Case this Sketch 129 and Fab Friday

The sketches at Case this Sketch are unfailingly lovely and this week is no exception, although the vertical sentiment is initially a bit scary!

Meanwhile, Fab Friday is showcasing the delicious new in-colours from Stampin' Up and I've used my three favourites from the range.

So, here it is...

Ingredients

Card: Whisper White, scrap of Watermelon Wonder

Stamps: SU Butterfly Basics and Kinda Eclectic, W&W Big, Bold and Party

Inks: Mint Macaron, Watermelon Wonder, Tip Top Taupe
Other: Brad base and Crumb Cake candy dot, linen twine, dimensional, Elegant Buttefly punch, SSS Stitched Rectangle die, Crumb Cake marker.

Create with Connie and Mary 361

This week, Connie and Mary have given us a sketch to work from.

This has been a challenge for me in many ways, in that I have deviated from what I think of as my usual style. Although I often use DSP when I'm scrapbooking, I seldom use it in cardmaking, preferring to use stamps to create backgrounds and depth. However, I did get myself a packet of the Everyday Chic DSP from the new catalogue. I got it out to test out on another card this weekend and ended up using it again here. Another deviation from my norm is using what I think of as gushy sentiments: at heart I'm plain spoken so usually limit myself to plain sentiments and usually make the sentiment less prominent. This one, from Perfect Pennants seemed apt for this card though and I like the result.

Ingredients

Card: Black, Whisper White, Mint Macaron, Everyday Chic DSP

Stamps: Perfect Pennants, Butterfly Basics

Ink: Black, Mint Macaron

Other: circle framelits, Butterfly Basics Thinlit die, rhinestones, linen twine, dimensionals

Paper Craft Crew 150

It has been a few weeks since I last played at the Paper Craft Crew but sometimes, life just gets in the way....

Anyway, the sketch this week was extra appealing, with its overlapping, askew squares.

I often find myself with a lot of feminine cards, not at least because of the frequency with which I reach for a butterfly stamp or die! So today, I was aiming firmly at the masculine end of the spectrum - not all male but something acceptable to a male - but still OK for a female.

I did indulge myself and get some Everyday Chic DSP from the new catalogue and have been itching to give it a turn.

The black and white is a good foil for the Coastal Cabana. Edging the cut shapes with a black marker gives a subtle, but perceptible, pop to the cut shapes. I really wished I had the little itty-bitty star punch tonight, so I could add in some tiny stars but the circles pick up the 'a' from the sentiment, so I'm OK with that.

Update: Pleased to be voted a Feature Artisan for this card.

Ingredients

Card: Black, Whisper White, Coastal Cabana scraps, Everyday Chic DSP

Stamps: Perfect Pennants

Other: Square Framelits, Star Framelits, the star from the Circle thinlits die, circle punch from the Itty Bitty punch pack, Coastal Cabana twine, Black marker pen, dimensionals.

As You See It 93

I always look at As You See It challenges but don't play anywhere near as often as I'd like. Maybe, if I retire....

This week is a sketch.

There's something about the way the challenges are presented on the page - they are just so enticing!

I started with the idea of using the dragonfly and having him on a skyline. The colours blended together on the circle are Hello Honey and Blackberry Bliss, and it was from that that the rest of the card grew.

Update: Delighted to be Featured Artist at As You Like It Challenge with this card.

Ingredients

Card: Hello Honey, Blackberry Bliss, Sahara Sand, Whisper White scraps

Inks: Blackberry Bliss, Hello Honey

Stamps: Clearly Besotted Leafy Accents and Say it in Style, SU Banner Blast.

Dies: Spellbinders Dragonfly Delight, Circle framelits

Other: Rhinestones, SU Square Lattice embossing folder, Couture Exotic embossing folder, SU Banner punch

AAA Cards Game 42

It's been a little while since I've played at AAA Cards but the technique challenge was really appealing. In fact, I started last weekend and only got time to finish my card this weekend, so just as well it's a two week challenge!

PASTE and/or STENCIL TECHNIQUES

Some time ago, I watched a video from Ranger Dylusion inks about using water to raise the colour from the ink and I'd heard it worked with distress inks too. I've not used stencils much. I had a couple that I used in scrapbooking layouts but never in cards. Having been lucky enough to win two stencils from Artplorations through Casology, I was well-armed for this experiment.

I started by cutting a circle and blending together Broken China and Crushed Olives. Then I used Artploration's Retro-circle stencil and misted it with water. After about a minute, I used a paper towel to pick up the water and bingo - the pattern appeared.

Then I used circle framelits to cut the original circle into three,  discarding (to my bits box) the inner circle. That's all adhered to a stitched rectangle, which is raised up on the white card base.

