CASology #62

I've seen some very good cards in the CASology gallery this week.  I wasn't sure I could do half as well but decided to give it a go.

I was cleaning out a dish with some leftover die cuts and found the arrows from the card I posted here.  I knew they would be useful some day. ;)

I laid them out on my table and decided I needed a Monarch card (3.5 x 7) to hold them.  Then I mulled over what a sentiment could be and came up with this that I generated on my computer.

Thanks for stopping by to visit.  May the bits and pieces of your life bring you joy.

Happy Fourth!

Happy 4th of July to all my blogger friends in the USA.  To those of you in other countries, Happy Day!

I have two very different cards to show you today.  First up is the one I made for Mojo Monday.  They are celebrating their 300th challenge with a whiz bang giveaway for those who link up.  This is one of the sketch challenges I used to do all the time when I first started my blog.  I still do it now and then but got away from it on a regular basis when I started making CAS cards.

The quilter in me loves to mix patterned papers and it's easy when they all come from one stack.  This one is from Cosmo Cricket.  I used the Distressed Stripes embossing folder on the banner piece and lightly inked the edges of everything with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink.  The sentiment from Hero Arts "It's Your Day" is stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa.

ETA:  Thanks to Joyce, I'm also entering this into Moxie Fab World's Mixy-Matchy Challenge.

This next card is for the CASology challenge.

These little bursts where the closest thing I had to a firework.  They are from the Accent Essentials cartridge.  I cut them from white paper, ran them through my Xyron and poured glitter all over them.  Now I know why I'm not a glitter girl.  I had that stuff everywhere but up my nose.  The back panel is embossed with the Baby's Breath folder because I thought they looked a little like bursts themselves.  The sentiment from PTI's Big Birthday is stamped in Hero Arts Navy.

I'm also entering this into the gallery at the Online Summer Class.  They had a pre-class sketch challenge that I based the above card on.

We're off to the lake tomorrow for the weekend so unless I get another card made tonight, I won't be back on until Monday.  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

CFC #107

This weeks challenge at CAS-ual Fridays was

I'm sure glad they said that meant use at least one arrow because otherwise I would have been in the dark.  I don't have any arrow stamps so I had to use my trusty but much neglected lately Cricut.

The arrows are from the Accent Essentials cartridge, cut into kraft cardstock.  I auditioned a number of papers for the under layer and came up with this bubbly looking one from Basic Grey.  I glued it directly to the card and then popped up the arrow layer.  Before I did that, I thought the arrows lacked something, so taking a lesson from an online card class, I took my black marker and outlined them.  I don't think I did it very evenly but I rather like that look, especially since the print paper is variegated.  A sentiment stamp from PTI completes the card.

I'm so glad you stopped by today.  I love reading your comments, so please leave one.

A Couple of CASes

I don't know why I got into the Clean and Simple challenges.  I'm not really that kind of card maker but they just draw me in and I HAVE to make cards for them.  Today is the deadline for two challenges so I'm posting two cards.  I wish I could have combined them but that would have been difficult since one is a sketch.

My first card is for CAS(E) this sketch.

 I tried several other things for the three elements but once I decided on the sentiment that I printed on the computer, these arrows from Accent Essentials seemed the perfect choice.

The second challenge is for CASE Study #142.  Here is the photo inspiration:

And my card.

The vine is cut from Cindy Loo and the flower from some Recollections paper.  I cut three images and put foam tape between two of them, curling up the petals a little.  The sentiment is from My Pink Stamper.  This paper stack had several pages of large image flowers.  This is the second one I have cut and layered like this.

It's going to be raining all day and tomorrow.  That means some time in my craft room after taking care of some business.

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by.

Fusion #4

Yesterday was another one of those crazy Michigan days.  The sun peeked through early in the day, just before the rain came in, and then all of a sudden it was hailing.  The hail didn't stick around long because the sun came out again.  Fortunately it stayed out and the rest of day was warm and wonderful.

I've been doing my card making at night while watching my favorite television shows.  This one for Fusion came to fruition during Dancing With the Stars.

