Little flowers

Hello, crafting friends!

 

What a glorious day it has been here! The blue skies and bright sunshine have inspired me to reach for the bright colours and join in with some fun challenges.

I recently acquired a pack of two odd-sized embossing folders by Stampin' Up called Little Details and I couldn't wait to experiment with them. The folder I used on this card creates a charming panel in the centre of a C6 card front which I bordered with a couple of scorelines. I coloured the raised details with water-based markers and stamped a colourful sentiment using two Uniko sets.

 

This video by Jennifer McGuire, inspired me to use a pretty little flower from a Sissix wreath die set in a repeat pattern for impact. I cut six of them, coloured them with water-based markers, positioned them on my background and finished them with enamel dot centres.

This card will go in my stash for a summer birthday next year :)

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Little Red Wagon, where the challenge is Small or Large; Can You Handle The Pressure, where we must Use an Embossing Folder with optional Poppies theme (I haven't used that); The Flower Challenge where the challenge is to Use a Die on our flower themed cards; and Happy Little Stampers Birthday challenge where Anything Goes as long as it's a birthday card.

 

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I felt so sorry for the children in our area, heading back to school in this gorgeous weather today. Hopefully, they weren't issued any homework on their first day back and were able to get out and enjoy the sunshine before tea!

 

We walked in the cool of the woods earlier today and Eva found a nice little house to shelter in :)

Sending hugs,

Circle of thanks

Hello, crafting friends!

 

It's Thursday and that means being inspired eight different ways by a new board at the Tic Tac Toe Challenge! Let's have a look at the ideas Betty has put on the new board:

 

 

What a lot of fabulous ideas! I settled on the right hand column Yellow/Diecuts/Floral.

 

 

I had a lot of fun coming up with this layout! I started with two die cut stems and flower heads from The Greetery's Wildflower Mix die set which I coloured with sponge daubers and ink. While playing around with them I saw that the stems formed a circular shape so decided to create a medallion-style sentiment. Using a circle punch, I cut three yellow circles and and stacked them on top of each other (the photo hasn't picked up the yellow sadly), finishing with a white circle stamped with a sentiment from an old Stampin' Up set. The flowers and medallion together made quite a long shape so I created a sponged and stenciled background for them down the centre of a card base, scoring lines either side for a neat finish.

 

 

Okay, so now it's your turn! Which column or row is speaking to you this week? Or maybe you're attracted to one of the diagonals? Do hop over to the Tic Tac Toe Challenge site to check out the beautiful inspiration from the design team. When you're ready to link up your own creation, youi'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post. We can't wait to see what you make!

 

CHALLENGES

I've just seen that our favourite craft challenge duo, Darlene and Diane, have come up with another great challenge: The Triple B Challenge! Get your Birds, Butterflies and Blooms ready for this one and there's an optional inspiration board. I'm entering with my blooms this time; I'm also joining in at Allsorts where Anything Goes with the option to Use Your Dies.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

This is Cody, one of Eva's pals.

 

He is rather concerned.

 

I asked if anyone fancied a Walk and he said Yes with his tail, but now I have disappeared into the kitchen to answer the ringing thing that humans call Telephone and Cody is a bit worried that I have forgotten the Walk. 

I hadn't forgotten though and it was an extra special Walk with Swimming! Cody was relieved - he knew he hadn't been mistaken in me :)

Sending hugs,

Friendly Anemone

Hello, crafting friends!

 

Happy Saturday and welcome to a brand new challenge at Addicted to CAS! We have the talented Ceal at the helm for the next couple of weeks and I love the word she has chosen to inspire you with:

One of my favourite cards to make is a friendship card because who doesn't love happy mail from a crafting pal?! I've gone super CAS for this card using my new favourite colour and a current favourite stamp set.

Using a stamping platform and a good thick card base, I stamped one of the flowers from WPlus9's Modern Anemones in Stampin' Up's Fresh Freesia ink. I used a black water-based marker to ink up just the centre of the flower and stamped again. The sentiment was stamped over the top, slightly overlapping the outline image. To complete the card, I cut a coordinating piece of card stock and glued it to the bottom of the card front, scored a line above it and added some pretty, iridescent sequins.

