CASEing is fun!

Every once in a while I like a card well enough to CASE it.  For those who are not familiar with the acronym, that means "copy and share everything".  I seldom do more than copy the layout or a portion of a card.  An exact copy just seems too much like taking a card kit and following directions.

For the TGIF challenge this week there is a real twist to the "anything goes".  The designers get to create their "anything goes" cards while those participating in the challenge choose a designer's card to CASE.  Well, I chose a brand new member of the design team to CASE, Maria Willis.  Her card simply "spoke" to me and I had such fun following the layout and creating my own version.

Now I'm house-sitting over at my daughter's while they're in Mexico and so I only brought a very limited bit of product.  The only striped paper which I had was in the Naturally Eclectic Designer Series paper, a celebration of varied sizes of stripes and varying colours.  It's gorgeous but it called for something tropical and so I turned to an Inkadinkado stamp set which I had on hand and used one of the adorable flamingos.  For my sentiment, I turned to a Tim Holtz collection: Things/Talk.  

My colours were also limited but I love the way the Berry Burst and the Tranquil Tide look against the designer paper.  Actually I turned the designer paper and used the other side behind the sentiment because it had such a tropical feel.

I'm playing along with the TGIF challenge #140

Sunday Stamps Challenge #168 - Warmth of the Season

It's been a while since I've done a sketch challenge and, surprisingly, I enjoyed it very much.  Staying within the parameters of the sketch was a welcome challenge and I love the results with the card that I created.

I decided to stay with white and blue plus a bit of dazzle.  My base is Whisper White followed by a layer of Night of Navy.  Then I took a piece of Watercolour Paper and went to town with it and my blue Brusho watercolour crystals.  Between spraying and lightly stroking the crystals with a brush, the background is gorgeous.  I think it shows off the Night of Navy circle beautifully, not to mention the dazzling die-cut from the Hearts Come Home bundle.  For my lower rectangle, I turned to a pretty piece of retired designer paper and then added the strip of Night of Navy heat embossed in white with the sentiment from the same bundle.  A few sequins and the card is done!

I'm playing along with the Sunday Stamps Challenge #168 (SSC168) with this card.

I'm also playing along with the SUO #190 challenge for the favourite Christmas image.

Addicted to Stamps & More #272 - Thinking of You

I love it when the Addicted to Stamps and More challenge comes around to their "Make Your Mark" week.  It's a challenge I love since working with colours has become an addiction.

  

I've been experimenting with Brushos and with Distress Oxide inks.  For this card I mixed the two and love the results.  I began by heat embossing an image I bought several years back but have never used.  I just loved the random images and script.  I must say it looked pretty awesome just heat embossed in copper on white, but my Brushos were waiting.

I very carefully shook out some of the Ultramarine crystals into the images of the butterflies, trying not to scatter any into the background.  Then I lightly sprayed the paper with water and pulled the colour into more of the butterfly images before carefully drying  the ink with my heat gun.  Not wanting to affect the heat embossing, I set the paper aside until it had completely dried.  Then I took the Black crystals and carefully shook a few into areas around the butterflies and watches, being careful not to get any into either of the images.  Again, I sprayed lightly with water and pulled the colour around with a thick brush.  What is wild about the black Brusho is all the random colours included among the crystals.  While it was damp, I added some Wild Honey Distress Oxide ink to the watches.  Again, I set the paper aside to dry.  

I finished the card by heat embossing my sentiment in Copper embossing powder and then also added a copper riboon between the image and the sentiment.

I'm playing along with the Addicted to Stamps & More Challenge #272 with this card.  

I'm also playing along with the Fab 'n' Funky Challenge #375 because my card is Anything But Christmas.

Sunday Stamps Challenge #167 - Deck the Halls "DT"

I've kept coming back to this challenge and each time found myself at a loss with the colours.  This time, miraculously, something clicked and I knew what I wanted to do.  Talk about waiting until the last minute!

