CASE Study #193

Here's Wida's last card at the CASE Study challenge for this month:

And here's my take on it:

supplies: kraft card base, white and rose cardstock, Hero Arts Dogwood stamp and the butterflies from one of their first clear sets called Designer Butterflies, Audrey Blue and spun sugar distress inks, WeRMemory Keepers zig-zag stitch and gold thread, Simon's Oh Happy Day die, aqua and gold sequins

I used roughly the same colors that Wida did, and substituted these little butterfly flights for her arrows.  

Thanks for stopping by today!

Hello Sunshine!

Here's a new (to me) challenge: Freshly Made Sketches.  This one appealed to me, and I saved it earlier this week as a possible one to enter.  I added, for time's sake, the additional requirement for myself to use up some of the scraps and leftovers from other projects.  Here's my entry:

supplies: a tag made from a scrap of watercolor cardstock that was inked with an embossing folder and distress inks, Simon Says Stamp's small hello die, Avery Elle Simply Said Hello stamp set, PTI's Bloom Builders #3 dies, MME black enamel dot, and a Studio Calico paper clip with bow

This is a CAS challenge, so I fought myself to leave it as is........normally I would have embossed that background......but I sat on my hands.  What do you think?

As always, thanks so much for your visit today - have a great weekend!

Hello Gorgeous

Like everyone else, I've fallen in love with Winnie & Walter's stamps, in particular their beautiful handwritten sentiments.  They have just posted their 2nd Playdate challenge, and here's my take on the inspiration.

supplies: Winnie & Walter The Big, the Bold, & the Happy and The Big, the Bold, and You, Technique Tuesday Two-Steppin', picked raspberry, bubble-gum, and mowed lawn inks, gold sequins from Lawn Fawn

While I had these stamps out, I decided to make them into a background.

This one started with watercolor paper, and I stamped the solid flower repeatedly in several pinks, added some leaves here and there, and some touches of yellow in the centers of the flowers.  Then I spritzed the whole panel with water until the colors softened and bled.  After drying thoroughly, I stamped my sentiment from The Big, the Bold, and the Happy in versafine black onyx ink and attached it to a card base.  June is the month of roses and anniversaries, so this will go out quite quickly.....

And one more, for my hubby next week - anniversary #43!!

supplies: Simon's Doll Pink card base, Hero Arts Painted Flower, picked raspberry distress ink and peeled paint distress marker, Winnie & Walter's The Big, the Bold and The Happy and The Big, the Bold, and You for my sentiment, sequins from Pretty Pink Posh and Simon Says Stamp

Pink and green is one of my favorite color combinations, so it was a pleasure making these cards.  We have until June 15 to play to win a guest design spot next month!!

Simon Says ..........Anything Goes

Can you believe it's almost the end of May already?  And that means the beginning of summer!  But before we get there it's time for a new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge blog!

Our theme for the last week of each month is traditionally Anything Goes.  This week the design team are using Lil Inker or Newton's Nook products, 2 fairly new companies that make really fun stamps and dies!  Be sure to visit our Simon Says Stamp Wednesday blog if you haven't already to see some fun cards that Guest Designer Lisa and my dt sisters have made this week!

I have 2 cards, both using Lil Inker stamp sets that feature some bold handwritten words.

supplies: Lil Inker Darling Diamonds, Simon's Green Apple and Audrey Blue inks and Hero Arts Mint Julep ink, Simon's Surf Blue cardstock (tiny strip) and Simple Stories SN@P! paper pad, various blue and green sequins

This set has lots of these diamonds in different patterns, along with a dot, which I also used in my design.

I got this Lil' Inker Spot On set just for this word!  I paired it with some Doodlebug Designs washi tapes and a Martha Stewart paper tape, plus some Pretty Pink Posh Springtime Mix sequins and a flower made from Spellbinder's Rose Creations dies, centered with a button with another sequin on top.  I look forward to playing with this set again soon, as it also contains lots of circles suitable to make a Bokeh style design.

Now it's your turn!  Heidi has provided another $50.00 gift voucher

to the fabulous Simon Says Stamp store for the random winner of this challenge!

*Lil' Inker Designs DARLING DIAMONDS Clear Stamp Set LIL113	*Simon Says Stamp Premium Dye Ink Pad GREEN APPLE ink006	*Simon Says Stamp Premium Dye Ink Pad AUDREY BLUE ink018	*Hero Arts Shadow Ink Pad MINT JULEP Mid-Tone 2013 AF246	*Simon Says Stamp Card Stock 100# SURF BLUE SB21	*Simple Stories COLOR VIBE 6 x 6 Sn@p Paper Pad 2824
*Lil' Inker Designs SPOT ON Clear Stamp Set LIL108	*Pretty Pink Posh SPRINGTIME MIX 6mm Sequins	*S5-050 Spellbinders ROSE CREATIONS Donna Salazar

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A song in my heart

I was immediately drawn to the photo inspiration at the current Fusion challenge because of the red dots and the music motif.  I decided to use my washi tape and after choosing the butterfly washi and the Unity sentiment, this card made itself!

supplies: Doodlebug ladybug washi and unknown (maybe Michael's?)  musical butterfly washi, Unity Sing a New Song sentiment, Martha Stewart large and small Monarch butterfly punches, Doodlebug ladybug twine, Sticko red glitter hearts

Thanks for visiting today!

Aqua and Melon

supplies: PTI Bloom Builders #3, Simple Sunflower (sentiment), October Afternoon Farm Girl brads, My Mind's Eye Collectable Notable background, several aqua and melon cardstocks, Nesties oval and scalloped oval dies

Just loved the colors for this month's PTI blog hop, and was so glad to pull out these flower dies and use them again.  Here's our photo inspiration:

Hope you're enjoying this gorgeous weekend!

