Two Cards—and some Challenges

I frequently see people post cards for multiple challenges, and marvel that they can combine so many different prompts. The most I’ve ever done is two, but today I have two cards—one for four challenges, and another for two.

I’ll start with the fall-themed card that I created, then dismantled, after taking a photograph and realizing some things needed to be fixed! I’m entering it in the Color Throwdown Challenge, and The Card Concept. For both cards, the colors were the main inspiration, and for The Card Concept–also the theme of “Give Thanks.” This card falls under the definition of CAS at The Card Concept.

The design began when I was looking through the clear envelopes where I store previously die cut/stamped/embossed pieces. I sort them by kind or by stamp set. I found this kraft background that had been embossed with a Time Holtz Alterations embossing folder. I thought it would make a good background for a fall card. Then I found the leaves that I had stamped and die cut a year ago when I was crafting with a friend. The leaves and the card base tick off three of the Color Throwdown Challenge. The narrow brown frame ticks off the fourth color, although kraft falls in the brown category as well. All the stamped images are from Papertrey Ink’s “Forest Floor: Autumn.”

The next card is another Christmas card, headed for four challenges: CAS on Friday–Christmas (no challenge image for this site,) CAS Mix-up — Watercolor and Off the Edge, Christmas Kickstart–Festive Florals, and The Flower Challenge-Use a Sentiment. It’s another card featuring a poinsettia.This one was one of last year’s favorite purchases, and I’ve already used it this year a few times.

I started with a bright red card base using Gina K’s “Cherry Kisses.” Having almost ruined a card with splatters awhile ago, I splattered the card front with metallic gold paint before I did anything else. I gold embossed the beautiful poinsettia (Altenew’s “Modern Poinsettia”) and then watercolored it with Zig Clean Color Markers. 

It’s easier to see the beautiful gold embossing here. I added a strip of gold metallic paper and a thin black border behind the poinsettia. The greeting is from Simon Says “Holiday Greetings: Mix 1” which is quickly becoming a favorite sentiment. I love the narrow gold border around the greeting. The final touch was to add some gold metallic dots to the center of the flower.