Where Creativity Meets C9: December Edition!

Good morning! Today is December 9, which means Concord and 9th release day, AND the new challenge for the Where Creativity Meets C9 blog is up!!! Our theme this month is.... 

Use your Concord and 9th products to create a "Winter" themed project, then link it up to the inLinkz on the December challenge page. The design team has some wonderful, frosty inspiration for you. 

Brainstorming for this project took far longer than I'd like to admit.... Once I hit on an idea, though, I went running with it. Obviously, "winter" can conjure up all sorts of images... snow, Christmas, food, etc, etc, etc... But as I was brainstorming, I came upon this gorgeous cake stamp and knew I needed to create a winter wedding cake. Or two. Because you can never have too much cake. 

For this cake, I attempted an all white, naked (as in, no frosting on the outside) cake. I've never been satisfied with my white flowers before... they always end up looking sort of dirty. This was definitely an experiment, but I'm happy with how it turned out! I stamped the absolutely stunning cake from Happy Day onto some watercolor paper into which I had impressed some scallops, then heat embossed with silver detail embossing powder. I colored my flowers with Zig markers, using some very, very pale shades of gray, adding color only to the areas that would have the darkest shadow, then pulling the pigment out with a wet paintbrush until the color practically fades into nothing. I also think that the trick for white flowers is to ensure that they're surrounded by color, so as to accentuate the lack of color on the flowers. I chose to color the leaves and cake some pretty deep greens and a nice beige-y tan. After all of the coloring was finished, I added my greeting. I wanted a wedding sentiment, so I used the "lovely" die from Wonderful Words dies and Beautiful Words sentiment set (stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with White Satin Pearl EP... what a lovely, softened effect!). Such a pretty wedding card, I think, and perfect for a winter white wedding! 

Now, something with some icy, wintry color to it. People can loathe winter because of the absence of color, but there are plenty of beautiful colors to be found if you're looking for them. The sunsets are particularly beautiful in winter, I think, with all of the icy blues and purples... perhaps they are more noticeable because of the absence of color elsewhere. Anyway, those icy blues and cool purples are what inspired this next "winter wedding" project. I started by heat embossing that beautiful cake from Happy Day, again using silver detail embossing powder, then coloring with my Zig markers in shades of purple, blue, and icy mint green. (Wintergreen? Is that too on the nose? Ha!) After I had finished coloring my chocolate cake, I die cut it with the coordinating dies, then added a sentiment created by stamping the "congratulations" and "Mr. & Mrs." from the Happy Day stamp set and the "beautiful" die from the Beautiful You die set, cut using silver foil . 

Next, I turned my attention to the card base. I cut a panel of A2 watercolor cardstock, then heat embossed the gorgeous flower bouquet from the cake in the corners using the same silver embossing powder. Hint, hint, Greg and Angie... More bouquets like this, prettiest of pleases! So crazy people like me don't have to cut up this beautiful cake. (I seriously have contemplated buying another one of these stamp sets just to cut off the flowers... Don't judge me.) I watercolored the pretty blooms, then added the blue halo to really give it an icy, wintry feel. I added some of the "sparkles" using a pale blue ink and silver Delicata ink. Then, I just glued on my foil die cut, popped up the cake, and called it quits! 

Two totally different looks, but both appropriate for a winter wedding, don't you think?? 

Now, it's your turn! Use your Concord and 9th stamps and dies to create a "winter" themed card, then enter it into our InLinkz on the main challenge page. Concord and 9th has generously donated a $25 gift certificate for one lucky random winner! Also, the favorite entry will be asked to join the Design Team as a guest designer for an upcoming challenge! How cool is that? Just be sure to have your entries in by December 29, 2016. :) Go forth and craft, my friends! Have a fabulous weekend!