Feeling so sad

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Welcome to another Tuesday and another fun challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches. The always-inspiring Joanne has created a beautiful sketch for us this week:

It came at just the right time for me as I had a sympathy card to make. I started by stamping the countryside image from Clearly Besotted's Scene it More onto a good thick card base in neutral ink. I masked around the scene with sticky notes and coloured it with coloured pencils.

A setting sun works as a subtle version of the circular image on the sketch and I added a sentiment, stamped on a scrap of card, snipped out and popped up on a dimensional strip. The birds add a little movement to the scene - they've been a well-used part of a Lighthouse set by Waffleflower.

Okay, now it's your turn - and there's lots of scope with this versatile sketch! Do check out the inspiration from the rest of the team at the CAS Colours and Sketches challenge site. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post so that you can share your own creation with us. We can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I think I'm just in time to join in with Perfectly CAS where the theme is Sympathy Cards using 1/3rd or less of a card front; I'm also joining in at Watercooler Wednesday where Tristan is hosting the All About Occasions this fortnight; this card is suitable for males so I am also playing along at Allsorts this week where Tracy has chosen From Boys To Men as her theme.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

The sympathy card is for my brother in law and his family. They have lost their beloved family dog and are all devastated. For those who think 'it's just a dog', I can assure you that the relationships we form with our dogs are incredibly close - they are absolutely members of our families. My heart is broken for them.

Rest in peace sweet Pepper.

Sending hugs,

An autumn Scene

Hello, crafting friends!

Welcome to another fun challenge at Addicted to CAS! Fran has chosen a great theme to inspire you this fortnight:

What is it about the word autumn that gets you feeling creative? I was inspired by the beautiful country walks my dog and I go on and the displays of colour that Mother Nature puts on for us at this time of year.

I masked off margins to the left and right of a thick card base and stamped the trees and hills image from Clearly Besotted's Scene It More using a neutral ink. I removed the masks before colouring the scene because I wanted a loose edge. 

I brought out my autumnal coloured inks and water, and scribbled in some colour using a paint brush. When it was dry I fill in a sky with coloured pencils. And then I brought out a black fineliner and added detail with it, giving the impression of a pen and ink painting. I wanted my sentiment to look handwritten and I chose this one from Sugar Pea's Beautiful Books.

So now it's your turn! Do hop over to the Addicted to CAS challenge site to see all the fabulous inspiration from the team, and you'll fins the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post so that you can link up your own creation. I can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card yup at Happy Little Stampers Watercolour challenge where Anything Watercolouring Goes; I've used the colour inspiration at Colour My Heart Color Dare 463 so I'm playing along there; Allsorts have an Anything Goes challenge with the option of Nature so I'm joining in there too; and at Watercooler Wednesday where Heidi is hosting the All Things Masculine challenge.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

It was Eva's 7th birthday yesterday and she couldn't have picked a more beautiful day for it! We did all her favourite things - meeting up with friends on the fields in the morning for a puppy party, going swimming in the river in the afternoon, eating some very interesting snacks, and going shopping for a new toy!

Here she is having a well-deserved lie down with her new teddy! She used to love these squeaky Kong teddies when she was a pup. They contain rope which fascinated her and she would spend ages pulling the toy apart to get to the rope. Now that she's a Grown Up Lady Dog, she's more interested in carrying it around!

Sending hugs,

Hello summer

Hello, crafting friends!

Before I share my card today I just want to let you know how to carry on or how to start getting my posts delivered to you via email.

SPECIAL DELIVERY

I've decided to use follow.it to deliver my posts to you instead of Feedburner which you probably know by now that Blogger has discontinued. If you already get my posts via email, you won't need to do anything as the new service should transfer seamlessly; if you're new here and would like to get an email when I post a new project, just fill in the subscription form in the side bar :)

I really want to thank everyone that has written to ask about this. I can't tell you how it warms my heart to know that you enjoy reading my little blog!

CARRY ON CRAFTING!

And now, onto a zingy little project using my favourite colours!