I like the effect created here. In the photo, it almost looks a bit bokeh - something else I'm going to have a play with soon. Isn't that one of the great things with crafts: there's always something new to try out.

I'm also linking this post to Stamplorations Anything Goes Challenge, since my lovely Artplorations stencil is the hero of the piece. :-)

Ingredients

Card: Whisper White, watercolour paper

Ink: Distress Inks Crushed Olives, Broken China; water, Black

Stencil: Artploration Retro Circles

Stamp: Clearly Besotted Say it in Style

Dies: Circle framelits, SSS Stitched Rectangles.

Other: dimensionals

CAS Colours and Sketches 130

Well, it's my final week as Guest Designer at CAS Colours and Sketches and it's sketch week, this week. Thanks so much to the team at CAS Colours and Sketches for letting me join in for the month of June. It's been a lot of fun.

I couldn't help myself: I'd got a new parcel from Stampin' Up and in it were the banner framelits. And the Perfect Pennants stamps....

Then I got all Disney and started thinking about "When You Wish Upon A Star." So that's how it all ended up here...

Ingredients

Card: Whisper White, Black, Hello Honey

Stamps: SU Perfect Pennants

Ink: Black

Other: Lucky Stars embossing folder, Banner framelits, Hello Honey twine, star thinlit from the Circle thinlit card die, Itty Bitty circle punch, black marker to colour cut edges

Case this Sketch 128

I had a lot of fun experimenting with the sketch from Case this Sketch this week.

A couple of weeks ago, I watched a great video clip on www.kwernerdesign.com on ink smooshing. I loved the controlled, yet uncontrolled nature of the technique and was keen to experiment with it again. So, here it is.

In a first attempt at this idea, I embossed the clock in white but is just got lost in the background, which is supposed to be reminiscent of fireworks and suggestive of energy and joy. The black embossing powder worked better, especially since the clock has been cut into pieces. I added in some sequins for a bit of glitz, in keeping with the celebration theme.

Ingredients
Card: Whisper White, Watercolour paper, Wisteria Wonder, Island Indigo
Stamps: Clearly Besotted Time to Celebrate, W&W Big, Bold and Party
Ink: Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Peacock Feathers and Shaded Lilac, Versamark
Other: W&W Big, Bold and Party die, W&W sequins, Black embossing powder

Pals Paper Arts 256

It's been a little while since I played at Pals Paper Arts but this week's sketch was just too appealing for me not to make the time for it.

So much did I like this sketch that I decided to take a classic, literal approach to it. One of the first things I got when I started scrapbooking about six years ago was a little pad of DSP from Basic Grey and it's been so useful that a few of the scraps got used for this card. I always seem to go feminine, so in this card tried for masculine.

Ingredients
Card: Black, Very Vanilla, papers from Basic Grey Little Black Dress.
Stamps: W&W Big, Bold and Party
Ink: Black
Other: CTMH Honeycomb embossing folder, Black marker to colour cut edges, Buttons from my mother's button box (probably Vintage by now), linen twine.

Colour Me 76 and Freshly Made 191

The colours at Colour Me are so enticing this week, I just can't resist them! It was a great chance to try out one of the Artploration stencils that I won at Casology, which arrived in the mail this week. Thank you, Shery from Stamplorations - they are wonderful!

Aren't they lovely colours? They fitted in with an idea that I had for this week's Freshly Made Sketch too.

Last weekend, I accidentally used clear embossing powder, thinking it was white. I liked the effect it made, so repeated it this week - on purpose!

Ingredients

Card: Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant, Coastal Cabana

Stamps: Clearly Besotted Say it in Style

Inks: Elegant Eggplant, Coastal Cabana, Pear Pizzazz (closest match to Old Olive), versamark

Stencil: Artploration Retro Circles

Other: sponges, dimensionals, Coastal Cabana twine, old button (maybe Certainly Celery), clear embossing powder

CAS Colours and Sketches 129

This week is colour week at CAS Colours and Sketches and, continuing on from the last colour challenge, this one picks up the other colours from Stampin' Up's 2015-17 new In-colours. Delightful Dijon and Cucumber Crush are teamed up with Basic Grey.

I kept hoping that my new stamps would arrive in time for me to use them with this challenge. They did and I spent quite a lot of the weekend playing with these colours and the playful little set No Bones About It.  I'll share the best of those attempts later in this post. I liked it, but not enough to put it in as my guest designer offering.

I woke up on Sunday morning with this idea and I think it shows off the colours well.

