Take Three Things Challenge

There's a new blog in town, the Creative Carte Blanche and they hold a monthly challenge. I missed out on their first but I like the idea behind the latest. To use three elements which, they state, normally don't go together. These are, corrugated card, lace and metal. 

Now that's the kind of challenge I can dig my teeth into. Making art work, when it shouldn't.

I took a white die cut tag, and added blue Colour Burst from Ken Oliver.  I added more blue with a selection of distress inks and blending tool. The flower was made by die cutting the flower pieces from corrugated card and colouring with acrylic paint. I took a selection of Seth Apter's stamps and added to the flower pieces with black Archival ink.

I attached the metal tassels to the flower and glued the whole thing to my tag. I spritzed a piece of lace with Dylusions spray and once dry, glued to the bottom. I added the label and dotted a line of black Nuvo Crystal Drops to finish it off.

And yes, I know my blog has taken a quieter turn recently. The reason being is that I have been quietly creative and playing with all sorts of mixed media stash. And because I'm mucking about and trying out new ideas and techniques which I'm rusty with, the results have been...well...how can I put it...not "blog-worthy". There's a vast chasm of difference between the ideas in my head and the finished pieces.

However, they are all valuable, in that I'm learning more each time. The endless cursing and bad language heard from my craft room is not in vain.

Time will come, when I produce something which I'll be pleased to photograph and share lol. In the meantime, I'm having a lot of fun just messing about :D

Mixing it up for a Challenge

It's been a while since I posted. Well, no point really. I haven't really made anything worth posting about. Yes, I've been dabbling, playing, drawing, splashing paint around. But I've not actually finished and produced anything. 

So to ease my way back into "proper" paper crafting, I logged onto CASE This Sketch to see what the latest challenge was. Turns out, it looks something like this...

and I had absolutely no idea where to begin. I had zilch in the ideas department. Tumbleweed in my brain.

So I took some card and a rubber roller and merrily applied acrylic paint with it. I scraped some lines with a texture tool and left to dry. And that was it. I was up and on it. Ideas aplenty. You see my left brain has read about and seen in practice from experience many times, that being creative is not about feeling motivated first then taking action. I have to take action first, no matter how crap I feel and wham, bam, my right brain sparks off - the motivation appears.

I took an ink splat stamp from MFT and applied archival ink. I die cut a heart from a scrap made in the last couple of posts. Finally I used my label machine to produce a sentiment. 

So this card technically falls into the category of mixed media. But I hope I've also kept the CAS aesthetic enough to prove acceptable. Tough tits if it doesn't. I like it. Plus I had fun putting it all together lol. So much so, I'm looking forward to doing it again

CAS(E) this Sketch #130 - Bite Me!

It's a warm, sunny day so I will be quick. I made this card last night so that I could join in with this week's CAS(E) this Sketch challenge. It also gave me a chance to try out one of a new set of stamps, Bite Me, which I recently purchased from Visible Image. I just adore the snarky sentiment :D

Another Week. Another CTS

First of all, thank you ever so much for all the lovely comments regards my guest appearance on the Case This Sketch blog. What a wonderful bunch you are :)

And as another week rolls around, a new sketch has been put up here.

And yes I've interpreted it almost literally rather than use artistic license. I saw the star shape and it instantly made me think of my Bam Bubble die. Which, with it's graphic-comic style, had to be paired with my Kaboom stamps.

Right, off to go buy a large bag of dates, for making healthy (ish) treats, before dragging the sister-in-law around Arley Hall to look at the gardens. Must remember to re-charge my camera battery too. Hope you are enjoying your weekend too.

Guest Designer on CAS(E) this Sketch

I'm extremely honoured to be this week's guest designer on CAS(E) this Sketch. There is so much talent on this challenge site that I'd be lying if I didn't admit to feeling a slight intrepidation.

The sketch which inspired my card is...

Yes I made a rod for my own back by using colours which are fantastic in real life but are impossible to capture photographically. But I do love them and well, I made this card using scraps lying around after another project.

I know that creativity is supposed to be relaxing and meditational. And it is. Except when you are asked to be a guest designer. I swear my salt and pepper hair has turned even greyer. Thank goodness it's not falling out (yet)

Tag on a Card

This week's CAS(E) this Sketch design combines both card and tag...

So I took a recent purchase of a Papertrey Ink die & stamp set to make the tag, adding the image from Grunge Me set and the sentiment from another set.

