CAS Colours and Sketches Challenge #109

I must admit that I found this week's challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches quite tricky. I studied the sketch graphic for ages before deciding how to interpret it but then it's good to be really challenged sometimes and do something outside of your comfort zone. As it's a fifth week of the month it's a double take and is therefore also a colour challenge.

I have kept my card very simple and made it for a male work colleague whose birthday falls this week. I have turned the sketch 90 degrees and played with my new chevron stamps from Uniko Studio to make the background and then matted and layered this onto a piece of green cardstock. The two small squares in the centre of the sketch have been transformed into the first two letters of 'Happy Birthday' using some ancient See D alphabet stamps lurking in the bottom of one of my drawers. The rest of the sentiment is computer-generated in the same font and has just been raised at one end with foam pads to counteract the layering.

As I don't have any SU products the inks I have used are Whispers Chestnut, Whispers Sage and Adirondack Lettuce, these being the closest I could find to match the SU colours in the challenge.

Not really sure I like the finished card but I've no time to make another one this week. Still I can't wait to see what you make of it!
Stef x

CAS Colours and Sketches Challenge #108

I love using sketches. They give you lots of design inspiration either when you're in a hurry or your imagination seems to have gone AWOL! This week at CAS Colours and Sketches we have a lovely sketch from our hostess, Jacqueline. I've gone with a Valentine's theme as love definitely seems to be all around blogland at the moment.

The banner strips are scraps from my box and surprisingly were not from the same patterned paper pack originally. The stamp is a dinkie from one of my favourite companies, IndigoBlu. This is stamped in Versafine 'Vintage Sepia' which is a great ink for very detailed stamps. It has been die cut with a Spellbinders label die and mounted on foam pads.

I have followed the sketch quite closely as I like to be able to see the original sketch clearly in my finished creation. The sentiment has been attached with a homemade heart pin using a paper clip! I have reprinted the simple directions below if you want to have a go at making some.

Thank you - we had a bumper crop of entries last week. I look forward to visiting your blog and seeing what you make of this week's sketch.

Thanks for visiting.

Stef x

NNBUS Versus RONBUS!

Lots of you will have come across Darnell's quirky blog! She coined the phrase NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) and set up a challenge to encourage us all to use our NBUS to avoid it being forgotten about and left at the back of a drawer somewhere! Some people have interpreted this to mean any stash they haven't used before, even newly acquired items. So I set myself a challenge this afternoon to make two cards, the first using some NNBUS (brand New NBUS) and secondly to use what I'm going to call RONBUS (Really Old NBUS)!

 

Bev' original card used for inspiration

My first card uses some of my sale goodies from Uniko Studio. It uses the Background Builders: Chevrons and the Flower Power 2 stamp sets. I was looking at Bev's Pinterest board for some ideas as her products are relatively new to me and have CASed one of her cards, so I hope she doesn't mind!

I have chosen the turquoise and lime colours (along with black and white) to fit in with the ShowCASe your style challenge #6: Colour challenge. The inks are Versacolor Turquoise and Split Pea. To make the leaves I have coloured a piece of hammered cardstock with Split Pea ink and punched with a Martha Stewart leaf punch. 

This CAS challenge is new to me and this card is definitely where my style is at the moment. I will also enter it into Darnell's challenge and see whether she thinks my NNBUS card is better than my RONBUS one!

My second card uses stuff that I have had for years and personally I don't like it as much as the first card. It reminds me of cards I would have made a few years back and I guess that's why!

The die is an XCut Lacé die and I thought I would use it given its appropriateness to the time of year. The fabric brad is from a set called Riverbank Revels by Trimcraft. I think I bought both these items in a sale quite some years ago! The sentiment stamp is a freebie from a craft mag that I have had for ages. CASology have linked in with Darnell's challenge this week and have NBUS as their cue card so I would like to enter this into their challenge #129 (I think you can only enter once otherwise I would have entered both cards) and also into Darnell's (where I know you can enter more than once).
Edit: I can't see how to enter two cards from the same post on my blog into the same link more than once on a challenge blog.

I have also colour-themed it to fit in with another new challenge to me Colour Me where the colours are Pacific Point and Real Red (along with neutrals).

That's all from me today. I will be back later in the week with my CAS Colours and Sketches card. A new year and I have entered three new to me challenges. Can't be bad!


Take care
Stef x

CAS Colours and Sketches Challenge #107

This week at CAS Colours and Sketches, we have a colour challenge and the first time I saw the colour combo I immediately thought of a robin. Most UK gardens seem to have their own little territorial robin and ours is no different. It's lovely to see its little splash of colour in the garden on what can otherwise be a grey wintry day. Hence, I don't see why robins should be confined just to Christmas cards! We seem to have a lot of winter birthdays amongst our friends and family and this week is my brother-in-law Keith's birthday so I have made this card for him.

The main image is a patchwork robin stamp from Woodware that has been stamped, scanned and digitally resized to get the size I wanted. It has been simply coloured using my Derwent colour pencils which I've had for donkeys years and are still going strong! I've used colours 15 and 55 to match the SU colours chosen. The sentiment has been hand-stamped in Stazon black. Again I've had this little sentiment stamp for a long time and can't remember who it's by. It always stamps nicely and seems to be a little forgiving if it's not quite straight (but I think it's OK today)! I haven't used faux stitching for some time but it seemed to fit with the patchwork nature of the stamp and I don't think it detracts from the overall CAS style. The finished piece has been matted and layered, first, onto a piece of kraft cardstock and, secondly, onto a white card blank.

My sale goodies from Oyster Stamps and Uniko Studio have arrived so hopefully I will get to play with them during this next week.

That's it from me today. Can't wait to see how this colour combo inspires your creations!

Stef x

New Year News!

Just before Christmas the lovely ladies at CAS Colours and Sketches invited me to join their design team. My first ever DT - I'm so excited, not least because now I have a good excuse to find time to craft every week!! So my first card for them is based on this week's sketch challenge #106...

I needed to make a card for my friend Karen whose birthday falls this week so this is for her. The flower is stamped and die cut from the gorgeous Beautiful Blooms set from Uniko Studio. The sentiment is computer-generated and die cut using a Spellbinders die. The flourish stamp is from Inkadinkado and has been stamped directly onto the card blank. The grosgrain ribbon (which I think I won at some point) is from Stampin' Up and I love this way of pleating the ribbon to make an embellishment.

Santa seemed to have run out of crafty goodies by the time he got to rural Lancashire this year but the good news is that he has given me a few pennies to buy some bits in the post-Christmas sales which means that I have been able to order a few more things than I otherwise might have done!! I look forward to having a play with them when they arrive and sharing my experiments with you.

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I look forward to visiting and commenting on lots of your entries in the weeks and months to come. Bye for now!

Stef x