With Sympathy

I've had a Post-It note on my desk for ages that says, "Woodgrain on Lucky Limeade."  I can't remember when or why I wrote it but it seemed like it could work on a card for the latest ColourQ challenge.  I paired the idea with Papertrey Ink's In Bloom flower which is quite possibly my all time favourite flower image.  I stamped it with Wisteria Wonder ink on WW cardstock, fussy cut it and then outlined it with a WW-esque Copic.  I love the way all those petals pop now!  I'm also going to play along with the Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp.  

I ended up doing a lot more work in the yard yesterday than just delivering beer!  The boys could not, of course, stop at just replanting parts of the hedge.  Oh no.  They had to take an entire tree out too.  Now normally chopping down trees makes me really sad but this one was not particularly healthy and also was so dense that nothing was growing under it including the hedge.  So out it came.  Unfortunately it was at the bottom of the hill on our property and all of it had to be dragged up the hill so it could be trucked away.  I did alooooooot of dragging!  It was worth it though - it's so much brighter now down in that corner of the yard and also our kitchen!  Next job will be to get some grass plugs in there which will hopefully thrive now that there's sunlight in that corner.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (Lucky Limeade, Always Artichoke, Pool Part, Wisteria Wonder)  Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Flower & leaves from In Bloom) Papertrey Ink, Sentiment from Growth, Woodgrain background) Market Street Stamps

Inks:  (Always Artichoke, Wisteria Wonder, Early Espresso) Stampin; Up

Gems:  (Lilac assortment) Doodlebug

Marker:  (BV23) Copic

Birthday Blossoms

Hello, Saturday!  The box of cards I have for sale at work is seriously depleted so I'm hoping this will be a productive weekend.  I can never have enough birthday cards in there so I used the latest colours from the Colour Throwdown for this one.  I used my Memory Box Grove Branch die again although this time I steered clear of the fiddly leaves.  I must figure out a way to use them that won't drive me insane...  I also added some seed beads (that have been collecting dust for a while) to the centre of the flowers to give them a bit more sparkle and texture.  I'm going to play along with the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge as well because one can always make use of a SSS gift voucher!  :)

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Primrose Petals, Raspberry Ripple, Chocolate Chip)  Stampin' Up

Stamp:  (Sentiment from Simple Salutations) Market Street Stamps

Ink:  (VersaMark) Tsukineko

Embossing Powder:  (Seafoam White) Ranger

Die:  (Grove Branch) Mamory Box

Punch:  (Small flower) Posh Impressions

Beads:  Making Memories

Ribbon Rock

Hi there!  Today was a public holiday in Bermuda where most people fly kites (see this post for the background on that).  Unfortunately there was a wild north wind which was not at all conducive to kite flying and I only saw two all day.  Normally everywhere you look in the sky you can see them so it was a bit of a bummer.  After taking Atti for a quick swim I hightailed it to the Craft Cave and got some cards done.  I wanted to play along with the latest Runway Inspired Challenge before it was too late.  I was inspired by the glittery question mark and the pink, satin skirt.  I've had these glittery K & Co letters for years and the satin ribbon I laid behind the die cut letters has been kicking around for a while too so I feel good about making use of some neglected stash. I'm also going to play along with Simon Says Stamps' Anything Goes challenge.  

Tomorrow I'm hoping for a big chunk of time in the Craft Cave since Luis and our neighbour will be busy in the yard.  Some of the plants in the hedge that divides our properties have died off so they're going to be pulling them out and replanting.  I did offer my assistance but I'm guessing they'll be happier without me getting in the way.  I'll just bring them a beer now and then and call my job done!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (Basic Black)  Stampin' Up

Dies:  (Block Alphabet) Papertrey Ink

Chipboard: (Glittered Twinkle Type) K & Co

Gems:  Michaels

Ribbon:  Craft supply

CAS(E) This Sketch #21

Welcome to Week 21 of CAS(E) This Sketch!  Take a look at this week's sketch designed by Lisa Arana:  

It's not often I look at a sketch and have an image immediately come to mind but this time the first thing that popped into my head was a typewriter.  I also knew I had some patterned papers with letters in circles buried somewhere and after a bit of digging I found this Cosmo Cricket paper - perfect!  I did some tone on tone stamping to the red strip for a bit of texture, popped up the typewriter and voila!  What do you see in these shapes?  Play along and show us!  Check out the rest of the design team cards and then get to work!

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (Kraft) Papertrey Ink, (Real Red, River Rock)  Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper:  (Circa 1934) Cosmo Cricket

Stamps:  (Typewriter and sentiment) Hero Arts, (Cane background) Market Street Stamps

Inks:  (VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

CASology #37

Welcome to Week 37 of CASology!  Here's the cue word for this week:

I searched up and down the Craft Cave for a specific sentiment stamp for this challenge but couldn't find it anywhere.  Perhaps I just imagined I have it.  Onto my wish list it goes!  I know I could have printed the sentiment from the computer but as I've mentioned before, the computer is at the opposite end of the house from the Craft Cave and, being that I'm generally pretty lazy, I decided to go with a different design altogether.  I decided to use the cue word to start my sentiment and hope for a sweet day for the recipient.  I used green and red Smooch glitz on the cherries which really doesn't show up in the photo but looks good in real life.  Now, I'm HOPING to see some fabulous designs from you guys so check out the rest of the team and then get to work!  :)

Ardyth Percy-Robb

Melissa Chipperfield

Rosemary Dennis

Tracey McNeely

Judy Marino

Maureen Merritt

Meghan McMillan

Link your creations to the CASology blog and remember that submissions are due by 4pm CST Sunday, 31 March.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill

Stamps:  (Cherries from Apr '12 KOM - Follow Your Own, Sentiment from Mar '11 KOM - Just You) Unity Stamp Company

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

Gems:  (Pearls) Dollarama - Courtesy of Jessi!

Shine:  Smooch

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