Perfectly CAS Challenge #14 .......

Happy Wednesday ........

I hope you're enjoying your week.  It's been lovely here so far, Spring has finally arrived.  

The BBQ is back in action, the hot tub is up and running .... and the grass is growing!  Guess what I'll be doing later in the week!

It's time now though to get the next Perfectly CAS challenge underway.  It's challenge #14 and the theme this time is ...... WINGS

Before I share some inspiration, a quick reminder about the rules for this challenge.  We've noticed a few entries recently that don't quite fit the bill.  The main requirement for Perfectly CAS is ........ that you only use one third of your card space, or less. 

 

So, what is Clean and Simple (CAS)?   For me it's .........

• one main focal point
• Lots of white space
• minimal layers
• minimal embellishments

Of course one persons idea of CAS can be completely different to the next but, if you stick to using just one third of your card space you can't really go wrong.  Your cards will always be Perfectly CAS.

Check out the grid below ......

Divide your card space into thirds, use just one row/column and leave the other two blank ....... easy!   

Using my MISTI, I stamped the bee not quite in the centre of my card.  

With the card still in my MISTI ....... and I didn't remove the stamp ...... I added a touch of colour to the bee using Prismacolour pencils.  Because I hadn't removed the stamp, or my card, it was easy to re-stamped the image over the top of the pencil crayon, to put all the detail back in again

A tiny sentiment underneath and the card is done!

When using the one third rule, you don't have spend time measuring and getting everything exact ....... if you go over just a little bit that's fine.  

If you see below, my ink splatters have gone outside of my chosen third, but the overall design is still very CAS.  Splattering ink is not always easy to control!  I suppose I could have covered it up but, I didn't ...... oh well! 

You don't always have to use small stamps to create CAS cards ....... my favourite butterfly was a little too big to use in full so, I just stamped it off the edge

Smooshed some Distress Inks over the top and added in the splatters ......

I added a bit more colour with some coloured pencils, and a few gold highlights here and there, before finishing off with my sentiment.

Happy stamping!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.

Our little island is preparing to get back to some sort of normality.

Fingers crossed, we're hoping that from next Monday most, if not all of our current restrictions can be lifted ...... except for the borders I think.  We'll know more tomorrow but,  the kids will all be back at school on Monday ..... thank goodness.  Non-essential shops can open up again ........ yeah! and I believe that the hospitality trade will be back ..... whoo hoo!!   We've already booked a table at our favourite restaurant for Wednesday, so we're hoping for good news!  I'll keep you posted.

Cheerio until next time ......

Products used:

Card 1

Stamps: Queen Bee Mini (IndigoBlu); Warrior (Tracey Hey) for the sentiment

Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Other: Prismacolor pencils 

Card 2

Stamps: Perspective (Tim Holtz); Tiny Words (SSS)

Inks: Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Distress Ink - Kitsch Flamingo, Cracked Pistachio

Other: Prismacolor pencils;  Gold gel pen

Live the Life of Your Dreams ..... HLS CAS Challenge

Happy Wednesday ........

Middle of the week already.  I hope you're having a good one.
I've got another Blog Challenge for you this evening.  It's time to get October's Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge underway ......

As you can see the theme this month is ...... Adventure.
Hmmmm ....... for me that could be a holiday maybe.  Moving house ....... that's always an adventure.  Maybe a new job or ...... just life, now that is always an adventure here!!

I think this sentiment says it all don't you!?

I used Distress Oxide inks to stamp the butterflies .....

And then added my sentiment ... I love the grungy look to the font on this IndigoBlu stamp

The butterfly wings were given a 'Clear Wink of Stella'

And I finsihed off with a few gold ink splatters .......

What's your idea of adventure? 
I look forward to seeing you in the challenge gallery ..... happy stamping!

If you need more inspiration check out the rest of the Design Team makes over on the Happy Little Stampers Blog. 

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day.
It's almost time for our next adventure.  Three more sleeps then it's Santorini here we come!! 
There's still a little bit of last minute shopping to do tomorrow, euros to collect, and a little treat for me at the nail salon ...... that's if I can get rid of the blue ink from my fingers first!!!

Cheerio until next time .......

Products used:
Stamps: Butterfly Trio (Penny Black); Grand Tour III (IndigoBlu)
Inks: Distress Oxide Ink Pads - Fossilised Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Forest Moss; Versafine Clair - Nocturne; Delicata - Golden Glitz (ink splatters)
Others: Clear Wink of Stella pen

Follow Your Art for the Craft Stamper Blog challenge .......

Happy Friday folks .........

This is the first of two posts today.
Are you looking forward to the weekend?  I know I am ...... we've got a clear diary this weekend, that doesn't happen very often!  We've nowhere to go, nothing needs to be done, we can just relax and do whatever we like ..... perfect! Just as well really as hubby is still suffering a little.
We have got the little man on Saturday night.  Pizza and a movie I think .... sounds good to me.

