CC&S #150 Sketch: Happy Birthday Us!

We are marking our third anniversary and our 150th challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches this week. I feel honoured to have been part of the DT for almost a year now and delighted to be part of such a fantastic team. This week Louise has designed a very special sketch to celebrate our birthday and we have also have prizes to give away too! So what are you waiting for? Whether you've been with us all the way or have only just discovered our challenge please enter into the fun this week with your clean and simple cards!

When I saw that we needed to design a card with an aperture and a number on it, my mind went immediately to making a shaker card using a circle aperture as the number '0'. The celebrations made me think of designing a 50th birthday or golden wedding anniversary card using '5' as my number. And as Bev is not only our guest designer for this month but her company, Uniko, are sponsoring one of the prizes I thought it would be great to use the large Uniko 'congratulations' sentiment which I have only recently acquired.

And so the card came together quite easily. I have used pearlised card throughout to suit the occasion and kept the design all in one long banner to fit in with the sketch. The shaker element was created using the funky foam technique and the sentiment is stamped with Versamark and embossed with gold EP.

Supplies Used:
Stamp Set: All Occasion Sentiments #1 (Uniko)
Circle Dies: Standard Circles Large & Classic Scalloped Circles Large (Spellbinders)
Snippets: Ivory pearlised cardstock, Gold pearlised paper, a random number '5' sticker, assorted sequins and sparkles

I do hope you'll find some time to join in with our very special birthday challenge this week! I think I'll give my card to very special couple at church who are celebrating their golden wedding anniversary in a couple of weeks time.

Until next time
Stef x

CC&S #134: Heart Sketch

A quick post from me today. It's 'Wedding Central' here at home now that term has finished as we're busy preparing for Katie's wedding on Saturday 15th August. She is getting married in the church next door, the reception is here at home in a marquee in the garden and we are doing all the catering ourselves! She must have caught me in an 'off' moment *lol*.

Jane has given us an uncomplicated sketch to work with this week and it screamed shaker card at me. I chose the colours to match a wedding that my other daughter Laura is attending in a few week's time and have followed Jane's sketch pretty closely. The sentiment has been stamped with Versamark and embossed with gold EP.

Supplies Used:
Die: Classic Hearts (Spellbinders Nestabilities)
Stamp & Die Set: Tag Along (Clearly Besotted)
Snippets: Textured orange cardstock, Sequins and sparkly bits, Gold EP

Hope you all have fun with the sketch and if you're taking a break, enjoy your holidays!
Stef x

CC&S Challenge #128: Three Linear Squares

As soon as I saw Lizy’s sketch for this week at CAS Colours and Sketches, I knew what I was going to do! I have been wanting to make a card inspired by Stephanie (Mama Bear Ink) who made a lovely shaker card using vellum and was one of our weekly winners from last month.  I was also lucky enough to spend a day in Leeds over half term at a workshop run by Craftwork Cards where I finally met up with Julie Hickey, who I feel as though I’ve known for years! And by no means last, the colours from the photo over at the FUSION Challenge (blue skies and smooth sailing) drew everything together. So inspired by Lizy’s sketch, Stephanie’s card, FUSION's photo and some Craftwork Cards goodies, here is my DT card for this week:

The patterned papers are from a gorgeous CWC set called 'Harbour Bolulevard', ideally suited to male cards without being dull and gloomy! The choice of the 'anchor' paper was inspired by the photo at FUSION and fits with Lizy's sketch. Without boring the pants off anyone who is well-versed in making shaker cards, I reminded myself of the technique and picked up some tips by watching one of Jennifer McGuire's wonderful YouTube videos HERE. The windows are covered with a piece of printed vellum and I also adhered some CWC Candi inside the window base to act as 'stoppers' for some of the other elements.

As you can see I stuck faithfully to Lizy's sketch which is what I like to do as far as possible. The colours were inspired by the photo challenge, using different shades of blue with little bits of gold in the sentiment and the sparkles behind the windows.

Obviously I haven't used FUSION's sketch this time around as I followed our own at CC&S. I really enjoyed making this card and will definitely be doing some more. Now all I need is a special person to send it to - don't worry, I have someone in mind!!

Supplies Used:

Patterned Paper & Candi: Harbour Boulevard (Craftwork Cards)

Die: Classic Squares Large (Spellbinders)

Snippets: White linen cardstock, Printed vellum, Assorted sequins and sparkly bits!

A huge thank you to everyone that inspired me to make this card. Can't wait to see what you make using the DT's cards at CC&S to inspire you!

Thanks for visiting

Stef x