one layer Congratulations

It's my last week as hostess at CAS Colours & Sketches and it's the turn of the sketch. I really wanted to try and find something which I had not seen before and came up with this one...

I have also really kept it very CaS by opting to go for a one layer card. These can be very frightening, especially to a messy crafter like myself . 

I used Happy Celebrations stamp set and six different coloured inks to stamp my lantern chains.

The sentiment is from Sassy Salutations 

Spot the difference in the last photo. It is the card which nearly didn't make it due to a splodge, but I managed to save it, if not as a DT piece at least as a card to send to a friend or colleague...I hate waste!

Underwater

Today's theme at The Male Room really had me stumped. Underwater..... um, what could I do with that? My first thought went to the stamps that feature shells, fish, lobsters... But I don't own any of those , then I thought of swimming, coming from a household of competitive swimmers, although it may not be your first thought! Nope, nothing there either. Boats...yes, boats I thought, I have boat stamps, but they are not really under the water, more on top, you would hope. Back to square one, fish. I then had a brainwave. I remembered a piece of DP featuring fish, I'd never used it before because the fish were quite large, may be I could make a card where the paper became the feature. So here it is...

I cut out the paper carefully to ensure the part of the image that I wanted was in the right place. I then 

stamped the sentiment, from Sassy Salutations in Versamark and heat embossed with silver 

embossing powder

Something was needed, so I decided to 'Drop anchor' and I stamped this one. I fussy cut it out, sponged the edge carefully with blue ink so that it blended more smoothly into the paper. Final touch was to cut out a slit and 'hang' the anchor off the sentiment.

After all that I am quite happy with my attempt at an underwater card. Sometimes it feels like cheating to just use a DP on your card but then some papers are amazing, so much so you hoard them and never want to cut them up. If you use them like this I don't think you will be disappointed.

Two for Three

Three challenges inspired me to make the following two cards, I don't very often blog two at a time but these go together. Both cards are for the Grunge challenge at Addicted To CAS, I am totally addicted to Stampin' Up's Gorgeous Grunge stamp set and so any excuse to use it I grab!
This was my first attempt, CASEd from a card I found on the internet and pinned, here

I have used the colour combination from the challenge at Stampin' Royalty, I love the blue accent on the yellow and orange.

I was hooked on this corner stamped design and wanted to make another one and so, this time using the colours from The Colour Throwdown

I made this card

The pink is very pale , but you an see it better in the close up of the humming bird below.  I used a stencil and sponged the three colours to give the idea of iridescent plumage, adding some dazzling Details to enhance the effect and a tiny irridescent gem for his eye. After fussy cutting him out I used dimensionals to pop him up and added the sentiment fro Sassy Salutations. This time I've rounded all four corners.

Hope you like my CAS Grunge cards and enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Holiday Memories

I'm Back!! After a few weeks break I'm raring to go again, so much so that I've come back a week early, well, I couldn't resist Ruth's colour challenge this week at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown -red, white and kraft

 It really is one of my all time favourites for Christmas and this time I've used the colours in a scene. I was really lucky to spend part of my summer holiday in Colorado, and in a small place called Estes Park I came across an amazing little craft shop....can you imagine my excitement (and my family's groans!). I met some lovely crafty ladies who were doing a card making workshop and browsed around finding so many gorgeous things. Here is a card I've made using some of my new goodies

 The aspen tree stencil is to die for, I've used kraft ink and aqua washed the stems a little to add the shadows- you can see better on this photo

 The elk are die cut, it's a stag, a doe and a fawn in the set but I used two stags and two does, adding glitter to the antlers before sticking them in the trees. The card base is kraft and the mat is red and, in honour of Ruth, I have popped the little fawn inside

The greeting is from Sassy Salutations, of course.I have entered the weekly Christmas challenge at Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge blog and I am going to enter my card in the challenge at Make My Monday too where they are looking for a scene, a wintery scene from me.
Do have a look at the cards from the rest of the design team, lots of inspiration for you, to get you started.  Can't wait to get visiting all your blogs again to see your projects.

