CAS-Colour and Sketches #10

Happy Friday Eve crafting buddies,

Today at CAS-Colour and Sketches it is our 'double' week! That means we have both a sketch and a colour combo for you. And here they are:

 And my card:

Now I have to admit I found this tough because the sketch made me want to go all flowers and pinky colour but the colours screamed 'guy card' at me! I had to really get the mojo working here. I did a lot of blog hopping for inspiration. I saw the photo at Runway Inspired Challenge this week and was inspired by the blue pattern of spots on the dress. I decided just to use the ideas I learnt from Susan's tutorial here to come up with a grunge 'guy' card.

I didn't have the exact colour inks but went with distress ink 'Broken China', memento 'Danube Blue' and 'Bahama Blue'. I used the 'reflections' stamp set from Paper Smooches mixed with the 'grunge me' set from PTI. The button is from my stash.

The main centre stamped area is raised. I stamped one of the circular grunge me set and fussy cut it out and raised it again so that it matched the sketch.

I didn't think I would manage this double challenge week but love it when you really feel stretched with a challenge and are actually happy with what you end up creating!

Over to you now, what does this sketch and colour combo inspire you to make-remember cards only!

And pop over to our blog here to see what stunning cards the DT have created.
I am also going to enter this into the 'Teal or Turquoise' challenge at Eureka Stamps and the 'Monochrome Blue' challenge at Everybody-Art-Challenge

Happy Stamping x

And the funky dress that helped inspire me:

Inkspirational #5

Hello my crating chums,

Welcome to our new challenge at Inkspirational.

I had a lot of fun visiting all your blogs last week and what fabulous projects! It was so hard to choose a top 5!

As January has 5 weeks we are having an 'Anything Goes' challenge at Inkspirational.

So let your creativity loose and see where it takes you!

This week I have used the bird swing digi  from our fab monthly sponsor A Day of Daises. When I saw this digi I thought the birds looked like lovers meeting, so stamped a little heart between them! But you could interpret it a quite a few ways-have a look and see what you think:

I have used this long thin card for a change and decided to go for 'hot pink' card stock and a baby pink love heart button from my stash.

Our DT have some great inspiration for you, so take a look at their creations here and visit their blogs to show them some crafting love!

And remember it is your last week to enter to be in for a change of winning a $12 gift voucher for A Day of Daises

I am also going to enter this into the following challenges:
 Addicted to CAS-hearts
Digi Makeover Challenge-hearts Galore
ABC Challenges-Valentine's Day

Happy Stamping x

Triple Time Stamping.

Happy Sunday crafting chums,

Its technique week at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown and this week the technique is 'Triple Time Stamping'. I have for a while admired this technique but not got around to actually trying it out. So today I set some time aside to watch this video and give it a go!

I used the Casual Fridays 'Merry Kiss-mas' stamp set and based on a this calendar topper I made last year.

And here is how it turned out:

It was a lot of fun to make and I am happy-ish with the result. I had to add a couple of holly fussy cut pieces and gems to the left hand side as I wasn't happy with how the holly looked there. However I thought this 'cover up' looked pretty good!
And I had enough time to decorate the inside of the card:

I am trying to learn some new techniques this year so Triple time stamping can now be ticked off. A little more practice and hopefully you will see me using this more.

I am also going to enter this into the 'try something new' challenge at the Scrappy Frog challenge.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday x

Inkspirational's End of The Week Encouragement!

We are now on our 4th Challenge at Inkspiational and this week is a sketch challenge.

Here is the sketch:

I am here to offer you some 'end of the week' inspiration. My card was hard to make as it was for a friend whose Mother died of cancer on Christmas Day. I made this shortly after Christmas and thought this sketch was ideal for a simple but elegant card-the features I wanted to come out in this card. And here we are:

I like cream and white together and, with the 'London Fog' memento ink I used for the leaves, I think I have captured what I wanted. I added the ribbon at the top, to be honest, as I noticed that the embossed white card stock was placed a bit wonky!! We all need the odd rescue remedy ! You can't see from the photo but the die cut centre piece is raised on foam pads to give more dimension.

Take a look here and see the fab projects from our DT and then get stamping. 

And don't forget to link your projects up by Tuesday 6pm CST to be in for a chance for a $12 gift voucher from A Day of Daises

Have fun x

Two in a day!!

