Spotlight on Dasher

It's my second week hosting at CAS Colours & Sketches and it's the turn of the sketch. Now I don't mind telling you that this sketch has caused a few problems for me, not least because over at the challenge blog we are celebrating 150 posts! Yes, 150... We are nearly three years old, and so it had to be a good one as there are prizes up for grabs! Enough, you say, show us the sketch

I think the fact that I've added an aperture, rather than a shape, may push the challenge. Also, you must use a 1 5 and/or a 0 to qualify for the prize draw. I decided to go all Christmas on you again

Recognise him? Yes, it's Dasher again. Stamped and heat embossed in gold, set into the aperture

Teamed up with a number stamp from Merry and Type and some SU DP.

You can see the aperture more clearly on the following shots. Very clean, very simple, quick and easy once I had decided on the theme.

The gold and the plaid go together so well for Christmas don't you think?

You can see I have used 25, which has a five in it, so it's good for the draw, you don't have to use just the 1 5 or 0, as long as we can see one of them there. Hope you find time to join in this week.

Starry, Starry Night

First Tuesday of the month means a brand new challenge at Technique Time Tuesday and, I must admit that it was one I'd not heard of and which I kept putting off doing because I thought it was too tricky.  Needless to say, when I got down to it it was a ball, especially with the video tutorial to help me every step of the way. Anyway, it's called Caught In Crystal and it gives a gorgeous sparkly effect and vibrant colours, which said 'Christmas' to me and so I set about making a Christmas cad, using the one seasonal silhouette stamp I have -Dasher!

I wanted a starry night background  and I stamped Gorgeous Grunge stars in Brilliance silver ink on my background, but they didn't show through (the trees are, of course, Lovely as a Tree,stamped in Early Expresso and they show through fine!) So, plan B, I stamped the stars on the card base, making one or two of them twinkle with an added rhinestone. You can see all the glittery sparkle on this picture below. I was disappointed that Dasher did not stamp 'true' - see the hole on his shoulder? But, I kind of like the arty look it gives...

So, that's my CAS take on a very non-cas technique! Above all, I did have fun, so go on, give it a try too.  If you want more inspiration, have a look at the other projects created by the DT. I'm going to enter my card into Crafty Hazelnuts Extra Christmas Challenge and a fab new Christmas challenge  blog called Completely Christmas, if you love and make Christmas cards as much as I do you should definitely check it out.  The challenge is Anything Goes,and there's a prize up for grabs so what's stopping you!

Reindeer Recipe

It's my third week hosting the challenges for November at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown and this time I've chosen a recipe for a card.

As you can see I've been kind to myself(!) and asked for a one-layer card. Here's mine

The hint of colour is Wisteria Wonder, can you see that Dasher is heat embossed in gold? I've made this card for my Dutch family, and I used a torn mask over the sentiment to give the impression of a layer, which isn't really there!  The bling is on Dasher's antlers and matches the colour. Once I had the idea it was a very quick card to make - might make some more for other family members! 

Check out the variety of cards this recipe produces over at the challenge blog!

Bring Out The Heat Gun

I must admit that I got a little carried away with this week's challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown. Ruth is our lovely hostess for one more week and for her final challenge she has chosen a technique for us all to play with

I decided to create a text background with the resist technique, which I did, and then cut most of it out with the Top Note die, to create an aperture. Well, the heat gun was out, it would have been rude not to make more use of it and so the heat embossing continued - the Love & Joy sentiment, a few baubles, and dasher (minus his antlers), all in silver on purple card. I placed the purple card inside and, once fussy cut, Dasher was popped up on dimensionals. A few purple gems add some Christmas bling.  Hope you like the less traditional colour scheme

Reindeer Sketch

Well November is here and so it's a new sketch challenge from the team at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown and this week it's a real goodie. Take a look:

I thought I'd give  Dasher another go, this time in a grey and light blue colour combination.

I dry embossed the panel with a snowflake design from Tim Holtz' Alterations range and, using the same cardstock, heat embossed the sentiment in silver.  Dasher has some silver Stickles  to decorate his antlers and instead of the heart I have added another snowflake (which doesn't show up very well on the photo - sorry!) Three little light blue gems in the corner complete the sketch.  I am getting rather keen on sketch challenges - there are such a lot of really inspiring sketches around and the work is half done for you, don't you think? Have a look at the other cards from the DT at 52 CCT - they are fantastic this week!

Colour Challenge Rudolph

So, I'm back from my travels and trying to get the creative juices running again! My mission - to create a colour challenge card for the DT at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown . 

These colours were whispering 'robins', 'cakes' 'snowmen' whilst I was away so what did I come up with when I got home.....

a reindeer, Rudolph to be precise! I used a pearlescent red card blank and overstamped it with the sentiment block stamp from SUs Season Of Joy set. I used Chocolate chip ink for all the stamping on this card, the main image is also from SU - they call him Dasher but he's become Rudoloph with the addition of a red gem nose and a tiny black pearl eye. I must admit I 'gutted' the Chocolate Chip scalloped edge ribbon to save on my stock before matting the image and the flower is from the same stamp set as the sentiment, I stamped it three times and layered them up to add some dimension to what was otherwise quite a flat card.
Do have a look at the cards from the rest of the girls at 52 CCT, it really is time to get cracking with those Christmas cards, if you haven't already!