CASology #249 WARM

Happy Tuesday everyone! I'm particularly happy about this week's CASology cue word WARM because it seems to have brought the warmer weather to NJ. Finally spring like weather is here!

I was inspired by my daughters' art lesson at school where they learned about warm and cool color palettes. I seem to create more with cool colors so decided this week I would challenge myself to create with warm colors as show in this photo below: 

I used the Dandelion Dreams set from Clearly Besotted Stamps to create this field of flowers at the bottom of my white card base. I used the warm colors of PTI's Scarlet Jewel, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold, and Raspberry Fizz. Keeping the focal point to 1/3 of the card is clean and simple technique. It preserves white space while maintaining balance. I nestled the sentiment among the dandelions. I'm loving this set so think I'll make similar cards in different color combinations. 

Please check out what the DT did with WARM this week. I know you'll be inspired! 

Deidre Payne
Hannelie Bester
Hazel Hodgkins
Jacquie Southas
Janet Ribet 
Jen Wills
Joyce Mehrberg
Judy Marino
Kymona Tracey
Melissa Chipperfield
Rachel Bergfeld

Guest Designer: Angie

Sponsor:  STAMPlorations

So glad you stopped by! Can't wait to see what you post in the gallery! Have a great day.

Two on Thursday

After two snow days with kids at home, I finally got some crafty time in when they went to school today! Yay!

First card is inspired by the fun sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch this week.

Instead of the rain and clouds from the sketch, I went with fun starbursts for a happy birthday card. I first stamped the large sentiment from Mama Elephant in the top left corner of the panel. I stamped random starbursts (from Clearly Besotted) over the sentiment in happy colors of PTI Bright Buttercup, Hibiscus Burst, and Orange Zest. I matted the whole panel with black cardstock to make it pop before adhering it to a Bright Buttercup card base.

My next card is inspired by the color scheme at Color Throwdown which is perfect for St. Patrick's Day tomorrow. 

I diecut the Branching Out die in PTI New Leaf and embossed the edges of the leaves in gold (using a Versamark pen instead of ink pad). The sentiment was embossed in gold on a stitched banner die. Before adhering the gold embossed branch, I dry embossed a stitched frame on the cardstock base for some added interest. 

That's it for today. Hoping to get some more crafty time in soon but must clean up the messy desk first! Its to the point where there is no empty surface area....bad! Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great weekend! 

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Birthday Bonanza

Happy Saturday! Been trying to build up my birthday card stash. The weather is gorgeous here in NJ today so gonna make this post quick so I can get outside. 

First card is inspired by this month's Heart Desires Challenge. The inspiration photos seem perfect for my new PTI Country Fair Quilt Block die which I paired with various Echo Park papers.  I adhered the two blocks at a diagonal and stamped the KIS:Birthday sentiment in the middle. I did put together another card with the remaining pieces I cut and I'll post that later.

Next card is inspired by my friend Tracey's card at the MUSE challenge this week. I was inspired by the multiple colors of Tracey's card so I stamped the Clearly Besotted Sunbursts on a white card panel like she did. I also nestled my black sentiment in the middle but added a black matting to the panel to make it stand out a little (like Tracey's sentiment panel does among her rainbow medicine bottles). 

Last card is for PTI's 2013 challenge to use the Ruby Rose set. Ruby Rose is one of my favorite floral sets and I used it along with its companion set Ruby Rose Reprise to create this card below. 

I stamped a perimeter of flowers from Ruby Rose and Ruby Rose Reprise around a white card base in a fabulous color combo featured in one of PTI's downloadable inspirational color combos - Blueberry Sky, Aqua Mist, and Lavender Moon with leaves in Green Parakeet. I stamped the sentiment from PTI Scripted in the middle, added a diagonal striped Aqua Mist matting around it before mounting on Blueberry Sky card base. Love how feminine it looks despite its unusual color combo. 

More to come! Hope you are having a good weekend! Thanks for stopping by! 

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CASology #234 YOUTH

Happy Tuesday! We've got a new challenge for you at CASology.

I have three tween/teen girls so YOUTH to me means emojis! I kept it clean and simple by stamping one simple sad face emoji (from Studio L2E) along with sentiment from Clearly Besotted. I embossed a simple stitched frame around it to add some interest. 

Check out what the rest of the Design Team created for YOUTH. Most of them are using some fabulous digital images from our sponsor this week: Kitty Bee Designs. 

