more CAS

Yeah, I know, I'm still on the same design as last time I posted. But I've been using up scraps and these cards are just fabby. And they fit into Less Is More's sketch challenge this week. And they can be gender-defined just by changing the colours, and I have some blokey birthdays coming up. What's a girl to do?

and inside:

 This one takes the sketch completely literally, and also fits into the "girlie" theme of Stampin' for the Weekend and Creative Card Crew (it is quite a lot more pinky-purply in real life - I haven't got the colour balance right on my photo. It is the Basic Grey Kioshi papers) as well as Simon Says Stamp's "anything":

 

 

And lastly, here is my entry for the Show us your Twinchies challenge which is also "anything" this month. Cute isn't it? Perfect for an anniversary card.

Was that thunder?

What a delightful day it is today! Grey skies, dismal heaving sea with white-tipped swells, and rain coming in parts of the greenhouse which don't normally leak. Lovely.

The new challenge on Show us your Twinchies is giving us free rein to do anything we like, so in defiance to the rain, here's my entry. I made it using Stickles, a copper eyelet, a black brad, gilding flakes and a stamp that came out of the clearance bin in my favourite LSS in Perth, Australia.

Take that, miserable day!

Replacement Twinchie

I entered my pretty circular Twinchie into the "autumn" challenge last week and was told that they had to be square. Oops. Well, there was an opportunity to make another one!

I made this a couple of days ago but I've spent since then trying to think of a witty greeting. The best I can come up with is "roll up, roll up..." but there my inspiration runs dry. Never mind. It's cute enough without one. You think?

Now I'm getting really busy. Our church is holding an Advent Fair, with an Arts and Craft theme, and muggins here was rash enough to call the number provided and apply for a table. The lady asked what I had in mind, and was so enthusiastic that I'm now a bit scared that I may have bitten off more than I can chew! It's not for another 10 weeks, but I mustn't be complacent. There's scope for a LOT of work here.

On another note, it's a funny thing how competition winnings tend to come in pairs for me. I won the August ScrapJazz card prize with my three cat'n'village cards from the same stamp, and my blue penguin double Dutch fold card won the Stampin' for the Weekend prize last fortnight. How strange is that?

Thank you. Thank-you-verra-much. {bows head modestly}

Sweet

The current Twinchie challenge is "autumn". I used a Kanban stamp coloured with Copics and some punched leaves out of Basic Grey scraps, with the obligatory Stickles in copper.

While the Stickles was drying, I put together this card from the latest Sketch Saturday sketch. I wanted the card background to frame the Twinchie, but instead of cutting out an extra piece, I decided to experiment with cutting windows out of the patterned paper backgrounds instead. I know, I never make things easy for myself, do I?! But I think it looks a bit different. I rather like it. 

The Basic Grey paper is from the Bittersweet range (brown) and Green at Heart (the pink background), the pink tag from another BG scrap, and teeny scraps from Eskimo Kisses for the punched leaves - and their challenge this week is punches. Cute Card Thursday's challenge is also "autumn", Charisma Cardz wants "double", and Simon Says Stamp is asking for a stamp.

 Here's a simpler card for Less Is More's "pink and brown" challenge - almost my favourite colour combination. If Basic Grey can't see the small punches on the other card, then they can use this one as my entry!

ETA: Apparently Twinchies have to be square. D'oh! OK, off to try again....

Working small

Today's offering is straight from my scrap box. These Kaisercraft scraps are so pretty. I had my usual fight getting the punched border right, but it did help that one set of 5 scallops is exactly 2" long. So there weren't as many rejects and deeps sighs as usual.

For the Twinchies challenge to "add a flower":

And made into a card for Less Is More's 3-2-1 challenge. I have here 3 die cuts, 2 scalloped circles and 1 brad. Or 3 embossings, 2 shapes with cut-outs, and 1 stamp. I just realised that the photo is pants, but think of it as subtly de-focussed and it works. You get the idea anyway.

Enjoy the ^delightful^ bank holiday weather everyone! {rolls eyes but at least I don't feel guilty about being inside crafting instead of outside gardening. ;-) }

A crafty morning

I was "gently" awoken at 4 o'clock this morning by DH hearing a mosquito. When he turned the light on, there were about 30 of them whining around the room. They must have got in the window which I had left open on the security latch - just a crack really.

I don't ever remember having mosquito problems in England before. I know that there are 30-odd resident species here, but they have bothered animals more than people. But this year we have waved a thankful goodbye to the tropical and desert mozzies, only to find that the irritating little blighters have decided to move here too. For goodness sake.

4am is not the best time of day to go charging around the house energetically walloping a "feather" duster against the walls and ceilings for half an hour, and then expect to fall asleep again quickly. I am tired. But my body still woke up at normal time and only let me doze for a few minutes' lie-in. Again, for goodness sake.

Card-making is always soothing when the brain is tired but the body is wide awake.

Other god-son's 11th birthday is this weekend, and I understand he is getting a BMX bike. And some Lego, but I'm a bit Legoed out after his brother's card. So I concentrated on the bike.

Basic Grey are asking for "bright and bold" this fortnight, and Stampavie want Birthdays. I wanted to use a Sketch Saturday sketch, but they haven't put up this week's challenge yet, so I used one of their old ones. The image is a digital stamp from edupics, coloured with my faithful Copics. The BG Lime Rickey collection is just perfect for this, and I used the scraps to make a banner inside.

I missed Less Is More's pretty sketch last week which I had a load of ideas for (thank you holiday washing and ironing) but I'm up early for the new "blue and green" challenge. It also fits for Cute Card Thursday's "clean and simple" theme, and Creative Card Crew's "beach/sea" theme. Cute huh?
(ETA: that's a wave)

And here are this fortnight's Twinchies challenge of bright colours. These adorable little woodland stamps were embossed in black before colouring - and I STILL managed to smudge the black with my Copics. I really thought that embossing wouldn't do that, but you learn something new every day. These three will probably go on a card in another bunch of threes. I really like that look.

And now the forecast thunderstorm is breaking (this really IS like the tropics, except about 10 degrees cooler!) and I have to stir my stumps.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Threes

This week Creative Card Crew wants black card stock, and Less Is More is asking for a one layer card with the theme of "3". This card has 2 sets of three: stamping, gilding flakes and dry embossing, as well as the three birds. It's the first time I've tried gilding flakes and I have to say, I think the effect is amazing - SO much better than my photography in the light of this apology of a British summer's day can reproduce. You'll have to trust me when I tell you that this card is a million times more dramatic in real life. The black is really black not grey, and the metallics glow - I LOVE that combination.

I used the same theme for this other card for House Mouse and Friends and Show us your Twinchies, a new site I just discovered which only launched last week, both of which have a theme of summer. I presume it's OK to mount my twinchies on a card already? Hopefully someone will tell me if I've broken the rules already! Twinchies are tiny pieces of art, just two inches by two inches, hence the name. I like the idea of small. Small and clean and simple. That's me. :-)

This adorable House Mouse stamp is masked before I stamped in sections, coloured it with Copics, Distress Inked (on my brand new craft sheet - yes I caved and I'm glad I did!) and the Patina Stickles were applied with a brush. It's another "3" card. Nothing to do with forgetting that the LIM card was supposed to be one layer. Of course. Ahem.