CASology #37 - HOPE and Unscripted Sketches #204

A challenging CASology Cue Card and a challenging sketch from Unscriped Sketches!  Both of these triggers definitely lived up to their "Challenge"  title!  Lots of fun and lots of paper in the recycle bin!

Probably the most challenging part was getting a clear photograph that would show the Liquid Pearl dots (yes, there are several) and getting the pink to look like pink rather than a faded pink t-shirt that has been hanging out on the line for an entire summer!

The swirls are none other than the fabulous Paper Smooches (Reflections).  Have I told you how nice their stamps stamp?  At least 100 times, right?.  I was also thrilled that I actually had found a "Hope" stamp (Inkadinkado) in my collection. Don't delay because the Cue Card challenge ends shorthly!  

Card details are pretty simple...CTMH cardstock and Momento Angel Pink

Happy crafting!

MUSE Challenge #10 and CAS-ual Fridays CFC95

This week's Guest Designer and MUSE is the amazingly talented Ardyth Percy-Robb, a fellow Canadian, a dear friend, a dedicated blogger and one of the most helpful, inspirational and motivational crafters that I know!  Ardyth's stamping technique is always flawless and perfectly executed, hence the "Stamping Queen" title that I bestowed upon her shortly after I was wowed by her talent! 

This is the card that Ardyth created.to inspire us...see, I told you she is the Stamping Queen!

I designed my card so that it also qualified for this week's CAS-ual Fridays Challenge, CFC95 - No Stamps!  If you want more inspiration and amazing ideas, just scoot on over and feast your eyes on the "stampless" creations of the CAS-ual Fridays awesome DT team!

Various circle punches and nesties were used to punch the circles.  The colored panels were popped up from behind on two layers of the teenie wee foam dots (difficult to capture the depth in the photo!).  The sentiment is a rub-on from my century old bin of 'stuff'.  The paper has a lovely texture to it as well....which was a bit of a concern when applying the rub-on, but all went well :)

Happy crafting!

ATCAS #9 and Unscripted Sketch #203

Edited 2013-03-26
After a lovely visit with our daughter in Calgary, I am back home and ready to craft! Of course, my first task today was to visit all my crafty friends to see what they had created while I was away.

I came upon so many delightfully 'spring' cards submitted to the current Addicted to Clean and Simple challenge.  Blades of green grass, sweet bunnies and blooming flowers really have me wishing our snow away!

Yes, I know that this is posted early but I am out the door in about 5 minutes and won't have access to a computer for a few days, so here it is....two days early.

Fun sketch this week at Unscripted Sketches. Hope you find time to play along.

Are these Paper Smooches stamps not the absolute best?  Seriously, I have never had a stamp leave such a beautiful crisp, clear impression.  Absolutely the best in my books.  You will be seeing lots more from these puppies in the future.

Gotta run!  Happy crafting!

Darnell just posted a fabulous picture of her back yard playhouse and some Spring pretties. Notice the blooming flowers and the tree with green leaves.  Scroll down ...

Well, this is a picture I just snapped of our back yard!  Notice the nine million feet of snow and the lovely bare trees! Ah yes....that is the handle of the shovel in the bottom right hand corner!

Can anyone hear me whimpering?

CAS-ual Fridays CFC94 and Less is More 111

I used the fun sketch that the amazingly talented, kind, generous and lover of Bingo, Karolyn Loncon cooked up for this week's CAS(E) ,,, however I missed the deadline!

Kelly Griglione was kind enough to direct me to the Frame It! challenge at Less is More which also coordinates with this weeks fun challenge at CAS-ual Fridays as well.

The 'chipboard' stars were created from  two layers of craft-a-board and one layer of a recycled hot coffee cup holder that was run through my crimper.  I love the rich chestnut brown color and fabulous texture. Added some SU linen thread and popped the stars up with dimensionals.  I used some glorious water color paper for the card fronts (more sweet texture!)

Excitement galore at our house as the nice mailman delivered my very first Paper Smooches stamps and dies (thanks Kim and Karolyn). Of course I had to get at least one image inked up (the above sentiment)! I am so impressed with the quality of the photo polymer.stamps and how well they stamp! And, the customer service is second to none! I just might have to call in sick tomorrow from work so that I can test drive the remainder of my order!

Happy crafting!

CASology Week 35 - Extraterrestrial

Why the "Congrats" sentiment you ask?  Our nephew just got his Driver's Licence (Yikes) so this card is for him.  This wee space guy actually reminds me of him - they both have that sweet impish grin :)

If you didn't have an absolute blast with this challenge, then please raise your hands. Yep - just as I expected...no hands!  The gals at CASology are 'out of this world' amazing with their creativity and ingenuity! 

You really do have to zip on over to CASology and check out the clever and creative interpretations of this week's cue card.

I found this little guy in the free coloring pages.  Printed him on several different colors, fussy cut and paper pieced him back together. The 'space buggy/flying saucer' is actually a metallic paper that looks really cool IRL.  The wee bit of exhaust is drawn in with a pencil...not that space vehicles would have exhaust but it created some nice movement.

"Spread the Love" and Unscripted Sketch #202

The inside verse reads:

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy -

they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.

- Marcel Proust

Unscripted Sketch #203

This was "Version One"

Yes, another re-do!  I wasn't happy with Version One above, which reminds me of  a pack of  cinnamon gum! I prefer the white background as it seems to support the pretty design elements, rather than compete with them. The images were stamped on various colors of card stock, fussy cut and reassembled.

