Silent Night Sky

My goodness, even in these strange times time is flying by and here we are at May already.  CAS Watercolour is asking for a Night Sky this month.

I decided to dig out my neglected Twinkling H2Os as they give a nice subtle shimmer.

I did a watercolour wash alternating Black China, Blue Flame, and Periwinkle Twinkling H2Os.  I spritzed the paints liberally and kept the watercolour paper quite wet so the colours would run together.  I put down a layer, dried it with my heat tool, then repeated layering and drying until the colours were rich enough and I was happy with it.

I took the Solar Gold Twinkling H2O and spritzed the paint with only a bit of water to keep the paint thick, and then splattered the gold onto the sky.  I die cut a square out of it.

I die cut a Sizzix village die out of white, added a dark blue sentiment, trimmed it to fit the bottom of my square of sky, and popped the square up on fun foam.

Please come and join us at CAS Watercolour.  I'm looking forward to seeing how you create watercoloured night skies.  There's more inspiration from the rest of the Design Team and this month's Guest Designer, Tina (Treebug blog).

I'm also linking it up with the Christmas Kickstart "Winter Wonderland: Create a Scene" challenge.

Supplies:
Stamps - unknown sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Twilight
Paper - watercolour paper, white cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Twinkling H2Os (Blue Flame, Periwinkle, China Black, Solar Gold), Sizzix village die, fun foam

Bluebells for CAS Watercolour

Time for a reminder card for April's CAS Watercolour "Spring Flowers".

One flower I have an abundance of in my garden in spring is the humble bluebell - a bit of a pest as it spreads all over the place but when they are blooming, they are so lovely.  And, as many of you know, I love blue.

The bluebells are stamped and heat embossed in platinum on watercolour paper, then painted with Gansai Tambi watercolour paints.  I mixed a bit of blue paint with a tiny bit of water and sponged it lightly over some drywall tape to add some texture to the background and then I used the gold paint in the set to create the splatter.

I die cut it with a label die and popped it up on foam tape.  I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment with platinum and die cut it with the smallest of the label dies and added it over a big messy bit of the splatter.

Please come and join us before April 24th.  I'm hosting the challenge.  I'm a keen gardener and I love spring.  I am looking for SPRING flowers - not just any flowers.  So please think snowdrops, daffodils, tulips, crocuses, apple and cherry blossom, dogwood, etc.  There's lots more inspiration from the Design Team and this month's Guest Designer, Vicky (Crafting Clare's Paper Moments).

Supplies:
Stamps - Penny Black bluebells, unknown sentiment
Ink - Versamark
Paper - watercolour paper, white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - platinum embossing powder, watercolour paints, drywall tape, Spellbinders label dies, foam tape

Spring Blossoms

Thinking of everyone staying at home to help battle Covid-19 and hoping all are well.  I personally am very grateful that I have crafts and hobbies to help me pass the time in a rich and varied way.  And I'm also grateful to be connected to you via the internet and our blogs.

Spring is my favourite season so I am very happy to be hosting this month's CAS Watercolour challenge "Spring Flowers".  Hopefully we can all find joy in these troubled times by seeing the earth coming back to life (though I realize this isn't the case for our southern hemisphere friends).

I, like several of the other CAS Watercolour DT members, went with spring blossoms.

I used a very old stamp that I've had for years - so nice to bring it out.  It is stamped with my new Versafine Clair Fallen Leaves ink - it gives a very good sharp image even on watercolour paper, and once dry, is waterproof.  It's a very dark brown but looks black in the photo.

I watercoloured the tiny blossoms with two shades of pink, using a very fine paintbrush.  It's hard to get shading in such small images but I did my best.  Likewise with the branch.  I splattered with some of the brown watercolour paint.

The sentiment is stamped in the same Fallen Leaves, then the panel trimmed, and a thin strip of dark pink cs added to the right to balance with the blossoms.  It's popped up on fun foam on a rustic cs base and then I used Liquid Pearls for the centres of the blossoms.

