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

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

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  

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

Floral Happy Birthday

This Happy little card is for two challenges:

Fab Friday #137 (sketch) and The Card Concept #93 (floral centerpiece).  

Not much to really tell about this card other than I messed up when stamping the "birthday" and had to trim the left edge down.  Doing that took away what was exposed of the bar that runs from the "Happy". I had to pull one flower off and tried to position the large pink flower so that a bit of the black bar remained.  

For The Card Concept, this entry for Clean and Layered.   

  

Thank you to both design teams for the wonderful inspiration; and thank you for stopping by.

Carole

Supplies:
Stamps: SSS - Artful Flowers; Reverse Confetti - Lots To Say
Card Stock: Neenah Solar White; SU! Basic Black; 90lb watercolor paper
Dies: SSS - Designer Flowers; Memory Box - Lorelai Leaf; PTI Happy set
Additional:  Zig watercolor markers, Stickles, sequins

Love for California Poppies

This is my submission for this weeks CAS(E) This Sketch.

I struggled with this one all week and there are three cards, all completely different, in my trash bin that failed.  Late Monday night I finally worked up this card and tonight I finished it up with some sequins.  

It's a bit hard to see, but in the window there is a scrap of DP that has a diamond pattern on it.  I was thrilled to find it because it was the "piece" that finally made this card, and challenge, come together for me.








Thank you for stopping by.
Carole

Supplies:
Stamps: Altenew - Birthday Greetings
Dies: SSS - Small Folder Banners; Memory Box - Pinpoint Single Frame and Darling Poppies
Card Stock: My Favorite Things - Grout Gray
Additional supplies: Copic markers, Pretty Pink Posh sequins

Blue Gray and Yellow ...... Less Is More

My submission for this weeks Less Is More Challenge; using the colors for the challenge logo.  

Using an old PTI die, I cut out some Neenah Solar White card stock then used the "frame" as a stencil to lay down a a side-by-side row of paste.  I wanted to use the paste for the white diamonds to give it a different texture, which doesn't come across in a photo, but does had a really nice look and feel IRL.  

While the paste dried I watch a movie and colored in a few of the diamonds using Copic markers, then grabbed what was left of the frame to line up and glue down blue, gray and yellow diamonds.

I was trying to go for a random diamond pattern. It wasn't quite working so the sequins were added, which I think helped random it up a bit more.  

Using the same gray card stock that is the base card, the sentiment was embossed with white powder then popped on using foam tape.  




Thank you for stopping by.
Carole


Supplies:
Stamps: Impression Obsession - You Made My Day
Card Stock: Neenah - Solar White, SU! - Smokey Slate
Copic Markers (C1, Y11, B00); Taylor Made Squins; Ranger Paste; Hero Arts White Embossing Powder (my personal favorite).

Happy Mother's Day!!

I asked Darnell if she was still hosting the NBUS Challenge, but she said it had run its course and was now supporting a new challenge called Twofer Challenge. So I headed over to this new challenge and decided to jump in and play along.  Below are my submissions for the May Twofer Challenge.  

The first card is a CASE of a lovely card created by Laurie Schmidlin for Spellbinders.  Her card is here.  

Due to the size of the butterfly and to retain the overall feel of Laurie's card, I made this card size A6 instead of the normal A2.  I added a vellum layer to soften down the background stamping a bit, and went a bit overboard on the sequins.  The butterfly is glitter paper colored with Copics.  

The sympathy card base is a very soft blue/green, however it looks a bit gray on my computer.  The butterfly was colored with Copic markers and the background was stamped using VersaMark and left to dry.  

I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day.  My son is treating me to a nice dinner tonight.  Until then, I think I might take a stab at the current LIM challenge.  

Thank you for stopping by,
Carole

Supplies:  
Stamps - SSS Beautiful Day, Clearly Besotted - Mixed Sentiments, Impression Obsession Sympathy Sentiments; PTI Turning a New Leaf
Dies: Memory Box- Devonshire Butterfly, My Favorite Things - Stitched Ovals  
Card Stock: Neenah Solar White 110lb, Bazzil Sea Breeze

Freshly Made Sketch for a Color Throwdown

This card is for two challenges, Freshly Made Sketches 336 and Color Throwdown 492.

