Christmas Cactus

 Hi there!  I'm popping in today with a card for the Simon Says Wednesday Happy Holidays/Christmas challenge.  There was a period last month where we thought there wouldn't be any Christmas trees making their way to the island this year so I figured I should make some cards with alternative decorative options!

Supplies Used:

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

Stamps:  (Cactus from Llama Love, Pot from Sweet Succulents) My Favorite Things, (Sentiment from Jungle Greetings) Mama Elephant

Ink:  (VersaFine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko

Die:  (Zig zag stitched oval) My Favourite Things

Markers:  (R59, G07, G14, E08) Copic

Other:  (Nuvo Red Berry, English Mustard, Caribbean Ocean, Violet Galaxy Crystal Drops) Tonic

Birthday Flowers

 I'm popping in today with a card for the Simon Says Wednesday Anything Goes challenge.  I used some older Mama Elephant and Avery Elle stamps for the flowers and sentiment.  The paper is from a Teresa Collins collection that I won via a Moxie Fab challenge back in the day.  Remember those challenges?  I really do miss PaperCrafts and Moxie Fab!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White, Black) Papertrey Ink

Patterned Paper:  (Fabrications 12x12) Teresa Collins

Stamps:  (Flowers from Freestyle Florals) Mama Elephant, (Sentiment from Cake and Candles) Avery Elle

Inks:  (VersaMark, Memento Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko

Embossing Powder:  (Opaque Bright White Super Fine) Wow

Markers:  Copic

Gems:  Doodlebug

Up and Away

 

I've got a card today for the CAS on Friday Balloons challenge.  These Mama Elephant critters are old favourites and since I had them out I made two cards.  I also broke out some ancient PTI cloud dies and a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp.  

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Textured white) Bazzill, (Marina Mist) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Bunny, fox and balloons from Up and Away) Mama Elephant, (Sentiment from Furry Cat & Box) Simon Says Stamp

Ink:  (VersaFine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko

Markers:  Copic

Dies:  (Clouds) Papertrey Ink

Other:  (Nuvo Clear Crystal Drops) Tonic

Pink Stripe Flowers

 

I've got a card today for the Seize the Birthday Spring Flowers challenge.  For some reason I never have the patience to colour this Altenew flower and in the past have just embossed it with coloured embossing powder.  This time I decided to "colour" it with striped cardstock.  I combined a Mama Elephant happy die with one of their stamped sentiments and finished things off with some scattered gems.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Regal Rose, Strawberry Slush, Melon Mambo, Smokey Slate, Basic Black) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Flower) Altenew, (Birthday from Labeled Love) Mama Elephant

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Gems:  Recollections

CASology #385

 

Welcome to Week 385 of CASology!  Take a look at the cue word for this week:

The simple stripes dies I got from Mama Elephant are my new favourite things.  Do you know how much cardstock and how many swear words I've wasted in the past trying to cut them with my paper cutter?  Now it just takes a few passes through my Cuttlebug and all is right with my stripes!

Looking forward to seeing what direction the cue word takes you.  Check out the gorgeousness from the rest of the design team then play along!

Deepti Stephens

Deidre Payne

Jacquie Southas 

Jen Wills

Joyce Mehrberg

Karen Haman

Melissa Chipperfield

Milka Gubo 

Nancy Elrick

Sandie Munroe

Sue Symens

***You've got 2 weeks for this challenge!***

Link your creations to the CASology blog by 9am Monday, 15 March (CDT).

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Granny Apple Green, Pacific Point, Rich Razzleberry) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Sentiment from Hello Friend) Lawn Fawn

Inks:  (VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Embossing Powder:  (Clear) Hero Arts

Dies:  (Quick Stripes) Mama Elephant

Bah Humbunny

 

I have a couple of cards today inspired by the Addicted to Stamps and More Christmas challenge.  These grumpy holiday bunnies from Honey Bee Stamps still manage to be adorable despite their moodiness.  I had fun colouring them and their accoutrements and putting some ancient patterned papers to use for the backgrounds.  

Supplies Used:

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

Patterned Papers:  Various

Stamps:  (All from Bah Humbunny) Honey Bee Stamps

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko

Dies:  (Flag, oval) My Favourite Things, (Speech bubble) Lawn Fawn, (Letters) Mama Elephant

Markers:  Copic

Other:  (Nuvo White Crystal Drops) Tonic

  

Lacy Birthday

 

