Thanks with gold

This week's CAS(E) This Sketch (#191) demanded careful consideration (well, I suppose most challenges do, but this one definitely stretched my brain. I'd been using rich colours for previous cards, so decided to stick with those. The reds are very much my mum's colours - in her youth, she had striking black hair to her waist (then, in my youth, in an ornate behive!) and so has always suited these regal colours. So here's one for you, Mum - thanks for everything!

I brushed the edges of each square in gold, so that they were a little separated from the last - and also lightened the sponging as they got smaller. 

Because I'd kept the squares symmetrical (I get all twitchy when things are uneven!) I decided to place the sentiment in the middle as well, rather than on the side as in the original sketch:

Made using:
Paper: Stampin' Up Very Vanilla, Blackberry Bliss and gold foil
Ink: Stampin' Up Rich Razzleberry, Rose Red, Blackberry Bliss
Other: Stampin' Up Petite Petals stamp and punch, Thoughtful Banners stamp and punch, gold embossing powder and Versamark watermark,

Happy Birthday Flowers

For this card, I combined two challenges: the Paper Pal Arts PPA319 colour challenge: Flirty Flamingo, Mint Macaron and Emerald Envy, and CAS Colours and Sketches #192, a sketch challenge:

I saw lots of possibilities in the sketch, not least of which was a chance to use the colours, which I'd been puzzling over. Here's the result: 

Made using:

Paper: Stampin' Up Mint Macaron, Whisper White, Flirty Flamingo

Ink: Stampin' Up Flirty Flamingo, Emerald Envy, Memento Basic Blacj

Other: Stampin' Up stamps - Petite Petals, Grateful Bunch, Sky is the Limit (sentiment) and the Petite Petals punch.

Just another love card...

I loved sketch 255 from Freshly Made Sketches - I can see myself returning to it again and again. The white space is an invitation to get creative, and the layout keeps it CAS.

I began with a simple interpretation see bottom of post for that card, but then, looking at the colours of the flowers on this card, started wondering if it was possible to make a card in dark, rich colours that fitted the criteria 'clean and simple'. I'm not sure if the resulting card is CAS, but I'm still happy with the result: I think the contained nature of the sketch helped keep the lines of the card clean, as did the repetition of one simple shape (the heart).

The background for the hearts is sponged in Rose Red and Watermelon Wonder, and for the hearts I used a nifty little emboss-and-cut heart set from Stampin' Up that is now retired. 

Made using:

Paper: Stampin' Up Blackberry Bliss, Gold Foil, Bermuda Bay, Marina Mist, Pretty Petals DSP; Rosie's Studio Designer 'Birdsong' Scrapbook Pad, TAD Watercolour paper

Ink: Stampin' Up Rose Red, Watermelon Wonder, Blackberry Bliss

Other: Sizzix Fashionable Hearts Embosslit, Stampin' Up Thoughtful Banners stamp (sentiment) 

Here's my first attempt: 

Joy!

This card, a response to  Global Design Project's GDP#054 sketch Challenge, represents something of a  learning curve for me and since learning how to do new things is one of my favourite activities, making it was a pleasurable experience.

The first thing I learnt was that it's extremely tricky to emboss watercolour paper. I was happy with my lightly sponged background and muted green/brown tree, and wanted to finish it off with a gold star and baubles. The gold star went okay, but the baubles just didn't stick. I was going to throw it out and start again, but then paused, looked at what I'd done and realised I'd ended up with a light dusting of gold on the whole image, which I really liked - so I went ahead and heat embossed it anyway. (I assure you that is gold dust and not dirt, but I know it didn't photograph very well.)

My next issue was what to mount my tree on. Nothing seemed to work, until I hit upon the idea of making my own background (a JoMo DSP!) by layering two Kaisercraft clear stamps - a square music one in stamped-off Cherry Cobbler, and  'Script' embossed in gold.

My last barrier was when I realised I don't really have many sentiments that are Christmassy - (a problem I intend to remedy forthwith!). For the last 25 years, my Christmas cards have been a very simply mounted photo of our two children. I've had a copy of each photo mounted in similar frames and they're on the wall in a big 5x5 square that, as I'm sure you can imagine, tells the story of how they've grown up.

Now, however, my son has moved to England and so I have to make actual Christmas cards (and live with getting a bit tearful whenever I think he won't be home for Christmas). Anyway, I found this little Heidiswapp 'joy' in a 2013 set of 9 stamps and thought the sentiment apt and the size and shape perfect.

Made using

Paper: Stampin' Up Very Vanilla and Cherry Cobbler, The Art Department watercolour

Ink: Stampin' Up Mossy Meadow, Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip

Stamps: Stampin' Up Thoughtful Branches, Totally Trees (the star), Kaiser Art Script and Music, Heidiswapp sentiment.

Other: Franceville adhesive rhinestone

Miniature Frames: Priceless

I love miniatures, so was very happy when it occurred to me that the stamp edges that I love in Stampin Up's Postage Collection stamps could become tiny picture frames for CASology's Week 216 challenge: Frame. I looked through all my Stampin' Up stamps for little images to frame, and ended up with the three you see here (the flowers from the Pedal Pushers stamp set, the bee/dragonfly from Jars of Love and the butterfly from Fields of Love.

 I went a step further and tried to make a gallery out of the images by hanging them with cotton, and decided that the 'priceless' sentiment from the Postage Collection set had a slight look of the kind of note you'd find on an art gallery wall.

Made using:

Stampin' Up Products:

Paper: Whisper White. Kraft

Stamp sets: Postage Collection, Pedal Pusher, Jar of Love

Other: Postage stamp punch, Gold embossing powder, Candy Dots

Other Products: Faber-Castell watercolour pencils

The Card Concept

I thought this photo was beautiful! I was especially inspired by the rainbow colours, but also wanted to try a slightly more abstract take on the idea of the grouped flowerpots. I sponged the dots of colour to soften their look. In my head to begin with, the card was clean and simple, but it didn't really end up that way!

Made Using: 

Paper: Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, Dapper Denim, Daffodil Delight, Sweet Sugarplum, Bermuda Bay, Emerald Envy, TAD watercolour paper

Ink: Rich Razzleberry, Bermuda Bay, Emerald Envy, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Blackberry Bliss, Pacific Point, Mint Macaron

Stamps: Stampin' Up What I Love, I Think You're Great

Other: Stampin' Up tiny petals punch (retired), Francheville Pearls

Freshly Made Sketches #254

I used this sketch as an opportunity to try out two recent acquisitions: the Pop of Pink DSP, and the Sizzix Borders Thinlits. I really really like those pink polka dots, so used the dotty border thinlit to echo the shape. Here's the result:

Made using:

Paper: Stampin' Up Whisper White, Pacific Point, Pop of Pink DSP, Gold foil

Dies: Stampin' Up Hello You thinlits, Circles Collection thinlits, Sizzix Borders

Other: Stampin' Up Enamel Shapes (brights), Francheville adhesive rhinestones