CAS Mix Up May Challenge

It's STENCIL time over at CAS Mix Up and Susan our host has set the challenge of  'Rainbow Ink Blending or Colours'.

We have the lovely Michelle (I Card Everyone) joining us too as our Guest Designer!
 Please remember you have to use a stencil this month and don't forget to keep your design CAS!

A Lavinia 'Pods' stencil was used for my background and I gently brushed Picked Raspberry, Squeezed Lemonade and Peacock Feathers through part of it.

The butterfly and flourish stamp is an old grey rubber one and I think it may have been Hero Arts but don't quote me!

UPDATE - Am reliably informed that this stamp is from Chocolate Baroque. (Was called Elusive Images when I bought it!) Available here

Stamped it once direct onto the base and again onto a piece of scrap card and quickly clear embossed, then fussy cut the butterfly and coloured with pencils in the same shades as the background.

The 'Carefree' stamp is another old one, (barely used like so many {sighs}!)
Pop across to the challenge blog and check out the lovely work done by  Michelle and the rest of the Design Team - hope you will share a make with us this month too! x
Sharing over at
Pearly Sparkles - CAS
Stamplorations - Stamps and Wings
A2S+M - Any Occasion

Pretty

Today's share uses one of my all time fave dies which I bought a long time ago!
It's not cutting as good as it used to - probably worn out.... 😧

My base card this time is an ivory shade of linen textured card - I have lots and don't use it enough- it's a subtle shade and makes a change from stark white I think.

Simple card to do and I like how it turned out.

Stitched die cut square from an odd leftover, lightly dusted with green and pink ink.

I watercoloured the poppy cut from another odd bit and used some foam pads to pop it up off the front.

The card sent to a close friend who had a birthday shortly after a devastating bereavement - after so much sadness wishing her a 'Happy' Birthday didn't seem right.   

Weather has turned cloudier and cooler here and we even had rain yesterday -it's not often we go a while without rain so it was a bit of a novelty - anyway it did the plants good and Himself was pleased as he had put some weedkiller on the lawn and he didn't have to water it in!

Sharing my little make over at -
Pixies Playground #401
Cardz4Galz - Special Lady
Double Trouble #82 - Flowers

Sky

The current challenge at Addicted to CAS has the word prompt of SKY. 

This night sky was an experiment using watercolours to create instead of inks and although only a small piece I was quite pleased with the result and made it up into a card.

I tried to make a tiny silhouette skyline/treeline in the bottom left in an attempt to convey the vast sky we have around us - not sure if it worked!

I added some white heat embossed stars and a few spatters with a white Posca pen.

On the base card I did some light spatters using some very watered down blue paint.

The sentiment was a freebie a long time ago and although it looks a bit wonky in the pic it isn't in real life!

I am currently experiencing a little lack of mojo - and as we are having blue skies, sunshine and some warm days I can't blame it on the weather!
Thanks for looking today and I hope all is OK with you in your part of blogland. x

Twofer April Challenge

Twofer's April word prompt is 'Leaves'.
I used a rarely seen daylight stamp and die set  from Thirsty Brush to make my two cards - and although there are some flowers on the stamp I hope there's enough leaves to fulfil the challenge!

This was my first use of black watercolour card and despite me using an anti static bag across it, I still managed to get little white specks from the embossing powder!

I recently bought some metallic watercolours to try  - they didn't cost a lot so I wasn't expecting great results but I have to say I was impressed with them - the shine on them is good and they were great value for the money!

Finished this card with a few spots of Perfect Pearls for the berries and the flower centres.

My second card used the die set.
Painted the image with watercolours and popped it onto the card base with some 3d foam tape.
I stamped another of the leaf designs from the set and die cut.
A few paint spatters and a big sentiment and job done! 

We've had some lovely Spring weather the last few days. It's lifted the spirits being out in the sunshine without a coat and watching the plants and trees burst into life.
Here's a pic of my two cards together

and a little pic of the shine from the paints!

April CAS Mix Up Mid Month reminder

 Our 'Paper Piecing' challenge set by Linda is mid way through at CAS Mix Up.

I chose this rose from the Visible Image 'Flower Art' set.
Having had a massive (and I mean MASSIVE) clear out of most of my paper pads I began a search for something to use.