Hello Again,

I made this card this afternoon but had planned to post it on Sunday until I realised that the challenge at Make My Monday closes tomorrow. As I have my DT card for Inkspirational scheduled for tomorrow I thought I would post this now so I didn't miss the deadline. 2 posts in one day-I think this has only happened once before in my time as a blogger!

This card came together as a result of 3 challenges. The sketch is from Make My Monday. This week they were asking for a CAS card using their sketch. CAS-ual Friday have a 'make your mark' challenge to include some colouring on your card. And finally The Play Date Cafe have a 'black, white and splash of emerald green' challenge.
With this fab combination of challenges I came up with this:

The stamp is from PTI, I coloured the petals and the punched butterfly with an emerald green marker (make unknown!). I added some black gems, rounded some corners and finally scored the card stock. I decided, after a lot of yes/no, yes/no,  not to add a sentiment as I thought there was enough on the card. I would love to know if you think a sentiment would have been better?

It is dark here now so the photo has a few shadows so I apologise but I didn't want to miss that deadline!

Off to enjoy Friday night with hubby and hopefully a trip into town tomorrow to see a movie. Don't forget to come back tomorrow to see my post for our fab sketch challenge at Inkspirational.

Make My Monday Sketch:                     The Play Date Cafe Colours       CAS-ual Friday Challenge

                     

Warm Thoughts

Happy Friday,

Just popping in with a card I made yesterday that was inspired by this photo at For Your Inspiration:

I loved the warm feel to the photo and the stunning colours and used these to inspire my card:

I wanted to have a play with my new Paper Smooches Stamp set 'reflections' so decided to go with a random stamping panel-this way I got to use lots of the stamps in the set. I say random but I did try to place all the same stamps in threes and in a triangle pattern, starting with the largest stamp first and changing colour for each set. And a ribbon-yes, I sometimes do use them but I can confess the bow took me a while to get right!!

I will also enter this into the 'use some brown' challenge at Paper Playtime

Have a good Friday and happy crafting x

CAS-Colour and Sketches #9

This week is at CAS-Colour and Sketches we have this sketch for you to play along with:

Perfect timing for Valentine's Day however remember the sketch is a guide only and you could substitute the heart for another shape.

I have gone for a heart (die cut) but I am thinking my card will be for an Anniversary. You will see I have used scoring lines for the panel and as a result I have made a super CAS card but I do love how this looks.

The DT have come up with some great inspiration so take a peek here. I am so looking forward to visiting your blogs and seeing what you make using our sketch.

I am entering this into the following challenges:
City Crafter-Forever Mine
Card Makin Mamas-CAS
Creative Creations Challenges-Keep it Simple
The Sisterhood of Crafters-only from the heart can you touch the sky!

Paper Therapy!

Today has been one of those days when I wanted to stay at inside, be quiet and just immerse myself in all things inky.

And here is the result of my 'paper therapy' session:

CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week is to make a card with a long and short side. It is fun to make cards of different shapes but sometimes I need a reminder to do this. So this challenge was that little reminder!

I used the 'blue skies' stamp set from Verve. I repeated stamping a tiny single leaf stamp on an angle and stamped the butterfly in different sizes. Then die cut butterflies in brown and white card, layered these, stamping the top one. A few little pearls were my finishing touch!.
The sentiment is from PTI.

I am also entering this into the following challenges:
Addicted to Stamps and More-CAS
Less is More-friends.

Have a good day x

Muse week 1!

Today is the first week of a new challenge called Muse from Jackie. The basic idea is to be inspired by others, to use only what is in your stash and to encourage each other. This week Amy's card here and below, is our inspiration.
Here is my card and below I will share with you where I got my inspiration from:

I was drawn to the impressed centre frame of Amy's card and  immediately thought I could use scoring to replicate this feel. I also liked the use of the stripey paper background. And as I have a stash of un-used patterned paper, this was a great way to use some. The striped paper I have used here is nearly 2 years old and has never been used! And the final thing that inspired me was her big, cheerful flower.
I then drew inspiration for Jen's DT card at Retro Sketches. I love this layout and thought it would work perfectly for my 'Muse' card.
I knew I wanted to use my 'Garden of Life' PTI stamp set, all I needed was colours. And after browsing for a bit found I would have a stab at using the combo this week at ColourQ.

Before I go here is Amy's card:                                                                                



So some scoring, stamping, fussy cutting and embossing (sorry its the linen again!!) and I finished my first 'muse' card inspired from a number of different sources!
Happy Inking x

Snowy London Days!

