Monthly Archives: September 2016

Paisleys and Posies for CAS Colours & Sketches

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Happy Thursday and it’s time for a new challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches. This week it’s a colour challenge

Stampin' Up! Paisleys and Posies - Watercolor Wishes

And here’s the banner which inspired my card:

Quite a tricky combination of colours isn’t it? I felt that they needed to be separated but together and the paisleys were the perfect option. I first stamped the sentiment in bermuda bay and then stamped the paisleys in the archival basic black (twist your stamps on the ink pad and THEN tap tap tap for a better coverage). After that it was a relaxing time simply using my stampin’ write markers to colour in portions of the design. I left lots of white (or very vanilla in this case) space to keep the card CAS and to balance the colourful lower half. A wider than usual border of the card base helped to tame the busy-ness of the paisleys and the skinny black mat framed it all nicely.

Why don’t you have a go at these colours and see where they take you? It would be fun to see you in the gallery.

See you tomorrow,

Liz

Totally Trees for the Paper Players

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Leanne at the Paper Players has put together a very fall inspired colour choice this week – I think she’s hoping it will fix the hot weather! It’s done so in New Jersey, so thanks for that Leanne.  It inspired me to pull out my Totally Trees set – not that it was put away. I can’t see it being put completely away for a very long time.

Stampin' Up! Totally Trees and Watercolor Wishes

And here’s the banner which inspired my card

I made this card right after my Merry Medley one and so wanted to make a very CAS card to balance what felt like the busy-ness of that one! I started by stamping the green ground in pear pizzazz and the tree itself. For the leaves, I did the baby wipe technique. You grab a baby wipe, put it on your stamp-a-ma-jig mat or some other plastic (to prevent getting your grid paper wet) and add drops of ink from your re-inkers – I used crushed curry and cajun craze. Then when you ink up your stamp, you get an interesting blend of colours, just perfect for turning leaves. You can keep inking up your stamp and making more cards for a while so it’s not as wasteful in ink as it first looks. I then stamped the sentiment from Watercolor Wishes.

I matted this in pear pizzazz and put it onto a cajun craze card base to finish my very CAS Totally Trees card. Love all the white (well, very vanilla) space.

Stampin’ Up! News

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I had a card all ready to go for you but then I read this morning that the clearance rack has been updated. Lots of goodies on there for up to 60% off – such a great deal that I wanted to really highlight that. There are masses of ribbons and embellishments, but the star of the show in my opinion is the Perpetual Birthday Calendar kit which is priced at an amazing $6.40. I did a class using this kit and we all had a fabulous time making up the months. You need to add the stamp set, Perpetual Birthday Calendar Photopolymer stamp set, to complete the project for $24 which means that for cents over $30 you can make the kit and you  have a fun stamp set to play with too.

Here are some photos of my completed months:

Stampin' Up! Perpetual Birthday Calendar project kit

Stampin' Up! Perpetual Birthday Calendar project kit

And this is just one of the 122 things currently on the rack. I’m going to peruse it some more myself now. Happy Shopping!

See you tomorrow,

Liz

Pineapple for a couple of challenges

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I sat at my craft table yesterday to make a few cards and looked to some challenges for some inspiration. This card was born of two of them. I don’t think either came first, it was more reading my list of challenges that inspired it.

Stampin' Up! Pineapple - Paisleys & Posies

The two challenges are the code word Harvest at Addicted to CAS and the sketch as CAS(E) this sketch.

I’ve stamped the pineapple before the retirement of hello honey and mossy meadow and so I went looking for replacements. I found them in delightful dijon and always artichoke. In fact, with clear embossing, always artichoke isn’t far off my beloved mossy meadow which is good to know! I first inked up my stamp with versamark and then added the two colours to each half of the image. I didn’t have to be too precise because the banner was going to cover the change of colour. I then sprinkled on clear embossing powder and heated for a really lush look. The photos really don’t show the shine very well at all. The banner comes from Paisleys & Posies and I stamped it in delightful dijon and cut it to size using the stampin’ trimmer then popped it up on dimensionals. Then it was time to decide on the card base and either would have worked well but the Pineapple looked best with both colours together.

Stampin' Up! Pineapple - Paisleys & Posies

I encourage you to take a look at the challenge sites and have a go yourself. It’s a lot of fun and, if you’re like me and on occasion sit staring at your stamps wondering what to make next, it gives a direction to your carding.

See you tomorrow,

Liz

 

Merry Medley

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Today I decided to give into temptation and make another Christmas card; it’s been a week or so! And I decided it was time for Merry Medley to get another outing. Last time I used cherry cobbler for the entire stamp and stamped it off but this time I decided that the sentiments needed to be much louder. So I reached for my real red and emerald envy stampin’ write markers and had fun colouring in the sentiments.

Stampin' Up! Merry Medley

When I completed the colouring, I breathed heavily on the stamp to moisten the ink and then got a piece of whisper white and laid it on top carefully lining up the edge to ensure it was square. Then I took a couple of large blocks and pressed down on the card stock. After removing the blocks, I quickly flipped over the Merry Medley wood mounted stamp and the card fell away without (much) smudging. I trimmed the edges to ensure I had room for my real red mat as well as a deeper than usual border of the emerald envy – and also to remove the smudge. No mistakes in stamping, right?

Why wood mounted? My favourite type of stamps these days are the photopolymer ones – it’s great that they really stick to the blocks and you can see through them. But for large background stamps where the choice is wood or clear mount, I always go with wood. There’s just too much chance of the clear mounted stamp falling off the block at the wrong moment.

I hope that you’re enjoying the weekend and have some time to play with your crafting supplies.

See you tomorrow,

Liz