Thanks Bunches

Have you seen the cool prize available over at Papersmooches til 1st Nov?  http://papersmooches.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/sooo.html   All that goodness just for making a quick thank you card?  er yes please - count me in!

I used their Vegtastic set and made a quick bunch of carrots by colouring with luminarte shimmer paints all tied up with a twine bow.  A matching sentiment from the set and some dotted lines - simples and very cute!

I Spy some CASual Krafty Die Cuts

I'm in full on Christmas card mode at the minute - no matter what the challenge at the moment I seem to be drawn to Christmas and in particular Christmas trees.  For this card, I've combined 3 challenges - firstly this week's CASual Friday which is to use kraft card  http://cas-ualfridays.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/cfc76.html  and combined that with this week's ISpy sketch http://ispysketches.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/issc39-with-maureen-plut.html   and the die cut embelishment challenge at 52CCT  http://52cct.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/october-embellishment-challenge.html

I used a square kraft base card with a darker kraft panel on top which was embossed with a falling snowflake embossing folder.  I coloured the raised flakes with a white gel pen.  The sentiment strip is washi tape.  I then used a hero arts die cut tree in 2 sizes to cut my trees from a variety of materials - cork, wood veneer, spotted kraft paper and more plain kraft which I covered with brown flock and brown glitter.

Christmas Lights

I'm just about squeezing in under the radar with a very late entry to last Saturday's 52 CCT challenge tonight which is a Christmas Fairy Lights theme http://52cct.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/october-theme-challenge.html and I'm combining it with the new challenge today at Daring Cardmakers which is Let There be Light http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/let-there-be-light.html

A very simply card but I'm really pleased with the bright and cheery colours so may make it again with more colours.  I simply used my old MS christmas lights punch on photo paper and coloured the lights with copics using a white gel pen for the highlights.  Paired with a couple of sentiments from the Wishing You set from There She Goes stamps.

I've actually made two cards tonight - something of a record for me lately ;-)  I'll be back with the other later.

Christmas Frame

I found 10 minutes to make a quick card tonight - and went for another Christmas card as I need to top up my stash.  The paper players are looking for something in a frame this week and I had an idea for a simple Christmas card featuring a frame.  http://thepaperplayers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/paper-players-118-anne-maries-cas.html

I used a snowflake embossing folder as the base adding glitter to the top half (not showing so well on the photo though!) and then I created a thick frame using a couple of nested lables.  I cut out 4 from white card and one from patterned paper and layered them on top of each other to give a chipboard like thickness.  I stamped the sentiment inside the frame onto the white background and stamped the tree onto a scrap to cut it out so it could be both in and out of the frame.  Finished with a little gem star and a grey mat to match the DP.

LIM Autumn

I've not had much time for card making or blogging again recently - sorry - if you've not had a visit from me recently I apologise - my blog reader is up to over 1000 unread posts and I'm not sure I'll ever catch up!

I did manage an hour of playing on Saturday afternoon but tonight is the first chance I've had to blog the results.  If I only have the time to play in one challenge each week, then I generally pick LIM as my challenge of choice - the original and still the best CAS challenge on the block - this week the theme was Autumn http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/week-90-theme.html

I opted for a little mini card featuring a bunch of stitched flowers with button centres in autumnal colours.  Finished with a matching stitched sentiment both from the Crafts Meow.  Simply coloured with copics.  I like it and think it's pretty cute but I'm also thinking there's not enough "white" space for Chrissie ;-)

So I had another go - this time with lots of white space!  I created a little panel with 3 shades of distress inks and pearl spritz and then used a couple of silhouette stamps to create a little scene.  Again I went with the colours to represent the theme rather than the images as I was feeling a little over leaves for now.  I finished this one with some sheer ribbon, a large button and a ribbon tag sentiment.

Night all
x

CASually over the edge

Have you seen the news from CASual Friday's yet?  Michelle is launching her own range of CASual Friday stamps - if the few samples are anything to go by, then I can't wait to see the full sets!

The challenge this week is to have something hanging off the edge of your card http://cas-ualfridays.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/cfc75.html

I used the adorable new Christmas Deer from stamping up along with a new stampin up wheel.  I ran the wheel with real red ink over a scrap of photo paper to get a really vibrant strip of paper to hang over the edge of the kraft card base.  I stamped the deer onto the card in black ink before securing the sentiment, and then stamped him again onto a scrap of card and cut him out (minus the fancy antlers!)  I then placed him over the strip, linking his ears up.  I finished with a few of his ornaments hanging from his antlers.

CASual Hearts

This week's CASual Friday challenge (well almost last weeks now as it closes in a few hours) is to feature hearts in your project.  http://cas-ualfridays.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/cfc74.html   I'd had an idea earlier in the week but last night was the first chance I had to get my cameo out to do it.

