CAS Mix Up September Challenge

This month at CAS Mix Up Hilary has set the challenge of 'Using Gesso with your Stencils'.
I have used Gesso for mixed media projects but rarely on a CAS make so I had to think quite hard! I must have been on my own as when I saw the beautiful makes from the rest of the Design Team and our Guest Designer Sue I wondered why I struggled so much when everyone else had done such beautiful makes!
Anyway here it is -

The cogs and gears stencil is from Hunkydory.
After painting on the gesso and letting it dry I had a bit of a crisis moment as I simply couldn't decide what colours to use - I didn't want orange rusty colours but something more subtle as I'd already made my mind up on the colour of the base card!

Delving into the drawers I remembered I had several pots of Imagination Crafts metallic gilding wax in different colours so thought I would try them out.

White Gold, Pewter and a tiny amount of Green rubbed all over my stencilled panel and then wiped off with a cloth gave me a dark background with the stencilled cogs taking on a dark silver.

Was quite happy with the result although if I did it again I think I would use Cobalt with the green to give a more verdigris type effect!

The die cut cogs are Spellbinders using the same gilding wax.

This card looks so much better in real life - taking pics using metallics has to be one of the hardest things!
There's lots of inspiration over at the challenge blog and links to videos if like me your initial reaction to the theme was dread!

Have fun, get the gesso out with your stencils and make something CAS and share with us! x

(Im)perfect Pearls!

The June challenge at CAS Stencil is to use Perfect Pearls on your stencilled project.
Never having done this I was pleased to see a couple of links to tutorials on the challenge blog (along with some pretty amazing makes from the Design Team), and I spent a little while watching instead of making!
I apologise for the really poor quality of this pic - it is a grey day here and the photo taking not made any easier by the use of some gold card... (why oh why do I still use this? I know it makes picture taking the pits!!)

I used Pale Gold on my meadow flower stencil and don't think it's too bad for a first attempt!

I finished it with a gold embossed sentiment from SU. 

Things I learnt -
1.   I find black card very hard to work with!
2.   I found it easier to apply the Perfect Medium with a blending tool rather than just foam
3.    Better to use a big flat brush to apply the Pearls, tapping off the excess from the brush into the pot top before you put on the stencilled image
4.   Don't rush into or go mad brushing off the excess as it will smear and spoil your efforts!

I enjoyed doing this, learning as I went along and as I have lots of colours (normally unused), I will definitely have another go and maybe be a bit more adventurous with a bigger stencil!
Also sharing at
SOS - Stencil Me This
APTS - Stencil Me In

Thanks for looking today - as always I am very appreciative of your comments (and any tips!). Have a great day whatever you're doing. x

Raindrops

Found some time this morning to sit in the craftie space and hoped Mr Mojo appeared. He refused to show his face at all yesterday but I have noticed that when other things are going in in real life sometimes it is really difficult to conjure up enthusiasm for paper and ink....!!
Thankfully CAS Stencil provided me with something to concentrate on this morning and also helped me dispose of a scrap piece of background which has been getting shifted from one side of the desk to another for a while!

The challenge to use a stencil over a coloured background provided the perfect opportunity to use up this piece of blue inky background.

I used a small Raindrops stencil and after sponging the white ink, I clear embossed.

















Quite happy with the effect the clear embossing gave the drops!

The umbrella is from SU's Weather Together set, stamped in Versafine Majestic Blue onto a snippet of card and fussy cut.
The sentiment is from the same set and I used another sentiment 'I'm here for you' on the inside.

Also sharing my card with -

MTTC - CAS
Alphabet - C for CAS
Pixies Playground
TTPH - Blues

We have a sunny day here with no sign of raindrops thankfully - but my it is COLD!!
Hope the sun is shining where you are and thanks for taking the time to come and see me! x

Starry Sky

The challenge at CAS Stencil required me to have a serious think about what I was going to do simply because I am finding it quite difficult to concentrate on any one thing for longer than a minute.
I had a couple of offcuts left over from another card which have simply been lying on this tip of a desk for a while.
I was about to throw them in the bin (working on my 'I must keep the desk tidy' promise) when I had a light bulb moment 💡💡💡!

