CASE Study #193

I see a trend happening here.  This morning I made the challenge deadline by 4 hours.  I'm posting again tonight because the challenge at CASE Study is due by midnight tomorrow and I have a busy day and might forget.   Here is Wida's card.

I was inspired by the design but used entirely different colors.

Talking about forgetting, I didn't take this photo early enough in the day so the lighting isn't very good.  I wasn't too sure about my color choices when I finished but the longer it sat on my desk, the more I fell in love with it.  I even used sequins.  How about that!

I'm glad you stopped by again.  I love having company and reading your comments.

CASE Study #183 and OCC

Hi all.  Here I am pushing the deadline again.  I put off doing a card for CASE Study until my flower stamps came, which was last Saturday.  I worked on a few other cards that were due over the weekend and now I'm ready to post this beauty (?).

The inspiration card.

My card.

I'm so proud of myself for doing a one layer card.  That's something I would never do until I took the Online Card Class.  I will be linking this up over in their gallery.

Thanks for stopping by.  I enjoy reading your comments so please leave one.

Stamps:  PTI, CASual Fridays, My Pink Stamper
Inks:  Hero Arts, Distress 
Paper: Neenah Solar White

COS #27, LIM #159, CPPC and NBUS

Masculine cards.  Some bloggers say they have trouble with them but I rather like to make them.  I'd better. With all the men in the family, I need a LOT of masculine cards.

An old scrap of Authentique paper, along with green scraps, NBUS Penny Black stamps and some Hemptique cord and it's all she wrote.

I'm entering this at  Less is More and CAS on Sunday where the challenge is masculine.  I'm also entering a new challenge for me that I heard about from Darnell.  It's called Craftyhazelnut's Patterned Paper Challenge.  Like the name says, you are to cover your card base with patterned paper.  I do that a lot so I'm glad to find this monthly challenge.

Thank you for stopping by to visit my little blog.  If you've been here before, do you notice anything different?

Thanksgiving and LIM #147

To all my blogging friends, I wish you




I have a card I made for Less is More and if I don't post it today, I may forget and miss the deadline.  Their challenge is to make a Christmas card  - with a bird.  I looked through my Cricut handbooks and found a dove and a cardinal that might be suitable for a Christmas card.  They didn't thrill me.  Then I took a look at my NBUS Woodland Wreath by WPlus9 and lo and behold there is a partridge.

I stamped the wreath on some Rustic White and then it sat on my desk for several days asking  "Now what are you going to with me"? After some playing around, I cut the wreath with a circle die and roughed up the edges.  The circle is foam mounted on a Rustic White card base, embossed with  Bricks.  The tag,  cut from a die from My Craft Spot and stamped with the Peace that comes in the Woodland Wreath set, is tied with some red ribbon and glue dotted on..  I'm loving this wreath set.  I can't wait to try it out in other colors.

Muse #44

I am so excited!  Yesterday I got my order from Papertrey Ink and today my order from Simon Says Stamp arrived.  I said once my DVD holder from Ikea was full, I wouldn't get any more stamps and dies.  Well that idea went out the window.  Sometimes you just can't resist, especially when you see what the mega-talented designers do with them.  That means in the next weeks you may be seeing some of my new things (NBUS) - beginning today.

Here is the Muse challenge by Marion Vagg.

I knew one of the stamps I ordered would be perfect for this challenge and was so glad it arrived before the deadline.

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The stamp and sentiment are from Rustic Wreath from PTI, stamped in their white ink.  I blended some of the ink around the edges of the card and dotted the wreath with Liquid Pearls.  It's really not as cloudy as it looks on the screen.

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful weekend.

CASology #61

This morning we watched my husband's great-grandson play football.  Now you normally wouldn't call football players cute but these kids are 8 and 9 years old with helmets almost as big as they are.  They ARE cute!   Oh, btw, they won, 12 - 6.

Today's card is for CASology.

