Try Stampin' on Tuesday 252

Today is SO hot that I've retreated to the living room with the air-con on and will only be tempted outside by the prospect of a dip in the pool. Consequently, I've been doing a lot of indoor tidying up and fixing up loose ends of things that don't require a trip outside - as well as getting ahead on my GoodReads challenge for 2016. I feel my husband will return from the golf course looking rather more tanned and rather more sweaty than when he left home this morning!

So I've decided to enter this card into this week's challenge at Try Stampin' on Tuesday after all.
Although I liked the look of the sketch, I struggled with it after many of the ideas I had involved things that just looked too crowded arranged into a line of five. I thought about using fewer things or a less than straight line but decided that, in the end, the two critical elements of the sketch were to use five of something and a horizontal(ish) arrangement.

I've recently introduced a friend into card-making and she fell in love with the Brights collection, which I've seldom ever used. In looking at things with her, I've come to a new appreciation of Bermuda Bay and have used it for this card. I've watercoloured the flowers with diluted shades of Bermuda Bay and then fussy cut them rather than punching them. The centres I coloured by stippling with black marker and white gel pen then added a touch of glossy accents to them. I think I've achieved the bright and casual, friendly look I was going for.

Update: Delighted to receive an Honourable Mention at Try Stampin on Tuesday.

Ingredients

Card: Bermuda Bay, Basic Black, Whisper White, watercolour paper, Everyday Chic DSP

Stamps: Petite Petals, Gorgeous Grunge, A Dozen Thoughts

Inks: Bermuda Bay, Black Stazon, Tuxedo Black.

Other: Petite Petals punch, Bitty Banner punch, Black baker's twine, dimensionals, Glossy Accent, Black marker, white gel pen

As You See It 118 - Design Team

Our last challenge went for a couple of weeks to give everyone a chance to play over the holidays and we had some lovely entries. This new challenge is an assortment challenge. The task is to create a project that uses all the elements in the assortment. 

The snowflake wouldn't let me get past a Christmas card, even if Christmas is in mid-summer! So, here's the first card in next Christmas's stash.

I experimented a bit with my ink resist. I clear embossed the snowflakes, then wet the paper in the part I wanted to colour. I put some Rich Razzleberry and Blackberry Bliss onto an acyrlic block added water to liquify them and used them like paint. I used the darker ink to emphasise some areas. After drying it off, I added some water drops to the coloured area and then patted them off, to add a bit more pattern to the background. After drying it a second time, I stamped in a few extra snowflakes in Rich Razzleberry.

So, have a go yourselves and try your hand at our assortment challenge.

Ingredients

Card: Blackberry Bliss, watercolour paper, Whisper White, Silver glimmer paper

Stamps: Endless Wishes, Holly Jolly Greetings

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Blackberry Bliss

Other: Rhinestones, Silver thread, Something Borrowed embellishment

2015 Favourites

2015 was my first full year of card-making. I learned a lot by entering challenges and I experimented a lot. I got my first design team post at As You See It in September and was lucky enough to have a month long guest designer spot at CAS Colours and Sketches and Just Add Ink, as well as a couple of weeks at CAS-ology. It's been a great year and as I tidied up my blog and archived my 2015 badges, I spent some time looking back and choosing twelve favourites from the year - which is harder to do than you'd think.

This card was from the first challenge of 2015 at The Paper Players - the theme was to use recycled materials and it's the only time I've ever headlined at The Paper Players.

This card is from the first time I entered at The Paper Craft Crew and was fortunate to get voted a Featured Artisan.

This one was also made for The Paper Players and was A Cut Above there.

This one was an experiment in die cutting and was a Cut Above at The Paper Players and a weekly winner at CAS Colours and Sketches. It was a lot of fun, and also a puzzle, to make!

This one is one I made when doing a guest spot at Just Add Ink. Loved the colours!

Loved the experiment with an ink-smooshed background.

I like making music-themed cards.

I love the colours and the vellum wings in this offering for CAS-ology Wings challenge, which it won.

This is one of my favourite favourites, made for an As You See It colour challenge.

This was a bespoke male card for the man in my life, inspired by a challenge at Just Add Ink, which it won.

I love the colours and the moodiness of this card which won at both Colour Me and CAS Colours and Sketches.

And finally, this favourite of my Christmas cards made for both the design team at AYSI and the Galaxy of Stars Christmas Challenge at AAA cards.

Less is More 257

Holidays are great! Back to work for the rest of the house tomorrow, although for me school is still off until February. Even so, I found time this afternoon to make something for the colour challenge at Less is More, which is to use NEUTRALS in a CAS card.