We have had some lovely blue sky days and some very clear (and cold) nights - so here is the result of someone flicking the switch and reminding me that on clear nights you can see the stars.....

My little scrap of galaxy background had some white acrylic paint spattered over it and then I set about making myself a stencil from a star die and some acetate.
The smaller star is a home made stencil from a previous project.

I had bought some Cosmic Shimmer Ultra Sparkle Paste (Frosty) and never used it so tried it on the larger star.

Swirling it about and applying it thicker in some parts gave an (unintentional) random line effect which I thought didn't look too bad. I used a thinner layer on the smaller star but if you look closely it also has some slight random lines!

The sentiment was a mag freebie from last year.

Sharing my stencilled sparkly stars at -
Seize the Birthday - A/Goes
TIOT - Use a Stencil or Two

It's another cold day here but there IS some blue in the sky again. The weather is set to warm up this week I think and not before time!
I have promised myself that today I am going to have a small clear out and tidy up in the craft space - I need to make room for my new waterbrush colour pens!
Have a great day. x

Just Beachy!

This is another one of those cards that didn't really end up like I thought it would!
Looking back I had no idea how it would turn out as I simply wanted to try out the Ghosting technique again. 

I have lots of odd pieces of watercolour card perfect for practicing with (Playground for me!) so made a couple of backgrounds using different colours - mostly blue and greens with varying degrees of success and this one which was done in shades of orange DI's, lifting the colour by spraying with water, leaving for a few seconds and lifting the stencil off.

The stencil is by That's Crafty.

I stamped and embossed the shell and the sentiment in gold and cut the frames and sentiment frame from the left over base card - there was no waste left from this particular piece of card!

The shells were collected from a trip last year and the seed beads were from my stash.

I am not sure if this is CAS enough for the CAS Stencil challenge but am linking anyway!

Also linking at the Mixed Media Must Use a Stencil challenge at Stamplorations

A2S+M - Holiday (and right now I can't wait to get on a beach somewhere!)

The Card Concept also have a lovely Inspiration Pic and I chose the shells and the overall beachy theme to inspire this make.

My kitchen floor has finally been laid today - the whole project has taken 7 weeks - there is just the skirting boards to be fixed now so my house is almost back to normal!

Thanks for visiting today - have a great day whatever you are doing! x
 

Ghost

If you are visiting and the title of my blog post has you thinking you will see friendly Casper 😱 then you are going to be disappointed!
Although there were several times during the course of the last week that I may have been happy to see the little white sheeted person 👻👻 - instead of seeing the inside of the waste basket with failed attempts.
I am enjoying being back in the swing of being able to enter challenges - and challenging this one was - for me.

I have though finally managed to make TWO fairly passable cards for this months CAS Stencil challenge of  'Ghosting' and here's the first.

The 'Ghosting' technique entails inking a piece of card, placing a stencil over it, spritzing with water (or rubbing with a baby wipe) to remove the ink and leave a 'ghosted' image.

Sounds relatively easy??
NOT!!

I tried several times with small stencils and tried both water spritzing and baby wipe method.

I had varying degrees of success before turning to a very large stencil and a baby wipe.

The background was inked in Seedless Preserve/Cracked Pistachio/Mermaid Lagoon (without doubt these are 3 of my very fave DI's)

The stencil is from AliExpress and a new purchase.

I found this metal die cut amongst some of my stash and it just seemed to fit.
The large purple stone was cut off an old jumper (I have quite a few of these!!).
The hardest part for me was the actual assembly of the card.
I agonised for ages about putting it in a frame and adding more die cut feathers - in the end I simply got frustrated and opted to just keep it as plain as possible.
Am sharing over at
A2S+M - Make Your Mark
MMM - Something New (Stencil and Technique)
Crafters Cafe- Include metal (my sentiment)

Thanks for looking today - I welcome all comments and hope that you are having a great day whatever you're doing!  x   

Another Stencil

Earlier this week I shared a make here with Brushos and Stencils. As I had the Brushos out and my first attempt turned out OK, thought I would try another!

