Sweet Cake Valentine

I thought I'd better get a smooch on and make a Valentines card or two. My excuse was the new colour challenge from CAS Colours & Sketches, where our new hostess for February is Stef. She's chosen these really pretty colours, perfect for the occasion and my inspiration for what to do with the colours came from CAS On Sunday where they have a technique challenge - paper piecing.

 You might recognise this one, Sweet Cake. It's an old, retired SU stamp but I still think it's got mileage in it and I thought it would look really good with paper piecing.

Of course, I've kept it really CAS on a white card base. I used three different papers plus the melon mambo card and ink. When I needed a cherry on the top I used my cupcake builder punch, it matches perfectly.

Faux Pinwheel card

Look out for the new challenge this morning at CAS Colours& Sketches. It's a sketch and it's a really great one, where there are so many different ways of using it.

I had all sorts of stamp sets out on my table for this one, but in the end I saw something on the internet that I wanted to try. It's called a faux pinwheel.

The other change I made is that I decided not to go with the square cards I usually do but to go tall and thin. I moved the panel up to the top of the card, as you can see.

  The sentiment is from Sweet Cake, one of the sets I was originally going to use, stamped in Daffodil Yellow

The card panels I used for the faux pinwheel, the closest match for Coastal Cabana, I embossed, using a Patchwork embossing folder. By carefully positioning the squares of card on the folder I could get a different effect on each square with just one pass through the Big Shot. The red, coral  and yellow DPs are all from my Stampin' Up stash, as is the giant brad. The pinwheel does actually turn as I only attached it using the brad.

If you are wondering about the colours, I had a little help from

The ColourQ Challenge with these gorgeous summery shades

Oops A Daisy one layer plus

Happy Thursday! Today I'm enjoying my day off, one day later than usual as work is hectic at the moment. Anyway, we have a lovely sketch challenge over at CAS Colours & Sketches this morning and I managed to combine the sketch with a couple of other challenges, which is always a bonus!

CAS on Sunday have a one layer challenge. My first version of this card is for that. I have also used the colours from the photo inspiration at Stampin' Royalty, they are such gorgeously summer shades, ...love them

I challenged myself too, to use a stamp set which I almost never get out, Decorate A Daisy. I teamed it up with my fave Gorgeous Grunge, and a sentiment from Sweet Cake . As you can see I created the panel by cutting an aperture to reveal the image stamped inside....I do hope this qualifies as one layer! You will see that I actually cut two apertures and added some scoring around the two 

This was my first attempt and I cut straight through the sentiment panel when I cut the second vertical...aaaarrgghhh! Instead of wasting it I made a second card with the greeting stuck down to the inside of the card.

For both cards I heat embossed the Daisy image, used my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to ensure accurate positioning and masking to allow me to layer the images.

This second card I kept even more CAS by not using the Grunge stamps so much.

I

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.

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.

Candy Jars

Yay! I made it! I have been trying and trying to make a card for the Addicted To CAS challenge since it started and today, thanks to the half term holiday, I've done it. The cue word was CANDY, and I have a very sweet tooth so I love all kinds of sweets (except green ones - I make it a point never to eat green sweets!) .  I am really a chocoholic but this challenge didn't say chocolate it said candy so here goes....

I stamped the jar from Perfectly Preserved onto white card and covered it in double sided tape.  Then I sprinkled on the 'card candy' circles. Then I stamped another jar, this time in white onto acetate and cut it out.  I stamped the lid from the jar in violet and attached it to the acetate. I originally had one jar but felt it needed the second one too. I then stuck the candy jars onto a white card blank. The whole thing is very 3D!
The sentiment is from the Sweet Cake set and I think it's perfect for the project, I just added one each of the 'sweeties'. I am so pleased with the way this turned out.

No Valentine Here

Although it is Valentine's Day I don't have a romantic card to share with you, but a masculine birthday card. I guess the loving feeling just didn't flow into my crafting today. This is the sketch for the challenge at CAS Colours an Sketches  this week

It's really fab don't you think?  You don't have to use the same shapes, (as you will see from my card) as long as we can still see the basic sketch in your card - rotate it, flip it, whatever.

I was making a card for a 'bookish' friend and started with a very pale patterned paper for the base.  I stamped the birds (Crafty Individuals) first, masked a rectangle and then added the text stamp (Waltzing Mouse) over the top. I coloured one of the birds for impact. Then I used a tab punch to punch out 'divider' tabs so it looked like a page in a file.  I continued the theme in the sentiment, which is from Sweet Cake. Although it's quite 'busy' I still think it is clean and simple -no sponging, distressing or 'frilly' embellishments.

