CAS Colours & Sketches #135

My last July hostess challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches today, but my first at choosing for a double. Does it make it harder or easier when both the colours and the layout are decided for you? Sometimes it fun not to have to make decisions about anything except the stamps and techniques to use, so personally I quite like the double challenge.

And I went with a male themed card substituting circles from Uniko for the flowers from the sketch and stripes from Clearly Besotted for the banners.

I added a striped strip down the left hand side just to balance my card and used simple font sentiment stamps.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, Background Builders Round In Circles, All Occasion Sentiments #2, Simply Said Birthday, Balloon Bash; Clearly Besotted, diagonal stripes,
Inks: SU, night of navy, wild wasabi, daffodil delight

Over to you now. If you haven't already looked the CC&S DT have wonderful sample cards to inspire you - here. Have fun with the double!

Thanks for looking and keep crafting!

Wednesday Words

Just popping in to share a card I made for the current challenge over at CAS(E) this Sketch.

I really love all the little circle elements with a central sentiment, the sort of sketch that I know I'll use again and again. Here's my take using one of my favourite colour combinations:

I love the font of this large wish sentiment and stamped it first to help me place the stars. I then sprinkled some sequins over and stuck them down wherever they had fallen.

Supplies:
Stamps: Create A Smile, Make A Wish
Inks: SU, tempting turquoise, melon mambo, daffodil delight
Die: Lil'inker, stitched mats rectangles
Sequins from my stash

Thanks for dropping by today, I do appreciate your time.

And keep crafting! 

Tuesday Talk

The current challenge at Time Out is CASE this funky card from Alice of Alice's Little Wonderland:

    

So much fun! And I wanted my card to have a fun image too. Out came my newly arrived Create A smile stamps as I knew there were plenty of cheeky faced critters to choose from.

I kept the placement of my elements the same as Alice's card and picked up on the green main focal image.

The background stamping uses a Uniko stamp set and the colours left over from yesterday's baby wipe - I just sprayed it with a little water to moisten it again. The die cut behind the image is also from Uniko and colour co-ordinates with the sentiment and baby wipe inks.

Supplies:
Stamps: Create A Smile, Poppin' Over; Uniko, Background Builders Round In Circles
Inks: Memento, lilac posies & tuxedo black; Ranger distress, peacock feathers, mustard seed, picked raspberry
Die: Uniko, Graphic Flowers Time
Promarkers: pine, leaf green, meadow green

So pleased you found my blog today, thanks for spending some time here. 

And keep crafting!

Monday Moments

I'm a bit late to the party but have finally made a card for Happy Little Stampers July sketch challenge.

I used this gorgeous jar stamp from Little Musings in place of the tree and moved my image off centre and down a bit to the left - just seemed to look better there.

I used the baby wipe method to get the multi colours for the wishing stars inside the jar - always love the random look this gives.

 Don't you just love this jar stamp? It also has hearts, xxxs and buttons to fill the jar, each with their own word to add to the label. Smitten!

Supplies:
Stamps: Little Musings, Little Jar Of; Clearly Besotted, sentiment from Design A Tree
Inks: Memento, tuxedo black; Ranger distress, picked raspberry, peacock feathers, mustard seed 

Thanks for looking today, your visit is much appreciated. And keep crafting!

Saturday Slot

The cue card at CASology this week is - LINE.  How delightfully simple and open to interpretation, love it!

And how lucky my new Create A Smile stamps had just arrived and they definitely included a line as well as a very cute little critter to sit on, or below, it.

I also added a line of die cut stitching above the stamped line just for good measure.

I'm loving that mixed font sentiment and the way the elephant's trunk echoes it by pointing upwards.

Supplies:
Stamps: Create A Smile, Poppin' Over
Inks: Memento, tuxedo black & lilac posies; SU, smoky slate
Colours: Promarker, pink carnation; Flexmarker, almond
Die: Paper Smooches, stitched

Thanks for your time today, I'm so pleased you visited my blog. Have a great weekend.

And keep crafting!