Some time back I had a little play with Acrylic Dirty Pour - I made several cards with my finished piece and I had a teeny 2" square piece left which I kept - (only cos I was so proud of myself for mastering the technique😊) -  and I found it whilst scrabbling through a small box of patterned off-cuts which I had kept.

I started by using a 'stone wall' stamp as a background inked in Smokey Grey before stamping the rose.

I fiddled about a bit with the rose head on the dirty pour piece as there was a lot of black/grey tones on the saved bit and I wanted more of the red/pink and although the rose head is quite dark I am quite pleased with the result.

And I couldn't bear to throw out the remainder of the poured piece - I tucked the cut out bits under the card so what you can see is all there is left so probably not enough to use for anything else but it's gone back in the box anyway! 

Sharing at
SSS Wednesday - CAS
SOS - Plant Life
Addicted to CAS - Flower

Tree House!

 A very very windy and cold day here - occasionally we get a patch of blue sky but the wind is blowing the clouds in as quickly as the blue sky appears, so it's heating on and sat at the desk day for me I think! 

Had a bit of a watery fest with some Distress Oxides and made this card.
The Stampendous birdie is a recent acquisition for me, previously loved and I have decided I love him too.

Once my smooshed background was dry I stamped him and his branch. I fiddled about a bit with the branch using both Peeled Paint and Twisted Citron to give more leafy bits!

Birdie was stamped again with DO's, watercoloured and fussy cut then popped back on his branch.

The bird house is from a stamp set called 'Live Out Loud' which I have had for a long time - from Chocolate Baroque before it became Chocolate Baroque!

I think that birdie is eyeing up this very posh ornate house 🏡 and imagining himself in there snuggled up with Mrs Birdie! 💕

It was a change for me to stamp in the DO colours and I probably wouldn't have done so had I not seen the idea on Pinterest - I like the way the stamped images pop out of the co-ordinated background and will definitely be doing this again.

Thanks for looking today! x
Sharing at-
613 Avenue Create - In the Garden
SOSS#182 - D for Distress
Country View Crafts - Birds and/or Bees
Beyond the Blue - DO Background

CAS Christmas April Challenge

It seems even weirder now to be making Christmas cards when we have blue skies and sunshine BUT - having ventured outside it is really cold so it feels more like Winter!
This month's challenge at CAS Christmas is RAINBOW
Here's my card which I am hoping is CAS enough 

I am still trying to keep using all the coloured cardstock that I have so black for this one which is normally used for layering!
For a long time I have tried to achieve a decent attempt at a night sky reminiscent of the Northern Lights.
(I have a burning ambition to actually see the lights for real and it is number 1 on my wish list.)

I used sooooo many inks for this sky but you know, I was really happy with it!

Flicked some white Posca pen across it to give a 'starry' effect.

I cut out two rows of trees, one in black and another in watercolour card.

I tried to watercolour the trees in the same colours as the sky immediately above them!
I offset the black trees behind to give a little 'shadow'.

The sentiment is one of my fave Christmas dies.

I am feeling very pleased  as it is now month 4 and I have kept my promise to take part in CAS Christmas every month!
(But I keep reminding myself it's only a quarter of the way through the year!!!)
Wishing you all a Happy Easter weekend. x

Sharing at
Jingle Belles - Dies

CAS Mix Up April Challenge

It is Mixed Media month at CAS Mix Up and Linda has chosen the theme of 'Paper Piecing'.

I have lots of coloured cardstock which I very rarely use as I much prefer crisp white backgrounds for CAS but once I'd decided on which stamp and paper I was going to use I thought I would try a different coloured base.

I stamped the Funky Fossil Lotus Reflections stamp onto the card first, then used the additional flower from the set, stamping and heat embossing onto the patterned paper which is so old I can't remember anything about it!

I also stamped and embossed two of the smaller elements.
The sentiment is from another Lotus set (no packaging so no idea again!) but I think I may have bought it from Amazon.

The thick black line looks really odd on the pic but it is straight and true on the card!
My elements for the challenge are Stamping, Heat Embossing and of course the theme - paper piecing.

Please go visit the challenge blog and my talented team mates and we have Bonnie (Paper Crafter at Large) as our Guest Designer this month too.

