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CAS Colours & Sketches #296

Oct 302018

Hello there! October has five Tuesdays, so that means it’s Timeless Tuesday double challenge week at CAS Colours & Sketches! Karen and I combined forces for creating this week’s challenge – she chose a previous CC&S sketch to use, and I picked some of Stampin’ Up’s retired colors to use with it. Although we use Stampin’ Up color names for reference, you may use any companies’ products to make your card, so long as you match the colors closely. You’re also welcome to turn the sketch on its side or flip it mirror-image.

By the time I got started working on my card, some of the other CC&S design team members had already added theirs to this week’s challenge post. I noticed they were trending toward a Christmas-y theme so I felt a pull to do something different. My first instinct was to create a birthday card with balloons in the challenge colors. While I was looking through my stamp sets, I rediscovered this cute elephant and thought I could have it holding the balloons. When I started working with the stamps I thought that the size of the images would make the long vertical panel of the card too long, so I decided the elephant would hold pennant banners instead. I wasn’t in a mood to color, so I stamped the images on cardstock and fussy cut them. To give the elephant a little texture, I put a piece of gray cardstock through my crimper several times in different directions so that it loosened the fibers, and then carefully pulled it apart to reveal the fuzziness inside. I stamped the elephant on each of the fuzzy sides of the cardstock so that I could have an “extra” head, which I layered with another piece of cardstock so that I could give the elephant some dimension. I used the grass for the ribbon and bow element of the sketch.

In the end, I think it’s a cute card that I can include in my next shipment to Send a Smile 4 Kids.

Be sure to check out what the rest of the CC&S Design Team has made. Then get your craft on and link your own clean and simple styled card to our challenge post! You have until 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, November 5 to share your card with us. We’d love to see what you can do with our double challenge! Thanks for stopping by today.

Supplies:
Stamps: Ellie (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Midnight Muse, Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green, Basic Gray (Stampin’ Up); Solar White (Neenah)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: grass die (Lawn Fawn)

CAS Colours & Sketches #290

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Sep 182018

Hello! It’s the third Tuesday of the month, which means it’s color challenge time again at CAS Colours & Sketches.

Although the colors this week strongly suggest autumn, I felt a more compelling urge to do something different. One set of stamps that I’ve had for a while has a lot of adjectives, so I decided to put together a sentiment using some of them, highlighting the descriptive words with the challenge colors. I stamped the sentiment on a piece of white cardstock, trimmed a black panel to mat it, and adhered everything to a card base of linen textured white cardstock. Easy peasy and rather quick! My Fresh Fig ink is quite dark in color, but rest assured, that’s what I used for the word “fantastic” even though it almost looks black. I don’t have the Granny Apple Green ink or cardstock yet, so I’ve substituted an older In Color ink that I thought seemed close based on photos I’ve seen online.

Now it’s your turn to create a clean and simple styled card using these colors, and share it with us at the CC&S site! You have until 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, September 24 to link your card. We hope you’ll join us!

Supplies:
Stamps: Incredible (Technique Tuesday); Simply Said You (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Solar White, Solar White Classic Linen (Neenah); Basic Black (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento); Pumpkin Pie, Kiwi Kiss, Fresh Fig (SU)

CAS Colours & Sketches #287

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Aug 282018

Hello there! It’s time for the last challenge of the month at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week we have a sketch challenge for you to try.

I decided to go with a cute kitty cat theme for my card. I’ll confess that I took the easy way out of coloring the images by stamping them onto designer paper and fussy cutting them. I did use a dark brown marker to fill in the trim on the cat’s bed. I chose two shades of blue cardstock for the card base and background, and the card came together pretty easily. To avoid cutting around the cat’s whiskers, I stamped the cat onto the background and glued the fussy-cut image over it.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you’ll check out what the rest of the design team has made, and then join us over at CAS Colours & Sketches with your own take on this sketch! You have until 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, September 3 to link your card at the challenge website.

Supplies:
Stamps: Furry Friends (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Soft Sky, Baja Breeze, Whisper White (Stampin’ Up); scraps from Ambrosia 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: marker (Copic)

CAS Colours & Sketches #284

5 Responses »

Aug 072018

Well hi there! It’s finally the first Tuesday of August, and this month at CAS Colours & Sketches some of the design team members are taking turns hosting a week. I get to kick things off with this week’s color challenge.

