CASology Week #96:

It's Tuesday and that means it is time for a new challenge at CASology.  Our cue word this week is FLOWER.   What a fabulous cue word for spring, when temperatures are rising, and signs of new life are everywhere.  My biggest challenge with this cue word was deciding which of my flower stamps and dies to use. Yes, if you have visited this blog before, you will know that I kind of have a thing for flower stamps.  As in--a girl can never have too many flower stamps.  But, hey, at least I don't collect shoes, right?

I decided to use a flower stamp that is new to me--Year of Flowers Daffodils.  I paper pieced the flower and stem so I did not have to color, and used the sentiment that was included in the stamp set. 

How about you?  What do you think of when you see the word FLOWER?   What is your favorite flower?  Have some fun with this cue word, and then please link up your creation on the CASology blog by Monday 5/26 at noon (CST).

Since CASology is a Clean And Simple challenge, I thought it would be helpful to review some things to keep in mind when creating a CAS design:

1.  One main image

2.  Lots of open space (uncluttered)
3.  Limited layers & embellishments
4.  Quick & easy to recreate

 

You can see that my card meets all 4 criteria above.

 

So, what do you think of when you see the word FLOWER?

 

Check out the beautiful designs from the CASology Design Team members and see how they were inspired by FLOWER.  Then, please play along and link your creation to the CASology blog by Monday 5/26 at noon (CST).  

Don't forget to keep your card Clean and Simple.

 

 

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Gillian Ross

Jen Wills

Joyce Mehrberg (that's me)

Judy Marino

Kimberly Wiener

May Park

Meghan McMillan

Melissa Chipperfield

Tracey McNeely

 

Thanks for Visiting

A Whole Bunch of Cards

What a crazy week it's been in San Diego--a state of emergency and fires all over the place.  Fortunately, the fire closest to our home was controlled before it got too close.  Schools were closed, the air quality was terrible, and each morning I awoke to a fresh layer of ash on everything outside.  My car was packed with important papers and photos, but luckily we were not called upon to evacuate. Today is the first day that the temperature is a bit cooler and the air smells clean.  Most of the fires are either out or are under control.  My heart goes out to all those who lost their homes this week.

I've been crafting off and on all week, and have a whole bunch of cards to post.  First up are two more cards for this week's Make it Monday #164:  Cluster Stamped Sentiments.   I began with a sentiment from Mama Elephant Make a wish and embossed it in white.  Then, I just stamped circles from Sketched Shapes all around in Aqua Mist, Summer Sunrise, Hibiscus Burst, Hawaiian Shores and Tropical Teal.  I stamped each of the circles twice, inking and rotating the stamp before the second stamp.  That is how I got the cross hatched pattern, and it also helped the embossed sentiment to stand out better.

I am also entering this card at this week's Simon Says Monday:  M challenge.  My 'M' is Make a Wish.


This next card uses another sentiment from that same ME set, and I stamped over it using Watercolor Wonder in a rainbow of colors.  I am entering this card at Make it Monday #164:  Cluster Stamped Sentiments as well as  Simon Says Monday:  M challenge.  My 'M' is Mama Elephant.

I was able to play with my Make it Market Shakers & Sprinkles kit.  Wow, is this kit fun.  The first card I made is a shaker card that is very close to one of the cards Betsy made when she introduced the kit.  It really was quick and easy.  I used a quarter sheet of the paper pad included with the kit, so all the background stamping was done for me, and I could not bear to break into my test tubes of sprinkles yet, so I used confetti made with one of the confetti dies.

I read a tip somewhere by Jacquie about using a Q Tip to put talcum powder on the edges of the foam tape to keep the shaker elements from sticking to the side of the foam.  I did not have talcum powder, so I used corn starch, and it did seem to help.

For my next card, I combined the Shakers & Sprinkles kit with my Shape Up Cupcake die to make a cupcake shaped card.  I have to say that I really love how it turned out, and I will be making more of these.  I coated the die cut 'sprinkles' with a ton of Wink of Stella, and coated the stamped confetti with Glossy Accents.

I recently got the Butterfly Drift die from SSS, and just started playing around with it.  I was inspired by many of the cards on Lisa's blog, I'm in Haven.  I am going to enter 5 of these next cards at Simon Says Wednesday Die Crazy.

I think that these first two are my favorite of the bunch.  For the first card, I die cut in black and also various rainbow colors.  I did not cut the entire die for each color--just put a scrap under the particular butterfly I wanted to cut.  I used the outline in black, and then filled in each butterfly with a different color.  I found that running the die cut through my Xyron machine was the easiest way to get the border to stick.

On this card, I cut the entire die out of the card stock panel, adhered that panel to my card base with foam tape, and then filled in the butterflies with colored card stock, leaving a gap where the border would be.

