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

Blue / Purple Sky and a Birthday Cat

Sneaking in under the wire for Color Hues "Light Blue and Purple":

The background was done with blue and purple reinkers on mixed media cs, then covered in wrinkled cling wrap while it dried.  The snowy tree die is cut from white glitter cs, and it's mounted on a blue/grey card base that in real life matches the blue in the background better than it does in the photo.

As you probably know, I'm very focused on making Christmas cards right now, but friends do have birthdays coming up.  I used Seize the Birthday "Neutrals Only" to get me to make one for a guy friend.  He adores his black cat, Maisie, so I had to add her to the card!

I inked up the background stamp randomly with various Distress Oxide inks, spritzed lightly with water, and stamped onto mixed media cs.  Once dry, I stamped the cat in black (using my MISTI to get a good solid impression) and heat embossed it, then bordered in black cs, and added to an off-white card base.

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Make an Impression sentiment
Ink - ColorBox Heliotrope, various blue and purple reinkers
Paper - blue / grey cs, white glitter cs, mixed media cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - cling wrap, Spellbinders circle die, Memory Box trees die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Savvy Stamps sentiment, Lavinia cat, Magenta (?) branches
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne, various Distress Oxide inks
Paper - mixed media, black, and off white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - SU label punch, black embossing powder

One New Stamp, One Very Old Stamp

More Christmas of course!  Today I'm using a new stamp on my first card and a very old stamp on my second one!

First for the Double D challenge "Oh Deer".  They have a lovely mood board (see below) and I chose the upper left image of the spotted fawns to inspire me to choose the stamp I used:

I just love the Anita Jeram stamps from Colorado Craft Co. so am buying a lot of her Christmas designs.  Since it's a new stamp that I hadn't yet inked up, I'm linking it at NBUS as well.  

Watercoloured, trimmed with a pierced dot die, layered over copper shimmer cs, with glitter added to the snow lines and on the tree branches.

My second card is for Shopping Our Stash "Embossing Wet or Dry".  I went with an embossed background and one of the stamps I bought in my early years of card making.

I created an embossed script background with cream shimmer cs for my focal panel of a stamped and watercoloured image of a chickadee and greenery.   I die cut the image with an oval die cut and also die cut a red oval border. 

    

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Colorado Craft Co., SSS sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - watercolour paper, copper shimmer and off white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, Spellbinders pierced dot rectangle die, glitter

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - SU Beautiful Season, Impression Obsession sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - cream cs, red shimmer and cream shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Twinkling H2Os, script embossing folder, Spellbinders oval dies

Cardinals on Greenery and Monochromatic Blues

Can You Handle the Pressure? challenge has a perfect twist to lend itself to a Christmas card - "a twist of greenery". 

I used a snowflake embossing folder on the card base and then chose the beautiful cardinals sitting on snowy greenery to tie it all together.  The image is coloured with coloured pencils, then trimmed with a circle die, and mounted on green glitter cs cut with an inverted scallop circle die.  I went over the snow on the branches with a quickie glue pen and added glitter, and used a small die to cut "merry" out of red cs.

And for Christmas Card Creations "Monochromatic", Tic Tac Toe Challenge (I chose the right vertical line "ribbon, free, blue"), and Snippets (I used a snippet of leftover alcohol ink background, some snippets of white cs for the tree die and the sentiment tag, and a snippet of blue ribbon to attach the sentiment tag):

The focal image is die cut trees layered over alcohol inks on glossy cs.  The background is embossed with a simple texture embossing folder.

 

 

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Serendipity
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - white and red cs, green glitter cs
Size - 4.5" square
Accessories - coloured pencils, Paper Smooches merry die, glitter, Spellbinders circle and inverted scallops circle dies

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - Distress Broken China
Paper - glossy cs, white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Memory Box tree die, blue alcohol inks, Spellbinders tag die, SU texture embossing folder, blue ribbon

Posting a Letter to Santa

Peace on Earth challenge's new mood board has a lovely photo of a mail box.  It inspired me to pull out a stamp of a sweet little dog posting what I imagine to be his letter to Santa.

The image is stamped and coloured with coloured pencils.  Then bordered with gold shimmer cs and layered on a snowflake embossed panel.  I went over the snowflakes and the top of the postbox with a quickie glue pen and added glitter.

Here's the Peace on Earth mood board that inspired me:

We'd love to have you join us at Peace on Earth with either a card inspired by the mood board or an "anything Christmas" card!

I'm also linking my card up with NBUS (Never Before Used Stuff) as I've never inked up the stamp before (though I've had it for a few years!).

Supplies:
Stamps - Crafters Companion
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne
Paper - gold and white cs
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - Embossalicious snowflake embossing folder, coloured pencils, glitter

Bear in a Shaker and Small Vertical Elements

52 Christmas Card Throwdown's technique challenge is "Shaker Card" and CAS on Friday's theme challenge is "Animal".  I've got both in this card:

The bear is watercoloured and fussy cut and placed on top of a square of silver cs embossed with a snowflake embossing folder.  I added thick dimensional tape around the edges of the silver cs, sprinkled in some sequins and micro-beads, then added a layer of acetate to the top of it.  I set it behind a white square of cs out of which I die cut a centre square.

The ABC Christmas Challenge wants "U for Use It Up" and / or "V for Vertical".  I included both - using up a scrap of background and a vertical sentiment.  And Christmas Craft Creations wants "Monochromatic".

The background is a tiny leftover bit from a larger background I created by smooshing blue Distress Oxide inks on mixed media cs.  I added a small vertically-oriented die cut and stamped a vertical sentiment.

     

Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - unknown bear stamp, PB sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne, SU Real Red
Paper - white cs, silver cs, watercolour paper
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, snowflake embossing folder, sequins, microbeads, dimensional tape

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Rosie's Roadshow sentiment
Ink - various blue Distress Oxide inks
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - unknown die, fun foam