CAS Double Challenge

I'm a day late posting for the Double Challenge this week at CAS Colours & Sketches. Life got in the way of me making a timely card! We have a double challenge of both color and sketch when there are five Tuesdays in a month.

This one actually went pretty fast although I admit it could be a bit neater. Time being of the essence I made a few "good enough" decisions.

That said, I have joined the "Craft Your Life" monthly kit at Altenew. I've been a kit member at other websites and have never been totally satisfied with them. I think it's because there are always things I don't use included so I feel I'm paying for more "shelf stuff". However with this kit, you just get stamps, dies, an embossing folder and a stencil set - no cardstock, ink, embellishments, etc. - along with an instruction card giving you ideas. Perfect for me as I get to use my own CS, ink, etc!

To make this card I pulled out this month's kit and within 30 minutes I had this card. I did have to substitute ink as I did not have the Mellow Moss or Pale Plum. I embossed white cardstock, then used the layering stencils to color the leaves and flowers, die cut them and adhered to the card base. The sentiment is from the stamp set. Easy, easy, easy! And as Gina K says "it's not horrible!" I'll be using this as a birthday card.

I'm also entering this in the following challenges:

Stencil Fun - optional Butterflies

Can You Handle the Pressure - twist of poppies (Can I have purple poppies?)

Triple B Challenge (Birds, Butterflies & Blooms)

Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge

Products used:

• Kit: Altenew Craft Your Life Sweet Buttercups (September)
• Ink: Versamark Black, Altenew Soft Lilac, Midnight Violet and Frayed Leaf

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Sweet Birthday

I had fun coloring this Stamping Bella image for this week's color challenge at Splitcoaststampers.

The colors are Highland Heather, Daffodil Delight and Parakeet Party. Since I was using only a few Stampin' Blends, I color matched most of the colors using Copic markers. I also used Prismacolors on the dog. (I wasn't thrilled with the way I colored the pup and layering colored pencils over the Copics hides a lot of flaws!)

The swim cap was really fun to color. It reminds me of the swim caps we used to wear when I was a little girl.

I am also entering this in the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Birthdays

 

Products used:

• Stamps: Stamping Bella Summer Bundle Girl in Floral Swimcap & Puppy
• Markers: Stampin' Blends - Daffodil Delight, Highland Heather, Parakeet Party; E,E Copics - E00, E11, E04, E50, E51, E30, E33, E37, Y00, BV0000, BV00

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Summer Breeze

Tonight's card is for the color challenge at Splitcoaststampers. Karen gave us four colors to work with this week and they are some great colors! Real Red, Crushed Curry, Balmy Blue and Granny Apple Green. Perfect for florals or for a scene.

I really wanted to use my new die from Spellbinders. I liked this die so much I joined their Small Die of the Month subscription just to get it. I have a similar die from them that has a sitting woman in a bathing suit and hat. I've seen that one used in beach scenes that are awesome.

I was also inspired to use this die by a challenge that I am unfortunately too late to enter. It was to use a song, book or movie as your inspiration. Mine is the song Summer Breeze by Seals & Croft. I'm sure those of a certain age will remember  that song! I found it totally fitting for this image. I kept singing it as I made this card.

The card is straightforward. I stenciled the background clouds and assembled the pieces.  While this isn't super complex it does take a bit of time to cut the pieces, shade them if necessary and assemble. There are embossed lines on some of the pieces to make sure the head and legs are lined up so you don't end up with some awkward looking girl! And for me, coming up with a floral arrangement is always time consuming.

I'm also entering this in the following challenges:

Happy Little Stampers - Anything Goes with Dies

Four Seasons Challenge - Summer

Products used:

• Dies: Spellbinders Breezy Swing
  
• Cardstock: Stampin' Up in the challenge colors, plus Very Vanilla, Mossy Meadow, Crumb Cake and Chocolate Chip
• Ink: Balmy Blue, Distress Oxide Antique Linen, Ground Espresso
• Accessories: MFT Clouds Embossing Folder
  

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CAS Sketch Challenge

We have a new sketch challenge for August at CAS Colours & Sketches. I have a die that I thought would be perfect for the sketch and it really did work well.

