52 Christmas Card Throwdown

November Sketch Challenge

2026-11-07T06:00:00.000+00:00

Welcome to 52 Christmas Card Throwdown for another month of festive creativity, and I’m delighted to be your host for November. I’m Gill, and I’ll be bringing you four new challenges to inspire your Christmas crafting this month.

With December not too far away, I wonder how your Christmas card stash is looking! If you’re still adding to your collection, or simply enjoy making cards throughout the year, we have plenty of inspiration coming your way. Our lovely Design Team has been busy creating Christmas cards in all sorts of styles, and I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with, too.

We’re beginning the month with a sketch challenge, giving you a starting point for your next Christmas creation.

I love how a sketch can take you in a completely unexpected direction. You might begin with a particular stamp or die in mind, only to discover that a favourite patterned paper or an interesting embellishment inspires something entirely different! The beauty of a sketch is that it provides a framework without dictating the finished design. You can choose traditional Christmas colours, experiment with a contemporary palette, or rummage through your stash for those forgotten treasures that deserve another outing.

Feel free to turn the sketch around, change its proportions or substitute different shapes to suit your design. The important thing is that the main elements of the original layout remain recognisable.

Our guest designer this week is:

Urška

And here are this week's creations from the Design Team:

Join Us and Share Your Cards

Why not take a look through your Christmas stash and see what catches your eye? Perhaps you have some beautiful festive papers waiting to be used, a favourite snowflake die, or a stamp set that hasn't seen the light of day for a while. This challenge is a lovely opportunity to put them to good use!

As always, the Design Team has created some wonderful examples to help get your ideas flowing, so do pop over and take a look.

We'd love you to join us for this week's challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. Have fun with the sketch, make it your own, and don't forget to share your finished card with us. I can't wait to see your creations!

A quick reminder of the rules:
- This is a CARD challenge - so no 3D projects, tags or ATCs
- Only new projects - no back-linking
- Please link directly to your POST, not to the whole of your blog
- Please show the graphic on your challenge post
- You must link up by Midnight Friday (GMT) to be considered for Winner or Honourable Mentions
- A maximum of 10 challenges, please
- And please turn off word verification in order to make commenting easier - thank you
Deadline for entry to this challenge is midnight GMT on Friday 13th November 2026
Happy crafting!

Winner - October Theme Challenge

2026-10-28T11:00:00.000+00:00

We would like to thank everyone who participated in the

October theme challenge.

You were very creative and you used a wide variety of styles to create your entries.
It made the choice hard, though for the Design team;
it was fun seeing all the creativity.

We would like to congratulate:

#2 Helen

Helen for winning the theme challenge, we would love to invite you to be a
Guest Designer for an upcoming challenge.

To accept this invitation, please contact us HERE so we can send you the details.

We would also like to give Honourable Mentions to the following
(in submission order):

#3 Maja

#4 Joanne

Congratulations to you all!

We hope you will enjoy displaying our winners' badge on your blog.

You may collect it from the Badges tab at the top of the page here.

You're kindly invited to our Technique Challenge which is open until
Midnight (GMT) Friday November 6th.

October Technique Challenge

2026-10-24T06:00:00.000+01:00

Hello, Christmas lovers and cardmakers!

Valentina B here with you as an October hostess.
We are already in the last trimester of the year 2026 and
I welcome you at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown with the last challenge of this month.

First I want to say thank you all who participated in our challenges this month
and to all wonderful designers in our design team who prepared amazing inspirations.

I would like to inspire your creativity with the technique challenge.
It's time to create: MINI SCENE WITH SHAPED DIES

I believe that with creating cards, we are also storytelleres.
Create your own fairy tale with a Christmas card.

I can't wait to see your interpretation on holiday cards with mini scenes in shapes.
You can use whatever shapes you want to tell your story but if you need inspiration,
you can watch a short video clip that inspired me.

The only rule and important thing is to enjoy and have fun! :)
We're looking forward to all the beautiful cards you'll share with us!

