Saturday 10 April 2021

I do love a rainbow .......

Happy weekend .......

I couldn't resist playing along with this months CAS Christmas Challenge, they have such a fun theme going on for April ........


I do love a rainbow but, I must confess I've never thought about using all those colours on a Christmas card .......... but hey! don't they look fab.


This is definitely Merry & Bright!  And it was so easy to do.

I cut myself a simple mask from a piece of copy paper to cover the bottom half of my card.  With this in place I then used various colours of Distress Ink, and the tall triangle aperture stencil from Sweet Poppy, to create the line of rainbow trees.


The stencil is quite a large aperture as a whole, I only used the top part and varied the height slightly as I went along the card ......


I stamped my sentiment underneath in a gold ink .......


and added some sparkle with a touch of fine crystal glitter along the tree line.  

A tiny star on top of one of the trees finishes off the card ......


What a fun theme .... I love it!

I've also got a little more inspiration for April's CAS Mix Up challenge.  I'm hosting this month, and the theme I've chosen is ........  Paper Piecing


This is such a fun technique, especially if you're not a fan of colouring in.  
OK a bit of fussy cutting is required, and I know that's not everyone's favourite thing to do but, if you keep your images simple then cutting them out isn't going to take that long.  And just think of all those bits of patterned papers you can use up!


I like to use old book pages to paper piece, I think the text gives a little more interest to your designs.

I brushed some colour onto my background using Distress Ink ..... I smooshed the colour onto a craft mat first, spritzed with water and then used a paint brush.


To give a bit more interest I added another layer of ink, this time using a piece of acetate to pick up droplets of ink from my craft sheet and then smooshed them onto my card.

I then stamped the single poppy onto the inked background, coloured the stem with a ZIG Marker and paper pieced the head of the flower .....


I used two sentiment stamps to complete the card .... one heat embossed in gold,the other simply stamped in black


Both challenges are open until the 24th of the month so if you fancy playing along with either, or both, of them there's still lots of time.

Thanks for popping by ...... enjoy the rest of your day and have a lovely weekend.

Remember the yacht I told you about sitting in Douglas Bay well, it's still there.  Lauren and I were out and about yesterday ...... we had a little trip to the garden centre now that they're open again, so we decided to drive along the prom and take a look at this boat.
OMG!  it's BIG!!!!
We managed to park somewhere quiet and take a few photos .......


It's really hard to appreciate the size of it as there's nothing else in the bay to compare it to, but trust me, it's huge!  I bet when those sails are up it looks amazing.

It did look nice in the sunshine though .......


It's the Grand National at Aintree this weekend.  I'm not normally a horse racing person but, there's something about the National.   
One of the runners is owned by a guy on the island so it would be rude not to have a flutter now wouldn't it. Trouble is, I can't win an argument never mind a bet on a horse race ..... wish me luck!

Cheerio until next time ......... 


Products used:
CAS Christmas
Stamps: sentiment was from Uniko but I think its now retired 
Inks: Distress Inks - Festive Berries, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Mowed Lawn, Tumbled Glass, Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet, Broken China, Cracked Pistachio, Kitsch Flamingo; Delicata - Golden Glitz
Other: Tall Aperture Stencil (Sweet Poppy); Fine Crystal Glitter; Quickie Glue Pen

CAS Mix Up
Stamps: Happy Watercolor (Stampin Up!) for the flower; Sentiment Collection, Heartfelt (Penny Black)
Inks: Distress Ink - Festive Berries; Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Versamark
Other: ZIG Clean Color Brush Marker (for the stem); Gold embossing Powder (WOW!)

13 comments:

Dotty Jo said...

Gorgeous cards, Linda! Jo x

Viv said...

Hope you backed the lady Linda!
Two lovely cards - and if my lottery numbers come up I might have to buy that boat!

Loll said...

LOVE your rainbow Christmas card Linda!! The trees look amazing done in all the colours and as you said ... "it definitely is merry and bright!". Your paper pieced flower is so pretty. The colour in the background really enhances the book pages you've used to paper piece. Acetate smooshing is the best to add splatters where you want them to go! :) xx

Trina P. said...

Wonderful cards. The stencilled row of Christmas trees is so pretty. Great design, too. Thank you for brightening up the gallery at CAS Christmas.

HilaryJane said...

I love the little details of the star and the glitter on your rainbow trees and thank you for making me realise that paper piecing can be quite straightforward and really effective xx

Bonnie said...

Your rainbow row of trees is very festive and fun for Christmas, Linda! Love that paper pieced flower with the watery background! A great idea to use old book pages for paper piecing!

Christine Alexander said...

Fun card Linda, your rainbow trees are so festive and love that paper pieced flower simply beautiful :)

Linda said...

Your rainbow card is so sweet and pretty. Glad to have you join us at CAS Christmas. Thanks for sharing your pictures.

nancy littrell said...

Beautiful Merry & Bright rainbow trees for the CAS Christmas Card Challenge, Linda. LOVE your paper pieced flower and beautiful watercolored background for your 2nd card. Wonderful stamped sentiment too. I am Loving your paper pieced CAS Mix Up Challenge, Linda. TFS and hosting your challenge. Love and Hugs...Nancy.........BTW...TFS the amazing LARGE sailboat in the bay too.

Mrs.B said...

What a great take on the challenge with rainbow Christmas trees - a brilliant idea and such fun too. I do like the paper piecing, something I haven't done for ages, so thanks for the prompt.
That yacht really does look big and expensive!
Avril xx

Darnell said...

You live on such a beautiful island that I'll bet you actually have rainbow trees, don't you, Linda?!☺ If not, we can dream there is a place where they are rainbow-colored, because your design is magnificent ~ both of them are! TFS the photos of the giant yacht! Don't you wonder who owns it? Bezos, Buffet, etc., etc. Maybe they are there for the horse-race? I hope you won! And I hope you are all keeping well! Sorry I've been such a bad bloggie friend, but my back still screams when I sit and type. It's a bother, considering! Hugs, Darnell

Julia Aston said...

I love your beautiful row of trees in their rainbow colors with the soft touch of snow beneath them and one with a gold star! Hope you had luck at the races!

Kris said...

Love the cards! Wish I could get my "smooshing" to look even a little like yours!! Linda, I'm so impressed with your photography! You have such a good eye, and the photos are gorgeous 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing your world with us!