Spectrum Noir Christmas in July Blog Hop

A few members of the Spectrum Noir team have gotten together to celebrate Christmas in July!  We have an inspiration-filled blog hop today, along with a few great prizes!  If you have arrived here from Lis's blog, you are in the right place.  If not, pop over to the Spectrum Noir blog so you don't miss a thing!

 I used the brand new Mulberry Wood's "Purr-fect Christmas" (from Crafter's Companion) for my focal image today.  Since I'm a bit of a cat nut its fitting :)  And these 3 little kittens are just so darn adorable decorating the tree!

I kept two of my kitties gray, because most of my cats are gray, but I've always had a love for Ginger colored cats so I gave that a try on the center one.

Tip #1: For the tabby look I started with my lightest color all over (TN1) then did small zig-zaggy lines in my darkest color (TN5).  I then went back in on both sides of those like with my medium shade (TN2) and blended into the dark.  I went over the whole cat agin with TN1 but wanted to leave some distinction for his stripes.

I also went back in and made the snowflakes white with  Signo Uniball pen.  My papers are "Merri-mint" from American Crafts and the sentiment is from another new CC Mulberry Wood's set called "Wish Upon a Star".

Spectrum Noir colors used: 

Trees: JG6, JG2, JG1, LG4, LG2

Left kitten: BG6, BG5, BG2, BG1

Center Kitten: TN5, TN2, TN1

Right Kitten: IG5, IG3, IG2, IG1

Box: EB4, EB3, TN5

Star: GB3, CT2

Ornaments: CR10, CR8, D6

Sky: IB1

We hope you've been checking out the Spectrum Noir blog - it is full of great tutorials, techniques, and other projects from our design team.  If you haven't been over there, go take a look!  Before we get to the rest of the hop today, let's have a little fun.  How about a prize?  Spectrum Noir is going to award one lucky winner two sets of six markers, a pack of Crafter's Companion Ultra Smooth Premium White card stock (perfect for coloring!), and an adorable stamped called All Wrapped Up, from the new Mulberry Wood line.

Entering to win is easy.  Leave a comment on the Spectrum Noir Blog Hop Post telling us your favorite Spectrum Noir color combination you saw while hopping with us this week (please comment no later then Friday, July 27 at 6:00 PM GMT).  A random winner will be drawn using random.org and posted on our blog at 9:00 AM GMT, Saturday, July 28, 2012, so be sure to check back with us to see if you have won!  The lucky winner will have one week to claim their prize or a second winner will be chosen. 

Now, hop on over to the next amazing blog and check out what  Louise  has to share!  In case you get lost along the way, here is the entire hop order:

Spectrum Noir Official Blog

Leann Chivers

Jennie Lin Black

Linda Hill

Taylor Usry

Kristine Reynolds

Suzanne Foard

Angelique Nederpel

Lis Murphy

Cyndi Bundy

Louise Welsh

Danielle Johnson

Wendy Foster

Thank you for joining us today as we celebrate Christmas in July!  Have fun hopping around to see all of the inspiration from our team, and good luck winning the prize pack!