Hope to see you linking up your creation in our gallery! x

Spring?

What a glorious day we are enjoying here today! Warm sunshine and blue skies and that blasted wind has finally eased a little!
The forecast says it mightn't be here long so I enjoyed a couple of hours outside!
Here's spring themed card!

I made it a couple of weeks ago as soon as I got the stamp from Crafty Individuals.

The stamp is called 'Counting Bluebells' (CI-572) and I thought it was really pretty!

It's a bigger stamp than I am used to - this card is 7 x 5 and the image as you can see takes up most of the front.  One of the good things though is that it doesn't need much else!

I started by using my Arteza water brush pens direct to the stamp, spritzing lightly with water before stamping then simply dragged the colour from the outline to colour the image.

Made a mask for the bluebells and did some second generation stamping with the music background stamp which is from Wow.

I thought it still looked a bit bare so got a small dots stencil and inked through it lightly with Lilac DI and then lightly inked the card edges.
No sentiment cos I don't know what I am going to use it for!
There's lots of bluebells currently flowering here in woods in the UK - I had a big clump in the garden of my old house underneath a tree and I loved to see them as it always made me feel that Spring had arrived.
Sharing at
TIOT - Spring
SSS Monday - Easter/Spring

We're Here!

Been playing about with stamps again!
Here's today's share.

It's a bit of a fun, quirky make (for me) and I got out some very old Paris themed stamps which haven't seen the light of day for a long time. I think they were one of the very first sets I bought on a trip to the NEC.

The background paper is by Crafty Individuals. I overstamped it with the various French related stamps, bus tickets, an airline ticket and other bits including one very large Eiffel Tower.

The birds stamp is from Crafty Individuals too (- CI- 544) - its called Three Birds and I stamped and fussy cut two of them (obviously!), then watercoloured.
The suitcase is from another old set. I wanted them to look like they had just arrived!

I have quite a few things almost finished and am determined to try and get a couple completed - for no other reason than the workspace has that much on it very soon I won't be able to even move it all to one side to make even a bit of room!

Thanks for looking today - have a great weekend. x
Sharing at
Retro Rubber- A/Goes (my Paris stamps are at least 12 years old!)
Crafty Creations - A/Goes

Dragonflies

(Picture heavy post!)
The Twofer challenge always makes me think and this month I had to think more than usual!

It's taken me a long time to  make a decision and to come up with something - which is madness when you consider the prompt was 'YOUR CHOICE'!

Eventually I came up with these -
I've had this Stampendous stamp for ever! Forget the last time I used it so made up for lost time and used it twice.

I stamped and clear embossed then added some Brushos. I am still not very good with Brushos and this panel was my third attempt.

A little grungy overstamping with a hexagon stamp and an arrow stamp. Liked the hexagon, didn't like the arrow so overstamped it with the 'Make Art' which fortunately for me looked OK!


My second card involved more embossing!

Gold embossed the dragonfly

then fussy cut, getting rid of the flourish and the vines. I painted the wings with several Mica Powders so they have a little shimmer.

The background is an old stencil from Imagination Crafts - I used Tea Dye for the Bullrush tops and Twisted Citron for the leaves.

I lightly inked some Speckled Egg DI for the sky and stamped the sentiment in the Tea Dye ink.

Am going to share the second card at
MTTC- Stencil It
Stamplorations Stencil Challenge - A/Goes

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking today and thank you for any comments you leave.

I really appreciate you taking the time. x

Flower

We have had very misty mornings the last couple of days but eventually late afternoon the sun has come through and cheered me up! It's still not very warm but everything look so much better under blue skies.

This was another 'Had To Have' stamp! Crafty Individuals CI-560 and is simply called 'Flower'.
I have made a couple of cards with it which no doubt will appear on the blog soon!
After stamping the flower, I started my background blending Picked Raspberry/Scattered Straw/Tea Dye.

A thin layer of texture paste through the 'Vintage Diamond' mini stencil and once dry blended a little Dried Marigold over it. I used Black Soot (very lightly) through the circle and line stencil and then just added a few odd grungy stamps randomly.

Stamped the flower head again and watercoloured, then fussy cut it before sticking it back on the base card.

The word 'flower' is a Visible Image stamp.

