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CAS Colours & Sketches #120

Apr 162015

It’s color challenge week again at CAS Colours & Sketches, and we have some bright cheery ones for you this time. I have to admit it took me a while to decide how I wanted to use them on my card. I finally decided to combine the color challenge with a couple other challenges and make a birthday card.

The current challenge at Less is More is to make a one-layer card incorporating splatters of some sort. So I masked off an area on the front of my card, stamped the balloons (masking each one as I stamped them), and splattered some Coastal Cabana ink over the area with an old toothbrush. Then I removed all the masks, partially colored the balloons with Perfect Plum and Rose Red watercolor crayons, and used a paintbrush and water to spread and blend the color over the balloons. It’s been a long time since I’ve participated in a challenge at AEIHeartU, and their current one is to use watercoloring, so the balloons qualify this card for that. Using the corner rounder on the bottom corners of the card was a last-minute decision to do something a bit different. I think it ties in with the roundness of the balloons. And there you have it – one layer, splatters, watercoloring, and the three CC&S colors.

Challenge 23

How will you use our challenge colors? If you want additional inspiration, be sure to see what the rest of the CC&S design team has made. Then link your own card to the challenge post by 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, April 22. We’d love to have you join us! Thanks for stopping by today.

Supplies:
Stamps: Storybook, So Happy (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: watercolor paper (Artist’s Loft)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: Coastal Cabana reinker, Rose Red and Perfect Plum watercolor crayons (Stampin’ Up); corner rounder (EK Success); paintbrush, water

CAS Colours & Sketches #114

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Mar 052015

Hello! It’s time for a new month of challenges at CAS Colours & Sketches! One of our newest design team members, Jane, is our hostess this month and she has some fun challenge ideas in store for us!

As always, we start the month with a color challenge. I’ve decided to combine the colors with the CAS(E) this Sketch! challenge that ends this morning. I had the worst time trying to get the colors to show true in the photo, so you’re going to have to take my word for it that “thanks” and the flower are a deep blackberry purple and that the “for all you do” is stamped in dark mossy green. It was fun getting some use out of one of my old Cuttlebug alphabet die sets for this card!

I’m also entering this card in the Clear it Out challenge, where the theme this week is “Anything Goes”.

How will you use these colors? Be sure to check out the CC&S blog to see what the rest of the design team has made. Once you’ve made your own card, be sure to link it at the challenge post by 1:00 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, March 11. We’d love to have you join us! Thanks for stopping by today.

Supplies:
Stamps: Handwritten Notes (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Naturals White, Lost Lagoon, Blackberry Bliss, Mossy Meadow (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Mossy Meadow (SU)
Other: Olivia alphabet die (ProvoCraft)

CAS - Colours and Sketches #113

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Feb 262015

Hello! It’s time for another sketch challenge at CAS – Colours and Sketches! As always, the sketch can be rotated or flipped – so long as we can see the basic elements of the original sketch, it’s all good!

I’ve rotated the sketch 90° on its side for my card. It’s been a while since I’ve used my gel sticks, so I pulled them out and had a play with them to create the rainbow background and the coordinating yellow for the balloon. I used my fingers to blend the colors for the background. As I was drying my hands afterwards on a paper towel, I felt the colors were still a little too bold, but I didn’t want to dilute them too much by using water to blend them. And I had a “light bulb moment” – and I used the damp paper towel to blend and soften the colors. I liked that result much better! My new Lawn Fawn dies just arrived, so I put them to use to cut the balloon and its string. I think I’m really going to enjoy using this set of dies – there are eight different balloons in four different shapes (two shapes come in three different sizes), plus two strings and some little shapes that I thought were confetti at first, but then I realized they’re probably meant to add a highlight to the balloon. (Of course I realized that after I’d assembled my card.) Anyway – enough chitchat. Here are the card and the sketch graphic:

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you’ll join us over at CAS – Colours and Sketches with your own take on this sketch! You have until 1:00 p.m. eastern time Wednesday, March 4 to link your card at the challenge website.