Yes, it really is a snowy London day today!
A perfect day to stay inside and craft.

This week at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown is a recipe challenge. The recipe being patterned paper, glitter and to decorate the inside of your card. Ruth set this challenge and I commented that this was scary for us CAS lovers!
Now, Ruth decided to show me I had no reason to be scared and made a 'CAS recipe' card to prove it!! You can see her 'CAS encouragement' card here.

I had already got my Xmas crafty goodies out before I saw Ruth's card but this was the little extra bit of encouragement I needed to get me started.
I have all week been trying to think of a card for the 'blue' challenge at Casology and decided I could combine these 2 challenges and came up with this:

I had a lot of fun making this and was happy with how it turned out. So thank you Ruth for the little push!!
I die cut the super big snowflake out of blue polka dot paper, embossed some white card and added a strip of glitter paper to the edge. Punched a flower in glitter paper for the centre of the snowflake then added a few gems. The sentiment is from PTI-I have bordered this with the polka dot paper.

Not forgetting the third element of the recipe....here is the decorated centre of my card:

I die cut a snowflake out of white card and cut it in half and inked the edges. I did the same with the patterned paper and flower punch to give this design. And I added a little corner of patterned paper to really show I could do a CAS version of this recipe!

I am also going to enter this into the 'Christmas in January' Challenge at C.R.A.F.T.. They are doing one week a month Christmas theme, so that will have to go onto my list.
And to finish, my Dad just sent me this photo of him and Mum playing in the snow with a kid form next door!! You are never too old to have fun!!

Have a great Sunday x

I love Dogs!

O.K, this title is not actually true but I thought it suited my card (sorry all you dog lovers out there!).

This card is for a 2 year old girl who loves dogs but I was instructed that it was not to be girly and pink was a no no!

This is based on the challenge sketch this week at Paper Smooches Sparks and I have used my brand new 'Woofers and Tweeters' Paper Smooches stamp set.

I was inspired by Karen's use of the bone as a ribbon on her Cuteasaurus card here and thought it would work on my dog (so thank you Karen!).

This card took me ages to make. I couldn't decide on colours, stamps, sentiment etc.

Eventually I got the colours and decided to stamp my own back panel using the paw stamp. I had fun doing this so then went a bit crazy and decided to stamp bones also. As I got ready to put the card together I decided the stamp I originally used looked more like a cat and hubby agreed.....so back to the drawing board! I re-did the card using the above stamp!
I really find using patterned paper a challenge and at the end of making this card I had to laugh or it would have been tears!

Here is the sketch I based my card on:

I am also going to enter this into the 'Child's Play' challenge at The Stamping Shack-a new challenge site worth a peek.

Enjoy your Saturday x

CAS-Colour and Sketches #8

Gosh, I can hardly believe we are now on our 8th Challenge at CAS-Colour and Sketches. I loved visiting your blogs last week and can't wait to see what you come up with this week!

This week is a colour challenge and we are using this stampin' up colour combo:

I just love this combo but remember, if you don't have the exact colours, just use a colour close to it.

I used these colours to make a 'get well' card for my Mum to give to her very oldest friend who is in hospital. My Mum loves cards with die cuts, buttons, ribbons etc. I have managed to use these elements and still make the card CAS! See what you think;

The papers all from stampin' up. The button is from my stash. The die cuts are a mix and match. Now, are you sitting down??? Because, this week I have not used the linen impression plate but the PTI wood grain plate. This plate also adds texture and I think matches with the flower theme.

Pop over here to see the cards our DT have made to inspire you. Then its time for you to get creating.
As I have used these flower and leaf die cuts I am entering this into the 'Die Cut/Punches' challenge at Make My Monday
And as I used a different impression plate I am going to enter this car (with pride!!) into the 'Embossing' challenge at Addicted to CAS

Happy Stamping and I will be visiting your blogs very soon I hope!

Inkspirational Chalenge #3

We are back again with a new challenge for you at Inkspirational. And this week the super talented Victoria has provided us with a great card to 'case' and here it is:

I just loved Victoria's card and decided to use the panel of flowers and bright colours as my inspiration. I challenged myself to make my card one layer. I masked of the panel then got inky and this is what I came up with:

And the inside;

The flower stamps are from PTI and the sentiment on the front is from Paper Smooches.

So what does Victoria's card inspire you to create?

Pop over to our challenge site here and take a peek at the fab creations from our DT. 

