Merry Monday #238

I've been trying to play at Merry Monday every week so I have most of my Christmas cards by the end of the year.  I missed last week but I have one for this week's challenge - decorated lightpost with bling.

The lightpost is a stamp from PB that I inked with Distress Markers, misted and stamped over and over with a variety of colors using my MISTI. Once it was dry I watercolored the background with Faded Jeans DI.  The pine bough is from PTI and the bow from Sugar Pea smooshed in DI and Perfect Pearls.  For the bling I added three red stones to the center of the bow.  The frame is made from a couple of SSS stitched rectangles.

Thanks for dropping by.  I love it when you do.

CAS(E) This Sketch #211

Things have been busy around here which means I'm way behind in commenting on your wonderful cards.  I say wonderful because I have stopped by quickly to see what you were creating but then kept on going to get through the over 250 emails.  I've also been making cards like crazy for my Design Teams because we will be going on vacation and I need to have them all done and scheduled before I go.  Add to that two days of cleaning out rooms in the church and working on a number of funeral dinners and I haven't had much time to even make cards just for fun.

But I do have one today for CAS(E) This Sketch.

I smooshed the background with Distress Oxides, then stamped the PB flowers and sentiment in Onyx Black.  I lifted some of the color from the petals but they weren't white enough for me so I painted them with acrylic paint.  I think this looks like Michele's sketch.

I'm so glad you dropped by.

Addicted to CAS 106

It's time for a new challenge at Addicted to CAS and Bhavana has chosen this as our cue word.

The minute I saw the word I knew I was going to use my Doodle Buds set from WPlus9.

To add to the doodleness (?) I stamped the zigzag from the set and used a pen to join them around the edge of my card.  The buds were stamped on Bristol, colored with Zigs and popped up while the stems and leaves were stamped directly on the card front.

We hope you'll join us for this challenge.  Create a Smile is offering a voucher to their store to the winner.

I love the sentiment and it's my wish for you today.

Just Us Girls #383 - Word Week

Hey all.  I'm hosting Just Us Girls this week and for the Word Week challenge I've chosen

You can do so many fun things with diamonds, triangles, squares, octagons, hexagons etc. that I thought it would be an interesting challenge.  Here's what I made.

I new I wanted to use the Geo Builders from Catherine Pooler.  The decision came in what colors to use.  I had a copper embossed sentiment on my work desk that I didn't use but liked the looks of.  I decided I wanted to use colors that worked with copper so I could emboss the sentiment on this card.  I stamped the larger diamonds in Altenew Expresso and the solid large ones in Caramel Toffee.  The smaller ones were stamped the same but I decided to emboss them too.  You can see the shine a little better in this photo.

The sentiment and die cut word are from CASual Friday, part of a SOA kit.

I hope you'll join us in this week's challenge.  Come and see what the Design Team and guest designer Nance Salkeld have done with the 'word', then enter your card in the gallery.  You may be chosen Chic of the Week and have a chance to guest design with us.

See you there.

Make It Monday #276

I'm finally getting a chance to play at Make It Monday.  This week's directive is pencils on kraft.  Love that technique.

I embossed one of the Botanical Blocks in white and colored with Inktense pencils.  The panel was  trimmed and popped up with foam.  The sentiment is from MSE.  This will be a thank you for a friend that will babysit my plants while I'm on vacation.

Thanks for dropping by.

Time Out #77

I'm squeaking under the wire for the Time Out challenge so here's my card.

PTI die, HA stamp, paper from my stash

And here's the inspiration photo.

I was inspired by the variations of patterns on the bottom of the mural.

Thanks for dropping by.

Addicted to Stamps and More #231

It's Anything Goes week at Addicted to Stamps and More.  Here's is what I made for your inspiration.

I used my NBUS Hello Sunshine set from Altenew to stamp all over the card and color with Distress Markers and a waterbrush.  I also used a NBUS birthday stamp set from Darkroom Door to stamp and emboss the sentiment on linen vellum.

We usually get lots of entries for this challenge.  Will you make a card? You might want to first check out what the rest of the Design Team has for your inspiration here. We'd love to see you in the gallery.

Altenew February Inspiration Challenge

I have so many Altenew stamps that it took me a minute to decide which one to use for their February Inspiration Challenge.  I finally decided on Peony Bouquet and made this:

The card base is cream with a strip of dark gray added along the side.  The flowers and leaves were stamped in Altenew inks and cut with matching dies.   Here's the photo that is the inspiration.

I left off a sentiment since I couldn't decided where to put it and I don't have many anniversary stamps.

Can you believe that March is just a few short days away?  Time is just flying by.

