CAS Colours & Sketches #452

7 Responses »
Jan 112022

Hello!  This week at CAS Colours & Sketches, we have a very simple sketch for you to try!

I have to confess that for how simple the sketch appears, I struggled with it.  I fully admit that I’m my own worst critic, but my first attempt ended up looking to me like something a four-year-old might make, so I went back to the proverbial drawing board.  I wanted to include the color scheme from the current Color Hues challenge.  After a bunch of playing around with how to layer the die cut sentiment, and whether to use a colored card base, I finally got this put together:

I still don’t love my card, but it’s a lot better than the first one! At least it uses up a little of some very old purple cardstock that I had in my stash. I may try some other ideas with different sentiments and see how that goes. Stay tuned…

In the meantime, I hope you’ll give the sketch a chance and share your card with us at CC&S! You have until 6:00 p.m. Eastern U.S. time Monday, January 17 to link your card at the challenge site. Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Eggplant Envy, Real Red (Stampin’ Up); Pure Luxury Ivory (Gina K. Designs)
Other: Simply Said Hello Die (Avery Elle)

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Avery Elle, Cards, CAS Colours & Sketches, Stampin' Up!

CAS Colours & Sketches #451

5 Responses »
Jan 042022

Hello there!  I hope 2022 is off to a good start for you.  We’ve had some crazy weather here in Virginia.  On January 1, the afternoon temperatures were around 70 degrees Fahrenheit, warm and a little humid.  On January 3, the afternoon temperatures were around 30 degrees and we had almost 8 inches of snow on the ground! 

Now that the holidays are over, it’s time to try to get back into the usual routine with the weekly challenges at CAS Colours & Sketches.  I have decided to take a step back from creating and stay in a more behind-the-scenes administrative role there.  However, in the midst of all the pre-Christmas hustle and bustle, it totally slipped my mind to invite someone to be the January Guest Designer at CC&S.  So I’m going to be joining in the challenges in that capacity this month. 

This week we have a color challenge.  I decided to focus the colors on the sentiment, using a die to cut the word “happy” from cardstock in each color.  I offset the die cuts when I glued them together so that each color would show.  I used the bottom color of the stacked dies for my card base and for the stamped portion of the sentiment.  The focal panel is at an intentional angle to the card base.  I thought it would make it look quirky and fun.  Now I’m wondering if it just looks… crooked.  Oh well.

I hope you’ll stop by the CC&S blog to meet the newest members of our design team and to see what the team has created!  Or, if you’d rather, you can “like” our Facebook page or follow us on Instagram!  We’d love to have you join in the fun and creativity with us.  You have until 6:00 p.m. Eastern U.S. time Monday, January 10 to link your card at our challenge post.

Supplies:
Stamp: Happy Happy Happy (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Poppy Parade, Highland Heather, Petal Pink (Stampin’ Up); Solar White Linen (Neenah)
Ink: Poppy Parade (SU)
Other: Happy Sash die (Poppystamps)

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Cards, CAS Colours & Sketches, Stampin' Up!

CAS Colours & Sketches #450!

3 Responses »
Dec 142021

Hello there! It’s time for another challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches! We’re in full-out holiday spirit this week, with the challenge to create a holiday card using any of our CC&S challenges from 2021. We’re also celebrating our 450th challenge by offering up a couple of prizes to two of our challenge participants! Be sure to check out the challenge blog for all the details!

I’ve chosen to combine a color challenge and a sketch challenge for my card. I went back to the beginning of 2021 for the sketch, which I like because of the curvy line. I’ve made a similar card to this one using an image of Christmas lights, so I decided this time I’d use ornaments instead. I picked this color combo because the red and green are typical Christmas colors, and the blue played well with them. As I looked at the colors, they reminded me of some of my own Christmas ornaments. When I was growing up, my parents had a set of metal bell ornaments that jingled. I have them now… and one bell is red, one is blue, and one is green. So it seemed right to represent them on my card. I added some glaze over the ink to give the bells some shine.

(Please accept my apologies to the weird formatting – I’m still trying to get used to this newer version of WordPress and haven’t learned all the features yet – like how to resize images.)

