52 Christmas Card Throwdown - 9.24 and NBUS #60

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Another week and another card for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.  It's week 9 and a sketch.

An after Christmas sale brought the Honey Bee Layered Bells to my studio.  It is cut from gold mirror cardstock with a blue bow attached.  For the background I sliced a panel embossed with Luminous Motifs from Altenew, which allowed me to make two cards.  I also purchased the Jingle All the Way sentiments and accompanying dies.  Since these are new products, I'm sending my card to Darnell's NBUS challenge. 

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Week 8

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Have you ever made a retiform card?  That's the technique we are to use for the challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.  I knew I had done it before and when I looked it up it was almost 4 years ago that I made my first retiform card.  Here's number two.

The most difficult part was finding enough Christmas images that had a similar line width.  Five of them came from Reverse Confetti, one from The Stamp Market, one from  MFT and one from STAMPlorations.  The sentiment is from Colorado Craft Company.   I used Pumice Stone Distress Oxide to ink the sections and to stamp the images.  For a vintage look, I colored them with PolyChromos pencils.  There is a video listed on the blog if you want more information although I watched one from GinaK.  

Think you'll give this technique a try?

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown 24.7

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This week's theme at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown is not quite what I would think of for a Christmas card but a little creativity and die cuts in my stash worked wonders.

The theme was mushrooms so I cut some from The Greetery in white and inked with Kitsch Flamingo and Old Paper Distress Inks.  The gnome is from SSS, inked with Peacock Feathers and the Gina Marie grass is Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn.  To give it a more Christmas feel, I inked the edges with Tumbled Glass before cutting with the C9 coverplate.  The sentiment is from Sugar Pea Designs.  I love the non-traditional Christmas colors which are quickly becoming more traditional for some designers.   

So another Christmas card goes in my box.  With those left over from the end of the year and the ones I've made so far this year I have 20.  I think that's a pretty good start.

 

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown 6.24

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I missed a couple of weeks of 52 Christmas Card Throwdown but I'm back today with their color challenge - blue and white.

The layered snowflake is from Altenew, cut in two layers of blue, one from a mica spray panel and one from white.  The coverplate and sentiment are both from Concord & 9th.

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown 3.24

The theme for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown is wreaths and I chose to make one from Concord and 9th.

This is a stencil called Boughs & Holly, colored with Altenew inks.  I added Nuvo drops to the berries and a red foiled sentiment from Simon Hurley. 

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown 2.24

It's week two at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown and I have a card for their color challenge - red, orange and yellow.

The Christmas tree bulbs were cut from white and colored with Mica sprays.  I couldn't let the overspray go to waste so I sopped it up with a piece of mixed media paper and used it for a border.  The sentiment from Neat and Tangled was stamped on a white panel which was then embossed with the Pine Needles folder.  Silver cardstock was used for the bulb tops and wire. 

If you're looking for a way to keep up with your Christmas cards, I'd suggest checking out this challenge. They have a monthly rotation of sketch, color, theme/recipe and stash/technique. 

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown 1.24

Last year I participated a number of challenges at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown which helped me keep on track with my holiday cards.  This year I hope to continue with as many weeks as possible.  This first week is a sketch and here's my card.

I also want to use more of my older stamps this year.   This little church is from Sunny Studio, colored with Altenew artist markers.  I masked off a strip and used Distress Ink to color the sky above and sidewalk below.  The sentiment is from Pinkfresh Studio. 

It looks like most of the US is going through some bad weather conditions.  I hope you all keep safe if you are in the path of any of the snow, wind, rain or flooding. 

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown 41.23

It's the 41st week of challenges at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.  I've played in a lot of them and have another for this week's sketch challlenge.

The Mica sprayed Waffle Flower poinsettia was on my desk left over from another project.  I added a plaid strip and gold heat embossed sentiment from Penny Black.  QACAS.

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown 37.23

I have a card for the sketch challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.  

The little deer are from Mama Elephant, colored with PolyChromos pencils.  A black glaze pen was added to their noses and eyes.  The sentiment is from MFT stamped in CP Spruce to match the border paper. 

I'm trying to play catch up after being gone over a long weekend.  Crazy how much can pile up in such a short time. 

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown 36.23

The technique at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown is stenciling and that was an easy one for me although I did change my mind on what I was going to do as I looked through my stencils.

I started with a single layer stencil from Pretty Pink Posh, masking the berries so I could color them red.   The sentiment is from Hero Arts cut in red foil and layered for dimension.  I counted my Christmas cards yesterday and I have 62 done towards my goal of 85.  Not bad for the first week in October and all the Christmas challenges to come.

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown #34.23 and Peace On Earth #47

The color challenge at 52 Christnas Card Throwdown was an easy one for me.  Blue, green and brown.

The branches and pine cones are from The Greetery and the sentiment is from Concord and 9th.  I was going to ink a background but found this paper from Honey Bee that looked like a snowy sky to me.  I'm also sending my card to Peace on Earth.  They have a fabulous moodboard but thankfully they accept any Christmas cards since I didn't use their images. 

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown 33.23

I finally had a chance to make a card for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.  I did a good job keeping up with their challenges at the beginning of the year but not having a lot of Christmas things with me kind of slowed me down.  

A new set from Spellbinders gave me this holly that I did in chartreuse and pink with a sentiment from Concord and 9th white heat embossed on aqua.  The background is an Altenew embossing folder called Crystal Wall.  

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown 26.23

I'm glad that I had what I needed to play in 52 Christmas Card Throwdown's color challenge this week - red and pale blue.  

Using Lumberjack Plaid Distress Ink, I colored the poinsettia die from Altenew.  The light blue cardstock was embossed with Crystal Wall from Altenew and then brayered with Unicorn White ink.  The blue was so light that not much of the white shows in the photo but it looks great IRL.  The sentiment is from EbyE stamped in the same red ink.  My Christmas stash keeps growing.  Yay!

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown 24.23

A big sale at Concord and 9th brought me the Yuletide Ornament set and allowed me to make a card for this week's 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.

The ornament and sentiment were heat embossed in silver..  In order to color the ornament,  I stamped and cut out a mask and then blended on Tumbled Glass, Salvaged Patina and Peacock Feathers.

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown 20.23

Today I am guest designing at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.  I have been playing with them for the past 19 weeks and on week 17 I was a winner of the sketch challenge with this card.   Today is a sketch challenge too.

As you may have read on my last 52CCTD post, I came to the lake with only a few Christmas stamps and didn't have this sketch sent to me before I left.  Fortunately I had something that I could make work by turning the sketch on its head. 

The Altenew poinsettia was stamped and clear heat embossed on Bristol smooth and colored with Zigs.  I added a little splatter and a sentiment from the same set. 

I want to thank the Design Team at 52 CCTD for having me this week.  You have really stretched my creativity with your challenges.

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52 Christmas Card Throwdown 19.23

I didn't think I would be able to play at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown this week because I'm away from my usual craftroom.  I looked at my "Cards Not Posted" folder and found one that works for their music theme.

The stamp set is from Penny Black called "Sing Joy".  The carolers were colored with Altenew artist markers and Copics (the faces).  The background music is from Simon Hurley. 

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