CC&S Sketch Challenge 190: I too must say goodbye ...

I'm sad to say that this will be my last post as a DT member of CAS Colours and Sketches. To cut a long story short and keep this post about crafting, my mum has not been well recently and had a short stay in hospital. She has been staying with us since she came out as she lives on her own but it is going to take her some weeks/months to recover. Having taken on a more demanding role at work this term, something has to give so that I have more time for my mum and for now that means that my crafting time will have to be restricted.

So to finish with a card featuring a technique (which, if anything, is what I'll be remembered for at CC&S) and some flowers and butterflies. Karen is our hostess this month and this week she has given us a sketch with lots of possibilities! When I saw it I immediately thought of making a cutaway card which I hope shows up in the photo. To save time, I used part of a masterboard on the inside of the card that I made some time ago having followed a video on the fabulous Eileen Godwin's YouTube channel HERE. I cut away the curve from the front of the card and then trimmed the edge with die-cut and punched butterflies to match the colours used on the masterboard. The sentiment is printed directly onto the card and, after I had photographed the card for my post, I added some pearls to the butterfly bodies.

I think I can just about get away with calling this a CAS card because over half the front of it is still white even though the rest of it is quite busy! I'm going to give this to my friend Angela at work who is lucky enough to be taking early retirement in a couple of weeks' time.

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Beautiful Blooms 1 (Uniko Studio) 
Ink Pads: Milled Lavender, Tumbled Glass & Worn Lipstick (TH Distress) - I think, though not sure exactly which colours I used now
Stencil: Small butterfly (free with a magazine)
Die & Punch: Small butterfly (XCut)
Sentiment Font: Rage Italic
Snippets: White gesso, Small bubbles stamp, White and silver gel pens

I will carry on crafting, card-making and blogging but maybe with not as much regularity in the next few months. I love it all too much not too and it has definitely become my sanctuary, somewhere where I can lose myself, listen to music and be creative.

Thank you all so much for being part of my CC&S journey and for your continued support of our CAS challenge. I will always remember it for being my first ever DT and I will continue to follow what's happening and join in when I can. The rest of the ladies on the DT are a brilliant bunch of crafters to work with and I am thankful to them for their friendship and support and for helping me to extend my creative boundaries over the last couple of years!

Stef x

CC&S Challenge 185 Colours: Shades Of Blue

It's Liz's turn to host at CAS Colours and Sketches this week (I hadn't realised that it was her debut!) and she has chosen a trio of blues for us to work with including one of the new SU colours. I love all shades of blue so absolutely no problem coming up with ideas this week!

I also wanted to try out the technique of pattern stamping as seen in one of Jennifer McGuire's videos HERE recently. I didn't have any tiny stamps that were suitable for colouring in so I just had to go and buy the same cute little set that Jennifer uses - what a shame! I do have some small stamps, mostly from Card-io but they are almost all silhouette stamps which I couldn't have used to achieve the same effect. I have only partially stamped the cardstock to keep it CAS but will definitely try some all over designs too. I have used three shades of Promarkers to colour in with. I included the aperture with the sentiment adhered to the inside of the card but by design, thanks to Jennifer, and not to cover up any mistakes!

I enjoyed playing so much that I made three quite similar cards in one afternoon, unusual for me, using different embossing powders and colour combinations (will show the others after they have been given to their intended recipients!)

Supplies Used:
Stamp Set: Just For You (Lia Griffith for Hero Arts)
Marker Pens: Denim Blue, Sky Blue & Indigo Blue (Promarkers)
Ink Pad: Smokey Gray (VersaFine)
Snippets: Clear EP, Computer-generated sentiment

Do visit some of the other DT blogs if you have time, especially Liz. I remember how nerve-racking my first challenge was! I'm taking a short break from CC&S for the next two weeks for a family holiday but I'll be back before you know it!

Have fun!
Stef x

CC&S Challenge 184 Sketch: Pepsi Pop Can Flower

I had to go out to an unexpected Guide meeting tonight so my card for CAS Colours and Sketches this week has ended up being a little rushed! It's Karen's turn to host as the holiday season enters full-swing here and she has very kindly drawn a nice easy sketch for us to work with.