I hauled out the retired Stampin' Up! Merry Mice set and proceeded to stamp the little procession of mice who are obviously ready to deck those halls and trim that tree.  For my background I turned to the Cable Knit 3D Embossing folder.  Love that deep pattern!  My base is Whisper White, followed by a layer of Cherry Cobbler and then the Smoky Slate embossed piece.

The stamped mice were nicely dried by this time so I turned to my Stampin' Blends and, using the Smoky Slate, Cherry Cobbler, Calypso Coral and Ivory, I carefully coloured the mice and their cute ornaments.  Actually, the ornament is coloured in silver and gold as are the tiny stars.  In real life they sparkle quite nicely.

Isn't it funny how sometimes everything comes together so well after drawing a blank for a while?  I'm playing along with the Sunday Stamps Challenge 167 with this card (SSC167).

I've also decided to throw my name into the pot for the DT call.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I'm also playing along with the TGIF #138 challenge since it's appropriately all about Christmas carols.

Inspired by Inkspirational Colours

Sometimes a photo inspiration really appeals.  That's the case for me with the new Inkspirational Challenge photo for challenge #149.

Aren't those colours simply glamorous?  I knew as soon as I saw the photo that I wanted to play along but oh, what a lot of trouble I had deciding what part of the photo would inspire me most.  In the end it came down to gold, pink, light grey and black.  Festive, feminine, and absolutely glamorous!

The bokeh look of the designer paper really appeals to me.  It's from Stampin' Up!'s Falling In Love bundle and simply asked to be used for this card.  I combined it with a die-cut honeycomb in Smoky Slate topped by a pretty gold daisy with glittery black centre and leaves.  My slightly askew "thanks" is die-cut from the same glittery black paper.  It's a simple card but I know just the person to whom I'll be giving it.

I'm playing along with the Inkspirational Challenge #149 with this card.

Feeling my way with Brushos

Some new products are more of a challenge than others.  Brushos are one of those products.  The results which I've seen in some cards and other creations have shown me that it is not just I that finds these watercolour crystal paints a challenge.  I imagine that patience and more patience is required for noteworthy results.  Isn't that true of everything, you ask.  In varying amounts.  The Brusho experience is one which can't easily be explained.

For one thing, when one is using watercolours, one rarely winds up with "exploding" colours.  But that's the closest I can come to describing what happens when water meets these crystals.  Oh, and crystals is perhaps a misleading word.  These are in many cases tinier than salt crystals, almost a powder.  But my goodness, what a lot of power in the powder!

I decided that I would buy one or two colours from a craft store in Calgary since we went there last week.  I wanted to try them out before investing in the five-piece set available through Stampin' Up!  Since it's so close to Christmas, my choices were Emerald green and Scarlet red.  I thought holly might be a fun first attempt.

Using my gorgeous Tim Holtz Holly Bough stencil, I took a water-based dye marker in soft grey and outlined the holly and berries, resulting in something akin to stamping on my mixed media paper.  Once that was nicely dry, I pierced a hole in the lid of my Scarlet Brusho and shook just a bit into a small paper cup.  Then I took my AquaPainter and "painted" some of the berries with water.  After that I picked up some of the Brusho crystals with the tip of a slightly damp brush and proceeded to colour the berries.  The results were both exciting and unexpected, with the Brusho wildly deciding what to colour and how much colour to leave in spots.  Long story short, I did the same with the Emerald crystals and the holly leaves with even more wildly spreading Brusho colours.  It was not what I expected but at the same time, there was something original and attractive about the results.  Enough so that I continued with the piece and used it in a card.

I've also added a cardinal from an unnamed die and some of the beautiful Year of Cheer Specialty Washi Tape.

I've decided to link this card up to some challenges.

Fab & Funky Challenges #374 - All Tied Up since it has a tied  up bow holding those little tags.

HLS December Watercolour - Anything Goes.

Addicted to Stamps & More #271 - Anything Goes