Category: Christmas 2022 challenge

Christmas 2022 challenge, Joy, Peace & Joy, Waffle flower

Christmas cardmaking 2022 challenge … #10

Catherine

Well I may have been AWOL from the blog all week but I did actually manage to finish this years Christmas challenge … Yes I did!

Today’s theme is Peace and Joy … so of course I went to the Peace and Joy stamp set that I still adore.

I grabbed some retired colour cardstock (Fresh Freesia) and added the background pattern using a Waffle flower background die that gives that lovely pierced look.

Then I stamped and embossed the large sentiments and then die cut them. I decided to add some inking to the background and then had fun stamping and fussy cutting the foliage images from the stamp set in some fun pinks and purples to go with the Freesia cardstock.

I decided they needed a base to sit on so added the die cut square in black which I die cut twice to stack. I had also stacked the sentiment die cuts too so they had some sturdy dimension.

I also decided to add the laser cut snowflake for some shimmer and contrast. And then the pearl gems in the purple colour to embellish.

This card was actually smaller than an standard 6×4 but will still work fine in a standard envelope I think.

I then had some more of the cardstock left so went with another card using the other large sentiment from the set.

This one I also added the die cut poinsettia from a magazine kit. I decided to set the large word back on this one rather than adding the dimension to the word. I stacked the die cut ‘hole’ a few layers deep so the stamped and embossed word was set back.

I went for a Rich Razzleberry card base for this one which framed the stacked panel nicely.

Love how these two cards came out.

So there you go … finished my 10 week challenge just in time for Christmas …. impressed I managed it!

Would love to see any cards you make using my challenge as the starting point. Please let me know in the comments here or over on Instagram.

Now I think I am done with what I can blog between now and Christmas so will take this opportunity to wish all my blog readers a very merry Christmas!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

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Christmas 2022 challenge, Ribbons

Christmas cardmaking 2022 challenge … #9

Catherine

Wow this is getting close now … but still progressing with my Christmas card challenge and onto week 9!

This week I went simple for florals and grabbed a magazine kit that had a whole host of products but stuck to the papers and printed images for these cards.

Simple, traditional colours and poinsettias with the added elements of an organza bow, pearls and a sentiment topper I had in the stash.

I did raise up the floral elements I had fussy cut and the sentiment also is raised on foam.

Think I prefer this one to the other, but both pretty and very simple to make.

And you probably recognise the green check from the santa cards from a few weeks ago as they were from the same magazine kit.

Well… the big question is will I actually manage to finish the challenge or not? Fingers crossed… one more week to go.

And if you’ve been playing along with my challenge let me know as I’d love to see what you are making either here or on Instagram… just drop me a message.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Christmas 2022 challenge, Woodware stamps

Christmas cardmaking 2022 challenge … #8

Catherine

This week on my challenge I was inspired by the fabulous Kristina Werner and these simple cards she made … admittedly I say simple but her watercolour techniques take a huge amount of practice and control … but I figured I could do some stripes easily enough… and this led to these two backgrounds.

I actually used Brusho powders as my watercolours which accounts for some of the flecks of colour in the sky on the right hand side one. I chose to do one with Prussian Blue and the other with the Black (but did add a bit of each in both of them).

I decided to turn these into landscape scenes and then to add my reindeer silhouette images.

The stamps, including the sentiment is an old Woodware set I love. I love how they make the scenes come to life.

I think I prefer the composition of the black toned one but love the colour of the prussian blue … really should do more simple elegant cards like these!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Christmas 2022 challenge, Ribbons, Snow Crystal

Christmas cardmaking 2022 challenge… #7

Catherine

Hello!

When I saw it was snowflakes I knew I wanted to use the Snow Crystal stamp as its one of my favourites but I decided to go a bit more graphic and spotted this paper in my stash that I thought was perfect for making me go a bit different with this stamped image.

As the paper is quite modern and a bit funky I decided to team it with kraft card and black card with the white embossed snowflake. I also added another layer to the snowflake with the laser cut embellishments too!

