Create with Connie and Mary 335

Today gave me time to work on the wonderful sketch at Create with Connie and Mary.

Over the last few days, I've spent some time thinking about this sketch because I really liked it. I decided on giving my Kinda Eclectic stamp set a go at it. I just love that set! This year's in-colours are the first I've ever bought and I love those too, especially Lost Lagoon and Blackberry Bliss, so it's a happy combination for me. I've used Blackberry Bliss as my card base.

Update: Delighted to be picked in the Top 3 for this challenge!

Ingredients
Card: Blackberry Bliss (base), Hello Honey, Whisper White, Moonight Stack DSP
Stamps: Kinda Eclectic, Dictionary Background stamp, sentiment from Vintage Labels
Ink: Blackberry Bliss, Lost Lagoon, Sahara Sand (for the Dictionary background)
Other: Circle framelits, Butterfly punches, Brad base and Basic Gray candydots, Linen twine, Early Espresso marker to colour cut edges, dimensionals to lift centre circle and to support butterfly wings.

Freshly Made Sketches 167

Now that Christmas is over, it is really starting to feel like the holidays have begun. Christmas Day was lovely with all the extended family over for breakfast, all the children and partners for lunch along with grandparents, the day warm enough for the barbie and the pool but not so hot we felt melted. A glorious day indeed, but at last - some down-time. I was pleased to see the extended time frame for Freshly Made Sketches and, as always, a great sketch to work from.

Today, I just didn't want to make another Christmas card and in the pre-Christmas rush my latest Internet shopping package  had been opened but not played with. (Apart from card challenge blogs, on-line shopping has been the biggest discovery of the year for me.)

 Anyway, here's what emerged.

I reduced the size of the circle element in the sketch but gave it prominence by raising the balloon onto dimensionals. This stamp set from Clearly Besotted is adorable! It's the first set of theirs that I have bought, and I'm impressed at the crispness of the stamped image it produces.

Ingredients

Card: SU Whisper White, Marina Mist, Night of Navy

Stamps: Clearly Besotted Make a Wish

Ink: Marina Mist, Island Indigo, Night of Navy, Black

Other: Dimensionals, Night of Navy marker to colour cut edges.

Just Add Ink 245

This week's challenge at Just Add Ink is an inspiration board. I'm going to give it a go for two reasons: I don't feel as comfortable with this kind of challenge and secondly because while there have been a few neutrals Christmas challenges this year, I've always left them alone - again because I'm not so comfortable there.

I have deliberately gone for a simple design and picked up on the neutral/natural colour palette, the star shape and the Christmas theme.

The Sahara Sand front panel has a star cut out to reveal the Early Espresso underneath and is raised up on dimensionals. The top of the panel is embossed using the Lucky Stars folder.

Ingredients
Card: Sahara Sand, Early Espresso
Stamps: Endless Wishes
Other: Star from Circle Thinlits, Lucky Stars embossing folder, Sahara Sand Candy Dot, Linen Twine, dimensionals

CAS 105

Summer has arrived at last and it must be approaching 30 degrees C. The kids have all gone out, the Christmas shopping is done (if not wrapped), so I finally got a bit of time to myself to spend in my room.

This week's challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches was to take any past doubles challenge and make it Christmas. I chose this sketch/colour double challenge from August 2013, long before I started playing.

The colours are not inherently Christmassy, but neither are navy and silver traditional colours, yet they are often seen at this time of year. So here's what I came up with...

The circle borders are cut using a Circle Confetti die I bought on-line. I cut navy circles to cover the centre circle of the die, embossed the star in white and then popped it onto a dimensional to cover the cut-out circle from the die-cut. The card base is Marina Mist. I like serene feel this card has.

Ingredients
Card: Marina Mist, Night of Navy, Whisper White
Stamps: Bright and Beautiful, Endless Wishes
Ink: Night of Navy, Versamark
Other: White embossing powder, dimensionals, Circle Confetti die.

As You See It 67

I came across this lovely challenge site, As You See It, because I recently started following Jen Mitchell's blog (I'd admired so many of her cards in so many different places) and she mentioned it. Past challenges looked appealing but this week's speed challenge really piqued my interest. I'd never seen one of those before!

So, shades of white and a time limit of ten minutes. Thank goodness for an organised workspace and a phone with a stopwatch! Alas, the phone did not have such a great camera for capturing white on white.

The sentiment is embossed in white onto the card-stock and the tree is embossed onto vellum and mounted behind the window. The whole panel is popped up on dimensionals.

Time: 8:30:16

Update: So happy to be picked as Featured Artist on this challenge.

