As You See It Color Challenge ....

This card is for the As You See It Challenge  which is a color challenge this round.  The colors are Lemon Lime Twist, Bermuda Bay and Dapper Denim.    

The colors are not coming through too well in the picture.  By the time I was able to take the picture yesterday afternoon, the sun (what little there was) had gone down so I was force to use home lighting.  The Dapper Denim is stamped on the Thank You and flowers, the leaves and lines above/below the Thank you are Versa Fine black.  Unfortunately all the Dapper Denim looks  black.  :(  The flowers are colored with the Denim at the base, and then Bermuda Bay brushed out using SU Markers.  Wink of Stella was added to the flowers to give the card a bit of sparkle since there is a lack of embellishments.  This card will go in the mail, so it was intentionally left without my normal add-ons.  

Thank you for stopping by.  
Carole

Red, White and Black

This card was inspired by two challenges.  This week's Addicted To CAS - Diamond, and Muse Challenge #284.

While surfing though links yesterday I came across the Muse Challenge.  This is a CASE challenge where each week one of the DT's or Guest DT's present their card design, and the challengers' take their shot at CASE'ing it.  The gorgeous card below, by Michelle W., is the inspiration for this week's challenge; you can jump over to her blog here. 

Now over at Addicted to CAS, the code word this week is Diamond.  The DT has some wonderful creations, but it was a card by Ceal (here) that gave me the final inspiration for my card.  

For the Muse challenge, the red is pulled into the background via the ink blended Diamond (Distress Candied Apple Red) and sequins while still having a floral theme (Altenew).  The DP edging was excluded mostly because I don't have any DP or stamps that could mimic Michelle's design.      

For the Addicted To CAS challenge this card might be a bit close to the line for a true CAS, but it still has lots of open white space.  

So thank you to both challenge Host's for the inspiration today.  This card has the added benefit of working in a variety of colors.  

Thank you for stopping in.
Carole

Halloween Fun and A Christmas Wreath

This post includes two challenges.  I have posted the cards along with the challenge badges first, then put the related details at the bottom.   

The first card is for a challenge I found over the weekend called Little Red Wagon Challenge.  This challenge called for TAGS.  

This second card is for the September CAS Christmas Card Challenge: Wreath.  This card was actually completed weekend before last.  

TAG CARD: The tag itself was created months ago but ended up in the "to be finished later" pile.  

A little over a week ago, one of the ladies where I work brought in seasonal towels for the office kitchen and one of the towels was decorated with a bunch of zombies and included the sentiment "If you've got it haunt it!".  I thought the sentiment would be perfect for this card.

The card base is A6 size.  The Halloween dies are from My Favorite Things, the arched frame is from Lil' Inker Designs.  The card stock is all SU which includes Whisper White, Concord Crush, Basic Black, Black Glimmer paper (which they may not sell anymore), and White Glimmer paper which was colored in using Copic markers for the Boo and the Moon which is inside the tag.  The foil used on the sentiment is by Heidi Swapp.  The sequins are by Taylored Expressions, but I only used the orange, purple, green and black standard sequins along with the bats and ghosts.  I actually pulled out all the other bits because they didn't blend well with the card colors.  


WREATH CARD: First I'd like to say if this card doesn't qualify, please let me know.  There really isn't much to this card, but there is definitely a complete lack of white space which is why I hesitated to post it for this challenge.  

The wreath is WPlus9's Woodland and Wreaths (2013) and this is the first time this set has been inked up.  The card stock is Bazzill Pinecone and was used for all layers.  The "gold" framed layer was created by heat embossing WOW Super Fine Gold embossing power around the edges.  The same power was used for the wreath and Merry which were stamped directly to the center panel.  The Christmas die cut was also embossed with the gold.  The gold beads on the wreath were leftovers from a cross-stitched angel I made 20 years ago, they have been collecting dust in my sequin bin waiting to be put to use; they add a touch of texture to this simple wreath.  

Thank you for stopping in. It's much appreciated. 

Carole

Pink Painted Poinsettia

This card is being submitted for this week's CAS-usal Friday's Challenge: #208 Sequins.  Though the challenge title contains the "CAS" acronym, the instructions were "There are no genre restrictions for this challenge. Link up your clean and simple designs or layer it on -- the choice is yours." So I decided to layer it on for this one.  

The poinsettia is from Stampin' Up (Joyful Christmas) and the sentiment is The Crafts Meow (really old set so I don't have the name).  

