More Flowers

Trying to get my act together to play along with this awesome challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays. We are to use pastels with some black!  I'm not sure whether the colours I used are considered pastels or not but I wanted to make this card anyhow.  And seeing as it's all about flowers I think I'll put it into the Hero Arts Monthly contest and the Lily Pad/Simon Says Stamp Challenge too which is to use flowers!

Paper:cardstock (PTI); notecard (Hero Arts); Neenah
Ink:Versafine Onyx Black; Tombow markers
Stamps:Hero Arts (CL493- sentiment; CG362 - Bold Flowers)
Other:bird die (Memory Box)

The colours did not come out clearly on the photo because the one flower is yellow and not lime green, and the other is pink and not that orangey colour!

However, I did want to leave you with some really beautiful flowers that we saw yesterday when we drove up to Independence.

Hope you enjoyed this splash of colour!  Have a wonderful day!

A Note Of Thanks

Ok, I promise, this will be my last Heart Winged Butterfly card for a little while, I have now put it away!  I am making this using the CAS-ual Friday sketch and will submitted into that challenge as well as the Simon Says Stamp Challenge which is "Anything Goes".

Cardstock: PTI; Neenah; designer paper (DCWV - Mariposa stack)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Fired Brick and Crushed Olive distress ink; Copics
Stamps: Hero Arts (Heart Winged Butterfly F5158; Floral Brocade CG187); PTI (Mat Stack 4 collection)
Other: dimensional foam adhesive

It was actually many months ago that I stamped the Floral Brocade with red ink onto the Mariposa designer paper.  And I remember at the time that I did not like the result at all, I kept looking at it and wondering what I was going to do with it.  But, I'm not a "throw it in the bin" type and I kept it in my ever growing reject pile, until today.  Then today I decided to stamp another butterfly and color it totally unconventionally.  I think it's ok, but not really brilliant.  I hope that someone out there will enjoy it!

Thanks for popping by again!  Have a fabulous Sunday!

Love is in the Air

Deary me, I am still struggling to be consistent at coming up with good ideas for some cards!  I am totally lagging behind in the card class.  I have one card today that I made earlier.  It fits in with Day 7's theme of feeling good using white cardstock.  And I think I am going to add it to the CAS-ual Fridays challenge to use scallops.

Paper: cardstock (PTI); patterned paper (MME)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black; Victorian Velvet Distress Ink; Copic markers
Stamps: Penny Black (...in the Air)
Other: Glossy Accents; Pink Glitter; Stampin' Up Scalloped Punch; dimensional foam tape

The back of the card is wider than the front, and I created a glittery edge by running a strip of double sided tape down the side and pouring glitter over it, and then adding a strip of MME designer paper along the inner edge. Here is another view of it open.

The balloon was cut out of the stamped image which has many balloons on it.  I stamped and clear embossed it on white cardstock and then restamped the inner heart with Victorian Velvet distress ink and covered that with glossy accents and a bit of glitter before adhering.  I then popped up the balloon with some dimensional foam tape.

I hope you are having a wonderful day!  It's gotten warm here again!  See you again soon hopefully.

CAS-ual Friday Sketch Challenge

It's another sketch challenge over at CAS-ual Friday:

I love this sketch, nice and simple for me!  I needed a birthday card for a party that my dear daughter is going to later this afternoon, it's a little boy from her class.  Not too long ago I won a sweet stamp set from my friend Dana's blog and I decided to use it on my card today (thank you Dana).

Paper: cardstock (PTI)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Copic Markers

Stamps: Craft Lounge (Hangin' Loose with Kona); Jane's Doodles (Party Time - sentiment)

Other: Dimensional tape; Glossy Accents

How cute is this little guy!  I added some glossy accents to the orange flash on the surf board and I popped up the dude himself.  The entire central panel is also popped up, so there is some nice dimension going on here!  I hope he likes it and is not put off by the flowery shorts!

Thank you for popping in to my blog today!  Have an awesome day!

CAS-ual Friday Sketch Challenge

This week it's a sketch challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays. I tend to like sketches, most times, only some times they do pigeon hole me, but then I know that that sketch is not for me.  With this one I took a bit of liberty and flipped it on it's side and moved the sentiment a little, I'm happy with it. And I will also enter it in this weeks' Simon Says Stamp challenge which is "Anything Goes".