Just Us Girls # 382

It's Spring!  No, not really but Sue has a fabulous Spring photo to inspire your entries at Just Us Girls.

Tulips peeking through the snow mean Spring to me although I'd rather not have the snow.

I decided to pull out my Inktense pencils to paint my PTI tulips.  I stamped the background with my NBUS Penny Black script stamp in Fog ink, inked around the edges of both the card base and oval with Fog and then splattered with Black Soot before popping up the oval and attaching the flowers.  The PB sentiment was embossed with black on vellum and cut around the edge.

For more inspiration, check out the blog for what the Design Team and guest designer Michele Greenwood have made.  Enter a card in the gallery and you may be chosen Chic of the Week.

Merry Monday #236

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care.  That's what I used as the sentiment on my card for Merry Monday.

The fireplace was made with a MFT stencil, Hickory Smoke DI and a Clarity brush.  I also used my Distress Ink marker sprayer that I keep forgetting about.  The stockings are a PS die.

I cleaned up my work desk so I could work on a quilt.  It should be sewn together by tomorrow so I can get back to card making.  I have some new goodies I'm dying to use.

Thanks for dropping by.

Tag You're It! #66

Maureen Merritt is the guest designer at Tag You're It! Here's the tag she made for our inspiration.

I have the same stamp set that Maureen used so I pretty much CASEd her card with different colors and sentiment.

The stamps and dies are from Catherine Pooler and I used Altenew inks. The sentiment is from Penny Black.

Each member of the Design Team have made a tag inspired by Maureen's and are waiting for you to do the same.  Check them out at Tag You're It!

The Heart Desire s #9

The mood board at The Heart Desires speaks to a lot of what I like: reds, chickens, vintage fabrics, quilts.  There was so much to choose from but it was the bunny that I kept coming back to and this is what I made.

The ME bunny stamp was borrowed from Michele and I knew they'd make a great anniversary card.  I used PTI Tipped Tops to cut my panel embossed in white the sentiment from CB.  I have a number of June anniversaries so I'll be ahead of the game.

I'm so glad you decided to drop by today.  Please come back again.

The Flower Challenge - February

One of my favorite designers is guesting at The Flower Challenge and that meant I had to CASE Therese Calvird's card.

Isn't it lovely?  I don't have any of the elements she used but I did manage to take inspiration from her card and make this one.

I stamped the coneflowers from Altenew's Smile More on Bristol  and colored them with Zigs,  I saw this technique by Julie Ebersole that helped me get the dies in place to cut a top panel that I popped up with foam.  Try as I might I could not get an ombre-look stamped sentiment so I colored a scrap of vellum with my Zig,  heat embossed the sentiment in white, and die cut the outline.

I'm so glad you dropped by today.  I hope your day is going well.

Muse:Christmas Visions #77

I love Chriss Blagrave's card that is our inspiration for Muse: Christmas Visions this month.  Here's my interpretation.

The stamps are from Altenew, heat embossed in gold and colored with Zigs. The NBUS word die is from Essentials by Ellen cut in gold and layered over coaster paper.  This looks like an easy card to do, and it should have been, but I tried at least four times before I had a card I could color and look good. If I thought I could do it again the first time I'd make more because I rather like it.

Here's Chriss' card.  Isn't it lovely?  I did quite have the right stamps to cover the entire front of a card.

Thanks for dropping by.

Merry Monday #235

It's been too warm here for a snowman to exist so he'll have to live on my card for Merry Monday.

He comes from Inky Antics and is colored with Zigs.  An Avery Elle curve cut an opening so I could emboss the rest of the panel with a snowflake folder and pop it up.  The sentiment comes with the stamp set and I colored some Bristol the same as the jacket to stamp and emboss it on.

Thanks for taking the time to drop by.

Addicted to CAS #104

Ceal is our host at Addicted to CAS and she has chosen this as your cue word:

Where does the word take you?  I need some masculine cards so I made this:

First I spread ink on my woodgrain embossing folder and ran it through my Big Shot on Neenah Desert Storm several times until I was satisfied with the look, then ran a dark brown pad lightly across it.  I cut a circle from the center with the die that comes with the SSS birthday sentiment. Hint: Be sure to cut the circle AFTER the embossing.  Ask me how I know. ;)  The sentiment is cut from chocolate and layered over another circle of Desert Storm.  Some may think this is not CAS but clean and simple does not mean it has to be white.

Now it's your turn to make a card incorporating wood somehow.  There's a $10 gift to Stamplorations for the winner of this challenge.  For more inspiration, check out what the rest of the Design Team has done at Addicted to CAS.