I picked some deep rich colors inspired by nature. Even though I chose them, it still took me a while to decide what I wanted to make for this challenge. I browsed through my stamps and settled on this sweet little fawn, thinking that I could make a little scene with him. Then I needed to figure out a layout for my card. This week’s sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch! seemed like it would work, but I made a few modifications to it. I used the mirror image of the sketch, so that the fawn would be “looking” into the center of the card rather than off the edge of the card. The fawn takes the place of the light square element, and I’ve dropped the one horizontal panel so that it could work as the grass for my fawn to stand on. I created the nighttime sky by blending my darkest blue gel crayon on shimmery white cardstock and then splattering it with some white shimmery paint for stars. A few splatters smeared a bit but that’s OK; I think it seems to add to the nighttime feel.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you’ll make a card with these challenge colors and share it with us at CC&S. You have until 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, August 13 to link your card at the challenge site. Be sure to check out what the rest of the design team has made, too!

Supplies:
Stamps: Storybook (Avery Elle); Three Little Words (Stampin’ Up)
Cardstock: Solar White (Neenah); Cryogen White (Curious Metallic); Mossy Meadow (SU)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: Premier colored pencils (Prismacolor); Gamsol (Gamblin); Frost White shimmer paint (Tsukineko); Landscape Trio die (Mama Elephant)

CAS Colours & Sketches #266

4 Responses »

Apr 032018

Well hi there! It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time for a new challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches. This time we have some bold, bright colors for you.

I gave in to the instinct to do something floral with these colors. It just seemed right, and I hadn’t used this flower stamp for a long time so it felt nice to ink it up again. I still have a few more weeks to work on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day cards for Send a Smile 4 Kids, so that’s how I chose the theme for my card. I used a die to cut the asymmetrical angle of the focal panel.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you’ll join us over at CAS Colours & Sketches with your own take on these colors! You have until 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, April 9 to link your card at the challenge website.

Supplies:
Stamps: A Real Wild Poppy (Hero Arts); It’s Good to Be Queen (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Cardstock: Old Olive, Very Vanilla (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Old Olive, Calypso Coral, Rich Razzleberry (SU)
Other: Custom Panels die (Avery Elle)

CAS Colours & Sketches #254

9 Responses »

Jan 092018

Hello! The design team from CAS Colours & Sketches is back from holiday break and ready to begin another year of fun clean and simple challenges! Since today is the second Tuesday of the month, we’re starting back up again with a sketch. You’re welcome to manipulate the sketch from a rectangle to a square, or to turn the sketch on its side, so long as we can still easily recognize the main elements of the sketch.

Over the holidays, our family went out of town for a few days to visit relatives, so we had a neighbor friend come over to check on our cat a couple of times each day. I used this week’s sketch to create a card to thank our friend for his help. Our cat is solid black, so that’s why I chose the simple black and white color scheme for the card. The tiny paw prints were stamped on a scrap of plain white cardstock cut to fit the small metal frame, and the card base is plain black cardstock, but the rest of the cardstock I used is textured. Unfortunately, the texture doesn’t show in the photo. The texture of the grosgrain ribbon behind the metal frame doesn’t show well either. Since we gave the card to our friend in person, I didn’t have to worry about sending the somewhat bulky frame element through the mail.

Be sure to stop by the challenge blog and welcome our newest Design Team members, Jeanne, Marsha, and Wei! Then create your own card using this sketch, and link it to the challenge site by 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, January 15. We’d love to have you join us! Thanks for stopping by today.

Supplies:
Stamp: Furry Friends (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White textured, Basic Black textured, Whisper White (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Other: metal frame, brads, Basic Black grosgrain ribbon (SU); Olivia alphabet die (ProvoCraft)

Christmas Card Throwdown - August technique challenge

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Aug 262017

Hello there! Today’s post is a reminder for the technique challenge that’s currently running at Christmas Card Throwdown. It’s one that was new to me – Embossed Impressions. Although the original challenge writeup at CCT says entries can have either heat or dry embossed techniques, “embossed impressions” is a technique all to itself. Since I hadn’t tried it before, I Googled it and found a few different videos on YouTube to guide me along. The idea is to use VersaMark ink to ink up a die, then run it through your die cutting/embossing machine with an embossing mat so that the die leaves an inked impression in the cardstock. Then you sprinkle the impression with embossing powder and heat emboss the design.

