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 #148: A Double Challenge

I'm not sure that my card for CAS Colours and Sketches this week is either clean or simple enough to really do the challenge justice. I was making some cards with my mum the other day and obviously had one of those indecisive days so this is what I ended up with. 

We were making some cards using Craftwork Cards products and I thought I would make a card for the challenge using patterned papers and die-cut flowers. As it does sometimes, the design started out one way and finished up another. The card has an acetate panel on the front with a patterned panel on the inside of the card. However, the finished design could just have easily had the patterned panel on the front of the card but I had a different plan when I originally sat down to make it!

I wanted to make my own flowers to match the graphic but ended up cutting and shaping flowers from the papers and using some die cuts. Also, it did prove a real challenge to find papers that only used three closely-matching colours to the ones I chose for CC&S - talk about giving myself a hard time!

Anyway, I have made it for a special friend's birthday this week and I'm sure she'll love it, especially the colours. I've got a really busy week of birthdays so I must go and make a few more cards. Then I will see about enjoying what's left of half term!

We would love to have you join us in the challenge this week. We had a bumper crop of entries last week, so thank you!

Stef x

CC&S #129 and just a few challenges!

I set myself a huge challenge this week! Lizy's colours at CAS Colours and Sketches are just lovely and I wanted to do a butterfly (just because I love butterflies). But when I started thinking about a design I came across just a few challenges that if I was clever I could make one card to fit them all (how greedy is that)!

The code word for Challenge #65 at ATCAS is 'Butterfly' so I could already tick that box! I decided to die-cut a steel grey butterfly and use my Cosmic Shimmer mists in green and gold to match Lizy's colours.

I love the scrunched up cling film technique with the mists and the beautiful marbled effect that you get with the mica all drying in the folds (sorry, it probably has a more technical name than that) and decided to cut some shapes from it to sit the butterfly on! That fits with the second challenge as the June theme at Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge is to use sprays or mists on your cards.

Then I discovered a great sketch for Challenge #127 at CAS(E) this Sketch featuring a butterfly and a square window!

This was when it started getting a bit trickier. There is a super colourful butterfly inspiration photo at Challenge #37 for The Card Concept this week. I don't think I've ever played there before so thought it was about time! My preferred style is definitely CAS but at heart I think I'm a little less 'S (simple)' and a bit more 'T' (technique) which isn't always necessarily simple; so CAT! possibly? I absolutely love trying out new techniques and getting inky and messy and have certainly dabbled in other styles along the way. I have a yearning at the moment to try out some mixed media stuff which very probably won't be CAS at all!

Studying the photo at The Card Concept, I really wanted to find a way of interpreting the writing icing on the butterfly cookies so went for a kind of zentangled background for the squares and finished with two gold star sequins either side of the printed sentiment to match the stars in the centres of the butterflies in the inspiration photo.

Phew! And that's it, card accomplished. I think it turned out OK and liked the colour scheme better than I thought I would.

Supplies used:
Dies: Butterfly (free with Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine) & Classic Squares Large (Spellbinders)
Mica Sprays: Meadow Lush & Rich Gold (Cosmic Shimmer)
Patterned Paper: Colour with Candi (Craftwork Cards)
Sentiment Font: Bodoni MT
Snippets: Metallic steel grey cardstock, Watercolour paper, Gold star sequins

Bye for now and thanks for visiting!
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

CAS on Sunday #43 and my first jewellery project!

When looking for inspiration to make my brother Neil a birthday card, I came across this week's CAS 'Lift a Card' challenge on CAS on Sunday's blog and thought I would give it a go. The original card looks like this...

And here is my take on the original design...

I don't have any alphabet dies but found these Doodlebug alphabet stickers which I have had in my stash for ages so thought it was high time they got used! Whilst rummaging in my sticker drawer I also came across some Woodware peel-off bubble stickers so used one of the butterflies on a piece of white card which I fussy cut and embellished with Craftwork Cards candy (coloured with Promarkers to match the design), tiny buttons and also coloured in some of the bubbles with Promarkers. The tab is computer-generated and the ribbon I have also had for ages so the whole project turned out to be a really good way of using some of my old stash!


So I would like to enter my finished card into the following challenge:
CAS on Sunday: #43 Lift a card



The other project I would like to share with you is my first proper adventure into jewellery making. I have made Kumihimo braids with my Guides lots of times before but have never had a serious go at making an adult bracelet. This pattern is a 12-strand twisted Kumihimo braid made with 2mm rattail cord. I made it for my friend Angela's birthday. I was very pleased with the end result (though I learned a lot about sizing on the way) and think that Angela really liked it too. I was immediately asked to make another one for someone else and will probably make some more in different colourways to give as Christmas presents.

Thanks for looking at my blog today.

Stef x

CAS Autumn Tree

I wanted to make an Autumn card for my brother's birthday on Friday and taking inspiration from some of the CAS challenge blogs came up with the following design. My main inspiration came from sketch #10 on Less is More. I used a circle aperture card blank and created a background using my Ink Dusters, a moon mask and Distress Ink Pads (Peeled Paint, Bundled Sage, Dried Marigold, Antique Linen and Frayed Burlap).



















I stamped the image (Oak Tree/Lavinia Stamps) in Frayed Burlap/Peeled Paint and used gilding flakes (Yorkshire Dales/Indigo Blu) to highlight part of the tree trunk and branches. The card was finished with a simple sentiment from Craftwork Cards.

Happy birthday Neil and enjoy your holiday!

I would like to enter it into the following challenges:
Less is More: Week 139 Sketch #10
Addicted to CAS: #23 Code Word - Autumn/Fall
Addicted to Stamps and More: #64 CAS
Crafty Little Fairies: Autumn Colours

Stef

Friday Sketchers 56

I have made this card for my friend Ros's birthday this week. I noticed that all the DT cards used stamped images and I have replaced this with a layered folded flower so I hope it's still acceptable to enter it for the Friday Sketcher challenge.


Supplies:
Flower template: Craftwork Cards
Papers: BasicGrey 'Sultry'
Gems and Flowers: Papermania
Thanks for visiting!