I used Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers, WOW Ultra Fine Gold embossing power and Lucy's Cards sequins.  The card stock is SU Melon Mambo and Bristol Smooth 100lb paper.  The sentiment was heat embossed on vellum card stock, which is the only thing about this card that is bothering me.  The vellum looks very gray, in the picture and IRL; I might redo that sentiment strip with the Mambo, or try something else.  But, yes, that strip is really bugging me.  

Thank you for stopping in.
Carole

Sweet Tweet

Good morning!  This card is for this weeks Addicted To CAS Challenge #145 - Tweet.  

It's still raining this morning so the picture is a bit darker/dull in the picture than it is IRL.  

The stamp set is by Stamping Bella (chicks and sentiment).  The chicks were stamped onto Bristol Smooth Surface 100lb and colored with Stampin' Up markers, with the vanilla scoop at the top colored in with Faber-Castell water color pencils.  Though it's not apparent, the ice cream has been topped with Wink of Stella (clear) to give it a shimmery look.  The sentiment was embossed using WOW ink and ultra fine white embossing power.  The card base is Neenah Solar White, with a strip of SU basic black at the bottom.  Not sure why the NSW looks so gray, but it's probably has to do with the poor lighting.  The candy sprinkles on the vanilla scoop at the top are by PTI.

This might not be a perfect CAS card since the sentiment strip at the bottom takes up over a forth of the card.  However I tried several ways to make a nice banner type strip and it just didn't look right.  It kept throwing the whole card off balance.  Please let me know if I've stepped too far over the line to be considered CAS.  :)

Thank you for stopping in.  

Carole

SU Markers used:  Yoyo Yellow, Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Only Orange, Soft Sea Foam, Pistachio Pudding, Mellow Moss, Close To Cocoa, Creamy Caramel, SU Blending markers.  

Boss's Day October 16th

Hello - Below is my submission for this week's Addicted to Stamps and More: #309 which this week calls for Clean and Simple and CAS Mix It Up September I used markers, stamping, and die cut (for the sentiment).

This card is intended for Boss's Day which will be October 16th.  

This is a super old SU! set called Simply Sweet (2003).  The chairs were inked up using direct marker to stamp method with a mix of Distress markers.  After that I went back in and did a bit of light water coloring to each chair.  The card stock background is a mix of Taylor Made, SU and MFT's from the scrap bin, cut to the same width at various heights keeping with the mismatched feel of the chairs.  The sentiment and matching die is from Clearly Besotted.  

I really like how this card turned out and plan to keep the set out for a bit and try to use the other stamps in the set.  

I was also going to submit this for a third challenge which was the The Card Concept, but I missed the deadline.... literally by minutes.  Even though I'm too late for that challenge, I wanted to include the info so you all know where the inspiration come from for this card. 

Thank you for stopping by.

Happy Monday!!!

Carole

From the archives...

For this weeks' Addicted to CAS - Challenge 140 Baby  

This is a very old Stampin' Up stamp, so old I have no idea what the name of the set is.  The sentiment is by Clearly Besotted.  

Simple card using only Neenah solar white and SU Melon Mambo card stocks.  

Colored the carriage and phone twice with Copic's, fussy cut, then popped the images up over the main panel.  Used Nuvo white drops for the polka dots on the carriage (though they look gray here) and finishing off with Kaiser Craft Hot Pink pearls (because every girl should have pearls). 


Thank you for stopping by. 
Carole

Lonely Cactus....

My submission for this week's Fusion Challenge - Cactus Door.  There are some pretty amazing submissions this week as well as the gorgeous cards created by the design team.  I chose to go CAS with this card and kept it to the sketch, colors and the cactus.  

I spent a good amount of time looking through every one of my stamp sets and found only one that had a succulent.  Can't believe with the gazillion sets in that craft room that this was the only one that had a cactus.  

Starting out, the left side of the card panel was painted with Americana Decor chalk paint using white, green and teal.  I wanted to carry the shapes of the door panels into the card but not add more color, so using TCW's stencil Mini Labyrinth plain white texture paste was layered on.  

