Birthday knits and leaves

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Happy Saturday and welcome to another fun challenge at Addicted to CAS. In the Northern hemisphere the season is changing to shorter days and colder weather, and this fortnight's hostess with the mostest, Sue, has chosen a code word to reflect that:

 

I love all the colours and images of autumn and have got myself good and inky with my take on it!

 

I started by positioning Funky Fossil's Knitted stencil over a card front and sponging turquoise ink into it, fading the colour out towards the top and right hand side of the card. I topped that background with a leaf and die cut sentiment grouping.

 

To make the leaf, I sponged inks in autumnal colours onto a piece of white card then stamped the maple leaf from Reverse Confetti's Fall Foliage onto it in rust coloured ink. I cut it out and then had fun splattering it with diluted inks and paints. When it was dry, I positioned it to the card front with the 'hello' sentiment from The Greetery's Arched Sentiments which was stamped and die cut.

Okay, so now it's your turn! Do hop over to the Addicted to CAS challenge site for some great autumn inspiration won't you. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and can use it to link up your own creation. Don't forget to keep your card nice and clean and simple, with plenty of lovely clear space! We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at the Fusion Card Challenge where I got very excited by the photo inspiration (see below); also joining in with the Things That Fall challenge at Double D; also playing at Make My Monday where the challenge is Autumn Flora and Fauna; and last but not least, entering the Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge where Anything Goes.  

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The autumn chill may have arrived but nothing stops the Golden Synchronised Swimming Team from practising their moves!

Sending hugs,

Sweater weather

Hello, crafting friends!

After all that lovely autumn sunshine on holiday by the sea it feels chillier now I'm back, so while I was looking through my stencils I decided that a woolly looking one would be just the ticket for a note card!

After masking off the top of a lighter purple card base, I inked purple ink through Funky Fossil's Knitted stencil. This was topped with a fabulous die cut 'Hello', also from Funky Fossil, which I cut out of bright yellow card stock. 

The card was finished with three purple enamel dots and a sunny yellow panel inside to write a cheery message on :)

CHALLENGES

I was inspired to make this card when I saw the colour challenge at Less is More - not a colour combination I would normally use, but that's what challenges are for! I'm also linking up with Happy Little Stampers Stencil Challenge where Anything Goes and Allsorts where Embellish It is the theme.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I'm finding it hard to settle back into routine after being on holiday. It's been so long since I last went away anywhere and it was a joy to have the company of my daughter, Nina, for a whole week and watch Eva frolic about on beaches!

On our first day, we picnicked in the dunes on a gorgeous sandy beach. We chose a spot with a dip in the sand like a nest which sheltered us from the wind and Eva curled up with us in there and was Angel Dog while we ate. She was permitted a piece of cheese for being such a good girl which she ate with the look of a starving orphan puppy.

Afterwards, Nina headed off towards the sea - but this Eva could not permit! Ever since a game of 'Egg', in which Nina horrified Eva by rolling slowly off a bed, Eva feels my daughter cannot be trusted to look after herself, so she set off in hot pursuit, barking madly...

... and escorted my daughter safely to the sea. My goodness those waves were a little scary at first though!!

Sending hugs,

A knitting pattern

Hello, crafting friends!

Today is the start of a brand new challenge at Addicted to CAS! Our hostess this fortnight is Sue and she's chosen the word Pattern which gives a whole lot of scope. 

I thought of all sorts of fun things to do but in the end I kept coming back to the idea of a knitting pattern!

I used my Knitted stencil from Funky Fossil, cutting a little mask so that I could ink up coloured rows and fading the ink out towards the right of my card.  The panel was trimmed to size with a stitched rectangle die by Heffy Doodle and attached to the card base.

The cosyiness of the woolly pattern made it the perfect background for a 'hugs' sentiment. I cut the letters three times out of grey card using the Little Letters alphabet dies by MFT. The letters were stacked and glued together and positioned on the card along with some frosty looking sequins!

Are you ready to play along with us? Click here to see what our special guest designer Milka has made to inspire you, as well as my talented team mates! Remember, ATCAS is a Clean and Simple challenge so don't forget to keep layers to a minimum and leave plenty of that all important space on your design! I can't wait to see what you make :)

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD

So pleased this card got a mention at The Color Throwdown!

CHALLENGES

I loved Lori's colours at this week's Color Throwdown so I'm linking up there; I'm also joining in at Perfectly CAS where we must use a stencil on up to one third of the card space; Use a Stencil is the theme at Uniko, so I'm playing along there too.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Have you seen ythose chunky knitted throws and blankets that are doing the rounds on Pinterest at the moment? 

Aren't they gorgeous? I know that I am not exactly known for my knitting skills (this is quite an understatement!) but surely even I could make something on massive needles! What do you think?!