I have to say that this did not turn out as well for me as I had hoped. It seemed easy enough based on the videos, so I tried it with a snowflake die. My results were pretty disastrous. My first attempt, I had the wrong “sandwich” of materials and they were too thick to go through my Big Kick, so I had to abort that try. My second go at it, I was interrupted mid-process by a telephone call and the ink dried before I could add the embossing powder. I hoped that the third time would be the proverbial charm, but no. I thought I had tapped the ink on the die very gently, but the embossing powder stuck all around the edges of the die and on some of the solid areas. Even though I was able to clean off some of the excess powder before I heated it, it still looked like a huge mess. So I thought about what other dies I could use. I decided to try it with my “happy” die, thinking I’d add in the word “holidays” with a stamp. This worked somewhat better. Still messy, but not as bad. I added the “holidays” with gold ink and heat embossed it… but then the “holidays” showed up much brighter than the “happy” because of the gold ink. That prompted a lightbulb moment. I tried it once again, but used gold ink on the die instead of VersaMark. That gave me a brighter, bolder result with the embossing of the impression. I do think it’s downright near impossible to get a good clean image with this technique, though.

Anyway… now that my fifth attempt resulted in a somewhat decent looking embossed impressed sentiment, the gold on the red background seemed a little too simple. I figured since I already had the embossing powder out, I’d add some embossing to the edge of the red panel. In retrospect I probably got a little too heavy handed with that. But as they say, the show must go on, so I went ahead and put the panel on a white card base. It’s definitely not the best card I’ve made. And sadly, it’s one of the worst ones I’ve made as a CCT Design Team member. But at least it’s an honest attempt at the technique.

Goodbyes are rarely easy. It’s with a bittersweet note that this is the last card I’m making as a Design Team member for Christmas Card Throwdown. I’ve been a part of the team there since March 2013, and while I’ve enjoyed my time there, four and a half years is long enough and it’s time for me to step down from the team. I hate that this card that I really don’t like is my last one for the team. I guess I’ll just have to play along as a participant in a future challenge and see if I can come up with something better.

Thanks for stopping by today! If you’d like to give our challenge a try, you have until 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Friday, September 1 to submit your card at the CCT site.

Supplies:
Stamp: So Happy (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Real Red (Stampin’ Up); Solar White (Neenah)
Ink: gold (ClearSnap)
Other: Simply Said Happy die (Avery Elle); gold embossing powder (Ranger); corner rounder punch (EK Success)

CAS Colours & Sketches #236

6 Responses »

Aug 152017

Hello! It’s the third Tuesday of the month, which means it’s color challenge time again at CAS Colours & Sketches. Karen has chosen some bright, playful colors for us to work with this week.

Despite the cheeriness of the colors, I seem to have a hard time working with them whenever they come up separately in our challenges – so putting them all together had me wondering what to make for a while! Oh, but that’s what makes it a challenge, right? 🙂 Finally I settled on using a musical stamp that I’ve had for years but I don’t think I’ve ever actually used. I thought that combined with a sentiment, it would make a pretty decent birthday card. I’ve trimmed down the focal panel so that I could use a colored card base to mat it, for an extra pop of color. I used a stitched border die for the bottom edge, but because I didn’t have any stitched detailing on the rest of the card, I turned the die so the stitching would be on the cut off portion.

Now it’s your turn to create a clean and simple styled card using these colors, and share it with us at the CC&S site! You have until 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, August 21 to link your card. We hope you’ll join us!

Supplies:
Stamps: unnamed musical notes stamp (Inkadinkadoo); Handwritten Notes (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Crushed Curry, Whisper White (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Crushed Curry, Bermuda Bay, Calypso Coral (SU)
Other: Landscape Trio die (Mama Elephant)

CAS Colours & Sketches #230

7 Responses »

Jul 042017

Hello there! It’s time for another month of challenges at CAS Colours & Sketches! We have some bold, bright colors for our challenge this week. One of them has been a part of Stampin’ Up’s color lineup for a few years, but the other two are In Colors that were introduced last month. As always with our color challenges, if you don’t have the exact colors shown in our challenge graphic, you may use whatever you own by any company so long as you match the colors as closely as possible.

It’s been a while since I’ve made a card specifically for Send a Smile 4 Kids, so I decided to focus on that organization when I was working on my card for this challenge. The bright chartreuse had me a little stumped at first because to me it seems too yellow to work well as foliage. Since it’s Independence Day here in the U.S. I kept feeling like I should do something with stars and/or stripes, even though the colors are far from our patriotic red, white and blue. 🙂 I ended up going graphic with a design I found on Ardyth’s blog. I decided to embrace that bold greenish yellow by using it for the card base and to stamp the sentiment.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you’ll make a card with these challenge colors and share it with us at CC&S. You have until 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, July 10 to link your card at the challenge site.