I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out.  I was aiming for a more masculine card and this leans that way.  

While the sketch didn't take me but a second to work out, I struggled with the color challenge all week.  Yellow is my least favorite color, and therefore the hardest for me to use.  Because yellow is such a mental block, I try to take on challenges using this color occasionally.  I have to admit, I kept returning to Amy Rohl's sample card for inspiration.  It's simply "Fabulous".

This card is size A6.  Stamps: Clearly Besotted Sunburst and Reverse Confetti Celebrations.  Inks: Altenew Fresh Lemon and Ruby Red (and let me just say these inks are so nice to work with) along with Mama Elephant Moonlight, sentiment is Hero Arts white pigment.  Card stock: SU! Yoyo Yellow and Basic Grey.  The enamel dots are My Minds Eye.  Die by Memory Box.  I think that covers it.  

Thank you for stopping by.  
Carole

CAS Christmas May Challenge

This card is for the CAS Christmas May Challenge.  

Have you ever messed up a card, but didn't actually realize it until you were too far into the process to correct the problem?  That's this card.  

This was supposed to have been a shaker card.  I laid down all the foam tape around the back of the die, sprinkled in the sequins and snowflakes, carefully ripped off all the tape backing, laid the base down on the die/sequins, then picked up the card only to see the acetate still sitting on the table... along with all the sequins!  The acetate was never on the back side of the die, it was on the front.  I just stood there and laughed over the fact that it never registered in my brain that the acetate wasn't under the foam tape.   

So I improvised and this is the result.  

Thankfully I have a lot of snowmen stamps so maybe I can take another go at this challenge this weekend.  

Hope you all have a good evening and/or day.

Thanks for stopping by.
Carole


Glitter paper by Stampin' Up; die and sentiment by Memory Box; felt My Favorite Things; bling on hat is unknown, bling buttons Kaiser Craft; sequins Lucy's. 

PS:  Darnell - If you stop in, I am tapping into all my NBUS like crazy.  Do you still do the NBUS challenge?

Less Is More #370: Sketch Challenge

This weeks challenge at Less Is More is a sketch, this is challenge 370, sketch 23.  

I'm on the fence about the sentiment embossed on black card stock.  I see so many cards with this style and really like it; but maybe it's not working well on the Kraft card stock base.  And maybe its just me.  :D

My Dad sent me a beautiful set of Farber-Castell watercolor pencils years ago just before he passed away.  Sadly they have been collecting dust all this time, but these will be getting more use going forward.  I first stamped the leaves with Distress Antique Linen.  Then I colored the leaves with the watercolor pencils.  After drying, I stamped the leave again with Distress Crushed Olive.  I really like how they turned out. 

The card stock (kraft and black) is from My Favorite Things.  The leaf stamps are from Create a Smile-Time to Say Thanks; the sentiment is from WPlus9-Fresh Cut Florals.  Don't know who makes the little bling dots, they were loose in my stash.

Thank you for stopping by. 
Carole

Christmas CAS in Kraft

This card is for The Card Concept challenge with the theme :Kraft Christmas.  This blog challenge has different levels of design beginning with CAS (Clean and Simple), moving all the way out to Shabby Chic (which is usually many layers and embellishments). 

This is a great challenge because it allows for all styles of submissions.  To the right is the inspiration picture for the challenge.  This card is being entered for "Clean and Layered."

I pulled out some old Stampin' Up! kraft card stock for this one. What is left of the original SU kraft stash is now down to less than a dozen pieces, so this card was worked up in Crumb Cake before cutting into the real kraft paper.

The red card stock is unknown; it is very close to SU Real Red, but not quite.  I discovered a whole pack of this red when organizing the card stocks earlier this week, but there was no label.  It is a gorgeous red in natural light. 

The dies are a set by Simon Says Stamp.  I left the spirals on the tree loose, and pulled them up a bit.  The sentiment was cut through the kraft layer, leaving the red to show through. 

The pearl embellishments are by Kaiser Crafts. 





This challenge runs for two weeks due to the upcoming holiday week.  I hope to carve out some more time to make another card for this one. 

Thank you for stopping by. 
~ Carole