As I mentioned earlier, CC&S has a couple of prizes this week to thank our challenge participants for their support of our blog! Two participants in this challenge will be chosen to receive one of two prizes. Thank you to Stamplorations and Altenew for their generosity in donating the prizes!

Because this is a special event, the challenge will remain open until 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Friday, December 31, 2021. We hope you’ll join in the fun and creativity! Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Holiday Baubles (Sweet ‘n Sassy Stamps)
Cardstock: Cryogen White (Curious Metallic)
Ink: Garden Green, Pacific Point, Poppy Parade (Stampin’ Up); Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: Crystal Effects (SU)

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Cards

CAS Colours & Sketches #449

1 Response »
Dec 072021

Well hello there! It feels like forever since I’ve posted. I figured I’d better get back into the proverbial saddle since I’m hosting the December challenges at CAS Colours & Sketches!

It’s the first Tuesday of the month, so that means it’s time for a color challenge. I’ve chosen some colors that I think will work well for Christmas cards, or for most any other occasion. I used some of my newest dies to create a poinsettia using the challenge colors. I felt that ivory gave a “softer”, less harsh and bright look than a white background. The sentiment and the card base are both in the green of the challenge colors.

What will you create with these colors?  We’d love to have you join in our challenge!  You have until 6:00 p.m. Eastern U.S. time Monday, December 13 to link your card to the challenge site.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamp: Say What? Holiday Critters (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Mint Macaron, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler, So Saffron (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Mint Macaron (SU)
Other: Stitched Poinsettia and Stitched Rectangle dies (Lawn Fawn)

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Cards

CAS Colours & Sketches #418

3 Responses »
May 042021

Hello there!  Yes, it’s been a while since I’ve shared anything here on my blog.  Hopefully I will start feeling more creative again now that the winter doldrums are well over.

We have a new color challenge starting today at CAS Colours & Sketches.  As the blog manager there, I normally don’t let the challenge hosts pick two neutral colors for a color challenge combination (since we allow neutral colors to accent the challenge colors).  But this month’s hostess, Samantha, backed up her choices with the fact that they tie into the Pantone Colors of the Year for 2021, so I figured why not roll with it?

The colors immediately made me think of sunshine contrasted against a dark sky, and the lyrics to the song “You Are My Sunshine” popped into my head.  So I went along with that theme for my card.  I printed the sentiment onto the lighter grey cardstock and trimmed it down to fit my card front.  Then I die cut the clouds and sunshine and glued them into place.  I added a mat, offsetting it with the card front, and attached it to a card base matching the sunshine yellow.  Easy-peasy!

We’d love to see what you can create with these colors!  Share your card at the CC&S site by 6:00 p.m. Eastern U.S. time Monday, May 10.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: None
Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, Basic Gray, Smoky Slate (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: printer ink
Font: Care Bear Family
Other: Rainbow Builder dies (SU)

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Cards, CAS Colours & Sketches, Stampin' Up!

CAS Colours & Sketches #410

5 Responses »
Mar 092021

Hello again!  It’s sketch week at CAS Colours & Sketches, and we have a good one for you!  We’d like to see some sort of curved element as the focal point of your card.

I turned the sketch 90 degrees on its side for my card, and used a rainbow to represent the curve.  I die cut the rainbow’s stripes and the clouds from shimmery white cardstock, and then used markers to color the stripes.  It wasn’t easy to capture the shimmer in the photograph, but it’s there.  I used shims from the cardstock scraps behind the clouds and the rainbow to give it a little dimension off the card base.  A simple sentiment finished off the card.

What will you create with this sketch?  We would love to see your clean and simple card submitted for our challenge!  You have until 6:00 p.m. Eastern U.S. time Monday, March 15 to link your card at the challenge site.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Simply Said: You (Avery Elle)
Cardstock: Soft Sky (Stampin’ Up); Curious White (Cryogen)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: Rainbow Builder Framelits dies (SU); markers (Copic)

Posted by PH in VA at 12:00 pm Avery Elle, Cards, CAS Colours & Sketches, Stampin' Up!

