CAS

A Tweet Hello

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Hello everyone. I have in my craft room again, and this is third attempt at making a card. I have been trying some water-colouring for another challenge, and some die-cutting and stamping for yet another challenge – but my results were definitely less than ideal. In fact – I binned them! I was so frustrated!

I took some time out with my puddy tats, and then went back to other ideas completely – and this card just came together! Isn’t it strange how that happens?

I used my new collection of Tim Holtz Distress Oxides – fabulous deal they were – and blended on some card, then added some water droplets. The little birdies – aren’t they cute? – are from MFT ‘My Tweet Hello‘, which I stamped then coloured with my Zigs. I just coloured en bloc, no shading, as I wanted some vibrant colours so they would stand out from the little squares I put them on.

The wonky squares are from MFT, and were just the right size to add the little birdies to. I purposefully moved the squares around so they didn’t all have the pink and blue on the same side, just for that little added variety.

I may venture into my craft room again, but I’ll to gird my loins…..it may help if I clear away everything from my desk, and then start anew…….that’s a thought! I’ll let you know how I get on….

I shall be entering the following challenges:

CAS Colours and Sketches – sketch

Addicted to Stamps and More – anything goes

Clean and Simple on Sunday – CAS cute

Aud Sentiments challenge – cute and sentiment

Clean and Simple colours

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Hi there. It’s been an absolutely fabulous Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK – temperatures in the mid to high twenties (centigrade) – very hot for me. I spent some time in my craft room as it is shaded and not too warm, and also because the current CAS Colours and Sketches challenge is coming to an end today.

The colours to use are Soft Sky, Berry Burst, and Sahara Sand. I chose to go the the rose from Uniko, because I have been getting lots and lots of Instagram postings from them for their new release coming very soon – all looks amazing – and it reminded me I have this rose stamp set.

The rose is actually an outline and base stamp set, but I really like this as it is – no inside colour at all on the rose or the leaves. I think it is very effective, and keeps things clean and simple.

I used Berry Burst to stamp my flower outline, then masked it off and stamped the leaves. I had to use an Altenew blue and brown, as I don’t have Soft Sky or Sahara Sand ink pads.

The MFT stitched rectangles cut my layers for me, and the sentiment is from Altenew. I was going for a one layer card – but realised I had cut my flower layer down before I remembered. Hey Ho! Them’s the breaks!

Have a good one, and I’ll hopefully catch you soon. :)

 

Friends

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Good evening all. My craft room has seen some use today, and I have two cards to share with you today.

The first card was inspiration for the current Double D challenge, with a clean and simple route for the 4 Craft Chicks challenge, and the current Inkspirational challenge was to create a card with a cue word of ‘play’.

The sentiment is from a set I have had for years, from Hampton Art ‘Laugh Out Loud‘ collection. This set has a few sentiments suiting friends, but I particularly liked this one. It certainly suited my bestie and I on occasions over the past 27 years, let me tell you. Actually – I don’t think I will tell you!! :)

I stamped the sentiment and added to the card with 3D glue, so I could arrange my leaves around as you can see. The leaves are actually extras I had from previous cards – I always stamp and cut more than I think I am going to need, just for this reason.

No embellishments, no Nuvo drops or sequins, very little dimension – quite different to my recent postings.

The second card I am posting today:

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This is for the current challenge at Die Cutting Divas – to use a die cut and birthday, and CAS(E) This Sketch for the layout, and Cards In Envy – flat and birthday.

The rose is from Concord and 9th – ‘Painted Rose‘ and comes with a matching couple of dies. It is supposed to give an effect of water-colour and completely fill the outline. I like this effect, and have stamped it in several colours.

The leaves were also stamped and die-cut separately for the top left corner, and also to add a couple more under the rose itself. The set also comes with a little splatter stamp, which I used to add some more interest, as the die cuts off the splatters which are stamped when filling-in the rose.

Tomorrow, I’ll be putting some more cards on show, as I have – again – left it to the last minute to join some challenges. The cards are made, I just didn’t get around to posting them.

 

 

Little candles, big sentiment

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Hi there. A short and quick posting of just one card today, to enter the current CAS Colours and Sketches challenge to use Daffodil Delight, Pool Party, and Flirty Flamingo.