Just for fun, I am entering these cards at this week's Seize the Birthday (without toppings).

For my next card, I used a Kaleidacolor rainbow ink pad (Caribbean Sea), which I stamped on wet card stock.  Once it dried, I ran it through my Xyron machine and used the butterflies to fill in another black border die cut.

I used the border cut from that same piece of card stock on my next card.  I filled in the butterflies with black card stock butterflies, and used a sentiment from Avery Elle Brushed embossed in white.

Last up are the first cards I made with this die.  I used the same type Kaleidacolor rainbow ink pad, this one called Spectrum, stamped on to wet paper.  These are my least favorite because I think the colors are too bright and garish all together, but I am showing them anyway.  Maybe some one else might like them.

Well, that's it for me today.  Thanks for sticking with me for all these cards and pictures, and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Thanks for Visiting

Retro Sketches, Make it Monday, One Layer Simplicity, Simon Says Monday and Less is More

This is my second post today.  Please click here if you are looking for my CASology post.

I had some crafty time today and I was lucky enough that my cards came together quickly, so I was able to make three cards today.  First up is my card for this week's Retro Sketches rs#114, where my bestie Kim is Headliner all month (yay Kim!!).

I used three of the dies from PTI Sweet Speech to make this little Thank You card.  I pulled out Memento Luxe inks in Rhubarb Stalk and Pear Tart for these stamps--the pigment really does give much better coverage with these stamps.  I used Waltzingmouse Off Beat Backgrounds to stamp a plaid behind the die cut speech bubble.

I could not help myself--I made another card for Make it Monday #164:  Cluster Stamped Sentiments.  I used a variety of flower images from Flower Fusion (I store them all together in a TH folder, so I never know which set I am using), a sentiment from Wet Paint, and white embossing powder.

I am also entering this card at Simon Says Monday:  M, since my card uses a Make it Monday technique, One Layer Simplicity Challenge #5:  Fabulous Flowers, and Less is More #171:  One Layer Thank You.


My last card is also for Simon Says Monday:  M, since my card uses a Memory Box Modern Flower Power stencil, One Layer Simplicity Challenge #5:  Fabulous Flowers, and Less is More #171:  One Layer Thank You.  I decided to break out one of my new stencils and some new Distress Inks, too. 

I masked off an area for the sentiment using a piece of computer paper cut with the Photo Finishers die.  Then, I sponged Distress Inks (Dusty Concord, Shaded Lilac, Crushed Olive and Peacock Feathers) over the stencil and mask.  I stamped the sentiment after removing the stencil and mask, and then put the die back over the sentiment area and embossed the die into the card.  I was surprised how quick and easy stencils are to use.  I will definitely do this again.

That's it for me today.  Off to pull something together for dinner.

Thanks for Visiting

CASology Week 95: Splash

It's Tuesday and that means it is time for a new challenge at CASology.  Our cue word this week is SPLASH.   Perfect timing as we are headed into summer and warmer temps.  There are so many different ways to approach this word.  I haven't pulled out my cute little whale in a while, so I decided to take him out to play.  Think of this whale splashing around to wish some young person a happy birthday.

I die cut the whale from PTI's Whale Wishes and stamped him in Memento Luxe Grey Flannel.  I don't normally use pigment inks because I am an impatient and lazy crafter, but in this case, the amazing coverage I got with that ink was totally worth it.  I had tried stamping with a number of different dye inks, and was not happy with the way the whale looked.  I stamped the sentiment and the little spout splashes, then impressed my front panel with the Sunshine Impression Plate and popped the whale up with foam tape.  I used Watercolor Wonder stamps to stamp a striped border down the left side of my card base.  I wanted to have a splash of color on the card that did not detract from my main panel.

How about you?  What do you think of when you see the word SPLASH?    Have some fun with this cue word, and then please link up your creation on the CASology blog by Monday 5/19 at noon (CST).

Since CASology is a Clean And Simple challenge, I thought it would be helpful to review some things to keep in mind when creating a CAS design:

1.  One main image

2.  Lots of open space (uncluttered)
3.  Limited layers & embellishments
4.  Quick & easy to recreate

 

You can see that my card meets all 4 criteria above.

 

So, what do you think of when you see the word SPLASH?

 

Check out the beautiful designs from the CASology Design Team members and see how they were inspired by SPLASH.  Then, please play along and link your creation to the CASology blog by Monday 5/19 at noon (CST).  

Don't forget to keep your card Clean and Simple.

