CASology #230

Welcome to Week 230 of CASology!  Take a look at the cue word for this week:

 What constitutes cold is definitely relative depending on who you talk to.  The other night it went down to 58 degrees here which for us is more than cold - it's freezing!   Out came the fleecy pajamas and extra blankets and the fur babies were more than happy for extra cuddles.  My brother lives in Chicago and has a whole different definition of cold.  At the end of the day though I think it's safe to say that snow = cold so today I went for a cute Newton's Nook pooch romping through a snowy wilderness.   

Looking forward to seeing what direction the cue word takes you.  Check out the gorgeousness from the rest of the design team, give a warm welcome to our newest team members Rachel & Janet and then play along!

Deidre Payne

Hannelie Bester

Hazel Hodgkins - Taking a break

Jacquie Southas 

Janet Ribet

Jen Wills

Joyce Mehrberg

Judy Marino

Kymona Tracey

Melissa Chipperfield 

Rachel Bergfeld

Sherrie Mannion

This week's guest designer:

Wendy

This week's sponsor:

Rubber Dance Stamps

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

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper:  (Snow Day 6x6) Bo Bunny

Stamps:  (Dog & sentiment from Holiday Hounds) Newton's Nook

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Die:  (Stitched Arch) My Favourite Things

Markers:  (W1, W2, W3) Copic

Glitter:  (Clear Wink of Stella) Zig

Gems:  Recollections

SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave

Plaid Pooch

Hi there!  I'm popping in quickly today with an entry for the Newton's Nook Inky Paws Challenge - Cozy Plaids.  How cute is that happy hound bounding through the plaid wilderness?  :)  The pooch himself is plaid as well and he's got a sparkly Xmas Red Stickles scarf.  That's it for now - gotta dash back to work.  Have a lovely day!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper:  (Brown plaid from Perfectly Plaid Fall 6x6) Lawn Fall, (All other paper) Bo Bunny

Stamps:  (All from Holiday Hounds) Newton's Nook

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Die:  (Wonky Stitched Circles) My Favourite Things

Glitter:  (Xmas Red Stickles) Ranger

Gems:  Recollections

Skipping Stones Tip/Technique Hop

Hi there!  Welcome to the monthly Skipping Stones Design Team Tip/Technique Blog Hop.  You should have arrived here from Ilina's blog.

For my card today I used the ever popular "smooshing" technique.  If you're like me and are not very confident at using watercolors then this technique is perfect for you.  There are lots of great "how to" videos but two of my favourites are this one from Laura Bassen and this one from Lindsay Amrhein.  For my card I put a couple of drops from my Peacock Feathers reinker onto a piece of acetate, spritzed it with some water and smooshed it onto the corner of my die cut watercolor paper.  I love that fact that you can create multiple cards with this technique and all the backgrounds will be slightly different depending on how the ink smooshes   

The butterfly from Breathtaking Butterflies is stamped onto some orange Bo Bunny paper and then fussy cut and popped up on foam tape.  The sentiment is taken from Heartsong 2. I added black gems to the body of the butterfly to make is pop a bit more and scattered some clear gems around it.

Okay, time to get hopping.  You should now be heading on to Kandi's blog.  If you get lost just head back to the Skipping Stones Design Blog to start or see the list below.  Be sure and leave comments along the way for the chance to be entered in the giveaway!  Also check out all the awesome stamp sets in the 
Skipping Stones store!

The Skipping Stones Design Blog
Coralynn
Ilina
Jen  <--- You are here!
Kandi
Larissa
Martha Lucia
Stephanie
Tanja
Teresa

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Basic Black) Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper:  (Barefoot Laid Back 12x12) Bo Bunny

Stamps:  (Butterfly from Breathtaking Butterflies, Sentiment from Heartsong 2) Skipping Stones Design

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko, (Peacock Feathers Distress Ink) Ranger

Die:  (Stitched Rectangle) Avery Elle

Gems:  Recollections

Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop

I'm sure that by now most of you have heard about or come across one of the Coffee Lovers Bloghops over the last year and now they have their own blog and design team dedicated to all things coffee - Coffee Loving Cardmakers!