I only recently discovered the Colour Hues challenge and Lindsey has been encouraging me to play along.  I was really struggling with my mojo when I sat down to make a card for the current navy and cream challenge and after far too long spent dithering over it I ended up with this.  My photo is overexposed as this looks very white.  It's actually PTI Vintage Cream cardstock.  I really wanted to add some yellow Nuvo Crystal Drops to the centres of the flowers but obviously that would defeat the purpose of the challenge.  Looking at it now perhaps some clear gems or silver Nuvo drops in the centres would have added that little something that seems to be missing.  Something to remember for the future I guess.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (Vintage Cream) Papertrey Ink, (Night of Navy) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Flowers from Frosted Garden) Altenew, (Sentiment from Labeled Messages) Mama Elephant

Inks:  (Juniper Mist) Catherine Pooler

Dies:  (Lacy coverplate) Lil' Inker Designs

Flower Cluster Birthday

 

I've got a card today for two challenges - Simon Says Wednesday challenge (use something new) and Seize the Birthday.  (The Topping for STB is Snowy Background but since I rarely make snowy cards I'm going for the Anything Goes topping).  This is a new to me die from Simon Says Stamp.  It wasn't as fiddly as I expected it to be and in the end the hardest part was choosing the colours for the flowers.  The sentiment is made up of a Mama Elephant die and a Neat & Tangled stamp.

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Textured White) Bazzill, (Strawberry Slush, Flirty Flamingo, Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral, So Saffron, Wild Wasabi, Basic Black) Stampin' Up

Stamp:  (Birthday from Everyday Labels) Neat & Tangled

Ink:   (Strawberry Slush) Stampin' Up

Dies:  (Flower cluster) Simon Says Stamp, (Happy) Mama Elephant

Other:  (Nuvo English Mustard Crystal Drops) Tonic

Vintage Santa

 

Today's card is for the Inspired By... challenge.  I love the vintage look of the picture but I don't have any stamps that really fit that aesthetic.  I have a few sheets of vintage looking patterned paper but have always found them really busy and could never work out how to use them.  Enter Lisa Elton's card which gave me the perfect inspiration for what to do with them!  I think I'll end up with a stack of similar cards that makes use of some of the papers (Christmas and otherwise) that I just don't know what to do with.  Thanks so much, Lisa!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Real Red, Basic Black) Stampin' Up, (Green) Bazzill

Patterned Paper:  (Mistletoe Memories 8x8) Daisy D's

Stamps:  (Christmas) Winnie & Walter

Ink:  (VersaMark) Tsukineko,

Embossing Powder: (Opaque Bright White Super Fine) Wow

Other:  (Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Glitter Gloss) Tonic

Two Foxes

 

I've got two more cards from yesterday.  They're for the JUGS (Plaid) and Paper Players (Fall Critters) challenges.  I pulled out an older Lawn Fawn set that has a few adorable woodland animals in it.  This little fox is my favourite and I love how cute he looks sitting with his tail tucked up on that log.  The plaid paper is also Lawn Fawn - remember when this stuff was EVERYWHERE?  I have a bunch of it and have barely cut into it because most of it is so pretty.  Today I was brave and used two whole pieces!  Yay me!  I ended up making two slightly different cards for different occasions.  Which is your favourite?  

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Bermuda Bay) Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper:  (Perfectly Plaid: Fall 6x6) Lawn Fawn

Stamps:  (Fox & log from Into The Woods, Hat from Hats Off To You) Lawn Fawn, (Birthday from Labeled Messages) Mama Elephant

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko, (Baked Brown Sugar) Stampin' Up

Dies:  (Happy) Papertrey Ink, (Stitched rectangle) Mama Elephant

Markers: (YR04, BG15) Copic

Other:  (Glossy Accents) Ranger

CASology #373

 

Welcome to Week 373 of CASology!  Take a look at the cue word for this week:

September is back to school time although this year that may look very different than normal for a lot of people.  There's endless amounts of reading in school so I thought I'd break out this adorable book lovers set from Mama Elephant to make my card.  I did some fun rainbow colouring and popped the critter and his books up on foam tape for some dimension.  I made a few of these with different colour combos and sentiments since I think they'll sell pretty well at the bookstore!

Looking forward to seeing what direction the cue word takes you.  Check out the gorgeousness from the rest of the design team then play along!

Deepti Stephens

Deidre Payne

Jacquie Southas 

Jen Wills

Joyce Mehrberg

Karen Haman

Melissa Chipperfield

Milka Gubo 

Nancy Elrick

Sandie Munroe

Sue Symens

This week's guest designer:

Zoe

This week's sponsor:

Lawn Fawn

***We're going back to challenges every 2 weeks!***

Link your creations to the CASology blog by 9am Monday, 14 October (CDT).

