CC&S #144 Colours: Night of Navy, Metallic Gold and Soft Sky

Hi everyone! It's my turn for another month of hosting the challenges at CAS Colours and Sketches and as usual we are kicking off with a colour palette.

I had decided that I wanted to do a masked and sponged sky design but TBH it's not come out quite as nice as it was in my head. I guess that's what comes from working hard all day and only having a couple of hours to make a card for this week's challenge.

I used a harsh sponge, a mask and an old credit card with Versamark to create the sun. It looks better in real life as there are a few more gold speckles that don't show up in the photo but using inks over the top of it has definitely dulled it's brightness! The sky was coloured using my fabulous ink dusters from Inkylicious and there are also a couple of hills which, again, don't show up too well. I stamped the trees before removing the masking and then stamped and embossed the greeting. I love getting messy with inking techniques but definitely need some more practice at this one when I'm not too tired.

Supplies Used:
Ink Pads: Nautical Blue & Summer Sky (Memento)
Stamps: Lone Spruce and Sprucescape Trees (Clarity)
Sentiment: Xmas Wishes (Inkylicious)
Snippets: Ink dusters, Gold EP

Looking forward to seeing what you make of my colour and sketch choices this month.
Thanks for playing along with us!
Stef x

CC&S #121: Triangles (Sketch)

I must admit that Louise's sketch for CAS Colours and Sketches this week had me a bit stumped and I pondered over what to do for ages. Then I looked at the negative rather than the positive image, turned the sketch through 45 degrees and thought I could do something with the cross shape. I might still give that a go but then remembered I had some triangular-shaped corner stamps so set to work with those instead.

I thought that might be the easier option but trying to get them all lined up without the help of a gadget was trickier than I had remembered! I inked the stamps with two shades of ink and made a thank you card in pink and purple for Paul and Gel whose daughter, Emily, I made the baptism card for last week.

The design was mat and layered onto a piece of the same white cardstock coloured at the edges with the same pink inkpad to match. The card was finished with a few white adhesive pearls and a sentiment printed directly onto the card from the computer.

Supplies used:
Stamp: Corner stamp (Clarity) - sorry don't know the name of it!
Inkpads: Rose Bud & Lilac Posies (Memento)
Snippets: White linen cardstock, White adhesive pearls

No other link ups, just a classic card from me this week. Can't wait to see what you all do with your triangles!

Stef x

Let It Snow (but only metaphorically!)

My card tonight is for three different challenges. Firstly for CAS Colours and Sketches. This week it is a 'Make It Christmas' challenge #104 using any previous sketch from their archive. I have chosen sketch #78 from June this year. Secondly, I would like to enter it into the Less Is More challenge. Being the second week of the month it is a one layer challenge #202 with a focus on snow. The third challenge I would like to enter is CASology where Cue Card #126 is also snow!

To interpret the sketch for CAS Colours and Sketches, I have divided the landscape into three, the sky, the hills and the foreground.


I love messing about with inks, torn bits of paper, masks, frames, stamps and sponges. This card has all those! I like to experiment with using different ways of transferring ink to paper and on this card I have used a dry baby wipe to gently rub ink directly onto the card through a frame to create the hills and the sky. For this I have used Distress Inks: Tumbled Glass, Stormy Sky and Dried Marigold.

The tree stamps are all from Clarity Stamps inked in first and second generation using Versafine Vintage Sepia. The tree in the foreground has been stamped so that it extends beyond the frame which I think I quite like the look of.

The card has been finished using a silver greeting to base the frame and a few silver stars in the sky.

I would like to wish everyone that visits my blog a very Happy Christmas and, unless I get a chance to squeeze one more in before then, I'll see you all in the New Year with lots more cards to share!

Whatever you're doing, have fun!
Stef x

O Little Town Of Bethlehem

I have made today's card taking inspiration from two challenge blogs. Firstly from the challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown. This week it is the November Theme Challenge {Christmas Window}. I was inspired initially by Gill's DT card that uses a window, but not an actual window!

I also decided to use embossing with metallic EP to fit into challenge 19 at Time Out. Week three of their monthly rota is a theme with a twist which this week is embossing with the optional twist of sparkle. I also thought it would make a change to be one of the first to post a card instead of being one of the last! The idea for the card is one from my back burner that I've been meaning to make for a while and I'm so glad I did as I'm quite pleased with the way it's turned out.

It uses the 'O little town of Bethlehem' carol stamp and silhouette nativity scene both from Clarity Stamps. Firstly I stamped the carol in Versamark and embossed with gold EP (I think I need to buy a finer grade EP as the words are not as crisp as I'd like and I'm sure it's not the fault of the stamp!) I masked the carol and then stamped the nativity scene, making sure to mask off the star and remembering to take the tape off the stamp first - nearly forgot! I then stamped the star in Versamark, masking off the rest of the stamp, and embossed that also with gold EP. I didn't wait quite long enough for the stamped silhouette to dry as some stray specks of EP landed on the roof of the stable and wouldn't come off. But I decided that it was a happy accident as it actually looked quite good that way and wouldn't have thought of doing it otherwise!

I put the mask back over the carol and masked off a circle around the stamp. Using two Distress Inks, Stormy Sky and Antique Linen, I gently sponged some colour into the sky and sandy areas. Finally I matted and layered the image onto a matching piece of cardstock using the best present I got for Christmas last year, my Perfect Layers rulers!

Well, that's another Christmas card made! Thanks for visiting today.
Stef x