CAS(E) This Sketch 100!

Hello there!  I was so excited when Chrissy Larson contacted me to help celebrate the 100th sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch!  I was a member of the design team from November 2012 - June 2014 and I give CTS full credit for helping me overcome my fear of sketches.  I play along now and then and always check out the latest creations from the design team - it's a stellar group of ladies!  Anyway I spent a ridiculously long time on a card before finally admitting to myself that it just wasn't working and I needed to start over. Thankfully once I saw Therese's card over at Muse this idea came together very quickly and easily.  I hope you'll play along and make this 100th challenge a super special one!    

I'm also playing along with the Moxie Fab Tree-Mendous Trees challenge and the Simon Says Wednesday Star challenge.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Gumball Green) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Sentiment)  Woodware

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Die:  (Nesting Star) Lifestyle Crafts

Punch:  (1/2" circle) Marvy Uchida

Jumping on the Bandwagon

Okay, so I know I'm waaaaay late for this bandwagon but I have never been very good at keeping up with trends.  And even when I do get my hands on trendy products it takes me ages to get around to using them.  Take the stencil and spray mists that I used here - I had to wipe the dust off of both of them before I started!  Ah well, better late than never.  And you know what? I just might try this again.  It was pretty fun and I'm pleased with the final result.  So pleased in fact that I'm going to enter it into the Virginia's View stencil challenge and the Moxie Fab stencil challenge.  Yee haw!  Now off to dust off some more stencils…

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (Smokey Slate, Basic Grey) Stampin' Up

Specialty Paper:  (Watercolour paper) Mead

Stamps:  (Sentiment from Always Here) Skipping Stones Designs

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black), Tsukineko

Die:  (Tilted Banners) Simon Says Stamp

Die Cuts:  (Paper Revelie Noir Butterflies) Making Memories

Stencil:  (Circle Graph Mask) Studio Calico

Mists:  (Mister Huey Boss Lady) Studio Calico, (Perfect Pearl Mist) Ranger

Gems:  (Cupcake assortment) Doodlebug

Starry Congrats

** This is my 2nd post for the day.  For my CASology post please scroll down or 

click here.**

Did you see that this month's muse at CASE Study is Donna Mikasa?  She's a super talented CAS designer who rocks bright and cheery pops of colour.  This week we're to CASE her sweet thank you card.  I immediately thought of this star from Fresh Squeezed Stamps and wanted to use my Hero Arts inks.  I'm really digging the fun colours!  I think I may do a couple other designs with monochromatic stars in blues and pinks for baby cards as well.  I was kind of wishing I had a Wink of Stella pen to add some glitter to all of my stars but since I don't I added a dot of Stickles to the centre of each one for a little sparkle.  I also want to link this card to the One-Layer Simplicity Challenge.  I don't make too many one-layer cards as I'm not that confident with my stamping.  Maybe this challenge will help me to get a little braver?  The challenge this week is to restock your card stash.  I was thinking maybe I should focus on a big occasion like birthday cards or something but congrats card are often needed too so I can now consider my Congrats card stash 1 card richer (making a grand total of… 1).  

ETA:  I had also intended to link this to the Moxie Fab Trendy Star Power challenge!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill

Stamps:  (Star from Weather Through, Sentiment from You Said It) Fresh Squeezed Stamps

Inks:  (Bubble Gum, Orange Soda, Butter Bar, Green Hills, Tide Pool, Stone Wash) Hero Arts

Glitter:  (Star Dust Stickles) Ranger

Gems:  Recollections

Golden Anniversary

Hi there and happy Friday!  I'm popping in with an entry for the Moxie Fab All That Glitters Is Gold challenge.  It came along at the perfect time as I was recently asked to make a golden anniversary card for a friend's parents.  I tend to shy away from gold on my cards. (Remember how I avoided it all together for the CASology gold challenge?)  Anyway I couldn't hide from it this time.  It had to make an appearance and not only did I not hide from it but I used it in two different ways. 

Originally I had planned to cut the numbers and emboss them so that they'd end up a bright, shiny gold.  That didn't work so well though as I used gold embossing powder on letters cut from black cardstock.  I ended up with numbers with a bit of a golden shimmer. They looked cool but weren't really going to stand out against the black card base.  To solve that problem I cut the Paper Smooches Bam Bubble dies from gold card and layered them behind the numbers.  I'm pretty pleased with how it came out and my friend loved it too. Whew!  (I always stress so much about special orders...) 