It's also another one of my minimal stamping cards.  I wanted to use some of the scraps on my desk and that's just what I did.

Paper: cardstock (PTI); designer paper (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Stamps: Unity
Other: string (recycled); MFT flower die; dimensional adhesive

Nothing to explain really.  I think that paper and the flower is what makes the card.  This is when I love double sided cardstock as the papers typically compliment each other so well.  Don't you just love that flower, it's from this Die-namics Pretty Posies die.  It has three different size flowers and three different size centres.

I must say, I do like this card, a lot.

Wishing you an awesome day!

(I cannot wait for Halloween to be over, way too much candie!!!)

Oh boy, tomorrow is November...!!!

Boo! Or maybe not.....

This weeks challenge at CAS-ual Fridays is to create a Halloween project with NO ORANGE!  And Wee Memories are looking for Holiday themed cards for their challenge.

I decided to make a plain little pop-up card for one of the children on Giovana's card drive who is suffering with Spina Bifida.

Paper: cardstock (PTI); Neenah
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Dusty Concord DI; PTI Snow White ink; Copic Markers
Stamps: Lawn Fawn (Heebie Jeebies; Happy Haunting)
Other: glitter; glossy accents

It's a bit of a silly card, and you'll know what I mean if you own the Heebie Jeebies set from Lawn Fawn, this is the funny part (excuse my silly sense of humour)....

That bat is so tiny, I am not sure it could Boo anyone away even if it wanted to!!!


I hope you are having a great Sunday, it's beautiful outside here today.

Kindness Appreciated

I have been so blessed crafting wise this month, winning a contest or two and receiving some amazing RAKS, there truly are a lot of special people out there.  So last night I sat and made a fairly CAS card, and I desperately wanted to use some ribbon, not to make a bow (still can't master that), but just to use ribbon.

Then this morning I saw that the challenge over at CAS-usual Fridays is to get loopy, and that's what I had made, a ribbon loop, so I'll enter the card there for fun.

Paper: cardstock (PTI); patterned paper (K & Co.)
Ink: Versamark; Vitorian Velvet DI
Stamps: Hero Arts (CL380)
Other: paper flower (HA); black embossing powder; ribbon (PTI - Autumn Rose); brad (The Paper Studio); PTI Die

I used one of the new PTI Edgers dies to die cut the patterned paper.  I then adhered a thin strip of their new Autumn Rose cardstock onto the patterned paper and proceeded to take an hour trying to figure out what to do with the ribbon!  I settled for a piece folded in half with a flower and brad over it.  The paper flower was inked with Victorian Velvet Distress Ink and spritzed with some pearlized water.

The sentiment is embossed with black embossing powder.

I am also going to enter this into the current Simon Says Stamp Challenge, "Anything Goes".

We had some beautiful rain late yesterday afternoon!  Oh, it was so wonderful to see!  The weather is supposed to be a little more tolerable over the weekend, that's good for my rather long run tomorrow morning!  My marathon is in February so our mileage is starting to pick up.  These long runs are my favourite runs, I get to just chat with people and enjoy seeing the trees all around me.

Hoping you are having a great day so far!

Unity August Sketch Challenge & CAS-ual Fridays Embossing Challenge

Unity have a monthly sketch challenge where you are required to use stamps from one of their Kits of The Month (KOM).  Here is this month's sketch:

My card also happens to have some embossing on it and fits into this weeks' CAS-ual Fridays challenge to use embossing (dry or wet) on your card.

I happen to have the August 2010 KOM and decided to try and use it with this sketch and I landed up with another CAS design.

Paper: PTI cardstock; Hero Arts orange layering paper; Neenah
Ink: Tumbled Glass & Broken China & Spiced Marmalade Distress ink; Versamark; Memento Tuxedo Black
Stamps: Unity August KOM
Other: Clear embossing powder: gems (Kaisercraft); Dimensional Squares; PTI Edgers Die #1

I used the PTI edgers die (one of my favourites) on a piece of white Neenah cardstock and also purple PTI cardstock.  On the white piece I stamped the background birds in Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder.  I then used the emboss resist technique with two shades of blue distress inks.   I adhered that onto the purple cardstock I had also die cut and then adhered that onto the white notecard.

