CC&S #153: 2015 Colours Revisited and Make It Christmassy!

For this week’s Christmas colour challenge at CAS Coloursand Sketches I have chosen a colour palette that I devised for one of our October challenges (#144). I wasn’t very happy with the card I made that week so wanted to see if I could come up with something better.

I really wanted to have another go at the bokeh technique and so for this card I sponged corresponding inks in the two blues onto a piece of watercolour paper. After letting this dry I sponged white ink from a chalk inkpad through a homemade circle template in vary levels of intensity. This was then mounted onto a piece of gold cardstock. Looking at internet images of bokeh, I’m not sure that my circles are really soft or out of focus enough but I like them anyway so I guess that’s all that matters.  

The snowflakes were a right faff to die-cut. I always seem to have trouble cutting very intricate dies though I have tried all sorts of tricks to make it easier without any real success! Eventually I cut enough (some in white, some in gold, one in felt) that were OK and layered them onto a piece of shimmery netting from a recycled wedding favour all held in place with a beautiful snowflake brad! Finally, after several hours with the snowflakes, the greeting was die-cut and added to one side.

Supplies Used:

Inkpads: Nautical Blue, Summer Sky (Memento), Cloud White (VersaMagic)

Dies: Snowflakes (Die'sire), Peace Word (Clearly Besotted)

Snippets: Gold, white, navy & watercolour paper/cardstock, White felt, Recycled netting, Snowflake brad

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

CAS on Sunday: Challenge #72 ‘Christmas’

Time Out: Challenge #45 ‘Snowflakes are Winter’s Butterflies’

52 Christmas Card Throwdown: November Technique Challenge ' Sponging/Brayering'

Addicted To CAS: Challenge #77 'Dimension'

So sorry that my post for CC&S is late this week and that I've not managed to visit and comment on last week's entries - it's been a really busy week (and next week's not looking great either)!

Stef x

CAS Colours and Sketches #115

Jane has put together a great sketch for us to work with this week at CAS Colours and Sketches. I have also opted to tie my design in with Less Is More where they have a colour challenge this week. Their DT has asked that we try to keep to just the two spring colours of green and yellow, with the optional use of neutral shades if necessary.

I felt very comfortable using Jane's sketch just as it is. I have just used a square image instead of a circular one and placed the sentiment in a more appropriate place. I have managed to use only green and yellow for my colours (with a little bit of white). My well-loved and used daffodil stamp from DoCrafts has been stamped in green, masking off the bottom border which I didn't want to use, and coloured with Promarkers. Even the sentiment has been printed from my computer in dark green directly onto the Core'dinations cardstock used for the banners.

My biggest achievement came from my first ever attempt at the Bokeh technique. I had seen it around quite a bit and have been dying to have a go. I moistened a piece of cardstock quite liberally with water and was then a bit stuck as I don't have any water-based liquid inks or re-inkers! So I sprayed on Cosmic Shimmer mists in Mango Blaze and Meadow Lush. I also tried some ink directly from inkpads using a brush. The darker spots are my experiment at using a green Adirondack alcohol ink, but clearly this doesn't really spread like the other inks and has ended up looking almost brown! I then left it to dry very thoroughly. I made myself a stencil using a piece of acetate and my Spellbinder circle dies and sponged white ink from an inkpad over the top in varying sizes and degrees. I cut a slice to use on this card but still have plenty left for another project and have to say that I'm quite pleased with my first attempt! It's definitely something that I'll have another go at.

I wonder if you'll challenge yourself to try a new technique on your card this week? Can't wait to see what you come up with!

Stef x