Playing with paper...

I've been watching all the videos for the wonderful Pattern Play Online Card Class all week feeling excited to play with paper but frustrated that I haven't felt well enough to play, only watch, so now I'm finally feeling up to sitting up again I've tried to make up for lost time!   I have far tooooo many packs of patterned paper and have been very guilty of not wanting to use them cos once they've been used they're gone but using it not hoarding it was one of my goals for this year so this class was the PERFECT kick in the butt I needed to get started!

I started with something simple - and my favourite thing to do with patterned paper - paper-piecing and I used the cue word "song" at CASology this week as my inspiration for this one http://casology.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/week-36-song.html

I selected a few co-ordinating scraps from my scrap box and stamped the cassette design from a We R Memory Keepers mini stamp set 4 times and fussy cut them.  I arranged them on the bottom of the card and then carefully cut apart the sentiment in the set so I could stamp it more interestingly than just in a straight line.  I love this stamp set - reminds me of making tapes from the top 40 in my bedroom in the 80s......

I then skipped straight to today's lesson as I was really taken by the paper quilting technique Kristina taught us - however, I had to have a couple of attempts as I missed a bit of the instructions and didn't get all my pieces in the right direction first time around (still make a cute useable paper though)

I decided to make a belated birthday card for my stash box and went with the super-cute skunk from There She Goes  "Scent-sational" set and coloured him with copics.  I used a "paws" embossing folder (not sure of the brand sorry) and used a copic to match the background of the sentiment to his paper-pieced tie.   I'm going to enter this into this week's anything goes challenge at the TSG blog http://tsgclearstamps.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/tsg199-anything-goes.html

Given the fact that we're forecast another deluge of snow overnight I should have time to play some more tomorrow.   

CASology gift

The cue word at CASology this week is gift and it made me think of one of my favourite Christmas stamps so I had a play  http://casology.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/week-23-gift.html

I'm not sure where the little elf is from now as I didn't label it but I just love him.  Simply stamped and coloured with copics for glossy accents on his glasses and flower soft for the fur trim.  The sentiment is from There She Goes embossed in white onto the red base card.

A little too much sugar......

Sometimes you have a great idea for a challenge card, you can see it in your head, but then you put it onto paper (well card really) and it just looks, well pants really!   I had just such an idea for this week's CASology cue card which this week is brought you by the word "sugar" http://casology.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/week-17-sugar.html

I had the idea that tiny glass beads look like sugar and that paired with the great sweets from the Waltzingmouse Candy Jar Christmas set would make the perfect CAS card - and then, like a toddler "helping" in the kitchen, I went and added a little too much sugar, well actually, a LOT too much sugar and now you can't see the sweets!

I thought this was too good an idea to pass though, so I had another go, and this time got the sugar just right.  I finished with a washi tape border but I cut the washi into very thin strips by sticking it onto acetate, slicing and then peeling it back off again.  I coloured the sweets with copics, covered with glossy accents and a THIN layer of micro beads and a touch of glitter.

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

Decapitated Elf....

Well I know Halloween is around the corner so I thought a gruesome title might grab your attention, but it's not quite as awful as it sounds!  It's my card for this week's CASology cue card inspired by the word "shoe".  I went for this cute pair of elf's legs complete with shoes but minus a body!  It's from the silhouette online store and cut simply from red and green card.

I turned the legs into a card with a punny sentiment printed on the computer in green, mounted with a slight overhang and finished with some red faux stitching.

http://casology.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/week-12-shoe.html

Frosty Christmas

I'd already been thinking of using my new frostyville wreath for this week's CASology cue which is "white" but wasn't sure what to do with it then this morning's LIM challenge was to pick 3 past challenges and combine them so a little browsing the challenge list led me to this.