The cactus is from Paper Smooches and is part of a set that spells out LOVE so using only the stamp with the cactus, the letter post was cut off and substituted with a bit of SU Really Rust card stock shaped into a pot, then brushed the edges a bit with Versamark to give is some depth.  The cactus was stamped out and colored with Copic markers (BG13, BG11, BG49) several times, then the smaller one was cut out, rounded and then popped up on the main image.  I tired to take a close up picture of the cactus to show how its rounded but its really hard to capture (see below).  The sentiment is by SSS called Happy & Smile.   

The card stock is Neenah solar white, SU Really Rust, Bazzil Blue Oasis and the DP is by Authentique (Spring time).  The enamel dots are from My Minds Eye which I thought about doing in the color of the lights hanging around the door, but decided to keep them in the same tones as the rest of the elements. 

This is the close up of the cactus which has been rounded to give it dimension.  

Thank you for stopping by.  I'm off to finish up another of the several cards I have been working on this week.    

Carole

Zoom Zoom

My submission for this weeks' CASology Challenge #307.

This card was so much fun to make.  I thought only of my youngest grandson while putting it together.  Lawson loves his toy cars and is rarely without a car in one or both hands.   

I ran to the local scrapbook store to cut the ZOOM from clipboard, then painted it with black chalk paint.  The road lines were drawn with Uni-ball Signo white pen.  The cars (Memory Box Auto Parts) were cut three times from each color then glued together to give them some depth and strength.  The wheels are Stampin' Up Candy Dots which I think might be retired.  The card base is 110lb Neenah solar white; with a layer of SU Basic Black cut to fit the top; then the main panel was trimmed down and centered on the base.  Easy and other then the three layers per car, this card came together very quickly.  

Thank you for stopping by.  
Carole

Best Wishes

This is my submission for The Card Concept #96  and CAS-ual Friday's Challenge #203.  

  

For The Card Concept, my goal was classy/elegant with the focus on the main elements of flowers, gold and the wood.  The CAS-ual Friday's challenge was to use heat embossing.  

The main card base is covered in a designer paper that has a pale wood grain design that manages to incorporate hearts into the "grain".  (picture at bottom of post)

The flower die is by Poppy Stamps, and was cut 6 times.  Five layers were glued together then attached to a base of Neenah solar white cut to the same size square as the die.  I then used Copic's to color the flowers and background.  The coloring had to include the base as well as the sides of the five layers so that there would not be any white edges showing when looking at the card from all angles.

The top die was then heat embossed with several layers of WOW Metallic Gold Rich Super Fine powder (my favorite) then carefully glued down to the other dies.  Once everything was dry, the

four outer edges of the completed center piece, were also heat embossed with the gold so that no white edges appear anywhere on the card.

Lastly, the sentiment is from Mama Elephant set Bountiful Blessings and also embossed with the WOW gold.  The final touch was to add bitty green beads to the centers of the flowers.    

I honestly can't remember the last time I put this much time and effort into a card.  I am very pleased with how it turned out, but of course after taking the pictures and working up this post, I think I might go back and add just a few gold sequins to finish it off.  

Thank you for stopping by,  

Carole

Robot Birthday

This card is for Fusion Challenge: Primary Bookcase.  This card is actually the 4th one I made.  The other three were cluttered because I was trying too hard to match the sketch, incorporate a bookcase and layer in the colors.  Since none of them were any good I wasn't going to submit anything, but as I was working on a different challenge this evening, it finally hit me how to layout the bots. 


It's not much, just a simple one layer card, but it has dimension, texture and a simple straight forward sentiment.  Its after midnight here so I had to use a desk lamp to take the picture instead of natural light.  

The robots stamp set is by Clearly Besotted (Mini Bots) and the sentiment is from Altenew (Birthday Greetings).  I used color pencils on the robots and SU markers on the "Happy" sentiment.  Unfortunately I have no idea about the washi tape, it is not marked.  

I just checked out the other submissions and there are some wonderful cards in the gallery.  

Thank you for stopping by.
Carole

Celebrating Independence Day

Just a quick post for my submission to the Red, White and Blue challenge at Shopping Our Stash!

I ran across this challenge last night and decided to clean the dust off of another purchase that has never been used.  The die is from My Favorite Things and if I remember correctly, I bought it to make a masculine birthday card.  Of course I never go around to it so the die has been collecting dust ever since.  

The card stock is all Stampin' Up; Real Red, Pacific Blue, Whisper White and their Red Glimmer paper for the stars, which I think might be a couple years old.  

The beads and sequins are from various companies; each color is a mix of different elements: beads, sequins, bling and such.  