CAS Colours & Sketches #402

7 Responses »
Jan 122021

Hello there!  It’s time for the first sketch challenge of the year at CAS Colours & Sketches.  It’s a fun one that will provide a lot of opportunity for creativity!

For the “non-geometric shape” element, I looked through my animal stamps and settled on this little fox.  I had used other stamps from this set before, but this was a first for him.  I decided to make him a grey fox rather than a red fox, and colored him with my Copics.  I’m not quite sure yet who this card might be going to, so I went with a gender-neutral purple for the present and the birthday hat.  I set off the horizontal strip part of the sketch by piercing two rows across the focal panel.  I couldn’t very well pierce on a one-layer card, so I attached the focal panel to a card base in a coordinating grey, offsetting the panel for a little extra visual interest.  Because of the way the fox is made, I thought it looked better for him to be on the left side of the card than the right, so I’ve flipped the sketch.

What will you do with this sketch? I hope you’ll try out something and share what you create with us! Link your work to the CAS Colours & Sketches blog by 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, January 18. Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Party Animal, Happy Happy Happy (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Solar White (Neenah); Basic Gray (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic); piercing tool

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Cards, CAS Colours & Sketches, Lawn Fawn

CAS Colours & Sketches #401

8 Responses »
Jan 052021

Hello!  Welcome to the start of a new year of challenges at CAS Colours & Sketches!  We’re back from our holiday break and ready for some more fun and creativity!

We’re kicking off the year with a color challenge.  I’ve used the colors to make a wintry scene.  I made a mask to create a snowy hill, and blended the two shades of aqua to create a sky above it.  After I removed the mask, I die cut the tree and the cardinals from cardstock and glued them into place.  The focal panel is the same size as the card front, and I attached it to a base of the lighter shade of aqua.  I couldn’t decide on a sentiment for the card, so I chose to let it go without.  Sometimes a card doesn’t necessarily need a sentiment on the front, don’t you think?

Be sure to stop by the challenge blog and welcome our newest Design Team members and our Guest Designer!  Then create your own card using these colors, and link it to the challenge site by 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, January 11.  We’d love to have you join us!  Thanks for stopping by today.

Supplies:
Stamps: none
Cardstock: Solar White (Neenah); Pool Party, Cherry Cobbler (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Pool Party (SU)
Other: Winter Trees dies (Penny Black); stencil brushes

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Cards, CAS Colours & Sketches, Stampin' Up!

CAS Colours & Sketches #400!

8 Responses »
Dec 082020

Hello hello!  At CAS Colours & Sketches, we’re celebrating our challenge blog’s 400th challenge this week!  To thank our challenge participants for helping us to reach this milestone, we’re offering up a prize from Uniko to one lucky player in this week’s challenge.  You won’t want to miss out on this event!  All the details are at the challenge site.

We’re also getting into the holiday spirit by asking our challenge participants to choose any CC&S challenge from 2020 and turn it into a seasonal card.  I ended up using the mirror image of sketch challenge #381.  To get the variegated lighter shade of green for the leaves on the wreath, I inked up the stamp and then pressed a paper towel against the ink, to lift some of the ink off the stamp.  Then I stamped onto the cardstock.

We’d love to see what you can create with this week’s colors, and to have you join in celebrating with us!  Share your card at the CC&S website by 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, December 14, 2020.  We hope you’ll continue to join in our challenges.  Thank you to our fantastic sponsor for this week, Uniko!

https://uniko.co.uk/blog

I’m joining in the challenges at AAA Cards and The Paper Players with today’s card, too!

All supplies for this card are from Stampin’ Up:
Stamps: Wondrous Wreath, Short & Sweet
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, Thick Whisper White
Ink: Wild Wasabi, Cherry Cobbler
Other: Wonderful Wreath Framelits dies

Posted by PH in VA at 12:00 pm AAA Cards challenges, Cards, CAS Colours & Sketches, Stampin' Up!, The Paper Players challenges

CAS Colours & Sketches #399

1 Response »
Dec 012020

Wow!  It’s the first day of December!  It’s also Tuesday, which means it’s challenge introduction day at CAS Colours & Sketches.  We’re starting off the month with a color challenge that’s a lighter nod to the traditional Christmas colors of red and green, with a dash of metallic silver.