The Cricut cartridge A Child's Year is full of silhouettes.  I just had to choose one

Considering the fact that so many in my family are artists, I thought this would make a cute card.  I used the Watercolor Wonder stamps from PTI with Distress Inks for my background.  Quick and easy.  Truth be told, not really.  This is actually the third try at a background.  I tried water coloring and splattering but nothing turned out like I wanted.  Stamps to the rescue.  Wait!  Did I, a non-stamper, just say that?   I did, but that doesn't mean I will be buying a lot more stamps.

I'm glad you stopped by.  I love reading your comments so please leave one.   I'll be sure to return the favor.

RIC #43

I'm entering another first-time-for-me challenge today.  I've seen the Runway Inspired Challenge that others have done but never tried one myself.  Unfortunately my brain does not get inspired by these things usually but I definitely had an idea for this one.

I recently bought Background Basics: Super Stripes from Papertrey Ink and thought I would put them to good use.

I created my own plaid to mimic the shirt, leaving a white edge like in the photo.  I can tell you I know now why I'm not a stamper - because I'm not much of a stamper.  To get the lines straight and the ink smooth was a harrowing process to say the least.  Then I struggled with what to do for a sentiment.  I thought this one from Hero Arts, embossed in white, would do the trick.  I cut the word bubble with my Cricut.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have a wonderful day!

Retro Sketches #73 & Jackie's Challenge

I saw on Lynn's blog that there is a different sort of challenge with an excellent give away.  Jackie Rockwell is working her way through the Pantone colors in her blog header.   You can create a card in one, or  all of the colors, post it on her blog and win a chance for a new blog header of your own.

This week's color is tender shoots, gray and white.  Sounds interesting, doesn't it?  So I jumped right in and made a card.

I am sorely lacking in Sympathy cards and thought this simple green plant cut from Stretch Your Imagination would do the trick.  I placed it on a panel of white, with a little overhang, and then popped the panel up on a gray card.  I punched out some gray circles for the berries and covered them with Glossy Accents.  Then sentiment is from Hero Arts stamped in their Charcoal ink.  It looks rather dark in the photo but it really is more of a tender green, almost the color of the new grass growing in my lawn.

While I was cutting, I decided to make a second card using a printed background.

I also got a card made for this week's Retro Sketches.

This one is a decidedly masculine card which I know some people have trouble with.  I find them fun and easy.

This could have been one of those 10 minute cards.  I took a piece of kraft cardstock and ran it through my crimper.  I stamped cream cardstock in Memento Tuxedo Black ink with a sentiment from Hero Arts "It's Your Day" and cut them into flags.  The black stamp is a die from My Craft Spot, cut from Core-dinations kraft core cardstock, and sanded.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope your day is all you'd like it to be.

(My preview screen shows different fonts on my blog.  I hope it comes out right when I actually post it.  If not, blame Blogger, not me. *_*)

Paper Players #146 and STB #17

I don't know if rainy days make me more creative or if I just feel like hiding in my craft room.  Either way I have been getting some cards done. I had 2 and 1/2 done but they weren't due for challenges until later so I added another one for Paper Players that's due tomorrow.  They asked for a CAS masculine card.  What better way to get an inspiration for that challenge than by going to a sketch challenge and I chose Seize the Birthday.

I got some new stamps (and dies) from My Craft Spot and decided that the postmark would work well for the circles on the sketch.  There is also a script background stamp that I used on the banner, and a "happy."  The "birthday" is from their Tickets set  that coordinates with the Stamps set.  The colored strip is from s pad of Echo Park paper.  I inked everything with Walnut Distress Ink and popped up the banner on foam tape.

I told myself that I was going to spend this afternoon learning how to use my Silhouette Portrait.  Stephanie at Cricutmimi won a Portrait the month after I did and she's already making projects. Not that I"m in competition or anything but I'd better get busy. Users's Manual, here I come!

Thanks for stopping by to visit.  Please leave a comment to let me know you were here.

LIM + OLC

Okay, I don't usually do one layer cards.  I'm not a stamper as I've told you before.  And after last night, I can't say that enough.  I'm not a stamper.  For some crazy reason I decided to try to make a OLC for this week's challenge at Less Is More.  There was the added burden of doing it on a colored card blank. Whoa, Nellie!  That's WAY out of my comfort zone.