Plus, don't forget this month we have a great sponsor A Day of Daises who are giving our monthly winner a $12 gift certificate!
Happy Stamping!

I will also enter this into the 'Flowers' challenge at Magnolia Down Under

Snowy Days Are Here!

That is right, snow is creeping towards London and my card today is to celebrate this! Yes, I like to celebrate snow as it rarely visits us and a snowy winter walk in the park would be a great way to spend Sunday-so it had better hurry up and start falling!!
My card today is my 2nd Christmas card of the year for the challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. I only have 50 to go! This week the very talented Ruth set the funky Christmas colours of purple, metallic silver and white. I just love this combo for Christmas and here is my card:

I was hoping you would be able to see the sparkly glitter hills as IRL they really do stand out. I stamped this funky Xmas tree and added a few metallic brads and some purple gems. The sentiment is from PTI

Love how this turned out and so happy I made it to week 2!!

I am also going to enter this into the 'winter' challenges at
Casology
The Sisterhood of Crafters
Fab 'n' Funky

If you are a lover of all things CAS Jackie Rockell  is starting a new CAS challenge blog-so keep your eye on her new blog here.

The snow has not yet fallen but we can hope. Happy Sunday crating chums!!

Inkspirational End of Week Encouragement!

At last the weekend is here, time to relax, chill and get some time getting creative!
I am here to inspire you to get inking with my 'end of week encouragement card' for our 2nd Challenge at Inkspirational. There is still time to play along! Lat week I had so much fun visiting your blogs and seeing all the gorgeous entries, it was so hard to choose a top 5!

Here is our inspiration photo:

When I saw this photo I had one of those moments we all love....I have an idea NOW! 

I saw the heart and the ladder leading up to it plus the flowers below and the sentiment 'All things grow with love' from PTI popped into my head. Isn't it great when that happens!

So I went with this idea and came up with:

I managed to take a photo that actually shows the linen impression plate I so love.  I do like how this card came out. I think it really shows my CAS style and I am super happy it all came together in my little mind so quickly (doesn't happen very often!!)

So what does this photo inspire in you?

Pop over to our site here and see what our fab DT have got for you-lots of great inspiration. Then get inky!! And this month A Day of Daises are sponsoring us and offering a $12 voucher to our monthly winner.

I am also going to enter this into the challenge at Word Art Wednesday-to interpret the theme 'hearts' in any way that makes you feel blessed that God loves us-and this week I think is a week to reflect on this. I interpret this in that love is all around us and we all grow in many ways through love. And, I feel,  flowers growing and blooming is a good was to represent this.

Support is all around us!

Happy Friday crafting chums,

This week there seems to be a lot of people in need of our support and love for a variety of reasons. My card is to remind those who are finding it hard at the moment, that many of us might not actually have met, but  we do care and are thinking of you and praying for you.

The inspiration for this came from a variety of sources and, again, it took a few days of mulling on some ideas until I saw this week's sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch and then suddenly I had it.....the idea popped (and I honestly had this idea before I saw Kim's DT card!)
I had the original idea when I saw the inspiration photo at For Your Inspiration-I thought of clouds and wanted to use my neglected cloud dies, plus focus on the lighthouse-my card may not have a lighthouse but the sentiment lends itself well to this!
If you follow my blog, you will know I am a lover of the linen embossing plate and therefore wanted to enter the 'dry embossing' challenge at Make My Monday. I was determined to use more than one kind of embossing. I die cut the clouds then embossed them with a dotted embossing folder before placing them on the linen embossed card. I made so many mistakes with the clouds until I got them exactly as I wanted. I now have 9 extra die cut clouds, so expect to see them over the next few weeks!
I also discovered ABC Challenges, this week asking for CAS cards, so I am entering this challenge for the first time.

For all of you who need a hug, I wish I could send this to you all, but hope this post lightens your load a little x

        

CAS-Colour and Sketches #7

Happy Friday Eve crafting chums,

It is our 7th challenge at CAS-Colour and Sketches and this week we have this sketch for you:

I decided to dust off my PTI Mendhi Medallion stamp set and mix and match them to come up with this card:

As you can see this week I followed the sketch layout almost exactly (which is quite unusual for me!). I have used 'London Fog' and 'Tangelo' memento inks, the sentiment is from Paper Smooches. I gave the card texture with the PTI linen impression plate. The right hand corner of the photo is a bit bright but this was the best photo I could get that showed the impression plate in detail. I hope you can see why I love using this- it seems to add an air of sophistication to the card!!

