Wintry Village

Sparkles Christmas Challenge 184 has just gone live and Debs has chosen "Monochrome Winter Wishes" as our theme for July - how can we be half way through 2026?!!

Monochrome provided the perfect opportunity to break open this NBUS set of elegant townhouses (the Greetery Market Place Mini)!  As I write this we're in the middle of a heatwave so a wintry village (especially one as pretty as this) looks pretty inviting and reminds me that Winter will return and probably with a vengeance!

I wanted my houses to look a little like gingerbread houses so I cut them from Kraft for the house bodies and an off-white for the trimmings.  

There is a detail insert die and a background die for each house so I cut a plain house from Kraft, and another from vellum and then cut another Kraft house with the detail die .  To darken the colour of the houses and add a little depth, I used Gathered Twigs DI (they were cut from the same Kraft I used on the background and card base). 

To give the house "trimmings" a sandstone appearance I added Antique Linen DI.

The trees, wreaths and string of lights were "winked" so they would sparkle (though that's not obvious from the photo).  I'm still in two minds whether to cut them from copper so I might try making up another at a later date - it's too hot to think straight at the moment!  Ditto for the sentiment - obviously it needs a sentiment and "Let it Snow" is the obvious choice and I have a NBUS hot foil set just for this purpose but the thought of getting out the hot foil paraphernalia is not something I can even contemplate in this heat so I'll put that idea on "ice" for the moment!

The background was embossed with a snow embossing folder (no idea of the name of it sorry) and I went over the raised area with a white pigment ink - I also spattered some white acrylic over the scene so the houses would also have a little snowfall.

I hope you can find time to join us this month at the Sparkles Christmas Challenge and take some of the hassle out of November/December!

I am grateful for and would like to enter the following challenges:

NBUS Challenge #88 - NBUS Houses;

The Outlawz July Christmas Challenge - Anything Christmas goes;

Merry Little Christmas Challenge #69 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Peace on Earth Challenge #114 - Anything Christmas Goes;

Alphabet Challenge Blog - E is for Embossing (wet or dry) and I used an Snowy Embossing Folder;

Little Red Wagon Challenge #865 - I See (vellum windows on my townhouses)'

Thank God It's Friday Challenge #583 - Pop it Up (dimensionals, layered die cuts etc.);

52 Christmas Card Throwdown June Technique Challenge - Use an Embossing Folder;

ABC Christmas Challenge - L is for "Let it Snow"!

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you go away a little inspired!  Your visits and comments are always a joy and always appreciated!  And if you leave a comment, I’ll know you were here and should be able to find you!

Kate