CC&S #153: 2015 Colours Revisited and Make It Christmassy!

For this week’s Christmas colour challenge at CAS Coloursand Sketches I have chosen a colour palette that I devised for one of our October challenges (#144). I wasn’t very happy with the card I made that week so wanted to see if I could come up with something better.

I really wanted to have another go at the bokeh technique and so for this card I sponged corresponding inks in the two blues onto a piece of watercolour paper. After letting this dry I sponged white ink from a chalk inkpad through a homemade circle template in vary levels of intensity. This was then mounted onto a piece of gold cardstock. Looking at internet images of bokeh, I’m not sure that my circles are really soft or out of focus enough but I like them anyway so I guess that’s all that matters.  

The snowflakes were a right faff to die-cut. I always seem to have trouble cutting very intricate dies though I have tried all sorts of tricks to make it easier without any real success! Eventually I cut enough (some in white, some in gold, one in felt) that were OK and layered them onto a piece of shimmery netting from a recycled wedding favour all held in place with a beautiful snowflake brad! Finally, after several hours with the snowflakes, the greeting was die-cut and added to one side.

Supplies Used:

Inkpads: Nautical Blue, Summer Sky (Memento), Cloud White (VersaMagic)

Dies: Snowflakes (Die'sire), Peace Word (Clearly Besotted)

Snippets: Gold, white, navy & watercolour paper/cardstock, White felt, Recycled netting, Snowflake brad

I would also like to enter my card into the following festive challenges:

CAS on Sunday: Challenge #72 ‘Christmas’

Time Out: Challenge #45 ‘Snowflakes are Winter’s Butterflies’

52 Christmas Card Throwdown: November Technique Challenge ' Sponging/Brayering'

Addicted To CAS: Challenge #77 'Dimension'

So sorry that my post for CC&S is late this week and that I've not managed to visit and comment on last week's entries - it's been a really busy week (and next week's not looking great either)!

Stef x

Christmas Dots

Hmmm, definitely not one of my best! This week has been crazily busy and I haven't really got time to squeeze crafting into it. However because I want to fulfil the commitment I'd made to myself to enter the DT call at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown I have to enter a card into the challenge for the last week in November which is a 'Pick A Previous' Sketch challenge.

I have chosen sketch #26 from March 2014 and thought it also fitted very well into this week's challenge at Addicted to CAS whose code word this week is 'Dots'.

I have used a beautiful Marianne Design bauble die that came free with a magazine  and some metallic papers. I think what I don't like are the punched circles as they seem too big now they are stuck to the card! I think they detract from the delicacy of the baubles.

Three snowflake stamped images from Card-io's 'Winter Flurry' set and a couple of gems complete the sketch with a peel-off greeting in silver. Now, that's not something I use very often these days but I really need to use up some of my old stuff. Maybe there should be a challenge that makes use of ancient stash!!

That's all for tonight.
Thanks for visiting.
Stef

Embroidered paper angel

Tonight I want to share with you my entry for this week's 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown Challenge. The fourth week of the month means it's a stash challenge and this time around it's the technique of paper piercing. I have also taken inspiration from the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week and would like to enter it into sketch challenge #164.

I had the idea of paper piercing an angel and then going one step further and doing some paper embroidery. I used a pattern that I had on my computer, found whilst browsing the internet a while back, along with a piece of 350gsm white card and some fine metallic silver machine embroidery thread. I didn't have any proper instructions but with a little patience I think it's come out just fine!

I turned the sketch on its side and matted & layered the finished angel onto a piece of metallic silver paper and then onto a metallic plum-coloured square card blank. It's finished off with a piece of white ribbon with a silver Christmas greeting printed on it and a matching handmade bow.

My mum does a lot of knitting and sewing and I think she would appreciate this card for Christmas, so that's her sorted!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Stef x

O Little Town Of Bethlehem

I have made today's card taking inspiration from two challenge blogs. Firstly from the challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown. This week it is the November Theme Challenge {Christmas Window}. I was inspired initially by Gill's DT card that uses a window, but not an actual window!

I also decided to use embossing with metallic EP to fit into challenge 19 at Time Out. Week three of their monthly rota is a theme with a twist which this week is embossing with the optional twist of sparkle. I also thought it would make a change to be one of the first to post a card instead of being one of the last! The idea for the card is one from my back burner that I've been meaning to make for a while and I'm so glad I did as I'm quite pleased with the way it's turned out.

It uses the 'O little town of Bethlehem' carol stamp and silhouette nativity scene both from Clarity Stamps. Firstly I stamped the carol in Versamark and embossed with gold EP (I think I need to buy a finer grade EP as the words are not as crisp as I'd like and I'm sure it's not the fault of the stamp!) I masked the carol and then stamped the nativity scene, making sure to mask off the star and remembering to take the tape off the stamp first - nearly forgot! I then stamped the star in Versamark, masking off the rest of the stamp, and embossed that also with gold EP. I didn't wait quite long enough for the stamped silhouette to dry as some stray specks of EP landed on the roof of the stable and wouldn't come off. But I decided that it was a happy accident as it actually looked quite good that way and wouldn't have thought of doing it otherwise!

I put the mask back over the carol and masked off a circle around the stamp. Using two Distress Inks, Stormy Sky and Antique Linen, I gently sponged some colour into the sky and sandy areas. Finally I matted and layered the image onto a matching piece of cardstock using the best present I got for Christmas last year, my Perfect Layers rulers!

Well, that's another Christmas card made! Thanks for visiting today.
Stef x

Button Christmas Card

I've made another Christmas card, this time inspired by the challenges on 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown where they have a colour challenge (alongside a DT call) and CASology where the cue card is 'Festive'. I've kept the card really CAS this time which has definitely become my preferred style over the last couple of years.

The 52CCT colour palette was to use red and green with either silver or gold and white/cream as a base. I'm definitely more of a silver kinda girl so that choice was easy and I think it gives red and green a more modern feel than pairing with traditional gold.



I bought a pretty little jar of Christmas buttons from Abakhan a few years ago and have used some of them here to create the tree shape. The 3D silver star was an odd one I had in my stash and the pot was simply cut from a scrap of textured silver card. I thought the scalloped edge card added a bit of interest and reflected the shape of the buttons. Even though I have created a card, this design would work equally well on a tag.

So I would like to enter it into the following challenges:
52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown: November Colour Challenge
CASology: Week 121 Festive

Thanks for visiting today and for leaving such lovely comments about the cards I've made recently.
Stef x

First Christmas Card!

I haven't made many Christmas cards yet, I just don't get the time. I have made this week an exception though and have enjoyed a bit of a crafty week but will have to catch up with other things next week... maybe!

The 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown Challenge are looking for DT members. I would love to join a DT. If I had deadlines to meet then my crafting could become a higher priority than it is now and I wouldn't feel so guilty about not doing other things! So I thought I would throw my hat into the ring and make a card to fit their sketch. The card I have made also fits nicely with the non-traditional colour Christmas card theme on one of my favourite challenge blogs, Less is More.

I have adopted a colour scheme of neutrals and metallic neutrals. The stamp is Woodware's Christmas tree bubble stamp which I have stamped with white ink and embossed with white glitter EP. It has been adorned with a variety of adhesive gems & pearls, small brads, Craftwork Cards' Candi and metallic markers. The sentiment is from the same stamp set. As you can see I have followed 52CCT's sketch quite closely. Instead of stitching around the edge I have matted and layered the stamped panel onto kraft cardstock.

So I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown: November sketch challenge and DT call

Less is More: 196 Non-traditional colour Christmas card

Thanks for stopping by today

Stef x