Thank you for stopping by.  
Carole

CASology Cue The Bear UP

This little card is for Week 306 Challenge at CASology.  The cue card this week is "bear".  

This adorable stamp set is by My Favorite Things and there is no telling how long it has been sitting in the MFT bin waiting for some attention.  My Farber Castell color pencils saw the light of day for the first time with this card as well.  Those were a gift from my dad, who passed away in 2011; yes, that is how long they have been sitting on the shelf collecting dust. 

Though it's not visible in the photo, I used my bone folder to curve his face so that it pops out from the flat surface of the balloon.  

I have always admired crafters that can make CAS cards.  I used to avoid them because I could never get the right balance, they always fell short or were too plain.  Even when I would case a card, I still felt mine was lacking.  And one layer cards like this one, would have kept me up all night with worry.  

Admittedly, I'm my own worse critic and far to often I go back and keep playing with a card until I truly like it, or have completely ruined it  beyond repair.  This card will suffer no such backtracking.  I like this sweet little bear just the way he is.  He will be my grandson's birthday card come September.

Thank you for stopping in, I appreciate it.  
Carole

  

Sail Away........

This card is for the Addicted to CAS Challenge #139.  The theme this week is Girl Power.  While the card doesn't actually have a female on it, the sentiment is the Girl Power element for this card.  The card does have a few elements but I hope it is still within the challenge rules.  

Two SSS sets were used here, the first is Sailing which is the water and the boat, the second is Sail Away which is the sentiment.  The cloud die is also SSS called Cloud Bank.  

I like cards with dimension, which is the reason for the die cut clouds instead of just stamping out clouds from another set.  The water was stamped on a separate piece of card stock, roughly colored in with SU markers, then fussy cut and trimmed down (the stamp actually has 9 waves).  The clouds were cut twice, then glued together and 2 of the 6 clouds were trimmed away.  The sailboat is colored with SU markers, listed below, then popped up with dimension tape.  

I haven't added any Wink of Stella, but I'm thinking about it.  However, I really like how this card turned out so I may not do anything else.

Thank you for stopping by.  
Carole

  

SU Markers: Soft Sky, Pool Party, Island Indigo, Barely Banana, So Saffron, Hello Honey, Strawberry Slush.    

CAS(E) This Sketch 277

A fast, fun and almost CAS card for this weeks' CAS(E) This Sketch #277.  

The card base is SU! Dapper Denim, with a layer of Soft Sky and topped off with Whisper White.  Thought the ink looks black on my computer screen, but the sentiment and anchor were stamped in Dapper Denim.  The enamel dots are from three different packs from My Minds Eye.  The sentiment is from SSS set Sail Away.

Thank you for dropping in.  
Carole  

Colorful Owls

A quick post to submit a card for this weeks' The Card Concept #95.

Using some old Lily of the Valley DP, the image was stamped out on scraps and the main background.  The eyes, feet and hat were stamped onto plain white card stock then colored in with Copics. 

The stamp set is from The Craft's Meow and the card stock is Neenah Solar White. 

Thanks to the design team at The Card Concept for the wonderful inspiration this week.  

Thank you for stopping by.
Carole

Lovely Mossy Meadow

A sympathy card for this weeks' CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge #276.

Edited to add:  There are some wonderful cards submitted for this weeks'  challenge.  

As usual, what I envisioned wasn't what I ended up with.  Still for a sympathy card I think it is simple and calming.

When this weeks's sketch was posted the dark stars reminded me of shadows more then a different color.  That lead to the idea of die cutting the leaves and offsetting it against the negative space as the base, while using a dark color under the base. 

A separate negative template was made to add texture paste, but in hindsight that may have been too much.  After pulling this all together, I realized that just the die against the negative  base and the sentiment would have been just right.

The die is by SSS, the sentiment is Technique Tuesday, the card stock and ink is Mossy Meadow by Stampin! Up.  

Happy Tuesday and thank you for stopping in!
Carole 

Color Throwdown #496 - Black White and Aqua

For this weeks Color Throwdown Challenge #496 and just getting it in at the last minute.  

When I saw the color combination for this weeks challenge, I got a huge smile in my heart.  The first thing that came to mind was a long gone "In Color" from Stampin Up called Cool Caribbean!  When the color first came out, every card I made for months was using those three colors.  I could not get enough of the basic B&W with the Cool Caribbean.  There is something very fresh and clean about the combination.  I still have several packs of the the card stock (which I hoard) but the ink has sadly dried out.