I confess that I have never taken part in one of the hops (purely because I was never organized enough) but I'm happy to say that I'm playing along with the current Holiday Coffee Lovers Bloghop!  All of us on the Skipping Stones Design Team are joining in the fun with some fabulous SSD coffee images.

The hop will run from December 11 - December 18 starting at 6am Pacific Time.  

The theme for the hop is Winter/Holiday and because December 13th is National Cocoa Day and December 15th is International Tea Day you can use coffee, tea and/or coca images.

Skipping Stones Design is a Super Sponsor and will be giving away a $20 gift certificate.  There will also be 2 flash prizes given away for those who link up before December 15.

I used three different Skipping Stones Design sets for my card - Funny Coffee Volume 1 (coffee cup), Sassy Snow (snowflakes) and Christmas Swirls (sentiment).  I think it's pretty self explanatory - few things make me more joyful than a hot caramel latte on a cold winter's morning!  :)

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White, Soft Stone) Papertrey Ink, (Night of Navy, Smokey Slate) Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper:  (Powder Mountain 6x6) Bo Bunny

Stamps:  (Coffe cup from Funny Coffee Volume 1, Snowflake from Sassy Snow, Joy from Christmas Swirls) Skipping Stones Design

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black, Delicata Silvery Shimmer) Tsukineko, (Real Red) Stampin' Up

Die:  (Stitched Circles) Lil' Inker Designs

Gems:  (Clear) Recollections, (Red) Doodlebug

Skipping Stones November Stamp & Share Challenge

Hello and welcome to the Skipping Stones Design November Stamp and Share Challenge!   Since we're heading into the busy holiday season we've kept this challenge super simple - Anything Goes!  

Skipping Stones Design stamps are not required to play along but if you have some we'd love to see you use them. 

I tend not to use a lot of snow related images since there is never any snow here but I could not resist the Sassy Snow set with it's cute images and cheeky sentiments.  This one in particular always cracks me up.  :)  I paper pieced my snow gal with Bo Bunny papers and mounted the panel against some snow flurries.  I went for an orange sentiment to really allow it and the nose to pop!

I hope you'll find some time to play along with us especially as one lucky person will win a Skipping Stones Design stamp set of their choice.  Be sure to check out the rest of the gorgeous inspiration from the design team and then play along!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Pumpkin Pie, Crumb Cake) Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper:  (Snowflakes, stripes from Snow Day collection 6x6, (Snowflake grid from Powder Mountain collection 6x6) Bo Bunny

Stamps:  (All from Sassy Snow) Skipping Stones Design

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

Die:  (Dashed rectangle) Mama Elephant

Cats & Dogs

Hi there!  I didn't have as much time in the Craft Cave today as I had hoped but I managed to finish off my special orders and squeeze in another challenge card.  This kitty card is one of the special order cards and I'm going to enter it in the Paper Smooches Sparks Anything Goes challenge (sentiment and kitties are all PS) and the Addicted to CAS Animal challenge.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Melon Mambo, Basic Black) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Cats from Feline Friends, Have a purrfect from nine Lives, Birthday from Sentiment Sampler) Paper Smooches

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko, (Charcoal) Hero Arts

Dies:  (Numbers) Papertrey Ink

I have a lovely client who will send me a list of cards she needs like this:

1 x Birthday w golf clubs

1 x bday w a lighthouse

1 x 40^th bday w a Cat

2 x bday w Glamour Girls

1 x bday w camera

2 x Sympathy

3 x Father’s Day 

I like it because it gives me a starting point for the cards but still leaves me lots of room to play around and be creative.  I used to get pretty stressed out with special orders but I think I've finally found my groove with them and now I kind of look at them as just another challenge card.

This next card isn't for a special order - it's just for a couple of challenges.  I started out by using the design from Freshly Made Sketches.  This adorable Simon Says pup has been sitting patiently in my stash for ages and I thought this was the perfect time to get him inky.  The JUGS Wild Card challenge this week is paper piecing and since this guy is pieced (all the way down to his collar and tag) I'm going to enter him over there. 

