ALL ABOUT THE CATS

I found another new challenge site on my journey around blog land - this one is called Crazy for CAS  and they have a sketch for us to work with - 




Now - when I first saw this site I must admit I thought it said crazy for Cats - which I am !!  So I think this influenced my card design! 

I used some gorgeous papers I have in my stash from Do Crafts I think as the background piece  - I used the Fluffy Furball stamp set from Clearly Besotted. I stamped and cut out the little ginger cat and gave her a fish to drool over!  This was then added to a stitched framelit - a simple sentiment and some butterflies punched out of the same paper finishes off the card - I hope it's CAS enough.

Whilst I had this set out and I was clearly in a cat mood I decided to change the breed of cat to Siamese!  I cut each cat out (I think there is a matching framelit set but I don't have it) and coloured them in with SU watercolour pens.  I added some Glossy Accents to their eyes to really make them pop.  The background paper is from the same stack as the one above.  I added a bit of SU ribbon and the sentiment is from another Clearly Besotted set Thanks a Bouquet.  The button was from my stash.

I'm adding this one into the following challenges I've found recently:

Everybody Art Challenge - Animals

Papercraft Challenge - Critters

ONE LAYER CARD

My card today is for two challenges - Less is More  - they are celebrating their 8th birthday so my card is for them to say thank you for all their hard work.

and CAS Colours and Sketches 

I used some SU Very Vanilla card stock for my base.  The sentiment in the middle is from SU Thankful Thoughts inked in Fresh Fig. I used Mint Macaron and Crumb Cake inks to add the flourishes at the top and the bottom with the Timeless Textures set.  A few sequins just finished off the card.  

I like trying to make one layers as over at my Facebook Group The Joy of Sets we have a RAK group and we send cards to our crafting friends all over the world - the one layer's mean less postage and less damage to the card.


           

TRIPLE LAYER STAMPING

They say nothing is new in the crafting world and that may be so but I think there are still new things you can discover.  For  me it was triple layer stamping that I saw an old video of 6 years ago on You Tube by DO Stamping.  Now you know I'm all about the old and the retired and I'm not very good at keeping up with trends and I use stash that may be considered out of favour but I like to still keep on using it.  So I don't know if this style is 'old fashioned' but I liked it.

I took my inspiration for my card from the sketch over at The Paper Players - rather than just use DSP for the layers I chose to do this triple stamping.

  

I used a stamp from Timeless Textures (that gorgeous filigree flower one) inked in Crumb Cake on to Whisper White.  I then went over it with Mint Macaron with a stamp from a retired set Nature's Perfection (I just love this set!)  If I were to do another one of these, and I surely will, I would make sure that the bolder stamp was a solid image - The one I chose wasn't and it didn't look right so I grabbed a blender pen and coloured the images in which makes it look a lot better.  I used the butterfly from Natures Perfection and added this as my 'shape' for the challenge.  The sentiment is from Watercolor Wings and I added a strip of Crumb Cake ribbon.  The butterfly has a touch of Spectrum Noir glitter pen to make it shine.

I was also inspired by the following challenges:

Addicted to Stamps - Anything but a Square
TGIF - Butterflies
Inkspirational - Use Your Stash
Addicted to stamps and more - photo image - the colour blue






 

TRY STAMPIN ON TUESDAY AND RETRO RUBBER COMBINED CHALLENGE #TSOT397

We are joining forces with Retro Rubber Challenge blog again this week at Try Stampin on Tuesday -





As you know I'm all about the old stamps so I loved this one.  I used a retired SU Set called Yay You - I love this set and don't seem to see it used much.  It has some really great sentiments.  I started by using the leaf stamp lightly stamped with Pear Pizzazz as a background.  The little felt flowers were also SU very old in their own little tin box - I wonder who remembers those?  The bird was stamped and cut and added with an embellishment and I used some retired Washi Tape for the banners at the top.

 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS - COLOUR CHALLENGE #CC309

We have our Colour Challenge for you today at Hand Stamped Sentiments - As usual you can use the exact colours if you have them or as close to if you don't!



I used the new First Steps stamp set which came out in the Spring Catalogue - I'm to be a Grandma for the first time this year so I think this little set is going to come in very handy!  I used the retired cable stitch embossing folder for the background using Crumb Cake as I don't have Soft Seafoam - I inked the edges up with Highland Heather.  The hearts were simply cut out using stitched framelits, stamped and layered and a metal pearl added.  

SWEET STAMPIN - DR SEUSS/GRADUATION

We have an unusual challenge for you today over at Sweet Stampin - Dr Seuss or Graduation.  Now I have a mental block with Dr Seuss - I'm not sure where it stems from but it gives me the creeps - even the mention of it can turn me in a jelly so my choice had to be Graduation.  I don't have any stamps at all that can be deemed Graduation so I had a think out side the box and decided to use Beautiful You.  I can still remember what it felt like over 30 years ago to graduate from University with that all important qualification which sadly I never really used.  I studied languages, French and German but today they are most decidedly rusty through lack of use.