I decided to make a pop can flower as the focal point of my card. I love making these with my Sizzix Bigz Die; they look stunning but are really quite simple to put together. I haven't made any for a while and experimented by making this one from a flattened Pepsi Max can. I'm not too sure about the accompanying papers and outlines that I have chosen to tie in with Karen's sketch but that was the bit that I rushed to do so it was to be expected.

Supplies Used:
Die: Bigz Die Flower, Daisies #2 (Sizzix) 
Snippets: Red & grey cardstcock, Red sparkly brad, Black peel-off outlines

Well that's all for this week!
Thanks for visiting
Stef x

CC&S Challenge 183 Colours: Let's Go Geometric!

It's lovely to be back as your hostess at CAS Colours and Sketches this week as we each take a turn during the months of July and August. For my colour choices I decided to dust off some unloved colours, or should I say colours that haven't featured in any of our colour paletttes lately.

I also thought that I would play around with two of Bev's Uniko stamp sets that haven't had much love from me since I bought them and as I'm hosting I thought I would make two cards for you! The cards themselves don't need much explanation - I have simply stamped some of the images from the sets in each of the palette colours in patterns represented by the stamps themselves. I couldn't have done it so easily without my MISTI which helped me line up the images perfectly!

I've experimented a little with inkpads though. I have to confess I don't really like Memento ink which I've used on the first card. I prefer the colours in this case, but find that you get a grainy finish which doesn't matter with these geometric images but is not so good for sentiments. On the second card I used Versacolor which gives a much smoother coverage but I found the colours difficult to match here and don't think this particular combo shows them to their best advantage.

Supplies Used:
Stamp Sets: Background Builders: Squared & Background Builders: Triangulate (Uniko), Sentiment Sampler (Paper Smooches)
Ink Pads: Dandelion, Bahama Blue & Gray Flannel (Memento), Canary, Turquoise & Cement (VersaColor)
Snippets: White cardstock

I'm looking forward to seeing how you are inspired by these colours. Don't forget to visit some of the DT's blogs and find out how they made their fantastic cards.

Thanks for visiting today!
Stef x

CC&S Challenge 182 Sketch: Teabag folded dahlia

Sorry that my post for CC&S is late this week; I'm caught up in the juggernaut that is the end of the school summer term! Due to summer holidays each of the DT is taking turns to host in July and August and this week Jane has brought us this quite simple sketch which gives us all lots of scope to be creative!

I was following some links in blogland the other day when I came across a blog of someone who has brought a clean, fresh look to iris folding. It's ages since I did any folding techniques so thought that Jane's sketch lent itself quite nicely to a folded dahlia pattern using eight double-sided circles.

The paper was a bit too thick to fold easily but I managed it in the end and must make a note to self to search out some less heavy double-sided papers for folding. It's mounted on to a birthday embossed background using the same paper just to add some interest.

Supplies Used:
Double Sided Printed Paper: Pink Floral Branch PMA 41652 (Papermania)
Embossing Folder: Birthday (Papermania)
Snippets: Shiny brad!

Enjoy the summer and don't forget to craft along with us when you have the time (I think it's my turn to host next week)!
Stef x

CC&S Challenge 181 Colours: Masking with Card-io

I have to admit I wasn't feeling the love for our colour combo at CAS Colours and Sketches this week (sorry Caro!) and found it really hard to settle on a design (I think it's the inclusion of brown, I'm never quite sure how to use it)! It probably doesn't help that, once again, I don't seem to have much time for card-making this week.

Anyhow I decided to resurrect the first Card-io peg stamp set that I ever bought and do some masking. I'm not sure that I like the finished card much either, it looks like I didn't know when to stop! I know she's had hundreds of years of practice but Wendy (from Card-io) always makes it look so easy to get the balance right with her peg stamps... I guess I just need more practice!

Supplies Used:
Peg Stamps: Butterfly Blooms (Card-io)
Sentiment Stamp: All Occasion Sentiments 1 (Uniko)
Ink Pads: Pinecone & Violet (VersaColor), Green from an Ink It Up set
Snippets: None

I've just realised I didn't put the butterfly on the card! Never mind, I think I had better take all my negativity away and come back next week - lol!!

