CAS Colours and Sketches #113

Being the fourth week of the month we have a sketch challenge for you at CAS Colours and Sketches. I decided to go with the same stamp set as last week, as they were still on my desk, but with colours that I feel more at home with and at the same time enter challenge #212 at Less Is More where their theme this week is 'Wings'.

I wanted to follow Patricia's sketch reasonably closely. First of all I used my ink dusters and Pan Pastels, in shades of blue, green and purple, through a rectangle mask to create a background directly onto my card blank, masking off an area for the sentiment. I then inked my script background stamp from Indigo Blu with  DIs in Bundled Sage, Faded Denim and Dusty Concord, spritzing the stamp with water before applying to my card.

The butterfly is from IB 'Wild Meadow' set which has been stamped onto a piece of spare cardstock in Bundled Sage and Dusty Concord. I then used a water brush and the ink pads to draw the colour further into the white areas. The butterfly has also been stamped in fourth generation Stazon Black ink, so that it didn't overpower the other colours, onto a piece of acetate, cut out, creased very gently and mounted over the top to accentuate the lines and give movement to the butterfly adding three small lilac gems on its body.

The sentiment is one I've had for ages and has been simply stamped in the space I left for it. I may give this card to my mum for Mothering Sunday which is coming soon on Sunday 15th March. I made another one at the same time in slightly different colours so I have one for Martin's mum too! I hunted high and low in my stash for a Mothering Sunday sentiment stamp only to discover that I don't have one so I will have to rectify that for next year!

Thanks for visiting my blog today. I love reading all the comments you leave me and visiting as many of the challenge entries as I can and commenting there too!

Stef x

CAS Colours and Sketches #112

I've had a really busy week. I've just found some photos on my camera of a card I made for a friend the other day that I meant to enter into a challenge but completely forgot about it and have now missed the deadline!! Never mind, this week's challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches is a colour challenge. This particular colour combination has definitely taken me outside my comfort zone as I'm not a reds, oranges, yellows kinda person. But I thought I would team this with some of my favourite stamps and see what happened and I'm kinda pleased with the result so that's OK!

Using my ink dusters I blended Memento inks onto a strip of linen cardstock from the left with 'Cantaloupe' and from the right with 'Tangelo'. I then stamped the image using 'Bahama Blue'. The stamp is from an IndigoBlu set called 'Wild Meadow' which I have had for ages and used many times before. I then mounted the strip onto a matching piece of cardstock and onto a card blank. The butterfly stamp is from the same IB set. This has been inked and stamped onto a spare piece of card using a combination of the orange and yellow colours, cut out, curled and mounted with foam pads. The sentiment has been stamped with 'Tangelo'.

We would love to have you join us in our colour challenge this week. Please remember that if you would like us to consider your card for one of our top three, you must stick reasonably close to the challenge colours with black, white and ivory being the only other colours allowed. I don't have any Stampin' Up ink pads but always try very carefully to match the colours with other makes of ink that I have in my stash. Your card must also feature some stamping on it and be CAS, of course!

Thanks for visiting today
Stef x

CAS Colours and Sketches #111

This week we have a sketch for you at CAS Colours and Sketches. It's strange how sometimes the simplest of things can go wrong. I decided what I wanted to do with the sketch but then had loads of problems with the making, mounting and photographing of the finished card. I got ink all over the 'white space' of the card from my messy hands right where I didn't want it so had to remount it and then I had to take about 15 photos before I got one I was happy with! Still, I am happy enough with the finished card and will re-learn the lesson about inky fingers!!

I have stuck very closely to Patricia's sketch and have used Uniko Studio's Background Builders: Vines to stamp the floral borders using the solid rose overstamped with the petals. I went to the 'Stitching, Sewing & Hobbycrafts' show at Event City in Manchester last Saturday. I had decided to replace some of my really old ink pads and bought some Memento ink pads for the first time which I thought I would try out. The stems are stamped with 'Gray Flannel', the solid roses with 'Angel Pink' and the petals with the aptly named 'Rose Bud'. The birthday greeting is stamped with 'Tuxedo Black'.

I would also like to wish the 'Less is More' challenge blog a very happy fourth birthday this week and enter my card into their challenge which is to use the colours pink and grey.

I really loved working with this sketch and look forward to seeing your interpretations.
Stef x

CAS Colours and Sketches Challenge #110

Where did January go? I swear the months and years roll by quicker than ever these days! Patricia is our wonderful hostess at CAS Colours and Sketches in February and we start the month with a colour challenge. I thought for this that I would have a play with a new stamp bought from Oyster Paper Crafts and manufactured by Rubbernecker, a company that is new to me. I have always liked watercolouring and love that it is so trendy in the card making world at the moment! Their stamps really lend themselves to this technique and I will definitely have to buy some more as I really enjoyed playing with this one!

This stamp is called 'Flowers In The Breeze'. The flowers come as a four-part stamp set accompanied by a choice of sentiment. Firstly, I used TH Distress Inks in 'Worn Lipstick' to stamp the main flowers highlighting the stamps with Whispers dual-tipped brush markers and misting with water before stamping. Then I stamped the stems using Whispers 'Black' ink. The leaves were stamped in a similar way to the flowers using TH DI 'Frayed Burlap' and the dots with TH DI 'Spun Sugar'. As the card dries, the colours merge together creating a lovely watercolour effect. Finally I stamped the sentiment in Whispers 'Black'. As the 'Spun Sugar' doesn't show up too well, I matted and layered the card onto a piece of pink cardstock matching SU's 'Pink Pirouette' in the challenge colours.

I'm also entering my card into two challenges:
CAS on Sunday #51: Theme - Flowers
CAS-ual Fridays #136: Theme - Must Love Watercolour

I must also mention the brilliant Eileen Godwin's blog today. I have never met this amazingly talented lady (she is at the other end of the country to me!) but I have been a secret follower for a while. Thanks must go to her for my discovery of these lovely stamps and one or two other lovely arty techniques which I hope to try out soon.

Can't wait to see what you do with these gorgeous colours! Thanks for visiting today.
Stef x