CAS meets Shabby Chic...

Hello everybody!!  :)

Back again so soon, I hear you ask!?! lol Well, yes- I’ve managed to make a card to enter into this week’s Less Is More challenge…  four weeks in a row, must be some kind of record for me!!  :) I’m having a good week this week, creatively at least- lots of ideas and finally a little bit of energy to try some of them out…  shame about the stupid hand pain but I decided last night that actual crafting would probably aggravate it less than trying not to craft and hurting my hand by checking out everybody else’s blogs online!!lol

So, this week’s LIM challenge is a Recipe of ‘Three Squares’ and this is the card I made:

 

I had the colour scheme in my head and also knew I wanted to use my new MS Butterfly punch and have an ongoing mission to uncover and put to use some of the mountains of old stash I’ve got hidden away... this time it’s the lovely blue card blank. I’m sure you all be nodding along when I say I get so carried away with my new bits and bobs that I’ve forgotten so much of what came before- and after almost seven obsessive crafting years, there’s a lot of it!!lol 

I started by covering some squares of kraft card with Distress Crackle Paint in the gorgeous Weathered Wood (another *fairly* new acquisition  :) ) and then waited a loooong time for it to dry before taking to it with my heat tool as I just couldn’t wait any longer!! ;D It’s only the second time I’ve tried Crackle Paint but I wanted big cracks to show the card through, unlike last time, so I applied it pretty thickly- it would probably have dried on its own eventually but using the heat tool was actually really fun as I got great cracks before my eyes!! :) I also spritzed some parcel paper with Perfect Pearls Shimmer Mist to punch the butterflies from :) Then it was on with cutting, punching, inking and sticking as normal... and when I call this card CAS rest assured that the simple part only applies to the layout- I don’t know if maybe I didn’t feel as okay as I thought I did or what, but boy did it seem like hard work getting all the bits of paper the right size and the punched borders matching!! :S And as for what angles the butterflies should be at... well, don’t even ask how long I faffed around and I’m still not really happy!! If anyone can put a finger on the problem for next time, I’d be grateful for your thoughts!?! :)

The full list of ‘ingredients’ was:

•          Dusky Blue A6 card blank from Lakeland years ago, when they still did craft stuff (another ongoing mission this year is to try not to always use square base cards (something I do unthinkingly since starting blogging!!) and the two combine nicely as so many of my old card blanks are rectangles of varying proportions!!)
•         Blue paper from a matching envelope to the blank for layering
•         Parcel paper for all the brown paper layers and butterflies
•         Perfect Pearls Shimmer Spray in Pearl on the butterflies
•         Scraps of a kraft card blank for the blue squares
•         Distress Crackle Paint in Weathered Wood
•         Heat Tool
•     Antique Linen DI on edges of the painted squares, blue paper and butterflies for a bit of depth
•         Greeting from Woodware Clear Magic Jane’s Script set, stamped in Versafine Vintage Sepia
•         Mink Flat-backed Pearls

And a couple of close-ups to show the shimmer and lovely cracks!! :)

I would usually consider Shabby-chic as something I love but just don’t do well so it wasn’t my idea when starting out on this card but I think, between the Crackle Paint, dusky blue tone and brown kraft, this has that kind of feel to it...?! Maybe there’s some hope yet!!lol

I’d like to enter this in the following challenges: Less Is More – Recipe- Three Squares :) ; Cupcake Crafts – Anything But Square :) ; Paperplay – Shabby Chic/Vintage :) ; Papertake Weekly – Anything Goes :) ;

Dream Valley – Anything Goes :)

I’m still really enjoying the inspiration of the Less Is More challenges and am pleased that I seem to have broken through the one-layer thing I’ve had going on the last few weeks... I just hope this will count as CAS still as I did take a lot of inspiration from the fab DT card Chrissie made?! Thanks again to anyone who stops by and leaves comments- they’re all much appreciated!! :) I’m off to bed when I’ve linked this up- I hope everyone has a great weekend!! :)

hugs,