I stayed with the white on white design which I used in my previous card. I put pink behind the green tag as a complementary colour and added the red strip at the bottom to add something extra, visually.

Again, I kept it as clean as possible to keep with the graphic style I'm enjoying at the moment.

A Bit of a Drip

I'm joining in with Case This Sketch (colour you surprised!).

And here's the sketch...

What's more, there's some stamping involved. Agreed, not a lot. But it's a start. I plan to keep going and stamp some more in future projects. I've treated myself to some more stamps, so that should spur me on.

Greyed Out Rainbows

Once again you find me joining in with the CAS(E) this Sketch blog challenge. Yes, I know I always post for this site. I'm the first to admit, I'm a creature of habit. Actually, strike that. I'm actually a creature of routine and rituals. Especially when it comes to creating. And having a challenge site I go to for inspiration each week, gives me that sense of routine. It's one less thought I need to apply. One reason fewer to procrastinate.

So here's the tricksy sketch this time around

And though I'm glad to have pulled something out of the hat for this one, I'm still not wholly satisfied. I've stuck with die cuts. AGAIN! I love stamping and graphic design and I've not gone for that option. My beautiful, colourful dye inks will be drying up in their cases, unused and unwanted.

Next time. I promise. No really. I will. Rubber & Ink will touch.

Roughing It Up

This is a bit of a rough and ready card. It wasn't meant to be but I rather went with the flow of serendipity. I could have started it again but I actually like the imperfections. It has the appeal of Wabi-Sabi. Clean, simple and rough around the edges.

It's a card I've made for this week's CAS(E) this Sketch.

For a change, I wanted to go monochromatic with neutrals. I die cut the hexagons. So far, so good. Then I wondered how they would look if I ran them through an embossing folder. The cracks which resulted, were my answer. It was at this point I felt I'd try and run with it, see if I could make them work. I eye-balled the placement of them and again it means, they are not perfectly aligned. The label maker for the sentiment is never true in how it punches the letters out. So at least it has unity lol.

And actually, the card looks much better in real life than the photo above. It feels cohesive and the pieces look stuck down much better than they do on my computer screen.

CAS(E) this Sketch #116

I've joined in this week with the latest CAS(E) this Sketch challenge.

My original idea was just to use the embossed black card with the raised sentiment label. But it felt too stark when I laid the pieces down. So last minute, I added a teal border which softened the whole look, whilst keeping the clean, graphic aesthetic.

Graphic Card for a Challenge

When I saw this week's CAS(e) this Sketch challenge, I just knew it had to be a Graphic interpretation...

I went straight to my favourite default colour scheme - black, white & red. I'll never tire of this combo. I veer off and play with different colours, shades, tints and eventually, I always come back.

Ans as you can see,  I've added a new header to this blog. It hopefully reflects my love of the graphic aesthetic and clean design. Spring is nearly here so it's nice to refresh and update and that includes my blog.

A Bit More Stamping Than Usual

Hello Dear Reader

It's challenge time again on Case This Sketch. Without it, I'm not sure I'd be posting anything on here.  I am busy designing away on my computer all day and when evening comes around, I just want to veg out. My eyes feel heavy and gritty and my brain feels too tired to be creative. Which means I've not been pulling out my stash.

But it's the weekend and it's a perfect time to grab my stamps and papers and catch up with the ever increasing list of podcasts which iTunes downloads, to put on in the background.

So I took this sketch

Flipped it around and made this...

And because I've been using my dies a lot recently, whilst my stamps have remained un-inked, I decided to correct the imbalance. The background, figures, heart, speech balloon and sentiment are all stamped. The label & centre strip are all that is cut out this time.

I admit I found it a challenge to keep the design clean and graphic whilst using so many different stamps though. However, I'm happy with the result

Well, Blow Me - I'm a CAS(E) Winner

Hello Dear Reader

I'm all smiles today. Okay, I tend to be upbeat most of the time but I have a good reason at the moment.

Remember this card from my last post?

Well, blow me down, if it didn't just go and become chosen as the winner. Which means I've earned myself this little badge of honour...

And yes, you're darn right I'm blowing my own trumpet. Loud and hard. It doesn't happen often. So I might as well toot for all it's worth.

Okay, I'm calm again now. There is of course this week's challenge...

Which I used to inspire this...

I know. It doesn't scream WINNER at you this time. It politely coughs and murmurs, nice try.