Before all that though, it's time to remind you of this month's Craft Stamper Take It Make It challenge. There's still plenty of time to play along.
As always the theme is Anything Goes ...... just remember to include some actual rubber stamping on your project, and you're good to go!

Here's a little inspiration for you.
This stamp from IndigoBlu has been sat on my NBUS mountain (Never Before Used Stuff) for ages.  I love it, and I'm so glad I finally inked it up and used it.

It's called Art Gives You Wings and it's full of amazing detail ..... I love this collage look

I simply stamped it onto a piece of what I call my mop up card, out of my bit box.  This one is a piece of watercolour card that I've used to 'mop up' bits of Distress Oxides left on my craft mat from previous projects ..... it's a shame to waste all that gorgeous ink! 
I've always got bits of cardstock on my desk so I use these instead of paper towels or wipes to clean my craft mat.  I just keep going with the same piece of card until I'm happy with the results. You get some great background pieces, without even trying!

I stamped the image using Black Versafine Clair and then heat embossed with a clear powder .... job done!
I did use gel pens to highlight the paint brushes, and I brushed over those amazing wings with a clear Wink of Stella pen to add a touch of shimmer ...... not sure you can see it that well in the photo but trust me, it's there

The sentiment is from Stampendous .... stamped and heat embossed in gold, then die cut and attached using foam pads

I finished off by adding some ink splatters onto the background piece, before matting and layering to frame the artwork.

As always with the Craft Stamper challenges, there's TWO prizes up for grabs. 
First we have a Design Winner ........ chosen by the Design Team from all the eligible entries.  We all vote on our Top 3 and the entry with the most votes wins!
The prize for this is a double page spread in the Craft Stamper magazine, a Guest Designer spot and a winner's profile.  What better way of getting your artwork noticed.

We also have a Challenge Winner, this time chosen at random from all the eligible entries.  They receive the Blog Challenge Prize, which this month is one of the brand new Sizzix Dies from Tim Holtz .....

Check out all the Challenge rules and guidelines on the Craft Stamper Blog.  You'll find more fabulous inspiration over there too .......... Happy Stamping!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy your Friday and have a great weekend.
I'll be back again very soon with the second post of the day.

Cheerio until then ......

It's almost the weekend ......

Happy Friday folks .......

It is Friday isn't it?  We had a bank holiday here on the island yesterday and I kept thinking it was Saturday ........ now I've no idea what day of the week it is!

Let's go with Friday shall we ....... it's the first one of the month so that means the latest issue of the Craft Stamper magazine hits the shelves today.  It also means that there's a brand new Craft Stamper Take It Make It Challenge too.

As always the theme is Anything Goes ...... as long as there's actual rubber stamping on your projects somewhere.

It can be a card, an ATC or a journal page.  A canvas, or piece of jewellery even.  Or maybe something 3D, or a bit of home decor ..... the choice is all yours.
Just remember to follow the challenge guidelines, which you can find HERE on the Craft Stamper Blog ....... we don't want an amazing project to be excluded from the chance of winning one of the prizes.

Speaking of prizes ........ we have two on offer as always. 
The Design Winner chosen by the DT.  They will get their project featured in the Craft Stamper magazine, along with a winner's profile and also a Guest Designer spot on the CS Blog. 
And then there's a Challenge Winner, randomly chosen from all the eligible entries and they will win the prize on offer this month which is .......

Stephanie Ackerman's Faith Journaling Book ...... plus 2 sets of Documented Faith Stickers

OK ...... now for some inspiration
If you read my blog regularly then you'll know I recently discovered rice papers.  I know .... I'm a little late to the party with these but, I'm now hooked!
They are so easy to use ..... that's if you can bring yourself to tear into the gorgeous designs.   They can transform the plainest of items into something beautiful in no time ......

I've covered a simple MDF heart here, using the whole of the main part of the design.

To start I gave the heart a quick coat of white gesso, let it dry then added a coat of Mod Podge before laying the rice paper over the top.

Isn't she beautiful! The colours in this particular paper are just gorgeous, and the detail is amazing ....

I applied another thin coat of Mod Podge over the top, to seal the rice paper making sure I went right to the edges.
Once this was dry I used a sanding block to take off the excess rice paper around the edge ...... keeping all the pieces of course to use on other projects.
I dry brushed some white paint around the edge to soften it a little ........

and then used my favourite IndigoBlu Vintage Flourish stamp to add some more detail and texture ....
along with a sentiment, both of which were stamped in Versamark ink and heat embossed in gold

A pretty metal embellishment and some paper flowers, highlighted with a little White Fire Treasure Gold wax, add the finishing touch

The reverse of the heart has been painted ........ 

decorated with a few of the left over pieces of rice paper

and stamped and embossed with the vintage flourish ...... love it!!

