Colour Me 99 and CAS Colours and Sketches 152

So good to be back in my craft room this weekend after being on a wonderful break away last weekend. So, making up for lost time, today's card is for two challenges that I often play at.
Firstly, Colour Me, which has this stunning colour combination that is so moody and so versatile.

Secondly, this week's sketch from CAS Colours and Sketches.

I like it when I see sketch and immediately know how I want to play with it and that's what happened this week. The colour combination was perfect to work with it.

I used masked off semi-circles to sponge the background in Rose Red, Perfect Plum and Rich Razzleberry. The dandelion was stamped in Rich Razzleberry. The whole panel was mounted on a Melon Mambo mat before being attached to the card base. I toyed with a number of ways of including the sentiment but flagging in this manner looked best.  Although I would normally have used a dark marker to colour the cut edges of the flagged sentiment to make it pop more, in this case I wanted it to recede so have not done so.

I'm very pleased with this card and am glad it worked out in reality just as I had imagined it.

Update: Delighted to have this card chosen as the Colour Captivator this week at Colour Me.
Also delighted with the news that this card was a Weekly Winner at CAS Colours and Sketches.

Ingredients
Card: Whisper White, Melon Mambo.
Stamps: SU A Dozen Thoughts, Hero Arts Dandelion
Inks: Rich Razzleberry, Perfect Plum, Rose Red.
Other: sponges, dimensionals.

Try Stampin' on Tuesday and Inkspire Me 226

It's been almost two weeks since I made a card. I had a marvellous girls' weekend away with a friend last weekend and the Christmas season social whirl has begun. Despite all the good things keeping me out of my craft room, I was itching to get back in today.

The card I've made today is for two challenges: this week's sketch at Try Stampin' on Tuesday, which was a sketch with an optional twist of 'Peace on Earth,' and the Christmas special: Frosty Forest at Inkspire Me.

The ornament is mounted on two plain blue layers that create just a hint of shadow behind the frosty forest scene, as well as adding dimension. Adding in the 'peace' over two levels turned out to be a problem. Packing layers underneath the letters that were off the ornament didn't work. So plan B was to mount the die cut words onto clear acetate and that worked really well. 

Update: So pleased to be a Top 3 Pick at Try Stampin on Tuesday. 

Ingredients

Card: Night of Navy, Whisper White, clear acetate

Stamps: Festival of Trees, Holly Jolly Greetings

Ink: Night of Navy, Pool Party, Silver, Versamark

Dies: Delicate Ornaments framelits, Christmas Greetings thinlits

Other: Softly Falling embossing folder, Silver washi tape from last year's holiday catalogue, Iridescent Ice embossing powder, Silver cording trim, Night of Navy marker to colour cut edges, dimensionals, sponges, post-it notes.

As You See It 114 - Design Team

Our challenge at As You See It this week is a colour challenge. I found this challenge quite a tricky one. Despite Amanda's inspiration picture, I just couldn't get those colours, pretty as each one is, working together!

In the end, I went for a very clean, very simple card using a set I've not used for a while: Clearly Besotted's Fabulous Fuchsia.

I lightly stamped off the fuchsia that's stamped directly onto the panel, in Real Red, to help create the illusion of depth, then the die cut fuchsia are popped up on dimensionals. I really bought this set in order to have the sentiments because I really like the mixed fonts employed: a very satisfying combination of lettering. The stitched rectangle die detail helps frame the central images in an understated way.

Ingredients
Card: Bermuda Bay, Whisper White
Stamps: Clearly Besotted Fabulous Fuchsia
Ink: Real Red, Mossy Meadow
Other: Fabulous Fuchsia die, SSS Stitched Rectangle die.

As You See It DT 113

This week at As You See It Challenge, Amanda has put us to another of her sketch challenges. This one had me thinking because although it kind of said "snowhills" to me, I'd done a snowy scene for last week's challenge. I toyed with a sand dune and a beach but that didn't seem to work for me.

My daughter was very excited to pot up the planter boxes on the verandah of the house she's bought. This got me thinking of planter boxes and I started to see a garden in the shapes.

I've recently been experimenting with an old favourite stamp set: Flower Shoppe. It was one of the first sets I ever bought from Stampin' Up. I've watercoloured the flowers because I think it gives a lovely 3D effect and I've fussy cut them, even though I have the matching punch, because it gives the petals a greater sense of movement and gives the set a different look. I stippled the centres with a black marker and a white gel pen to give depth. The petals are edged in Early Espresso to give a better definition. The 'planter box' is clear embossed onto Crumb Cake, then sponged with Crumb Cake and Soft Suede.

Why don't you play along with us this week too?

Ingredients

Card: Hello Honey, Soft Sky, Crumb Cake, watercolour paper, Garden Green

Stamps: Hardwood background stamp, Flower Shoppe, Petite Petals, Papillon Potpourri, Crazy for You

Ink: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Hello Honey, Tangelo Twist, Black Stazon, Versamark.

Other: Leaf sizzlit, Bitty Butterfly punch, dimensionals, So Saffron candy dots, Hello You thinlit, Early Espresso  and Black stamp'n'write markers, white gel pen, clear embossing powder.

CAS Colours and Sketches Birthday Plus

I've played at CAS Colours and Sketches for a little while now. I think Challenge 96 was when I discovered it and while I don't play every week, I do play quite often. When I saw that this week is a big celebration of both their third birthday and 150 challenges, I just had to make the time for it.

The challenge was an intriguing one and quite particular: the number 1, 5 or 0 in any combination, an aperture and following this sketch:

Meanwhile, dear readers, over at Pals Paper Arts was one of my favourite colour combinations - that is, pretty much Blackberry Bliss with anything.

