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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Throwdown My Heart Desires When Making on Monday

Happy Thursday! Wanted to share four cards with you today. Haven't played along with some of these challenges in a while so excited to get some crafty time in these past two days and build up my birthday card stash.

First card is inspired by the fabulous color palette at Color Throwdown.  It was a big challenge for me because the color scheme has a masculine feel to it but without any blue (my favorite color!).

I stamped paisley images from PTI Woodblock prints along the bottom of a white panel. I added a die cut Happy (PTI One-Liners) on top of a strip of Pure Poppy card stock with the 'birthday' embossed on it. For a different touch I kept the red strip long, reach end to end on the card base. 

Second card is inspired by the Heart Desires Challenge. My first time joining in! I was drawn to the blues of course as well as the fun winter images. 

I was also inspired by THIS recent amazing card from Laura Bassen. I stamped my large sentiment from Mama Elephant in the middle of a white panel. I used my MISTI to make sure the sentiment was nice, bold, and dark. Then I heat embossed white snowflakes (with clear powder) in the two diagonal corners. Then I blended in a few colors (PTI Bright Buttercup, Hawaiian Shores, Stormy Sea, and Dark Indigo) on top of the embossed snowflakes. Truthfully, this is my second panel because the first time I embossed the snowflakes with white powder, not realizing that the embossing powder would also stick to the main sentiment, making it white. Oops. Lesson learned. 

Last two cards use Melissa Phillips' Masked Heart Wreaths technique in PTI Make It Monday this week. I used mask paper to die cut a heart and stamped flowers from Ruby Rose and Ruby Rose Reprise in my favorite blues and greens - Tropical Teal, Limeade Ice, Hawaiian Shores and New Leaf. I didn't add anything else so I could keep it clean and simple. LOVED how it turned out! 

Mask was still sticky so I used it to make another card. Instead of flowers I used the leaves from PTI Mighty Oak stamped in another favorite color combination - Tropical Teal, Aqua Mist, Stormy Sea, and Vintage Jadeite.  Birthday diecut is PTI with a softer Happy from Simon Says Stamp. Added a few matching pearls for a final touch. 

Like my attempt at mashing all the challenge names into my blog post title? LOL. 

Thanks for taking a peek at my latest creations. See you soon. 

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It's Been A While....

....since I played along with the CAS(E) This Sketch and ColourQ. I found myself with some free time this week so was excited to create again using their inspiration.

For my CAS(E) This Sketch card, I used the Hero Arts Large Lotus stencil with my favorite colors - Limeade Ice, Aqua Mist, and Hawaiian Shores - along the top part of the card panel. I stamped the large sentiment from MFT and added some matching enamel dots. I added a strip of black at the top to anchor the design at the top of the card. 

Second card is inspired by this week's ColourQ palette. These colors are perfect for Halloween but I rarely use Halloween cards so I wanted to make another type of card. 

Since these colors are so bright and cheerful, I thought they'd be perfect for a birthday card. I stamped my bold sentiment from Mama Elephant in the center in black using my MISTI to get a nice dark image. Then I stamped various sunbursts from MFT around the sentiment. I matted the stamped panel with black and then adhered to the Amethyst Allure card base. I never would have put these colors together myself but love how it turned out. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

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CASology #201 - SUNSHINE

Happy Tuesday friends!  

First things first, let me say WOW! and THANKS! to all the comments left on my blog for CASology's 200th anniversary celebration. Thanks for visiting and I hope you found some inspiration here on my blog and come back to visit! 

So for the winner of my blog candy.......

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

37

Timestamp: 2016-06-06 20:09:04 UTC

 

....is Marilyn! Congrats!

Marilyn, I'll try to get in touch with you via your blog but if you see this, please leave me your address in the comments. I'll delete it off as soon as I receive it.

So now onto this week's challenge. Its June and the heat has finally arrived in NJ. Along with the heat comes an appropriate cue word for the CASology challenge this week - SUNSHINE.

There are so many design options for this word.