Supplies:
Stamps: Simply Said: You (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Lemon Lime Twist, Island Indigo, Berry Burst (Stampin’ Up); Solar White (Neenah)
Ink: Lemon Lime Twist (SU)
Other: Puffy Stars die (Lawn Fawn)

CAS Colours & Sketches #229

8 Responses »

Jun 272017

Hello! It’s a little hard to believe June is drawing to a close already. Time sure seems to be flying! As today is the fourth Tuesday of the month, we have a new sketch challenge for you to try over at CAS Colours & Sketches.

If you’ve an avid follower or participant at CC&S, you might recognize this sketch as being one used before by our team member Jane. The fun wonky angle makes it pretty distinctive! I’ve used shimmery cardstock for the front of my card, which looks lovely in person, but is hard to capture the subtle sparkliness in photographs. I wanted some color to the angular portion, so I scribbled some metallic Gelatos on a scrap of shimmery cardstock and blended them with a damp paper towel. I used the same method to color another scrap of shimmery cardstock, from which I die cut the hearts. I also die cut the angular portion from the card front. I’ve popped the card front up from the striped portion by using some shims of scrap cardstock; I think the shims give more substance underneath that layer than my dimensional adhesive spots would. I chose not to heat emboss the sentiment. When looking at the card from an angle, it kind of disappears into the cardstock, but looking at the card head on it’s nice and bold.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what our challenge participants at CC&S create this week! Be sure to link your card at the challenge post by 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, July 3. Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamp: Hugs & Wishes (Stampin’ Up)
Cardstock: Shimmery White, Thick Whisper White (SU)
Ink: Champagne (Encore)
Other: metallic Gelatos (Faber Castell); hearts die, stitched rectangles die (Lawn Fawn); custom panels die (Avery Elle)

CAS Colours & Sketches #228

3 Responses »

Jun 202017

Hello there! It’s color challenge week again at CAS Colours & Sketches. I have the honor of being challenge host this week, and I’ve put together a combo using a couple of Stampin’ Up’s limited edition In Colors paired with a metallic. Although we use Stampin’ Up color names for reference, you’re always welcome to use any companies’ products – we simply ask that you match the stated colors as closely as possible.

I admit that when I came up with this challenge idea a couple months ago, I did have some idea of what I wanted to create with them… and now that idea has completely left my memory. On my computer, I keep a folder of cards I really like that I’ve found online, so I browsed through that for inspiration for today’s card. I noticed this one made by Karren Johnson and decided to CASE it… “CASE” being an acronym for “Copy and Selectively Edit” (at least that’s my favorite definition of what “CASE” stands for). The similar colors are a pure coincidence. I started by die cutting the front panel of the card. I stamped the sentiment and floral image with copper pigment ink and heat embossed them. Then I watercolored the flower with ink, and die cut the curved line of the sentiment panel. As I was holding the pieces of the card together I felt it looked a bit stark, so I added some splatters of color. Using peach cardstock for the base of the card adds another punch of color. It was hard getting a photo to show the shine of the heat embossing, so you’ll have to take my word that it looks better in real life.

And there you have it. What will you create with these colors? Be sure to share your card at the CC&S site by 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, June 26. We’d love to have you join in the fun and creativity!

Supplies:
Stamps: Jolies Fleurs (Lizzie Anne Designs); Sophie’s Sentiments (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Pure Ivory (Gina K. Designs); Dapper Denim, Peekaboo Peach (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Copper (ColorBox)
Other: copper embossing powder (Ranger); stitched rectangles die (Lawn Fawn); Custom Panels die (Avery Elle)

the happiest of birthdays

10 Responses »

Jun 092017

I have a quick post today to share a card made for an important man in my life – my dad. He’ll be celebrating his birthday this weekend, and I’ll be lucky enough to visit with him on his special day. He’s not one to turn down ice cream when it’s offered to him, LOL, so that’s why I thought he’d like the cute little ice cream cone.

I’m combining several challenges here: Less Is More, Freshly Made Sketches, AAA Cards, and The Paper Players.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Here’s the Scoop (Lawn Fawn); Cake & Candles (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Pure Luxury White, Pure Luxury Ivory (Gina K. Designs); Close to Cocoa (Stampin’ Up); scraps from Blush 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Close to Cocoa (SU)
Other: birthday embossing folder (ProvoCraft)

CAS Colours & Sketches #226

12 Responses »

Jun 062017

Hello there! It’s color challenge week again at CAS Colours & Sketches. I’ve combined the color challenge with one of our recent sketch challenges, #224, taking the liberty of using the mirror-reverse of the sketch.