I knew I wanted to use my favorite Christmas tree image, so then I had to figure out a layout for my card.  The current challenge at CAS(E) this Sketch! looked like it would work.  I did stretch the height of the focal panel and background panel a little to accommodate my tree image and the sentiment.  I used a combination of silver brads and pink enamel dots to decorate the tree.  The subtle houndstooth patterned paper was a great match to the challenge pink.  I realize it doesn’t show in the photo, but the card base is linen textured cardstock.  The shiny silver strip made getting a good picture more challenging than I expected, but in the end, I think it all turned out all right.

The CC&S team would love to see what you can create with this week’s colors!  Share your card at the CC&S website by 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, December 7.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Season of Joy (Stampin’ Up)
Cardstock: Solar White, Solar White Classic Linen (Neenah); silver foil (SU); patterned paper from Holly Jolly Christmas 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Echo Park)
Ink: Mint Macaron (SU)
Other: enamel dots (SU); star brad (The Paper Studio); mini brads (Recollections)

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Cards, CAS Colours & Sketches, CAS(E) this Sketch!, Stampin' Up!

CAS Colours & Sketches #397

10 Responses »
Nov 172020

Wow!  It’s already the third Tuesday in November, and that means it’s color challenge time again at CAS Colours & Sketches.

I decided to combine the colors with the sketch from the current AAA Cards challenge and the theme from this week’s challenge at The Paper Players.  I used a tree die for the vertical and horizontal elements of the sketch, and I hope with the wash of color for the sky behind it, that I’m not taking too many liberties with the sketch idea.  The little birdie fills in for the “any shape” element.  I stamped the birdie onto a scrap of cardstock, colored him in the grey and darker purple of the challenge colors, and fussy cut him (even around his tiny little legs!) so I could glue him in place on his perch.  Then I used my stamping platform to help me add the sentiment precisely in place.  I opted to use the grey from the challenge color trio for the card base because it’s neutral and it matched my coloring the best.

 

What will the CC&S colors inspire you to create?  We’d love to see your clean and simple card in our challenge gallery!  You have until 6:00 p.m. Eastern U.S. time Monday, November 23 to link your card to the challenge post.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Winter Sparrows (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Basic Gray (Stampin’ Up); The Langton Prestige Extra Smooth Hot Press watercolor paper (Daler-Rowney); Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: Almost Amethyst reinker (SU); markers (Copic); Winter Trees die (Penny Black)

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am AAA Cards challenges, Cards, CAS Colours & Sketches, Lawn Fawn, The Paper Players challenges

CAS Colours & Sketches #394

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Oct 272020

Hello there!  After a break for a couple weeks, I’m back at it again with this week’s sketch challenge from CAS Colours & Sketches.  This is a nice little sketch that can be interpreted in various ways, since any shape can be used for the nine background shapes – so you could use nine stars, nine diamonds, nine leaves, or nine of whatever other shape you like.  I’m looking forward to seeing what our challenge participants do with it!

Once I figured out what I wanted to do for my card, it came together pretty easily and quickly.  I decided to use hearts for my shape.  I cut them from red textured cardstock (which, unfortunately, looks kind of orange in my photo, and it’s hard to see the texture).  I cut the word “love” from black cardstock three times and stacked the die cuts together for some dimension.  The stitched rectangle die adds a little extra interest to the kraft panel.

What will you do with this sketch? I hope you’ll try out something and share what you create with us! Link your work to the CAS Colours & Sketches blog by 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, November 2. Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Real Red Core’dinations (Stampin’ Up)
Other: Hearts, Scripty Love, Stitched Rectangle dies (Lawn Fawn)

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Cards, CAS Colours & Sketches, Lawn Fawn, Stampin' Up!

CAS Colours & Sketches #391

1 Response »
Oct 062020

Hello there!  This week’s challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches features some bright, cheery colors.

