Double Vintage Vogue done CAS

It's a double week at CAS Colours and sketches, so we give you the colours and the sketch!

Don't worry if you don't have the exact Stampin' Up shades, I didn't, just make sure it's as close as you can get it.

I used another one of my old stamp sets- Vintage Vogue, for this one and heat embossed the 'F' image as the pink was very pale, I first masked the one image and overstamped with the floral flourish to create a larger image to fill my circle die cut. The borders are in the lightest pink I have, they've come out a bit dark on the picture and I think I must blame the poor lighting.  My dark pink is actually Primrose Petals and the DP is a lovely new one from the Sweater Weather range from SU. I would have loved to have given the circle a scalloped edge too, but I don't own any scalloped circle dies or punches (can you believe it- my husband truly thinks I own everything I need and more!) so I had to settle for a plain one -it doesn't match my edgelit die I used on the pink panel :(
Any way, like me I guess most of you will make do. Keep it CAS!

Double Embossed Christmas Ornaments

 Hello! It's Saturday morning and that means that I'm back with this week's challenge from 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown. I loved the idea of this one as soon as I saw it, as embossing is one of my favourite techniques, I wish  had more embossing folders (but then we always want more, don't we!) and heat embossing is a kind of magical, mystical alchemy to me, I love the way the powder becomes shiny and the colour changes... yes, simple things, simple minds... I know

 I thought that I hadn't made a card with ornaments for a while and so I reached for Merry and Bright and the trio of ornaments. I used Versamark and three colours of embossing powder, red, green and silver, to get the effect of shimmering baubles, reflecting the light. You do have to throw away the unused powders as they get mixed up, but if you use them sparingly it's not too wasteful

I used the dry embossing on my background which is matt silver. The sentiment is from Open Sleigh and three little bows and some black card stock complete the card.
Looking forward to visiting all your blogs to see your double embossing projects, don't forget to hop on over to the blog and have a look at the creations from my DT buddies, as usual they're awesome!I'm also going to enter Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge Extra for January.

Triple Stamped Swallowtail

There is a new sketch challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches today, check it out! What do you think? Very CAS eh? I immediately thought of triple stamping and I knew exactly what stamp I wanted to use.  All I needed was a beautiful DP to show it off, and I found that in these watercolour pages I have in my stash.

The pinks and orange swirl together, they look much better in real life.  I was going to put the sentiment (from Vintage Verses) on the front, but it tipped out of balance and so I compromised and put it inside

Back on Saturday with another Christmas card for you, until then, happy crafting!

The Washi Line!

Making cards for men really pushes me out of my comfort zone, that's why I make myself do it regularly by being on the DT at The Male Room. I don't think I'm great at it, but I give it a go.  The new challenge today is for cards which are sparked off by the word Music. Could feature an instrument, a song title or just some notes, as mine does.

It's a study in the use of washi tape! I've had this idea of making a banner from washi tape in my head for a while, when I grunged up some kraft card stock it demanded to be made, the washi tape with music was a starting point. Then I thought of some song titles so, left to right, Song For Guy (Elton John), Stairway to Heaven (Led Zep), The Look of Love (ABC), Three little Birds (Bob Marley), Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head (?), Let It Snow (?) and .... any suggestions for the last one? The sentiment is from Delightful Dozen.

Hope you have as much fun as I did with this one! I am going to pop it into the challenge at Make My Monday where they ask for cards using kraft/crumb cake and into the anything goes challenge for Birthday cards at Seize The Birthday.

Chill Out Snowflake

Ooops I'm a bit slow off the mark.  Still need to organise my crafting a bit better I am afraid, but I've got into some other things - beading and needle felting, so my card making is suffering!  Note to self to do better.  Any way this morning at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown we have a recipe challenge, I love these, we get so many variations and it's great to see what everyone does. Here's the recipe

 Whilst I do like my card, I think I could have done better, but as I said at the start of this post, I am finding it hard to get back into the swing of things. The horizontal border is a ribbon,recycled from a gift, and this was my starting point.

The snowflake die is another of my stocking fillers from my hubby- it's from Memory Box. I've glittered the edges of my scalloped square, added a large rhinestone to the centre and a bit of a contempo sentiment, which is a magazine freebie (again!).
My fellow DTers have come up with other ideas so do check out the blog and I hope to see your creations soon.
I will enter my card over at Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge Extra- the monthly challenge for any Christmas card.

Are You Ready For Love?