Here's a close-up of the image that shows the shading and Liquid Pearls better:

Please come and join us and fill the CAS Watercolour challenge with lovely spring flowers.  I want to stress that we are looking for SPRING flowers - not just any flowers.  So please think snowdrops, daffodils, tulips, crocuses, apple and cherry blossom, dogwood, etc.  And don't forget that you must use some kind of watercolour and must keep the card clean and simple.   There is lots more inspiration from the Design Team and this month's Guest Designer, Vicky (Crafting Clare's Paper Moments).

Supplies:
Stamps - Rubber Stampede Cherry Blossoms, Rosie's Roadshow sentiment
Ink - Versafine Clair Fallen Leaves
Paper - watercolour paper, dark pink cs, PTI Rustic Cream cs
Size - A2
Accessories - watercolour paints, Buttercup Liquid Pearls, fun foam

Luck of the Irish

CAS Watercolour is being hosted by Julia this month and she's asking us to use the theme "Luck of the Irish".

 

Think emerald green, rainbows, pots of gold, shamrocks, leprechauns, etc.

I went with emerald green and a wreath of shamrocks.

My steps to make the card:

• Create the background with Emerald Green Brushos sprinkled on watercolour paper and spritzed with water.
• Die cut the wreath out of cream cs.  The wreath die has some scattered stars on it.  I die cut 5 little shamrocks to cover them up.  I popped the shamrocks up with foam dots and glued their stems to the wreath.
• Die cut "good luck".  Glue wreath and sentiment to Brushos panel (which I'd die cut with a square).
• Pop up on the cream card base with fun foam and add little emerald green stick-on circles.

If you look carefully, you'll notice that I adapted one of the shamrocks into a four-leafed one for extra luck!

Please head over to CAS Watercolour for more inspiration from the Design Team and this month's wonderful Guest Designer, Hannelie (Desert Diva)

Supplies:
Paper - watercolour paper, PTI Vintage Cream cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Emerald Green Brushos, Lime Citron wreath die, Tattered Lace "good luck" die, unknown little leaf die, green stick-on embellishments, fun foam

A Masculine Heart

My friend who buys several Valentine cards from me each year likes at least one of them to be quite masculine - not my favourite thing to create and I find it challenging.  So I went grunge, thinking that would be pretty masculine!

The image and background are all one stamp.  I stamped it on masking paper and cut out the heart so that I two separate masks.  Using my MISTI, I put the heart mask on watercolour paper, inked up the background of the stamp with Distress Black Soot, spritzed with water, and stamped.  Let it dry, then removed the heart mask, and put the background mask down.  Inked up the heart with Distress Candied Apple, spritzed, and stamped.  I got a little bit of red seepage under the masking paper but not too bad.  I used a red marker to define the edges of the heart where needed.

Stamped and heat embossed the sentiment, bordered with black cs, and popped it up on cream cs.

It's for the following challenges:
 
The Male Room Challenge "Love You"
 

Double D Challenge "Hearts"

CAS Watercolour Challenge "Red and Black"
 

I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day!

Supplies:
Stamps - SU sentiment, Impression Obsession heart
Ink - Distress Black Soot and Candied Apple
Paper - cream and black cs, watercolour paper
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - clear embossing powder, masking paper, fun foam

Red and Black

CAS Watercolour has a perfect challenge for February - "Red and Black".

A great opportunity to get a Valentine or two made (though your card does not have to be a Valentine)!  Here's mine:

I inked up the stamp with mini Distress red and black inks and then spritzed the stamp before stamping it onto watercolour paper.  I tapped the black ink on a palette and mixed it with some water and then did some subtle splattering.  I like the sentiment "cherish" for a Valentine card - a bit different to the usual "love" or "happy Valentine's day".

There's some beautiful inspiration for you over at CAS Watercolour from the rest of the Design Team and February's Guest Designer, Michele (I Card Everyone).  You have until February 24th to link up your card.  Looking forward to see what you make!