I think I may be getting hooked on stencils! And I am going to blame it on some (talented) crafters over at CAS Mix Up as I wouldn't have bothered with stencils if it wasn't for them deciding to start a new challenge - CAS Stencil.

This amazing flower was amongst the pack that I got from AliExpress and I used Scarlet, Orange and Yellow for the petals and a teeny amount of Brown for the centre.
Once again there was panic when the colours began to pool together!

I wasn't sure about the way the centre turned out initially but it grew on me as I waited for it to dry.
I randomly added some small seed beads to the middle.

Opted for no sentiment as think the bold flower makes enough of a statement on it's own!
I had some odd bits of coloured card which were a good match for the shades I used so after cutting out my flower with a stitched square die I layered it onto them.
A few Brusho ink splats on the base card and done!
Also sharing over at ATS+M where the challenge is Make Your Mark

We have rather a nasty stormy day here and normally wouldn't consider venturing out - but lack of cooking facilities mean we don't have a lot of choice so it will be coat/hat/boots/gloves for our daily meal out trip!
Have a great day whatever you're doing and thanks for visiting! x

Stencils and Brushos

CAS Stencil challenge this month is to use powdered inks.  I have just acquired a few small stencils so played about with them and my Brushos. Was a bit nervous at first as I have never used Brushos on a stencil before and worried about the inks running underneath the stencil but I watched a couple of video tutorials over on the CAS Stencil blog and plunged right in!

Here's my first attempt
The stencil reminded me of a Rennie McIntosh rose.
I was careful and taped it in place on my watercolour card  and made sure it was secure and held in place as tight as possible.


I used Yellow, Orange and Bright Red brushos.
I am normally VERY heavy handed with Brushos so I was really  extra careful this time, making sure I didn't use too much and was also very sparing with the water! I used a Mini Mister and sprayed from a LONG way above the stencil!

Panicked a little bit as the colours pooled and kept my fingers crossed that it hadn't 'leaked' underneath.
When I was feeling brave, I carefully removed the stencil and this is the result. Not bad even if I do say so myself!!

I found some red card in the paper mountain which was a near enough match to the red Brusho and finished it off with a simple sentiment stamp from Altenew.

Full of confidence 😳😳 I got out another stencil right away and had another go!! 
Will share in the next day or so once I can take a pic.

Sharing my make over at  SSS Monday - Add Some Red and at Colour Throwdown (check out the blog for the colours).

The kitchen has some units assembled!!! And all my appliances were delivered today. Still no electricity/water/etc etc but a start made.... only another 8-10 days to go! 
AND I have been told by Dear Husband that I HAVE to make my mind up about the new flooring PRONTO.... 😟 well - have whittled the 10 that I liked down to 3..... so maybe by the weekend I will have decided??
Hope all is well in your part of blogland. x

Happy Thoughts

A simple and quick CAS card to share today but the pic quality is not the best as once again it is a grey damp and windy day!

I promised myself that I would try to enter the new challenge at CAS Stencils this month.

This brand new challenge is all about playing with stencils and learning how to use stencils with different techniques and different products.
It aims to make us stretch our stencils and if like me you don't own many this can only be a good thing as it will give me the opportunity to try what few I have in different ways.

The first challenge is the basic 'Sponging' technique and my other 2 choices are Stamping and Die Cutting.
I sponged my little circle stencil (a magazine freebie I only bought the magazine as it had 4 free stencils! ) with Squeezed Lemonade DI.  As it is only small I had to move it around to re position a few times.

I then stamped the SU black grid and the tiny splats which had been stamped once on scrap paper before stamping onto the card so they weren't too harsh.

The black butterfly was die cut from some black pearlised card and the sentiment is from Technique Tuesday.
Matted onto black card before popping onto the card base.

Joining in at
Creatilicious - Something New (and that's my stencil!)
Crafty Catz - A/Goes
Cardz 4 Galz - New Stash

Thanks for looking today. Enjoy your weekend. x