Perfectly CAS December 2021 Challenge

Good evening

It's time for the December challenge over at Perfectly CAS.  

Sadly, this will be my last post as a member of the Perfectly CAS Design Team, I have made the difficult decision to step down.  I'm so sad to be leaving as I joined the PCAS family from the very beginning in September 2019, and I love that Kylie founded this challenge, aimed at keeping designs perfectly clean and simple.  As mentioned in my recent LIM and HLS posts, I need to take some time to just create without deadlines and DT commitments.  Thanks so much of course to my wonderful friend Kylie, for inviting me to join this fantastic team, and to my super talented teamies whose CAS creations are just amazing.  I still plan to post regularly so please do stick with me.

Ok, onto the last PCAS challenge of 2021...

I went with the sky option of the challenge cue card and, as I'm so far behind with my Christmas cards this year, I made one to fit this challenge...

I knew exactly which stamp I was going to use, and it was the landscape/sky image from this Card-io set, isn't it fabulous?! I just thought it was so unusual and such a lovely scene backdrop.  So, using my MISTI, I stamped it repeatedly using three shades of pigment ink, to create this gradient effect.  It took quite a few re-stamps and blotting ink off areas of the stamp but it's a great technique if you have a stamping platform.  Before stamping the stag I blended a little ink in the 'snow' where he would be standing, just to create some shadow.  The stag and sentiment were then stamped in black.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Card-io - Magical Christmas; The Greetery - Budding Beauties Winter (sentiment)
• Ink: Versa Color - Neptune, Heliotrope, Lilac; Versafine Clair - Nocturne

Challenge entries

CASology - Week 398 - Above

Sweet Stamping - Anything Christmas

We Love Stamping - December Challenge - Anything Stamped with CAS Option

NBUS - Challenge #33 - first use of the background and stag stamps

STAMPlorations - December Challenge - Anything CAS Goes

Dream Valley - Challenge #260 - Christmas

Thanks so much for all your visits and comments, they really are appreciated.  As always, this challenge link will remain open for almost a month, until a few days prior to the next challenge starting.

Perfectly CAS November 2021 Challenge

Good evening

The November challenge at Perfectly CAS is just launching and, for those of us in many parts of the world heading into winter, we have a challenge that makes you think of the complete opposite, here's the cue card...

I usually rummage in my craft stash for things like palm trees, pineapples, hibiscus flowers and flamingos for this theme but this time I thought of something completely different and managed to use some products in my stash that haven't yet been inked up.

Here's my card...

I began with a die cut scalloped rectangular panel.  I then laid a brush stroke stencil over the panel, just for positioning purposes, and stamped the fish.  I stamped these again on masking paper and covered the images so I could ink through the stencil with Distress Oxides.  I removed the stencil and masks and coloured the fish using Copics.  I stamped the bubbles and lightened the centres with a white gel pen, then added a few more white 'sparkles' in the water.  To finish I stamped the sentiment and adhered the panel flat to the card base.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Best Fishes
• Stencil: Clearly Besotted - Brush Strokes
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Scalloped Rectangles
• Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black; Distress Oxide - Peacock Feathers, Salvaged Patina, Mermaid Lagoon; VersaFine Clair - Nocturne
• Coloured with Copics
• Accents: Sakura Gelly Roll Pen - White 0.8

Challenge entries:

Addicted to Stamps and More - Challenge #418 - Birthday

STAMPlorations - November Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes

NBUS - Challenge #32 - first use of stamps and stencil

Happy Little Stampers - November Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes

I'm absolutely loving this brush stroke stencil so I can that one getting a lot more use in the future.  The challenge link will close a few days prior to the December challenge so there's almost a month to play along.  I hope you can join us for this one.

Perfectly CAS October 2021 Challenge

Good evening

We're well into October now so it's time for a new challenge over at Perfectly CAS.  This challenge is all about keeping your cards truly clean and simple and limiting your design to one third or less of the overall surface.  Here's this month's cue card...

I decided to step away from flowers for this one and used a feather from a set that's been around for a long time but one that I haven't yet inked up...

It's been a while since I used the emboss resist technique and that's pretty much all that is involved here.  I used some anti-static powder before stamping the feather and sentiment in VersaMark and then heat embossed them in white.  I then used some large post-it notes to mask off the top and side of the card and ink blended, first in Salvaged Patina, fading it out just far enough to cover the sentiment, and then I added some Peacock Feathers to darken up the top corner.  