Each card is slightly different with the black panel slightly different in size and how I laid it out, but otherwise I kept the design simple with the square of dsp.

I also used the checked ribbon and some sequins to embellish.

Love this different look for a snowflake card… usually just go for pastels for snowflakes so it was good to use this very bright dsp and black and kraft instead.

Do you want more snowflake inspiration …. here is the card I made in last years challenge. Now hopefully this years challenge I will get a little further on as this was the last one I made last time. Fingers 🤞!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Christmas 2022 challenge

Christmas cardmaking 2022 challenge …. #6

Catherine

Some cards come together easily, others I struggle with and this weeks santa I struggled with! I love this image but don’t use it often as I hate colouring it in… I never get the balance right.

I decided to paint him this time and used brushos as my watercolour medium. This worked quite well but not perfectly.

I decided to then add gold paint pen and also some fluff to the trim on his coat and hat.

I then went for simple card design of some dsp using magazine papers and then black mounts and as a card base.

I finished off with three black die cut stars as embellishments as they worked well with the graphic feel to the image.

Think the landscape one worked better than the portrait design but neither of these cards can I claim to love.

I think I may have to invest in another santa stamp at some point as this just never turns out as well as I would like.

What do you think?

And have you got some good santa images to play with? Why not join in with my challenge and let me know if you do on here or on Instagram so I can see what you make.

Last year for this theme I used a magazine stamp I have since got rid of. He was cute but very small … Will add ‘decent santa stamp’ to my wishlist for 2023.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Christmas 2022 challenge, Tim Holtz, Watercolour paints

Christmas cardmaking 2022 challenge… #5

Catherine

Hello … onto week 5 of my Christmas cardmaking challenge already…. wow those weeks have gone by so quickly. Before we know it we will be at Christmas day! And between this and Martin’s challenge I have been joining in with on and off I will have more than enough cards for this year!

This weeks theme was gifts and so I looked through my stamp sets and found a magazine kit that had two gift stamps that I thought would work well for pattern making.

I decided to make two cards out of the mixed media cardstoxk and stamped directly onto the front of the card. The first one I went for an all over pattern and then for the second just a block in the middle.

I stamped in Versafine and then painted the parcels with shimmery watercolour. Unfortunately doesn’t show up on the photos but they are super shimmery!

To finish off I die cut the sentiment from black and white cardstock stacking them for plenty of dimension on what is otherwise a very flat card.

I love how these cards came out and painting them was so relaxing! Definitely prefer the one where it is in a block but both are so cute.

I’m also amazed I am keeping up with my own challenge whilst still joining in with Martin’s challenge on some of the days too!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Christmas 2022 challenge, Creative Expressions, Pine Woods, Ribbons, Tidings and Trimmings

Christmas cardmaking 2022 challenge… #4

Catherine

Given I’m joining in on Martin’s challenge you would have thought I would have had enough of Christmas crafting but nope… I’m still going with my own challenge!

This weeks theme for the challenge is tree. Now one of my favourite things about Christmas is decorating the house and the many trees I have. I also went through a phase of having lots of tree stamps in my craft collection but recently I’ve reduced the selection a lot and rarely grab tree stash. I do however love the In the Pines bundle (now retired) and still love die cutting the tree images out.

So those are the supplies I grabbed and die cut a few white trees and stacked them up but then couldn’t decide how to use them.

Then I spotted the background die and though why not use that to create some fun backgrounds using some of the patterned paper I’ve got and some scraps of brown cardstock…. ta daa!

Love how the white trees pop off the patterned backgrounds.

This first one has slightly less dimension as the frame was 2 sheets of dsp but the window pieces were cardstock so it came out quite flat. I added the black square die cut to frame the tree and found this sentiment strip in the stash to finish off. I did add it to a black card blank so I’ve added a white panel on the inside so it’s good to write inside.

The second one is on navy cardstock and its a larger card at 5×7.

