Big Hello

With there being 5 Thursday's in June this year we always celebrate at CAS Colours & Sketches with 'The Double' where we set the sketch and the colour. So here it is.....l

Isn't that a great sketch, teamed with luscious summer colours. Just remember to keep it CAS, it's easy to get carried away with these colours to play with!

I used a curved mask to protect part of my card whilst I stamped a background using Gorgeous Grunge, Toughtful Banners and Touches of Texture

Then I die cut 2 'hello's from the Hello You set and layered them up to make them stand out more. 

I stamped one more little pink flower, fussy cut it and popped it on a foam pad and a final one inside, next to the greeting, which is from Perfect Pennants

At Craft Club last night we looked at how much more 'professional' our cards can look with an insert, even if it's just a stamped sentiment with something connecting the design on the front of the card. This was by far the simplest thing we tried out and it has made me think more about the inside and the envelope I use for my cards

Triple stamped Wetlands

Today's new challenge at The Male Room Is a fun technique challenge, Triple  Stamping. This was one of the first techniques which I was shown when I first got into stamping and I still love it: it never fails to please.

I've combined two stamp sets, Gorgeous Grunge and Wetlands and I've kept to a fairly restricted colour palette with Lucky Limeade and Chocolate Chip, with some basic grey colouring on the adult goose.

The technique adds to the effect of the perspective, with the goose stamped on the uppermost card layer and the bird silhouettes stamped across the three layers.

I used a Kraft card base and have stamped the birthday greeting and another goose on the inside (should have photographed that as well I suppose). The stamping is done all in one go, after cutting the panels and placing them on top of each other. I have used narrow borders to separate the layers. 

The fun part is seeing them all line up. The edges which do not stamp clearly are somehow lost to give the finished card a clear image.

These cards work well for men as they are 'different' without being too fussy.

Let Them Have Cake

This is the 5th Thursday in March and so CAS Colours & Sketches have a double challenge this morning, where you must use the sketch and the colours.

 Over Easter I definitely over indulged on cake. It was my son' s birthday and His sister made him a very special cake topped with lots of Easter eggs and chocolate buttons. It was so good I had to have a slice (or 2) which did not help the diet! Anyway, here is some cake I can enjoy without worrying about the calories.

I used Gorgeous Grunge in the colour combo to stamp the horizontal panel directly onto the card base.

I then used Big Day to stamp the two halves of the sentiment. I used Chocolate Chip for the stamping and coloured using Promarkers.

As a finishing touch I added tiny dots of yellow paint in the corners, a bit like icing decorations.

It's almost like a back to front CAS card, where the white space was added on top. Could easily be used for a male or female birthday I think.

Icicles from Grunge

I'm still hosting at CAS Colours & Sketches and today I've chosen a colour combo which I have used for some contemporary Christmas cards. I've got two variations to show you, both are CAS of course but first let me show you the colours

I saw a card that used this stamp from Gorgeous Grunge and it reminded me of icicles, especially stamped and embossed in metallic silver. I added a peel off sentiment and used cardstock to add the colours

This is a tent fold card and you can see a sprinkling of silver stars.

Whilst I like card number 1 in real life, it looks a little 'heavy' in the photo so I had a go at the same design but stamped on white card, just adding the colours in the mats. This time the sentiment is stamped and its from Holiday Home

Instead of the peel off stars this card has a few strategically placed silver rhinestones to add the Christmas twinkle.

Butterflies And Grunge

Five weeks in July means that it's the double challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches. I've scheduled this post since I am on holiday this week with my other half, at the coast in Morocco, but I had fun with this one before I left, such a classic CAaS design

I don't very often use butterflies, not sure why, but this time I went all out, using a couple of stamp sets, Papillon Potpourri and Backyard Basics, to which I added Gorgeous Grunge and Pennant Parade. As you can see I have turned the sketch and used a square card blank and I moved the sentiment to the banner. I was going to add a sentiment in the bottom corner but it looked too busy, I guess because my butterflies and grunge are larger than the sketch suggests.

A close up shows that the one banner is stamped whilst the other was stamped and cut out before being popped up on foam pads. I have to confess that my green, ink and mat, are Gumball Green, not Wild Wasabi as I don't own the latter, but I think it matches the challenge close enough, after all we don't insist on Stampin Up colours at all, 

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.

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Triple Time with three stamp sets

It's Saturday again, that's a nice feeling! I've had such a busy week, I've been away from home for work, for the first time I think since having my children! I've really enjoyed a few nights in a lovely hotel, with colleagues, learning new and very useful skills, but I'm afraid it's put my crafting on the back burner. Just had time last evening to make my last hostess card for April for 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown and, like many things when you are rushing, it took me a few goes to get it right. I've chosen to finish with a technique

This is definitely a technique I love to do. I have used heat embossing this time, and combined three stamp sets, definitely not all Christmas ones! I have kept to a two colour palette: Blackberry Bliss and Mossy Meadow

I have used the sunburst from Kinda Eclectic, and images from  Ornamental Pine and a touch of Gorgeous Grunge. There are a few gems dotted around and I've popped the ornament up on foam pads. I used more Blackberry Bliss card stock for the mats. I have offset the three layers, you can do so many layouts

It had to be quick, I was so tired after the training course, hope it doesn't show in my card!