My card actually fits several of the past challenges - 14 White on White, 15 Embossing, 43 Bit of Bling, 45 Let it snow, 55 Die cuts but the one that inspired me was my nemesis week - 11 the dreaded acetate!   I wasn't quite brave enough to get the acetate out, but thought I could get an interesting look to turn the die cut into a card by embossing my sentiment onto vellum.  The sentiment is from There She Goes (Wishing You).  I also cut the wreath (memory box) from vellum and glued that down first on my square card with glossy accents to give the top image a shadow effect.  The top image is cut from white glitter cardstock and offset slightly from the vellum layer.  I simply finished with a little bling on the wreath and a couple of white pearls to hide the dot of glossy accents I used to hold down the sentiment strip.

http://casology.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/week-11-white.html

http://simplylessismoore.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/week-86-recipe.html

I'm also going to enter this into the simon says "emboss it" challenge  http://www.simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/simon-saysemboss-it.html

Relax....

The cue word at CASology this week is relax - other than crafting and cooking, one of my favourite methods of relaxation is reading a good (or even trashy) book so the cue naturally lead me to this:

I stamped the book stamp (dimension stamps) onto scrap card, coloured with copics using the colours from this weeks ColourQ as my colour palette, and popped up on foam pads for a little dimension.  I finished with a sentiment from My Favourite Things "Well Read" stamp set.

Do pop back later as our new challenge over at St Luke's Charity Cards Challenge goes live at midnight :-D

Green Christmas and a study in movement

I've had a pretty unsuccessful week in my craft room so far - I've managed a few short trips in over 3 days and come out with nothing to show for it other than a full bin!

Last night though I had an idea to combine a few challenges into one project and I managed to come up with something that I actually think was decent enough to blog.

I've been enjoying the lessons Cath has been giving over in the Moxy Fab World from the new special issue of Paper Crafts which is all about the elements of design.  Yesterdays lesson was all about movement and there is a challenge to go with it http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2012/08/card-design-handbook-week-movement.html and I decided to try and create some movement in my card.  I opted for green shades only as that is this week's CASology cue word http://casology.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/week-7-green.html   and my theme of Oh Christmas Tree goes with both the colour and the challenge of "base your design on a Christmas song" over at 52CCT http://52cct.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/august-2012-theme-challenge.html

I stamped the Christmas Tree (Inkadinkadoo Holiday Sentiments) which has part of the song detailed in it onto pine linen card and embossed it with WOW glamour green powder.  To create my movement I offset the coloured card over the end of the base card as the swirls to the right of the image lead the eye up and out in that direction - I added a single lime green gem to the centre of the star burst to nod back down towards the 3 matching gems I placed around the sentiment (PI).  I blocked the sentiment off in a solid shape at the bottom of the tree to ground it and to draw the eye back down and across to the gems.  Hopefully I'm getting to grips with this whole movement concept - it's tricky but I think it's one of the things that once I know it will help me understand why some cards work, and others end up in the bin........

Pond Life

The cue word at CASology this week is pond and I decided to take it quite literally this week and combine it with the one layer challenge at Lawn Fawn using their critters down under set.  Now I've never been to Australia myself, but I'm pretty sure crocs live in ponds down there right???

Very simple card just using stamping and masking techniques.  I made my pond by sponging ink through a hole in a post it with the mask for the croc and front plants in place.  The colouring was done with pencils and blending solution.

Challenge entries:

http://casology.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/week-5-pond.html

http://lawnscaping.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/lawnscaping-challenge-one-layer.html 

Strawberry dreams

With friends and hubby's birthdays and taking family to hospital this week I've been MIA from blogland but I managed to make a quick card tonight for a couple of challenges.  I started with the sketch from Retro Sketches and the Cue word from CASology which this week is Fruit.

I pulled out my new mini stamp set from Waltzingmouse with it's great big juicy strawberry.  I stamped the berry onto a tag with lady bug and rhubarb stalk ink and stamped the leaves onto scrap card with pistachio and cottage ivy and fussy cut them out before sticking onto the tag.  I dotted the seeds on the strawberry with a glue pen and sprinkled with glamour dust.  I stamped a sentiment from the same set onto some red card and cut it with a label die.  I used a ribbed kraft base card and finished with some gingham ribbon and a red floral button.

Here are the links to the challenges I'm entering with this card:

http://casology.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/week-3-fruit.html

http://retrosketches.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/retrosketches-21.html 

http://www.craftysentiments.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/food-challenge.html