It does have a lovely pop of colour though.

Hipster CAS(e) ing

Hello There Dear Reader

I have another clean and graphic card to share, inspired by the latest challenge for CAS(E) this Sketch.

The sketch looks like this...

Which lead me to create this...

I used the stamp set, Incognito by Paper Smooches, straight onto the card with Archival inks. I then decorated the left hand side with strips of washi tape.

Less, my friend, is definitely more here

Oh L'Amour, Mon Amour

Hello there lovelies

I'm back to share a card I made for this week's CAS(E) this Sketch. I haven't had a lot of time to make it as my craft room is undergoing a deep-cleanse and for now is in complete chaos. On top of that, Nick & I are finally doing those DIY jobs around the house which we've been procrastinating over for years. We now have bookshelves in the bedroom!!!!

Okay, back to the card as I need to take a trip to framers soon (another job I'm going to stop procrastinating over)

The sketch looks like this...

and my take on it looks something like this...

and looking at the other entries this week, seems I'm not the only one with the idea of making a valentine style card either lol

A Brushed Rainbow Card

Hello Lovelies

I'm feeling that thing which happens to folks my age. I want time to slow the heck down. Has a week really just passed? That was truly a blink of an eye. Maybe it's because I've been super industrious and busy this week. Plus I spent way too many of my spare hours watching videos from this year's CHA. It's been fascinating to see the trends and ideas from the various craft companies. It especially caught my notice that there was a lot more colour around this year. The full spectrum is being embraced.

And talking of rainbows of colour. I made a card for the CAS(e) This Sketch challenge using the rainbow palette of inks I own from Simon Says Stamp. They've brought out more colours too, so watch out wallet!

This week's sketch looks something like this...

And using my newly purchased Positive Strokes stamps by Paper Smooches, I came up with...

Feels good to be using a whole variety of inks on one card.

Going Kooky for CAS(E) this Sketch

Hello Lovelies

The year is starting out well (except for the non-existent diet plans that is), and I'm up to my usual tricks. Apart from the duties of work, I'm busy sketching and setting up another blog. It's all go, well all go at my own steady pace that is.

I have, however, still made time to sit down and play in my craft room. This time, my mojo has been helped along with this week's CAS(E) this Sketch.

And, well I must have been in a kookier mood, cos I came up with a card that is a bit more daft than usual.

I wanted to use my latest stamp and die acquisitions - Glasses & Incognito by Paper Smooches. The links are to the wonderful Make The Day Special store, where I buy the majority of my US Brand of crafty stash.

And the moment I put the glasses on the heart shape, I couldn't resist putting googly eyes on it. Mind you, on MTDS's blog this morning, I noticed they are showcasing a card with the same idea. It's too tempting to resist lol.

Right, I'm off to make a drink and catch up with videos on Youtube showing what's happening over at the 2015 CHA show.

Pretty in Pink for FMS

Hello My Lovelies

As you can see, I've started following a few challenge threads to spark off the old creative juices. Today I have a card to share which I made using the latest design from Freshly Made Sketches.

Here's their latest sketch...

And what I made of it...

As you can see, I was channelling a Pretty in Pink vibe.

CAS(E) this Sketch 101 Card

Hi there lovelies

I've made a card for the latest CAS(E) this Sketch! Challenge. I know! Where would I be if it wasn't for the gift of these online challenges? Without them, I just sit at my desk, awash with possibilities and making nothing. I've certainly learnt that creatively, I like to have restrictions. It gives me a jumping off point. Whether it's a colour palette, a theme or a sketch, I like that little push it gives.

Back to CTS, the sketch this time around, looks like this...

And I came up with this...

Clean & simple and it makes me happy!

In the meantime, the festive season will soon be upon us and much as I'm loathe to have to think of it yet, I need to start planning. Each year, I design my own cards and print them out. With that in mind, I've been coming up with some yuletide images. Hopefully I'll have them finished by the time of my next post and I'll share what I've come up with.

Enjoy your weekend

Happy Halloween from a Scary Day Challenge

Hello Lovelies

Away from the world of craft, I take part in a small business forum and we have all been given a Scary Day challenge to be completed on Halloween. Mine was to come up with vectors suitable for this funtastically spooky day.

And here's what I have come up with.

Three terrifying Jack O'Lanterns.

And just to play, I cobbled together a digital card to celebrate this most hallowed of eves.

I will, of course, be hiding under the bedsheets until the morning!