Hello there! It’s time for the annual seasonal challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches. For the next four weeks, our challenge is to take any of the CC&S challenges from 2024 and turn their sketch or color palette into a seasonal card. Or, if you’re really ambitious, you can combine a color challenge with a sketch challenge!

I’ve taken what felt like an easy route and chose Sketch #535. The squares in the sketch looked like a pile of presents to me. So I cut squares from scraps of designer paper and added some very narrow strips of coordinating paper to look like ribbon and a bow/topper for the gift on the top of the stack. I added a Christmas sentiment and ta-da, my card was done!

We’d love to have you join in our challenge at CC&S!  You have until 6:00 p.m. Eastern time Monday, Decmeber 30, 2024 to link your card at the challenge site.  Thanks for visiting today!

Supplies:
Stamp: Merry Messages (Lawn Fawn)
Cardstock: Pure Luxury Ivory (Gina K. Designs); scraps from Nordic Holiday 6″ x 6″ paper pad (Basic Grey)
Ink: Cherry Cobbler (Stampin’ Up)

Hello there! I’m hosting the challenges for the month of May at CAS Colours & Sketches, so I’m getting back in the proverbial game and making some cards this month.

Our first challenge of the month is a color challenge. When I chose these colors a few months ago, I had a vague idea I’d do some sort of nature scene with them, but I didn’t have anything definite in mind. This week, I needed to make a sympathy card for a friend whose father recently passed away. So I decided to do a watercolor wash with some Pool Party and Lost Lagoon ink, and stamp the evergreen tree over the wash colors with Basic Gray ink (since I don’t have Pebbled Path, I had to make a substitution). Very easy, very clean and simple.

Be sure to check out what the rest of the design team has made. What will you create with these colors? We’d love to see! You have until 6:00 p.m. Eastern U.S. time Monday, May 20 to link your card at the challenge post. Thanks for stopping by today!

All supplies for this card are from Stampin’ Up except as noted.
Stamps: Lovely As A Tree, Thoughts & Prayers
Cardstock: The Langton Prestige Extra Smooth Hot Press watercolor paper (Daler-Rowney); Lost Lagoon, Pool Party
Ink: Basic Gray
Other: Pool Party and Lost Lagoon reinkers

Hello there! Today’s card is for my aunt, who is turning 80 years old today! I wanted to send her a card with something more sophisticated than party hats and cute animals, but looking back through my saved photo files I realized I’ve sent her a LOT of cards with flowers. So this year I decided on butterflies.

I browsed through some of the various online cardmaking challenges and realized that I could combine a few of them for this card. I’ve used the AAA Cards sketch again (the same sketch I used for the card in my last post). The Paper Players is asking folks to use “black, white, and a bold pop of color”. It didn’t say whether or not the bold had to be just one color, so when I saw that the AAA Birthday challenge was to use a rainbow of colors, it seemed like that would tie in for something bold.

I punched a swarm of butterflies from six of the colors of the spectrum. (Sorry, indigo.) I die cut a card front from white cardstock and arranged the butterflies across it, following the sketch. I intentionally glued down only the left side or only the right side of some of the butterflies, so that the unglued wings could pop up for a little bit of dimension. I added a sentiment in black, and adhered the panel to a black card base. Ta-da!

And there you have it! I hope my aunt has a wonderful birthday! Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Comments are always appreciated.

Supplies:
Stamps: Birthday Greetings (Gina K. Designs)
Cardstock: Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Cucumber Crush, Pacific Point, Eggplant Envy, Basic Black (Stampin’ Up); Solar White (Neenah)
Ink: Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Other: butterfly punch (Martha Stewart Crafts); Outside In Stitched Scallop Rectangle die (Lawn Fawn)

I know, I know, it’s been a very long time since I’ve shared anything here on my blog. I’ve had a difficult time channeling my creative spirit over the last few years, but lately I think I’m slowly finding my way back to it.

Today marks the start of a new challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches. Since it’s the fifth Tuesday of the month, it’s a double challenge, combining colors with a sketch for you to use. I’ve flipped the sketch mirror-image for my card and added a base, but the main idea of the sketch is still easily seen.

I stamped a butterfly on a piece of shimmery cardstock and colored it in with colored pencils blended with odorless mineral spirits. I added a simple sentiment before attaching it to a base card in one of the challenge colors. Pretty much good ol’ back-to-basics card making!

Be sure to check out the challenge blog for more inspiration from the CC&S design team! Follow our challenge guidelines when you create your card for this challenge, and link it up at our challenge blog by 6:00 p.m. Eastern U.S. time Monday, September 4, 2023. We’d love to see what you create!

Supplies:
Stamps: Wonderful Wings (Stampin’ Up); Birthday Greetings (Gina K. Designs)
Cardstock: Cryogen White (Curious Metallic); Pale Plum (SU)
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Other: colored pencils (Prismacolor); odorless mineral spirits (Gamsol); blending stumps

The CAS Colours & Sketches challenge blog has reached a tremendous milestone today with the start of its 500th challenge! That’s ten years’ worth of weekly challenges! It’s pretty amazing for me to think about that.

Since it’s our last challenge of the year, we’re revisiting our challenges from 2022 and creating seasonal cards with them. I’ve opted to use challenge #485, which was a double challenge combining retired Stampin’ Up colors with one of the previous CC&S sketches. I actually made two cards, switching up the colorways a bit, and making one portrait-oriented card and one landscape-oriented card. I also changed up the matting on them, by centering one and offsetting the other. I’ve used one of my favorite tree images. I luckily had brads that matched both the pomegranate and bayou colors so that I could use them as ornaments to decorate the tree!

Be sure to check out the challenge blog!  Follow our challenge guidelines when you create your card for this challenge, and link it up at our challenge blog, and you’ll be entered into a drawing for one of four terrific prizes!  You have until 6:00 p.m. Eastern U.S. time Saturday, December 31, 2022 to submit your card.  Good luck!  Thanks for stopping by today.

Supplies are from Stampin’ Up unless otherwise noted:
Stamps: Season of Joy; Most Wonderful (Uniko)
Cardstock: Purely Pomegranate, Blue Bayou, Whisper White
Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Blue Bayou, Wild Wasabi, Baked Brown Sugar
Other: rose round brads; blue round brads (Making Memories); star brad (Recollections)