Stef x

CC&S Double Challenge 180: Eileen's butterflies

I had lots of fun again this week making my card for CAS Colours and Sketches and it was in no small way thanks to my friend Eileen Godwin!

Eileen is very generous in sharing her time and talent with fellow crafters and made a YouTube video this last week showing a really colourful way of using Distress inks and this is my version of it. The depth of colour is not as good as Eileen's but that is what makes her a superstar and anyway I'm pretty pleased with my result. I was delighted when I saw I could combine both our sketch and colours and Eileen's tutorial into just one card! I actually made one in another colourway too but it's not quite finished so will share next time.

I inked and misted an acrylic block with Distress ink pads and stamped it onto a piece of card. Stamping in the shape of an arc as in Bev's design proved quite tricky until I hit upon the idea of making a mask from a plastic punched pocket so that I could see through it and clean it easily and it worked really well! The rain drops were stamped when the ink was dry, removing some of the colour from them with a water brush and highlighting with a white gel pen. I coloured a few spare pieces of card with the three ink pads and left them to dry thoroughly before die-cutting and punching the butterflies. These have then been stamped with a swirly stamp and highlighted as before. I love this sentiment stamp but don't use it nearly often enough and thought it fitted well here. I used a black matt, a colour I don't use much on my cards but think it works well for this technique. Finally I glued the butterflies in place along the line of the arc. Job done!

Supplies Used:
Ink Pads: Cracked Pistachio, Squeezed Lemonade & Worn Lipstick (TH Distress), Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Stamps: Water Drops & Nature Speaks (Inkylicious), Klimt Swirl Block (Tanda Stamps)
Dies: Sizzlits Butterfly #12 (Sizzix), Small Butterfly XCU220 (XCut)
Punch: Small Butterfly (XCut)
Snippets: White & black cardstock, White gel pen

Remember that you must use both Bev's colour palette and sketch together on your CC&S entry if you want to be considered as one of our weekly winners. Looking forward to seeing your interpretations.

Thanks for visiting!
Stef x

CC&S 179 Sketch: Pretty Peony

I loved making my card for CAS Colours and Sketches this week. Bev has designed us a great sketch and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it so I didn't waste any time faffing around trying to decide!

This lovely peony stamp was stamped and embossed in white. The BG is coloured with three blended Distress Inks. The flower was then watercoloured by removing the ink with water and a paintbrush, giving a bleached effect. A few splatters of water were then added to work together with the stamped image. What really makes it come alive is the next part. I used three different Promarker blues to shade around the flower edges and a light grey to add highlights to the petals. The sentiment is also stamped and embossed in white (it shows up better in real life!) and a few gems and sequins added to finish. Finally I attached two loops of coordinating ribbon to the top left hand edge before adhering it to a card blank.

Supplies Used:
Flower Stamp: Dinkie Peony (IndigoBlu)
Sentiment Stamp: Free with a Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine (Clearly Besotted)
Ink Pads: Tumbled Glass, Broken China & Salty Ocean (TH Distress)
Markers: Azure, Sky Blue, Arctic Blue & Cool Grey 4 (Letraset Promarkers)
Snippets: Watercolour paper, Sequins, Gems & Grosgrain ribbon

Please try and find some time to join us this week. Can't you tell I loads of fun doing this! Do visit some of the other DT blogs for even more inspiration.

Thanks for visiting!
Stef x

CC&S 178 Colours: Summer Butterflies

Welcome to our latest set of colours for CAS Colours and Sketches! This week I have gone with my go to favourite 'butterflies' (that's after the first design ended up in the bin)!!

I sponged the blue and green inks through part of the stencil until I got the effect I wanted and then overstamped with the text stamp using all three colours and misting before stamping. I coloured three scraps of cardstock with each of the inks and then die-cut and punched the butterflies, curling them before adding them to the card. Finally I stamped the sentiment and added a few adhesive gems.

