Bright & Cheery Thank You

Hello hello!  After a day of non-stop rain yesterday it's cool, dry and breezy today. We took Atti for a good long walk and then Luis started puttering around in the yard while I headed for the Craft Cave.  This card came together really quickly.  I had been playing around with some embossing paste the other day and had embossed the yellow pattern on the card but then wasn't quite sure what to do with it so I put it aside. Thankfully the Colour Me challenge was kind enough to provide a colour palette that included Daffodil Delight so I pulled out the card and got to work.  The lined pattern in the Colour Me picture made me think of this My Cute Stamps flower.  The little butterfly was also in the set so I added him to the mix.  They're the perfect images for a bright and cheery card which is what the Paper Players are calling for in their Think Spring challenge so I'll be joining them as well. 

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Melon Mambo, Calypso Coral, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Flower & butterfly from Celebrate Today) My Cute Stamps, (Sentiment from Many Thanks) Altenew

Inks: (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko, (Daffodil Delight) Stampin' Up

Punch:  (1/8" circle punch) McGill

Stencil:  (Mini Well Rounded) The Crafter's Workshop

Embossing Paste:  Wendy Vecchi

2 Birthdays

Hello and happy Friday!  I've got 2 cards to share today.  I haven't played along with the Runway Inspired Challenge in ages but I finally managed to join in this week.  I think my inspiration is pretty clear.  ;)  I wanted to let the stripes be the stars of the show so I kept the sentiment simple.








Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (Poppy Parade, Smokey Slate, Basic Black) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Halftone Hello) Altenew

Inks: (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Dies:  (Happy) Mama Elephant, (Stitched Stripes) Lil' Inker Designs

Gems:  Recollections

Card number 2 is for the current RetroSketches challenge. It's a great sketch for using up some patterned paper scraps.  I was inspired by Tracey's card where she let her patterned paper shine. That's it for me today.  I'm off to do the food shopping and then get this house cleaned up!  Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (Hello Honey) Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper:  (Party Day 6x6) Crate Paper

Stamps:  (Flags from To The Point) Avery Elle, (Sentiment from You Said It, Sister) Fresh Squeezed Stamps

Inks: (VersaFine) Tsukineko

Thread:  Janlynn

Gems:  Recollections

Little Tangles Watercolour

Hi there!  I'm popping in this morning with a card for the Little Tangles watercolor challenge.  To make my polka dots I stamped the criss crossed circle from Neat & Tangled's Stop and Go in four different Stampin' Up shades of red.  I then took a wet brush and blurred the centre of each of them to create the polka dots.  I used a Stitched Circle from Lil' Inker Designs for my sentiment.  I'm pretty pleased with how this came out. I love the rich colours and the touch of texture in the polka dots.  I'm thinking that I should go back and make a whole set of these in different colours.  You can never have too many quick and easy birthday cards!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Ranger, (Raspberry Ripple) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Circles from Stop and Go, Sentiment from Sketchy Cupcakes) Neat & Tangled

Inks: (VersaMArk) Tsukineko, (Crisp Cantaloupe, Strawberry Slush, Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple) Stampin' Up

Embossing Powder:  (Opaque Bright White Super Fine) Wow

Die:  (Stitched Circles) Lil' Inker Designs

Gems:  Recollections

Wednesday Triple Play

I've got three cards to share with you today.  The first is for the Lawnscaping Birthday challenge where they're celebrating their 100th challenge!  Whoop whoop!  I went on a patterned paper bender with this card using papers from Echo Park, Jillibean Soup and Studio Calico.  All the stamps and the speech bubble die are from Lawn Fawn.  Totally out of my CAS comfort zone but I'm digging the bright colours and patting myself on the back for the use of patterned paper.  :)  I'm also going to enter this in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Anything Goes challenge where the design team is showcasing Lawn Fawn products.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill

Patterned Paper:  (Dark yellow, green & turquoise from This & That Charming 6x6, Pink from This & That Graceful 6x6) Echo Park, (Dark brown & light yellow from Homemade 6 Bean Soup 6x6) Jillibean Soup, (Beige from Classic Calico Collection Vol. 2) Studio Calico

Stamps:  (Dog from Critters at the Dog Park, Cupcake from Bake Me a Cake, Sentiment from Grand Greetings) Lawn Fawn

