Can You Case It 131

The colours this week at Can You Case It? are stylish, smart and made me keep thinking about them.

I went to my room thinking I'd be making one sort of card but it ended up completely different. At Stamp Camp in February, the very talented Jackie Noble showed us a card she'd made using retiform technique and I loved it. I tried it out a couple of times earlier in the year and, without really meaning to, seem to have done so again. 

I did try adding in some black twine but it was just too busy, so I took it off again and am very happy with the result. I like that the fractured stamping reflects the emotional turmoil of a loss but that the bird and flowers and the stillness of the centre offer hope and serenity. I also like the way the sponging of the different zones gives an almost 3D effect to the flat plane of the paper.

Update: Delighted to be a Top Pick at Can You Case It!

Ingredients

Card: Smoky Slate, Basic Black, Whisper White

Stamps: Best Birds, Better Together, Timeless Textures

Inks: Tuxedo Black, Smoky Slate, So Saffron

Other: sponges, Wink of Stella, So Saffron and Smoky Slate markers.

All products Stampin' Up.

Freshly Made Sketches 247

I love it when the big brown box arrives from the courier bearing Stampin' Up stuff. For me, delivery days are either Tuesday or Friday. Friday's good as that means I can unpack it after work and have the weekend to play - although I actually do try to ration it so that I can have new stuff for longer. No, I really do!

But this weekend, I've played with two new things, the second being Best Birds. I've used this set to create something for this week's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, which is the kind of sketch I really like: open and not too fussy.

On this occasion, I managed to resist using the crosshatched background stamp that's part of this set because I've got a bit of a love affair going with masked and sponged backgrounds but I can see that I'm going to be going back to this set again and again as it's got so many possibilities. In this card, I've used Peekaboo Peach and Emerald Envy inside a circular mask to get the background for the bird. I've stamped the branch in Versamark and used the delicious new copper embossing powder and coloured the leaves.

I die cut the bird twice in Peekaboo Peach and once in Early Espresso and the peach peeks out just a tiny bit to give a very 3D bird. I smeared a little versamark on the chest feathers with my finger so he could get some copper to dress him up a bit.

It's funny how your opinion on a set can change. When I first saw this set in the new catalogue, I couldn't imagine ever wanting it. Now, I think you'll be seeing it often!

Ingredients

Card: Emerald Envy, Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Peekaboo Peach

Stamps: Best Birds

Inks: Peekaboo Peach, Emerald Envy, Versamark

Other: Copper embossing powder, Emerald Envy marker, sponges, circle framelit, pearls.

JAI 322 CCMC 417

Onto a second card made with Touches of Texture, which arrived at my house only yesterday! For inspiration, I've gone to the colour challenge at Just Add Ink and the sketch challenge at Create with Connie and Mary.

Hard to see but the wings, leaves and flower centre have had Wink of Stella applied, which has given a really nice glimmer to them. I masked off part of the card to make the striped background while inking once but stamping three times to get the ombre effect.

As I don't have any Chocolate Chip, I've substituted Early Espresso.

Update: Delighted to be a Top Pick at Create with Connie and Mary

and also to be an Honourable Mention at Just Add Ink.

Ingredients

Card: Sweet Sugarplum, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla

Stamps: Touches of Texture, One Big Meaning

Inks: Sweet Sugarplum, Early Espresso, Blushing Bride

Other: Wink of Stella; Sweet Sugarplum, Blushing Bride, Early Espresso Stamp'n'write markers

As You See It 140 - DT card

Time for another challenge at As You See It and this time, we have a sketch challenge for you.

To begin with, those solid blocks got me thinking of a Mondrian painting but in the end, I went much more vintage looking than that! I just had to try out the Touches of Texture set that I received from the courier this morning.

It turned out to be such a fun set to use too. This morning, while browsing my feeds, I saw this lovely colour challenge at Inkspire Me, so I've used it in this card and will enter it there.  My mystery fifth colour is Early Espresso.

You have until 10 August, PST, to join us in this sketch challenge and to show us just how you see it. Inkspire Me closes sooner than that, if you want to play there too.

Update: Delighted to be a Runner Up at In{k}spire Me!

Ingredients

Card: Dapper Denim, Blushing Bride, Sweet Sugarplum. Whisper White

Stamps: Touches of Texture, Timeless Texture, Sunshine Sayings

Inks: Early Espresso, Sweet Sugarplum, Dapper Denim, Blushing Bride

Other: Sunshine Wishes thinlits, Early Espresso marker, linen twine, dimensionals, Moroccan Designer washi tape.

CAS Colours and Sketches 183

The final card of the school holidays was inspired by the unusual colour challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches.

The one new set I got that I hadn't properly tried out yet was Sunshine Sayings and the matching dies, Sunshine Wishes so I wanted to put together a card that made them the heroes.

I cut one flower of each of the three colours with the stylised flower die then layered them up with each colour shadowing the one before. The 'love' is layered and then lifted on dimensionals to bridge over the stem of the layered flower.

Update: Pleased to be a Weekly Winner at CAS Colours and Sketches.

Ingredients

Card: Crushed Curry, Whisper White, Island Indigo, Tip Top Taupe

Stamps: Sunshine Sayings, Gorgeous Grunge, Timeless Textures

Inks: Tip Top Taupe, Island Indigo

Other: Sunshine Wishes thinlits, corner-rounder punch, dimensionals

Freshly Made Sketches 246

The last day of school holidays is here and with it, the demise of unlimited crafting time. While the rest of the country is experiencing wet, cold weather and gale force winds, we are having a warm spring day. All the doors and windows are open and the sky is blue.

After an enjoyable walk with a friend, I got into my room and got on to an idea I had for this week's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.

Ingredients

Card: Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White, Delightful Dijon

Stamps: Butterfly Basics, Papillon Potpourri, Sunshine Sayings

Inks: Old Olive, Elegant Eggplant

Other: Lots of Labels framelits, Softly Falling embossing folder, rhinestones, Wink of Stella (for the butterfly), Bitty Butterfly punch, dimensionals

Male card CCMC310 and PPA416

A quite off-hand comment by one of my card class women about not often making male cards resonated with me - probably out of all proportion to how she meant it. But I realised that I shied away from cards the might suit men. My menfolk, not being either petrol heads, hunters or having a single drop of DIY in their DNA,  don't automatically scream that I should use 'male' stamp sets.

Even so, I took the self-imposed challenge using three sources of inspiration: the new Thoughtful Banners set I'd recently purchased, the sketch challenge at Pals Paper Arts and the colour challenge at Create with Connie and Mary.

As an aside, Tip Top Taupe always makes me smile because, in New Zealand, Tip Top is the leading brand of ice cream.

The marriage of these things lead to...

It's turned out quite well and I think that with different colours and bit of bling that it would make a pretty good girl card too.

Ingredients

Card: Dapper Denim, Mint Macaron, Whisper White

Stamps: Thoughtful Banners, Playful Backgrounds

Inks: Tip Top Taupe, Mint Macaron, Dapper Denim

Other: Banner punch, circle framelits, dimensionals, Dapper Denim enamel shape.