Harmony Hedgehog

Hello!

I've got a card to share for two challenges today - Just Add Ink (Just Add "H") and Simon Says Wednesday (Christmas/Happy Holidays).  This is a triple "H" card with harmony, holidays and a hedgehog!  This Penny Black hedgie has been with me for a long time but this may be his first time getting inked up.  (Shame on me!)  Both the Hero Arts sentiment (also an oldie but goodie) and the Jillibean Soup paper seem tailor-made for this little guy.  I went with a yellow card base to show everything is lit up by his little lantern.

Supplies Used:

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

Patterned Paper:  (Holly Berry Borscht 6x6) Jillibean Soup

Stamps:  (Hedgehog) Penny Black, (Shadow from Shadows) Paper Smooches, (Sentiment from Very Merry Christmas) Hero Arts

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

Dies:  (Oval) SugarPea Designs

Markers:  (R27, R32, Y00, Y15, E08, W1, W3, W5) Copic

Glitter: (Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Glitter Gloss) Tonic

Other:  (Nuvo White Crystal Drops) Tonic

CASology #320

Welcome to Week 320 of CASology!  Take a look at the cue word for this week:

This little dude in his snazzy red glasses is most definitely a cool cat.  I used the Jillibean paper behind him to emphasize that not only is he a cool cat but he's a superstar too - double the compliment!

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!

Anna Uhras

Bharati Nayudu

Deidre Payne

Jacquie Southas 

Janet Ribet

Jen Wills

Joyce Mehrberg

Karen Haman

Marcie Sharp

Melissa Chipperfield 

Rachel Bergfeld

Sue Symens

This week's guest designer:

Jane W.

This week's sponsor:

Lawn Fawn

** We're back to weekly challenges now that the summer is over!**

Link your creations to the CASology blog by Monday, 12 November at 9am (CDT).

Supplies Used:

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

Patterned Paper:  (Homemade 6 Bean Soup 6x6) Jillibean Soup

Stamps:  (Cat & sentiment from Encouraging Animals) Simon Says Stamp

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

Die:  (Circles from Burst die) Avery Elle

Markers:  (RV10, R29, C1, C3) Copic

Other:  (Nuvo Autumn Red Crystal Drops) Tonic

Poinsettia Joy

Hello!

Today I'm sharing a Clean and Layered card for the challenge at The Card Concept.  I took my inspiration from the poinsettias, the wood table and the gold of the lights.  I spritzed some Brushos onto watercolor paper and once that dried I stamped the flower and leaves onto them.  I then fussy cut them, popped them up on foam tape and added a sparkly sentiment.

Supplies Used:

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

Patterned Paper:  (Woodgrain from Holly Berry Borscht 6x6) Jellybean Soup

Stamps:  (Flower from Poinsettia and Pine) Altenew

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukeniko

Die:  (Joy) Reverse Confetti

Paint:  (Terracotta, Brilliant Red, Lime Green, Sea Green Brushos) Colourcraft

Glitter:  (Goldenrod Stickles) Ranger

Back in Action!

Hello hello!  We are back on the rock after a fabulous vacation in Vermont and New Hampshire.  We rented a gorgeous house out in the woods that was so peaceful - it was tough to leave it.  Sadly reality was calling and it's back to regular life now.  

I actually managed to get some cards made today. Usually it take me ages to get back into the card making groove when I've been away from it for a while but today felt pretty good.  First up is a card for the Paper Smooches Sparks Anything Goes challenge.  This came together fairly quickly as it's just simple paper piecing.  I love that laughing moon - he just makes me happy.  :)

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (Daffodil Delight, Night of Navy, Smokey Slate) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (All from Cosmos) Paper Smooches

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Gems:  Recollections

Next up is a card for the AEIHeartU Sparkle challenge and the Simon Says Sparkle and Shine challenge.  I used the little balloon die from AE's Icon Fill in the Blank and the sentiment is from Storybook.  I also made a version with blue balloons.  Gotta cover all the bases and I know my little card stand at the animal hospital is in desperate need of restocking so I need to make as many cards as possible this weekend.

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Pink glitter) DCWV, (Smokey Slate) Stampin' Up

Stamps:  (Sentiment from Storybook) Avery Elle

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Embossing Powder:  (Clear Super Fine Detail) Ranger

Die:  (Icon Fill in the Blank) Avery Elle

Last but not least is a card for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge and the Seize the Birthday Anything Goes challenge.  I used a little strip of this adorable Jillibean Soup paper on the side and paper pieced the Amy Tangerine camera which I love and is one of the few stamps that has gotten more than one inking. The sentiment is a combo of Mama Elephant stamps.  That's it for tonight.  I'll post the rest of the cards tomorrow! 