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight) Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper:  (Grid pattern from Documented 6x6) Simple Stories, (Brown polka dots from Natural Necessities Double Dot Designs) Bo Bunny

Stamps:  (Dog & sentiment from You Are Pawsome) Simon Says Stamp

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Dies:  (Nestabilities Classic Squares Large) Spellbinders

CASology #109

Welcome to Week 109 of CASology!  Take a look at the cue word for this week:

Mmmm… java!!  I confess that coffee is a delight that I've only discovered in the last year or so.  I have always thought that coffee smells wonderful but found the taste too bitter for my liking.  That is until I discovered the Snickers Latte.  *Cue shining light and angels!*  Talk about yummy!!  Completely calorically sinful, but yummy.  And don't even get me started on the Snickers Frappuccino…   Enough of that.  Time for you to check out the rest of the design teams' caffeinated creations and then get to work on your own!

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Melissa Chipperfield

Tracey McNeely

Judy Marino

Meghan McMillan

Gillian Ross

Kimberley Wiener

Joyce Mehrberg

May Sukyong Park

And this week's guest designer:

Kate

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

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Real Red) Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper:  (Natural Necessities Double Dot Designs) Bo Bunny

Stamps:  (Woman & sentiment from Funny Coffee Vol 1) Skipping Stones Designs, (Coffee stain from Cyber Cafe) Paper Smooches

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko, (Real Red, Soft Suede) Stampin' Up

CASology #104

Welcome to Week 104 of CASology!  Take a look at the cue word for this week:

My choice of theme may seem a bit morbid but unfortunately we do need these cards at work sometimes so I try to always have some on hand.  I made one for a cat as well.

  
I'm excited to see lots of lovely animal cards this week.  Check out the cuteness from the rest of the Design Team and then get crackin'!

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Melissa Chipperfield

Tracey McNeely

Judy Marino

Meghan McMillan (Taking a break)

Gillian Ross

Kimberley Wiener

Joyce Mehrberg

May Sukyong Park

And this week's guest designer:

Angela

And our July guest designer:

Lindsey

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

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Very Vanilla) Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper:  Bo Bunny

Stamps:  (Pillow & bone) Simon Says Stamp, (Yarn) Newton's Nook, (Sentiment) Fresh Squeezed Stamps

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

CAS(E) This Sketch #36

Welcome to Week 36 of CAS(E) this Sketch!  Take a look at this week's sketch designed by N@ Ali:

I think I may permanently borrow Darnell's acronym of NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) because I'm trying to reduce the amount of it that's in the Craft Cave.  The flower/frame stamp is a Hero Arts one that I got from the lovely Amy Tsuruta sometime last year.  While I've used a few stamps from the TCM set Vintage Clocks, I hadn't used this sentiment before.  And, all the patterned papers were sitting in pristine 6x6 pads on a shelf.  Whoop whoop for using schtuff!  Now if I could just use more than these tiny bits at a time...  

Now hop on over to the CAS(E) This Sketch blog and check out the gorgeous creations by the rest of the DT and then join in with the fun!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill

Patterned Paper:  (Yellow, orange and green from Bold & Bright Double Dot Designs) Bo Bunny, (Chevrons from PB&J collection) Basic Grey, (Grey from On The Bright Side Two) My Mind's Eye

Stamps:  (Flower frame from Enjoy) Hero Arts, (Sentiment from Vintage Clocks) The Craft's Meow

Ink:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Gems:  (Mini Pearls Bumblebee assortment) Doodlebug

Tiny Buttons

Happy Saturday, everyone!  We're off to town to run errands this morning but I wanted to post this card for two challenges - the buttons challenge at Little Tangles and the paper piecing challenge at Simon Says Stamp.  I love this Fresh Blooms flower from Neat and Tangled.  It seems to be my go to stamp for their challenges!  As for the buttons I used some teeny tiny buttons I got from the dollar store (where everything costs $2.99!).  Here's a picture just in case you don't believe me...

How cute are they?  And I love the dotty paper from Bo Bunny - I should have bought more than one pad of it because I know it's going to get used up fast!  Okay, time to get going. Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill

Patterned Paper:  (Bold & Bright Double Dot Designs) Bo Bunny

Stamps:  (All from Fresh Blooms) Neat & Tangled

Ink:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Gems:  (Fabrications Canvas collection) Teresa Collins

Buttons:  Dollar Store