This week our wonderful guest designer is:

Helen

Here are some inspiration from our wonderful Design Team:

Just a quick reminder of the rules:

This is a CARD challenge - so no 3D projects, tags or ATCs
Only new projects - no back-linking
Please link directly to your POST, not to the whole of your blog
Please show the graphic on your challenge post
You must link up by midnight Friday (7.00pm EDT) to be considered for Winner or Honourable Mentions
And please turn off word verification to make commenting easier - thank you

The deadline for entry to this challenge is midnight GMT on Friday 6th November 2026 -
that's 7.00pm EDT for those in the States.

Have fun!

Winner - October Colour Challenge

2026-10-21T11:00:00.000+01:00

We would like to thank everyone who participated in the

October colour challenge.

You were very creative and you used a wide variety of styles to create your entries.
It made the choice hard, though for the Design team; it was fun seeing all the creativity.

We would like to congratulate:

#4 *Urška*

Urška for winning the colour challenge, we would love to invite you to be a

Guest Designer for an upcoming challenge.
To accept this invitation, please contact us HERE so we can send you the details.

We would also like to give Honourable Mentions to the following
(in submission order):

#2 Nataša Bizjak

#3 Rosi

Congratulations to you all!

We hope you will enjoy displaying our winners' badge on your blog.

You may collect it from the Badges tab at the top of the page here.

You're kindly invited to our Theme Challenge which is open until Midnight (GMT) Friday October 23.

October Theme Challenge

2026-10-17T06:00:00.000+01:00

Hello, Christmas lovers and cardmakers!

There are less than 70 days until Christmas.
And I already welcome you to the third challenge of October on 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.
Valentina B here with you again today.

What is the best gift you can receive in the mail?
Happy mail in the mailbox with a handmade greeting card, right?
It's like a big hug in an envelope.

For the theme challenge I picked the Christmas Mailbox.
I love sending and receiving Christmas cards and I hope you too.

Let there be Christmas Mailbox on your holiday card as we continue the countdown to Christmas.
I hope that you will have fun creating with the theme that I picked.

We can't wait to see you interpret the theme with your style
and we're looking forward to all the beautiful cards you'll share with us!

This week our wonderful guest designer is:

Nataša

Here is some inspiration from our wonderful Design Team:

Just a quick reminder of the rules:

This is a CARD challenge - so no 3D projects, tags or ATCs
Only new projects - no back-linking
Please link directly to your POST, not to the whole of your blog
Please show the graphic on your challenge post
You must link up by midnight Friday (7.00pm EDT) to be considered for Winner or Honourable Mentions
And please turn off word verification to make commenting easier - thank you

The deadline for entry to this challenge is midnight GMT on Friday 23rd October 2026 -
that's 7.00pm EDT for those in the States.

Have fun!

Winner - October Sketch Challenge

2026-10-14T11:00:00.000+01:00

We would like to thank everyone who participated in the

October sketch challenge.

You were very creative and you used a wide variety of styles to create your entries.
It made the choice hard, though for the Design team; it was fun seeing all the creativity.

We would like to congratulate:

#6 *Urška*

Urška for winning the sketch challenge, we would love to invite you to be a

Guest Designer for an upcoming challenge.
To accept this invitation, please contact us HERE so we can send you the details.

We would also like to give Honourable Mentions to the following
(in submission order):

#1 Valerie

#4 Colien

#LeAnne Pugliese

Congratulations to you all!

We hope you will enjoy displaying our winners' badge on your blog.

You may collect it from the Badges tab at the top of the page here.

You're kindly invited to our Colour Challenge which is open until Midnight (GMT) Friday October 16.

October Colour Challenge

2026-10-10T06:00:00.000+01:00

Hello, Christmas lovers and cardmakers!

Autumn is in full swing. This means that the days are getting shorter and
the rainy weather also help us to enjoy more time to craft.

Did you know that is only 10 Fridays until Christmas?
I welcome you to the second challenge of October.
Valentina B here with you again.

For this challenge I picked autumn colour with a twist of Christmas.
I smell the pine tree in sage green, the cinnamon in pretty brown and
mulled wine in dark red wine colour.

How about you? What does the colours remind you of?
I hope you will find time, a lot of inspiration here and that you'll enjoy playing along with us.