Inks: (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Die:  (Speech Bubble Border) Lawn Fawn

My second card uses the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch and the colours from Just Us Girls.  I masked and inked the centre stripe with Sahara Sand and then paper pieced the balloons with Soft Sky and Night of Navy.  The Papertrey Ink Happy has a layer of Clear Wink of Stella coating it and the balloons are covered with Glossy Accents.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Regal Rose, Soft Sky, Night of Navy) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Balloons from So Much To Say) Lawn Fawn, (Birthday from Halftone Hello) Altenew

Inks: (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko, (Sahara Sand) Stampin' Up

Die:  (Happy) Papertrey Ink

Glitter:  (Clear Wink of Stella) Zig

Other:  (Glossy Accents) Ranger

My final card is for Papertrey Ink's February Blog Hop.  I don't think I've ever taken part in one of these hops before so I'm excited to join in!  I took another crack at watercolouring and created a wash on some Tim Holtz watercolor paper which I then covered with PTI's Quatrefoil cover plate.  I layered up two Life Is Beautiful butterfly dies and the sentiment is from Script Sentiments.  Okay, that's it from me today.  See you tomorrow!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (Watercolour) Ranger, (White) Bazzill, (Raspberry Ripple, Perfect Plum, Basic Grey) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Sentiment from Script Sentiments) Papertrey Ink

Inks: (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Dies:  (Coverplate:  Quatrefoil, Life Is Beautiful) Papertrey Ink

Gems:  Recollections

CASology #135

Welcome to Week 135 of CASology!  Take a look at the cue word for this week:

I have a ton of mini Sweet Stamp Shop sets that have never seen ink so today seemed like a good time to start putting them to use.  I masked the little mouse so he'd be sitting on top of the cheese and added a silly sentiment ("Who cut the cheese?").  Totally juvenile but it amuses me to no end!  :)  If I made the card again I'd probably add a shadow below the cheese to ground it a bit.  For now though he's going to have to look like he's riding a flying cheese wedge (guess all the flying carpets were rented out…).  Okay, your turn to make a big impression on us with your mini-inspired cards.  Check out the gorgeousness from the Design Team and then get crafting!

 Ardyth Percy-Robb

Gillian Ross

Hazel Hodgkins

Joyce Mehrberg 

Judy Marino

Kimberly Wiener 

Kymona Tracey

May Sukyong Park

Melissa Chipperfield

Tracey McNeely

And this week's guest designer:

Ksenija

Link your creations to the CASology blog and remember that the deadline for entries is Monday at noon (CST).

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Gina K

Stamps:  (All from Cheese Please) Sweet Stamp Shop

Inks: (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko, (Pumpkin Pie) Stampin' Up

Markers:  (R32, Y17, C-3) Copic

Battling the Watercolour

Despite wanting to toss my paints and brushes out of the window I'm continuing to mess around with watercolors in the hopes of one day feeling vaguely confident in my abilities with them.  I ended up trashing a lot of cards but I finally came up with this one. It's a long way from the work of the designers I admire but it's a tiny step in the right direction for me (at least compared with everything else I made this week)!  I'm going to enter it over at the Addicted to Stamps Make Your Mark challenge (use markers, pencils, paints, etc).  And now I'm off to work - my last day!  Hope you have a lovely weekend! 

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Ranger, (So Saffron, Basic Grey) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Flowers from Water Blooms) Mama Elephant

Ink: (VersaMark) Tsukineko

Embossing Powder:  (Seafoam White) Ranger

Die:  (Thanks Script) Mama Elephant

Gems:  Doodlebug

Altenew Thank You

I adore this flower from Altenew's Hennah Elements.  It's such a great outline stamp that looks amazing coloured in, paper pieced or even left black and white.  It's probably the Altenew stamp that I use the most (although these leaves from Doodle Blooms are coming in a close second).  I used the colours from The Challenge and paper pieced the flower and leaves.  I started out by following the sketch then got a little creative with it but it's close.  Okay, time to head off to work.  Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Old Olive) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Flower from Hennah Elements, Leaves from Doodle Blooms, Sentiment from Magnolias for Her) Altenew

Ink: (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Die:  (Double-Ended Banners) Papertrey Ink