I used a Uniko stamp set for the candles, and a different set for the yellow ‘bursts’. I think these are meant for the centre of a flower, but I thought they looked like fireworks going off in the sky. I may try these with a dark background and possibly embossed at some point in the future.

I had to use a Catherine Pooler ink for the blue, as my Pool Party has dried up, but I did use the appropriate colours for the others.

Have a great day. :)

 

Foiled greeting

Hello everyone. This may look like a clean and simple card, but it took me absolutely ages to figure out how I was going do some foiling, and for it to look respectable. I was trying to get some inspiration for the current CASology Challenge, and after making the card yesterday, I still had the stamps and dies out and I decided to foil the ‘friend‘ sentiment.

I don’t have a foiling machine, so I hunted for my packets of foil. Then I had to decide how to do it.

The first 2 or 3 times didn’t work. I took some double sided sticky sheets, and stuck it to card, then die cut the letters. I then took the foil and lay it on top, smoothed it out, took away the foil – messy and uneven. I tried again, but it still looked messy and uneven, I couldn’t – initially – think of a way to put down even pressure to make the foil stick.

I went to get a coffee, watched a Real Housewives episode (addicted to a couple of them), and it came to me. Why not put them through my die cutting machine……so I took the sticky letters, added the foil, sandwiched them between a couple of sheets of paper, (my cutting plates are a little ‘tired‘) sent it through my machine……..and this is what I came up with.

Whilst I was faffing with the foiling, I was also thinking about layout. The current challenge from AAA Cards is to only use one third of your card. So that’s what I did!

Now – how to get the letters straight? How to spell it right? We can’t have ‘fiend’ or ‘frend’ now can we? :)

I used the card I had die-cut the letters from and just lay that over the bottom of my card, and inlaid the foiled letters – then removed the unwanted piece of card. That took some figuring out, too, let me tell you.

 

 

 

3 cards, 6 challenges

Hello everyone. As hubby has been golfing – the weather has improved somewhat – I have spent quite a bit of time in my craft room. I have three cards to share with you today.

The first card:

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Using a stamp set from my recent crafting retreat with Uniko, and based on the colours from CAS Colours and Sketches, and the theme from Crazy 4 Challenges. Some masking was involved once I had stamped the bird – and I think I’m getting better at that!

The second card:

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Using the colours from Hand Stamped Sentiments – tranquil tide, rich razzleberry, daffodil delight (changed for an Altenew yellow instead – my daffodil delight is running dry!)

The stamp set is Altenew ‘Totally Tropical‘, stamped and die cut. I didn’t stamp all the layers of the leaves and flowers, but I think they look quite effective as they are. The background is a piece of card coloured with tranquil tide using my blending tool, then embossed with Avery Elle ‘Polka Plate Die‘, then another white layer which was die cut with the same plate and placed on top. This meant the dots stand a little proud, giving more dimension. The sentiment is from Uniko ‘Birthday Sentiments‘.

I shall also be entering this card into the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge – something for a girl/feminine.

The third card:

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This for my mum, and I’m just about to take it over to her. She absolutely loves daffodils – perhaps because she was born in March.

The stamp set is another Uniko buy from the crafting retreat, stamped, then masked and stamped again – and again. Actually, stamped in black using Catherine Pooler ‘Midnight’ ink. Bev from Uniko and I played with that whilst we were at the retreat. It apparently doesn’t run with water-colouring, or using alcohol markers…….it’s true! All true! As you can see!

I used my Inktense pencils to water-colour the image – three different yellows, and two different greens. Hopefully that added some dimension to the flowers and leaves. I did go back into the green once it had dried as I wanted that darker. I added some splatters for the first time in – well – days…..

This card will be entered into the following challenges:

Just Add Ink – add water (water-coloured)

Brown Sugar Challenge – Spring or Easter

 

 

 

Floral abstract

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Hello again. I have had some new deliveries  – more in one day as the snow has gone and the delivery man could get in – so have took some time to create a card this morning.

I used the stamp set ‘Hope‘ from Altenew and some Altenew inks to make the flower and leaves. Some masking was involved, too, and I also used my new Misti creative corners. I can see I’ll be using those a lot in the future, even if it’s for lining the sentiments up – great for that.

