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

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

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

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

Self-made SU Clear Mount case inserts

For a couple of years now, I have been trying to get someone at SU! to acknowledge an idea regarding blank inserts for the clear mount cases.  Emails, phone calls even one old fashion letter with a postage stamp!  But there has been absolutely no acknowledgement, not even a "your idea makes us laugh-out-loud... go away!"

The idea is to provide the Stampin Up header that is currently on the CM sets in a JPEG or PDF template so those of us that are removing our stamp sets from the wood, can make inserts that will blend nicely when stored with our new clear mounts.  I would even consider buying their software just to get my hands on a blank template. 

Well, this morning I pulled out one of my favorite old sets (All Holidays) to make a birthday card and decided phttt on SU, I'll make the insert myself.

I needed to scan an existing insert so I used Wetlands (just arrived yesterday) because the title is a single word; thought it would make the process easier.  The insert was scanned and saved as a JPEG file; pulled it up into Photoshop; cropped/copied the header (leaving behind the elements of the actual Wetlands set) and set it up in a different file.  From there I edited out the title in order to have a clean blank template and saved it as a Photoshop file (.psd).  I admit, it took almost an hour but I think it turned out pretty well. 

The next step was to scan the nasty insert from All Holidays that I had made when I removed the wood.  Again saved as a JPEG, then I cut out the individual sentiments in Photoshop; copied them into the blank .psd template; arranged the the sentiments in a more pleasing manner and saved the final back to a JPEG.  If SU ever comes out with a template (digital or paper), I'll buy it in a heart beat, mostly because this one isn't crisp and the color is off by a couple shades.  Until then, this one will do. 

Below are pictures of the set with the old handmade insert and then with the new computer generated insert.  The only change I think I will make, is to include the number of stamps and the year the set originated.

Its gorgeous out today so I'm off to enjoy it while it's still possible.  Hope everyone has a great weekend.  ~ Carole



Front view - old insert



Side view - old insert

New All Holidays insert from old wood set

Side view for new label