Supplies:
Stamps - Penny Black "Pash", SU sentiment
Ink - Distress Black Soot and Candied Apple
Paper - watercolour paper, black and red cs
Size - A2
Accessories - water spritzer, Spellbinders layering rectangle dies, fun foam

Peace in Cool Colours

Today is the start of the 2020 CAS Watercolour challenges and Bonnie is asking for Cool Colours.

I went with a very cool blue, a green, and a dull gold - although gold is a warm colour, I thought this version of it qualified as cool.

I stamped and heat embossed the doves and the sentiment in platinum (it matches my dull gold card base), then watercoloured the doves.  I inked up the olive branches in green and stamped them on, and added a bit of blue splatter.  The panel is trimmed with a stitched rectangle die, and popped up on fun foam.

For more inspiration, head over to CAS Watercolour to see what the rest of the Design Team and our wonderful Guest Designer, Chrissie (Simply One of a Kind) came up with.

Happy New Year to all who join us at CAS Watercolour!

Supplies:
Stamps -
Ink -
Paper -
Size -
Accessories -

Blue Monochrome

Today's card is my reminder to you to join us at CAS Watercolour!

My card for the original challenge post was in red, so thought for this one, I'd go to my favourite colour, blue.

I took a stencil and used a few shades of mini Distress inks on the stencil, spritzed with water, and created a stencil monoprint.  Love the blend of the shades of blue!

I did a sentiment strip in a matching blue on vellum and attached it under a pierced frame die cut (cut twice and stacked for dimension).  I added a few blue sequins for a bit of bling, still in the monochromatic colour scheme.

In real life, the sentiment shows up more but somehow it doesn't in my photo.  Here's a close-up to show it better and to also show the lovely blend of blues:

 
You have until November 24th to link up over at CAS Watercolour.  There's lovely inspiration from the rest of the Design Team and this month's fabulous Guest Designer, Birgit (Rapport fran ett skrivbord).  

Please note that there will not be a CAS Watercolour challenge in December as the Design Team is taking a break over the holidays.  We'll be back January 3rd with the first of next year's challenges.

I'm also linking the card up with our sister challenge, CAS Stencil as they are asking for a stencil monoprint.

 

 

Supplies:
Stamps - The Artful Stamper sentiment
Ink - mini Distress inks (Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean, Broken China), Memento Bahama Blue
Paper - white and mixed media cs, vellum
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - Memory Box Texture Flourish stencil, blue sequins, MFT pierced square frame dies, fun foam

Monochrome Poinsettia

Karen (Snippets) is hosting this month's CAS Watercolour Challenge and she has chosen "Monochromatic" as the challenge - something Karen is very good at, but something I don't do very often.

I need more Christmas cards so went with red as my colour:

I stamped the poinsettia in Versafine Onyx Black and heat embossed with silver pearl embossing powder - it is slightly translucent so the black comes through but it's not as dark as a regular black embossed image.

I watercoloured the poinsettia using the wet on wet technique where I wet a couple of petals at a time and then dropped the paint into them, letting it run as it wanted to.

When dry, I did a bit of watercolour stenciling using a flat brush and the same paint as the poinsettia over random sections of the stencil.  And when that was dry, I stamped the sentiment, trimmed the panel, bordered with red, popped it up on fun foam on a cream card base, and added red gemstones to the centre of the poinsettia.

Now I'm feeling keen to create more monochromatic cards!  Thanks for the great challenge, Karen!

Head on over to CAS Watercolour to see what else the Design Team made and also the gorgeous card by our Guest Designer, Birgit (Rapport fran ett skrivbord).  Remember to follow the challenge and keep your card clean and simple.

This will be our last challenge of the year.  The Designers are taking the month of December off to relax and rejuvenate before all the amazing challenges coming up in 2020.