I then used Lawn Fawn wonky stitched squares to cut it out, and embossed with an abstract die from Neat and Tangled – Modern Triangle Cover Plate die. I thought this design fit perfectly for the current challenge at CASology – cue word being ‘Abstract’. I didn’t think it took anything from the flower design, but also added a little interest.

The sentiment is a mix of words from the same Altenew ‘Hope‘ stamp set, and ‘mom’ is from The Ton ‘Fresh Cut Tulips’ – a stamp set I’ll be playing with very, very soon.

I know we don’t use ‘mom’ very much in the UK, but I really liked how it is quite quirky for us – I hope my mother-in-law agrees!

I shall be entering the following challenges:

CASology – cue word Abstract

Try It On Tuesday – mum/mothers day

Crafty Cardmakers – Floral Delight

 

CAS die cuts

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Good morning everyone. I have had a couple of hours this morning before I do my hospital run today, so I took inspiration from several challenges for this card.

I used the layout from the current sketch at CAS Colours and Sketches, used dry embossing for the tag for the challenges at Less Is More, and used only die cuts for the current challenge at AAA cards.

The black stripes were a challenge initially, but I remembered I had a vertical Stripes plate die from Reverse Confetti. I cut that out from black card, and used the cut-out stripes – usually the waste – to lay down on the card.

I then took a tag die from Stamps By Me, and after cutting it out, I embossed it with a Sue Wilson folder called ‘Twinkle Twinkle’, and stuck down the sentiment from the same tag die set, die cut with a piece of double-sided sticky sheet.

The three hearts are from a Catherine Pooler Stamp of Approval set.

A short posting today, but I hope you like it.

 

Friends

20180218_203048Hi everyone. I have moved away from the florals for a little while….for this card, anyway. I was inspired by the current challenge fro CASology, and as I had a delivery from Clearly Besotted this week, which included these cheeky monkeys…….off I went.

I know that many people are thinking Valentines at the moment, but I tend to buck the trend and think of other ways of ‘together’. This card is an homage to my best friend, and the sentiment taken from an Altenew stamp set just fits the bill nicely.

We are crazy when we are together, yet professional and somewhat calmer during our work time. In fact we hardly see each other at work, even when we worked within the same department. Which made it all the more special when we went away for a night or two. We are going away for the Uniko retreat this coming Saturday (24th), as we had so much lovely crafting time last time, we just had to! (Even though my bestie isn’t really a crafty card maker……..she just comes with me for the craic!)

So, this card….the images stamped in Versafine black onyx and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I actually stamped quite a few of them, as I didn’t know which of the images I wanted to use, and I didn’t know which colouring medium I would prefer.

I coloured some with my Zigs – the ones I used – and some with my Polychromos, then some with some Crafters Companion pencils. I then die cut them, arranged them on the card – fiddling several times – then added with 3D foam.

20180218_203102_001The sentiment is stamped in Versafine black onyx again, but not heat embossed. One thing I always seem to do – add the sentiment last, even when the card is complete except for the sentiment. How about if it stamped wrong?! I do like to live on the edge…..

 

 

Lilac Roses

Hello everyone. It’s been a week since I last posted, as I have been busy with family and hospital issues. I had a couple of hours this morning before going out again, so I gave myself permission to have a little crafty time.

This colours of this card were inspired by the current challenge from Color Throwdown, and I turned to a more clean and simple look.

The base card is Narwhal from Lawn Fawn, the white piece is cut with a Catherine Pooler die, and again embossed with a We R Memory Keepers embossing folder to give a really good 3D impression. The flowers are from Clearly Besotted and I used Altenew inks for each of the two layers for the roses, with a green Altenew ink for the leaves.

I die cut them, and arranged onto the white card, sticking them down with foam squares. As previously, I have not put a sentiment on it, but I may do in the future, though I quite like the look of the card as it is.

I will be entering the following challenges:

Color Throwdown – lilac, green, grey, white

Addicted to Stamps and More – CAS

Simon Says Stamp – add a die cut

Clean and Simple on Sunday – CAS with dies