We can't wait to see you interpret these colours
and we're looking forward to all the beautiful cards you'll share with us!

This week our wonderdul guest designer is:

Leslie

Here are some inspiration from our wonderful Design Team:

Deborah

Just a quick reminder of the rules:

This is a CARD challenge - so no 3D projects, tags or ATCs
Only new projects - no back-linking
Please link directly to your POST, not to the whole of your blog
Please show the graphic on your challenge post
You must link up by midnight Friday (7.00pm EDT) to be considered for Winner or Honourable Mentions
And please turn off word verification to make commenting easier - thank you

The deadline for entry to this challenge is midnight GMT on Friday 16th October 2026 -
that's 7.00pm EDT for those in the States.

Have fun!

Winner - september technique challenge

2026-10-07T11:00:00.000+01:00

We would like to thank everyone who participated in the

september technique challenge: HOT FOIL OR HOT EMBOSSING.

You used a wide variety of styles to create your entries.
It made the choice hard, though; it was fun seeing all the creativity.

We would like to congratulate:

#2 Helen

Helen, for winning the technique challenge, we would love to invite you to be a

Guest Designer for an upcoming challenge.
To accept this invitation, please contact us HERE so we can send you the details.

We would also like to give Honourable Mentions to the following
(in submission order):

#1 Becca Yahrling

#5 Urška

#6 Tadeja

Congratulations to you all!

We hope you will enjoy displaying our winners' badge on your blog.

You may collect it from the Badges tab at the top of the page here.

October Sketch Challenge

2026-10-03T06:00:00.000+01:00

Hello, Christmas lovers and cardmakers!

The season changed and we welcomed autumn. This means that we can now officialy begin
countdown to Christmas time if you haven't done it yet! :)

Valentina B here with you today.
I kindly invite you to join us in the October challenges at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown!

It's the first Saturday in the month and this means we start with Sketch Challenge.
I have the honour to prepare the challenges this month.
For my first week I create this sketch:

I hope you will find time, a lot of inspiration here and that you'll enjoy playing along with us.

You can stretch this or use different shapes as long as we can see the basic sketch on your card.

We can't wait to see you interpret this sketch and
we're looking forward to all the beautiful cards you'll share with us!

This week our wonderdul guest designer is:

Tadeja

Here are some inspiration from our wonderful Design Team:

Just a quick reminder of the rules:

This is a CARD challenge - so no 3D projects, tags or ATCs
Only new projects - no back-linking
Please link directly to your POST, not to the whole of your blog
Please show the graphic on your challenge post
You must link up by midnight Friday (7.00pm EDT) to be considered for Winner or Honourable Mentions
And please turn off word verification to make commenting easier - thank you

The deadline for entry to this challenge is midnight GMT on Friday 9th October 2026 -
that's 7.00pm EDT for those in the States.

Have fun!

Winner - september theme challenge

2026-09-30T11:00:00.000+01:00

We would like to thank everyone who participated in the

september theme challenge: number 2027.

You used a wide variety of styles to create your entries.
It made the choice hard, though; it was fun seeing all the creativity.

We would like to congratulate:

#2 Nataša Bizjak

Nataša, for winning the technique challenge, we would love to invite you to be a

Guest Designer for an upcoming challenge.
To accept this invitation, please contact us HERE so we can send you the details.

We would also like to give Honourable Mentions to the following
(in submission order):

# 1 Delfina ustvarja

#3 Colien

Congratulations to you all!

We hope you will enjoy displaying our winners' badge on your blog.

You may collect it from the Badges tab at the top of the page here.

September Technique Challenge

2026-09-26T06:00:00.000+01:00

Welcome to the new challenge of 52 Christmas Card Throwdown,

Majda here again as your September hostess.

I want to thank everyone who has participated in the challenges, I am impressed with your creations!

Now on to the last challenge of the month, which is a Technique Challenge.

It's time for: HOT FOIL OR HOT EMBOSSING.

Ready to add a little holiday sparkle?

Join our Hot Foil or Hot Embossing Challenge and create a festive card

that dazzles with beautiful foil shine or elegant embossed textures.