Uniko Challenge #23 Reminder

Have you made your card for the current Uniko challenge yet? The theme is black and white with the optional twist of a splash of colour. Well I've a couple more cards to get you thinking.

And I've gone all floral for this reminder post. First up is a card using the beautiful new cosmos stamp set. This stamp really lends itself to the black and white theme - it's just so gorgeous it doesn't really need colour to stand out!

But I just added a pop of yellow radiating out from the centre of each petal.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, Pure Florals Cosmos, Natues Treasures 1
Ink: Memento, tuxedo black
Promarker: tulip yellow
Embellishments: Wink of Stella, clear; Glossy Accents

My second card uses another fabulous Uniko flower and I tried to make it look like those amazing black and white photos that just have one part coloured.

A liberal helping of glossy accents just makes that one flower pop even more. And yes it's pink!

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, Flower Power #1 & #5
Inks: Memento, tuxedo black, lilac posies
Die: ? grass
Embellishments: Glossy Accents

Just before I say goodbye I'm sharing my photo for this week's Our Beautiful World's word - layers.

 

This weekend my sleepy little village goes all vibrant when it holds a huge agricultural show and I remembered this photo I took a couple of years ago of one of the stalls.

It almost seemed too destructive to spoil the display by actually buying any! Bound to be more photos to share from this year's show, so keep your eyes open over the next few days.

Well that's me almost wrapped up for today. I hope you like what I created and thanks for your visit. Hop on back to the Uniko blog for more inspiration from the DT and Guest Designers for July - Anita and Julie B - and check out the fabulous prizes on offer.

And  keep crafting!

CAS Colours & Sketches #134

So it's my second sketch for July over at CAS Colours & Sketches. This is such a simple sketch with loads of opportunity to adapt to your own taste. Enjoy!

And here's how I decided to interpret the sketch. Look out for that favourite colour of mine!

I used the absolutely gorgeous Uniko Beautiful Blooms II and let it take centre stage - just as it should!

A little accenting with that hot pink cardstock and this card was made in a flash and super CAS I think.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, Beautiful Blooms II & Simply Said Birthday
Inks: SU, pink pirouette, melon mambo; Memento, tuxedo black
Dies: Clearly Besotted, Tag Along; Spellbinders, Standard Circles Small; Xcut, Spiro circles; Lawn Fawn, large stitched square stackables

So what will you create with this sketch? I'm so looking forward to seeing your cards pop up in the CAS Colours & Sketches gallery - hope you'll link up soon!

Thanks for looking today, And keep crafting!

The Male Room #15

A new fun challenge over at The Male Room this next fortnight using two great staples - spots and stripes.

I started by stamping a background of stripes using the Stampin Up gorgeous hardwood stamp in two different orientations. I adore this stamp and am always looking for opportunities to ink it up.

Next I die cut the hooray from some spotty paper and then used a circular die to give the shape I needed for the design I had in my head. This was a little flimsy, but I managed to cut down some foam pads to add it to the purple banner and stabilise it.

Supplies:
Stamps: SU, Hardwood
Ink: SU, crumb cake
Paper: SU, Moonlight stack
Die: Clearly Besotted, Circle Hooray; Spellbinder, standard circle small

So what will you create? Be sure to check out the rest of the DT creations and our fabulous Guest Designer -  Monika of Creative with Monika, bound to be something to spark your creativity.

Thanks for your visit today. And keep crafting!

AAA Cards #44 Waterworld

The new challenge at AAA Cards goes live this morning and we'd like to see how you interpret the theme of Waterworld and maybe use some dies too.

Breaking news:
Victoria's life has suddenly opened up unexpected opportunities for her and this means she is stepping down from her wonderful AAA Cards challenge. She is such a talented artist and has worked incrediby hard behind the scenes to create such a visually appealing challenge. But don't despair AAA Cards will live on, DT member Justine Hovey has agreed to take over the leadership.

Well I immediately thought of an under the water shaker card scene using a circular die for the aperture.  I created my background using bleeding art tissue paper circles. This technique is such fun and gives a very similar effect to watercolours but maybe with a little more control over placing the colours.

