There's still time to play along with this month's CAS Challenges .......

Happy middle of the week ......

We've had another lovely sunny day here, and I've done absolutely nothing!!
I did go into the craft room this morning, put a few things away, moved stuff around a little bit on my desk, and then walked straight back out again ....... it was too nice to be in there.  Instead I grabbed my laptop and Kindle, a bottle of sun cream and headed outside.  It's been lovely catching up on emails, watching some FaceBook Live craft videos, and just enjoying this nice weather.  Might even go in the hot tub later!

First, I have got a quick reminder for you, about a couple of this month's CAS Challenges.
We like to give you a few more ideas mid way through the challenges just incase you need a little bit of inspiration.

First up ..... the CAS Mix Up Challenge, where the theme this month is Bleaching

Don't forget to check out the links on the CAS Mix Up blog to some useful videos on using this fun technique.

You might think using bleach on your cards is not for you.  I know I'm not that keen on the smell, and even though you can get odourless ones these days there are other ways of achieving the same look.
I like to use plain old water, and Distress Inks, it works a treat. 

I stamped the flowers across the centre of a piece of white cardstock, heat embossed the image in gold, and then blended Distress Ink over the top.

Using a paintbrush and some clean water, I 'bleached' out the colour from the leaves.
I simply painted the water onto the leaves and then mopped it away with a piece of paper towel removing the Distress Ink too.  The more water you apply, the more colour you will remove

Once it was dry I fussy cut around the bottom edge and then attached it to the top the front of a card blank, leaving white space at the bottom to show off the fussy cut edge

I stamped a sentiment on there and finished off with a few sparkly gems

Next up .... the CAS Stencil Challenge
This month the theme is Gilding Flakes. Not a product known for using with stencils but, they work.

I've gone for a 'less is more' approach on this design with just a touch of gilding flakes on the stenciled detail in the background.

I smooshed a little Distress Ink onto the centre of a white cardblank using a piece of acetate, and then stenciled over the top with some texture paste.

Once this was dry I placed the stencil back over the paste and used my finger to apply a little bit of glue to the surface ...... not too much, and I wasn't that careful about applying it as I wanted a sort of grungy look, I didn't want to completely cover the texture paste.

I removed the stencil and then applied the Gilding Flakes.  A gentle rub over to make sure they had covered all the glue, then I took a sponge and rubbed away any excess

I stamped the butterfly onto a piece of mop up card and added a touch more colour to it using some coloured pencils before fussy cutting around the edge

He was attached onto the card, and I finished with a sentiment

 I think we could all do with some happy thoughts right now!

There's still plenty of time to get your entries in for all the CAS Challenges, and if you need more inspiration then check out what the rest of the Design Teams have been up to.

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.
I'm off to create something in the kitchen now, not quite sure what yet.  I'm thinking a chilli maybe with a nice bottle of Malbec.  Well it is World Malbec Day on Friday this week ..... we've already booked our special menu for Friday night, freshly prepared and delivered from our little place in town ...... looking forward to that.

Cheerio until next time ........

Products used:

CAS Mix Up
Stamps: Precious Peony (Altenew); Special Sentiments (Penny Black) 
Inks: Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry; Versamark Ink; Versafine Clair - Nocturne
Other: Gold Embossing Powder (WOW!); Clear Glitter Gems

CAS Stencil
Stamps: Flutters 2 (Inkylicious); Happy Thoughts (Penny Black sentiment)
Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry
Other: Tim Holtz Stencil - Stripes; Texture Paste (Ranger); Flitter Glu, Gilding Flakes (IndigoBlu)