Well, Valentines' Day anyway! I'm getting mine done early, inspired by the colour challenge our hostess, Karen, at CAS Colours and Sketches has for us this week

 Don't worry, you don't have to use exact Stampin' Up colours, just the closest you have to them. I did an exercise in paper piecing for my card, using the stamp Sweet Cake. I stamped it in purple, red and kraft and pieced the bits together, fussy cutting out the whole image before mounting it onto purple and red cs (does it look blue to you?  I may retake the photo in daylight if I get the chance because it is definitely purple!). I've kept it very CAS with just two small rhinestones and a whole lotta white space.

Non Traditional Wreath

Second week of January and the 52 {Christmas{ Card Throwdown team are here to help you create your cards for Christmas 2014.  The idea is that if you make one card a week for our challenge you will have (almost) 52 cards ready to send without any last minute stress- works for me- everyone got a handmade card this year and I was very proud of myself!
This week it is a colour challenge. You don't have to use them all - a minimum of three, but do not add any colours (other than a neutral for your card /stamping base). They are wonderfully non-Christmas colours so you can have a ball!

 I chose not to use the yellow

I used the sentiment from Delightful Dozen and the wreath stamp is a new one my husband popped in my Christmas stocking -clever of him to know just what I wanted ;) I have added just a touch of Christmas sparkle, which you can see in this close up. I think I'll pop this one into  Crafty Hazelnuts extra Christmas Challenge for January too

Rip Torn Sketch

Wow, Thursday came round quick! One last DT sample to show you this week and it's for CAS Colours and Sketches.  Our hostess for January is Karen, and she has a very unusual sketch for us to play with. I was challenged to do something that remained CAS, featured some stamping and folowed the outline of the sketch.. I've used the colour scheme from challenge #223 at ColourQ -aren't these colours fantastic together?

This is what I came up with

Most of the colours are achieved from using cs, and stamping in the same colour except the poppy red, which is made up by the little rhinestones.  The flower stamp is a magazine freebie (yes, another one!) and I've layered up a couple of ribbons to make the bow. The sentiment is from Sweet Cake.

An Apple A Day

At The Male Room challenge blog a new challenge starts today.  This is a blog for cards for the men and boys and the current theme is Get Well Soon.  My two sons have been a little unwell for the last few days, hopefully they're over it now but I was reminded of 'an apple a day keeps the doctor away' and so I created the card below

 The DP is Winter Frost from SU, but I think it works equally well here as for a Christmas card- very masculine feel to it. I've picked out the colours to stamp the little apple image ( a freebie) and the sentiment is from Delightful Dozen-which is proving to be a real good buy. I think male cards need a minimal approach to bling, but I couldn't resist adding the pearl brad to the sentiment.

Triple stamped Wetlands

It's a new year, it's a new month so that means that Technique Time Tuesday Challenge Blog must have a brand new challenge. We've also had a face lift and you will I am sure love our new look. The challenge includes a full video clip to help you with the technique, if you've never tried it before - it's one of my all-time favourites-Triple stamping.I've had a sneaky peak at the other cards from the DT and there are so many different ways you can use this versatile technique. I've gone for a scene card, using the amazing Wetlands stamp set from Stampin' Up.

One of the advantages of triple stamping is it creates a dimensional focal point - in this case my pair of geese, which doesn't need to be central. It's a very 'birdy' card as I've also sneaked in the little bird on the reeds from another stamp set, Simply Sketched, which is where the sentiment also comes from. I hope you can see the sparkle on the refelections, made with silver Stickles and the lovely pearl brad which is attaching the tag.
Well and truly back in the mood for making cards again, although I have one or two other crafty projects on the go too.

Christmas 2014 is up and running!

Hey! I'm back! Admittedly it's a little late, but I've been enjoying some quality family time, and my daughter only returned to Uni last night, so until then I put away my crafting stuff. It's all out again now and the first thing I had to do was make a few Christmas cards (!!) for the challenge at the whole-new-look 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown. Here's the challenge- a sketch which lets your sentiment take centre stage

and here's what I did with it, this time keeping quite close to the original idea, with the faux stitching around the edge

My top band is a ribbon, the wider one a strip of DP. The sentiment stamp is an old Stampin' Up one from Season Of Joy, I think and I found the perfect coordinating button in my stash- love how it adds dimension to the card. Traditional red and green colour combo, as I'm experimenting with more unusual colours for cards for challenges later this month (no more spoilers!)
Do have a look at the blog to see the fab work from my fellow DT friends. I hope 2014 is a very crafty year for all of you!