For today’s card, I originally was thinking I’d probably do something with abstract flowers.  As I was browsing through my folder of white cardstock, I found this piece that had already been cut with a scalloped die.  Then my thought wheels started turning in a different direction.  I decided instead to make the sentiment the focus of the card, using a combination of alphabet stamps and sentiment stamps.  The open outline letters allowed me to color them in an ombre manner with the challenge colors.  I chose to use the middle tone of the challenge trio for the card base.

And there you have it.  What ideas do you have for these colors?  We’d love to see you share your CAS styled card with them at the CC&S site!  You have until 6:00 p.m. Eastern U.S. time Monday, October 12 to link your card at the challenge site.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps: Happy Happy Happy, Quinn’s ABCs (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Pure Luxury White (Gina K. Designs); Melon Mambo (Stampin’ Up)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: markers (Copic); Edgelits Large Scallop die (SU)

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Cards, CAS Colours & Sketches, Lawn Fawn, Stampin' Up!

CAS Colours & Sketches #389

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Sep 222020

Hello there!  It’s the fourth Tuesday of the month, which means we have a new sketch challenge to present to you today at CAS Colours & Sketches.

Some time ago I had used a tree embossing folder on some designer paper that had a birch-like pattern, and cut the trees out from it.  Then I decided not to use them for that project, and they just sat in one of my folders of cardstock, where I would see them occasionally.  Today’s card finally puts them to use.  I ended up trimming the trees down further, both in height and width, so they would fit better onto the card front.  For the background, I brushed ink onto glossy white cardstock and blended the colors together, first with the brushes, and then with a tissue.  I took the color inspiration from an old “rainbow” ink pad that has four colors of ink, but I added a bit of brown to the bottom edge to help make it look more like ground.  I added a simple small white mat because it looked too bare-bones without one.  For the sentiment, I die-cut the “thanks” from both white and kraft cardstock because I wanted to stack them for depth.  I originally planned to have the white layer on top, thinking that the kraft would add more shadow below it, but the kraft showed up better against the tree trunks so I ended up reversing the layers.  And yes, I’ve used the mirror image of the sketch, although I can’t say I did that for any particular reason.

What will you do with this sketch?  I hope you’ll try out something and share what you create with us!  Link your work to the CAS Colours & Sketches blog by 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, September 28.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Glossy White (Stampin’ Up); designer paper from Aspen Frost 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Cranberry, Eggplant, Denim, Bottle, and Espresso (Adirondack)
Other: tree embossing folder (Darice); Olivia alphabet die (ProvoCraft); stencil brushes

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Cards, CAS Colours & Sketches

CAS Colours & Sketches #388

2 Responses »
Sep 152020

Hello there!  It’s another Tuesday, which means it’s new challenge day at CAS Colours & Sketches!  This week we have a trio of colors for you to work with that should start helping you think about autumn.  Of course, if you live in the southern hemisphere, you’re probably thinking about spring about now, so we hope you’ll show us a springtime way to use them.  As always, if you don’t own the exact colors named in the graphic, just use whatever product you have that closely matches them.

I wasn’t in the mood for coloring an image, so I opted to use some dies to create a little scene on my card.  The challenge colors made it pretty easy to decide which to use for the tree trunk, the leaves, and a couple of cardinals.  After I die cut the bare tree, I laid it on the card front to figure out where I wanted to position it.  I didn’t want to fiddle with cutting and gluing a bunch of leaves, so I used a gel stick in a color that seemed to match the challenge yellow and blended it out to add some color for the “leaves”.  I cut the male cardinal from cherry cardstock and the female cardinal from the same brown as the tree, adding a little cherry ink to her to make her look more realistic.  Offsetting the card front on the mat and the card base allows a little extra color to show. I think the cardinal pair and the sentiment I picked will make this a decent enough anniversary card to give to my husband next month.

We’d love to see what you can create with this week’s colors! Share your card at the CC&S website by 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, September 21. Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamp: Picture Perfect (Stampin’ Up)
Cardstock: Baked Brown Sugar, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla (SU)
Ink: Cherry Cobbler (SU)
Other: Winter Trees dies (Penny Black); gel stick (Faber Castell)

Posted by PH in VA at 8:00 am Cards, CAS Colours & Sketches, Stampin' Up!
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