CC&S 162 Sketch: Unusually Orange!

It's my last week as hostess at CAS Colours and Sketches for a while but I've really enjoyed myself this month. To finish I thought I would really challenge myself and dig out an old paper pad in a colour that I don't go for very much - orange! I've also added, unusually for me, a touch of bling! I have a few colleagues at work that I make cards for that do like their bling so I will probably give it to one of them that has a birthday soon.

Instead of adding a sentiment, as in the sketch, I have used a piece of embossed paper that has the main sentiment in a similar position. The rosette was made using a specialist die. Other than that I have used a few papers and the all-important bling (actually I think I quite like the text paper)!

Supplies Used:
Die: Paper Rosette 656931 (Sizzlits Decorative Strip Tim Holtz)
Paper Pad: Sunshine Capsule Collection (Papermania)
Embossing Folder: Happy Birthday (Papermania)
Snippets: Pearlised paper, Button, Sequins, Adhesive gems

Thank you for sharing all your creations with us this month! I hope you'll join us again this week. Next week I believe Jane takes the reigns as your hostess for March.

Have fun!
Stef x

CC&S #158 Sketch: Always & Forever

This week’s sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches is quite open to interpretation. Because of the simple nature of the sketch, I decided to concentrate on the background. I also wanted to play with my new Always and Forever stamp set from Uniko Studio and with a mixed media technique new to me that I learned by following one of Eileen Godwin’s YouTube videos called the Masterboard/Gesso Resist technique. Alas, I felt that my finished Masterboard even after simply matting onto a card blank was not CAS enough for our challenge so I made another card for CC&S and will post the Masterboard card separately! 

I stamped the smallest flower from the Beautiful Blooms 1 set using Versamark and clear embossing powder onto a piece of violet cardstock. This was simply matted onto a card blank and trimmed to follow Patricia’s sketch. I stamped the image with the flower from the Always and Forever set onto a piece of white linen cardstock and again clear embossed it. The sentiment stamp comes from the same set and this has been die-cut using a banner die. I felt the contrast between the dark mat and the white card blank was too much so added the white punched hearts, but I’m still not sure if that was the right thing to do. Hey ho, it is what it is and done now! I'm sorry for the reflections in the photo but with all that embossing it was difficult to get a good picture without the shine!

I would also like to enter my card into a couple of challenges:

CASology Week #182: Cue Card ADORE

Uniko Studio: Anything Goes with the option of a LOVE theme

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Beautiful Blooms 1 and Always & Forever (Uniko Studio)

Inkpads: Versamark (Tsukineko) & Violet (VersaColor)

Die: Tag Along (Clearly Besotted)

Snippets: Violet & White linen cardstock, Small heart punch

We would love to have you join us in our challenge. You can find the details HERE and you have until Wednesday 3rd February to share your card.

Thanks for visiting!

Stef x

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 #118: Monochromatic Shades Of Green

I've not been very well this week, flu, even though I had a flu jab back in October - hey ho!

This month's challenges at CAS Colours and Sketches are being hosted by Louise and for her first colour challenge she has chosen three shades of green. I thought I would make a card for my daughter, Katie's, birthday who will be 23 on 1st April!

The squares started out as a piece of my favourite white linen cardstock. I stamped various leaves with Versamark, clear embossed, then sponged and blended inks in three shades of green. This was then spritzed with water and left to dry. I sponged the same inks onto a spare piece of cardstock and die-cut the base of the dragonfly. I used the dragonfly stamp on vellum with Versamark and white EP, die-cut and glued just the bodies together, finishing with three small gems. I printed the sentiment straight onto the card blank and then assembled the layout, raising the dragonfly slightly with thin foam pads.

Close-up of dragonfly's wings

I would also like to enter my card into the following challenge:
Less is More: Week #217 Combine any three previous Less is More challenges
The three challenges I am combining are:
Week #04: Sketch or Recipe - 3 squares
Week #15: One Layer - Embossing
Week # 89: One Layer - Wings
The DT stated that 'Should you choose a challenge which happened to be a One Layer card in the original challenge, there is no necessity to make it one layer for this challenge, unless you particularly wish to do so'.

As it also fits the criteria of a couple of other challenges, I would also like to enter my card into:
CASology: Week #140 where this week's cue card is 'Spring'

and Seize the Birthday, a new challenge for me, where this week's birthday theme is 'Anything Goes' (with no toppings)!

Supplies used:
Stamp set: Leaf decor stamps (Clear Choice)
Die & stamp set: Dragonfly (Creative Dies) - free with Simply Cards and Papercraft #134
Ink pads: Bundled Sage & Peeled Paint (TH Distress); New Sprout (Memento)
Shimmer dots: Pearlescent black/green (Papermania)
Snippets: White linen cardstock, Clear and White EP 

I'm rather pleased with this one and will definitely make a couple more with the leftover pieces. I'm glad as it's for a special birthday and I hope Katie likes it too!

Stef x

CAS Colours and Sketches #117

I have always loved IndigoBlu stamps and have decided to use them again on my card for CAS Colours and Sketches this week. Even though I've been using them for several years, I don't think I've ever entered their blog challenges so, to put that right, I would like to enter my card for this month's IndigoBlu Blog Challenge #26. Jane has given us a great sketch to work with and IndigoBlu's theme is 'Off The Edge'. Darnell has unknowingly encouraged me to use this NBU stamp set so I would also like to enter her NBUS Challenge #4 where the theme is 'Anything Goes'.

I've used an unusual colour for me, 'red'. I have 3 colleagues at work with birthdays this week and one of them loves red so this is for her. I took a strip of red textured cardstock and stamped the flower image randomly with Versamark ink and embossed with another new product for me, white embossing powder. I then stamped the flower again and another smaller one in between in black ink. I also stamped and embossed the large flower twice onto a scrap piece of the same cardstock and then cut the two images out. The sentiment is from the same set which is actually a set that came free with a craft magazine last year which I bought just for the gift! This is stamped straight onto the card blank with the two flowers raised on foam pads. The only deviation from Jane's sketch is that I positioned the two flowers in the opposite corners as they worked better that way. 

I enjoyed making this card so much that I made another one at the same time using a deep purple cardstock instead of red and altering the position of the elements a little.

Supplies used:

Stamp set: Free gift with a craft magazine (IndigoBlu)

Ink pads: Versamark, Black (Whispers)

Snippets: Red & purple cardstock, White EP

I have really enjoyed working with Jane's colours and sketches this month. It will be my first turn soon; I have a lot to live up to! Can't wait to see what you make of this week's sketch.

Thanks for visiting!

Stef x