I would also like to enter my card into the CAS on Sunday Challenge #85: Butterflies

And also the Inkspirational Challenge #110: Word Prompt 'Text'

Supplies Used:
Stencil: Doodle Squares (Creative Expressions)
Stamp: Script Background SB1 (IndigoBlu)
Die: Butterfly #12 (Sizzlets)
Punch: Small Butterfly (Personal Impressions)
Ink Pads: Bamboo & Celadon (VersaColor), Abandoned Coral (TH Distress)
Snippets: Sentiment stamp, Adhesive gems

Thanks for visiting. I hope to be able to visit more of your entries this week than I've had time for lately!
Stef x

CC&S 177 Sketch: Anchors Aweigh!

I'm so sorry that my post for CAS Colours and Sketches is late, I really have had a busy couple of weeks! It also took me ages to decide what to make and I kept changing my mind!

It's Father's Day in the UK next Sunday so I decided to make a male card. I rarely make Father's Day cards as my Dad died a long time ago. It was, however, forty years ago this year (22/05/76) so I decided I would make a card to remember him. One of my enduring memories of him when we were children is our family day trips to Cromer. He would spend all day fishing from the pier! My mum would walk me and my two brothers into town to the bakers and we would buy a loaf of bread, go back to the pier and make fresh sandwiches as we needed them. We would spend the afternoon trying to catch brown crabs from the pier. It's endearing to observe that kids today still love doing that as much as we used to!

Back to Bev's sketch and my card which is quite self-explanatory! I love this paper pack from Craftwork Cards and it is particularly good for men's cards. The tag is from the separate tag pack. The anchor and shells have been cut from the papers and I used some old rub-ons for the lettering. The windmill (another little piece of seaside nostalgia) was made from a small square of paper and a piece of Candi.

Supplies Used:
Paper and Tag Packs: Harbour Boulevard (Craftwork Cards)
Snippets: Blue textured cardstock, rub-on letters

Next week I hope to be back on track as I'm not away this weekend!
Thanks for visiting.
Stef x

CC&S 176 Colours: A Suffolk Puff Flower Trio

I'm a bit late this week with my DT card for CAS Colours & Sketches, sorry! It has been such a busy week, even though it's half term, with Guide camp at the start and a narrowboating weekend to finish. This month, another of our newer DT members, Bev, is hosting our challenges and has come up with some lovely ideas for us.

I was showing some Guides how to make 'Suffolk Puffs'/Yo-Yo flowers to decorate bags at the weekend and thought I would make some for my card this week. I had a rummage through my fabric box and luckily found some scraps in just the colours I needed. I finished the centres with matching buttons and thread in the same colours. The panelled background was created using a Hero Arts stamp and the design was completed with two small butterflies from the same set.

Supplies Used:

Stamp Set: Birds N Butterflies (Hero Arts)

Ink Pad: Smokey Gray (VersaFine)

Snippets: Cotton fabric, Buttons, Thread, White and yellow linen card scraps, Sentiment stamp

I would also like to enter my card into the following challenges:

CASology who are celebrating their 200th challenge this week!

Addicted to CAS Challenge 89: Petals

The CC&S DT have all interpreted these three colours so differently. Please check out all their ideas and have a go at joining us this week with your card.

Thanks for visiting

Stef x 

CC&S 175 Sketch: Spring Greens

Here is my card for CAS Colours and Sketches this week. I will add some more details when I get back from Guide camp on Monday as it's very late and time has just run away with me this week!

If you're in the UK, I hope you have a good Bank Holiday weekend!

Stef x

CC&S 174 Colours: Time to Say Goodbye (Part Two)

A quick post from me this week cos it's got really late again! Caro has chosen the other two retiring SU colours alongside silver for us this week at CAS Colours and Sketches.

I still need a lot of practice both with my ScanNCut and watercolouring but I had a some fun with both tonight so, I suppose, that's the main thing! I learned how to cut the rectangle outline with my SNC to match my die cut rose outlines, adhered the pieces to watercolour paper and played with some inks and brushes. I cut around them and arranged them on a card blank, raising the flower up and finishing with a greeting sticker and a few gems.