Supplies:
Stamp: Cake & Candles (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Basic Black (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: gel sticks (Faber Castell); Party Balloons dies (Lawn Fawn)

CAS - Colours and Sketches #111

3 Responses »

Feb 122015

Hello! This week is sketch week at CAS – Colours and Sketches, and I think this week’s sketch is a pretty neat one. It has some interesting angles.

I’ve turned the sketch on its side for my card, and as usual, I’ve stretched it out into a rectangle. Actually now that I’m looking at my card all assembled, it looks like I’ve kind of mirror reverse flipped the triangular parts too. Anyway, I think it’s easy enough to tell that my card was inspired by the sketch. The ink and card base match the dark blue designer paper better in real life than the photo shows.

Be sure to see what the rest of the design team has done with the sketch! Then create your own card and share it with us at the CC&S blog. You have until 1:00 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, February 18 to enter the challenge. Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Cake & Candles (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Buckaroo Blue, Whisper White (Stampin’ Up); designer papers from Oh Baby! Boy collection (Basic Grey)
Ink: Buckaroo Blue (SU)

Cards in Envy - Going Gray

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Jan 192015

Well hello! It’s time for another fun challenge at Cards in Envy. For the next two weeks, we’re “Going Gray” with a winter-inspired color scheme. Cards made for this challenge should use gray as the dominant color, as well as be A2 sized with no lumpy, bumpy embellishments.

After a lot of thought, I decided I’d use one of my animal stamps and have a gray animal on my card for this challenge. I originally thought about using a rabbit – but then that made me think of gray hares, which was too much like gray hairs, which I’d rather not think about! LOL! I finally settled on this mouse image. The stamp set that it’s from also has several star images. I was browsing online looking for a good card sketch to use for the layout of my card, and felt that the most recent OWH sketch might work. To me, the square element resembled a window, and I could position the mouse so it would be sitting on the windowsill, looking out at the stars. I die cut a couple of stars to use in place of the round embellishments on the sketch, but opted to use just one to make the scene more realistic. I covered the star with Stickles to give it some sparkle, but then painted over it with white shimmer paint to make sure the glitter wouldn’t flake off. The paint covered the glitter more opaquely than I realized it would, but the texture of the glitter still shows. I chose a grayish blue for my sky color and flicked some shimmer paint onto it for distant stars. Fussy cutting around the mouse’s tail and whiskers was a little nerve wracking, but in the end, I think it was worth the effort. Because the mouse stamp has him facing to the right, I flipped the sketch mirror-image so the mouse could be looking at the shiny star. It’s been a while since I’ve made a “missing you” themed card for OWH so that was the driving force behind the sentiment I chose. The card turned out quite clean and simple in style, and I have to say that I’m pretty pleased with it. 🙂

OWH Sketch 246

Thanks for stopping by today! What kind of card will the color gray inspire you to create? Be sure to check out what the rest of the Cards in Envy design team has made. Then share your own work with us by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, February 1. We’d love to have you join in the fun and creativity!

Supplies:
Stamps: Storybook, Handwritten Notes (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, Buckaroo Blue (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic); Frost White shimmer paint (SU); Storybook dies (AE); Star Dust Stickles (Ranger)

Cards in Envy - Make it a Banner Year!

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Jan 052015

Hello there! It’s the first Monday of the month, which means it’s time for a new challenge at Cards in Envy. We’re kicking off 2015 with a challenge called “Make it a Banner Year!” We’d like to see you use at least one banner on the card you create for this challenge. Remember that for our challenges, all cards must be A2 sized (4.25″ x 5.5″) and cannot have lumpy, bumpy embellishments more than 1/4″ thick.