I started this card by positioning the Sunny Day stencil by Clearly Besotted over a card panel and sponging pale yellow ink into it and blending to a fade. The papers are old Stampin' Up ones that I'd cut into long strips for a project and then didn't use. I trimmed them to size and cut a ribbon tail into one end of each before attaching them to the panel. The panel was then trimmed neatly with a stitched rectangle die from Heffy Doodle.

The 'great summer' sentiment, from Scene it More by Clearly Besotted, was stamped directly onto the orange strip, using a stamping platform for accurate placement. I added a 'Hello' from Perfect Sentiments by Pinkfresh Studio, stamped and snipped out, and some little flip flops from Hero Arts' Beach and Sea, decorated with tiny orange gems.

CHALLENGES

I've been thinking about the inspiration photo at Inspired By for ages - love those polka dots and gorgeous bright colours! I used the great sketch at Fab Friday so I'm joining in there too; and last but not least, Eva and I are skipping over to the Snippets Playground in the hope that Miss Di has the paddling pool out!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

We're celebrating another birthday in our family this week and I'm hoping the flip flops, summer sentiment and bright colours might encourage the sunshine to return. Fingers crossed!

Hugs,

Feeling beachy keen

Hello, crafting friends!

There's a brand new challenge at Addicted to CAS today and our lovely hostess Ceal has chosen just the right code word to get you relaxing!

Blue skies, sunshine on your skin, warm sand between your toes...don't your shoulders immediately go down when you imagine the scene? Mine did when I was making today's card! 

I masked off the edges of a card base and stamped the beach scene from Scene it More by Clearly Besotted. I sponged in a sea/sky and some sand then added colour and detail with  coloured pencils and a Posca white acrylic paint pen.

The sentiment was stamped below the beach in the non-inked area and I made a wide frame for the scene with two stitched rectangle dies from Heffy Doodle and attached it to the front of the card.

I highly recommend making a peaceful beach scene so do come and play with us! You'll find loads of inspiration at the Addicted to CAS challenge blog and we have the amazing Jen Mitchell as our special guest this week! The Linky Tool will be open for two weeks so that you can share your own creation. Have fun won't you - and don't forget to keep your card nice and clean and simple with plenty of that all important white space!

CHALLENGES

I made this card for my son who has just finished a pretty difficult year at university so I'm linking up with Heidi's Masculine challenge at Watercooler Wednesday.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

My daughter has been visiting us and I've been making the most of her delightful company, so apologies for not being around much this week. Now that she's gone home, there's a very sad golden retriever in our house, so I'll be busy cheering her up with long walks and some of her favourite games.

Sending hugs,

A rainbow of new homes

Hello, crafting friends!

I'm excited to have been invited to be guest designer at CAS on Friday today after a win there with THIS card. The new challenge starts today and the theme is:

NEW HOME

I decided on a one layer design with lots of overlapping images and I used lots of masking techniques to achieve that! 

The first step was the sentiment. I wanted it to stretch across the card base, so I chose two sentiments, lined them up in my stamp platform, and masked off each part so that I could ink them different colours. Once they were stamped, I added versamark ink to the stamps (without removing them from the stamp platform,) stamped over the top of the colour and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

The next step was to stamp the row of houses from Scene it More by Clearly Besotted. I stamped with Memento black ink and used a cotton bud to carefully wipe away the ink on the sentiment. The houses were coloured using coloured pencils as these don't bleed through the card stock. For the last step, I stamped the houses again onto a stick note and trimmed around the roofs. This was used to mask off the houses while I inked in the sunshine using Clearly Besotted's Sunny Day stencil.

I hope you'll join in with this challenge! The team are always incredibly creative so hop on over to the CAS on Friday blog and enjoy the inspiration. You'll find the Linky Tool there too where you can link up your own creation. I can't wait to see what you make!

CHALLENGES

I’m linking up with AAA cards where the theme is Two quarters with optional twist of Rainbow; also Day of the Month Card Club where the theme is Find a Rainbow Day.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Today I’d like to share one of my favourite photos of last year. It was taken on a wet day from the car where my daughter and I were talking very deeply and seriously. This amazing double rainbow suddenly appeared in the sky in front of us. It’s hard to capture the impact of a rainbow in a photograph but it was so huge and bright in real life, and it gave us such a feeling of comfort and hope. 

Sending hugs,