Ingredients
Card: Whisper White, Vellum
Ink: Versamark
Stamps: Festival of Trees, Endless Wishes
Other: White embossing powder, Lucky Stars embossing folder, Circle Framelits, Organza ribbon, Dimensionals

AAA Plaid Christmas

AAA card challenge continues the Christmas theme with a Plaid Christmas Challenge.

Great challenge idea! Plaid is something I don't often use so I found it a challenge all right!

I especially like this plaid pattern - it's just like a warm flannel farm work-shirt. Nostaligic.

Ingredients

Card: Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Tartan paper from SU Christmas DSP stack.

Stamps: Festival of Trees, Endless Wishes

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow, Versamark

Other: Cherry Cobbler embossing powder, rhinestones, Tree punch, Dimensionals to lift the central panel, the tree and star

Double Challenge CAS and Colour Me

I don't often do cards and enter them into multiple challenges but this week two came together for me. CAS Colours and Sketches challenge was to use any past sketch and make it Christmas. I chose this one from June 2013, Challenge 31.

And I combined it with the Colour Me challenge, since my new favourite colour is Night of Navy.

So here it is...

Ingredients

Card: Night of Navy, Whisper White

Stamps: Bright and Beautiful, Endless Wishes, Gorgeous Grunge (all SU)

Ink: Night of Navy, Versamark

Other: Silver embossing powder, Dimensionals to lift stars, rhinestones, Star framelits

Blue Christmas AAA29

I saw this challenge when it first came out at AAA Cards at the start of December and wanted to do something for it, yet here we are with only a day to go.... just sneaking in before the deadline.

I've recently become very taken with using Night of Navy, so much so that I've had to buy a new packet. This card is predominantly White and Navy with some silver embossing on the Christmas tree decoration and touches of silver in the rhinestones.

And a peek inside...

I liked the idea of wandering through a forest and coming upon a Christmas tree, so this card is a response to that. The oval cut-out gives a bit of a window effect and gives a sense of depth to the card. The forest floor is sponged then stamped over with an un-named grass stamp found at the Church Fair. The tree is decorated with silver embossed tinsel and rhinestones but the embossing hasn't photographed so well.

Ingredients

Card: Night of Navy, Whisper White

Ink: Night of Navy, Versamark

Stamps: Festival of Trees, Endless Wishes, un-named grass stamp

Other: Sponge, Dimensionals, unidentified blue baker's twine, Kaisercraft rhinestones, Tree punch, silver embossing powder, Provocraft Swiss Dots embossing folder, Night of Navy stamp and write marker to colour all cut edges, Oval framelits.

Paper Players 225

One of the many nice things about the start of the summer school holidays is that it gives me time to play at Paper Players. This week's challenge was a good one, a real challenging challenge to get my head around.

Unfortunately, try as I might, I couldn't get a good photo that showed both the lovely vanilla card and the richly textured black panel. They show up better below...

The embossed star is raised from the panel and the black outline star is raised up again on dimensionals. Black, gold and vanilla seemed like such an elegantly formal combination but not one that immediately shouted 'Christmas' but I'm very pleased with the outcome. Possibly my favourite bit is the sentiment which is a mixture of black ink and gold embossing.

Ingredients

Card: Black, Very Vanilla

Stamps: Bright and Beautiful, Endless Wishes

Ink: Black, Versamark

Other: Gold embossing powder, Grace Taylor This and That Washi Tape, Gold ribbon, Star framelits, Provocraft Textiles embossing folder, dimensionals, Black marker to colour cut edges,

Paper Players 224

I've not played at Paper Players for a while - the playing dates don't fit as well around my working week - but I do love the idea of a tic-tac-toe challenge and it is the end of the school year today, so some celebration was in order! I think I'll just get this simple card sneaked in before the deadline.

There were so many possibilities in this challenge...

... but I went with the first column: tree, patterned paper and star and the idea formed over dinner.

The design is simple but pleasing. The white panel is raised on dimensionals which gives a sense of depth to the card face. The star bead I found in a box of leftovers a friend had given me some time ago. I like the way the rhinestones pick up the glittery centre of the star bead as it unifies the two elements.

Ingredients
Card: Whisper White, Trim the Tree DSP stack
Stamps: Endless Wishes
Ink: Garden Green
Other: Festival of trees punch, Garden Green stamp-and-write marker to colour the cut edges, dimensionals, rhinestones, star bead

Just Add Ink 242

In the last couple of months, I've become interested in experimenting more with backgrounds, even though I'm often drawn to clean space.  For instance, I've begun using background stamps more, I've experimented with sponging and embossing and tried some new techniques so this week's challenge at Just Add Ink re-ignited that interest.