I simply designed a heart with a central jigsaw piece on the cameo and cut it from red card.  I coloured the jigsaw piece with a copic marker to get a darker shade and covered it in glossy accents.  The background is a spellbinders embossabilities double folder.  The wonderful sentiment is by Elzybells who is sadly no longer trading, but happily is now designing for Penny Black :-)   A couple of her sets have already been re-released in their T for Transparent range so this one may appear in the future too.  Check out their site for examples - look for cute, bears, flowers and great sentiments in her classic font - this is one of hers from their newest release http://pennyblackinc.com/display_item.php?PID=7164&CAT=RStransparentsets as is this one of the sentiment sets which is one of my faves as its really useful http://pennyblackinc.com/display_item.php?PID=7097&CAT=RStransparentsets

See you all tomorrow for the new CASual challenge - and the reveal of the big surprise little sister!

Colourful Blog Party

It's blog party time again over at Waltzingmouse stamps and this month it's all about colour - and being close to Halloween, they've gone for a spooky palette of black, purple and orange.  Now as much as those colours would lead you down the Halloween path, I don't really "do" Halloween (it's not big in our area at all) so I've struggled to come up with an idea.

In the end, I went for a very simply tag card using the new Opera stamps and gorgeous matching dies, paired with a simple sentiment from compact sentiments using the suggested colours.  I would never have paired orange and purple but I kind of like it - even though none of my purples match!

I'm looking forward to seeing all the spooky offerings from the rest of the party goers :-)

Wonderful you!

It's been a while since I've had time to play in the weekly Waltzingmouse sketch challenge but as WM are my favourite stamp company and I just received my stash from their latest release this Friday I had a go with this week's sketch http://waltzingmousesketchchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/challenge-119october-13-2012.html

I used the ADORABLE new floral stamp set Camellia which I just love for its versatility.  I stamped the small open flower onto white card and embossed it with white powder and did the same with 3 of the single leaves.  I then used some luminArte paints to create a quick water colour effect with lots of shimmer (which I can't get to show on the photo as much as it shows IRL) and then cut them out - this is a great technique if you need to colour quickly - just blob the paint on, swish it around and then dab it off the embossed with kitchen paper.

I used some hessian effect paper as a background mounted onto my favourite kraft card and little distressed green DP for depth and to draw the eye to the vibrant pink vintage seem ribbon bow.  I finished with a sentiment made up of words from the Camellia set in a pink ink to match the flowers and ribbon - et voila!

Hope you like it as much as I do.   I have plans for these flowers and this colouring technique for a big wedding cake card too so watch this space....

Edited - I finished the wedding card so thought I'd share it here....

I cut the cake shaped card on my cameo, embossed a pattern over the front using the Market Street Stamps punched tin background stamp with white EP.  Simply finished with the same seam binding ribbon and a host of the flowers - some of which I trimmed to get even more size variety.

Time Flies!

The challenge this week at Less is More is to create a one layer card featuring something with wings - I have got a cute new set of bird stamps but I decided to take a slightly different take on it.

 

I used the new vintage clocks from the crafts meow paired with wings from the hang on set from there she goes stamps.  I gave the clock wings to match the sentiment, using simple masking.  I felt the card needed a little more and I remembered the mask I bought after seeing Gay use it on one of her LIM cards a few weeks ago so I masked the clock and wings off again and added the cube background with distress inks and sponging.

Time for the winner of my World Card Making Day Blog Candy from last week's LIM post - there were 26 comments so I did the random org number generator thing and the winner was commenter number 25 - and that commenter was one of our fearless leaders!  Chrissie - you win the new die from Die Versions :-)

Thanks for all your comments folks - hope you all enjoyed WCMD too - I managed to make a dozen Christmas cards :-)

CASe this sketch

There is another new blog on the block today - CASe this sketch http://casethissketch.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/case-this-sketch-challenge-1.html and this is the first sketch they would like us to case in a CAS way:

I used the delightful new butterfly stamp set from clearly besotted and the colours at this weeks color throwdown and in under 5 minutes this is what I came up with.  Has to be one of the quickest cards I've ever made.  3 tiny green gems and a simple thank you sentiment (pti) in black was all that was needed to finish it off.

Autumn Leaves

This week's CASology cue card is leaf http://casology.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/week-14-leaf.html and it seems that leaves are a popular theme in challenge land this week so I thought I'd combine a few into a card.

At stampatacular they have this inspiration photo and the leaf took me straight to my new stamp set from crafts meow as this is the largest leaf in the set. http://stamptacularsundaychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/challenge-184-photo-inspiration.html

This is a simple one layer card - I masked off a strip and embossed some lines and then using a variety of momento inks in autumnal colours I stamped the large swirly leaves from the harvest set from crafts meow above and below the lines.  The sentiment is from the same set stamped in black.