LIM Valentine

OK,OK I know I said I'd only make one Valentine's Day card this year but this one just popped out of my head, courtesy of the sketch challenge at Less Is More and one of the cards created by  the guest designer over there this week, Jen.

I cut out a section of my card and spliced in some flocked acetate. Then I added red ribbon and a dash of fancy washi tape The sentiment if from Sweet Cake.

I think the whole thing adds up to much more than the sum of it's parts, if you know what I mean and that must be LIM. In a quandry now as I don't know which one to give him!

Blue Cake Birthday

Here is another lovely sketch challenge from CAS Colours and Sketches.

and I have made a birthday card using the Sweet Cake stamp from SU which I chose to stamp in a very, non-cake like shade -Indigo Island.  I have added a pop of colour with the cherry though!  The DSP is from Festival of Prints, which shows that it's not just for Christmas! I made my banner in the same paper, matting it onto pale blue CS, to make it stand out and adding three gorgeous fabric covered brads.

Do go and look at the other cards from the DT - there are some more fabulous ideas from them.
 I am also entering this card in a (new to me) challenge blog, ABC Challenge Blog.  I've been meaning to join in with this blog since it started towards the end of last year and, as they are asking for CAS cards this week I thought I would play along.

Perfectly Preserved Kraft

I am having a lot of fun with my new Perfectly Preserved stamp set and the challenge at cas-ual Fridays this week has given me another excuse to get it out again. This week the DT is challenging us to use Kraft card in our CAS designs.  I have used some Twitterpated DSP from SU too and the colours are also from Stamping up; Indigo Island, Lucky Limeade and Calypso Coral with a little crumb cake.

I made a sentiment banner, using a stamp from the Sweet Cake set and some kraft and lucky limeade cardstock, adding a couple of gorgeous brads as a finishing touch.  I'm making as many cards as I can as for Christmas I like to give the other ladies in the family a pack of hand-crafted cards for them to send to friends and family through the coming year.  As my daughter left home this year there is one more pack to make!

DIY DSP

The challenge at Simply Stamping #81 is simply brilliant - create your own designer paper, or as they put it DIY DSP! I have had so much fun with this and I am sure some of those other DSPs I've stamped will make it to my blog another day.  Here is my current favourite

I am working on a challenge for this colour combination at the moment and so a card was born! I used a new to me stamp set.  Its a retired 2 step stamping set from SU called Border Builders.  It was a recent find on ebay and came to me from the USA - how very exciting! I used Pretty in Pink and Basic Black cardstock and inks and the sentiment is from Sweet Cake. The die cut stars are popped up on dimensionals. Off to craft some more as there is only me home tonight...bliss!

CASEd Thank you card

Mynette, over at On a Stampage is setting up an exciting new weekly challenge blog which will be known as Inkspirational (where does she get it from??)  and she's looking for a DT.  If you are interested hop on over to her blog and look at the 4 card challenges Mynnette has set us. My card today comes from her first DT 'tests' and it is a cased card. Here is the original.

 and here is my version, do you think it's close enough? I inked and coloured the flower parts before joining them with a gorgeous fabric covered brad, which I'd been saving for a special occasion!

I embossed the panel of the same pink card stock as the flower and matted onto basic grey and made a little extra sentiment using my Sweet Cake stamp set. I cut the oval by hand as I don;t have the right size punch, can you tell? I added leaves originally to the flower but took them off as I felt they 'disturbed' the pink and grey colour combo.  As a finishing touch I scored a frame around the card.
I hope Mynnette likes what I've done with her card

Kraft Circles

I have wanted to make a card using kraft for a long time now, and this morning this is what happened

I have made a tent fold birthday card and the design was inspired by the sketch challenge at Simply Stamping.  I used a new stamp set too, Reason To Smile and stamped in Indigo Island and poppy Parade. It is more difficult to stamp on kraft card than I had thought.The main eyecatchers are the fabulous brads and I just love that DSP.  The beauty of using a tent fold card is that not all the paper is hidden by the circles and so I also stamped a birthday banner, using a sentiment from the Sweet Cake set.

CAS Cupcakes

So you've seen the cats, now here's the cupcakes.... I think it's my first post with a cupcake card although not my first card with a cupcake! I love to work on the CAS style and this card has loads of clean white space, even though it's embossed with cupcakes , because embossing, dry or heat, is what they are looking for this week at CAS-ual Fridays.

I am playing with new stuff again today - the Sweet Cake stamp from SU.  I inked it and heat embossed the image and then added the sentiment in a contrasting colour.  I coloured in the cherry and the heart to accentuate them and added a banner to complete the shades of pink. I think I will be doing more with this stamp, I really love it...great for teenage girls, crazy friends,  small children,even Valentines.Watch this space!