Supplies:

Stamps - Penny Black

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Memento Lady Bug

Paper - watercolour paper, red and cream cs

Size - 4.75" square

Accessories - Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, silver pearl embossing powder, TCW Tile Texture stencil, red gemstones, fun foam

Autumn with Maple Leaves

Reminder time at CAS Watercolour!  How are you doing with autumn cards, specifically maple leaves?

I didn't think I had any maple leaf stamps and dies but just found the tiny maple leaf die I used on this card:

I used a leftover piece of smooshed Distress Oxide background (patting the inks on my craft sheet and spritzing with water, dabbing mixed media cs into it, and drying between layers).

Then stamped the definition of autumn on a scrap of cs and distressed the edges slightly.

I had a leftover piece of orange watercoloured cs that I'd been experimenting with ghost stamping (stamping with water with a fine-lined crackle background stamp on the solid orange watercolour wash).  I die cut the little maple leaves from that and tucked them around the definition.

And popped up the whole panel of fun foam for some dimension.

It's also a special month as it is CAS Watercolour's 3rd birthday...

 ...and to celebrate, we're offering two prizes:

$25 GC for SSS for Challenge Winner

$25 GC for SSS for one random draw of eligible entries

So it's a great month to enter!  You have until October 24th.


Because it used up so many bits and pieces, I'm taking it over to Pixie's Snippets Playground as well.

I hope all my Canadian friends had a great Thanksgiving!

Supplies:

Stamps - Purple Onion seasonal definitions

Ink - various brown Oxide inks for background, Versafine Clair Fallen Leaves for definition

Paper - mixed media and white cs

Size - A2

Accessories - unknown little maple leaf die, fun foam, TH distressing tool

Falling Maple Leaves

It's autumn and this month's CAS Watercolour Challenge host, Loll, came up with "maple leaf" as our challenge.

It's also a special month as it is CAS Watercolour's 3rd birthday...

 ...and to celebrate, we're offering two prizes:

$25 GC for SSS for Challenge Winner

$25 GC for SSS for one random draw of eligible entries

So it's a great month to enter!

Here's my maple leaf card:

Shame on me as a Canadian, but I realized I don't have any maple leaf stamps.  Fortunately the October issue of Craft Stamper came with a small maple leaf stamp and I was able to use it for this card.

I inked it up in Distress oxide Barn Door, spritzed lightly, and stamped.  I tapped some Barn Door, Fired Brick, and Candied Apple ink onto my craft sheet and spritzed with water.  Then wet the whole image and dropped in bits of the watered down inks.  I made three leaves this way.  When dry, I fussy cut them.  I die cut the branch, stamped my sentiment, die cut the panel with a stitched rectangle, attached the leaves, and popped the panel up on fun foam.

When I attached the centre leaf, I set it a bit below the branch as if it was dropping off the tree.

Head over to CAS Watercolour for more inspiration from the rest of the Design Team and a truly fabulous card from our Guest Designer, Ros (Mikey's Mom blog).

Supplies:

Stamps - Craft Stamper's gift stamp

Ink - Distress Oxide Barn Door, Candied Apple, Fired Brick

Paper - white and brown cs

Size - A2

Accessories - Sizzix branch die, Lil Inkers stitched rectangle die, fun foam

Smooshed Complementary Colours

We're halfway through September so I'm here today to remind you that you only have until the 24th to enter this month's CAS Watercolour Challenge.

My card for the opening of the challenge used the most common of the complementary colours (red and green) so this time I decided to go with a less common combination.  I went with the blue/green turquoise type of blue and the red/orange that is opposite it. 

I used three shades of Distress Oxide inks for the background, pressing them one at a time onto my craft mat, spritzing with water, pressing mixed media cs into it, and drying with my heat tool before moving on to the next shade of blue.

For the wildflowers, I pressed two orange shades onto my craft mat at the same time, ran my finger through it to partially mix the two shades, then spritzing with water and pressing watercolour paper into it.  When it was dry, I die cut the wildflowers.

I framed the background with a stitched die cut, glued the flowers onto the background, die cut the sentiment from a leftover bit of the background, and popped the front panel up on fun foam.