I'm entering it into the following autumn themed challenges too:

http://cupcakecraftchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/cupcake-213-autumn-winter.html

http://allsortschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/week-175-autumn-leaves-and-trees.html

Silver Christmas

Happy World Card Making Day everyone - hope you're all managing to find a little time to play.  I've been struggling for time at the weekends recently so was determined to make some "me time" today and to spend it in my craft room.  I put my blinkers on, ignored the mess and  so far I have 3 cards to share!

My cards were inspired by this week's Less is More challenge which is simply to use silver http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/week-88-colour.html

I got some AMAZING new stamps today from Stephanie who all you CAS fans will probably know from her blog Stamping and Sharing but yesterday she released her own range of stamps called Clearly Besotted - I ordered them yesterday lunchtime and they were on my doormat first thing this morning and they are FABULOUS!   If you don't believe me, take a look at the set of Christmas cards I made with one of the sets...

I simply stamped and embossed the stripey tree from the Signature Christmas set directly onto a small square card, stamped the spotted tree onto white card and cut it out so I could pop it up on foam in the foreground.  Finished with an embossed sentiment from the same set and a tiny pale blue star shaped gem.

Next I used the stripey wreath again embossed in silver, popped up on foam tape with a few green gem highlights and a matching green bow.  Another great sentiment from the same set.

Finally I used the bauble - this one has 3 different patterns to choose to fill in the middle - I went with spots and added some red metallic tape.  Simple but effective - I'll be making these into sets for Christmas.

Blog Candy

As it's World Card Making Day - I thought I'd give away a little candy to spread the joy - so if you're still with me and would like to add this lovely Fleur de lis Die from Die Versions to your stash, just leave a comment by midnight on Friday and I'll draw a random winner for it next Saturday.

Thanks for visiting - have a good day :-D

CASual Awareness

It's Friday so time for a new challenge over at CASual Friday's and this week I can join in - I skipped last weeks be inspired by your blog header as mine is just too complex to make a CAS card from.  This week it's simply to make a card for a girl but with the added theme of Breast Cancer Awareness as it's awareness in October http://cas-ualfridays.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/cfc73.html
 
My card today is a CASE as I was completely inspired by Debbie's technique of white embossing onto white card and colouring today on this card http://limedoodle.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/clearly-besotted-stamps-day-2.html from the new stamps from clearly besotted.  I decided to try the technique and this is my first attempt:

I used the colour combo from this weeks' ColourQ as it matches the awareness theme.  Simply stamped the skipping stones bra set directly onto cardstock and embossed in white then coloured in with pink pencils and gave a shadow with a grey pencil all blended with sansoder.  The sentiment is from the same set stamped in black.  Finished with a tiny pink button and white cotton thread bow.

Hope everyone is ready for World Card Making Day tomorrow - I plan to play as much as possible!  It would be rude not too frankly ;-)

Anniversery foil

I made this card at the weekend for the Less is More lucky dip challenge which this week is Weddings/Anniversaries http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/wee-87-lucky-dip.html

I wanted to play with some new foil tape I got (the kind plumbers use) but it wasn't entirely successful so I had planned on having another go this week and posting that instead.  However, life is still getting in the way of crafting time (and mojo effectiveness!) so it's not going to happen - so this, for what it's worth, is it this week folks........

I used an old create and craft card kit pre-embossed card base and added some embossed foil tape to the centre.  I die cut some hearts from the same tape and added them to a layered die cut which was stamped with a couple of Waltzingmouse sets.  Finished with a few tiny black pearls.

Hopefully I'll have something a bit more exciting to share this weekend for World Card Making Day!

Simple Christmas for St Luke's

It's the first of the month again (already - just what happened to September????) which means a new challenge over at St Luke's Charity Cards Challenge and this month we are looking for CAS Christmas cards - well it is time to get cracking on those soon to be needed cards and simple is defo the way to go (for me anyhow) for Christmas cards so I can whack out a few in each design.

This is my case in point - it's been a hectic weekend so my card HAD to be CAS and very quick.  The bauble, complete with the word joy, was a design I found in the silhoutte online store and I simply cut it from white card stock and then coloured with a copic marker.  I added a simple circle of white glitter card behind the outline to give the bauble some weight and then added stickles to the word joy.  I cut a nestie shape to mount it on and drew around the outline of the die to cut a thin red border (the next size up die would have been too large for my 4 inch card base).  I finished by handing the bauble on some red and white twine with a matching bow.  I can definately knock out a few more of this design in different colours to make up a stack of cards ready for Christmas.......

I do hope you'll join in our challenge this month and get making your Christmas cards too - and if you're short on Christmas supplies you can even with a fabulous set of Waltzingmouse stamps as a prize if you're our winner so check out the challenge blog  http://stlukescharitycardschallenge.blogspot.com/