Baby Pink Silk

It's a new month and it's Tuesday so here's a new challenge for you from the DT at Technique Time Tuesday. It's called Faux silk and it is really easy and fun to do.  There is an easy to follow video tutorial here and you can use it with a whole range of styles, as you will see from the DT samples.  I chose clean and simple ( no surprise there then!) and a baby card.  Here are a couple of pictures

I used the faux silk technique to create the banners, using the pennant Punch, I really like the crinkly look you get with this effect.  I stamped the gold butterflies and added a twine ribbon. I always think that these Swiss dots, embossed, are perfect for a baby card, and the 'Congratulations' is from Sassy Salutations.
Four little baby pink gems,a 'baby' pennant and a baby pink mat complete my card.

A string of Baubles

Yes, this is the other easel card I created earlier this week. This time it's for the theme challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown, where Jacqueline is our lovely hostess and she has chosen one of my favourite images on a holiday card- baubles/ornaments.
I used one of the small bauble stamps and die cuts from the Ornament Keepsakes set, stamped in Gumball Green and Raspberry Ripple.  I used some DP and matching cardstock for the matting and layering.  The sentiment is from Sassy Salutations. You will see that this is a twisted easel card and that my baubles have been embellished with gold coloured tops using a mettalic marker and strung on some bakers' twine.  Here's a better view..

Do have a look at the other cards from the DT over on the blog - they are awesome!

Serene Circles

A day spent with my good friend Jacqueline has kick started my crafting after a break and, spotting this challenge on the blogs I decided to have a go.  The challenge cue is circles and the blog is Addicted To CAS. This is my card - full of colour, I think you'll agree

I started off thinking about what circles I had and remembered this image from the Serene Silhouette set. I had seen a card made with these stamps in bright colours arranged vertically  and so I started to think how I could adapt the design.  I chose different colours of course, and in laying them across the card came up with the idea of cutting away half of the card so that the circles become really prominent.

Then a combination of sentiment stamps from Sassy Salutations and Whacky Wishes, a couple more circles in the form of stick on brads and a coordinating mat on the inside of the card and it was done. Still lots of white space and some very eye-catching circles!

A Little Twine Tree

For our last challenge of the month we have an embellishment challenge and I was so thrilled when I saw this one because you will know that I am a big fan of TWINE!

However, I usually tie it around my card, or make small bows (and there's nothing wrong with that!) but I wanted to go all out on this one and so, cruising around I came upon a technique where you make a twine panel and stick it behind an aperture. I knew I could adapt this for the 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown challenge, even if I didn't have a Christmas tree die cut. Here's my little twine tree....

and here's my card

I stamped the tree from Season Of Joy three times and cut out the central one with my craft knife. I stuck the green twine onto double sided tape before adding a dark green mat. I added a little more twine around the panel (you can surely never have enough twine on a Christmas card) and made a pop up banner in the same dark green, with a fussy cut sentiment from Sassy Salutations.  A few gems to add some sparkle and I'm pretty pleased with myself! I'm going to pop it into the challenge at Winter Wonderland where the challenge is 'All Tied Up'.

Feel Better Flowers

Time for a lovely colour challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches and look what we've got for you to play with this week....

Calypso Coral is becoming a favourite for me and I really enjoyed creating my card with these three colours. Remember they don't have to be exact SU colours, just the nearest you have and one other neutral only (plus black for stamped image outlines if you like) I chose cream as my neutral card base made from Naturals Ivory card stock.

I used a stamp set called Stippled Blossoms.  I'm not always in my comfort zone with flowers, but this two-step stamp set makes it easy. I used some stamped off images too, to give shades of the Calypso Coral and Certain Celery and the sentiment is from Sassy Salutations. I have stamped some more green leaves inside the card too (honestly!).

Card with a peg

Sorry, couldn't think of a better name for this post! As January has 5 Thursdays, for this 'extra' week we are giving you a combined sketch and colour challenge at CAS -Colours and Sketches

Don't forget you don't have to use exact Stampin' Up colours, just the best match, but do stick to just those colours please if you want to be considered for top 3.

I stamped quite a bit this time, unusually for me. I used a set called Fruit and Flowers and overstamped a panel, which I matted onto Indigo Island CS. I stamped extra flowers which I cut out and I used the sentiment from Sassy Salutations. The peg and ribbon are my little extra touches and you will see that I have decorated the inside of my card too

Do have a look at the other fabulous creations from the DT and I can't wait to see all your lovely cards too!