This card could be made for any festive occasion where you want to celebrate. Just be changing the paper and colors you can make it fit any theme. (And use up those scraps!) This one looks a bit like a child's birthday card so I will be using it for that. 

To add a bit of interest to the back ground I used an embossing folder. I thought I had small dots but apparently I did not so I used this one. If I did it again I would use a stripe EF to contrast with the dots.

I hope you will join us in the challenge!

Products used:

• Dies: The Stamps of Life Party Panels

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Tropical Color Challenge

I'm the hostess this week at Splitcoaststampers Color Challenge and I picked some challenging colors (at least for me - ha ha!) I didn't know it when I picked them.

I saw these colors in a Tommy Bahama ad we received in the mail and was "WOW! What great unexpected colors for a tropical pattern!" And that mailer sure looked good.

Fast forward to me trying to replicate the feel of that tropical ad in these colors. I'm actually pleased with how this came out - although I would change a few things - but it wasn't an easy road. It was one of those where I knew what I wanted but couldn't quite articulate it, so I ended up trying out several scenarios. Basically, it took me longer than it should have.

I wanted some color depth on the hibiscus so I ink blended the coral on white cardstock. I also added the neutral Smoky Slate (the ad had the green outlined in grey) and created a patterned paper by stamping the leaves in the grey and blue. Since I had stated that the dessert option was to add another color and grey is a neutral I added the Pale Papaya. In retrospect I would have just said the Smoky Slate was my extra color and not added the papaya. It doesn't look bad but I'm not sure its adds anything either.

I hope you'll join us in the challenge this week!

Products used:

• Dies: Floral Swish card base, Sweet Moments Kit
• Stamps/dies: Tropical2stamp
• Ink: Calypso Coral, Misty Moonlight, Soft Succulent, Smoky Slate
• Paper/Cardstock: White, Misty Moonlight, Smoky Slate, Soft Succulent, Pale Papaya, retired DSP
  
• Accessories: retired enamel dots, Calypso Coral braided linen thread

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Shaped Cards

I'm the hostess this week at Tic Tac Toe Challenge. I hope you like the board I've created; I wanted to do something summery and I thought these elements fit the bill.

I chose the bottom row across - stripes, embellishment and shaped card.  As usual I used more than just those three elements.

I love making shaped cards and "fold-its" or easel cards in particular.  This one however will need some doctoring. It doesn't stand up! It totally tips to one side. Right now it is a straight fold-it card and that's the issue. Usually these are great and stand on their own, but not the anchor (it may have if I had placed the fold on the side but I doubt it.) I  plan to cut off the back and make this into an easel card with a base. I know it will stand then but I need to figure out the base part

In any event, I think this anchor makes a great shaped card even if it doesn't stand on its own! And you can always adhere the anchor to the front of a regular card.

Products used:

• Die: The Stamps of Life Anchor Fold-It
• Paper and Embellishments: Stampin' Up! retired paper, ribbon and embellishments

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Earthen Textures Color Challenge

We have a new hostess and a new color challenge this week at CAS Colours & Sketches.

 The colors are pretty earthy and with that in mind I used the new Earthen Textures set from Stampin' Up!

I really liked this set when I first saw it and thought about all the beautiful, highly textured and patterned cards that could be made. I also thought it would be challenging to make a summer or CAS card with this set. Then along came Sue's colors and challenge accepted!

The card was quite easy to make but like all CAS cards required careful placement. To add some interest and keep it a bit more "earthy" I used a deckled panel over a distressed embossed background.  You can see just enough background to give it interest while leaving the card CAS.

I hope you will find time to join us in the challenge!

Products used: All Stampin' Up!

• Stamps and dies: Earthen Textures
• Dies: Deckled Rectangles
• Accessories: Timeworn Type Embossing Folder

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