Despite using anti-static powder to avoid stray bits of embossing powder, a few stray bits did blow off the feather when using my heat gun.  It's advisable to use your heat gun on the underside when doing emboss resist to avoid this...shame I didn't remember that on this occasion!  No worries though, I'm still happy with it.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - Tickle My Fancy; Altenew - Wildflower Garden (sentiment)
• Ink: VersaMark; Distress Oxide - Salvaged Patina, Peacock Feathers
• Embossing Powder: Wow! - Opaque Bright White

Challenge entries:

NBUS - Challenge #31 - First use of the feather stamp set

STAMPlorations - October CAS Challenge - Anything Goes (Optional: Ombre)

Thanks for taking a look.  Sympathy cards are never easy to make when needed, so why not use this challenge as a chance to make one to keep on hand.

Perfectly CAS September 2021 Challenge

Good evening!

The September Challenge over at Perfectly CAS is now live.  Here's the cue card showing this month's theme...

So, quite a lot of options for this one as geometrics are very popular in the crafting world.  My sample card for this one is almost one layer, it just has the addition of a die cut sentiment...

I masked off a stencil, just leaving a few of the geometric circles and then ink blended through using three shades of Distress Oxides.  I die cut the 'happy' from black cardstock, adhered in place and then stamped 'birthday' above.  To finish, I added some Glossy Accents to the die cut for some dimension and shine.

Materials used:

• Stencil: Funky Fossil - Fractional
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Salty Ocean, Salvaged Patina, Cracked Pistachio; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Die: Create a Smile - Cool Cuts Happy 
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Modern Calligraphy Additions
• Accents: Glossy Accents

Challenge entries:

Happy Little Stampers - September Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes

NBUS - Challenge #30 - First use of stencil, die and stamp!

Thanks for taking a look.  My teamies and I would love to see you in the gallery and, as always, the challenge link will remain open for the next four weeks :)

Perfectly CAS August 2021 Challenge

Hi there

At Perfectly CAS the August Challenge is just beginning.  Here's your cue card...

I chose both stripes and dots for my DT card, and it was pretty easy to put together...

I began by laying down an area of adhesive on my card base using a glue runner, up to almost the half way point.  I then cut strips of polka dot paper and laid these down to create the stripes, before trimming off the parts that were overhanging the edge of the card base.  I then die cut a white cardstock panel with an angled stitched die and stamped the sentiment in black.  This was then adhered flat to the card base over the patterned paper strips.  

This card is for my neighbour who turns 50 today so I thought this sentiment was perfect for her...and I'm clearly far from 110 lbs!  She had a little chuckle when she opened it this morning!  This sentiment set is a new purchase which landed on my mat earlier this week so perfect timing!

Materials used:

• Patterned Paper: MFT - Summertime Polka Dots
• Die: MFT Die-namics - Stitched Basic Edges
• Stamp: MFT - Sassy Pants Birthday Greetings 3

Challenge entries:

NBUS - Challenge #29 - first inking of this sentiment set

Seize the Birthday - Challenge #220 - Stripes

The Male Room - Challenge #153 - 8th Birthday Celebration (I think this card works for any gender)

Thanks for taking a look, I hope to have more to share with you very soon.

Perfectly CAS July 2021 Challenge

Hi there

The July challenge at Perfectly CAS is now live.  Here's the cue card for this month's challenge...

I have recently purchased a couple of new 3D embossing folders so wanted to use one of those for my DT card.  I just had to figure out how best to use it while keeping to the challenge guidelines of one third or less.

Here it is...

On a panel of white cardstock I embossed just the corner with the embossing folder.  I then blended three shades of Distress Oxide to cover the embossed parts.  I used blending brushes here but in hindsight I should have used foam so the ink wouldn't transfer onto the background parts of the design as much.  I trimmed the panel down slightly and adhered it to my card base, before then embossing the sentiment onto a strip of black cardstock.

