Polka Dots and Flowers

I'm playing along with CAS-ual Fridays, where this week's challenge is Polka Dots:

I've used the sketch from the current Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge:

and the colour scheme from The Play Date Cafe:

Burnt Umber ... Honey ... Butter

My burnt umber is a tad more orange, but it was the nearest colour I had.  All stamps are from Paper Smooches: Primary, Sentiment Sampler, Reflections.

Bright Lights

This week I have the honour and pleasure of being guest designer at CASology after this card was chosen for Week 50, Free.  So when Melissa asked me if I'd like to be guest designer, of course I said yes, then waited with baited breath for "the word".  Ya never know whether it's going to be, well, challenging!  So I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw what it was:

Neon colours are hot in the cardmaking world, but if you google the word neon, up pop gorgeous neon sign images, so I had a go at making my own neon sign.

You likey?  If you look closely at those google images of neon signs, the neon tube shows white, while the colour glows around the tube, and this is what I wanted to capture.  I white-embossed the sentiment (Woodware) and even though I used a static bag, there is the odd stray speck of white.  But I'm hoping you'll be too blinded by the neon to see it ;)  And it really does glow IRL!

I drew around the embossing with a Versamark pen and applied iridescent mica powders (Cosmic Shimmer) with separate cotton buds for each colour.  After I'd applied the powder to the first letter, I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't as bright as I'd expected. (I was making the card at night).  But I thought I would persevere with all the letters and then make a judgement.  Then when I lifted the card up, and the powders caught the light - WOW!  And the green was a surprise - it was pink in the tub! (Interference mica powders change colour when applied to black card.)

I can see myself making many more neon lights cards!  What will you make with the cue word?  Pop over to CASology and see what the Design Team have created, then join in.  I can't wait to see everybody's creations!

Material Girl

The challenge at CAS-ual Fridays this week is to create a project incorporating material:

And the challenge at Less is More is to use at least two shades of grey:

The bodice stamp is from Stampendous, the sentiment stamp is from Penny Black and the organza is from a bouquet of flowers. Oh, and there's some Stickles for bling.

It's All About Today

Another excuse to get messy with A Mixed Media Challenge.  This time the colour scheme is yellow, pale pink and peach.

I used acrylics to paint the canvas yellow, white and pale pink, then painted a peachy flower and added some watercolour pencil shading.  The images and text are stamped onto tissue paper then pasted on with watered down PVA glue.  Added a bit of Frantage for texture and Stickles for the fairy wings.

Unsettled-Showers - Paper Artsy Words Plate 3
Fairies - Lindsay Mason
Leaves - Lavinia Stamps
It's All About Today - Hero Arts C2738

Congrats!

The current challenge at A Blog Named Hero is to use your favourite Hero Arts Stamp or product.  Quite often my favourite stamp is my newest one, and so it is with Hero Arts AC026 Brush Strokes.

I love the versatility of this set.  You can make fireworks from splodges (well, I did - dunno if anyone else sees them as fireworks!).  The current challenge at CASology is, appropriately enough, Fireworks.

I've used the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch, turned on its side:

And the colour scheme from ColourQ:

And as it's a firework card it's also going into Simon Says Patriotic challenge:

Stamps from Hero Arts AC026 Brush Strokes, letters from Memory Box Parker Lower Case Alphabet.

Tic Tac Toe

Sshhh, don't tell anyone, but I made this card for Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger, which had already closed before I started making it!  Duh.

But it fits the bill perfectly for The Paper Players challenge (which closes soon!) of Tic Tac Toe:

I've gone for top-left to bottom-right, Birds, Bling, Ribbon.  The black wooden bird in cage was from MeiFlower (NBUS, Darnell!), the bling is Craftwork Cards card candi, but in case that isn't blingy enough, I've added a self-adhesive AB gem to dot the "i", and the ribbon is from my stash.  Sentiment is Hero Arts CL139 Birthday Messages and geometric stamps are from Paper Smooches Tri-balation.

Summer Fun

I was asked to make a card for a 14-year-old girl.  I would have loved to get a card like this when I was 14!  I'd already coloured the image when I found these unused message die-cuts in my stash (while I was looking for something else).  Hey, Darnell, I've done a NBUS!

The colours were inspired by this gorgeous photo at Pinspired:

And Simon Says Anything Goes is still open where you can win a Simon Says voucher or this card candi package from Craftwork Cards:

 

I didn't use card candi but I did use the message die cut and the shaped card from craftwork Cards.  The image is Penny Black 2163K Love.  If you look really closely you can see tiny self-adhesive AB gems in the centre of the flowers.