel.

I think it would make a great masculine Christmas or winter greetings card.

Supplies:

Paper - kraft and white cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Tim Holtz stencil, Dreamweaver white embossing paste, SU wooden snowflake, metallic rub-ons, Tattered Lace greetings die, SU linen thread, fun foam