Recipe for a card

Ruth is hosting the challenges during January at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown and this week she came up with a 'recipe' for a card.  What a brilliant idea!! So take one card, add some patterned paper and some glitter, decorate the inside, make sure it's suitable for Christmas and there you have it- a recipe for a Christmas card.
Here's one I made earlier

Now, do you think this is a bit over the top?  I do, and I LOVE it!! It's a double stepped card and I've used three coordinating papers from Festival of Prints.  I stamped the poinsettia image from Christmas Blessings onto Naturals White CS and in the one I added the glitter to the stems and centre, colouring in the leaves with Poppy red Promarker.  On the other one I used more glitter and only coloured the outline.  The sentiment is from Sassy Salutations and when I had matted it onto more paper I added a glitter frame. Three little red gems on each. That's the paper and the glitter. Finally, I decorated the inside

Another image from the same stamp set, this time mistletoe, a repeat of the sentiment and a swatch of the paper.
I hope that you will have as much fun as I did following the recipe. I always think it's amazing that when you follow a recipe when cooking you always create something slightly different from someone else who uses exactly the same ingredients.  I guess cards are no different - I can't wait to see the variations on this one.

Black and White Feathers

I love monochrome cards, especially black and white, I think it is an elegant combination and when I saw that the challenge at Less Is More this week was just that with a hint, a dab or a tiny splash of colour I knew that I wanted to give it a try. Coupled with that I received a post-Christmas present to myself of a new set of stamps from SU called Fine Feathers so I war raring to go. Here is my card

I added my dab of colour with a gem of Peacock blue. I made three versions of this card, the first one was a one-layer (see below), the second I used a scalloped circle for the image, but this one is my favourite. I love that touch of faux stitching around the edge of the die cut. The sentiment is from Sassy Salutations, if you've visited my blog recently you will know that I love to use this one.

The second card I made when I was trying out different layouts is a  one-layer Thank you card, everything else is much the same.  I liked this one too so I will put it into the Cas-ual Fridays challenge, where they are looking for CAS thank you cards, (it would also have made it for their last challenge as it certainly took less than 10 minutes to make!)

Charming Colour Challenge

As the big day gets closer I thought I would share something not at all seasonal.  This card was designed with the colours from Colours and Sketches in mind - So Saffron, Pool Party and Night of Navy (don't worry if you don't have these exact SU shades - I didn't!)

I used a stamp from a SU set called Charming.  First time I overstamped the image in the three colours, but this got a bit messy, rather than CAS, so then I redid it using masks. I stamped extras and fussy cut them. I matted my homemade DSP onto a white card blank and popped the extras up using dimensionals.  Finally I stamped the sentiment, from Sassy Salutations, onto more white CS, fussy cut it out and overlapped it.  I think this will be a great card in the spring time.

Monochrome Christmas

Colour week at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown and a bit of a monochromatic theme going on, we want to see your creations using only black white and metallic of choice.Here's a photo inspiration to help: 

I've just realised it's another tree, albeit not a traditional tree, I must have a subconscious thing with trees going on at the moment! This is one of the first stamps I bought, from Kanban and I've simply stamped it in black and added silver stickles and gems to each of the 'flowers' It really does sparkle with silver in real life, although it's difficult to see it here. I was disappointed with the quality of my black inks.  I used a variety of brands, as I'm making a few of these cards for my son's fundraising efforts, and this one- a cheap non-branded one, was the best so far.  Can anyone recommend a really black black ink stamp.  I've asked Father Christmas to pop an Adirondack one in my stocking as I've heard they are quite good. I digress. Then I stamped my favourite sentiment from Sassy Salutations and framed it with two lines of black glitter. A simple, one layer card.

Glitzy Trees

To start off the month of December (Yey, Christmas is nearly here now!) the DT at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown have a sketch for you to follow - looks simple doesn't it. The other members of the DT have made some gorgeous cards but I actually found it quite hard to stick to the layout, without adding too much. I know, I know, that's why it's called a challenge!
Some of you will recognise SU's Lovely As A Tree stamp at work again here, but this time I've coloured it using mica powders, trying to get a frosty look using silver and green.