Now it's your turn ....... see you in the gallery!
Check out the Craft Stamper blog for lots more inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.
Happy stamping!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your day and have a lovely weekend.
The weather forecast is looking good ...... sunshine, sunshine and more sunshine.
And lets hope we get the right result tomorrow in the football ...... I think we're off out to watch the match.  Don't think my nerves can stand a repeat of Tuesday night though .......... come on England!!!

Cheerio until next time .....

Happy Little Stampers ATC challenge ........

Happy Tuesday evening ......

Only 2 more sleeps to go then we're off on our trip to Italy ..... non vedo l'ora!

Before I get started on the packing though, it's time to get the final challenge for April underway over on the Happy Little Stampers Blog.

It's already been a busy month over there ...... as it is every month.   There's a challenge for everyone whether you like to Watercolour,  or is CAS your thing?  A little bit of Christmas maybe,  or Mixed Media.  And if dies are your thing, then there's also a challenge for you with Anything Goes with Dies ...... and last, but not least this month it's the ATC challenge

It's a great theme this month ...... we all have butterfly stamps in our stash.

I've kept things fairly simple ..... watercolour card inked with Distress Inks and spritzed with water and then cut into ATC sized pieces (2.5 x 3.5 inches/64 x 89mm)

A little bit of random stamping on the background with a white ink

And then I stamped my butterflies using Onyx Black Versafine and heat embossed the images with a clear powder

All the words/sentiments have been stamped onto vellum using Versamark ink and heat embossed in white

I stamped a little extra onto the bottom of one of the ATC's .....

And this little guy has been stamped onto a leftover piece of card, fussy cut and given the Wink of Stella treatment to add a touch of sparkle, before attaching him to the ATC .....

and a few dots of white gel pen here and there finishes everything off nicely.

So .... are you an experienced ATC maker or have you never made one before?  Why not give it a go and join in the fun.
As with all the HLS challenges there's a $20 gift certificate for the winner AND .... if they've used HLS stamps then the prize is DOUBLED!!

Happy stamping!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.

It's been a busy few days here .... I've finally made it back into the craft room and I've been playing catch up trying to get everything done before we go away. 
Thank goodness my back is a lot better than it was ..... I can comfortably sit down again ..... yeah!! (Maybe the G&T's at the weekend did work after all!)

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

CAS Silhouettes ........

Happy Saturday evening .......

I hope you're enjoying the weekend.  It's been a lovely day here, and we've enjoyed a real lazy day .......  re-charging after a busy week.

There's still Blog Challenge to get underway though.  Today sees the start of September's Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge .....

So .... what's CAS then?  Well here's the HLS definition ......

This month's theme is a nice easy one ..... Silhouettes
Use your stamps and black ink on your designs or, if you don't have any silhouette stamps create your own silhouettes using pretty dies and plain black cardstock.

That's what I've done here .....

One of my favourite Penny Black dies, cut twice from a snippet of plain black cardstock and layered to add a touch of dimension ........   I love this die (as any of my regular followers will have guessed!!) and I love the stamp too .... both sizes!!!!

Anyway ...... I stamped the background onto a piece of Kraft card (love Kraft and black) using a burlap design stamp along with a Vintage Sepia Versafine ink.

I then stamped the 'Happy' off to one side using Versamark ink and then heat embossed in Gold, adding the word birthday underneath in black.

The die cut silhouette was then attached at the side ......

And I finished off by adding a few Nuvo Jewel Drops here and there for a touch of sparkle .....

and some of the design elements on the inside too ....

A simple die cut silhouette and a snippet of stamped Kraft card.

Why not play along .... as always there's a $20 Gift Certificate for the challenge winner, to spend in the Happy Little Stampers store.

Happy stamping!

EDITED .......
Oooh .... nearly forgot! I think this qualifies for me to play along with the Snippets Playground challenge ..... a snippet of black card for the die cuts, and the bit inside. I missed out on the last challenge, haven't been playing here long and I forgot the deadline (sigh!) but I think I'm OK to join in the fun with the new one just started .... hope so!

Thanks for popping by ..... enjoy the rest of your weekend.

OK ..... I have a confession to make.  I have no willpower.  I'm like a magpie when it comes to anything shiny.  And ....... I didn't leave my bank cards at home when I went out yesterday with a friend.  I'm blaming Carol (sorry hun!!) I only went to show her the way to Claire's workshop and somehow these found their way home with me ..... ooops!  But aren't they pretty!!!

The sweet peas just peeping in there are pretty too ... they were from Carol's garden!
We had a lovely day ...... with lunch out too.  We should do that more often.

Cheerio until next time .....