I'm sure most of you know the amazingly talented Amber Kemp-Gerstel (Damask Love).  Amber had  started a Spread the Love campaign where she encouraged us to create something, divulge a blog crush, and play along with some really awesome color schemes!  (Yes, I know that I missed the deadline...but hey, better late than never!)

The talented, fun, newly retired and oh-so-sweet  Bev from Happy Dance , who has become a good friend and trusted pen pal, chose me as her blog crush.  Bev exudes kindness, sincerity, compassion, love and loyalty to her faith, family and friends.  I am thrilled to be Spreading the Love back to her!  This is the beautiful card that Bev made for me:

Don't you just love these colors and the flawless execution of this design?  Wowzers!

Card details:
Sizzix Flowers & Vase die/stamp set
SU paper, rub-on

CAS-ual Fridays CFC93 and Ombre Challenge at the Moxie Fab World

I'm not quite sure if the Ombre style (which is achieved by graduating color from light to dark) is also considered color blocking?  I decided to take a chance anyway and also enter my card in the CAS-ual Friday challenge, which is 'blocks of color'.

The stems are stitched with embroidery floss, individual strips of paper adhered together to create the ombre effect, shapes are die cut and popped up on dimensionals. Sentiment is stamped with Momento Ink.

Check out all the fab submissions at:

CFC 93 - CAS-ual Fridays - Blocks of Color

Card Creations Week: The Ombre Challenge at the Moxie Fab World

Paper - Stampin' Up
Embroidery Cotton - DMC
Dies - MFT
HB Stamp - Stampendous
Ink - Momento Tangelo
Rhinestones - SU, colored with Copic Markers

CAS(E) this Sketch Challenge #18

Just a quick post to get my card uploaded for this fabulous sketch! Nothing fancy other than it took me at least 8 attempts at getting the 'cityscape' drawn neatly with a .01 Copic Multliner SP pen.

I saw this image quite some time ago and loved the clean lines of the design.  I did a quick sketch on a piece of paper and then tucked it away until I saw Karolyn's rockin' cityscape card!  I had a total PING moment and my card design was born.

I used a Good Luck sentiment as the scene reminded me of kids heading off to the big city to start college or a new job. This is a common occurrence when you live in a small town!

If you need clarification on the PING thing, check out my dear friend Bev's blog (Happy Dance) to find out all about it! The sentiment is computer generated.

Clean and simple to the max!

Stampin Up black card stock, CTMH white card and the above mentioned Copic marker....and of course a ruler!

CAS-ual Fridays CFC93 & Unscripted Sketches #201

This card came together rather quickly.  I used the Lil Inker Stitched mats in six different shades of blue (although the photo does not really show that).  The paper (all from my scrap bin) is all textured as well.  Sentiment is a Ditto stamp.

I was inspired by a card that I saw somewhere during my blog stalking travels. Unfortunately, I don't have any idea who I was visiting, so I can't go back to offer a proper thank you.

You know that you will be treated to some major eye candy if you check out the latest challenges at CAS-ual Fridays and Unscripted Sketches......so off you go now....

Helpful Hint:  Achieving a uniform border around  mats is easy when you use small plastic tile spacers - the kind that are used when laying down ceramic tile. The spacers (shaped like an X) come in varying thicknesses too. Check out your local hardware store.

CAS-ual Fridays - CFC 92 WALLPAPER

Creating your own background paper (aka wallpaper) can be a fast and economical way to breath new life into some of your stamps. I tried to stay away from a large background stamp (which are usually quite expensive) and instead focused on a repeated pattern with a small stamp.  I chose this $1.50 stamp from Michaels.

The flowers and polka dots were punched from scraps of SU paper. The stitched banner is Lil' Inkers die, SU sentiment stamped with Momento Tuxedo Black, SU buttons and baker's twine (?).

Tons of inspiration to be found over at the  CAS-ual Fridays blog so check it out.  There is still time to play along :)

Happy crafting!

CASology Week #33 - Circle and Unscripted Sketches #200

Edited to Add:
My clever, CLEVER dear friend Darnell has enlightened me on the number of circles that I actually have on my tag!  She must be really good at doing the "Find Waldo" thing!

"darned if those glass bases aren't circles, and the wine levels are ovalated circles and the "o" in the word "to" is a circle, and, what's that? Isn't the neck of your adorable tag a circle? "

...see, I told you she was clever!!! Thanks pal!

Well folks, a rather loose interpretation of this week's Cue Card at CASology as well as this weeks Unscripted Sketch #200.  I'm thinking that I never should have drank the whole bottle of wine before starting....just kidding!

Where are my circles you ask? The way I figure it is ...
- bubbles are somewhat circular
- the pearls are intended to represent the bubbles
- when viewed from straight on they are like teeny weenie circles.....

Yes? No? Maybe? Maybe Not?

I did try using punched paper for the bubbles, but it just didn't have the same effect as the pearls.

I made my own tag template (100 tries to get it right!), fussy cut the wine glasses and paper pieced the lovely Merlot.  I'm sure you all know that Merlot doesn't have bubbles ... but it sounds a bit more sophisticated than Baby Duck, Lacosta or Strawberry Patch!  Yes, those were the wines of choice 37 years ago!

I added a bit of Copic Cool Grey at the base of the glasses and stamped a Studio G sentiment.  Stampin' Up pearls were colored with a light blue Copic marker.

Tons of inspiration by both DT's and some awesome entries posted, so head on over to the blogs and check things out!

Happy crafting!