The card is pretty straightforward so there’s not a lot I can say about it. I used Versamark ink to stamp a bit of texture on the kraft-colored strip. The flower is raised up from the card base with some scrap cardstock shims to add a bit of dimension.

Since the theme at The Paper Players and at AAA Cards is “birthday”, I’m going to enter this card in those challenges.

Be sure to check out what the rest of the CC&S design team did with this sketch. Then show us what you can make with it! You can link your creation to the challenge blog until 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, June 12. Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Delight in Life, Canvas (Stampin’ Up); Cake & Candles (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Soft Sky, Kraft, Very Vanilla (SU)
Ink: Calypso Coral, Soft Sky (SU); VersaMark (Tsukineko)

CAS Colours & Sketches #225

5 Responses »

May 302017

Hello! It’s time for a Timeless Tuesday double challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches! We’ve gone through our sketch archives and pulled out one of our previous sketches, and we’re pairing it with some retired Stampin’ Up colors. To meet the challenge this week, the sketch must be used with the colors. If you don’t have the exact colors it’s OK – just use whatever you own that comes close to them.

I’ve been away from my craft room for much of the past week, and I have to confess that last night when I was working on this card, I had a hard time getting into a crafting frame of mind. This is definitely not one of my better cards but it meets the challenge so I’m going with it. I used the lighter shade of blue for the card base and used the darker for the sentiment. I rotated the sketch 180° so that I had a wider space at the top of the card for the sentiment. Instead of using a piece of cardstock for the wide horizontal strip, I scored five lines. It was hard to capture them in the photo, but they do extend across the entire front of the card. It’s been a long time since I’ve used ribbon on a card, but I had the exact color of blue to work with the challenge. I debated adding a bow, but I thought that would take away from the clean and simple style of the card. The “present” is raised up from the card base with dimensional adhesive.

Be sure to stop by the challenge blog and see what our Design Team members have done with this challenge! Then create your own card using these colors and the sketch, and link it to the challenge site by 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, June 5. We’d love to have you join us! Thanks for stopping by today.

Supplies:
Stamp: Cake & Candles (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Purely Pomegranate (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Blue Bayou (SU)
Other: Blue Bayou ribbon, dimensionals (SU)

CAS Colours & Sketches #213

5 Responses »

Mar 072017

Hello! I’m excited to be the challenge hostess at CAS Colours and Sketches during the month of March! I hope you’ll join in the fun and creativity of our color and sketch challenges.

The first Thursday of the month means it’s color challenge time. There’s a story behind the colors I’ve chosen. I enjoy watching college football (American football, not soccer 😉 ) and I’m proud to say that my alma mater’s team, the James Madison University Dukes, won the national title in their division for the 2016 season. In honor of them, I’ve chosen purple and a golden yellow for the school colors, plus grey to represent their bulldog mascot.

For my card, I went back to a previous CC&S sketch. I didn’t really want to use an elephant again since I used it with the sketch that time. I tossed around a few different animal ideas but none of them were giving me a “yeah!” moment, so I decided to go ahead with the sweet little Ellie again. I originally planned to make a birthday card and have her holding a few balloons with her trunk, but there didn’t seem to be enough room on the card panel, turned horizontally or vertically, to situate the balloons well. So she’s joined by a couple of friendly butterflies. I turned the tilted panel in the opposite direction from how the sketch is drawn, just for a little variety on the sketch idea.

It’s been a while since I’ve done this much coloring on a card. I feel like I’m out of practice. 🙁

Be sure to check out what the rest of the CC&S Design Team has made! Then create your own clean and simple styled card with these colors and link it to the CC&S site by 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, March 13. We’d love to see what you make!

Supplies:
Stamps: Ellie, Storybook, Simply Said Hello (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Crushed Curry, Elegant Eggplant (Stampin’ Up); Solar White (Neenah)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic); stitched rectangle die (Lawn Fawn)

Older Entries Newer Entries

CAS Colours & Sketches #296

CAS Colours & Sketches #290

CAS Colours & Sketches #287

CAS Colours & Sketches #284

CAS Colours & Sketches #266

CAS Colours & Sketches #254

Christmas Card Throwdown - August technique challenge

CAS Colours & Sketches #236

CAS Colours & Sketches #230

CAS Colours & Sketches #229

CAS Colours & Sketches #228

the happiest of birthdays

CAS Colours & Sketches #226

CAS Colours & Sketches #225

CAS Colours & Sketches #213

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Really great links

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