CAS Christmas Challenge - it's BAAAACK

 

start spreading the news.... CAS Christmas Challenge is BACK!

I had just the cutest little bird ready to play!

This little cutie is from SSS called Fun Birdie sitting on a SSS pine bough, all perched atop a fabulous HoneyBee Snowflakes embossed panel of vellum.

This joy is an oldie found in its packaging from PFS - and a splash of white metallic paint from my Kuretake Gansai Tambi metals watercolor palette.

I can't wait to see all the Christmas birds perched in their gallery - 

will I see YOURS there?

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #739

I could hardly wait for this week's sketch to go public!  Karren, you've played right into my hand!  I'm still having fun with Donna's rooster!  

Who says guys can't dance?  These cockle-doodle-dudes can-can!

PTI Country Rooster [with a little leg surgery] and a trio of the coordinating stenciled patterns!

I added a field of grass using a SU! Gathering Leaves EF and

found just the right words from and old EH set.

Gosh, now I can't wait to see what Karren and the team have done -

shall we head to the Freshly Made Sketches #739 post?  I

think we ought to!  Thanks for 'chicken in!'

=] Michele

Stand-alone stencils and a new way to use them!

When working with those stencils in my stash that don't have coordinating stamps or dies, they can sometimes fall flat.  Adding dramatic colors can really correct that, but today I want to share another way to add detail - with a pen!

Here is the first card I made using the Waffle Flower Crafts: NPC Peony Stencil set...

Quite pretty with those deep tones of orange and brown

but without the pop of white and fun framing you can

imagine it could 'fall flat', right?

Working with Bonnie's wonderful colors at Color Hues #134 

I went back in with those gorgeous Peonies in bright pinks for

the blooms and turquoise for the 'sky' - then the switch was turned on using

a Copic fine multi-liner and stencils 1-4 in the set to 'outline' and

give details to the flowers and leaves.  

Perhaps it's better to show, than to tell!

I even added intentional 'splatters' for interest.  Then it was time

to finish the piece using a black mat, one of Penny Black's Double Frames,

and a lovely Better Press-ed sentiment from Spellbinders' Bouquet of Hugs sentiment sets.  Here are the inks blended for my stenciling...

I'll also share my stenciled card with my friends at JUGS#825! [thanks Donna!]

I know there will be a ton of cards in Bonnie's gallery - and have you seen her card??  FABulous!  Hurry to TCH#134 to see it and all the other wonderful team makes!

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #738

 

Will you be at all surprised when I tell you that our sketch artist

this week is Cecile?  I can see her CAS organic style all over it!

What to do?  I tipped her sketch on its side to accommodate one of

my favorite birds from Wplus9 - sorry that it's no longer available.

The 'stitching' was the first element to happen.  I used one of 

Kristina's Finishing Touches dies from Concord & 9th stopping

short of the edge of my card.  Two branches were cut from the same

Bristol card as my panel for the perch and the bird 

[from Wplus9's Vintage Ephemera] stamped in Distress Blueprint Sketch

and a bit of grey for his beak.  The eye was carefully colored with a 

black Sharpie and given shine with a drop of Nuvo Crystal.

Isn't that sentiment just the ticket?  [W+9 Just Breathe] 

He sure looks as if he's thinking of someone special - maybe Cecile?

Hope to see you in our Freshly Made Sketches #738 gallery this week!

=] Michele

Freshly Made Sketches #737

 

Isn't this a fantastic sketch?  Jen B. is our sketch artist this week and

I immediately thought of that wonderful embossing folder from 

Spellbinders: Molded Frame!

This card nearly made itself, honestly.  A simple pale 4x5.25" grey panel was

embossed with said EF then topped with a pair of SSS die-cut flowers:

Poppy Stem - the one on the right and Cosmos Stem on the left.

Both cut from Neenah 110# card and doubled up for mail-ability.

A sweet little sentiment that will have you singing along - all day! - and

my card for Freshly Made Sketches #737 is complete!

I can't wait to see what my team has made - and what YOU will make, too!

=] Michele

Color Hues #133

 

My sweet friend Tracey is hosting The Color Hues Challenge #133 and loved all of the cards the team made using these fun colors.  So I reached for my Distress Wilted Violet and got to work using that sweet little C&9th Just Picked Dies - particularly that clover again!  

I love the first card I made using it so why recreate the wheel?  Here is my CASE of that one...

A little bit of gingham on any card makes me smile!  The vase die

was used to cut a piece of embossed paper from a friend, and another

Better-pressed sentiment finishes it well.

Off I go to deliver this one to Tracey's gallery at TCH#133!

=] Michele

Thank you, Tracey!

Just us Girls #823

Lisa is our host for Just us Girls #823 and she has chosen a wonderful noun for their Word Week: Flowers!  I just so happened to have a brand-spankin'-new Altenew Flourished Flora in my hot little hands!  Thanks, Lisa!  Now let's hope I remember to link and share!

This is a 6-stencil set that took a little bit of shifting and planning to bring together but

in the end, I couldn't love it more!  You might notice that I did a 'no-line' look in the photo

above but soon decided that stamping those lines would really bring out some of the

fantastic details on this stamp.  Here are the [many] inks used - I over-stamped the

outline using the darkest of the blues from the Altenew Tranquility set: Dark Night.

I treated myself to the coordinating dies and after cutting discovered just how huge this image is!  A wee bit of surgery was required to make it fit on a 5 x 7" card!!

Isn't that wavy embossing great?  Spellbinders: Summertime Waves.

It was a great time pulling together all those colors!

Okay... I'm going right now to get this one in the JUGS#823 gallery!

Thanks for spending a bit of your weekend at my place!

=] Michele