Another snail ...

Thanks Deidre for the inspiration for this card and Shirley (again) for the clouds:

Using your computer

Following up from introducing a group to using their computers as an aid to cardmaking, I thought I would do a step-by-step as I make a card for the latest CAS(E) this Sketch challenge.
We had just been looking at a fun card given to my son 2 months after his birthday.
I have a cute little Memory Box snail die I bought AGES ago and have never used. I wanted the idea that the snail had had to climb Everest on his way ..
I found a printable image of Everest and tweaked it a bit using PhotoScape.
Usng Word and setting the size of the image to 8cm wide I printed it and cut carefully around the mountain. This gave me two panels to use for masking - the mountain, and the surrounding sky.
Again in Word I typed the text I wanted into a text box, and printed it onto the card panel.
With the mountain mask in place I layered Distress Inks from dark to light down from the top of the panel - salty ocean and tumbled glass. I also used my brand new MFT cloud stencil (Thank you, Shirley!) to add some clouds lower down.
I removed the mountain mask and attached the sky mask, then used the cloud stencil again upside down for the mountain ridges using hickory smoke Distress Ink.
Added a trail of clear glittery stencil paste for the snail slime, a die-cut snail with gelly roll pen highlights, and voila!

CAS(E) this Frog!

CAS(E)ing again -here is this week's sketch for CAS(E) this Sketch!

Inspiration struck today - it was either make a card or do ... housework. I resisted for most of the day and got lots done, but the card just had to be made.

 The frog is coloured with watercolour pencils then topped with Spica glitter pens. Looks better IRL. Planning to smudge some glitter over the leaves.

One day later - maybe not quite as C or S but I like this better:

 I have added wood-grain folder embossing for a pond, and some stamped leaves. Still quite a bit of white space but to me the card looks more finished.
Feedback from the CAS gurus would be appreciated.

Last #224 - I promise

Ideas just keep coming for the CAS(E) this Sketch! #224. I could not resist trying just one more idea. Needless to say I am supposed to be packing my car for tomorrow's craft group so instead I am making cards.

I first did the card without the black strip (see below) but am much happier with this.

The card was certainly simple - printed the clefs, words and note onto white card, punched with a Carl square punch, roughed up the edges then distressed
with rusty hinge Distress ink. Mounted the notes, and added black pearls.

Also below is the sketch from the challenge .. just in case you have not seen it on my last few posts!

Better with blue

Forgive this second post - it seems I need a whole new post to put my updated lighthouse card onto the CAS(E) this Sketch! page.
For me the blue completely changes the look of the card - lifts it somehow.
 (Later - hence the edit - I have discovered that it IS possible to delete an inlinkz post - you just have to know where to look, and to have cookies enabled. I live and learn!)
The older post below tells how to recreate this card.

New toy

Hello again. I am still loving the latest CAS(E) this Sketch! sketch - #224 








Here is the card that came to mind when I first saw the sketch - but I did not have the sunray stencil. Now I do ... well .. I NEEDED it didn't I?

no flash

flash

Square of foam bought at least 10 yrs ago, and hoarded for the right moment, cut to the size and shape of a mini square ink pad. Distress inks - salty ocean and tumbled glass stamped with the foam square. Rays stencilled with Colour Burst  paste thru the Tim Holtz mini stencil (Set 5). Computer used to print the wording. Added Memory Box Oceanside Lighthouse and Waves die-cut and some Memory Box seagulls.
Yes the waves are a strategically placed embellishment - covering where my inky little finger touched the card.

(Later) I decided to move this onto a blue card base - maybe less CAS but I like it better.

Still stencilling

This week's Less is More challenge is 'neopolitan'. I'm still having fun with the stencil paste and trying hard to stay with the CAS requirements.

Pink, cream and brown .. not colours I would normally work with, but here goes.

 Lindys Stamp Gang 'Pegleg Pete Purple' sprayed through the stencil onto watercolour paper. Allowed to dry, then stencil paste slightly offset over the sprayed areas. Wording stamped with Timber Brown StazOn onto cream ribbon (hoarded from a pyjama set wraping - I knew it would come in handy).
Add a frame and voila!
My large area of 'white space' is pink :)

CAS(E)ing again

It seems my Mojo is back with a vengeance. Still playing with the sketch I featured in yesterday's post for this week's CAS(E) this Sketch! - trying hard to get it cleaner and simpler, with more white space. I am also going to put this into the Happy Little Stampers June CAS Challenge where the theme is SMOOSH. If you want to join either of these, just click on the links.
Distress Oxide worn lipstick on craft sheet spritzed with water. Smooth white card smooshed into this, dried, then three circles die-cut from it. Stamps are from a very old set bought from BigW - maybe Prima? Balloon stamped and Uteed. Washi tape edge.

CAS(E)ing a Sketch!

With flash.

Without flash.

 Still playing with the stencils, and loving them. I have flipped the sketch from portrait to landscape, and also mirrored the three offset 'squares' and turned them into circles.





The background is a second generation print of the stencil - after spraying Lindy's Stamp Gang Moon Shadow Mist Pegleg Pete Purple through it for another project I flipped the wet stencil onto watercolour paper and pressed it down.



Once it was dry I put Colour Burst Snow White stencil paste through only three roses of the stencil (a Tim Holtz mini) and let that dry. A bit more stencil paste was smeared onto a scrap of watercolour paper for later die-cutting. Two circle masks were used to sponge Distress Oxide Wilted Violet around the roses. The outer two circles were spritzed with water so the Oxide effect would lighten these.

This week's challenge.

The wording was stamped onto a strip of acetate using purple StazOn. Memory Box die used to get the tiny shimmery hearts.
If you would like to play too, this is the sketch ...
And here is a link to the CAS(E) this Sketch! page.

Shimmer

This week's Less is More challenge is 'shimmer'. Playing with stencil paste and hoping this fits the guidelines.

Colour Blast stencil paste applied through Tim Holtz Mini Stencil (set #25) and allowed to dry. Distress inks sponged to highlight roses and leaves (worn lipstick Oxide and bundled sage). Pearl powder brushed onto butterfly wingtips.