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (Black) Gina K

Stamps:  (Glasses from Happily Ever After, Sentiment from Claire's ABCs) Lawn Fawn

Ink:  (VersaMark) Tsukineko

Embossing Powder:  (Seafoam White, Gold) Ranger

Dies:  (Bam Bubbles) Paper Smooches, (By the Numbers) Papertrey Ink

Other:  Glossy Accents

CAS(E) This Sketch #46

Welcome to Week 46 of CAS(E) This Sketch!  Take a look at this week's sketch by Karolyn Loncon:

This sketch helped pull together two challenges for me - the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge and the Moxie Fab Stickers and Tape challenge.  I pulled out these sweet little Fresh Squeezed Stamps sunflowers to use but was having trouble figuring out how to work with the small image.  The layout for this week's sketch was perfect as it helped me to create a small clustered focal point.  As for the background, I have a couple of different woodgrain stamps but they just weren't working for me on this card.  Then my eye fell on my woodgrain washi tape and the lightbulb went off - it's perfect for layering on the card base!  I love it and it actually looks like a piece of patterned paper.  Maybe this sketch can help you out with a few challenges. Take a look at the rest of the amazing cards by the design team and then play along with us!  

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill,  (Crushed Curry, Wild Wasabi, Chocolate Chip) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Sunflowers from Friendly Folk, Sentiment from You Said It) Fresh Squeezed Stamps

Ink:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Die:  (Double Ended Banners) Papertrey Ink

Tape:  (Woodgrain) Crafty Basics

Ombre City

Good morning! Popping in with a quick post before I head off to work.  I had to make a birthday card for a co-worker's sister and the current Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger was a great inspiration piece to work from (although it gave me some serious cake cravings!).  The recipient is studying architecture so I thought the buildings would be appropriate. I think a pink city is kind of cool but I don't imagine it would stay this clean for too long!  LOL! Have a lovely Friday!

ETA:  I meant to also add this card to the fun over at Seize the Birthday.  Clearly it's too early in the morning to be blogging!  

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (Pretty In Pink, Regal Rose, Melon Mambo, Rose Red, Rich Razzleberry) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (It's Your Birthday from Say What) Mama Elephant, (Celebrate from Celebrate) Avery Elle

Inks:  (Melon Mambo, Rich Razzleberry) Stampin' Up

Die:  (Die-Namics Skyline Border) My Favourite Things

It's Official! I'm Moxie Fab!

I'm puttin' on my dancin' shoes to celebrate being the latest Moxie Fabber of the Week!  I was so excited to receive an email from Cath inviting me to join this fabulous list of crafters.  In fact, I was so excited that I answered all my questions and had them back to her within 24 hours.  LOL!  Reading it back now, I wish I'd spent a little more time pondering it all but c'est la vie.  It is done.  And I'm still excited.  

The question that stumped me most was the one asking about a paper crafter that you admire.  Just one?  Not possible.  I was only able to mention a few in my interview but I'm going to take a page out of Lynn Mangan's book and mention more people here. 

In the (nearly) 3 years that I've been blogging I have "met" so many incredible paper crafters.  This crafty blogging community never ceases to amaze me - people cheer each other on, share tips, tricks and even crafty stash and offer support during life's rougher moments.  I love finding new crafters, learning from their style and watching their creative evolution.  

I follow a ridiculous number of blogs.  Sometimes I think I spend more time blog-surfing than crafting but there's just so much yumminess to see.  There are some women though who not only continually amaze me with their creations but have also been sweet, supportive and made me laugh along the way.  I am so grateful to each and every one of them for the little kindnesses they've bestowed on me with their comments, messages and the occasional surprise gift.  Some of these names are well known in our blogging world but I encourage you to check out any that you don't recognise as each one of them is far too awesome to be missed!  The only order to the list is that it's (roughly) chronological in terms of when I found them:   

Lynn Mangan

Karen Baker

Kim Singdahlsen

Laurie Willison

Therese Calvird

Emily Leiphart

Kasia Curry

Amy Tsuruta

Brandi Hall

Tenia Nelson

Lisa Arana

Jay Gee

Chan Vuong

Jocelyn Olson

Stacy Rogers

Helen Fournier

Jenny Mullens

Jackie Rockwell

JJ Bolton

Jessi Fogan

Lindsey Martin-Penny

N@ Ali

Christy Q

Maureen Morton

Erin Thiem

Joyce

Michelle Williams

Darnell Knauss

Melissa Chipperfield

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Tracey McNeely

Rosemary Dennis

Maureen Merritt

Meghan McMillan

Judy Marino

Deepti

Chrissy Larson

Kelly Griglione

Kimberley Wiener

Gillian Ross

'Tis The Season

Okay, I know I said the other day I wasn't quite ready to think about Christmas yet but this idea popped into my head while I was making yesterday's zombie card and I couldn't resist! It also gives me a chance to play along with the Holiday Card Challenge at the Moxie Fab World.  I have a coworker who I know is going to snatch this up the minute she sees it although it's one of those I almost want to keep.  Is it wrong to love one of your own cards so much that you don't want to let it go?