The watercolour background I created by scribbling onto a piece of baking paper with stamp-and- write pens in Island Indigo and Crushed Curry, spritzing with water then dragging the Whisper White over it to pick up the ink.  After it had dried, I gave it a spray with Pearl Perfect Pearls, which gave it a nice shimmer in the light and somehow brightened the colours. I tried using watercolour paper  and also ink pads rather than markers but these did not give such a pleasing blend of colours.

The 'daisies' and the colours seemed joyful, so I used some bits from Endless Wishes, even though this is a birthday card, not a Christmas card.

Thanks to the Just Add Ink team for another thought-provoking challenge!

Update: This card got an honourable mention at Just Add Ink

Ingredients

Card: Island Indigo, Crushed Curry, Whisper White, scraps of Garden Green

Ink: Island Indigo

Stamps: Endless Wishes, Sassy Salutations (Happy Birthday is on the inside), Petite Petals

Other: Island Indigo and Crushed Curry markers, Petite Petals punch, Island Indigo baker's twine, Crushed Curry candy dots, Crushed Curry button, Provocraft Fancy Pants tag die, IOS spiral die, Perfect Pearl mist, circle framelits, dimensionals

Freshly Made Sketches 164

Freshly Made Sketches had a very open sketch this week and it got me thinking about making a very clean, very minimalist card.

Ingredients

Card: Cherry Cobbler for the base, Whisper White

Stamps: Endless Wishes

Ink: Cherry Cobbler

Other: Provocraft cuttlebug embossing folder, Cherry Cobbler baker's twine, Vintage Christmas charm (magazine giveaway last year), dimensionals to lift white panel, Cherry Cobbler marker pen to colour the cut edges.

Freshly Made Sketches 163

There was great excitement in my house on Monday because the stamps I'd ordered on-line from Altenew arrived. New stamps always cause a frisson of pleasure but this was the first time I'd ordered anything on the internet that involved non-NZ dollars and I hadn't expected them to arrive after only 8 days - US to NZ. Not a bad effort from the postal service! A bit of a double whammy of excitement for the first day of the working week.

So, then I hoped that one of the challenges that open late in the week would have something that would let me use them and sure enough, Freshly Made Sketches obliged.

Ingredients

Card: Basic Gray, So Saffron, Whisper White

Stamps: Altenew Painted Flowers and Label Love, SU Gorgeous Grunge

Inks: So Saffron, Crushed Curry, Certainly Celery, Basic Gray

Other: Dimensionals, Square Lattice embossing folder, Certainly Celery stitched ribbon

Just Add Ink 241

The sketch from Just Add Ink kept me awake half of last night as I tried to work out the best way to tackle it and tried to work out measurements in my head! Even so, I ended up with variations on a theme.

I was lucky enough to get a couple of stamps from the jumble at the Church Fair a couple of weeks ago - a tree and a really useful clump of grass. Neither are named but one is dated 1994 and I wanted to use them in this challenge.

Variation 1:

Variation 2:

So, first thing on today's agenda was getting these cards out of my head and made. I've too-ed and fro-ed about which one to submit to the challenge, but think I'll go with 2.

Ingredients
Card: Night of Navy, Crumb Cake, Whisper White
Ink: Pool Party, Marina Mist, So Saffron, Night of Navy (both) Hero Arts Black; Crumb Cake, Soft Suede (1); Mossy Meadow, Basic Gray (2)
Stamps: Unnamed tree and grass (both); Wetlands, A Dozen Thoughts (1); Wetlands sentiment (2)
Other: Dimensionals (both), Linen twine (1); Decorative label punch, Night of Navy candy dots, Night of Navy ribbon (2)

CAS 100

I might be short of time this week but I really wanted to make something for CAS Colour and Sketches' 100th challenge. I've only played here two or three times before but there's something special about 100 that was extra enticing. The sketch was an interesting one.

Another colour combination I used once before this year is Marina Mist and Tangelo Twist and since I wanted this card to be bright and celebratory, I went for this combo again.

The horizontal band was made by sponging Marina Mist onto white card, then using the star mask and sponging Tangelo Twist on top. The banner piece was embossed using the now retired Square Lattice folder. I used star framelits to cut the stars. The Tangelo star is on dimensionals, as is the hollow Marina Mist star on it. This arrangement has gives a really pleasing sense of depth to the card. The small star is attached to the vellum banner so it almost seems to float over the paper.

Ingredients

Paper: Whisper White, Marina Mist, Tangelo Twist, Vellum

Stamps: SU Dozen Thoughts (Bravo!)

Inks: Marina Mist, Tangelo Twist, Black Stazon.

Other: Star mask, sponges, star framelits, Marina Mist candy dots, Square Lattice embossing folder, dimensionals