CAS Watercolour October Challenge - thank you

Before talking about my card, I want to share this happy news with you:
The CAS Watercolour Challenge is celebrating its 2nd birthday! 
Congratulations, Bonnie, Loll, and the Design Team members! Thank you so much for your wonderful inspiration and the fun challenge every month!

 

This month's challenge is hosted by the very talented Bonnie, and the theme is:

  

Here's what I made with those three colors:

I wanted to give a little twist to the fall colors, so I went with the geometric design.
I heat-embossed the abstract triangles in clear and watercoloured only the center rectangle using masking tape. The sentiment was stamped with dark brown. I heat-embossed the outline of the rectangle using a VersaMarker pen to give it a bit more definition.

The challenge is open until October 24th, and I hope you join the celebration. There're prizes too.


Thanks for visiting!


Stamp: Abstract Triangles (Simon Says Stamp), Tiny Type (Clearly Besotted)
Paper: Watercolor Paper (Hot Press 140 lb. - Arches)
Ink: Gansai Tambi (#33 Orange, #52 Ocean Green, #47 Dark Brown), Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!), VersaMark, VersaMarker Pen (Tsukineko)
Accessories:Embossing Powder (Clear, Gold - Hero Arts)

CAS Mix Up October Challenge - wonderful holidays

The CAS Mix Up October Challenge is hosted by the talented Mac and the Design Team has a new member, Susan.  Pat joins them as Guest Designer this month.

Mac chose "Metal" as a challenge. It's an interesting material for a card, isn't it?

 

Nancy's this card inspired me to use aluminum foil. Well, I don't cook very often, but even I have some foil in the kitchen! 😉

Here's my card:

Using aluminum foil, dry embossing, stamping with Alcohol Ink Lift Ink, 
die-cutting

First, I cut a panel of cardstock and wrapped it with aluminum foil, then I dry embossed the word, "wonderful". I colored the foil panel with alcohol ink and stamped another word "Holidays" with AI lift ink.
I made the silver holiday "greenery" with tin foil as well. Scrunched up a piece of foil and spread it back out. I put it through Big Shot to flatten it completely (the wrinkle marks stay.) Then I die cut the foil on both sides, using the grass die. The front of the foil was a little grayish so I turned it over and used the back side of it. (It looks more white-silver.)
The wreath was made of silver thread and put together with a glue dot topped off with a blue sequin. I wrapped the AI panel over the front panel and tucked both sides behind.

The challenge is open until October 24th.


Thanks for stopping by today!


Stamp: Snow Globe Sentiments (My Favorite Things)
Paper: Linen Card Stock (Ellen Hutson), Whisper White (Stampin' Up!), Aluminum Foil (Heavy Duty - Reynolds Wrap)
Ink: Alcohol Ink (Aqua, Mermaid, Turquoise, Purple Twilight - Ranger), Alcohol Ink Lift Ink (Ranger)
Accessories: Shadow Press (Sizzix - wonderful), Die-namics Grassy Fields (My Favorite Things), Silver Metallic Thread (Stampin' Up!), Sequins (Craft Medley - Rhythm 'n' Blues), Glue Dots

CAS Christmas Card October Challenge - peace

We have a new fun challenge at CAS Christmas Card Challenge this month.
Our talented designer Susan is hosting the challenge and the theme is Birds. 
We have a wonderful Guest Designer, Sue (Sue's Card Craft).

And here's my card:

I stenciled the holiday tree medallion with white pigment ink and added a red Nuvo crystal drop in the center. The dove and the sentiment were die-cut from a piece of felt and cardstock. The cardstock die-cuts were just for backing the felt die-cuts.

Well, it sounds very simple and quick, doesn't it?
Actually, it took me two more cards to get to this card. I'm sharing how I got to the final version today.

This was the first card I made: I thought the stencil took up more space than I wanted and the open space was kind of pushed to the side.

So I made the second card: First I changed the stencil to be more Christmas-like, and stenciled a smaller part of it. The open space issue was improved.
But I didn't like it because the center of the stencil turned out to be lower than I expected and the sentiment font didn't quite match the design style of the bird and the stencil.

And the final version is this: I moved up the center of the stencil. I was not able to find a good "peace" stamp, so I used a felt die-cut for the sentiment.

I feel the card finally looks finished.
I wish I was a quick learner. I sometimes get frustrated with re-doing cards until I'm happy with them. But at the same time, I enjoy the learning process, so I'll probably continue re-doing my cards as long as the time allows. 😊

Please check out the challenge blog and you'll find lots of inspiration from the cards made by Design Team and Sue. I hope to see *your* bird CAS Christmas card in the gallery!

Paper: Night of Navey, Soft Sky (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Craft Stampin' Pad (Whisper White - Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Stencil (Holiday Tree Medallion - Simon Says Stamp), Die (Bird Shapes - Ellen Hutson, Winter Words - Reverse Confetti), Felt (Berrylicious - My Favorite Things), Nuvo Crystal Drops (Rhubarb Crumble), Sheer Shimmer Spray (Sparkle - Tsukineko)