The little pink heart is clear embossed on pink cardstock.  The actual bird is simply stamped with Spiced Marmalade on orange cardstock and trimmed before adhering to the notecard using dimensional squares.  And I finished the card off by placing three little gems under the sentiment.

I hope you like my little card!  Wishing you a wonderful day!

Sweets And Treats

My daughter is calling, so just a quick post to share a card I made for the current CAS-ual Friday challenge, Sweets & Treats.

And here is my card, using a sweet stamp from Penny Black's "Critter Party" set.

Paper: Echo Park; Neenah
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Copic Markers
Stamps: Penny Black
Other: Corner Chomper; White Enamel Accent; Stampin' Up scalloped edge punch

As you can see it's all quite self ex-planatory so I will not bore you with the details, just to mention that I used the white enamel accent for the candle wax.

Thanks for taking a peek.  If you are interested in the current Moxie Fab "Fanatical About Botanical" challenge then please see my previous post of today!

Have an awesome evening!

Getting Edgy Inspiration

I made the following card for the current CAS- ual Fridays "Getting Edgy" challenge and also the Lily Pad Inspirational challenge #3.  My inspiration came from THIS card by Vicky.

Here is my card which is basically cased from Vicky's card.

Paper: PTI; Neenah
Ink: various Distress Inks; Versamark
Stamps: PTI
Other: Gems (Hero Arts); White Embossing Powder

I am not really a ribbon person so I replaced the ribbon by tearing the one edge of the cardstock.  The sentiment is stamped with versamark and embossed with white embossing powder.

Just a short post tonight, I almost forgot that I had made this card for the challenges, so I just wanted to post it!  Thank you for coming to take a look!

Colour Blocking

The new challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays is to make something using a colour blocking technique.  I suppose we all have done some colour blocking in our past, but I just never knew it actually had a name, so when I posted my PDCC card about 2 days ago I did not know that I was using this technique, and then bam, on Friday that is what is posted as the challenge!  Weird!

So, here is my take on it, and NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT, I am NOT in the Christmas mood, I simply wanted to use this stamp!

Paper: PTI
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black; Wild Honey, Dried Marigold, Spiced Marmalade, Walnut Stain & Antique Linen DI
Stamps: Needles & Cones (Hero Arts LL605); Old Letter Writing (HA S4878); PTI Tiny Tags
Other: PTI Tiny Tags Die; Gem (HA)

I stamped the various images on some rustic cream cardstock with black ink and clear embossed, and then inked it up with the three different orange shades of distress inks.  I splashed some water onto the panels a la Jill Foster!  The strip in the background is the Old Letter Writing stamped in Walnut Stain.  I wanted to add a small sentiment but not take away from the stamped images, so once again I relied on my trusted Tiny Tags from PTI.  If you don't have this stamp set and matching die, I highly recommend it!

It's a little bit of a longer card, (10.5 X 16.5cm) because those needles & cones images are about 5 X 5cm ( 2' X 2").

Thank you for popping in today!  Have a great day!

Play Date Cafe #86 & Colour Blocking

Fun colour board hey, you can find all the details to play in this challenge over at The Play Date Cafe!

And my card also fits the CAS-ual Fridays challenge of colour blocking.

I went with a super simple CAS design inspired by the way that the artist on the PDC board lined up the three colours for this challenge in the top left hand corner!

Paper: PTI; Hero Arts (blue cardstock)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Hollyhock & Sorbet dye ink (CTMH); Bahama Blue (Memento)
Stamps: PTI (Year of Flowers Marigolds); Sentiment (Hero Arts; Lawn Fawn; Ali Edwards)
Other: Gems (My Mind's Eye); Corner chomper

I simply cut three strips of cardstock and used the corner chomper on various corners.  I partially stamped the flower on each strip and then created the sentiment with elements from three different sets.  And I finished off with three matching gems.

Ok, I think I need to get more creative over the weekend, need to do some inking and get my fingers dirty! Have an awesome Friday! (There are two other posts below if you are interested in taking a peek).