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) PaperTrey Ink, (Riding Hood Red, Daffodil Delight, Night of Navy) Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper:  (Sightseeing Stew 6x6) Jillibean Soup

Stamps:  (Camera from Aspire) Amy Tangerine, (Smile from Flashy Letters, Sentiment from Say What) Mama Elephant

Inks:  (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko,

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

Drowning in Patterned Paper

Despite the fact that I primarily consider myself a CAS carmaker, I really love patterned paper.  A lot.  Especially those little 6x6 paper pads.  They're just so cute and perfect and square and sit so nicely on my shelf.  I flip through them and admire the patterns and then put them back and stamp a card.  But now I really have to get using those papers because I might have gone on a bit of a bender at the i {heart} papers closing sale…  I mean come on, they were 50% off!!  How's a gal supposed to resist that especially when I've been really good in the shopping department for the last few months.  I couldn't fight it and now my 6x6 shelf is double stacked. Oy vey!  So this card for the current RetroSketches challenge is my start at using that paper.  At this rate it may take me 20 years to use it all so if I have to lock myself away in the Craft Cave more often so be it.  I'll accept that lot in life!  :D

Supplies Used:

Cardstock:  (White) Bazzill, (Bermuda Bay, Chocolate Chip) Stampin' Up

Patterned Paper:  (Sweet & Sour Soup 6x6) Jillibean Soup

Stamps:  (Typewriter & sentiment from Just My Type) Lawn Fawn

Ink: (VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko

Lawn Fawn Shine

Hello hello!  Today I'm playing along with the Lawnscaping paper piecing challenge and the CAS on Sunday kraft and twine challenge.  I pulled out some Jillibean Soup papers to piece the lantern and letters and to create the background panel.  I embossed the shine marks with white embossing powder and then coloured it with a yellow Copic since my yellow EP was darker than I wanted it to be.  I love the pattern on the lantern and the pop of red in the middle of it.  Hope you all are shining brightly today!     

 

Supplies Used:
Cardstock:  (Kraft) Papertrey Ink
Patterned Paper:  (Handmade 6 Bean Soup) Jillibean Soup
Stamp:  (Lantern & brightly from Lunar Lights, Letters from Quinn's ABCs) Lawn Fawn
Ink:  (VersaMark, VersaFine Onyx Black) Tsukineko
Embossing Powder:  (Seafoam White) Ranger
Copic:  Y08

More Cosmo Cricket

I realise I'm being a bit of an eager beaver bogging twice on my first day but I don't think I'll get back on here in the next couple of days.

I carried on with my exercise of seeing how many cards I could make from one paper collection and came up with a few more from Cosmo Cricket's Garden Variety collection:

Cardstock: The Stampin' Place card blanks, Bazill Basics, Paperbilities  Stamp: Paper Source  Inks: Palette, Ranger Distress Tea Dye  Other:  Jillibean Soup Journalling Sprouts, Doodlebug Design rub-ons & buttons, I-Kan-Dee twine  

I'm really having fun with this and it's definitely helping me produce more cards.  Hope you enjoy the results!

Joining The Blogosphere

I have spent the last few months perusing multiple card blogs and not only loving them but wondering how everyone keeps up with them. All these busy working moms manage to produce these gorgeous and fun blogs on a regular basis - I really doubted I could do that. The more I read them though the more I've been wanting to get in on the fun so here I am. Not sure I'll be as prolific as some others but I'd like a place to post my cards and my random thoughts!

I've been dabbling in card making for about 3 1/2 years now. Initially I used my photographs to make note cards and then I discovered a few card making magazines and started to explore that a little further. To be honest, I've spent most of the last few years "collecting" card making supplies and not making all that many cards! I've filled up a room (my Craft Cave) with all sorts of goodies and it's only in the last few months that I've really made some progress in actually creating cards. I seem to have just as much fun collecting and organising my goodies as I do putting them to use! I figured if I set up a blog then it might help to spur me on to make cards as well as just oohing and aahing over everyone else's - and also to finally make use of all my goodies! So here I am.

One of my problems is that I have so much stuff that I'm often overwhelmed as to where to start and what to use. Sometimes too much choice is not a good thing - especially for indecisive types such as myself. So I recently decided that I would pick one thing (a stamp or a paper collection) and see how much I could come up with using that as a springboard. I started digging around and found the Early Bird paper collection from Cosmo Cricket. It came with patterned paper, chipboard and stickers. I love the retro look and quickly produced 4 cards:

Carstock: The Stamp Pad Co. card blanks, Paperbilities cardstock  Other: Nestabilities Labels One

Simple, quick and cute!  It was a good exercise for me as I can spends hours and hours dithering over just one card.  This forced me to focus and work with what was there and not keep wandering off to look for something else.  I then pulled out Cosmo Cricket's Garden Variety collection to try the same exercise but only got one done before I had to dash off to other things:

Other:  Jillibean Soup Journaling Sprouts


I'm definitely looking forward to trying this some more and will let you know how it goes!