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Gillian Ross

Jen Wills

Joyce Mehrberg (that's me)

Judy Marino

Kimberly Wiener

May Park

Meghan McMillan

Melissa Chipperfield

Tracey McNeely

 

Thanks for Visiting

 

 

Make it Monday and Simon Says Stamp

Happy Monday.  I was able to watch this week's Make it Monday #164:  Cluster Stamped Sentiment and crank out 3 super quick cards.  This is a really fun technique, and I encourage you to give it a try.  The hardest part for me was getting my sentiment stamp clean enough so that the versamark stamping was clear--it seemed like no matter how clean my stamp looked, it the versamark stamped image still had some black on it.  I was even using a brand new versamark pad.  In the end, I solved that problem by using white embossing powder instead of clear.


Here is my favorite of the bunch--using a Think Big birthday sentiment and balloons from Birthday Style.

I used a sentiment from Say it With Style for this next card, and I think the technique works better with sentiments that are solid and bold.  But, I still like how this one came out.  I used balloons from Birthday Bash.

This is actually the first card I made, and I used the same circle stamps from Confetti Garland Border as Heather used, as well as a solid circle from Beautiful Blooms II.  The sentiment is from Wet Paint.

I am entering all three of these cards in the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge: M because the technique is from Make it Monday (I hope that is OK).

I hope to make some more of these later in the week.  They are a lot of fun.

Thanks for Visiting

Get Well

Happy Mother's Day to all my friends.  I hope you had a wonderful day being spoiled by your families.  I had a pretty relaxing day, made a few cards, and am now waiting for the dinner my DH is cooking for me.

I saw this beautiful card of Anita's, and knew I had to try something like it myself.  I started out using the 'get well' die cut words from Paper Smooches.  They have these fabulously long tails that I did not know how to work with, but once I saw Anita's card, she showed me the answer.

Inspired by Anita, I used sponge daubers and three shades of pink ink to sponge a gradient on a piece of white scrap paper.  I put that piece behind the negative space made by the 'get well' die.  I used a Paper Smooches alpha set to create the word 'soon', and Cutting Garden stamps for the flower and leaves.  I inked the flower in Hibiscus Burst rolled on the edges in Raspberry Fizz. 

I wanted to use that white 'get well' die cut, so decided to make another card.  It turned out that it was too difficult to get the kind of gradient I wanted on that die cut, so I scrapped it, and started with a fresh scrap of white paper.  I used some Distress Inks in various shades of green to make the gradient on this next card, and I used the actual die cut rather than the negative space.  The flowers are from Ruby Rose and Reprise, and they are inked in SU Calypso Coral and Crisp Cantaloupe.

I am entering these cards in the following challenges:
Addicted to CAS #38:  Off the Edge
Simon Says Wednesday:  Spring Flowers
Hip on Handwriting Challenge in the Moxie Fab World

Thanks for Visiting

Birthday Recap and Anniversary Cards

Happy Saturday everyone.  I recently had a birthday, and was lucky enough to be inundated with beautiful cards from so many crafty friends.  I decided to post them here so everyone can see them.

First up are cards from my husband and daughters.  Can you believe I got hand made cards from all three of them?  What is the catch, you ask?  Well, a while back, Tracey, Kim, Cathy and I got together and cooked up an idea called the "husband kit"  We traded names and sent each other a selection of our own home made cards that would be suitable for the husbands and children to give to the recipient on their birthday and anniversary.  That way, we would finally get beautiful home made cards for these occasions without having to make our own cards.  And, no more money wasted at Hallmark.  We agreed not to peek at the kit we received, but to give the kit to our husbands at the appropriate time.  We also decided that we would post the cards we received.

My husband kit was made by Tracey.  Here is the card my husband gave me (thanks, Tracey)

Here are the cards I got from each of my daughters, also made by Tracey.

Aren't they just fantastic?  If you are tired of your DH wasting money on store bought cards--money you could be using to buy stamps, I would encourage you to find a few crafty friends and trade husband kits with them.  (No fair trying to trade actual husbands, though).

I also received several lovely cards from my crafty friends.  Here they are in alphabetical order.

Cathy

Darnell

Kara

Kim

Marybeth

Sherrie

Sigh, just looking at them all lined up on my desk makes me happy.

Are you still with me?  Here are a couple of cards I made using the colors of this week's Color Throwdown ctd291.  I was fiddling with my phone the other day, and saw a bunch of circles--can't even remember where, but they inspired me to pull out my Circles Cover Plate Die.

Still had a lot of circles left over, so I made this card, which I am also entering at Simon Says Monday challenge to use five, since I used 5 colors (Night of Navy, Bermuda Bay and PTI Limeade Ice--from the CTD challenge) and two neutral greys--Smokey Slate and Basic Grey.

Here they are together.  I will give one to my DH for our anniversary later this month--just need to decide which one.  What do you think?

Thanks for Visiting