This one has lots of dimension. I cut the frame three times from cardstock whereas the inserts are single sheet of dsp so much lower down than the frame. I also die cut the tree three times so it’s very chunky.

Added a scrap of ribbon and a printed sentiment popped up on foam at either side to go over the top.

Cute cards… not admittedly my favourite of the ones I’ve made using this set… but cute regardless!

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Christmas 2022 challenge, Colorado Craft Company, Distress oxide ink, Emma Godfrey, Gelli Plate, JOFY, Spellbinders

Christmas cardmaking 2022 challenge… #3

Catherine

Hello

Todays Christmas cardmaking challenge theme is star. Now I remember using the Tidings and Trimmings stars last year but as I used that set last week I wanted something different. So I scoured the stash and found these fab Jofy star stamps and decided to go a bit mixed media.

I stamped the stars onto basic white and then ink blended over them to add colour using my distress oxides. Then I grabbed some mixed media cardstock, distress oxides and my Gelli plate to create some fun backgrounds… I love the randomness of this and the different patterns it can create. Onto one of them I decided to stamp more of the stars and snowflakes from the same stamp set and then cut down the background to fit a 5×5 card. Then I added a black die cut branch and some black star and the fabulous Joy die cut from Colorado Craft Company.

This was my simple card … I did pop the star up on foam tabs but kept the whole thing simple.

The other one I grabbed a different Paperartsy stamp set that has lots of sentiments and made them into a square shape on the stamp platform so that I could stamp in one go and make a background.

Whilst it is still subtle I love how it looked (in fact I made two more backgrounds similar but not done anything with them yet so they are in the “still to play with pile” for now.

I decided to make another layer and make this into a bigger card so blended the bottom panel with the same colour of inks but kept it random, like I had on the star.

I added the fab glimmer paper onto this too… with the stars, the little strip that went top and bottom and the word die. I also stacked the word die so it was nice and chunky!

This time I did some grey leaves but top and bottom and also added white paint pen to the design on the star.

So these are my star themed cards for this week. Are you joining in with my challenge? If so I would love to see what you are making so please let me know here or over on Instagram.

Happy crafting!

Catherine

Christmas 2022 challenge, Christmas Pinecone, Christmas to remember, Fern, Merriest moments, Ribbons, Seasonal Labels Dies

Christmas cardmaking 2022 challenge… #1

Catherine

So long term readers of my blog will know I attempted a Christmas card making challenge last year and failed to finish… this year I’ve shortened it but I’m back with a very similar challenge again this year and really hoping I might succeed with a bit of planning and tenacity… let’s see shall we.

I’ve kept to very similar themes … just got rid of a couple so that it will work as a weekly challenge and take us up to just before Christmas… because yes 10 weeks (or thereabouts) to go to Christmas week.

So first up … foliage. Last time I did use the Christmas to Remember and Christmas Season bundles to create my cards. But this time I’ve gone very different with the same set and created the card I’m going to give my parents this year.

I concentrated on the die cutting and lots and lots of dimension… so there are three layers to the background panel of die cuts in 2 colours of green, some of the pine cones also have three or four layers. I stacked up the sentiment panel and also the embossed background.

This photo in the sun shows all the shadow and conveys the depth to the card quite well.

I heat embossed the sentiment and love the white against all the greens and brown. Modern but with a hint at tradition. I added the brown twine from the stash which makes a lovely different embellishment alongside the pearl gems.

I think my parents will like this card, and as its a 7×7 card it’s a good size for special recipients.

I really love how it turned out… to be honest I rarely use these very detailed dies as they can be tricky to cut out on my Big Shot (it’s getting old and the pressure isn’t as good as it was) so this took some time… but I think it was worth it.

Also love that Fern embossing folder. I was able to extend it over the whole 6×6 square as knew the “join” would be masked by the die cut panel on top… so no one would know it isn’t a 6×6 embossing folder!

Would love it if you were inspired by my personal challenge and let me know… either here or on Instagram…. would love to see what you create.

Happy crafting!

Catherine