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (Basic Black) Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper:  (Santa Claus) My Mind's Eye

Stamps:  (Zombie from Zombies, Letters from Sweet Alpha Doodles) Sweet Stamp Shop, (Hat from Hats Off To You) Lawn Fawn, (Sentiment from CL630) Hero Arts

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

Embossing Powder:  (Clear) Ranger

Markers:  (R20, R27, R29, G94, YR00, C-1, C-2, C-3) Copic  

...and Moxie Fab White

Back again with my second Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger entry.  After dithering so much about the card base colour for my first card I definitely wanted to go white for this card.  When I first saw the Trigger I immediately thought of this particular patterned paper of which I only had a scrap remaining.  Thankfully it was just enough for this Sweet Stamp Shop teapot!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill

Stamps:  (Teapot from Afternoon Delight) Sweet Stamp Shop, (Sentiment from Lunar Lights) Lawn Fawn

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

Embossing Powder:  (Clear) Ranger

Gems:  Recollections

  

Moxie Fab Bright...

How sweet is the little teacup that Cath chose for this week's Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger?  I love the colourful flowers and I wanted to create an equally cheery teacup.  I pulled out some patterned paper of unknown origin and stamped and embossed this big ol' Market Street Stamps cup.  I struggled a bit with placement and sentiment but finally settled on this arrangement.  I dithered for ages about the colour of the card base.  Initially I was going to go white as I figured it would make the bright colours really pop but I finally decided that this Island Indigo really made the cup colours feel that much richer.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo, Pool Party) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Teacup from Enjoy Today) Market Street Stamps, (Steam from Coffee Cozy) Lil Inker Designs, (Sentiment from Hot Concoctions) Paper Smooches

Inks:  (VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Embossing Powder:  (Clear) Ranger

Gems:  Recollections

Moxie Collage

The inspiration picture for the latest Tuesday Trigger challenge at the Moxie Fab World is a bright and cheery collage.  It immediately made me think of think of this Hero Arts bird collage stamp.  I won it ages ago and it's been sitting patiently waiting to be used.  (NBUS alert!!)  I have always been pretty intimidated by it as it's much busier than my usual style but I decided to see if I could make it work for me.  Some cheery colours and paper piecing later and I like it!  It's still busy and collagey but I feel like it's also me.  Mission accomplished.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (Pretty In Pink, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Crumb Cake) Stampin' Up

Stamp:  (Bird Collage) Hero Arts, (Very Vintage Greetings) WPlus9

Ink:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Gems:  Recollections

CAS(E) This Sketch #40

Welcome to Week 40 of CAS(E) This Sketch!  Take a look at this week's sketch by Karolyn Loncon:

I decided to use this week's sketch to play along with the Moxie Fab World's Trendy Triangles Challenge.  I stamped the row of Market Street Stamps triangles three times and then coloured them in with some rainbow Copics.  I added some embossed lines on either side of the design to frame it and a gem to finish off the sentiment.  I also did a version where I only coloured some of the triangles.  I really like all the white triangles.  I think I may make a set of these using a few different colour combos.     

I'm also going to enter this card in Simon Says Stamp's Triangles Challenge.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Gina K

Stamp:  (Triangles from Hit The Mark) Market Street Stamps, (Sentiment from Sentiment Sampler) Paper Smooches

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

Gem:  Recollections

Markers:  (R29, YR16, Y17, G07, B29, V09, R85) Copic

4 For 1 Birthday

Hello and welcome to a new week!  I have a 4 for 1 challenge card today.  Both the Moxie Fab World and Seize the Birthday are hosting birthday card challenges and one can never have too many birthday cards in one's stash!  I used the bright and cheery colour palette from ColourQ and the CAS sketch from the Paper Players to put my card together.  I played with some neglected Hero Arts background stamps to add some texture to the circle and butterfly and used gems to create antennae.  I love these bold colours together and how they pop off of the white.  It totally says, "Celebrate!" to me!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Raspberry Ripple, Lucky Limeade, Island Indigo) Stampin' Up, (Turquoise) DCWV

Stamps:  (Sentiment from CL340, Envelope Pattern, Flourish Background) Hero Arts

Inks:  (VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Dies:  (Signature Series: Butterfly, Double-Ended Banner) Papertrey Ink, (Nesties Standard Circles Large) Spellbinders

Gems:  Recollections

A Little Romance

Hi there!  Today I'm playing along with the current Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger.  I was inspired by the mint colour and the lace and I'm continuing with my quest to dig into my stash.  The paper was bought back in 2007, the lace tape was a gift from Amy Tsuruta last year and the stamps are being used for the first time (by me - they're actually second hand and had lots of love from the previous owner).  I feel good about using hoarded stuff but I sure would love to do some shopping!  LOL! Every once in a while I'll go fill up a cart at an online store, stare at it wistfully for a while and then close it.  I'm determined I'm going to hold out!  

