CAS(E) This Sketch 77

If you are here for my Fusion card, scroll down or click HERE

If you are here for my Case Study card, scroll down a little further, or click HERE

Hello!

Thursdays are busy around here! This is my third post in 10 hours. The good news is that there are three new challenges to offer you card-making inspiration! :-)

I'm here to share my CAS(E) This Sketch card with  you in this post. I made this card for a little friend of my daughter's. When my daughter (6) looked at the card, she said to me "I see what you mean when you talk about white space on cards... but maybe it would be better with a little less white space?"  She cracks me up! I've been trying to teach her about leaving some space on her cards - she fills every space up with stamping.  She makes beautiful cards, but I always think they're finished when she thinks they're halfway done... she may not be quite as much of a CAS girl as her Mum.

Onto my card. I sprinkled stars across the card and topped it with a vellum banner.

Star stamps are from three separate PTI sets. The sentiment is wPlus9. Inks are Memento Luxe Nautical Blue, Morocco, Dandelion, and Tuxedo Black.

Thank-you for coming to visit! I hope you join us at CAS(E) This Sketch this week!

Michelle
xxx

Fusion 11 - You are so beautiful

If you are here for my Case Study card, scroll down, or click HERE.

Hello!

The Fusion Card Challenge inspiration this week just sings out "love songs" to me. I probably should have found a sentiment that says "to me" for the inside of this card to finish off the song line... and now I have Jo Cocker singing in my head... Anyway, how are you inspired? I didn't use the sketch this week, just the inspiration photo.

I used a mix of washi tape, patterned paper, dies and stamping. The stamps are PTI Heart Prints and MFT Compimentary Greetings.

Unusually for me, I added a sentiment inside the card. I very much feel that beauty is much more related to what is inside a person than what they look like. When someone is beautiful inside, it glows on the outside.

Looking at this inspiration I was wishing I had some cutlery stamps, or little cutlery embellishments!

Thanks for visiting! I hope you have a little time to visit the other ladies on the team, too!

Betty J
Cathy Weber 
Dannielle Robeson
Deepti  
Jeanne Jachna
Julia Aston
Katie Brooks
Kelly Griglione
Kimberly Wiener 

Lyndal Higgins

Lynn Mangan 

Michelle Lupton

Sindhu
Stephanie Severin

Michelle
xxx

Case Study 192

Hello!

This week is flying by. I have a million things to do, my list is getting longer as each day passes! But, here we are at Thursday again, almost to the end of the week. The good news is that it is time for another Case Study Challenge! We still have Wida Miller as our fabulous muse. Wida is so versatile! And every new thing she tries just seems to work, amazing talent!

This week the muse card uses a collage style that I'm not experienced with, and that I wasn't sure I could pull off. So I looked carefully at the elements, the vertical sentiments, the colours, the arrangement, and made my own CAS, one-layer(ish), version.

I used PTI Building Blocks stamps and dies. This set is amazingly versatile for a bunch of words and rectangles!

Wida's card is this one.

I would love to see what you would make following Wida's inspiration card! I'll keep my eye on the gallery to check you all out. :-)

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Watercolour for Card Makers - Day 10

Hello!

Those of you on the Watercolour for Card Makers online class would have seen Jennifer Rzasa's amazing hand drawn bird. I'm not quite ready to try painting a bird in flight, although maybe next time I'll give it a go! Jennifer has long inspired me with her art, and finally I am experimenting a little more to see what I can do.

Yesterday I sat down to draw and paint my second ever bird. My first bird was this one. I think I've improved a little between first try and second try. Imagine what would happen if I sat down to practice more! ;-) I never knew what a Bluebird looked like. I found photos of them when I was trying to find the name of another bird I wanted to draw, and decided I would try a bluebird first. To me they look like little blue robin redbreasts. Are bluebirds robins?

I painted this bird in Inktense pencils. I mixed colours from the pencils with my paintbrushes onto my paint tray when I didn't have the right colour. When I was sketching it to start with I was really struggling with the basic shape. The wings are different to what my brain wanted to draw. So I turned my photos upside down and just worked with the shapes I could see. It worked much better! I painted this over a day, letting parts dry that I didn't want to mush into other sections.

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle
xxx

Watercolour for Card Makers - Days 4 and 8

Hello!

I am WAY behind in Watercolour for Card Makers Online Card Class! This class will keep me busy for months, I think! Today I am bringing you cards I made for Day 4 - Watercolour Stamping and for Day 8 - Faux Hand Painting.

First off is my faux handpainting card. I watched the video by Tasnim Ahmed and just loved the results of her technique. I did notice during her video there were numerous "pauses" for drying time. What I did not realise was that it would take me days to finish my own card, because I was crafting after the kids' bedtimes on work nights, so I only had time for one set of painting per night! This technique does not lend itself to being dried by my heat gun because I would have sprayed my watercolour everywhere! I love the results so much that I am going to try this again, only I'll be more strategic about how I colour and I'll probably run multiple projects at once. ;-)  Enough of the back story. Here is my card.

I used Jane's Doodles Pretty Peonies flower stamp. The sentiment is PTI Meadow Greens. I hand drew the leaves. I used Winsor and Newton Cotman watercolours and Derwent Inktense pencils.

The next card I have stared at for several days wondering if I would share it. It didn't turn out how I had planned and I can't decide if I like it or not. I used all sorts of techniques in building that image. One was that while my first stamping of colour was still wet, I lay the stamp back down to draw the colour back to the leaves. This left the leafy pattern more clearly than the first stamping had. This card took me a couple of days while I pondered and added bits here and there. It was definitely an interesting experiment where I learned quite a bit.

I used PTI Meadow Greens stamps. The colour is a mixture of Cotman watercolour, Inktense Pencils, Distress Inks, and Stampin' Up! dye inks.

Thank-you for visiting! I hope I'll get a bit more watercolour time this week-end in between a crazy kid activity schedule.

Michelle
xxx

CAS(E) This Sketch 76

Hello!

What a great sketch we have at CAS(E) This Sketch this week! It took me a little while to think what I would do with it, and then about a hundred ideas hit me at once! This is one of them.

I used PTI Doodlie-Do stamps, which I coloured in. Card base is PTI Hibiscus Burst.

I hope you are inspired as much as I was. I look forward to seeing your creations in the gallery!

Michelle
xxx

CASE Study 191

Hello!

Today I bring you my first card as a member of the CASE Study Design Team! I still can't believe that I'm in this fabulous team! Wida is our muse this month. I think you can clearly see in my card where I've drawn from Wida's inspiration - the colours, the general layout, the die cuts, a little white-on-white.

I used wPlus9 Whole Lotta Happy stamps and dies. Colours are SU! Poppy Parade, Daffodil Delight, Pool Party, and Memento Tuxedo Black.

To layer up my die cuts, I cut two white layers to sit under the top layer. I used my brand new Xyron sticker maker to glue them up. That tool makes sticking little things down a little easier!

I hope you can join us this week. Wida's beautiful card is full of inspiration, she makes it easy for us!

Michelle
xxx