I'm just curious if it's for you too ;)

Can't wait to see what you will come up with!

Our Guest Designer this week is:

Nataša

My creation:

For more inspiration, here are the creations of the design team:

Just a quick reminder of the rules:

- This is a CARD challenge - so no 3D projects, tags or ATCs
- Only new projects - no back-linking
- Please link directly to your POST, not to the whole of your blog
- Please show the graphic on your challenge post
- You must link up by Midnight Friday (GMT) to be considered for Winner or Honourable Mentions

- And please turn off word verification in order to make commenting easier - thank you

- Deadline for entry to this challenge is midnight GMT on Friday 2nd october 2026

Have fun!

Winner - september colour challenge

2026-09-23T11:00:00.000+01:00

We would like to thank everyone who participated in the

september colour challenge.

You used a wide variety of styles and themes to create your entries.
It made the choice hard, though; it was fun seeing all the creativity.

We would like to congratulate:

#3 LESLIE M

Leslie, for winning the colour challenge, we would love to invite you to be a

Guest Designer for an upcoming challenge.
To accept this invitation, please contact us HERE so we can send you the details.

We would also like to give Honourable Mentions to the following
(in submission order):

#2 Tadeja

#5 Nataša

#6 Nancy

Congratulations to you all!

We hope you will enjoy displaying our winners' badge on your blog.

You may collect it from the Badges tab at the top of the page here.

September Theme Challenge

2026-09-19T06:00:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone!

Majda again, to welcome you for the third challenge of the month

on the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.

We expect the number 2027 to take center stage as the main design element of the holiday card.

Let the coming year's number shine and make your greeting card stand out

as you welcome the new year in style.

I can't wait to see what you create.

Our Guest Designer this week is:

Lynda

My creation:

For more inspiration, here are the creations of the design team:

Just a quick reminder of the rules:

- And please turn off word verification in order to make commenting easier - thank you

- Deadline for entry to this challenge is midnight GMT on Friday 25th September 2026

Have fun!

Winner - september sketch challenge

2026-09-16T11:00:00.000+01:00

We would like to thank everyone who participated in the

september sketch challenge.

You used a wide variety of styles and themes to create your entries.
It made the choice hard, though; it was fun seeing all the creativity.

We would like to congratulate:

Whols Tracy

Tracy, for winning the sketch challenge, we would love to invite you to be a

Guest Designer for an upcoming challenge.

To accept this invitation, please contact us HERE so we can send you the details.

We would also like to give Honourable Mentions

to Cindy Major.

Congratulations to both of you.

We hope you will enjoy displaying our winners' badge on your blog.

You may collect it from the Badges tab at the top of the page here.

September Colour Challenge

2026-09-12T06:00:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone!

Majda here with you today to welcome you for the second challenge of the month.

For this challenge, I have chosen two colours - green and beige,

that I myself use often

when creating Christmas cards!

I hope you like it and you'll have a lot of fun :)

Our Guest Designer this week is:

Urška

My creation:

For more inspiration, here are the creations of the design team:

Gill

Just a quick reminder of the rules:

- And please turn off word verification in order to make commenting easier - thank you

- Deadline for entry to this challenge is midnight GMT on Friday 18th September 2026

Have fun!

WINNER - August Technique Challenge

2026-09-09T12:00:00.000+01:00

We would like to thank everyone who participated in the

August Technique Challenge of Fractured Cards.

You used a wide variety of styles and themes to create your entries.
It made the choice hard, though; it was fun seeing all the creativity.

We would like to congratulate

Tadeja

Tadeja, for winning the technique challenge, we would love to invite you to be a

Guest Designer for an upcoming challenge.
To accept this invitation, please contact us HERE so we can send you the details.

We would also like to give Honourable Mentions to the following
(in submission order)

#1 Brenda

#5 Rosi

#12 Urska

#14 Andrea

Congratulations to you all!

We hope you will enjoy displaying our winners' badge on your blog.

You may collect it from the Badges tab at the top of the page here.

PS. As I sign off from my hosting duties for the year, I would love to thank everyone who has participated in the challenges I chose for my month. I have loved seeing all of your wonderful designs using my suggestions. Happy Crafting - Tracy B

September Sketch Challenge

2026-09-05T06:00:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone

and welcome to the first September challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown!

