OCC Challenge...

The Our Creative Corner Challenge this week was a doozy! I looked at it, and my mind started to whirl as to how I would construct a house and make it look like a greeting card! This post focuses just on this card because of all the steps it took to get to the finish! I hope you'll stay with me to the end to see how this glorious card came about!

This is the sketch (above) you had to use as a basic guideline for your card. When I saw it, I knew I'd need a bigger card than the normal A2 card size! The house alone measures 4 x 5 inches! I wanted it to appear like a Victorian home with the Gingerbread scrollwork and had a lot of fun figuring out how to do that. My new Cuttlebug Christmas folders came into play for this card! I have so many elements in this creation, so read on, to see how I did it!


I cut out my main house shape then embossed it with the new Holly Ribbons Cuttlebug folder. Next, I punched a doily strip using the new Martha Stewart punch, cut it lengthwise and glued my "gingerbread scrollwork" to the eaves of my house. Then I colored a wavy strip of peel-off stickers with a brick red permanent marker to use as the flat line of the roof. I mounted my "window" (see instructions below), added more "gingerbread", a wavy strip and a small holly button. My door is made using the new Tartan Cuttlebug folder from HSN, which gave the nice carved indents I wanted. I added a pearl for a doorknob, colored peel-off stickers for scrollwork, and used my white Signo gel pen for contrast. I embossed a companion piece of brown cardstock for my chimney and topped it off with a brick red strip. I added a "Merry Christmas" button and a Holly button to finish the house! On to the background!

I laid a circle mask on Whisper White cardstock (Stampin' Up!) for my moon, then sponged Memento Summer Sky on the entire panel using the Colorbox Stylus. I next added Marvy #3 Blue and Prussian Blue inks to finish my sky. I removed the mask, then stamped Santa and the Reindeer (Encaustic Art Stamp) with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I sponged more black ink in all four corners of my card to darken my sky, then added small dots for stars using my white gel pen. The moon was a bit "too white", so I added Summer Sky ink to the surface for contrast.

My window is a digistamp from "Jules Junk" and worked absolutely PERFECT for this card! I colored the image with Prismacolor markers, added another piece of "gingerbread scrollwork" to the top of the window, a colored peel-off sticker and a holly button. I used the Signo gel pen for highlights!

I glued my house to my "sky" panel, added puffy paint and glitter for my snow on the roof , chimney, and ground, then heated it to make it "puff". I mounted the entire piece to a soft blue card. Now that my scene is finished, it's hard to imagine that there is only ONE stamp used on the entire card!!! Card size: 5 1/4 x 7 inches