CAS(E) This Sketch #206 NBUS

Last card for the day. This one is inspired by the challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch.

The sketch reminded me of an upward hill so I was excited to use the new PTI She Moves and Making Strides sets that I just got this week. I partial cut the running figure out of Soft Stone cardstock. I don't use this technique very often but always love the effect. Her hind leg is still attached to the hill and I fussy cut the diagonal slope. To differentiate between the running figure and the hill, I used my scoring board to create some embossed lines. I adhered it to True Black cardstock and heat embossed the sentiment in pink. Sweet and simple. 

Also entering this into Darnell's NBUS challenge #9. I am excited to make some more cards with these two sets. Thanks for stopping in! Have a great weekend! 

Freshly Made Color Throwdown

One of my New Year's resolutions was to carve out some more time to create. So far so good for January!

First card I'm sharing was inspired by the colors at the Color Throwdown challenge this week -

I used the new PTI Medallion Trio set I got this week so I'm also entering this into Darnell's NBUS challenge as well. So many pretty possibilities with this set...and you know how I LOVE medallion images! Sentiment is from PTI Banner Sentiments.

Second card was inspired by the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches challenge. 

I die cut various balloon dies (SSS and PTI) in fun happy colors. Sentiment from PTI Keep It Simple. I have two versions - balloon strings....

and no balloon strings. I hand drew them in and anytime I do something free hand, it always looks strange to me. I don't know what happened to my hand when I was drawing the string for the pink balloon! 

Hope you've gotten some time in your crafty space lately! Feels good to something not related to kids, the house, or work! Have a great week and thanks for stopping in! 

ColourQ Take 2

I am loving the colors at ColourQ this week and was inspired to use them to make a couple of thank you cards for my daughter's swim coaches for the our end of year banquet next weekend. 

I busted out one of the banners from a brand spankin' new PTI First Place set (NBUS!).  I alternated the challenge colors. 

Will be posting my other one shortly. Thanks for stopping by!

OLS,ColourQ, & NBUS

March is here! That means there's a new One-Layer Simplicity challenge. This month's challenge is Let Green 'March' In which means we can only use shades of green and one neutral. 

I fought the temptation to use black ink on my card and used only green inks on my card. I blended a few different green inks (PTI Limeade Ice, New Leaf, and Simply Chartreuse) using one of the new PTI Modern Background stencils (which in case you are wondering are a perfect size and very durable).  I added two flowers and sentiment from the new BE set. Sentiment stamped in PTI Pinefeather. 

Also linking to Darnell's fabulous NBUS challenge since these are the new PTI goodies. 

I am LOVING the colors at ColourQ this week. Totally right up my alley as you know! :) 

I used one of the images from the PTI Enclosed Star set to stamp a pattern in Memento Teal Zeal & Blue Danube, Mama Elephant Smoke, and Avery Elle Aquamarine. Used my Misti to stamp the Wet Paint sentiment in black several times so it stood out against these bold colors. 

Hope you are having a great week! Thanks for popping in. 

CASology #129

So cool that this week's CASology challenge is NBUS, a phrase coined by the crafty maven Darnell Knauss. NBUS means "Never Been Used Schtuff" which whether we want to admit it or not, we all have NBUS in our craft room! 

For this card I used the "HAD TO HAVE THIS BECAUSE ITS SO COOL SET"  PTI'S These United States which I've never used despite needing it so desperately so many months ago. 

I fell in love with the purple & red color combo after seeing some pics like this on Pinterest - 

so I made a card using this gorgeous color pairing. 

I stamped Royal Velvet polka dots on Royal Velvet cardstock for a tone-on-tone look, giving my card plenty of 'white' space (ok, really purple but you know what I mean!). I added a diecut the United States in the same color and added a heart in the northeast (where I'm from!) and popped it up using foam tape for subtle dimension. I love how the red heart stands out on the dark purple. 

That's it for me tonight. Thanks for taking a peek! 

Two for Tuesday!

I've got two cards to share with you on this cold and snowy afternoon.  Funny how I used similar colors for both cards though it was completely not intentional.

First card is for the Papertrey Ink Make It Monday challenge - Colorful Card Corners. I finally got some ink on the NBUS set Fancy That which seemed perfect for this challenge. I colored the medallion in the corner with copies and stamped the same image in Soft Stone for the rest of the background panel. In order to balance the heavy color in the corner, I matted the panel in coordinating Tropical Teal and aligned it so that the Teal was peeking out from the opposite side. The whole thing was then put on Smokey Shadow card base.

Linking this to Darnell's fun NBUS challenge. 

My second card is for the new CASology cue word - Date. Lots of ideas came to mind but many of which could not come to reality because my stamp stash is lacking with the images I wanted. Now there's a great reason to buy more stuff!  So I went with my original idea of date with a friend....

Been meaning to send my friend from grad school a little note to get together so this is perfect! 

I stamped a bunch of arrows from A Few Pointers in several colors. Why arrows? In my mind I was imagining an arrow around a circled date on a calendar...didn't have a calendar stamp so just kept the arrows. Sentiment is from Special Delivery, another NBUS set. 

That's all for me today. I'm glad that I've been able to keep up with one of my new year's resolutions which is create something everyday. Two days in a row now....good start! Lol. 

Have a good one. Thanks for taking a peek! 

CASology:THREE

Fall is my favorite time of the year with cooler weather, cozy sweaters, and apple and pumpkin picking at our local farms. Now that its September I wanted to use my new Leaf Prints set which I've wanted for so long and finally got ,but never played with until today.......

I stamped three leaves in the center of the Rustic Cream card base in leafy colors of Distress Inks. I stamped it on the pad and then sprayed it with a shot of water in the mister to give it a little bit of a watercolor look.

Simple sentiment nestled amongst the leaves. 

Playing along with the CASology:Three challenge as well as Darnell's NBUS challenge #2. 

Unfortunately Mother Nature doesn't realize its September and we still have temperatures up in the upper 80s still. Though after last year's awful winter, I'll take all the heat for as long as we can....

Hope you are having lovely weather where you are. Thanks for taking a peek. 

ColourQ #246

I finally got around to playing in the NBUS challenge....in case you hadn't heard, NBUS stands for never-before-used-schtuff and was coined by the fabulous Darnell. She's is on the quest to get us to break out our stash and stop hoarding it. I'm all for that because God knows I have a lot of stuff!

The NBUS component of my card is the thanks sentiment from a Thank You set from Mama Elephant. I used it to ground the trio of flowers on my card. I popped up the panel with foam adhesive to make it stand out against the kraft background.  Color inspiration from ColourQ this week.

I could probably participate in the NBUS challenge every week and never run out of stuff to use. LOL.  Thanks for taking a peek! Enjoy your day.