Deidre Payne

Hannelie Bester
Hazel Hodgkins
Jacquie Southas
Janet Ribet 
Jen Wills
Joyce Mehrberg
Judy Marino
Kymona Tracey
Melissa Chipperfield
Rachel Bergfeld

Sponsor:  Kitty Bee Designs

So break out your favorite youthful images and join us at CASology this week. Thanks for stopping by! 

Happy Saturday!

Happy Saturday! Hope you are all having a great weekend! I've been playing with some new stuff so excited to share with you. I know how precious your weekend time is so I'll get right to it....

First card uses the PTI Beautiful Brushstrokes additions set. I wanted to mimic falling feathers along the side of the card. Sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Wishing set. Colors inspired by the challenge at The Heart Desires.

Next card is inspired by the CAS on Sunday challenge: HEARTS.  They celebrate their #100th challenge and this is the first time I'm playing. Actually only discovered this challenge this week. It uses a strip of hearts that was included in the Simon Says Stamp Wishing set. I stamped the heart rows in different lengths and nestled the sentiment from Clearly Besotted Stamps. 

And since it was still out on my desk, I used the brushed circles from PTI Beautiful Brushstrokes for my last card. Sentiment from MFT. Entering this into Darnell's NBUS challenge for these brushed circles. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

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CASology #213 STITCH

Hi crafty friends! Another great challenge at CASology this week! 

I wanted to make a colorful 'Good Luck' card for my eldest daughter as she starts a new swim program this fall. She is not a flowery kind of girl so I created a clean and simple graphic card using one of the stitch stamps from PTI Sew Simple Borders.  I stamped a matrix type pattern in a variety of fun colors and added a simple sentiment from Clearly Besotted at the bottom along with a few enamel dots to accent the sentiment. 

There are so many stitched stamps and dies out there as well as sewing theme stuff so the sky is the limit folks! Check out what the rest of the Design Team created for STITCH. 

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Deidre Payne
Hannelie Bester
Hazel Hodgkins
Jacquie Southas
Jen Wills
Joyce Mehrberg
Judy Marino
Kymona Tracey
Melissa Chipperfield
Tracey McNeely

Sponsor:  Your Next Stamp 

Get creating....keep it clean and simple...and thanks for popping in! 

CASology: Valentine

It's Valentine's Day next week so you'll see lots of Valentine themed cards all over the crafty sites on the internet. My husband and I don't typically exchange cards because the "Hallmark" cards cost too much! Wonderful words written but too expensive. 

I made this card sweet and simple and can be used for anyone really. I layered white and Smokey Sea card stock using the PTI Tipped Tops die for a simple angled look. Stamped xoxo is from Clearly Besotted. 

I die cut a small red heart and applied glossy accents over the top to create a shiny little embellishment. 

Check out the rest of the team's take on VALENTINE - 

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Deidre Payne

Hannelie Bester

Hazel Hodgkins

Jacquie Southas

Jen Wills

Joyce Mehrberg

Judy Marino

Kymona Tracey

Melissa Chipperfield

Sherrie Mannion (HERE!)

Tracey McNeely

Have a great week! 

Rainbow After The Storm

UGH. So frustrated yesterday. I had a few free hours to myself and finally got to my craft desk yesterday morning. Three hours later, I finished a few cards. Sounds good right? Well no, it wasn't. Everything seemed off....One card was just 'eh' and then I wrecked it trying to hand draw something on it. The other got an ink smudge on it after I finished it. And the last, my favorite one, while taking a photo of it, somehow got a water dot on the focal point which ruined it. Yikes! So basically I was left with nothing to show for three hours work and a VERY messy desk.  It was rainy and gloomy in NJ yesterday and I wasn't in the mood to fix or redo any of them so gave up. All I wanted to do was crawl back into bed! 
This ever happened to you?

I had gotten up early this morning so I went down to clean up the desk and try to salvage my projects. When I was done, the rain had stopped, the sun came out and I felt better because I had two finished cards - my personal rainbow after the storm!

First card was for the 2nd year anniversary celebration at Fusion challenge. Congrats Fusion challenge team on two years! I don't get to play with you often but am always inspired by your challenge.

I sponged some Tim Holtz Mustard Seed for a portion of a Heidi Swapp chevron stencil. I layered a big bold bloom from PTI Friendly Flowers along one corner trying to keep the sketch in mind. Sentiment is from Clearly Besotted.

My second card is inspired by the CAS(E) This Sketch challenge. I have been wanting to use the new PTI green Vintage Jadeite and paired it with a masculine color palette of Terracotta Tile, Enchanted Evening, and Kraft to create this thank you card for my daughter's male teacher at the end of the year. 

Thanks for letting me vent. Hope you guys are having a better weekend creatively than I did! :)