It's Majda here with you today.

This month I have the honour to moderate the challenges and as always we start with a sketch.

I hope you have some time to play along ...

You can stretch this or use different shapes as long as we can see the basic sketch on your card.

We can't wait to see you interpret this sketch

and we're looking forward to all the beautiful cards you'll share with us!

Our Guest Designer this week is:

Urška

My creation:

For more inspiration, here are the creations of the design team:

Just a quick reminder of the rules:

- And please turn off word verification in order to make commenting easier - thank you

- Deadline for entry to this challenge is midnight GMT on Friday 11th September 2026

Have fun!

Winner - August Theme Challenge

2026-08-26T12:00:00.000+01:00

Hello Everyone,
We are here to announce the winner of the
August Theme Challenge.

The theme for this month was ...

We had 15 wonderful entries using this theme. The team have chosen

#13 Natasa

as the winner of this theme.

Congratulations on the win. As the winner of our colour challenge, we would love to invite you to be a Guest Designer for an upcoming challenge. To accept, please contact us HERE so we can send you the details.

Also, our Honourable Mentions this week are ...
(in order of submission)

#2 Diane H

#5 Darlene

#11 Colien

#15 Junigarten

Congratulations to you all. Please grab your badges from the link at the top of our page.

We would like to thank everyone who created along with our August Theme. We hope that you will consider creating along with the Technique Challenge, which is still happening until midnight GMT on Friday 4th September 2026 - that's 7.00pm EDT for those in the States.

August Technique Challenge

2026-08-22T06:00:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone, Tracy again.

It is time for me to set my last challenge as Host. Before I get into that, I want to thank everyone who has joined in on the challenges I have set. It has been wonderful to see what you have created.

For the week 4 challenge, I got to choose between a Technique and a Stash item to highlight; I chose ...

Here is a YouTube video that shows a birthday card and the technique.

video LINK

This card looks complicated but is very easy once you have seen the technique. There are many ways that this can be interpreted. Scrap patterned paper can be used, and not just a square either. The design team and I look forward to seeing what you create and share with us.

Our Guest Designer this week is
Donna

Now this is what the design team did with this technique

Just a quick reminder of the rules:

This is a CARD challenge - so no 3D projects, tags or ATCs
Only new projects - no back-linking
Please link directly to your POST, not to the whole of your blog
Please show the graphic on your challenge post
You must link up by midnight Friday (7.00pm EDT) to be considered for Winner or Honourable Mentions
And please turn off word verification to make commenting easier - thank you

The deadline for entry to this challenge is midnight GMT on Friday 4th September 2026 -
that's 7.00pm EDT for those in the States.

Have fun!

Winner - August Colour Challenge

2026-08-19T12:00:00.000+01:00

Hello Everyone,
We are here to announce the winner of the
August Colour Challenge.

To remind everyone of the combination that we were creating, here it is again.

We had 15 wonderful entries, and from those entries, we have chosen

#1 LoopyLou

Also, our Honourable Mentions this week are ...
(in submission order)

#3 Amanda

#7 Brenda

#9 Urska

#12 Renata

Congratulations to you all. Please grab your badge from the tab at the top of the blog.

We would like to thank everyone who created along with our August Colour Challenge. We hope that you will consider creating along with the Theme Challenge, which is still happening until midnight GMT on Friday 21st August 2026 - that's 7.00pm EDT for those in the States.

August Theme Challenge

2026-08-15T06:00:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone,

Tracy here again, and it is time to share what my theme is for week 3 of August.

This is one of my most fun challenges to set each time I host,
as I love seeing how everyone uses the theme.

This time around, I chose a theme I am familiar with because I live in Australia, where Christmas is celebrated in Summer. So no snow in my part of the world.

I hope that you have fun creating with this theme. If you don't have any products that are this theme exactly, then think about using some of your summer-themed products, add a Christmas-type present and change out the sentiment - and you have a Christmas without snow.

Our Guest designer this week is
Anne

Thank you for being a part of the creative team this week. We love your creation.