OWH Stars & Stamps sketch #226 was perfect for this challenge! I’ve turned the sketch 90° on its side. It seems like at the beginning of each year, I think to myself, “OK, this year I’m finally going to use up some of my older supplies”… and then I get distracted by new materials and never quite seem to completely use up the older things. This year I’m starting off on that trend with some older designer paper, which I used for the background panel of my card. The turquoise banner is also from the same 6″ x 6” pad. I pulled two colors from the floral paper for my solid color cardstocks, and white for my sentiment panel. The sentiment panel covered up a fair amount of the turquoise in the floral paper, so I added some enamel dots to help bring out that color. The “Happy” and “to you” words in the sentiment are actually in an outline font; I’ve colored them in to make them a little bolder.

What type of banners will you use on your card? Visit the Cards in Envy site to check out what the rest of the design team has made. Then link your own card there by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, January 18. We’d love to have you join in the fun! Thanks for stopping by today.

Supplies:
Stamps: Cake & Candles (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Pumpkin Pie, Poppy Parade, Whisper White (Stampin’ Up); designer papers from Gypsy 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Poppy Parade (SU)
Other: Pumpkin Pie marker, enamel dots (SU)

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown - January sketch challenge

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Jan 032015

Hello! It’s time to start a new year of challenges at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown! I know it may seem odd to be making Christmas cards now, since the Christmas season is just about over. But at 52{C}CT we present a different card making challenge each Saturday, with the idea that if you participate all year long, you’ll have a wonderful stash of lovely cards built up ready to send in December. Or, if you’re like me and you prefer to send the same card design to everyone on your mailing list, you can create a great assortment of cards to donate to an organization of your choice, such as Operation Write Home, a church ministry, or your local hospital’s cancer center.

Each month of 52{C}CT challenges starts off with a sketch challenge. Our January hostess, Deborah, has created one that’s rather clean and simple in design, but could be dressed up with embellishments if you choose. The star shown in the sketch can be made any shape. I’ve used a snowman from one of my newest stamp sets. I used dimensional adhesive to attach him to the card. When I was cutting the designer papers, I cut them to size as rectangles, and then cut them diagonally to make the triangles. This resulted in two triangles from each designer paper, so I ended up making two cards – one in portrait orientation as the sketch was drawn, and one turned on its side in landscape orientation.

Be sure to visit the 52{C}CT blog to welcome our newest design team members – Julie, Tanja, and April! Once you’ve been inspired by the design team’s work, make a Christmas or wintry card of your own using this sketch. Share it with us by linking it at the 52{C}CT site by midnight GMT/7:00 p.m. Eastern time Friday, January 9. We’d love to have you join us! Thanks for stopping by today.

Supplies:
Stamps: Be Jolly (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); Real Red (Stampin’ Up); designer papers from Nordic Holiday 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: Be Jolly die (Avery Elle); markers (Copic); dimensionals (SU)

CAS - Colours and Sketches #101

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Nov 202014

Hello! This week at CAS – Colours and Sketches we have another color challenge for you. Once again, it’s using a metallic along with two other colors.

I’ve combined the color challenge with the CAS(E) this Sketch! challenge that will be closing later this morning. Well, it’s a kind of loose interpretation, but the card layout was definitely inspired by the sketch. And it’s their 100th sketch – what a milestone! I had these heat embossed die cut stars left over from a different project, and it was nice to put them to use here. It doesn’t show well in the photo, but the words “make a wish” are also heat embossed.

Be sure to check out what the rest of the CC&S Design Team has done with these colors! Then share your own card with us by linking it to the challenge post by 1:00 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, November 26. We’d love to have you join us!

Supplies:
Stamps: Cake & Candles (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Lost Lagoon, Smoky Slate, Whisper White, Whisper White textured (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Lost Lagoon (SU); silver (ColorBox)
Other: Bracket Edge die (My Favorite Things); star die (Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps); silver embossing powder (Ranger)

CAS - Colours and Sketches #100!