Sending hugs,

Warm woolly hugs

Hello, crafting friends!

It's been a day of crafting between wrapping up warm for walks today - and that may have influenced my card a little! Come and see:

This lovely lady from Winter Wear by Concord & 9th is all bundled up in her winter woollies, but I think you can tell she's a bit of a fashion icon because of those snazzy lenses in her specs! All the elements in Winter Wear come separately, which I love because it means you can get creative. I stamped her hair, the glasses and the scarf and from there it was easy to fill in the lower part of her face and a jumper.

Everything was coloured with Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. To give the card a bit of depth, I used two stencils from Funky Fossil: Knitted, which I stencilled over the top of my jumper, and Fancy Trellis, for a hint of background. The sentiment is from my well-used Simply Said Blocks set from Uniko.

CHALLENGES

I was inspired by some of my favourite challenges: Less Is More, where the theme is Fashion and/or Accessories; Just Us Girls, where the challenge is to Just Use Stencils; Happy Little Stampers Stencil challenge where anything using stencils goes; and Allsorts, where they want us to use our favourite colour (mine are greens, yellows, oranges, but I've gone for mainly green here.)

AND IN OTHER NEWS

One of my favourite gifts I received at Christmas was a set of Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. My family tend to steer away from giving me craft items because they know that I am quite specific about the things I buy.  But this year, my son had casually admired my display of markers, triggering a conversation about how much I loved using them and how I was building up my collection. He had snuck back to the display afterwards and made a note of all the pens I already had (quite a task!) and ordered a pack that had no duplicates in it. Cunning huh?! But also SO thoughtful!

Sending hugs,

Christmas with a crunch!

Hello, crafting friends!

Today I'm showing you one of the cards I made but couldn't share until it had arrived. This one was made for my daughter and her partner and I'm happy to say it made them smile!

Aren't these the cutest gingerbread people? They're from Mama Elephant and I just couldn't resist them! I made a background on the card base with my Gingham byackground stamp by Kaisercraft, adding some fade out stencilling using the Knitted stencil from Funky Fossil.

The plate of gingerbread people and the separate biscuits were stamped in light brown ink, coloured with alcohol markers and fussy cut. I glued the plate to the card and popped the little gingerbread people up on dimensionals.

The card was finished with a sentiment made from two stamps in Stampin' Up's Merry Christmas to All. I am increasingly drawn to sentiment sets that enable me to mix and match words and fonts :)

CHALLENGES

I'm linking up with Chocolate Baroque's Anything Goes challenge.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

We've been talking about Christmas advertisements in our family. OH mentioned there had been a lot of CGI adverts recently and I said I thought that they were a very successful way for companies to get the attention of families. Kevin the Carrot was one of the most successful campaigns for one of the supermarkets, I added, and the company even got to sell merchandise every year on the back of it. "Kevin the Carrot," said OH. "Is that a CGI ad?" We all stared at him. " Oh no," said my daughter with a deadpan expression, "I think they hired an actual carrot for that one!"

Sending hugs,

A comforting card

Hello, crafting friends!

Like many of you, I've been struggling with a lack of mojo recently but at 9.30 last night a card idea struck me and I spent a little while trying to bring it to life. When I looked at it again in daylight this morning, it didn't seem too bad, so here it is!

One of my favourite ways to start a card is to stencil a background, and that's what I've done here, sponging pink ink gently through Funky Fossil's Knitted stencil and fading it out at the edges. I wanted it to feel as comforting as a soft knitted throw.

Over the top, I stamped some foliage and berries from WPlus9's Silver Bells and tied them together with one of the bows from the set, stamped in pink and fussy cut. What a brilliant stamp set this is! It's one of those rare Christmas sets that you can leave out on your desk and use every day, all the year round! After adding a bit of detail with markers, I finished the card with a sentiment from Stampin' Up's Today's Tiles and some sparkling green sequins.

EDITED TO ADD AN AWARD

This card was showcased at The Color Throwdown and goyt Honours at Time Out too :)

CHALLENGES

This week's beautiful colours at The Color Throwdown inspired this card, as well as the theme at Time Out Challenges where they are raising breast cancer awareness with cards of encouragement featuring optional pink - my pink bow is a nod to the iconic pink ribbon.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

In the absence of a crafting mojo, I've been escaping into books more. I've re-read Lord of the Rings, that epic tale of good versus evil, and now it seems appropriate to be reading novels set in wartime as that is the last time people's lives changed so dramatically. The Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard, a family saga covering the period before, during and after WWII, and told mainly from the home front perspective; and The Camomile Lawn by Mary Wesley, a similar perspective but quite different in tone. Does anyyone who has read these have any recommendations for me?

Sending hugs,