Now here is more inspiration from the design team.

Just a quick reminder of the rules:

This is a CARD challenge - so no 3D projects, tags or ATCs
Only new projects - no back-linking
Please link directly to your POST, not to the whole of your blog
Please show the graphic on your challenge post
You must link up by midnight Friday (7.00pm EDT) to be considered for Winner or Honourable Mentions
And please turn off word verification to make commenting easier - thank you

The deadline for entry to this challenge is midnight GMT on Friday 24th August 2026 -
that's 7.00pm EDT for those in the States.

Winner - August Sketch Challenge

2026-08-12T10:01:07.086+01:00

Hello Everyone,

It is time for us to announce the winner of the August Sketch Challenge.

To remind everyone, this is the sketch that we used.

We were glad to see 7 entries. Of those entries, we have chosen

#7 Urska

As the winner of our sketch challenge, we would love to invite you to be a Guest Designer for an upcoming challenge. To accept this invitation, please contact us HERE so we can send you the details.

We would also like to give Honourable mentions to the following entries.

#1 Leslie

#3 Natasha

We would like to thank everyone who created along with our August Sketch. We hope that you will consider creating along with the Colour Challenge, which is still happening until midnight GMT on Friday 14th August 2026 - that's 7.00pm EDT for those in the States.

August Colour Challenge

2026-08-08T06:00:00.000+01:00

Hello, everyone!

Welcome to the 2nd Saturday in August; it is time for a Colour Challenge.
I admit I always struggle to set up this challenge and then make the cards.

Here is the combination that I came up with.

I hope that you have fun with this combination.

You can also use a little of the neutrals of Black and White. But only as a complement to the main colours.
Looking forward to seeing how you use these colours on your creations.

Our Guest Designer this week is

Erika

Thank you for being a part of the team this week and for your wonderful creation.

Now it is time for us to show you how we used these colours.

Just a quick reminder of the rules:

This is a CARD challenge - so no 3D projects, tags or ATCs
Only new projects - no back-linking
Please link directly to your POST, not to the whole of your blog
Please show the graphic on your challenge post
You must link up by midnight Friday (7.00pm EDT) to be considered for Winner or Honourable Mentions
And please turn off word verification to make commenting easier - thank you

The deadline for entry to this challenge is midnight GMT on Friday 14th August 2026 -
that's 7.00pm EDT for those in the States.

Have fun!

July Technique Challenge Winner

2026-08-05T07:00:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone,

Thank you to everyone who joined us to create with the July Technique Challenge.

It was wonderful to see your stencilled creations - thank you!

We want to congratulate our WINNER

#8 Urska

Urska, for winning the Technique challenge, we would love to invite you to be a

Guest Designer for an upcoming challenge.

To take up this invite please contact us HERE so we can send you the details.

And we want to give Honourable Mentions to
(in submission order)

#3 Charmaine

#10 Natasa

Congratulations everyone!

We hope you will enjoy displaying our winners' badge on your blog.

You may collect it from the Badges tab at the top of the page here.

August Sketch Challenge

2026-08-01T06:00:00.000+01:00

Hello, everyone!

Welcome to the August Challenges! I am Tracy. I will be setting the challenges this month.
I hope you enjoy playing along with our challenges.
I hope you have time and are inspired to join us.

It's the first Saturday, which means it's time for a Sketch Challenge.

We can't wait to see how you interpret this sketch. We're looking forward to all the

beautiful cards you'll share with us!

And this week our wonderful Guest designer is

Kath

Thank you so much for creating such a wonderful card from my sketch.

Now it's time for the design team and I to show our interpretation of the sketch

Just a quick reminder of the rules:

This is a CARD challenge - so no 3D projects, tags or ATCs
Only new projects - no back-linking
Please link directly to your POST, not to the whole of your blog
Please show the graphic on your challenge post
You must link up by midnight Friday (7.00pm EDT) to be considered for Winner or Honourable Mentions
And please turn off word verification to make commenting easier - thank you

The deadline for entry to this challenge is midnight GMT on Friday 7th August 2026 -
that's 7.00pm EDT for those in the States.

Have fun!