There's lots more inspiration from the rest of the CAS Watercolour Design Team and this month's wonderful Guest Designer, Anita (Stampin with Anita).   We're looking forward to seeing what colours you choose.

Supplies:

Ink - Distress Oxide Broken China, Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey

Paper - white cs, mixed media cs, watercolour paper

Size - A2

Accessories - Tim Holtz wildflowers dies, Tattered Lace sentiment dies, Lil Inker stitched rectangle die, fun foam

Complementary Gifts

CAS Watercolour Challenge gave me the opportunity to get another Christmas card made.  Host, Jenny, wants us to use complementary colours, and the colours that immediately come to mind for me are the Christmas colours.

Stamped, watercoloured with my Gansai Tambi paints, trimmed, and put on a green border - I got out a very old Martha Stewart border punch for the bottom edge - I like the way the dots on it tie to the dots on the bottom gift.  I used a red card base to keep up the use of complementary colours.

Of course, you don't have to use red and green!  I'm looking forward to seeing what you choose!  There's more inspiration over at CAS Watercolour - the Design Team and September's Guest Designer, Anita (Stampin with Anita) have come up with some great colour combinations!

Supplies:

Stamps - Stamping Bella

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper - watercolour paper, red and green cs

Size - A2

Accessories - coloured pencils, Gamsol, Martha Stewart border punch                      

Butterfly with Vellum Embossed Background

Time to remind you that CAS Watercolour wants to see "Colourful Butterflies" this month!

My reminder card uses a watercolour technique for the background of the butterfly.

I took a few colours of Distress inks and tapped them on my craft sheet, spritzed liberally with water, and pressed some mixed media cs into it.  When dry, I die cut the background of the butterfly out of a section that would give vibrant colour closest to the butterfly's body, and the paler colours out on the edges.  I die cut the outline from a scrap of mixed media cs and glued it over the top.

The background is a piece of iridescent vellum - depending on the lighting and the angle, it changes from blue to plum to purple.  Here's a close-up of a photo taken outside in sunlight that shows one of the other colours of the vellum:

I ran the vellum through an embossing folder to give it texture, set it behind an oval aperture, and added the butterfly to it, popping up the wings with foam tape.

You have until August 24th to link up your CAS butterfly-themed cards.  There's lots of lovely inspiration from the rest of the Design Team and this month's Guest Designer, Amy (of Miss Lomax Art).

Supplies:

Stamps - Judith sentiment

Ink - Distress Seedless Preserves, Faded Jeans, Milled Lavender

Paper - white and mixed media cs, iridescent blue / purple vellum

Size - A2

Accessories - Lil Inker stitched oval die, Cuttlebug embossing folder, foam tape

Colourful Butterfly

Where is the year going?  It's already August!!  Time for the new CAS Watercolour challenge:

 

 
I stepped out of my comfort zone of blues and mauves to make a yellow, orange, and brown butterfly:

I put the butterfly stamp into my MISTI and sprinkled with orange, two shades of yellow, and brown Brushos, then spritzed and stamped onto watercolour paper.  I repeated adding bits of Brushos and water where I didn't get coverage.  I splattered with a bit of brown Brushos mixed with water and stamped a sentiment.  I added a bit of detail to the body and head of the butterfly with a brown coloured pencil.

I added a very thin yellow border and popped it up on fun foam on a dark orange card base to add to the colourfulness (is that a word?).  And a few yellow sequins for embellishment.

Please head over to CAS Watercolour and see the beautiful butterflies made by the Design Team and this month's talented Guest Designer, Amy (of Miss Lomax Art).  You have until August 24th to link up your card.  Please keep it clean and simple, and follow the theme!

Supplies:

Stamps - Indigo Blu butterfly, Savvy Stamps sentiment

Ink - Archival Potting Soil

Paper - watercolour paper, yellow and dark orange cs

Size - A2

Accessories - yellow, orange, and brown Brushos, brown coloured pencil, yellow sequins, fun foam