  

The card has no stamping, only dies, with ink used just for the circles and sentiment.  The inks were Distress Oxide Tumbled Glass and Mermaid Lagoon (just barely) blended on Neenah solar white card stock.

The main image die cut is SSS Drifting Stitched Circles; the sentiment is from Create A Smile.  The black enamel dots are from My Minds Eye.  

This has to be the truest CAS card I have produced in a very long time.  It took about 20 minutes to create and that time includes pulling out the supplies and fussing with the gluing of the two part sentiment.  
  

Thanks for stopping in and Happy Monday!
Carole     

Purple Aqua and Lime ...... Oh Boy!!

The following card is for two challenges, the first challenge is Stamp Ink Paper Challenge #152 which is to use purple, aqua and lime; three wonderful colors on their own or together.  The second challenge is CASology #302 which is to include "Squiggles" on the project.  

This is the 4th or 5th card I tried making for the SIP challenge then last night I decided to go in a different direction.  The Memory Box die used here is called Playful Petal and has been trimmed down in size.  The die is more of a large "C" or wishbone shape so after coloring it I laid it all out and decided it was too busy.  Once it had been trimmed down, I thought this card might also qualify for the CASology challenge; though it might be just a bit on the "not so quick to make " side for a true CAS card.  

Thank you for stopping in.  I'll be away from my craft table for this next week due to an extra heavy work load. I'm in Accounting and it's time to close the books.  We are down two people so it makes for very long and stressful days.  

I have a few cards in the works for other challenges, but I won't be able to completed them in time. 

Carole

Supplies:
Stamps: SSS Friends For Life
Card Stock: Neenah Solar White
Die: Memory Box Playful Petals
Inks/markers: Distress Tumbled Glass, Wilted Violet, Twisted Citron, MFT Hybrid Ink Black

As You See It Challenge #176

This card is for a challenge called As You See It (Paper Mosaic #176) which this week was a sketch.  The final card is a flip of the sketch, however that wasn't actually intentional.  

The DP is called Meadowlark made by My Mind's Eye; though it has probably been in my stash for a long while, I love it and am glad to be able to finally use it. This DP was used on a card last week so there were scraps to spare and, thankfully, the page with the bird was still intact, and could be used for the background.  Because the paper is so neutral, I decided to use Daffodil Delight card stock to backup the sentiment (Altenew) then followed that up with matching cross stitching for the embellishment.  I like how this card turned out and will use the sketch again for other scrap cards.   

Here is the story on how the card was flipped.  When participating in a sketch challenge, I print out the sketch and tape it next to my craft table so I can refer to it while working.  I was either not paying attention or was in a hurry, and hung the sketch upside down.  As it turns out it worked perfectly for this card because of the placement of the bird on the DP;  but I can't honestly claim I flipped it intentionally. To the left is a picture of my craft table and the sketch hanging on the wall.  

It wasn't until I jumped over to the blog to grab the IP address that I realized my card was upside down.   

Thank you for stopping by.  
Carole 

Fab Friday and Melon Mambo!!

When I saw this week's Fab Friday #138 Challenge included Melon Mambo, my favorite hot pink, I had to jump in!

I love the way it turned out. 

There are lots of layers here, starting with the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set which was stamped with Versamark, I then poured Melon Mambo embossing powder over the ink, shook off the extra, then poured Iridescent Ice embossing powder over the Melon Mambo.  Just a bit of the II stuck, but it was enough to give it come sparkle.  

The next layer was SU's new shimmer paste using a stencil from Prima.  I love this paste, and though you can't tell from the picture, it shimmers beautifully.  

The Flourish Thinlit die set came next, using vellum card stock, Whisper White and Melon Mambo.  I only have the markers in Powder Pink and Flirty Flamingo, and that is what was used to color in the flower/buds which were also given a layer of Wink-of-Stella.   

The frame used to gather all the elements is from My Favorite Things and three were cut and layered so it pops up without dimensional's.  However the three buds on the end of the two stems do have dimensional's popping them up.  Lastly "Thank you" from the Gift of Love hostess set was stamped with Melon Mambo; then sequins from a "extra packet" that came with a sweater I bought at Christmas, was just the right color and added touch.

My apologies for the bad lighting, which is doubly sad because this card just shimmers so nicely in the light.   

Hope you all have a great week.  
Carole