Tuesday 19 August 2014

Christmas Card for Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge


Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge


Hello everyone, and a very warm welcome to Desire Flourie from South Africa who joined us as a new follower this week. Desire is a gifted cardmaker who creates for many different Design Teams, and she also finds time for photography, gardening, hiking and scrapbooking as well as going to work!  She must get her energy from the sunshine and all the chocolate she likes to eat!  Thank you for joining us Desire.

Today is time for another challenge over at the Holly Jolly Christmas Challenge where we are asked to make a card that has 3 of something, 2 of something and 1 image.

We are kindly sponsored this time by
Oak Pond Creations
and 
finally the stamps you've been looking for rubber stamp company Rubber Stamps, Gold Leaf, Foil, and Glass Beads for Stampin, Scrapbooks, Card Making, and Paper Crafts
Eureka Stamps
                  
I came up with this card that has 3 papers, 2 sentiments and 1 image



I have been taking part in the Online Card Classes Stretch Your Stamps 2 class, and Day 3 was all about using alphabet stamps. I pulled out this Monogram Alphabet from My Favorite things and stamped the Be Merry in red down the side of the panel. I then stamped the Christmas Fairy from Woodware Fairy Delight by Francoise Read and coloured her with Copic Markers, adding some polka dots to her dress. I embossed the panel with my favourite Canvas Impression Plate from Papertrey Ink and then covered her wings with Wink of Stella Glitter Brush. I added the strips of paper at the side, then mounted the panel onto the base card with foam tape, but it looked a bit stark, so I went in and covered the panel with a tiny snowflake stamp and some glitter to finish it off.

What I learned

I found it hard to get a good impression with the new alphabet stamps and my beloved PTI Red Poppy Ink. I tried stamping lots of times to get the stamps to take up more ink and I also tried using Versamark as a base but I still wasn't terribly happy with the results. I normally get great impressions with this ink so I don't think the ink was the problem. Perhaps the stamps just need a bit more 'seasoning'.

I need to look beyond the big images on my stamp sets. The tiny stamps that come with lots of stamps sets can be very useful, and this little snowflake stamp made a really big  difference to the end result.

I originally just had the red stripey paper on the edge of the panel but adding the strip of green somehow made the tree and crown pop.

I'd like to enter this into the following challenges.

Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge - favourite things. Mine were red poppy ink, canvas impression plate and Wink of Stella Glitter.

Sparkles Christmas Challenge - snowflakes

Sweet Stampin - Christmas in August.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

Hugs
Carol x
 


9 comments:

Sarah said...

This is lovely Carol, what a sweet fairy!! Sounds like you are really getting great benefit from your classes. I think we are all guilty of under using our stamps!! xx

Benzi said...

This is soooooo pretty, Carol. I love your big alphabet letters. I love reading what you have learned....helps me, too.
I don't know if your alphabet stamps were clear or not but I always get a better stamped image if I use my Staedtler mars plastic eraser on my
clear stamps before using them....makes a big difference. You may already do that, though. Here is a link: http://triplethescraps.blogspot.com/2009/06/tuesdays-tip-stamp-conditioning.html And, yes, I have learned that all the small stamps I like to call 'fill-in's are just fabulous. Love how you used the snowflake stamp.

Sue said...

Awwww Carol this is so cute! love those stamps huggles Sue xx

Keep It Sweet and Simple said...

Fabulous Christmas card and I love the snowflake background.
That's a great tip, not to overlook those little stamps.
Caroline xxx

Darnell said...

What a fabulous lesson you shared with us over this fantastic card, Carol!! I especially like the tip about adding that tiny strip of green and what a difference it made! Good job!! Hugs, Darnell

Rachel said...

Great contemporary Christmas card - love the layout.
Thank you for sharing with us at Sweet Stampin this week, Wedgie xxx

Hazel said...

Thanks for entering your lovely card for CHNC challenge 190 - you could also enter this into my CHNC challenge extra for August - I'd love to see it there too. x

Sandra H said...

Oh this is just the cutest card ever what a lovely image too and the layout is perfect for our challenge over at “ Sparkles Christmas Challenge Snowflakes “ good luck and hope to see you again next time Dt Member Sandra H xx

Helen said...

Great card - such a sweet image.

Thanks for joining us at Sparkles Christmas Challenge.

Helen N x

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