Let's Play Tic Tac Toe

That's the game over at CAS-ual Fridays, you get to pick a row from a grid and you incorporate that into your clean and simple design.  I am also going to enter this card into the current monthly contest over at Hero Arts as I have used all HA stamps and I have been struggling with this months theme of Weddings, Congratulations and the technique of watercolouring. But I think it all came together nicely today.

So for CAS-ual Fridays I went with the diagonal line starting on the top right and I chose embossing (dry on my card), dies/punch (chose two Spellbinders dies) and buttons (I hope that meant one or more buttons, because I just used one!).  Here is my card:

Paper: My Mind's Eye; Neenah
Ink: Adirondack Acrylic Paint Dabber (Juniper and Stream); Memento Tuxedo Black
Stamps: Hero Arts (CG285; CL488)
Other: Spellbinders Nestabilitie Large Circle & Large Scalloped Circle; Twine (The Twinery); White Opal Liquid Pearls (Ranger); Sewing; CB Swiss Dot embossing folder; Clear button (Hero Arts)

I used some exquisite patterned paper from My Mind's Eye and sewed around the edge before adhering it to my card base. To make the frame I put a smaller circle spellbinders die inside a larger scalloped circle die and put it through my die cutting machine at the same time.  I then embossed the frame using the Swiss Dot embossing folder.

I used the "Hand Drawn Flower" from Hero Arts but I discarded the outer third layer of the flower as it would have been too large for this card.  I layered the two inner flower layers.  I coloured the flower with the acrylic paint to which I had added water and then painted the two flowers in different shades.  On the outer flower, you see those silvery white swirls, that was simply made by  adding Liquid Pearls directly from the bottle in a swirling motion, I was not looking for perfection.

I used a clear button from Hero Arts to which I glued some matching designer paper, then I threaded some twine through it.

The sentiment strip is a co-ordinating piece of patterned paper, actually the reverse side of the background paper.

I know it sounds like a lot of "stuff" which makes me always doubt about whether this can be classified as CAS, but I think it is.

Thank you for looking, I really appreciate it and I love and read each one of your comments!

Another CAS-ual Friday Attempt!

I don't even know why I  posted that card for the CAS-ual Friday challenge yesterday!  I thought I liked it but after I blogged it I was highly disappointed with whatever it was I was trying to do!  Just too many patterned papers  I think, it simply did not look CAS to me and the stamped image got completely lost in the busyness of the patterned paper!

So, I am going to try it again, and this time I used a fabulous digital stamp of a deer by Pink Cat Studio (this is all Emily and Tiffany's doing, they don't know it, but it is! Go and take a look at their blogs and the posts they have showcasing these awesome stamps/digis!).

I pretty much stuck to the sketch that Laura provided:

And here is my card:

Paper: Cardstock (PTI); Neenah Solar White; Patterned Paper (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Memento (Tuxedo Black; Lilac Posies; Pear Tart); Copic Markers
Stamps: Pink Cat Studio; PTI (Flower Fusion 2 & 3); MFT (sentiment from Flower Girl); Hero Arts (CL137)
Other: Corner Rounder; Fiskars Border Punch; Glossy Accents

I really liked how this turned out and I love the bright fun colours.  Love those PTI flowers, you can easily mix and match between sets. I created the sentiment by partially stamping a sentiment from an MFT set and then creating the deer-ly using a Hero Arts alphabet stamp.

Ok, now I feel better!!!

CAS-ual Fridays! It's a sketch...

This weeks' CAS-ual Fridays challenge is to use a sketch provided by Laura:

So, that's what a did but I also changed the orientation of the card base, I just hope that's ok!  I only did a little bit of stamping and used some more of My Mind's Eye patterned papers which I simply cannot get enough of!

Paper: Cardstock (PTI); Neenah Solar White; Patterned Paper (My Mind's Eye)
Ink: Pumice Stone DI; Baby Pink & Juniper Dye Ink(CTMH)
Stamps: Unity; Hero Arts (CG211)
Other: Diamond Stickles; Dimensional Squares; EK Success Scalloped punch; Doily (Wiltons)

I used a beautiful Smokey Grey cardstock from PTI for my card base.  I then stamped the very first background mat with the Magical Background stamp from Hero Arts in Juniper ink.  Over that I added some patterned paper from My Mind's Eye, that includes the scalloped piece.

