The Cats whiskers

There is a new challenge today from CAS Colours & Sketches and it's a real clean and simple sketch

I've made the diagonals with washi tape and tried to pick up the colours in the cats eyes and collar tag.

Matting the white background onto a white card with foam pads always gives a CAS card a crisp look, I think

To add a bit of interest I fussy cut out the little cats' head and also popped that up, which also allowed me to overlap the washi tape.

It's a bit of a cute card for me, but to be honest I was lacking a bit in creative mojo and time. I am pleased to have used up some of my stash (the washi tape) and a stamp set that I rarely use.

Easter Bunny

If you are a frequent visitor to my blog, or, dare I say it, a follower, you will know that I don't do cute very often. Nothing against it, just doesn't come to mind, but this week for CAS Colours & Sketches I have one to share with you. I saw these super cute Easter stickers and bought them last year, intending to make cards, but never got around to it. When I found them again in my stash and I looked at the sketch for today's challenge I knew what I wanted to do.

 We are always happy for you to change the shape, as I have done, just as long as the basic sketch can still be seen. I was going to use a double line of washi tape, but then my inner stamper saw Nature Walk, left out on my table from another card and so.....

The Easter Bunny, with his eggs all lined up. The sentiment is from Delightful Dozen.

You can see here that the bunny is a bit 3D. I had to move him over s

slightly as he did look rather odd sitting on those eggs!

Look out for another cute card from me coming soon too, couldn't resist it.

Trying Too Hard?

Just got to n very late from a trip to Liverpool to visit my son and remembered on the long drive home that I had forgotten to write my post for CAS Colours & Sketches, as I'm the hostess this week that is a bit of a big deal, so it's 11 pm and I'm writing it now!
For the fourth Thursday in November ( and a very Happy Thanksgiving to all of you celebrating in the US) it is a sketch and when I came up with this one I was rather pleased with myself. Yesterday when I was trying to make my card I was less pleased, it was so hard! So, if you give it a go you will certainly get a complimentary comment from me! Here is the offending sketch ( no one else to blame for it, just me)

When I sat down to craft my card I thought about cutting two circles of DP, but it just wasn't enough for m. I saw that a couple of my  teamies had already created cards like that ( and they are fab too) but I thought I needed to show a different way. 

I remembered making 3D baubles one Christmas and wondered if it would work with half circles. Well, what do you think?

I used a Kraft card blank, some pearlised gold card and then some Kraft and white/ red papers to make the baubles

I used washi tape for the greeting and the only stamping on my card are the two little bows, carefully positioned and stamped in Stayzon to ensure they didn't smudge on the pearlised card

Monochromatic Marty

Sorry, I've not been around for two or three weeks due to a family bereavement but I am back now with a card for the new challenge starting today at The Male Room, where we would like to see cards made for guys which include washi tape.

I've not been papercrafting at all since I last blogged and today was the first time I felt like getting something going. I first started with a huge clear out of my cafting stash. Two charity bags and one very large bin liner bag of rubbish later I was ready to make a card.

As you can see I've kept it very monochromatic, using the zebra print washi tape as my starting point. the zebra image is from a set called Zoo Review ( don't use this as often as I should) and the sentiment is from Delightful Dozen.

On these two photos you can see the zebra panel is raised to give a bit of dimension. It's not obvious but the washi tape is shiny and so there is a bit of texture interest too.

I chose Fathers' Day as my sentiment as its only just around the corner and I know some people who will be asking for Fathers' Day cards (my children and my husband!)

If you are wondering about the title of this post Marty is the zebra character in the animated film Madagascar, a family favourite here in the Van Vuren household.

Well, I'm posting this bit a little later in the day, I decided to make another card in the same style, with washi tape.

This time I used the bird from Nature Walk and the thin let dies Hello You. I used the die to create a negative for the sentiment, I lost the infill for the h though, doh! 

I gave the bird a small black pearl for his beady eye

As you can see I made this card a tent fold. It's definitely a card for a guy

Silver Bells

I love a 5 minute card- the time taken to make this one for 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown, although I do admit that thinking about the design took a lot longer. It would be great for a set of cards too.
The cue for my card ( and yours, if you choose to join in with the challenge, and I hope you will!) is...

I think this is the first time we've done bells and I had to dig deep into my Christmas crafting stash to find a small bell punch. The washi tape is new, though,

I would have put the tape lower, just using a third of the White space, but then the bells didn't fit and you can't have them upside down, can you! The clappers were cut off and replaced with small gems
You can see better on this picture.

As the card was so quick to make I even made a matching envelope. This CAS style really is my favourite style of card to make.

My Heart is a Work of Art

It's a quick, clean and simple card from me this morning for this weeks sketch challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches. The sketch was chosen for us by Lizy and I made a very conscious decision to keep away from Christmas cards, although you could make beautiful Festive cards with this sketch?

Here is my card, I've used washi tape for the two main panels and the heart is from the Work of Art stamp set. I used some white raffia  to make the bow. The YOU is part of a stamp which says Thank
You from the set a Fabulous a Four. Very quickly made, ready for someone special.

Screeching Tyres

Just a quick post from me this morning to show you the new sketch challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches this week.

 I slimmed the three panels right down into strips of washi tape, as long as we can still see the sketch you are welcome to play around with it - rotate it, flip it, alter the shapes, whatever you are inspired to create, as long as it's also CAS.
I've used Rev Up The Fun again, and as I said used washi tape, mostly so that I could also join in with the challenge at The Paper Players, which runs until Friday. The tyre tread is stamped but the red stripes are the tape.

I've added Dazzling Details to the motorbike, I know you can't see it well in the photograph but it does give a metallic effect to the red ink. Finally I added some twine and a black gem, still keeping it masculine. These days I seem to be making a lot of male cards!

3, 2 1

This one stumped me for a while! At 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown Deborah has a theme for us to work with this week- The 12 Days Of Christmas, isn't that a clever idea?

 But, what to do when you don't have any suitable images? Many crafters will look for digital images and I know there are lots out there which, if you are an expert colourer (is that a word?), will look absolutely fabulous, but I've never really got to grips with them. So, I decided to improvise with my Flock Together stamp set. I knew there was a little partridge-like bird...

 and I thought the two sitting birds could easily be 2 turtle doves..

Of course there are two little hens in the set, which with a little bit of crafting magic, can become....

three french hens

All I needed was a tree to complete my 12 Days Of Christmas themed card. I added some washi tapes - I wanted to add the music one to keep with thee theme, but it looked better combined with the other two. I've stamped a Christmas greeting inside.

Hope you enjoyed the story of how my card evolved, for that is surely what it did, and are inspired to give our challenge a go even if you don't have quite the right thing in your stash!

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.

Wild and Free

Today I have a card based on a sketch which I posted on the CAS _Colours and Sketches challenge blog. It is very CAS I think, and I didn't have any particular idea in mind when I made the sketch.  But then, at our local craft club we spent an evening making our own washi tape, using a variety of masking tapes, some Promarkers and stamps, and the basis of my card was born.  Take a look at the sketch first

I thought rounded edges would be fun, and then almost forgot to do it! They are optional on the challenge.

My card has two homemade washi tapes, the wide zebra stripe and the narrower leopard skin. They were stamped using some Inkadoo stamps.  The lion, from Zoo Review, is stamped in Chocolate Chip. I've put the sentiment inside as you can see-not very original but it does fit the whole design. I've deliberately kept  colour out, using the Naturals Ivory card on a kraft base to give an African 'feel' to this masculine card. Speaking of cards for men, keep your eyes open for some very exciting news here very soon ;).

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!