Materials used:

• Embossing Folder: Altenew - Scalloped Flowers
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Salvaged Patina, Shaded Lilac, Spun Sugar; Versamark
• Stamp: Clearly Besotted - Mini Messages
• Embossing Powder: Brutus Monroe

As always, the challenge link will remain open until a day or two before the next challenge starts next month, so plenty of time to play along.  And there's lots of inspiration from my teamies over at the main challenge blog too.

Thanks so much for visiting today.

Perfectly CAS June 2021 Challenge

Good evening

It's Perfectly CAS new challenge day, here is the cue card for this June challenge...

A simple one, just remember to keep your design to one third or less.  Here's my Design Team card...

Not much to say about this one really.  I stamped the sentiment first in Versafine ink which is my preferred ink for crisp clean sentiments.  Then I stamped the image using Memento ink and coloured it with Copics.  I could do with a few cards like this in my stash, this last year I keep missing birthdays as I have no reason to check my diary because there's just nothing in it!

Materials used:

• Stamps: Heffy Doodle - Everyday Sentiment Duos; Clearly Besotted - Undercover Plushies
• Ink: Versafine - Onyx Black; Memento - Tuxedo Black
• Coloured with Copics

Challenge entries:

NBUS - Challenge #27 - First use of both these stamp steps

STAMPlorations - June CAS Challenge - Anything CAS Goes

AAA Cards - CAS Game #192 - One Corner

Thank you for taking a look, I'll be back again soon to share more.

Perfectly CAS May 2021 Challenge

Hi there

The May challenge at Perfectly CAS is just starting and we have a fun theme for you this time.  Just remember that the aim of the challenge is to use just one third of your card area or less for your design.  Here is the cue card this time...

I used a little masking with my repeat stamping to create a stacked up a Neopolitan ice cream using some very old, retired stamps by Clearly Besotted...

I began by die cutting a panel with a scalloped rectangle die.  I then started by stamping the vanilla ice cream, masked it before stamping the strawberry, masked it again to stamp the chocolate and then masked a final time to stamp the cone.   The sentiment was stamped below in black but I felt the card looked a little unfinished so, what does every ice cream need...sprinkles!  I added some little dabs of liquid glue to the ice cream and sprinkled over some sparkly stars confetti.

Materials used:

• Die: Create a Smile - Scalloped Rectangles
• Stamps: Clearly Besotted - So Sweet, So Sweet II
• Ink: Altenew - Buttercream, Cotton Candy, Dark Chocolate, Sunkissed; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Accents: Little Things From Lucy's Cards - Sprinkles: Starlight

Challenge entries:

Simple Create Too - Challenge #170 - Use Glitter

Dream Valley - Challenge #247 - Embellish It

Fab 'n' Funky - Challenge #523 - Embellish It

CAS on Friday - Challenge #205 - Food

Thanks as always for taking a look. I'll be back in the morning with details of the next Less is More challenge.

Perfectly CAS April 2021 Challenge

Hi there

The April challenge at Perfectly CAS is now up and running and here's this month's cue card...

After making this card I've realised I'm just a touch over the 1/3 rule.  If I'd brought my masking tape in a few millimetres it would have complied!  So please follow the challenge guidelines, and don't do as I've done! lol

These dragonflies are so cute though...

I first masked off a vertical section of the card base and ink blended the background with a cloud stencil and added a little green ink at the base.  Next I stamped and coloured all the images with Copics before die cutting with their co-ordinating dies.  The grass and bulrush images were adhered flat at the base and the dragonflies were popped up on 3D foam.  The simple sentiment, from a different set, was then stamped in black and I added some sparkle to their wings using a shimmer pen.

Materials used:

• Stencil: My Favourite Things - Mini Cloud Edges
• Ink: Distress Oxide - Tumbled Glass, Cracked Pistachio; Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: Pretty Pink Posh - Darling Dragonflies (and co-ordinating dies); Simon Says Stamp - Baby (hello sentiment)
• Coloured with Copic markers: E15, BV02, BV04, YG09, YG17, BG000, BG13, BG15 
• Accents: Spectrum Noir Shimmer Pen - Clear

Challenge entries

CASology - Week 388 - Hello

Happy Little Stampers - April Stencil Challenge - Anything Goes

NBUS - Challenge #25 - first use of the dragonfly stamps and dies sets

As always with Perfectly CAS, the challenge will close a couple of days before the next one goes live so you have almost a month to play along.  I hope you can join in.