Supplies Used:
Die: Roses (Paper Smooches)
Ink Pads: Dusty Concord (TH Distress), Celadon (VersaColor)
Snippets: Watercolour paper, Greeting sticker, Adhesive gems

Sorry for the rubbish photo, it kept catching the light. Have a great week!
Stef x

CC&S Sketch 173: Layered roses in navy and mint!

I don't often buy craft magazines these days but when I saw one with an Altenew build-a-rose stamp and die collection with it, well, I just had to get it and try out the latest craze for myself! Caro has given us a fairly straight-forward sketch to work with this week at CAS Colours & Sketches so those were my two starting points.

I found it quite tricky to align the 3-layered stamps with each other but I suppose, with practice, I'll improve! Two outline dies were included for the flower and the leaf but TBH it was just as easy to fussy cut them out, especially the leaves. I used pigment inks in three different shades of blue for the flowers and three shades of green for the leaves. I stuck a spare piece of navy paper onto a square card blank, to tie in with the sketch, and played around with the positioning of the flowers and leaves until I was happy with them. The flowers are attached with foam pads, to add dimension, and the leaves have been curled and glued under the edges of the flowers. The sentiment was stamped onto a narrow length of textured mint paper and then adhered to the card blank to form the second band in the sketch.

It might seem a slightly odd colour combination for my subject but I chose them so that I could play along with challenge #108 at Inkspirational this week. I think this combo is gorgeous and actually I think the navy BG really shows off the flowers well.

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Build-a-rose stamp & die collection (Altenew - free with Simply Cards & Papercraft 149), Sentiment Sampler (Paper Smooches)

Ink pads: Smoke Blue, Atlantic, Indigo, Sage, Celadon, Turquoise (VersaColor), Majestic Blue (VersaFine)

Snippets: Navy & mint paper/cardstock

Well, that's all from me this week! Thanks for visiting.

Stef x

CC&S 172 Colours: Time to say goodbye...

... to SU's retiring in colour collection 2014-2016. One of our newest DT members Caro is hosting for CAS Colours & Sketches this month and has chosen the retiring colours for this month's challenges. As there is a green and two flower colours in the mix I decided to do one of my favourite floral cards.

I haven't used this Rubbernecker stamp set in a while but I do love it and being a four step stamp it's very easy to get a great look. I inked the largest image with a yellow DI and used a water brush to colour the tips of the flowers with orange. After a couple of mists with water I stamped it onto a piece of linen cardstock. The stems were stamped in black without misting. The leaves were stamped in a similar way to the flowers using a green DI and the random splatters with an orange DI. This piece was then matted onto a piece of coordinating orange cardstock.

I stamped the sentiment in black onto a vellum strip and wrapped it around the mat adhering it to the back to secure it in place and then stuck the whole thing onto an A6 card blank.

I was trying to think of a different way of presenting this stamp and came across this great sketch at Freshly Made Sketches so would like to enter my card into their challenge 235.

Supplies Used:
Stamp Set: Flowers In The Breeze (Rubbernecker)
Ink Pads: Scattered Straw, Dried Marigold & Peeled Paint (TH Distress), Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Snippets: Linen & orange cardstock, Vellum

This is the first time Caro has hosted one of our challenges so please visit her blog and say 'hi'.

Thanks for visiting!
Stef x

CC&S 171 Sketch: ... And Just A Few More

I have fallen in love with this set so much that I have used it once more for Louise's last choice for CAS Colours and Sketches this month, a sketch. When I first saw the sketch I'll be honest and say that I thought it would be a tricky one. But when I was tidying my new stamp set away I suddenly noticed my design was staring me in the face!

The image has been stamped onto white cardstock, coloured with Promarkers and finished with some glossy accents and a few pearls once again. The sentiment is another one from the same set. I mounted it onto a coloured card blank and rounded all the corners, job done! And to think I was struggling with it at first!

I think I quite like the idea of taking one stamp set and finding different ways to use it for all our challenges in the same month. I will definitely look at doing that again. It removes some of the time wasted in trying to decide what to do!