I didn't want a stark white card base so just used some inks and the stencils to give a better background to mount the finished panel on.

This card was 'Pick Of The Week' over at the Crafty Individuals Group Facebook page! Couldn't believe it and now I have the happy (but difficult) problem of choosing another stamp for my prize!

Sharing over at
TIOT- Use a Stencil or Two
A2S+M - Make your Mark
Daisy Chain - Flowers

March CAS MIX Up Mid Month Reminder

Our gallery at CAS Mix Up has some lovely entries this month and of course we're celebrating our 5th Birthday so some lovely prizes up for grabs -  there is still time for you to enter or even have another go!

Bonnie chose 'Print Making from Die Cuts' for her Watercolour month - this technique gives pretty artsy backgrounds and if you're like me with no painting skills is perfect!

This flower die has not seen a lot of use and to be honest I don't know why cos it's really quite pretty!
I used hammered textured cardstock for the base card as it is almost the same colour as the watercolour card used for the print impression. (It's amazing how many different shades of white there are isn't it?!)

The sentiment was stamped using Memento Danube Blue ink which was a near perfect match for my flowers.

I added a few little drops of Liquid Pearls in the centre of the main flower.
Our guest designer Ros has come up with another card to inspire you too, so pop over to the challenge blog and check out all the DT's cards.
Hope you will come and join our Birthday celebration! x

A bit of Stamping

Our weather the last few days has been definitely not Spring like! We've had hail, heavy rain, sleet and high winds and the best place to be was indoors.

I did a little bit of stamping earlier in the week (having been inspired by Pinterest) and finally assembled them into cards this morning.

I haven't put a sentiment on any of them yet and not sure if I even will!

The hydrangea is from an old Choc Baroque set - it has a script background but I just inked the flower head with my waterbrush pens and gave it a light spritz before stamping.

Some foliage in shades of grey and green and I lightly distressed the edges of the panel.

This was quite quick to do once I stopped dithering about which stamps to use! The hydrangea is one of my fave flowers - the different colours of the flower heads depending on what type of soil it is in is another of those wonders of nature!

Himself and I had our first Covid jabs on Thursday.
I fared better than he did - headache, a heavy arm and felt very tired which have mostly gone today except for the little niggling headache  but my poor man got the works - shivers, sweats, unable to lift his head off the pillow.
Thankfully much better today and it's done now - until June anyway!
Hope all is well with you in your part of the world, stay safe - even if the vaccines are rolling out we're not quite out of the end of this long tunnel! x
Sharing at -
Daring Cardmakers - Plant a Flower
MTTC - Feminine
CRAFT - Feminine
CAS on Friday - Spring and also entering again over at 'The Flower Challenge'
for their 'Shades of Purple' challenge.

No line

Some time back I bought an ink pad designed for 'no line watercolouring' from a company called Ink On 3.   I had several attempts with it and quite frankly was not impressed with the results - I just put the pad away in a drawer and forgot about it.
I found the pad again when looking for something else and having become a tiny bit more confident with my watercolouring (still learning and lots of practice re shading etc needed) - I decided to have another go.

The stamp is called 'Sketchy Flower' from Honey Doo.
My watercolour card is not white which is quite irritating - I have yet to find one that is both white and heavyweight without having to rob a bank.

It's been a little while since I have managed to join in at 'The Flower Challenge' but am linking up there for their 'Shades of Purple' challenge this month.
Am also linking to TIOT's 'Say It With Flowers' challenge.

I'd be interested to hear anyone else's thoughts on the ink - and the best way to get good results.

Overall I feel this isn't too bad, although am still not sure about the ink - maybe Antique Linen DI probably works just as well?

Thanks for visiting today. x

CAS Christmas - March

CAS Mix Up's little sister blog CAS Christmas is also celebrating a birthday this month - and there are some great prizes on both blogs so come along and help us celebrate!

The Christmas challenge theme is Kraft, Red and White and it gave me an opportunity to use a die set bought last year and simply put away in the Xmas Die Folder!
Added a bit of interest to the plain white background with a 'snow' embossing folder and a few red mirri card punched out stars.

I don't use Kraft card nearly enough so made a couple of other cards whilst the challenge is running which I will share at some point. It also means I have more Christmas cards ready too which can only be a good thing!