For my card this week, I used one of my favorite sets, PTI Snowflake Flurries to stamp a row of suns images along the bottom. I love this set because the images are supposed to be snowflakes but they are so versatile I've used them for so many different things, most often suns. Suns stamped in PTI Bright Buttercup, Harvest Gold, Lemon Tart, and Summer Sunrise. I kept the card CAS by keeping the sentiment and images on the bottom half of the card. Sentiment from Mama Elephant. 

Check out what the rest of design team came up with - you are sure to be inspired! 

Ardyth Percy-Robb

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

Sponsor this week: Rubber Dance Art Stamps
and Guest Designer:  Diana

So hope you are inspired to create something related to SUNSHINE. Can't wait to see what you've come up with in the gallery! 

Thanks for popping in! 

Two More for Thursday

Hi all -

Cold and rainy here in NJ so thought creating with some flowers might channel spring to come soon!

First card was inspired by the bright fun colors at ColourQ this week. I played with the cute PTI Petite Pots set to make a little thank you card.

Second card was inspired by the new CAS(E) This Sketch challenge. I was so excited to play with my new Tulip Time set that just arrived. The two step stamp was surprisingly easy and the results are so pretty.  I stamped main image in Raspberry Fizz with the second layer in Pure Poppy. Sentiment from Mama Elephant. 

Hope you've had a great week! Thanks for popping in!

Two for Thursday

Hello friends -

I was very intrigued by the new Pinterest Inspired Challenge this month. Love the colors and graphic feel of this inspiration photo:

I used the awesome 'Do You See What I See' stamp from Winnie and Walter and heat embossed it in black on white card stock. I applied several Tim Holtz distress inks (Weathered Wood, Squeezed Lemonade, Peacock Feathers, Crushed Olive, & Salty Ocean) to the embossed panel. Looks really cool in real life but I wasn't sure what to do with it as a whole piece. 

So I die cut several vases out of it to make this:

I clustered the three vases (PTI Mega Vases) on one side and heat embossed a simple sentiment from the PTI Keep It Simple line. I adhered one flat and then the other two with different thickness foam tape for dimension. 

Second card I'm sharing today uses the supercool Balloon Strings stamp from My Favorite Things which I stamped on half of the card. I scattered various hearts cut out of Bazzill card stock on the strings. Sentiment from Mama Elephant.  Colors inspired by the ColourQ challenge this week. Hardest part of this challenge was using the two different red tones. Think it worked out well here. 

Hope you are having a great week! Snow is almost all melted here and temps now in the 50s. But guess what's expected tonight....more snow! 

Thanks for popping in! 

Fusion Woodgrain Neutral

Well, we've dug ourselves out of the snow but kids out of school today since the area around the buildings aren't yet ready for the students and teachers. Hopefully tomorrow school will be open and we'll get back into the swing of things. I got up early to get some craft time in and made a couple of cards for this week's Fusion challenge.

For my cards, I was inspired by both colors and sketch. I used the PTI Pretty Petals set (December 2014 freebie) along with the Mama Elephant Blessed set for the sentiment. 

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week! 

ColourQ #317

Good morning! Quick card to share before I head off to the supermarket. (AHH! I know, week of Thanksgiving. Scary!)

This birthday card is inspired by the ColourQ challenge this week which featured a bright collection of colors. I stamped the candles along the bottom and cut the panel to allow a strip of Aqua Mist card stock to peek through. Big bold sentiment is from Mama Elephant.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving my friends! I am thankful for your friendship and for this hobby we all share and love so much. xo

Big Bloom

So got to playing around with the new Winnie & Walter - Simon Says Stamp collaboration set Big Bloom that I got during the SSS Stamptember celebration and can already see this will become one of my favorite sets. It goes so well with gold embossing powder.

First is a card which inspired by the Pinterest Inspired Challenge this month. Love this mix of colors.

For my card I heat embossed the big bloom on watercolor paper and used watercolor to paint in the petals. Sentiment from Mama Elephant heat embossed in gold as well.

My second card pairs the gold embossing with deep purple. Love how regal it looks. I used a different center for the big bloom. 

Also linking to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Thanksgiving challenge as well as the One Layer Simplicity Gratitude challenge. 

That's it for me. Thanks for stopping by!