Supplies Used:

Stamp Set: Decorative Roses (Creative Stamping 30)

Inkpads: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Onyx Black (VersaFine)

Promarkers: Orchid, Amethyst, Leaf Green, Forest Green (Letraset)

Snippets: Glossy Accents & Adhesive Pearls

I do hope that Louise doesn't think I've strayed too far from her sketch. Can you take some time out to join us over the bank holiday weekend here in the UK? We'd love to see your artwork amongst our entries. I'm spending the weekend narrowboating with some Guiding friends. Must be daft as it's hailing outside right now. Will have to remember to pack lots of layers!

Thanks for visiting.

Stef x

CC&S 170 Colours: More Decorative Roses

As my 'Decorative Rose' stamp set was still on my desk from last week I thought I would have a go at using it with Louise's colour choices for CAS Colours and Sketches this week. It's been a while since I did some straight forward stamping and used Promarkers to colour in, so I thought I would give that a go this week.

I have only used two different pens to do the colouring but have gone over parts of the design several times to get the darker colour. To finish, I used 'Glossy Accents' on the flowers, again something which I'm a bit out of practice at using. It didn't go on as perfectly as it should have, but well enough! I finished by matting and layering onto a coloured card blank with a top fold, again, something I've not used in a while!

Supplies Used:
Stamp Set: Decorative Roses (with Creative Stamping, Issue 30)
Ink pad: Espresso Truffle (Memento)
Promarkers: Rose Pink & Sky Blue (Letraset)
Snippets: Brown textured cardstock, Glossy Accents (Ranger)

So, a bit of nostalgia from me this week. What will you be able to come up with? Sorry that I've not been commenting a lot on the entries in the last couple of weeks. Hope to put that right this week.

Stef x

CC&S 169 Sketch: Just Love This Decorative Rose Stamp

A quick card from me this week as I'm back from my short break and have got so much catching up to do! I love Louise's sketch for CAS Colours and Sketches this week and knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.

I don't often buy craft magazines these days but I just had to have the latest copy of Creative Stamping. I've not come across it before but it's got the most gorgeous Rennie Mackintosh Glasgow Rose inspired stamp set with it this month and loads of ideas for how to use it inside. I stamped two of the image stamps with grey ink, cut round them carefully and coloured them with my Derwent colour pencils. I cut the two background mats to tie in with the sketch and stamped a sentiment on the largest one again in grey ink. I put it all together raising the bird image on foam pads

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Decorative Roses (with Creative Stamping Issue 30)
Ink Pad: Smokey Grey (VersaFine)
Pencils: 20, 21, 43, 69 & 70 (Derwent Cumberland)
Snippets: Textured blue/green cardstock

I chose this particular sentiment from the set so that I could give this card to a work colleague who is celebrating a big birthday this week! Please drop by the rest of the DT blogs for more inspiration.
Thanks for visiting!
Stef x

CC&S 167 Double: IndigoBlu Butterfly

I actually don't mind coming up with a card for the dreaded double challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches (we have one of these every time there are five Thursdays in a month). You are provided with a sketch and a colour palette, surely that's your card half made! Yet sometimes, something creeps in that makes you wonder what to do exactly. This week, for me, it was the colour brown! Flowers, no, they would appear to be dead; Autumn, no, wrong season!

After flowers, my next go to would be butterflies and yes there are a lot of brownish butterflies in nature but on our cards we usually inject more colours to pretty them up a bit. So I stamped the large butterfly with a brown inkpad, cut a square from part of the image and used the yellow and blue to watercolour (still my favourite technique at the moment) parts of my image. I colour-matched the sentiment on my computer and used a scrap of textured brown cardstock as a band to tie in with the sketch. I also ran a brown inkpad along the edges of my image and sentiment to avoid two slightly different whites coming together and raised them on foam pads.

Don't be scared of the double! Please set yourself a challenge and come along and join us this week. I liked my finished card better than I thought I would.

Supplies Used:
Stamp: Big Butterfly BBII (IndigoBlu)
Inkpads: Pinecone (VersaColor), Salty Ocean & Squeezed Lemonade (TH Distress)
Sentiment Font: Allegro
Snippets: Brown textured & White cardstock

Thanks for visiting!
Stef x