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink

Stamps:  (Dog & books from Book worm, Sentiment from Good Reads) Mama Elephant

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko

Markers: (YR22, YR02, YR31, YG03, BG34, BG05, B23, BV04, E50, W1, W3, W5, 100) Copic

Other:  (Nuvo Oyster Grey Crystal Drops) Tonic

Framed Flower

Today's card is for the Colour Throwdown and Just Us Girls (Frame It) challenges.  Since I already had the Pinkfresh Floral Squares on my desk from my last card I decided to use a different one here.  This time I paper pieced the die cut with coloured card stock and backed it with a solid colour.  I originally reached for a white card base but I'm trying to push myself to put more of a dent in my coloured cardstock so I went for the blue instead.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Lucky Limeade, Baja Breeze, Midnight Muse, Rich Razzleberry) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Sentiment from Labeled Love) Mama Elephant

Inks:  (Rich Razzleberry) Stampin' Up

Die:  (Floral Squares) Pinkfresh

Other:  (Nuvo Morning Dew Crystal Drops) Tonic

Stencil & Butterflies

The card is for the Just Add Ink and AAA Birthday challenges.  At JAI we are to "Just Add Two" - 2 choices from Stencils-Pencils-Patterned Paper.  I went with stencils and patterned paper.  I've had this embossing paste stenciled background on my desk for ages - so excited to finally use it!  I cut some PTI butterflies (things with wings for AAA!) out from patterned paper and cardstock and popped them up on foam tape.  The sentiment is from Mama Elephant.

Supplies Used:

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

Patterned Paper:  Doodlebug

Stamps:  (Sentiment from Labeled Messages) Mama Elephant

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black Black) Tsukineko

Die:  (Butterflies) Papertrey Ink

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

Plaid Baby Welcome

I've got two cards today for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  I haven't made any baby cards in ages and this sketch also looked like a good opportunity to use some more patterned paper.  I've combined a Simon Says Stamp die cut sentiment with a Hero Arts teddy bear and some MFT (pink) and Lawn Fawn (blue) patterned papers.

Our lockdown has been extended for two more weeks but it looks like a few retail stores (hardware, garden supplies & pet supplies) will be able to open for limited hours starting next week.  Hooray!  It's been so frustrating to be home knowing there's a million projects we could be working on if we just had the supplies.  Fingers crossed we'll be able to get a few things accomplished in the next couple of weeks.  

Hope you're all staying safe and well!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Pretty in Pink, Bermuda Bay, Smokey Slate, Basic Black) Stampin; Up

Patterned Paper:  (Pink from County Fair Plaid 6x6) My Favourite Things, (Blue from Perfectly Plaid 6x6) Lawn Fawn

Stamps:  (Bear from New Baby) Hero Arts, (Sentiment from Just Hatched) Mama Elephant

Inks:  (VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko
Embossing Powder:  (Opaque Bright White Super Fine) Wow

Dies:  (Welcome) Simon Says Stamp

Other:  (Nuvo White Crystal Drops) Tonic

Sending Hugs

I haven't played along with the Newton's Nook Inky Paws challenge in ages so I figured it was time to give those stamps some love.  This image of Newton cuddled up on a giant ball of yarn was made for this sketch and, although this was not the paper I was originally looking for, I knew once I saw it that it was perfect.  Things came together quickly after that and I'm really pleased with the final result.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Papertrey Ink, (Rose Red, Basic Black) Stampin; Up

Patterned Paper:  Paper Pizazz

Stamps:  (All from Newton Unwinds) Newton's Nook

Inks:  (VersaMark, Memento Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko,

Embossing Powder:  (Opaque Bright White Super Fine) Wow

Dies:  (Stitched rectangle) Mama Elephant

Markers:  (R11, RV34, C1, C3, C5) Copic

Other:  (Nuvo White Crystal Drops) Tonic

CASology #365

Welcome to Week 365 of CASology!  Take a look at the cue word for this week:

I've had this tiny Taylored Expressions kite for ages but I'm pretty sure this is the first time it's seen the light of day.  This is the time of year when lots of kites start appearing in the skies here in Bermuda all building up to Good Friday which is a day of kite flying, codfish cakes and hot cross buns for us.  Sadly the packed beaches and parks with kites vying for airspace will probably not be happening this year so I'm looking forward to seeing all your gorgeous kite designs instead.

Looking forward to seeing what direction the cue word takes you.  Check out the gorgeousness from the rest of the design team then play along!

Deepti Stephens

Deidre Payne

Jacquie Southas 

Jen Wills

Joyce Mehrberg

Karen Haman

Melissa Chipperfield

Milka Gubo 

Nancy Elrick

Sandie Munroe

Sue Symens

This week's guest designer:

Claire

Link your creations to the CASology blog by Monday, 13 April (CDT).

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (Textured White) Bazzill, (Melon Mambo, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Sentiment from Type It) Mama Elephant

Inks:  (VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Dies:  (Kite) Taylored Expressions, (Stitched clouds) Lil' Inker Designs