My girl, however, is full of confidence that she is going to put that qualification to good use.  I kept it simple with blacks and blues - and added some blue thread to her hat and her rolled up qualification.  The sentiments are from Yay You and Remember this -retired Stampin Up sets.

 

MONOCHROMATIC MALE CARDS

That title was a bit of a mouthful!  We all like to see new ideas for Male cards and The Male Room challenge is a great place to start.  Their challenge this week is to make a card without any papers.  Not too difficult for me as I don't always use them.  I decided to add this challenge to the one over at The Paper Players which is Monochromatic - Shades of the same colour.



My card uses the Stampin Up Set High Tide.  I have used an old ink I think- Always Artichoke and my ink pad is quite old and quite dry - however using Tim Holtz stamp positioner is a great way to bring life back to old inks.  You can stamp them as many times as you like and as the stamp is always in the same position the ink gets darker.  I'm sure that's not what they all had in mind when the various companies developed the stamping positioner tools but it's what I use mine for the most.

I did add black as an extra colour so I hope that was ok.  The centre was punched out with a stitched framelit and I sponged the edges and popped it on dimensionals.  The button and thread is from my stash and was inspired by one of the cards from the DT at the Male Room.  I like to use buttons and it's nice that they seem to be having a revival.  


 

STAMPIN UP ONLY CHALLENGE SALE-A-BRATION 2019

We are celebrating the new Sale-A-Bration 2019 catalogue today at Stampin Up Only Challenge.  I chose to use some of the new Botanical Butterfly DSP which you get free.  I'm no longer an SU Demo but I do still have friends who are and I was lucky enough to receive some of this lovely paper from them as a RAK.

The black and white paper intrigued me as I found it unusual for something as colourful as a butterfly so I challenged myself to use it.  It goes really well with the purple which is another colour I rarely use so that decided my colour palette.  I used the small butterfly image from a retired set Kinda Eclectic and used Versamark ink to stamp the purple card stock.  The larger butterfly was from another retired set Nature's Perfection.  I was excited to find that this stamp actually fits my retired Butterfly punch perfectly.  I coloured the butterfly with a Wink of Stella dipped into Perfectly Plum ink to give it a shine.  The other butterfly was simply punched out of some of the black and white paper.  The sentiment is from Jar of Love.

I'm also adding this to TGIF Challenge #TGIFC199 which is also looking at Sale-a-bration goodies.

 

APERTURE CARD

I'm playing along with Global Design Project #GDP177 with this card and decided to do an aperture card as I've never done one before.

GDP has a colour pallette for us to work with - 



I used a combination of thinlets from two sets for the foliage - Jar of Love and Colourful Seasons.  The butterfly is from a retired set Nature's Perfection which fits the retired butterfly punch perfectly. I coloured in the balloons on the sentiment with some of the Melon Mambo.  A touch of copper thread and some Wink of Stella on the flowers and the butterfly just gives that touch of sparkle.

I run a Facebook Group called The Joy of Sets with over 3,000 members where we celebrate all things SU both retired and current so I'm often seen using my old set.  As I'm not a Demo there is no pressure to keep using new stuff and I love to use old favourites.

PAPER PIECING

It's been a while since I did some paper piecing and it was great to see it as part of the challenge at Back to Basics and Beyond - a new challenge which I found today.

I decided to use Stampin Up's Beautiful You as it's a set I haven't used in a while and it really lends itself to paper piecing.  I used some retired papers from SU - yellow is not really a colour I use very often but it's a good one for Spring  I think.  I've also used the retired Botanical Blooms on this card.

Once I started I couldn't stop and ended up doing another one - using another retired Stampin Up set called Painter's Palette but in different colours - again no colours I normally use.

I'm going to go through my stamps and see what others I could use for this technique.




 

MAKE IT MONDAY

Over on my Facebook Group The Joy of Sets - every Monday I set a Make It Monday challenge.  This Monday I have challenged everyone to make a project using a template or stencil.   

There is a sketch challenge over at Sunday Stamps#SSC198  this week called from the heart - very apt for the month of February.  I tried to think outside the box for my entry and was inspired by something I saw Kristina Werner doing and I also wanted to try and use a template.

I started off by cutting a template out of a heart shaped thinlet. I fixed this directly to my Very Vanilla cardstock and started to stamp the images on the border of the template.  As the stencil is revealed you can see the shape of the heart - sometimes there is a bit of touching up at the middle and the bottom just to make sure the shape is there but I loved how this turned out.  I added some SU Tutti Frutti washi tape to the side and stamped and cut out some roses and leaves and added a touch of sheer ribbon.  I used four SU inks for the heart - Berry Burst, Fresh Fig, Old Olive and Tranquil Tide.