To keep with the glitz of the title I matted the image onto green mirri card and then silver glitter card.  I made a matching sentiment, heat embossing the sentiment from Sassy Salutations in silver. After a few experimentations I decided that the whole thing looked much better on a black cardstock base. I am also going to enter this card in the Frosty Winter challenge at The Cupboard Trilogy challenge Blog.
This will have to be a quick post as I've so much to do..shopping, wrapping, opening the Advent calendar..

Christmas Flag It!

I found a new challenge today,well new to me anyway and I found it because I noticed a few cards around that all looked quite similar and I liked every one! Of course they were following a sketch, this sketch actually

The challenge blog is Merry Monday Christmas Card Challenge and this one is called 'Flag it'  I just love those ribbons and with a central sentiment and a focal point it is perfect for a cas kind-a-girl like me. Here's my card

I used a cream card blank and a selection of matching Christmas Papers. I made a 3D bauble using Ornament Keepsakes stamp set from SU, stamped in Raspberry Ripple and the greeting is from Sassy salutations, stamped in and matted onto Lucky Limeade. I sponged the edge of the sentiment in the same colour and added a few pearls.

Card for Chris and Gill

My husband and I have been invited to a party this evening to celebrate some friends 30 years of being together. So I've put this one-layer card together and managed to enter a challenge too! At Less Is More this week they are looking for 'Hardware' and I've made the little 'balloon'  from a metal heart, some very thin wire and a few beads.

I used the 'Congratulations' sentiment from Sassy Salutations, stamped in purple to match the bead, as it seemed the most appropriate. Lots of lovely white space, but I couldn't take a photo without the shadows, which is a bit disappointing. With a bottle of something fizzy and this card I think we'll be welcome at the party!

I'm Dreaming of a Pink Christmas!

Well, not really! But it's colour challenge week at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown and this week it's a very modern combination for Christmas of Pink, Black/brown and white/cream. Do click on the link and look at the fantastic cards the rest of the DT have made to inspire you! This one is mine:

I used a pearlised pink card blank and stamped the small ornament stamp from an old SU set called Hung Up On The Holidays in pink onto Naturals White card stock.  You can't see it very well but the one in the centre is also popped up with dimensionals.  Each bauble has a small pink gem in the centre.  I stamped the strings in black and matted the images onto black card.  The sentiment is my current fav -Sassy Salutations. The whole effect is shimmery and pale pink, not your usual for a Christmas card and I have to tell you that it took me a long time to get my head around it.  Funnily enough I then went a bit Pink Christmas mad and made the card I posted last week for another challenge!

3D Trees

A last minute card for Crafty Hazelnuts Christmas Challenge, featuring a technique from Technique Tuesday.  This is a Christmas card with at least three patterned papers (4 actually) and a die cut shape, in this case a pennant, made into 3D. This die shape makes lovely Christmas trees and I've made a CAS card with an Icicle embossing panel from Tim Holtz Alterations (although they are a little difficult to see on the photo) and a sentiment from SUs Sassy Salutations set. I've added some olive green bakers' twine.  A little snip on the edges with my hand held hole punch makes a tiny tab to hold it in place.

I am always reluctant to use double sided DSP as both sides are usually so beautiful Here it wasn't so bad as these trees only take up very small pieces.  I cut 5 for each tree, following the tutorial. I might make some more as it's a really effective technique - thanks Mynnette and the team!
PS. Yippee my first commission - my mum wants 10 of these cards to send to her friends!

Masculine teen card

I am challenging myself to make more  cards for the men in my life and this time I was prompted by the challenge at Cas-ual Fridays - a clean and simple masculine project.  It has turned out a bit of a teen card, though I'm sure this still counts.

Funnily enough, I started with the sentiment, from SUs Sassy Salutations set, which I inked up using my in colour markers.  Then I added a glittery embossed black frame to make it stand out. The little icons I have punched out of a piece of wrapping paper, the smiley face one is stuck on with a dimensional.  Finally I added some 'music' washi tape.  I am really pleased with how this has turned out - it would be perfect for any of my sons' friends. 

The house is a little quiet this weekend as my oldest son has gone to visit his sister at Uni for a couple of days. Only the youngest one left, but we made the most of it with a trip to see the fireworks yesterday and an outing to the cinema to see Skyfall this evening. Loved it!