Okay, so now it's your turn to celebrate friendship! Do hop over to the Addicted to CAS blog to check out all the spectacular samples the design team has made to inspire you. You'll find the Linky Tool at the bottom of the post and you can use it to share your own creation with us. Don't forget to keep your card nice and clean and simple with lots of clear space, and have fun!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up at the Retro Rubber Challenge where I've gone for the middle row on the tic tac toe board Flowers/Dry embossing/Bling, and the stamp set I used was released in 2017.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Eva has many human and canine friends but she also has little friends she likes to carry about.

Lion Friend is one of the more recent. She often chooses to bring him along when someone comes through the front door and she hurries to greet them.

Sending hugs,

Easter chicks

Hello, crafting friends!

Easter cards are on my mind this week and the sketch YoonYoung has prepared for today's new challenge at CAS Colours and Sketches is perfect for one. Here's the sketch:

And here's what I came up with:

First I cut an oval out of a card panel with a die from a nesting ovals set. I planned to decorate the oval and I wanted all the focus on that, so I kept those verticals from the sketch simple by scoring lines on the back of the card panel with my score board before attaching it to a card base.

To decorate the oval, I sponged in a blue ink sky, then used the Sunny Day stencil from Clearly Besotted to add texture to it. The daisy-strewn grass was die cut from a snippet of designer paper. I thought it would be the perfect scene for some chicks to play in, so I stamped, watercoloured and fussy cut some and let them loose! The oval was inset into the oval space left in the card panel and I added a banner-style sentiment popped up with dimensional pads. 

Are you ready to join in? As always, my team mates have some great ideas to inspire you with, as well as PJ, this month's special guest designer. You can see their samples here at the challenge site and you can link up your card there too. 

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge where the theme is Three Of A Kind; also  Inkspirational where Pia has chosen Fur or Feathers as the theme - my little chicks will feel quite furry but their feathers will come in soon! I chose my colour scheme from Color My Heart Color Dare's Tic Tac Toe challenge 436, going for the right hand column, Mint, Sundance and Fern. I'm also playing along at a new-to-me challenge: Creative Crafting Uncles where the theme is Easter.

AND IN OTHER NEWS

Eva and I have been gardening. In reality, I have been gardening and Eva has been carrying the offcuts about and depositing them in places I don't want them to go!

I have cut the grass and done my best to get rid of all the weeds and now we're indoors the birds are having a proper old knees up out there! Cutting back some of the more vigorous plants has revealed areas of nice damp soil that is presumably teaming with grubs for them to eat :)

Sending hugs,

Hearts and Showers

Hello, crafting friends!

Happy Saturday and welcome to another fortnight of fun at Addicted to CAS! Love is in the air this time as Nancy hosts our new challenge with the code word Hearts.

This is not the year to hold back on sending love to all those we care about and I liked the idea of a whole deluge of heart rain! I started by inking pale blue ink from the top of a card panel and fading it out a third of the way down. The same ink was used to stencil some hearts on the ink blend using an old Stampin' Up stencil from many moons ago, then I added tiny stamped hearts from Uniko's Big and Bold Love.

The umbrella and sentiment are from Stampin' Up's Under My Umbrella. The umbrella was stamped in red, the canopy coloured with an alcohol marker and I used that tiny Uniko heart again to over-stamped it with a heart pattern. Once the umbrella was cut out and positioned on the panel, I used a stamping platform to stamp the sentiment. The edges of the panel were scored before attaching to a card base with dimensional pads.

So, what do you think? Are you ready to make a card featuring hearts? You'll find heaps of inspiration from my teamies, and from this fortnights special guest designer Joyce, here on the ATCAS blog. Don't forget we are a clean and simple challenge so make sure there's plenty of breathing space on your design! I can't wait to see what you  come up with!

CHALLENGES

I'm linking this card up with Happy Little Stampers CAS challenge where Love Is In The Air!

AND IN OTHER NEWS

I have posted more valentines cards than I have ever in my life this year! I really do think sending someone a card to tell them you love them and appreciate them is a very good thing to do. I notice that Galentine's Day (where women celebrate their girlfriends) has become more and more popular, and now Palentine's Day has taken off so you can celebrate ANY of your friends!

And yes, Eva, that does include you!

Sending hugs,