CAS Valentine's

Although I made a card the other day for my husband for Valentine's day, I decided it was too girlie in the end and made this one instead:

I don't think it could be more CAS! I cut a heart out on my Sizzix Eclips, and the U out of the middle of it in Cafe Rojo font which is my "go-to" font for cutting machines. The inking & sponging was all done with Memento Rhubarb Stalk ink.

I'm entering this into the challenge at Addicted to CAS where the theme is Love.

LIM - One Layer week 158

The challenge over at Less is More this week is One Layer, and for once I've got myself organised in enough time to take part! This card is for a French friend whose birthday falls this week, and although she isn't from Paris I know she loves it there so it seemed fitting to try out my recent purchase of some Stampin' Up! stamps with a French theme.

This was my third attempt! The greeting was stamped using individual letter stamps, and my first attempt saw me mis-spelling "Bon" - you'd never guess I got a B in A-level French, would you? My excuse is the number of years since I took it . . . . 

There was lots of masking and inking using my new Hero Arts Blackboard shadow inks which arrived yesterday, before sponging some Distress Spun Sugar over the ticket. Voila!

Cardstock: Anna Marie Designs

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Artistic Etchings, 

Crafty Individuals CI-128, 

Kirsty Wiseman for Personal Impressions Alpha Script PICSA6276

Inks: Hero Arts Shadow Inks: Black, Charcoal, Soft Granite

Distress Inks Spun Sugar

OLW149 Closet Inspiration

I'm always inspired by the amazing work of Heather Telford and this week was no exception. She mentioned a challenge called One Layer Wonder & the inspiration for this had to be an item of clothing - either from my own wardrobe or pinned on Pinterest. I really liked the colour of this top http://pinterest.com/pin/292874781987440143/ so that was my starting point for the card above, which is for my husband's Goddaughter.  It's a far cry from the cupcake-related card I'd intended to make as the "birthday girl" makes the most gorgeous cakes but I simply couldn't come up with anything I felt was good enough for her.  The butterfly stamp is by Inkylicious who are probably my favourite stamp company, and in real life the card looks much nearer to the colour of the top. I think my camera settings were wrong as I took the photos very early this morning whilst still half asleep!

Cardstock: Xerox Colotech Plus 300gsm

Ink: Memento Elderberry

Stamps: Butterfly - Inkylicious

Greeting - Imagination Crafts

Sea of Tranquillity

It's been a busy week & I forgot to blog this, it was the Father's Day card I made for my father-in-law.  He's a keen gardener so I normally make him cards on that theme but as my mojo's still deserted me I couldn't come up with any ideas!  Then I saw this card & loved the simplicity of the image.  I also knew my father-in-law would love it, too so I set about recreating it with my own supplies.

The main image was very straightforward - sponging with Adirondacks (Lettuce, Denim, Cloudy Blue) then the black images added in Onyx Versafine.  I mounted it on black to try to avoid it becoming too feminine.   The grass stamps were by Inkylicious, I'm not sure who the boat is by.  The green cardstock was American Crafts which I ran through my Cuttlebug to add texture.  A greeting (a free stamp from a magazine) and a few black brads were all I felt it needed to finish it off.

Seahorse Sponging

Another card for my sister, whose birthday it was a couple of days ago. Seahorses and aqua colours are two of her favourite things so I combined them in this project, which is also inspired by Heather Telford's amazing sponging work.  If you've never seen her blog, it's well worth a visit.

The seahorse is a brass stencil which I sponged through using two colours of Versamagic inks.  I then inked round the edges of the main image with the darker ink.

The frame was cut using Nestabilities then I clear embossed some Inkylicious sea-themed stamps round it and sponged over the top, carefully dabbing away the excess over the embossed images because the Versamagic takes some time to dry and I didn't want to take too much away.

Cardstock: Xerox Colotech Plus 300gsm

Stamps: Inkylicious Seascape Memories

Inks: Tsukineko Versamagic Aquatic Splash & Ocean Depth

Inkylicious Alliums Again

The main image for this card was created using the same stamps & Adirondacks as my last post, but I wanted it to have a different feel to the first one.  In any case, I try to avoid making two cards the same.  For the background this time I simply stamped the Inkylicious script stamp twice in Memento Teal Zeal, added some plain white organza ribbon & a Meiflower diamante buckle.  I did try to colour the ribbon with Adirondacks but got more ink on myself than the ribbon & also found that it just didn't seem to dry so gave that up as a bad job!

Cardstock: Xerox Colotech Plus 300gsm

Stamps: Inkylicious, Imagination Crafts

Inks: Adirondack Cloudy Blue, Sailboat Blue, Denim, Memento Teal Zeal

Vintage Car

Another card which was the result of experimenting well outside my comfort zone, but which I thoroughly enjoyed making. The backing paper was made using an Imagination Crafts Diamond background stencil, sponging through it with various Distress & Memento inks.  When it was finished I didn't like the white background so I brayered over it with Distress Antique Linen.  Straight edges to the paper just didn't look right somehow, so I tore them & re-inked the edges with Antique Linen again.

The main image from Inkadinkado was stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa onto an Inkylicious tag which was sponged round the edges with Distress Antique Linen.  I replaced the original string with twine.

The numbers started out as bare chipboard which I gessoed (is there such a word?!), embossed in my Cuttlebug & inked repeatedly until the colour was fairly close to the Kraft base card - closer than the photos would have you believe.  I also sponged round the edges of the base card to add a little bit of extra depth.

More experiments to follow!

Supplies:
Stamps: Inkadinkado
Stencil: Imagination Crafts Diamond
Inks: Memento Rich Cocoa, Peanut Brittle, Toffee Crunch, Distress Antique Linen.