Friday, May 30, 2008

Challenge overload!

I went to bed last night thinking, I haven't done a card yet for my Christmas card challenge for the week. And I might not get to stamp on Saturday. So I'd better make sure I do a Christmas card tomorrow.

When I got online this morning, the first thing I saw was Sharon's Stamp Simply challenge: to use black and white plus one color. That could be Christmasy, I thought.

Then I went to check out the limited supply challenge on SCS. And guest hostess Angel offered us a doozy: make three cards with the same stamps, papers, inks, hardware, and ribbon. Well... it seemed natural to me to combine these two challenges since I was already going to be limited on supplies anyway. So I chose to use real red with my black and white for my three Christmas cards. My stamps are an Inkadinkado poinsettia and a sentiment from Perfect Presentation. I used dotted red paper from the hostess prints pack, along with black and white cardstock. The crystal brads are from Making Memories, and I used white organdy ribbon - although I goofed and didn't have enough of the wide ribbon I used on one card so I had to sub narrow ribbon instead. Oops! On each card I used my Sakura clear glitter pen to accent the main poinsettia(s) and mounted them with foam tape.

My first card here uses yet one more challenge: Beate's sketch for this weekend. I fiddled with it a little because I thought it looked better with the larger panels moved slightly. The large poinsettia panel was done with generation stamping (first, second, and third) until the panel was covered. I edged these panels in black to make them stand out more - I don't think I've ever used white as a layer before, but I like it!

The next card was actually the first one I made (hence the ribbon snafu). I punched the poinsettias with a Marvy square punch and then layered onto black squares. The corners were punched with the ticket corner punch to make a place for the brads.

Finally, my last card. By this time I was really feeling challenged since I felt like I used up most of my good ideas on the first two cards. But I do like the idea of putting the brad in the center of the poinsettia - they didn't look right to me anywhere else. I stamped the poinsettia border on the bottom in third generation and did the sentiment with my Stamp-a-ma-Jig. The main poinsettia was punched with Marvy punches.

Whew, I'm exhausted now! (But in a good way.)

4 comments:

Bonnie said...

These are all so gorgeous!! Good for you for getting at your Christmas cards! Yikes!

Anonymous said...

Wow! All three cards look fantastic! Thanks so much for playing!
Have a great weekend. Hugs and smiles

Antje said...

three very nice cards... love your color choice

Sarah said...

Three amazing cards! Great choice in colours.

xx :0)