I've rotated the sketch and changed the orientation to landscape. I've ink smooshed a band in Hello Honey, Tangelo Twist and a touch of Blackberry Bliss. The 5 and the circles are stacked: black with a Blackberry Bliss top, which on the 5 is slightly off-set to create a shadow. I cut out the circle from the top panel to create the aperture and tucked in behind it are words stamped from Clearly Besotted Time to Celebrate.

I think that the autumn feel to these colours and the reflective nature of the wording - plus 50 putting us into the autumn of life - qualifies this card for the Free for Fall Challenge at Stamp, Ink, Paper this week too. In this, I'm breaking tradition  - two is the most challenges I usually enter one card into!

Ingredients

Card: Blackberry Bliss, Hello Honey, Watercolour paper, scraps of Black and a scrap of Whisper White

Stamps: W&W Big, Bold and Party, Clearly Besotted Time to Celebrate

Ink: Blackberry Bliss, Hello Honey, Tangelo Twist, Tuxedo Black

Other: acetate to ink-smoosh with, circle framelits, Provocraft Red Tag Sale die.

As You See It DT 112

Lately, I've been experimenting with the whole snowy scene idea. It's a bit strange really, given that for me Christmas is pretty much slap bang in the middle of summer. So this week's sketch at As You See It let me explore the idea some more.

I really like the way the sketch is set to the side. It adds interest and I'm usually such an in-the-centre person, the change is good.

Although the starry sky looks golden in the photo, it's actually silver. Backing the glittery Something Borrowed embellishment gives it a new look that I like too.

Ingredients
Card: Whisper White, Blackberry Bliss, Silver glimmer paper.
Stamps: Festival of Trees, Holly Jolly Greetings
Ink: Lost Lagoon, Blackberry Bliss, Tuxedo Black
Other: Falling Snow embossing folder, Something Borrowed embellishment, circle framelit, dimensional.

Paper Craft Crew 170 and HSS 224

It feels like ages since I played with the Paper Craft Crew but I liked this week's sketch so much, I just had to make time for it.

The colour combination at Hand Stamped Sentiments was one I hadn't used exactly like this, although I've had a love affair with Blackberry Bliss for some time now, so this was instantly appealing. My fellow DT member, Jane Knudsen, at As You See It Challenge has used Delightful Dijon as a card base recently and it has made me look at that colour in a whole new light. So it is my card base today.

The combination lead here ....

Update: Pleased that this card was picked at Hand Stamped Sentiments this week.

Further update: Pleased that this card was a Top 3 Pick at Paper Craft Crew.

Ingredients

Card: Delightful Dijon, Whisper White, Blackberry Bliss, Mossy Meadow (scrap)

Stamps: Butterfly Basics, Kinda Eclectic

Ink: Mossy Meadow, Delightful Dijon, Blackberry Bliss

Other: Banner framelits, Banner punch, Elegant butterfly punch, dimensionals, linen thread, Blackberry Bliss button

Paper Players 270

This past weekend, I taught at my first Stampin' Up Extravaganza, which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it meant I didn't have a lot of time to play around with any of the challenges on offer over the last week or so.  So tonight, after work, I had a play around with the colour challenge at The Paper Players this week.

I've used black, white, silver and Cherry Cobbler.  I tried something I hadn't done before, which was to stamp the flowers onto watercolour paper and watercolour using  Cherry Cobbler ink. I added dots of silver embossing to the centre of the top flower, which were fussy cut rather than punched.

Update: Delighted that this card was picked as A Cut Above at The Paper Players.

Ingredients

Card: Basic Black, Whisper White, Silver glimmer paper, vellum, watercolour paper

Stamps: Flower Shoppe, Gorgeous Grunge, Holly Jolly Greetings, Crazy For You

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Versamark, Black Stazon, Black memento

Other: Leaf sizzlit, silver embossing powder, rhinestone, dimensionals, square framelits.

As You See It 111

This week at As You See It, Amanda has put us together a tricky little sketch challenge. Perhaps it's only tricky to me as it took me a long while to come up with something worthy of a design-team post! I've done something I don't often do, which is use a lot of patterned paper. Usually, I stamp a lot; today, I've only stamped a little.

I think this card is one that would quite happily suit a man, something I often struggle with. Because I was aiming at masculine, I resisted the urge to add some cord to the brad, kept the lines clean and the sentiment in a plain, type-written style stamp.

Ingredients
Card: Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Rosie's Pearl and Onyx paper stack.
Stamps: W&W Big, Bold and Party.
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black.
Other: SU Label punch, dimensionals, Craftwise Romance brad.

Time Out 43 and Just Us Girls Wildcard

Tonight when I got home from school, I couldn't wait to get into my craft room. After days of creative drought, I had an idea I wanted to try out. I know it's not a new technique but I've never tried out the sponging of snowy hills and trees quite like this, so it's new to me and I wanted to see if I could do it as a one-layer card.

I don't often play at the Time Out Challenge and have never played at Just Us Girls, although I like to look each week at the amazing entries at those sites.

I've often struggled with one-layer cards, so wanted to enter this challenge to stretch me a bit. The temptation to sneak layers in was strong. I resisted, but there might have to be a take 2 on this card at a later date!

The challenge at Time Out is Christmas with an optional twist of pink and/or purple.

The stars have been stamped over the sponging using silver ink after the trees had been masked off. I ummed and ahhed over embossing the sentiment in silver but went for black to balance the strength of the black trees.

Ingredients
Card: Heavy weight Whisper White
Stamps: Festival of Trees, Endless Wishes, Holly Jolly Greetings
Ink: Island  Indigo, Blackberry Bliss, Silver, Tuxedo Black.
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