Flowers in Art

Today I have a card to share with you based on a sketch which I chose for CAS Colours & Sketches, ...actually I have two cards. This is the sketch, kind of a classic layout for a clean and simple style

For the first card I used Simply Sketched stamp set, along with Work Of Art and Gorgeous Grunge. This is the one I made for CAS colours & Sketches. It didn't start off as a sympathy card, but the black border just kind of made me think that it would make a good one, although I hope I don't need one anytime soon. I moved the sentiment off centre and used Rose Red and Mossy Meadow inks, both stamped off twice before stamping over the image, using my Stamp-A-Ma-Jig to get the position of the colour just right.

I then saw the colour palette from Cupcake Inspirations and decided that with a little tweak of a cream coloured card base I could make a similar card for the challenge over there.

This time I used Best Of Flowers for the hydranger bloom and the sentiment from Work Of Art as it seemed to fit better. To keep in with the art theme I only used the watercolour swoosh from the same set to colour my image.

 
This time the stamping off gets lighter across the panel, I like that graded effect, and I used a raspberry colour mat for the flower panel.

Both cards are tent fold

Have Your Cake and Eat it!

Welcome to Thursday and a new post from me for the sketch challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches. I'm playing with new stuff again, this time from Stampin Ups Sale-a-Bration, combined with an older favourite and with the help from a great CAS sketch from our hostess this month, Jane. This is my card...

And it is based on this sketch

  As you can see, I've made the banners and horizontal panel by using stamps, there's no rule that says they have to be cut out! I extended the longer banner by using some richly coloured satin ribbon, on to which I threaded the label, made using the tag top punch. The sentiment is definitely a focal point so I will be entering the new challenge this week at Seize The Birthday

No particular reason I choose these colours, the just liked them together. The little cup cake stamps are magazine freebies, of course you will recognise Gorgeous Grunge on there and the new stamps are from Big Day

My blog post title is a bit tongue in cheek as I've been eating more healthily and loosing weight over the past year and I could count the number of pieces of cake I've had in that time on one hand! Still love cake though, at least I can have it on a card!

A Gold Watch Retirement card

Followers will know that I am on the DT at The Male Room, a challenge blog for all mas culine inspired projects. The new challenge this morning is TIME. I am afraid I'm not very original with this one. I remembered when my Grandfather retired they presented him with a gold watch (yes, it was a very long time ago!) and so I based my card on that.

I used a piece of newsprint DP and kraft cardstock and Off The Grid and Gorgeous Grunge - these seem to be my 'go to' sets for male cards

The watch was stamped and then heat embossed with gold. It is from a magazine freebie set, along with the cogs. I've added a gem brad at the centre and some twine.

 

The sentiment inside is from Inkylicious. I think I used it because it reminded me of my Grandad Fred, a first world war veteran, and as I made this card yesterday, on Remembrance Day in the UK, it seemed very apt.  Grandad passed away many years ago but I often think of him. My card is supposed to be for a retirement, may be the words aren't that suitable for that occasion but I;m going to roll with it.

Thank you tags

Well, look at me!Here I am right on time with my card for the challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches this week. It's a sketch challenge

I have also used the colours from this week's challenge at Colour Throwdown

and here is my card, using Gorgeous Grunge. The sentiment is from Fabulous Four. I have added a sprinkling of gems, including some grey pearls, even though I've tried to keep it CAS. Still lots of white space

Pretty Things

I have two cards to share this morning. The first one is for the colour challenge at The Colourthrowdown

At the moment screen cards seem to be all the rage and so I thought I'd have a go at making one. I used a punch to cut out the 'legs' and a border punch to make the lacey top. Then it was just a case of stamping and fussy cutting out various flower images. I have sponged the edges and added a few gems and a sentiment from a very old SU set, don't even know it's name! I am also entering the Anything Goes challenge at Addicted To Stamps and More with my sceen card.Here it is....

 

 

My second card is for today's new challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches. This week it is the turn of the sketch,

 

 

I must admit I was a bit rushed and so this card is based on a card I posted a couple of weeks ago

 

 

I used the splat from Gorgeous Grunge instead of the hexagons, added a brad and the sentiment banner was made using a corner punch (Martha Stewart) and the sentiment from Simply Sketched. The die cut butterfly was a magazine freebie and this time, instead of leaving it white I have added random splatters from the larger grunge stamp.. Here's a close up

 

 

Two very feminine cards from me, hence the blog title, makes a change!