Kinda CAS

I have new stuff!!! EVERYONE  gets excited about new stuff and I was lucky that I could start playing straight away with my card for the challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week we have a colour challenge

 ...and I got my new stamps inky.

It took me a while to realise that I NEEDED this stamp set and my first card was a case of chucking it altogether to see what came out. I added foam pads to the leaves to get some dimension into my cars and a couple of gems to lift the colours. If you are wondering why the Lost Lagoon looks so pale it is because I stamped off first to get a lighter shade of blue.

You can see the blackberry bliss mat and the raised leaf in this photo. The sentiment is from Whacky Wishes- I dont use these very often but I think they go well with these stamps

I am going to enter a couple of challenges this week. Firstly, Addicted To Stamps and More have a CAS challenge on and ShowCASe your Style want to see birthday cards.

( Oops, missed the deadline on that last one, never mind!)

Bouquet Of Leaves

The new colour challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches, chosen by our hostess for November, Lizy, is another cracker of a combination

Perfect for Christmas cards, male or female occasion, anything you like. I'm not sure I need any more Christmas cards and in my normal way, decided to make something everyone else was making weeks ago - Autumn leaves. Lucky for me, the challenge at The Paper Players is CAS- with leaves.

I love kraft on kraft, so that's where I started, using my French Foliage stamp set. Then I stamped the leaves and cut them out, securing my 'bouquet' with a green ribbon bow. I made the tag by stamping with some text and then overstamping the sentiment from Whacky Wishes.

I do know that the green DP is not strictly Old Olive, but we don't restrict our challenge to Stampin' Up shades, so you'll have to forgive me this one! (I just loved this paper so much)
Finally, I stamped inside to complete the sentiment and decided to add a few more windswept leaves.

I do hope you'll give this challenge a try, there's more inspiration from the team over at the blog.

Mosaics and Snowflakes

I can't believe it, August already! Perfect time for a Christmas card, well, that's what I've made this week for the colour challenge at CAS -Colours and Sketches.  Our hostess over there this month is Kylie and she's kicking off with an awesome colour combo of

 Although these are Stampin' Up shades, don't worry if you don't have them in your stash, just use the closest.
When I imagined a card using these colours it was vibrant, with the Melon Mambo really standing out, funny then that this is what happened

The white space is more dominant.  I used a new embossing folder and stamp set -Mosaic Madness, and a very old set called Snow Flurries. I have used the grey and the pink to double mat the embossed panel. and created three 3D 'ornaments' from the Mosaic stamp.  The greeting comes from Whacky Wishes and I've curled up the fish-tailed banner.
I'm going to have some time crafting today,looking forward to getting going again after my short break. Do hop over to the blog to see the creations from the rest of the team.

Summery shades for Bright Blossoms

Have you visited CAS Colours and Sketches yet?  This month I am temporarily taking on the role of Hostess and my first challenge is a colour challenge featuring these summery shades

They are three of my favourite colours and I was inspired by the lovely weather we've been having lately- the barbecue has been out at least twice over the weekend! I started by stamping a background paper, whilst I loved it I couldn't work out how to make it CAS, so I've put it inside my card! You can see it on the second picture.  I've used Bright Blossoms stamp set, some DP, a sticky 'brad', some paper twine, Lucky Limeade and Pool Party cs and a sentiment from Whacky Wishes.

It might be a little overcrowded to be truly CAS, but I do love the fresh feel of the colours.  I also played around with the positioning of my three blooms and decided I liked them off centered, as you can see.

Do go and have a look at the cards from the rest of the DT and then have a go, can't wait to see what you will come up with for these colours! Happy Crafting!

Inspired by Vicky

There's a blog which I visit almost every day because the lady there, Vicky, is so amazingly creative- she always inspires me with her fantastic stamping and brilliant ideas- if you haven't already, check out her blog  here.  Anyway, when I was over there yesterday I saw a beautiful card made for the challenge at The Paper Players and I so loved the colours that I thought I'd have a go too.

 Aren't they gorgeous! Combined with the challenge for CAS flowers at Make My Monday this is what happened

I love the idea of Pool Party to make leaves and Calypso Coral is a favourite of mine.  This two-step stamping set, Stippled Blossoms allows you to use a stamped off lighter shade of your colour for the base, adding the details in the full colour.  I've die cut two nesting ovals in the other two colours and added a button which is has So Saffron check and I dyed a piece of bakers' twine with my Early Expresso ink (very messy!).The sentiment is stamped in the same ink and comes from a set called Whacky Wishes. There are a few gems in the centres of the flowers.
I've added another flower stamped inside the card.  I am so taken with the combination of Calypso Coral and Pool Party that I think I might be back later with a slightly more CAS card for the Make My Monday challenge, depending on how much time I get later.

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!

Christmas Pudding anyone?

OK, so for CAS Colours and Sketches I've gone all Christmassy this week. Any card can be entered into the challenge, as long as it's CAS and, this week, takes it's inspiration from this sketch

and this week this is what I've come up with

The centre is a 'faux tile' or embedded image. I die cut a circle from mountboard, stamped and coloured the Christmas pudding image, sponging with distress inks and then added several layers of UTEE.  I then matted this onto red cs and added a glittery edge.  The paper is more from Summer Smooches (shows how versatile it can be!) and I chose kraft as my base.

I stamped this sentiment from Whacky Wishes in the inside of my card in Poppy Parade. The other ladies in the DT have also made fabulous cards for you to check out if you're not keen on a Christmas theme-may be it's too early for you!