Sharing over at
HLS (CAS) - 3 of a kind
A2S+M - Dies +/or Stencils
Holly and Ivy - A/Goes

CAS Mix Up March Challenge and a Birthday!

 Our challenge this month at CAS Mix Up has been set by Bonnie and as this month is a Watercolour month, Bonnie has set us the theme of 'Print Making with Die Cuts'.

I had a bit of fun creating this card!
My little cone flower is one of my fave dies. It is an old one but think it is from Sizzix.

As I used watercolour card, I die cut it several times so that when it was glued together it was quite strong.

The hammered cardstock adds some texture and I simply stamped the sentiment with a pink ink.

This is an easy technique which gives some lovely artsy backgrounds and there is a video link over on the challenge blog if you've not had a go at this before.

CAS Mix Up is also celebrating a Birthday this month! We are 5!
Yes, FIVE! Where has the time gone?!

The Design Team have produced some beautiful cards to inspire you this month and I hope you will find time to join us and our lovely talented Guest Designer Ros and celebrate our Birthday - I really look forward to seeing your creations! x

A little paint

As ideas have deserted me I haven't done much over the last few days.
Our weather did nothing to inspire either - it went from a lovely Spring day to howling wind and horizontal rain!

With nothing else to do I just got out the watercolour paints. I find watercolouring is very therapeutic even though I am not an artist - I cannot draw at all and normally my watercolouring is confined to using with stamps.

This one was just a little freehand fiddling and to be honest it would never qualify as a work of art but I am content to have produced it.

(I have a recollection of seeing 4 large mirrored glass pictures depicting the seasons with the tree foliage done with blown glass when out at a restaurant with friends a long time ago, so maybe that is what prompted this)

It's been a really really tough week personally 😩 (as no doubt it has been for others) - so am trying to keep wearing the big girl's pants 👖 and crossing my fingers that the end of the storm is not too far away and the golden sky 🌈 will appear.

Sharing this simple make over at AAA Cards.

(Note to Blog Buddy Ros - I will never match your drawing skills! x)

February Twofer

(Picture heavy post!)  The 'Twofer Challenge' this month has the theme of Balloons  - ( 'Twofer' - you have to make two cards for different occasions using the same stamps/dies/stencils.)

My first make is using an edger die which I bought last year and never used (another NBUS- this room is full of them!).

Despite it looking big and easy (and I thought versatile) there's not many different way really to use it - it is what it says - an 'edger die' and that's it!
BUT - it is OK for relatively CAS cards needed in a hurry if you're OK with fiddling about putting the different coloured balloon centres in.

By changing the balloon colours and/or using glitter card etc I suppose it may come in useful for Anniversaries and other Celebrations?

My balloon centres are cut from a piece of Peacock Feathers smooshed watercolour card and I used a piece of black card to secure them. A few ink spatters and a sentiment - job done.


The second card uses one of the white balloon diecuts from the first.
I coloured it with a Promarker.

I love this 'Inspired by  not endorsed by Banksy' girl  from Bee Crafty - she's called 'Hope'.

She was stamped onto an ink blended background (Speckled Egg sky and Twisted Citron ground) and added a tree stamp that was a magazine freebie.
Layered some Glossy Accents on the balloon and drew the strings from the balloon with a thin Posca Pen. Finished with an Inylicious sentiment.

Overall  I am not too disappointed with it although probably the balloon is a little big for the right perspective! (Crafter's Licence!)

If you've stayed right here to the very end I send hugs from my pleasantly warm and almost sunny part of blogland! x

Birthday

Having ventured outside in the howling gale earlier I quickly made my mind up that the best place to be was sat in the warm in the craft space!
So here is today's share.

Stencilled background to start then stamped the ferns in shades of brown and a few meadow grasses in green.

The flowers were stamped, watercoloured and fussy cut.
I added a few drops of Perfect Pearls in the centre

I would never hurt a bee but I am not fond of them near me - (I hate wasps even more!), so to me the best place for me to look at a bee is here on a card!

It took a bit of fussy cutting but I managed it in the end.

He has glossy accents on his wings and I quite like him (as long as he stays on the card!)

Am linking up at
A2S+M - Any Occasion
Unicorn  - Flowers

Thanks for calling in - stay safe wherever you are in the World. x