A man's xmas card for the sketch challenge at Stamp With Us

We had a great beginners class yesterday (thanks for being great company ladies *waves*) though it did go a bit beyond beginners. It was a three hour class rather than my usual 2 hour version and so I'd added in more use of the wheel and even the rock and roll technique - sorry if I pushed too hard but you got beautiful results!

Today's a new challenge day over at Stamp With Us and we have this sketch:

I've been looking for an excuse to break out my new Christmas set from the Mini and figured this was ideal. Serene Snowflakes is a set of 4 stamps but has 6 snowflakes in total, the three dinky ones in the bottom right hand corner are on a single stamp.

I found that the small snowflake (top right hand corner) fits perfectly in the 1-1/4" Circle punch. I chose Not Quite Navy, and Very Vanilla with a hint of Basic Gray to create what I hope is a more manly christmas card. I'm glad that Not Quite Navy will be staying when we swap over in Autumn, it's my go to colour for men's cards.

Recipe

Stamp sets: Serene Snowflakes, Occasional Greetings

Cardstock: Not Quite Navy, Very Vanilla, Basic Gray

Ink: Platinum Shimmer Paint

Punch: 1-1/4" Circle

Other: Silver Brads, Mat Pack, Paper Piercing Tool

The snowflakes and sentiment were stamped with Platinum shimmer paint added direct to the stamp with a sponge dauber. After leaving to dry for a few minutes they were then punched out with the Circle punch. Squares of Very Vanilla were decorated at the edges with paper piercing and then layered onto Basic Gray card to meet the sketch. Silver brads to tone with the Platinum paint were added at all the corners before layering onto the card blank. The snowflakes were popped up on dimensionals.

Please check out the rest of the Design Team samples here - they're all gorgeous but I especially love Natalie's Window Sheet design, it's stunning.

No class for Bessie this morning - she's had a flare up of her allergy again so we're keeping her in. We're not sure whether it's because she fell into the field that's beyond our garden (she was trying to chase off a cat that was on her territory) or whether it's because we've just cut the grass, we'll have to monitor and see. This is the first time in about six months that we've had a bad flare up. We thought that was down to the de-sensitising injections she's having but it could just have been the time of year.

I'm off to Cardiff again this afternoon for another training course but it won't be a craft free week. I'm meeting a friend from the In Love With Stamping forum tomorrow and I'm taking some stamped images with me to colour. I've also made a few more cards to blog about while I'm away so please pop back soon.

Sara xx