Christmas in July

Good afternoon, the weekend is upon us once again so it must be time for Shirley to hit the challenge trail!

This is an entry for three challenges:

Crafty Catz #93 Christmas in July
Crafty Creations #129 Christmas in July
Totally papercrafts #77 Bling It Up.

So here we have an unusual colour combination for Christmas but I think it works.

The main image is from Elusive Images (now Chocolate Baroque). This was stamped on acetate and gold leaf was applied to the back for the first bit of bling.

This was layered onto glossy card which had been coloured with various alcohol inks. Once trimmed to size the edges were picked out with fine gold peel offs (not something I use often but they do have their place).

This was mounted onto black card which had been embossed with the brand new embossing tools from the makers of the Cuttlebug. It was a corner embossing tool that was positioned on the master board and used to emboss each corner. This layer was mounted onto a pink A5 card blank and then the holly berried were highlighted with gold glitter glue for added bling.

The "Joy" sentiment was also embossed on gold textured card using the Cuttlebug system, cut to shape with a circular Nestie and backed with the scalloped circular Nestie to finish the look.

The First Christmas Card of the Year!

Here we are in July and here I am making my first Christmas card of the year. I know I usually start early but not this early! This exception is for the CES challenge #45 - Christmas challenge

This is one of my all time favourite Snowman stamps. I have had it for about 4 years and out he comes every year. This was stamped on Navy card and embossed with white powder. This, in turn, was layered onto hand marbled card,  pale blue card and finally onto the A5 navy coloured blank.

The snowflakes were created from 3 individual snow flake layers, cut and embossed using Spellbinders Shapeabilities, layered with Pinflair gel.

The snowflake ribbon was pushed through a slot cut in the spine of the card blank and tied in a bow. A plaque was cut with an other Shapeability and the message placed on the front with sticky foam pads. This was mounted on the ribbon with Pinflair.

The Last Christmas Card

I know we are now in 2011 but I needed an excuse to post this Christmas card that I made for my other half. I was so pleased with it. Therefore this is to be an entry for the Crafty Catz challenge #63 which was my choice of any of their old challenge themes. Consequently I chose #60 - Christmas.

The base card is navy blue and A5 in size.

The background was made from white watercolour card which was tinted with Distress ink and when dry it was over sprayed with silver and lapis lazuli mica mists. The made the distress ink run and gave a very nice effect.

The two flourishes were cut on my Cricut machine.

The sentiment was hand foiled in silver and the edges tinted with Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink. This was matted onto silver mirror card.

The image, by Sheena Douglass, was stamped with the same distress ink onto watercolour card and then with a damp brush the ink from the outline was drawn into the image to add shading. Once trimmed to the required size the edges were tinted with the same ink (I just love this colour) and the image was matted onto silver mirror card. Although it is not that easy to see on the photo, I added snow, both falling from the sky and on the ledges of the house, on the ground etc, using a quickie glue pen and glamour dust to give a very delicate sparkle.

These were all added to the base card with double sided tape except for the sentiment which was applied with foam pads to give depth

Now I will forget Christmas cards for the next few months and look forward to all the new challenges that 2011 will bring.

Link to Crafty Catz challenge: http://craftycatzweeklychallenge.blogspot.com/2010/12/craftycatz-challenge-63-your-choice.html

Christmas Card

Good morning.

Here is my card for today - a Christmas Card with a slightly traditional feel. It is A5 in size with the base card being very dark blue.

The background layer is made from watercolour paper. It was coloured with two colours of blue distress ink and then over sprayed with two colours of Glimmer Mist which was deliberately done to make splatters rather than a fine mist. Once dry, the edges of the panel were stamped with Denim Adirondack ink using one of the new stamps by Sheena Douglass.

The second layer was white glossy card that was stamped using various snowflake stamps using Versamark ink and embossed with white powder. Ink was applied with a blending tool and the ink on the snowflakes rubbed off to leave the flakes white.

Two colours of organza ribbon were wrapped around this layer and tied in a bow at the side.

The image is a stamp from Creative Expressions which was stamped on plain white card with black Stazon Ink and coloured with Twinkling H2Os. It was cut out with a scalloped Nestability and the edges highlighted with Distress ink.

As a final touch the large snowflake was made by using a Shapeability, coloured with Distress ink and over sprayed with silver glitter varnish by Crafters Companion.

To assemble the card, all the layers were attached with double sided tape and the snowflake with foam pads.

Christmas Card for Three Challenges

Good evening.

Here is a card for the following challenges: Cards for Men Challenge #23 - Animals, Sketch and Stash Challenge #48 and Crafty Cardmakers - Spotlight Dry Embossing. See the links at the end of the blog.

For the animals we have penguins, for the dry embossing we have the snow flake background and the card is made to the sketch with the new stash being a Snowflake Impressibility and snow flake Shapeabilities to revitalise plain white card.

This is based on a dark blue A5 size card. Plain white card was embossed using the Impressability and my Cuttlebug. On the debossed side, three colours of blue Distress ink were applied very gently using the blending tool to tint the raised portions. A quickie glue pen was used to highlight the snowflakes with Glamour Dust which is more subtle then glitter. This was then trimmed and attached to a piece of Silver Mirror card. The trimmings were used to make the two arrow shaped pointers which were also matted onto silver mirror card.

The snow flakes were cut out using some Shapeabilites from white card. These were tinged with blue ink and and over sprayed with silver glitter varnish from Crafter's Companion.

For the main image: The penguin stamp from Encaustic Arts International was stamped onto glossy card and thoroughly dried with a heat gun. A moon shape was cut from a Post-It note and some roughly shaped mountains were torn out of paper. The moon and mountains were positioned onto the card and ink was applied with a brayer to give the sky. More mountains were added using the paper and a make-up sponge to dab the ink into place. Snow was added in the form of a snow writer which had Glamour Dust added whilst it was still wet to add just a touch of sparkle.

I hope that you like my challenge entry. Here are the links to the challenge pages:

http://craftycardmakers.blogspot.com

http://sketchandstashchallenge.blogspot.com

http://cardsformen.blogspot.com