I thought about doing just the flowers but they sort of evolved into the sketch and voila' - Fusion

.
The flowers are cut from Accent Essentials and Straight From the Next with a couple of punches (the navy) added in.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts.

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy your day.

Green Accent

As far as I know, family on the east coast are safe, some without power but making the best of it.  We continue to offer our prayers to those who have lost their homes and personal possessions. 

My stepdaughter and granddaughter have opened a small shop and are participating in a few local craft shows.   They've asked me to put some of my cards in the shop and I've been busy making them.  Nothing like time pressure to stifle creativity.  I need to find some things that can be mass produced but I want make one first to be sure I like it.  So far I have one of several different birthday cards and not really feeling them.  One of the cards I made using the sketch from Paper Players.

 

The base card is one of those colored ones you buy by the box.  I'm trying to use up ones I bought when I first started making cards. (This may be part of my creativity problem.  lol)  I happened across the print paper while looking for something else and the greens were a match.  Yippee!  I took the yellow and blue from the print to make the middle band, using an EK Success ribbon punch and a Baby's Breath embossing folder.  The flower was cut twice from Accent Essentials, and offset.  It was inked with Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink and centered with a yellow rhinestone. 

The leaf is also from AE and stamped with a Tiny Tags stamp from My Craft Spot.  I auditioned various colors of ink, didn't like any of them and thought I'd just heat emboss with white.  Oops, I used clear by mistake.  This turned out to be a happy accident since it showed up dark green, just what I wanted in the first place.

 

I have a file of some of the Paper Player sketches that I've used for challenges before.  They are simple and attractive.  I think I'm going to refer to them for more of my cards.

Too Sweet

I am WAY behind on my scrapbooking.  If I'd stop with the cardmaking, I might have more time to get some done, but I'm addicted and you know how that is.  I did decide to do a layout for the Cricut Chirp Challenge - Too Sweet to Eat.  

I do my layouts on 8 1/2 by 11 paper so they fit in regular binders. 

This is a two pager. 

I stayed with my two granddaughters one weekend while their parents took their brother to a soccer tournament.  It was just before Easter and they wanted to make decorated cookies.  Of course I had to document the occasion. 

I cut the word "cookies" from MS Elegant, using the shadow for the tan cookie dough and then layered with pastel colors.  The little chick in the egg is from Simply Charmed and was the inspiration for a couple of the cookies.  I cut the shadow for it from the same tan cookie color.  The two "cookies" on the second page are cuts from Accent Essentials that looked like some of the cookies we made. 

We had a fun time and the cookies were not "too sweet to eat".  We all had to try at least one. 

Fleur de Lis

I like sketch challenges.  Sometimes they inspire to use a certain paper.  Sometimes it's the image that I cut.  For this sketch by Freshly Made, I wanted to come up with an image to replace the three squares.

I knew I had a number of different symbols in the Accent Essentials cartridge.  I looked through the handbook and voila', there was the fleur de lis.  Then came the paper pick.  Lost and Found from My Mind's Eye.

I cut the fleur de lis from gold paper, embossed them with the Sizzix Damask folder, placing the pattern in just the right place.  Here is a close up.  I inked the edges and embossing with Black Soot Distress Ink. 

The pictures came out two very different colors.  The entire card is more the color of the background paper.  In order to get the gold without a lot of shine, I turned off the lamp and used the flash.  That washed out the background color but lets you see the embossing.  

Think Pink

The minute I saw four challenges I could combine  I knew what paper I wanted to use.  I love the Lost and Found collection from My Mind's Eye and haven't used it in a while.  I don't do a lot of "pretty" cards but these just screamed at me "Do it!" 

Here is the Mojo Monday sketch.

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge  is "Buttons and Bows", must use at least one of each.
Celebrate the Occasion  is"Just Because", must use pink
Cooking with Cricket is "Thinking of You"

Here's my card.

I knew I had a button in my large, large, stash that had a rose on it.  And I found it!  How perfect with the paper.  It's great when you can enter four challenges with one card, as long as the rules say you can.  Maybe I should have checked them all first.