I intended to emboss the words in white embossing powder, but accidentally grabbed the clear instead. I liked it that way and left it as it was. The butterfly was stamped in Basic Gray and coloured in shades of Delightful Dijon, highlighted at the wingtips with silver gel pen, then given a coat of Glossy Accents, which brought out the colour more.

And here's my effort using the same colours and No Bones About It. I also used the new embossing folder Elegant Dots, to make a faux reptilian pattern on the grey cardstock. I like the ink-smooshed background - it's kind of reminiscent of primordial forest and sunlight, I think.

Ingredients for Butterfly Card

Card: Basic Grey, Whisper White, Delightful Dijon

Stamps: Clearly Besotted Leafy Accents, Clearly Besotted Say it in Style, SU Papillon Potpourri

Ink: Delightful Dijon, Crushed Cucumber, Versamark

Other: Clear embossing powder, Basic Grey candydots, Silver gel pen, Glossy Accents

Just Add Ink 266 FMS 190

This weekend has flown by and although I've done lots of good things, I haven't spent a lot of time in my craft room. Partly it was because my mojo deserted me. Usually when I look through the week's challenges one or two pop out with an immediate idea. But this week - nothing. Fortunately, this morning I got the glimmer of something that morphed into this effort for two challenges: the colour challenge at Just Add Ink and the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

Not having any Pink Pirouette, I've substituted Blushing Bride. Although not obvious in the photo, the front panel is split and the white part raised on dimensionals.

After stamping the navy leaf, I masked it and used a circle mask before stamping the pink music. The sentiment is gold embossed and this is echoed with the use of the gold metallic thread on the butterfly.

Update: Delighted to be Weekly Winner at Just Add Ink.

Ingredients

Card: Whisper White, Night of Navy DSP, Blushing Bride.

Stamps: Heidi Swapp Music, Clearly Besotted Leafy Accents, SU Papillon Potpourri, SU A Dozen Thoughts

Ink: Night of Navy, Blushing Bride, Versamark

Other: Gold embossing powder, Elegant Butterfly punch, Brad base, Blushing Bride candy dot, gold metallic thread, dimensionals

CAS Colours and Sketches 128

I'm very excited to play at CAS Colours and Sketches this week, in my second week as Guest Designer. The sketch is wonderful - lots of room for interpretation - but I took a fairly literal approach to it. 

Last week's lovely colour challenge, utilising the new In-colours, got me looking hard at my paper stock and I realised how much I liked last year's In-colours too so I've given them an outing this week. Unfortunately, I'd used up all my Blackberry Bliss but have remedied that by ordering some more!

I did get a little carried away with the circular motif so the squares ended up as circles.

I also had an experiment in that I coloured the centre of the blooms with a silver gel pen. It looks a lot nicer in real life!

Ingredients

Card: Whisper White, Lost Lagoon, Hello Honey, Moonlight DSP

Stamps: Eastern Blooms (retired), Lotus Blossom (for the sentiment)

Ink: Lost Lagoon

Other: Lost Lagoon stitched ribbon, silver gel pen, circle punch, circle framelit, Lost Lagoon marker pen, Decorative Dots embossing folder, Crushed Curry candy dots, dimensionals.

Less is More 227

Tonight, I got home from work and discovered that my husband was going to be working late and would not require tea. So, straight to my craft room for me. I had an agenda of things to do there but what actually happened was I got distracted by the colour challenge at Less is More - the challenge is 'Sunset'. For such a simple looking card, it required a lot of thinking!

I really wanted to use the Oriental Painting stamps that I got second-hand recently and this challenge seemed a good opportunity. The panel for the stamp is sponged using So Saffron, Calypso Coral and Tangelo Twist.

Ingredients
Card: Black, watercolour paper
Stamps: Oriental Painting (retired), A Dozen Thoughts
Inks: So Saffron, Calypso Coral, Tangelo Twist, Versamark
Other: Gold embossing powder, sponges.

Blue Skies and Smooth Sailing

I recently found out about a great challenge site called Fusion. What I liked about it, apart from the great cards I saw there, was the set-up for each challenge: a photo and a sketch. You get to choose to do either, or both. This week's challenge was exciting...

I really like it when I look at a challenge and an idea comes straight to me. That's when I just have to make the time to play it. I'm going with fusion this first time playing and will use both.

Thanks Fusion team, for such a wonderful photo and sketch to work with.

Ingredients
Card: Pool Party, Night of Navy, Whisper White
Stamps: SU Hardwood, Butterfly Basics, Wetlands, By the Seashore; W&W Big, Bold and Party for the sentiment.
Ink: Black, Night of Navy, Pool Party for stamping; Sahara Sand, Pool Party, So Saffron for sponging
Other: SU Square Lattice embossing folder, linen twine, dimensionals, sponges