Four Challenges in One Card

Hello Inkers,

There's so many CAS Christmas challenges out there I managed to fit them all on the one card! Just Us Girls are challenging us to make a CAS card with the image in a circle, AAA Cards to use black, gold and white, Less is More is to use D, as in Deck the Halls and CAS on Friday is to make a Christmas card:

 

I used this sweet dove silhouette and sentiment from Gina K's Christmas Silhouettes - I figured as she's carrying a piece of mistletoe it will fit with the LIM challenge! It's gold embossed along with the circle stamp from Winnie and Walter - I cut a smaller circle in the middle and matted it on white, then mounted it with dimensional tape. 

I love the simple sentiment - hoping 2024 brings a lot more peace, love and joy for the world!

Happy stamping!

Claire

CAS MFT Colour Challenge #223

Hello inkers,

Here's a very CAS card for MFT's latest colour challenge:

 

I did a very simple background with alcohol inks on yupo paper and the stamp is from Fluttering Friends (retired), coloured with Copics. I love an alcohol ink background but I just wish the paper was a clean, pure white...to me it always looks like a dirty white. But I guess that's me being very pedantic! I've stamped the sentiment with pigment ink and 24 hours later it's almost dry...another reason I don't use yupo very often!

This one's also going over to Less is More for their 'anything goes' CAS challenge. 

Happy stamping!

Claire

Less is More - Blue, Pink and White

Hello inkers,

Here's a CAS card for Less is More's latest challenge to use blue, pink and white:

A friend of mine gave me Avery Elle Rounded Diamonds recently. I've always liked this set but never known quite what to do with it. So many times I've taken it out, inked up one of the diamonds and had a complete mental block which meant that I never actually used it.

This time I decided to white emboss one of said stamps and just colour - in times of mental block my motto is 'if all else fails just colour.'  It actually took me longer to work out how to put them on the card then it did to colour them. I finished it off by adding a very old PTI sentiment.

Happy stamping!

Claire

Less is More - Anything Goes!

Hello again,

A very CAS Christmas card for Less is More's Anything Goes challenge:

 

I was lucky enough to win some digital stamps from Varada Sharma's online store recently - this one is Doodled Wreath.  It was so relaxing colouring all those little leaves! I also added some Glossy Accents to the berries which has given it some texture and shine.  There are a couple of sentiments with the set but I chose to use an older WMS stamp as it fit perfectly in the middle of the wreath. 

Thanks for popping by!

Claire

Driving By Saying Hi!

Hello again,

It's a while since I took part in a CAS challenge and I'm just sneaking in with this one for Less is More's  A is for Automobile themed challenge:

I'm loving using some older stamp sets at the moment - I can't remember the last time I inked up this sweet one from Waltzingmouse Stamps,  Half-pint Heroes.  I added a stamped strip from Watercolor Wonder by PTI (another old one!) for the road and that was it. Very CAS!

Thanks for popping by and saying hi!

Claire

Less is More Colour Challenge

Hello again,

Quick card for Less is More's black and aquamarine colour challenge:

I stamped Avery Elle's Rounded Diamonds in aqua and black and stamped the Clearly Besotted bloom over the top in white EB. I then cut the bloom into 4 smaller rounded diamonds and placed them over the same stamped image in black, being careful to line everything up.

I like the style but I'm not sure I like those colours with the delicate bloom - I think it would look a lot better in pastel colours so I may have a go using those instead! What do you think?

Happy stamping!

Claire

Pink and Vellum

Hello again,

Sickness is still rife in our household so doesn't inspire much card making. However, earlier in the week this great tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers appeared in my inbox by Chrissie Stokes which I knew I wanted to try. Less is More's 'vellum' challenge gave me the necessary nudge to have a go:

 

It's a total CASE of Chrissie's beautiful card. I used Altenew's Leaf Clusters and Tiny Sentiments, white embossed the front of the vellum panel and then stamped the back in bright pink. I added a stitched frame from MFT to finish it off. 

This one's also off to Addicted to CAS for their 'pink' challenge - in a houseful of boys I need my pink fix!

Happy stamping!

Claire

MFT Sketch #604 and CAS'd Card

Hello folks,

A couple of new cards for a few different challenges - the first is using the latest MFT sketch for The Paper Players Tic Tac Toe Challenge:

I've used the middle row going across - the die cut is MFT's Selfie Square and the patterned paper (including a blue one) is from the Very Merry paper pad. I've used SY Selfies with Santa - surely one of the sweetest Christmas sets around!

 

The second card is for Less is More's 'butterflies' challenge and for this one I CASE'd one of my favourite designers for the Just Us Girls wild-card week challenge. 

It's one of Cécile Ribon's cards and I've CASE'd the colours and the layout. I used alcohol inks for the background and added a Stamplorations die cut butterfly, smothered in glittery gold EB. The sentiment's an ancient one from Papertrey Ink. The only difficulty I had with this challenge was choosing one of Cécile's cards - all of which are CAS stunners.  I haven't played around with alcohol inks for ages and forgot how therapeutic it is swirling around all that ink until you get the desired effect!