5 Responses »

Nov 132014

Wow! Today marks the beginning of the 100th challenge at CAS – Colours and Sketches! What a milestone! Lizy, our challenge hostess for November, has drawn up a nice little sketch for us to work with this week. You’re welcome to change up the shapes a bit or turn the sketch on its side, just so long as we can recognize the general idea of the sketch. I’ve stretched it into a rectangle for my card.

I’ve been on a bit of a kick lately to use up some older supplies, and that carried through on today’s card. I had one remaining red poinsettia from a package of paper flowers, so I decided to use that as the focal point of the card. The red cardstock is a color that’s been retired for a while, and I already had this card base cut to size, waiting to be used. The green and vanilla cardstocks used here were scraps left over from other projects. I just dressed them up by cutting the vanilla into the banner shapes and by stamping some small starbursts on the green. The only “new” things here are the stamp sets I used and the package of pearls I opened to get the sizes I wanted for the center of the poinsettia.

I’m also entering this card into the current challenge at AEIHeartU. It’s been a while since I’ve played along there.

Challenge 18

I hope you’ll join us at CAS – Colours and Sketches! Go check out what the rest of the design team has made. Then link your own card at the site by 1:00 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, November 19. Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Storybook, So Happy (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Riding Hood Red, Gumball Green, Very Vanilla (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Gumball Green (SU)
Other: poinsettia (Making Memories); half pearls (SU)

sketchy pink balloons

1 Response »

Oct 292014

I really liked the sketch this past week at CAS(E) this Sketch!, but I never seemed to make the time to create anything for it until just now. I would have liked to have spent more time with it because it has a lot of really cool potential. However, this is what I came up with for it. I did get to play around with inlaid die cuts for the first time, which was fun. I’ve combined the sketch with the “Pretty Pink Balloons” Hope You Can Cling To challenge over at Splitcoaststampers.com. The ink color is supposed to match the balloon color… oh well.

Thanks for stopping by today! Comments are always welcome and appreciated – I do read each one!

Supplies:
Stamps: All Squared Up (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Regal Rose (SU)
Other: Medium Balloons die (Sizzix); Cotton Candy twine (Really Reasonable Ribbon)

Cards in Envy - EnTWINEd

3 Responses »

Sep 152014

Hi there! Today marks the start of another fun challenge at Cards in Envy: EnTWINEd. For the next few weeks, we want to see your cards using twine as an embellishment. Just remember to keep your card A2 size (4.25″ x 5.5″) and flat enough to mail in an envelope at the standard first class postage rate.

I’ve created a rather clean and simple birthday card for this challenge. I wrapped some twine around a scrap of designer paper and added a twine bow to create a present. It’s mounted on a textured cardstock background. The layout for this card comes from the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge.

Be sure to check out what the rest of the Cards in Envy design team has made! How will you use twine on your card? We’d love to see your creativity! Share your card using the linky tool at the Cards in Envy site by 7:00 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, October 5.

Supplies:
Stamps: Cake & Candles (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Pool Party, Very Vanilla textured, Everyday Enchantment designer series paper (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Pool Party, Pear Pizzazz (SU)
Other: Pool Party twine, Subtles candy dots, dimensionals (SU)

CAS - Colours and Sketches #90

5 Responses »

Sep 042014

Hello! It’s time for a new color challenge at CAS – Colours and Sketches! Louise is the challenge hostess this month, and she’s picked some rich, bold colors for us to work with.

In a kind of rare twist for me, I literally used only the challenge colors. Normally I add a neutral but this time I just didn’t think it would look right to add one in. The sentiment looks black, but trust me, I used my blackberry ink pad for it. The layout for this card is from CAS(E) this Sketch!, but with a few small tweaks.