I'm also adding this into the As You See It Challenge #194 who have challenged us to keep things simple - for me simple for crafting is paper and ink.




 

NATIONAL PET DAY - SWEET STAMPIN

We are celebrating National Pet day today at Sweet Stampin challenge- shh I'm keeping it quiet from my two dogs and three cats!  Well, maybe they will get a few treats!

I chose to do a Waterfall card for my card today as it's a while since I made one.  As I'm also a volunteer for my local Cat's Protection I chose to use Stampin Up's Pretty Kitty stamp set for my card.

I started off with a base card stock of Lemon Lime Twist by SU and added some of the lovely retired Designer Series Paper called Naturally Eclectic.

The images were all coloured in with SU watercolour pencils.  The sentiment is from another retired set called Build a Bouquet.  There are plenty of YouTube tutorials showing how to make Waterfall Cards - I love to watch Dawn Griffith as I find hers easy to follow.

INSPIRED BY....

....the challenge by Inspired By I've moved away from those bold colours of my last card to the more muted tones of browns and pinks.  The image they gave us were of cacti but I don't have any of the latest craze of cacti images so I went with the soft muted colours.

I chose a stamp set by Clearly Besotted called Thanks A Bouquet and the sentiment is from their set called Mini Basic Banners.  Both sets have the matching dies.

I started out by embossing my flower images with white embossing powder on to SU's Crumb Cake cardstock.  I used some SU inks and an aqua brush to colour in the images.  Although this wasn't water colour paper it still with stood a bit of water for the water colouring.  The banner was stamped onto Vellum.  I added a few pearls and layers in White card stock and Always Artichoke.



 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

Happy Valentine's Day everyone.  I'm feeling rather sorry for myself as I fell down my stairs on Tuesday and hurt my back.    I still managed to do some crafting today though - inspired by the Tic Tac Toe grid over at Retro Rubber.  Tic Tac Toes are one of my favourites which is why I started up my own Challenge blog with my Joy of Sets FB page where we do one every month.  I love how many different elements you can choose and everything is so different.





Well I went completely out of my comfort zone with the colours on this card.  I chose to do the diagonal of butterflies, birthday and washi tape and my card was inspired by my washi tape. I'd recently purchased some retired SU Tutti Frutti washi and this was its first outing.

I started by adding five of the colours to a small piece of white cardstock - I then used the framelit from the retired SU set Watercolor Wings to cut out the small butterfly out of the Washi tape.  I stamped the larger butterfly in SU Fresh Fig and added the washi butterfly to it.  I also added some of the washi tape in the same order that I cut out the butterfly and layered it behind the larger butterfly.  

The background embossed piece is from Kaisercraft and is a gorgeous folder called Tiny Floral.  I've gone over the embossing with a Tim Holtz Distress Crayon in Antique Linen. I'm always late tot the party in crafting it seems and I've just discovered Distress Crayons. I love that you use your finger to move the ink around. Feels just like a kid and I've been doing lots of experimenting with them - I'm sure more cards will follow using them. I just need to get more colours as I only have the muted set.  Anyway back to my card - the sentiment came from a retired SU set called Cottage Greetings - I added a few of the Tutti Frutti sequins and some pearls to the card.


 

I LOVE YOU MORE THAN........

Fill in the blanks lol!  In my case it's chocolate - I have a definite weakness but as I'm dairy intolerant it has to be dark!   This is my take on our sketch this week at Try Stampin on Tuesday #TSOT395

The sentiments come from Clearly Besotted stamp company.  I used some papers I had been RAK'd by a friend and turned them into a small envelope.  I then used some Early Espresso card stock from Stampin Up, added some squares with dimensionals and sponged the edges to make it look like a bar of dark (!) chocolate.  I then just made a wavy edge to make it look as though it had been bitten into.  I added some hearts which had been cut with some stitched framelits - the smaller one uses glitter paper and I added a heart embellishment.  Some ribbon and a few extra pearls finished off the card.  This is one hubby is getting this week! 

I'm also adding this into the following Challenges:

DoubleD - Hearts with a mood board of brown 
Try it on Tuesday - Romance 
Time out Challenge - #128 - Home Sweet Home and chocolates!
Inspired By - Hearts 
As You See It - Eclectic - I've used all the elements in one card







 

HAND STAMPED SENTIMENTS - SKETCH #308

We have a sketch for you today at Hand Stamped Sentiments  #308- I had to do a lot of thinking over this one! 

I chose to use some retired Designer Series Paper from Stampin Up for the background piece - I love the colours in this paper but it can be a bit full on but I thought it was just right for this project.  I used a stitched framelit to cut out the shame and have the paper peeking through.  The large butterfly was cut with a butterfly framelit and shows the reverse of the paper.  The little butterfly was cut with a punch.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you all do with this sketch!