I cut a paper doily in half and placed it under the stamped image. The stamped image which is from a Unity KOM was stamped first in Pumice Stone and then in the baby pink ink.  I cut out the pink half circle and popped that up with some dimensional squares.  And lastly I added some stickles to the pink image, it makes me think of a church window, (not that I have seen them in pink, but I am sure you get my meaning!).

Thank you for popping by and I love all your generous comments!

For the Graduate

The challenge over on CAS-ual Fridays is to make something for Graduation, my card is aimed more at the younger generation, very young in fact!

Paper: PTI cardstock; Neenah Solar White; Patterned Paper (My Minds' Eye)
Ink: Antique Linen & Vintage Photo Distress inks
Stamps: PTI (Way To Go Kiddo); Hero Arts (CL404)
Other: Brads (Recollections); PTI Alphabet Impression Plate

I dampened the cream cardstock before using the Impression plate on it, apparently it makes the impression more defined. I think it  did the trick.  I used some Antique Linen DI around the edges.  The two little snails are paper pieced and their bodies are adhered with dimensional dots.

Just something simple today.  Have an awesome day!

Bring the Bling

This is the theme at CAS-ual Fridays this week! 

I am definitely NOT a bling person!  Actually, my husband loves to be able to spoil me, and he is always wanting to buy me some gorgeous jewelry, but once I had my one watch, one necklace, one set of diamond earings, one engagement ring and wedding ring I told him to stop, that was way more than enough for me!  I am not a materialistic girl, and jewelry, well, it's just too much "stuff".  Don't get me wrong, I totally appreciate and adore what he has gotten me, and I can and do admire beautiful pieces of jewelry, but I don't need it.

Ok, so I digressed!  But basically I made the world's simplest card last night.  I had one piece of bling left from a gift from CTMH (Close To My Heart) and I decided to use it, whether it fits in this design or not, I have no idea, but the tought sounded good in my head at the time!

Paper: Cardstock (PTI)
Ink: Tuxedo Memento Black; Copic Markers; Soft Leaf Shadow Ink (Hero Arts)
Stamps: Hero Arts (Graph Background); Lawn Fawn (My Silly Valentine)
Other: Bling (CTMH); Glossy Accents

It cannot get much more CAS than this,  for me!

I went for a 7 mile run this morning at 7am, oh man, the humidity!  It was already 81F but the humidity was right up there!  And this was a short run!  But I just am so happy to be out there.  We run in Terry Hershey Park, and for a little while you can forget you live in a concrete jungle!

Have an awesome day!

CAS-ual Fridays First Challenge

CAS-ual Fridays is a new CAS challenge blog, go and check it out HERE.  On Friday they launched their very first challenge, to use text prominently on a CAS card.

I've given it a bash, let's hope I left enough "open" space as the rules require.  I think that in relation to the size of my card I have, the card is only 4" X 4".  And I hope I used enough text!

I decided to use some of my Purple Onion Design stamps today and some yummy Basicgrey patterned paper.

Paper: Hero Arts Notecard; Basicgrey (patterned paper); Neenah Solar White
Ink: Tumbled Glass and Shabby Shutters DI; Versafine Onyx Black; Versamark
Stamps: POD; Hero Arts (Friendship Definition); Technique Tuesday (sentiment)
Other: Pearls (stash)

I stamped the 4 text scallops from POD using Tumbled Glass DI, lined them up on my card and allowed that to dictate the size of the card. I then adhered a strip of beautiful Basicgrey paper over part of the scallops and another strip of white cardstock, on which I had stamped the Friendship Definition in Tumbled Glass.

The butterfly is the largest of a set from POD.  I clear embossed it on white cardstock and inked it up with Tumbled Glass DI, cut it out and then inked up the edges with some Shabby Shutters DI.  Finally I added the pale blue pearls to the body and adhered the finished butterfly to the card, lifting one wing with pop dots.

Thank you for looking.  I posted earlier today is you are interested in a White on White challenge!