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Mint) Paper Garden

Stamps:  (Flower from Folk Art Florals, Sentiment from Very Vintage Greetings) WPlus9

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko, (Calypso Coral) Stampin' Up

Die:  (Heart Prints) Papertrey Ink

Gems:  Recollections

Lace tape

Starry Birthday

Good morning!  I'm popping in with a birthday card for two challenges - the Little Tangles birthday challenge and the Moxie Fab Birthday Card challenge.  This is another one of my "what was I thinking" cards.  LOL!  I stamped the wavy lines from the Little Tangles set which was easy enough. Then I took a star from the Halloween Scene collection, stamped it 24 times, coloured them in and fussy cut all of them!  I don't know what possesses me to cut out these tiny images but I'm glad I did it because I think the end result is really fun!  Off to the Craft Cave to carry on with the special orders.  Have a lovely day!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill

Stamps:  (Wavy lines from Little Tangles, Stars from Halloween Scene) Neat and Tangled, (Sentiment from CL582) Hero Arts

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Markers:  (R29, YR04, Y08, G07, B29, V09) Copic

Hope Your Day Is Sweet

My wish for rain almost came true today as we woke up to thunder and lightning at 5:45am. Atticus did his guard dog duty and went tearing outside to tell off whoever was making all that noise. :)  Despite the noise and light show we only got a sprinkle of rain.  The rest of the day was just cloudy and muggy.  Good enough for staying in the Craft Cave though!  

I'm working on my special orders but I also took some time to play.  I combined a few challenges for this card.  The colours were taken from the latest Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger challenge.  As soon as I saw the inspiration photo I thought of these Doodlebug papers that have been languishing in my stash.  I paired them up with the sketch from the Fusion challenge and used stamps from the Sweet Stamp Shop - I'll be joining their Use What You Have Challenge since my papers are from 2005!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Basic Black) Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper:  (Obviously Orange Stripes, Obviously Orange Grid, Tangerine It's About Time, Limeade Sweet Stripes) Doodlebug

Stamps:  (Candies and "sweet" from Sweet Tooth) Sweet Stamp Shop, ("Hope your day is" from So 80s) WPlus9

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

Embossing powder:  (Seafoam White) Ranger

Dies:  (Nesties Labels One) Spellbinders, (Double-Ended Banners) Papertrey Ink

Little Boys

Ronnie, my dear friend from university, and his wife have just had their first child - a bouncing, baby boy!  I wanted to send them a little card to welcome him and I thought this week's ColourQ colours would be perfect for it.  I pulled out Papertrey Ink's Hanging Out dies and stamps and some Pebbles patterned paper and went to work.  I often make clothing lines with this set but this time I decided to pop up a panel with the die cuts on it and lay the papers underneath.  It fits in with the negative die cut challenges running at both A Passion for Papertey and the Moxie Fab World so I'm going to link it up.  Hope your week is off to a great start!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Midnight Muse) Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper:  (Family Ties collection) Pebbles

Stamps:  (Sentiment from Hanging Out) Papertrey Ink

Ink:  (VersaMark)  Tsukineko

Embossing Powder:  (Seafoam White)  Ranger

Dies:  (Hanging Out) Papertrey Ink

Punch:  (Corner rounder) Marvy Uchida

Gems:  (Mini Pearls) Doodlebug

Gradient Sparks

Hi there!  Popping in on a drizzly Sunday afternoon to share a card for the latest Paper Smooches Sparks challenge.  I'm also going to play along with the Moxie Fab World's Ombre Challenge.  I embossed the flower 4 times, coloured them with Copics and then cut them out and popped each layer up on Pop Dots.  I wanted some kind of flourish in the corner of the card so I was excited to find this patterned paper from Simple Stories' Documented collection.  Love when that happens!  Hope you've all had a lovely weekend!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill

Patterned Paper:  (Documented collection) Simple Stories

Stamps:  (Flower from Pretty Momma, Sentiment from Chit Chat) Paper Smooches

Ink:  (VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black)  Tsukineko, (Early Espresso) Stampin' Up

Embossing Powder:  (Clear)  Ranger

Gems:  Michaels

Markers:  (R17, Y38, Y08, YG23) Copic