One of my daughters gave me a square, clear background stamp by Prima for Christmas and I was looking for a chance to use it. It appears in this card after I masked a circle shape and used it to create a ground for the other elements in the card. Such a pretty little stamp, although I couldn't find a name for it, only a number - which I've instantly forgotten.

Originally, I'd considered embossing the vertical Crumb Cake strip on the left. However, after I decided that the colours lent themselves to a sympathy card, I wanted a starker look so abandoned the embossing idea. I like how this starkness focusses attention on the image and therefore, the sentiment.

Update: Absolutely delighted to be a Top 3 Pick at Less is More!

Ingredients
Card: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Early Espresso
Stamps: Prima - unknown clear background stamp, SU Summer Silhouettes, Papillon Potpourri and Wetlands (for sentiment)
Ink: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
Other: Itty Bitty Butterfly punch, Early Espresso candy dot, dimensional

ColourQ 322

This week's challenge at Colour Q is beautiful. I love the beach associations of Coastal Cabana and the hint of luxury from the gold. Very summer and very celebratory!

I was originally thinking New Year card, but that's been and gone, and New Year is a birthday time in our house so it's ended up a birthday card.

I used a stamp set that's been on my NBUS pile for a month or two now, Dotty Angles. Wow - it's a great set and I think I'll be using it a lot more! I've used it in here firstly in Coastal Cabana, then the same stamped off and finally again gold embossed. It layers up so well. I like the way it looks a bit like confetti, or floating balloons, and gives a really festive feel to the card.

The die-cut 'celebrate' is layered in black then the top gold-foil layer is slightly off-set to give a shadow effect.

Delighted to have this card named as a Colour Courtier at Colour Q.

Ingredients
Card: Whisper White, Basic Black, Coastal Cabana, Gold foil
Stamps: SU Dotty Angles, W&W Big, Bold and Party
Inks: Coastal Cabana, Tuxedo Black, versamark
Other: gold embossing powder, W&W Big Bold and Party dies, dimensionals, Coastal Cabana thick baker's twine, Gold cord trim.

Freshly Made Sketches 217

Already Christmas is starting to seem a memory, especially since we've had two family birthdays since then. Visiting children have returned home, no visitors scheduled and husband has gone to play golf so I got back into my room. For a warm-up and to get back in the swing, I've played with the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

I wanted to make a cheerful card, so went with Crushed Curry and Cucumber Crush with touches of black. The daisy is die cut using layers of Crushed Curry with one layer of So Saffron. The tips have been sponged in Crushed Curry. I die cut the daisy shape out of the white panel and then offset the flower over it so the black mat would peep through. This gave a nice shadow effect that has added depth to the focal point. 

I did originally try adding a small Crushed Curry button and twine bow to the centre but that just looked too busy and detracted from the flower, rather than adding to it.

The card base is stamped using the leaves from Summer Silhouettes, using Crushed Curry onto Crushed Curry.

I've done some decoration on the inside, to match the envelope, but will stamp in either Happy Birthday, or Thanks, when I want to use it. Or maybe even leave it blank to write a note in.

Ingredients

Card:  Crushed Curry, Whisper White, Cucumber Crush, Basic Black, So Saffron

Stamps: A Whole Lot of Lovely, Summer Silhouettes

Ink: Tuxedo Black, Crushed Curry, Cucumber Crush

Other: MFT Gerbera Daisy die, dimensionals, sponge

Try Stampin' on Tuesday 249

One of the many great things about the Christmas holidays is the time to do craft things. So today, after a bunch of jobs like cleaning the pool and scrubbing down the bbq area, it was time to play.

I liked the look of the sketch over at Try Stampin' on Tuesday, so went with a summery idea for that.

The sketch has the optional twist of 'holiday card' but having posted all my cards, I was feeling a bit over holiday cards. Instead, I've gone for one of those all-purpose types of cards that it's always handy to have around. 'Best wishes' covers a lot of possibilities!

The background was stamped with an acrylic block and then flicked with water before I stamped the garden scene. The butterflies are watercoloured with Watermelon Wonder and highlighted with white gel pen, as are the flower centres.

Update: So delighted to have this card make the Top 3 at Try Stampin' on Tuesday.

Ingredients
Card: Mint Macaron, Watermelon Wonder, watercolour paper
Stamps: SU Summer Silhouette, Papillon Potpourri, Hardwood, W&W Big, Bold and Party, Acrylic block
Inks: Mint Macaron, Watermelon Wonder, Cucumber Crush, Tuxedo Black, Black Stazon.
Other: Watermelon Wonder lacy ribbon, Circle framelits, Elegant Butterfly punch, Itty Bitty Butterfly punch, Pearls, dimensionals, white gel pen, sponges