I got my new quilt print stamps by WPlus9 yesterday and thought this card would be a good way to try it out.  I've seen some beautiful cards done with this stamp and with a positive attitude I began.  I picked a lovely shade of pale yellow knowing that a dark color would show up fine.  Then using dark brown I stamped the first line of the image.  Perfect!  Oh, wow, I CAN do this.  The second line stamped beautifully, too.  And the third.  Then it was time for the sentiment.  I know, I know.  I should have off stamped it first to make sure it was good but did I?  No.  And it was fuzzy when I stamped the card.  (Enter a growl here.)  I turned it over and began again.  Six times I tried to stamp the quilt pattern and each time some part of it didn't come out correctly.  (Enter an anquished scream.)

Now what?  The deadline is nearing and I've mentally committed myself to making a OLC.  No wise cracks, please about the mentally committed statement.  ;)  In a last ditch effort, I pulled out another stamp, plopped it on a piece of pale aqua paper and added a sentiment.

Not my best work but at least I finally made a one layer card.  The bird is from Inkadinkadoo and the sentiment that I curved is from Hero Arts.  Looking at this, it makes me feel like I've taken a step backwards in the card making craft.  When I have more time, I think I'll try this again and add some other medium to make it a little more intricate and colorful.

Thanks for stopping by and listening to my woes.  I hope you have a wonderfully creative day.

CASology 43 and ATCAS 12

It's going to be a great day.  Well, weekend actually.  We're headed 2 hours southwest today to see my youngest granddaughter sing and narrate a play.  She is such a cutie and I can't wait to see what she does.  Tomorrow there's a breakfast, or brunch if you will, after church.  My mother is not up to getting back to church so we will have dinner with her later in the day.  My youngest son will drive down from Traverse City to join us.  I'm sure there will be phone calls all around.  They say Mothers' Day is the biggest phone call time of the year.

It's great when you can combine a couple of challenges but my combination is probably not an ordinary one. I'm taking the challenge at CASology

and combining it with Addicted to CAS

and getting rainbow hexagons.

I'm a quilter and just HAD to get this hexagon quilt die and stamp set from PTI.  I cut the die to use as a template, mapped out the colors and then stamped them all with Distress Inks (the only kind I have right now).  I kept a couple of them open so I could stamp the sentiment.  Now that I look at it, even though I love it, it may not be CAS enough for the challenges.  Not much white space.

Thanks for stopping by.  I love to read your comments so please leave one so I know you were here.

WOYWW and Fusion #5

Here's my workdesk for WOYWW.  I played along for the first time last week and got a number of lovely comments.  It looks pretty clean and neat doesn't it. That's because I finished up the card on the left last night and am posting it below.

In the middle are the new stamps and die that arrived from My Craft Spot.  I'm hoping to use them soon but first I have to work on my hexagons. Two challenges this week have them as the theme and since I have the die and stamp from Simon Says Stamp, I want to use them.  You can see the set in the foreground but what you can't see is the die I cut (it's white on the white desk).  I am having so much trouble with the die.  It refuses to cut in the center.  I put it through my Cuttlebug numerous times with different shims and plates to no avail.  I ended up cutting a lot of them with my craft knife.

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My card is for the Fusion challenge.

I was going to do a blue birdcage cut from one of my Cricut cartridges but I ran out of time.  In the past I have actually done the fusion portion but today my card is from the sketch.

I got the stamp of the month set from Simon Says Stamp because I thought it was a good deal and would help me build up my stamps. I used the two roses for my focal point, stamping them with Tattered Rose Distress Ink on pink paper and hand cut them.  For the leaf, I stamped on green with Shabby Shutters.  The printed paper was part of the set and so was the sentiment, also stamped in Tattered Rose.

I am also entering this at Paper Players

and  Celebrate the Occasion #111, Happy Mother's Day.

Thanks for stopping by to visit.  Please leave a comment so I know you were here.