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 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 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 164 Sketch: Oh What a Beautiful Morning!

Jane has given us a very simple square sketch to work with at CAS Colours and Sketches this week which opens up all sorts of possibilities.

I went to a Sincerely Yours craft show at Leigh recently where I watched Emma from Inkylicious demo a lovely technique of spritzing their ink dusters and using them on a satin card which gives a lovely subtle brushed effect to the inks.

At a similar time I took a beautiful photo in my back garden on a cold, frosty morning of the sun coming up behind the trees. I thought I would try and replicate that scene on my card. Unfortunately my small camera doesn't really do the colours justice and neither does my finished card as they were much more dramatic but hey ho! To finish the scene I tried to replicate the frost on the grass with a gelly roll pen.

Jane's sketch is square and my stamp is rectangular, though it does have the bold frame around it so I layered it onto a square of coloured card and included the greeting within that.

Supplies Used:
Card: Satin Silk 350gsm (Inkylicious)
Ink Pads: Tumbled Glass, Milled Lavender, Spun Sugar, Squeezed Lemonade, Dried Marigold, Bundled Sage, Frayed Burlap (TH Distress); Tuxedo Black (Memento), Smokey Gray (Versafine)
Stamp: Picture Perfect 1 (Inkylicious)
Stencil: Scenic Mountains (Inkylicious)
Pen: Gelly Roll 'Clear Star' (Sakura)
Snippets: Lavender cardstock, Happy Birthday sentiment stamp

We had tons of entries into our last sketch challenge. I hope you will all want to play along with this one. Please remember to follow the squareness of the sketch if you want to be considered as a weekly winner!

Thanks for your visit!
Stef x

CC&S Colours #163: Real Red Roses

I'd like to start off by welcoming my newest follower Kath Buckle! I don't have so many so it's nice to know that someone likes my cards enough to want to follow my creative journey.

Jane is our hostess at CAS Colours and Sketches this month and she has chosen a lovely set of colours to kick off the month. I decided to make an alternative Mothering Sunday card so that my Mum and my MIL both get something a little different but using the same stamp.

I have followed the sketch from The Paper Players Challenge #284, a lovely sketch by Claire. I didn't want to use newsprint, though I do love it, so have represented this element with my notebook stamp. My card need to be very CAS for our challenge so for the background I embossed a piece of white cardstock with some simple diagonal stripes and edged it with a stripe inked by my computer to match the Mint Macaron. The flowers and leaves are from different Uniko sets; the solid background rose was stamped with second generation ink giving a lighter tint than the detail rose. The sentiment is computer-generated in white again on a background to match with our colour palette.

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Flower Power 6 & Beautiful Blooms 1 (Uniko Studio), PMA 907003 (Papermania)
Texture Plate: Diagonals (Sizzix)
Inkpads: Scarlet & Celadon (VersaColor), Green Green (Whisper)
Sentiment Font: Candara
Snippets: White cardstock

Now all I have to do is decide which card to give to which Mum! Thanks for visiting my blog today. I hope you get a chance to join in with our colour challenge this week!

Stef x

CC&S 160 Sketch: Mothering Sunday Roses

This week I have made cards for my Mum and my MIL ready for Mothering Sunday which we celebrate here in the UK on 6th March this year. However I was almost stumped by my own sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches. Having said to the rest of the DT that the circles in the sketch were slightly different sizes, I thought that they and other crafters might think that that was a non-alterable element in the sketch.

I tried clustering two different sizes of the rose stamp together but I couldn't get them to look right because I think they are too different in size (for this card anyway). I then played around with adding smaller leaves instead of more flowers and decided that looked much better. Other than that the card came together quite simply. The sentiment is one I had saved on my PC, I loved it as soon as I saw it and I think it has several sources on the internet.

I would also like to play at a couple of challenges:
Addicted to Clean and Simple #81: Code Word 'Bloom'

Time Out 'Inspired By Words' Challenge #49: 'Love is the flower you've got to let grow' from a John Lennon song 'Mind Games'. I thought this phrase tied in a beautifully with the sentiment behind any card for Mothering Sunday.

Supplies Used:

Stamp Set: Flower Power #6 (Uniko Studio)

Inkpads: Hyacinth, Heliotrope, Smoke Blue, Atlantic, Bamboo (VersaColor)

Sentiment: Found on the internet

Snippets: White linen cardstock

I hope you like the sketch and you'll want to play along. You have until Wednesday 17th Feb to link up your design.

Thanks for visiting!

Stef x

CC&S #151 Colours: New Home for Christmas

We took our Guide unit away last weekend so a quick post from me tonight for CAS Colours and Sketches as I still have a ton of things to catch up with! I love the colours Louise has chosen this week and decided to go with a card that could be Christmassy but I've actually made it as a new home card for my daughter Laura and her fiance Max who have moved to Bristol this week.

I stamped the image with Versamark and embossed with a silver tinsel EP (by accident!) which makes it quite sparkly but it looks just fine. I coloured parts of the image with Promarkers, added a few silver stars and some Stickles and matted and layered it into a piece of matching cardstock. The sentiment is computer generated and I added a few more stars for balance.

Supplies Used:

Stamp: Good Morning Robin (Little Claire)

Promarkers: Soft Green & Antique Pink (Letraset)

Sentiment Font: Allegro

Snippets: Aqua green cardstock, Silver stars

We had lots of lovely entries for our birthday challenge. It's great to have so many of you join in this week but it's going to be difficult to choose the winners! If you are new to our challenge I hope you can find time to play again.

In the meantime I hope that Laura's move is going well and that she is enjoying her first day in her new job!

Stef x

CC&S #149 Colours: Double Birthday Cards

If I'm honest, I haven't really liked one or two of the cards I've made recently, probably because they've been a bit rushed. So this week I've put a bit more thought and care into the design of my DT card for CAS Colours and Sketches and with no small thanks to Louise's absolutely gorgeous colour combinations I'm pretty pleased with the end results. That's just as well as this week I needed to make two cards for the special men in my life, my husband Martin and my son Philip.

I was looking to see if there were any other challenges that I could combine my entry with when I stumbled across last week's Muse challenge and some gorgeous cards particularly from Anita (the muse) and Julie (one of the honourable mentions). And so my cards began to take shape. 

My first challenge was to cut out a circle aperture from my 5" x 7" card blank, tricky as I only have a 'Big Shot' and the card wouldn't fit sideways through the machine but after a couple of goes I worked out the best way to do it. I cut 5cm from the right edge of the card and lined the inside of the card with some dark purple polka dot paper. The leaves were all stamped onto linen cardstock in the other challenge colours (using some newsprint for one of the cards) and cut out leaving a margin. It took a while to assemble them in a group but when I was happy with the design they were stuck down, some raised with foam pads. Finally the sentiment was stamped on the left front. I made both cards similarly but not quite the same!

So unfortunately I found it too late and can't enter my card into the Muse challenge but I'm so glad to have been inspired by it anyway. Huge thanks also to Louise for bringing us such a gorgeous colour combination to work with this week.

Supplies Used:

Die: Standard Circles Large (Spellbinders)

Patterned Paper: Purple Polka Dot (free download from www.pixelscrapper.com)

Stamps: Leaf Decor CCS006 (Royal Langnickel), Happy Birthday (Clearly Besotted)

Ink Pads: Pinecone (Versa Color), Elderberry & Peanut Brittle (Memento), Imperial Purple (Versafine)

This weekend Katie and Tom are throwing a party for Phil down in London so I get to spend the weekend with all my children - can't wait!

See you soon

Stef x