Supplies:
Stamp: Cake & Candles (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Lost Lagoon, Blackberry Bliss, Tangelo Twist (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Blackberry Bliss (SU)
Other: Beautiful Bows die (My Favorite Things)

hello... I miss you

2 Responses »

Aug 172014

This is just a quick post to share a card for the current AEIHeartU challenge to use kraft cardstock. Really, the card is pretty self-explanatory. I die cut the red and blue cardstock and the “hello” sentiment, added a stamped sentiment, and assembled the whole thing together. I figure it’s a good any-time-of-year, gender-neutral and age-neutral card for Operation Write Home. I have to admit that I was pretty heavily inspired by this card and I’ve been wanting to do something similar to it for a while now.

Challenge 13

Thanks for stopping by today! 🙂

Supplies:
Stamps: Handwritten Notes (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Kraft, Very Vanilla, Pacific Point, Real Red (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Crumb Cake (SU)
Other: Simply Said Hello die and Custom Panels die (Avery Elle)

CAS - Colours and Sketches #86

6 Responses »

Aug 072014

Well hi there! Thursdays this month will be especially fun for me because I’m the August challenge hostess at CAS – Colours and Sketches! I hope our challenge participants will enjoy the color and sketch ideas I’ve come up with.

We’re starting the month off with a color challenge. When I was thinking up challenge ideas several weeks ago, I must have had the summer patriotic holidays in the back of my mind because this challenge is a slightly different take on the traditional red, white and blue. Instead, we’re using a deep cherry red, ivory (or cream), and navy blue. I went browsing online for layout ideas and decided to try out the current CAS(E) this Sketch! challenge. The ladies there are combining their challenge with a new-to-me challenge blog, Tag You’re It! So today’s card works for three challenges. Woo-hoo!

The navy star print designer paper and the navy star eyelet are both some pretty old stuff that I’ve had for years. The image is stamped in deep red ink, and I used a navy blue marker to color in the stars and the letters. The tag ended up being a little bigger than I would have liked, but I couldn’t really do much else to accommodate this fun sentiment stamp. This card is a little less “simple” than most of my CAS cards, but I think it still can be considered CAS.

(Sorry that graphic is SO HUGE! I just got upgraded to a new version of WordPress and haven’t yet figured out how to resize images like I used to in the old version. 🙁 )

So – if you need further inspiration for the CAS – Colours and Sketches challenge, go see what the rest of the design team has made! Then create your own clean and simple card using this week’s colors, and link it to the challenge blog by 1:00 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday, August 13. We’d love to see what you can do!

Supplies:
Stamps: Cake & Candles (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury Ivory (Gina K. Designs); Circles ‘n Stars Pretty Paper Pack (Creative Memories)
Ink: Cherry Cobbler (SU)
Other: marker (Copic); Cherry Cobbler seam binding, Navy grosgrain ribbon (SU); Airmail twine (Really Reasonable Ribbon); star eyelet (source unknown)

how you doin'?

1 Response »

Aug 032014

Just a quick post to share the card I’ve made for the current AEIHeartU challenge. This time they’re asking challenge participants to use dies. I had fun with this one. I figure it makes a good any occasion card for Operation Write Home. In retrospect, I wish I’d thought to die cut the stars from the blue cardstock so that the yellow showed through, rather than cutting the stars from the yellow and adhering them to the blue. Oh well. The card just looked too plain without the stars.

Challenge 12

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Simply Said Hello (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Sahara Sand, Crushed Curry, Island Indigo (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Island Indigo (Stampin’ Up)
Other: Simply Said Hello die, Storybook dies, Custom Panels Dies (Avery Elle)

Older Entries Newer Entries

CAS Colours & Sketches #120

CAS Colours & Sketches #114

CAS - Colours and Sketches #113

CAS - Colours and Sketches #111

Cards in Envy - Going Gray

Cards in Envy - Make it a Banner Year!

52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown - January sketch challenge

CAS - Colours and Sketches #101

CAS - Colours and Sketches #100!

sketchy pink balloons

Cards in Envy - EnTWINEd

CAS - Colours and Sketches #90

hello... I miss you

CAS - Colours and Sketches #86

how you doin'?

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Really great links

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