Once the colours were dry I highlighted a few edges with black or white gelly roll pens. The skool of fish digi stamp was printed directly onto the shaker window acetate sheet.

I picked up on the tissue colours for sailing yacht and added it outside of the shaker circle. Then I die cut a stitched rectangle and stamped a simple Uniko sentiment.

Supplies:
Stamps: Cuddly Buddly Lilyboo designs, Skool of fish; Uniko, Simply Said Birthday; Clearly Besotted, Best Dad
Inks: SU, pacific point, cucumber crush, tempting turquoise
Tissue paper: Spectra Bleeding Art Tissue
Dies: Spellbinder, standard circles small; Lil'inker, stitched mats rectangles, clearly Besotted, Best Dad

So now it's over to you. I'm wondering what you'll create and looking forward to seeing your cards pop up in the AAA Cards gallery.

Thanks for looking and keep crafting! 

Uniko Challenge #23

Time for a new challenge at Uniko and this month we're asking for black and white with the optional twist of a splash of colour. We've got two fantastic Guest Designers joining us for July - Anita and Julie B - so be sure to check out their blogs and leave them some love.

I've got a couple of cards to share with you and hopefully get your creativity sparked. Here's the first:

I smooshed a splash of pool ink and some drips of black onto watercoloured card stock early in the morning and then left it to dry until later. I find this early morning watercolouring works best for impatient me because there's no time to stamp on top of it and I just have to walk away from it.

I wanted to create a sort of washi tape look on top of the smooshed ink and stamped chevrons and that awesome sentiment. Then I finished off by adding some star clusters and an off set extra star raised up on a pad to the sentiment.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, All Occasion Sentiments #2, Background Builders Chevrons, Balloon Bash
Inks: Memento, tuxedo black; SU, coastal cabana
Die: Lil'inker, stitched mats rectangles

My next card is something completely different. I had this idea to create a pile of presents and used a few different Uniko stamps for the wrapping paper.

I just added a few touches of lime green as my splash of colour - really lifts the card I think.

Supplies:
Stamps: Uniko, A Gift For You, Background Builders Squared, Strik A Pose
Ink: Memento, tuxedo black
Dies: Cuttlebug, bow; Spellbinders, classic squares large; Lawn Fawn, large stitched square stackables
Embellishments: twine from my stash; Wink of Stella, clear

As always Bev has some really generous prizes on offer, check them out on the Uniko blog

I'm sure you've already visited the other DT blogs to see their fabulous cards, but if not make sure you do. Find their links here.

Thanks for your time today, I appreciate your visit. And keep crafting!

CAS Colours & Sketches #133

This week at CAS Colours & Sketches it's my second set of colour choices for the month. And no doubt you'll spot a bit of pink has crept in!

I've had this cute wellington boot stamp for ever, so I thought it was about time it got inked up and while I was rummaging through my stash to find it I spotted the pink washi tape - perfect!

A couple of stitched die cuts and a sentiment just finished off this CAS card.

Supplies:

Stamps: Clearly Besotted, April Showers Additions; Little Clare, wellingtons

Ink: SU, early espresso

Colours: SU, stampin' write pens, melon mambo, Bermuda bay

Dies: Lawn Fawn, larges stitched square stackables & large stitched circle stackables

Washi tape from my stash

Well it's over to you now. Go check out the designs from the rest of the team at CC&S

and then get busy! Enjoy my colours.

Thanks for your time today. And keep crafting!

Wednesday Words

It's one layer week with a masculine theme over at Less is More. 

 

Inspired by all the stencil cards in AAA Cards last challenge I treated myself to some new stencils at a craft show I went to a few weekends ago. And one layer week seemed the perfect time to break them open.

The sentiment from Uniko is the only thing stamped, everything else was created with ink and stencils.

Supplies:
Stamp: Uniko, Simply Said Birthday
Inks: SU, night of navy, pacific point, pool party
Stencils: Memory Box, texture mesh; TCW Rebekah Meier, mini postacrd & mini harlequin circles; TCW Balzer, mini word arrows

Thank you for spending some time looking at my blog today. And keep crafting!