Our DT have all made fab cards using this sketch. Take a look here to get some inspiration and then get stamping! I can't wait to see your cards.

I am also going to enter this into the 'Thank you' challenge at A Passion for Papertrey.

Have a fun inky time x

Christmas Still???

I know that you think Christmas is over but have you thought about next year yet??? I was inspired to make my card today when I saw the sketch challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. It was really Ruth's 2012 Christmas box here that tempted me to make a Christmas card. Plus yesterday we took down all our decorations and tree so I thought it might be fun to make my first Christmas card for 2013 to keep the spirit alive!! The 52 Christmas Card Throwdown has a weekly challenge all year. I would love to be able to enter this weekly but lets see if I manage it.There are lots of offers on Xmas goodies at the moment, so a little retail therapy may help!!

Here is my card:

I used Cas-ual Friday's Merry-Kiss-Mas stamp set and just added a few red gems and coloured some of the berries red with promakers. A very CAS version of the sketch but I do like it!

I will also enter this into the 'black, white and splash of one colour' challenges at Less is More and Hiding in my Craft Room.
Here is the sketch:

Have a good week and get in some inky time when you can.....you know it keeps us sane! x

Gifts Galore!

Happy Sunday and today I have a thank you card I made for my Mum and Dad. Every year I get 'gifts a plenty' from them! The pile of gifts I get really do resemble my card! I am so blessed to have all these gorgeous gifts to open every year. So here is a little card I made to thank them (it really is a LITTLE card as it is a 10cm-10cm card)

I used some paper that I won last year in a challenge but have never used before and just stamped these gorgeous presents from the CAS-ual Friday's 'Merry-Kiss-Mas' stamp set and paper pieced them onto a black card before then sticking this onto the card stock. I had to adjust the PTI sentiment by adding my own 's' to reflect the presents were many!!

This card was inspired by Virginia's CAS-ual Fridays DT card here. I loved her pile of presents and it inspired me to get paper piecing my own gifts!

I am entering this into the 'Thank you' challenge at CAS-ual Fridays and the 'New' challenge at Casology as the paper is new as although I have had for a while it has never been used. Also every little gift that is opened brings something new and a lot of new smiles!!

Have a fun Sunday and hope you get time to do some stamping x

CAS-Colour an Sketches #6

Happy Friday Eve. Yes that is right, we are very nearly hitting the first weekend of 2013!
And do you have big plans?? Whatever you are doing? I am hoping you get some time to craft and play along in CAS-Colour and Sketches first challenge of this bright New Year! It was great to see all the entries last week. I loved checking them out and found it hard to choose my top 3.

This week we have a colour challenge for you and we are using the Stampin' Up colours-Crumb Cake, Summer Starfruit and Gumball Green. You don't have to get your colours exact, just as close as you can.

I struggled with this as I didn't seem to have the right ink colours but then hunted through my stash and came across some old pads of stampin' up paper. Now had a wealth of choices as all the paper seemed to have these colours! I chose my 3 favourite patterns and did some paper piecing and came up with this:

These stamps are from Little Claire Designs. Paper piecing is a little out of my 'comfort zone'. But this turned out to be fun and easier than I expected. This is to be added to my stash of 'guy' cards-and we know we need a collection of them!
Our DT team have come up with some fantastic inspiration cards for you so have a look here and then get creating. I am looking forward to seeing all your cards. Have fun x

Inkspirational-Our First Challenge!

Happy New Year Crafting chums!

Why not start the new year with a fresh and new weekly challenge! Its week one and that means we, at Inkspirational,  have a funky, cool colour challenge for you. Here, take a peek...

And as it is our first week every person that enters will be given a very special blog button! Plus, this month we are being sponsored by A Day For Daisies digi store, who are giving our monthly winner a $12 gift card! 

Check out our site Inkspirational for the challenge rules and how to win.

My card for our first challenge is a thank you card-we all need a few of them at this time of year!

And the inside of the card:

The sentiment is from PTI and the little present stamp is the Merry-Kiss-mas Casual Friday stamp.

I added a few green promarker dots and some gems to the pressies for a bit more interest. To give the card some texture I used my linen impression plate. Very CAS and easy to repeat for a set of notelets!

Check out the great creations from out DT here. 

We are super excited to see what these colours inspire you to make!
Also we are running a 'Follower Giveaway', lots of fab prizes and all you need to do is to start following us-check the details here.

And once more a very Happy New Year!!