Hope you get some crafty therapy yourselves this week!

Claire

One Layer Blooms

Hello again,

My Covid brain must have seriously affected me as I've actually chosen to make a one layer card - both The Paper Players and Less is More have one layer challenges this week with the added condition of one image over at LIM.  It's perhaps my penance for having Neil from the LIM DT very gently remind me that I should be using less layers for the LIM challenge last week:

 

So no layers in sight on this one - I used black card stock for a change as white space doesn't have to be white does it?  I silver embossed this Blooming Stamplorations stamp and coloured it with pencils - the sentiment's from Altenew. 

Happy stamping!

Claire

Time Out #215 - Masculine 50th

Hello again,

It's about time I made a card that hasn't got flowers on it so Time Out's inspiration photo was the perfect prompt with lots of blue, black, gold and silver - perfect for a masculine 50th card:

 

The stamped and embossed stripes are PTI and the rest is Winnie and Walter with some sparkly die cut MFT numbers.  I'm also popping it over to Less is More's masculine challenge.

This one's off to the UK to my oldest friend, Michael. We've known each other our whole lives and assumed at the age of 6 that we'd get married when we grew up -  as you do at that age!  44 years later and he's still one of my favourite friends!

Happy stamping!

Claire

One Card - Five Challenges

Hello inkers,

This little card started off for the Less is More challenge,  to use a tag,  but after struggling how to place it I had a helping hand from Freshly Made Sketches:

 

It took me longer to work out where to put the sentiment than it did to make the card. A stamper can never have too many sentiment sets but I couldn't find a single one that would work on the die cut flag. So I've used artistic licence and put it elsewhere! 

I used the pretty colour combo from The Card Concept and and as I think it's clean and simple I'm popping it over to Addicted to CAS' flower challenge and CASology's Botanical challenge. 

Incidentally, those blooms are from Stampin' Up's Eastern Blooms which was one of the first stamp sets I ever bought. The leaves are MFT.

Happy stamping!

Claire

Pink and Gold Fusion

Hello inkers!

Quick card, quicker post. Here's a very CAS one for Less is More's pink and gold challenge, AAA's anything goes' CAS challenge (without the animal option!)  and the sketch from Fusion:

 

I gold embossed WMS' pretty Folk Art Medallion, adding in some pink blooms and a sentiment from Poppy Stamps. I think it would make a lovely wedding invite if I changed the sentiment - anyone getting married?

Happy stamping!

Claire

Shades of Blue

Hi folks,

I really do need to make a few more masculine cards - Less is More's 'shades of blue' was the perfect opportunity to break out those blue hues and make a 50th card for a male friend of mine:

I've used Avery Elle's Rounded Diamonds with matching dies - it's one of those sets you can really play around with and create lots of different looks. I layered my stamped images and clustered them together with some dimensional tape. The sentiment's from Taylored Expressions and the stamped number is WMS.

The Paper Players  have a masculine clean and simple challenge as well this week so this one's going over there too.  And Jolanda from Cardz4guys popped by to say it would fit in with their 'age is just a number' theme. It's a new one for me so check it out here. 

Enjoy what's left of your weekend!

Claire

Christmas in July

 Hello bloggers,

I've never made a 'twinchie' card before so I've had a bash at AAA Cards' latest challenge to create a card where everything has to be contained in a 2 inch area:

I chose to do the optional twist of Christmas in July. The problem wasn't the image but the sentiment and finding one small enough to fit! 

This one's also going over to Less is More's Christmas in July challenge.

Happy stamping!

Claire

Weekend Tri-fector

Hi folks,

It's been a productive weekend for a change and I've managed to get three cards done for a variety of challenges. Amazing what you can do when it's a long weekend and one kid's sick and having to self-isolate whilst waiting for Covid results. (Negative thankfully.)

The first is for Altenew's June Inspiration challenge:

I wasn't sure about these colours together but I really like how it's turned out - I watercolored some Floral Motifs  and arranged them in a die cut window, bordered by some Gold Foil Washi Tape.  The sentiment's from Beautiful Day. 

 

My second card's for a couple challenges - CASology, where the cue card is 'strength' and Less is More which has a pale blue and yellow colour challenge:

There's that Stamplorations butterfly die cut again - I'm amazed it isn't blunt it's been used so much. 

I stencilled a distress ink circle in Tumbled Glass, then stencilled over the top with a leaf stencil from Funky Fossil.  The sentiment's from MFT. 

I used the same layout for my last card which was meant to be for MFT's sketch and colour challenge - until I realised I'd actually missed one of the elements from the sketch. I honestly think I'm coming down with dementia...I've been doing that a lot recently.  So this one is just featuring the colours from challenge #167 with one of the cute gnomes from Hanging with my Gnomies.  This little Gnomie is my absolute favourite..perfect for the MFT sentiment!

Enjoy the rest of the week and happy stamping!

Claire