To You

supplies: watercolor paper, Penny Black Hollyhocks, To You, verafine onyx black ink, clear embossing powder, squeezed lemonade, worn lipstick and peeled paint distress inks diluted with water

Just popping in with another entry for CASology's Flowers challenge.  Love these flowers, but I can't grow them myself - the bugs love them too much!  Such an old-fashioned beauty!  

Thanks for visiting!

Be Grateful and Smile

I haven't played in any My Favorite Things challenges in a long while.  I loved both their Sketch challenge and their Color Palette challenge this time, so I've made a card that works for both of them.  Hope that's okay to do!

supplies: Hero Arts pool and kraft layering paper, Simon's Cotton Candy and Mint cardstocks, Penny Black Life's Messages stamp, Memento Luxe Toffee Crunch ink, versamark ink and white embossing powder, flowers from Michael's, Cuttlebug Cross My Heart embossing folder

Here's the sketch:

and the colors:

I thought that sketch was so cute that I dug out one of my old favorite Pure Innocence images and made another card.  There's alot of this going on around here at this time of year!

supplies: Pure Innocence Bloomin' Good Day, dps from a few MME 6" paper pads, markers, Prima flower, pool and burnt orange cardstock

And another using the lovely colors:

supplies: same cardstocks as above, with the addition of an Authentique pink gingham, MFT Die-Namics Spring Wreath dies, Memory Box Fancy Blossoms dies, pink, white, and aqua pearls, sentiment from a discontinued The Craft's Meow set, Lark Additions, Stampendous Blushing Pink Pastel embossing powder

As always, thanks for visiting!

Guest at Die Cut Divas!

Recently I was contacted by my fellow Hero Hostess Arlene, from Die Cut Divas, to be their guest designer this month!  She did a little interview with me earlier this week, and today 2 of my cards are being featured, using digital images from their sponsor this month, A Day for Daisies. 

I'd love it if you'd go visit Die Cut Divas and leave me some love!  Thanks so much!

CASology: Flower

Here's another entry for the current CASology challenge: Flower.

supplies: Penny Black Iris die, 2 of PB's purple papers, along with Simon's Green Leaf cardstock, Winnie & Walter's The Big, The Bold, and the Happy sentiment

I'm still in love with these bold handwritten sentiments from Winnie & Walter, which reminds me that they've got SEVEN new stamp sets, their 3rd release, being revealed this week!  Can't wait to be able to see them on the 25th!

Adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge: Botanicals.

As always, thanks for stopping by! 

Smile

With 2 design teams less, and more time on my hands, I've been trying to play in more challenges.  Here's a card I made with 2 of them in mind, the Color Throwdown challenge, and also the Muse challenge for this week.

Supplies: MFT Die-Namics Chevron Stripes, Simon Says Stamp flower from Best Mom Ever, leaves from Lawn Fawn's Flutter By, sentiment from Lil Inker's Darling Diamonds, papers from My Mind's Eye, American Crafts, and Lawn Fawn, and enamel dots from Teresa Collins

I decided I wanted to use all tone-on-tone design papers.  You can see them a bit better in the photo below.  I was going to put them on a white card base, but the reverse of the orange paper was adjacent to my elements and I liked them together, so I added it to the mix.  Choosing papers that work together is one of the things that I've carried over from my quilting days, and I still enjoy the process!  I stamped the flower 3 times, cut out smaller sections and pieced them back together again with foam adhesive to give a little more dimension. 

Here are the Color Throwdown colors.  I don't think I'd have thought to put the hot orange with the cool blues and greens, but I love the result!

And here's the card that our Muse for this week, Marion Vagg, made.  As you can see, I followed her sketch:

I enjoyed getting out these chevron dies and playing with them again!  Thanks for visiting!

Simon Says..........Vacation/Travel

Good morning!  Here we are in the middle of the week, which means it's time for a new challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge blog!

This week we've chosen Vacation or Travel as our theme, and the design team are all using Studio Calico products.  They make a great variety of products: stencils, paper, embellishments!  If you have any of their products, we'd love to see you using them, too!  

Many of our vacation and travel plans revolve around visiting our grandkids who live in Texas, and so I made a card to reflect that:

Almost all of the supplies I used are Studio Calico products: papers from their Thataway paper pad, geotags, and a wood veneer airplane.  My sentiment was stamped using an old Hero Arts alphabet set, and I thought it was appropriate for the theme this week!  I am NOT a good traveller, and I've been known to voice this sentiment myself on these long trips!

Now it's your turn!  Heidi has generously provided another $50.00 gift voucher

to her fabulous Simon Says Stamp store!

*Studio Calico THATAWAY 6 x 6 Paper Pack 331528

*Studio Calico YELLOW & ORANGE GEOTAGS Essentials Chipboard Shapes 332082

*Studio Calico TRANSPORTATION Wood Veneer Shapes 331034

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CASology: Flower

When I saw the cue word for CASology this week, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.  I've done this before with a lilac, and have wondered if the scale of the punched blossoms would work with the Hero Arts Hydrangea, probably my favorite Hero Arts flower stamp.  I think it does - here's my entry:

I stamped the Northwoods sentiment first, then the Hydrangea, colored in the leaves and stem with Spectrum Noir markers, and then got out my Martha Stewart Hydrangea punch and used the smaller of the blossoms in 3 different blues to fill in the flower head. 

This went pretty fast, doing it in stages, punching, then cupping the flowers with a stylus, then gluing them on with Ranger glossy accents.  

Thanks for stopping by today!

Also entering this into the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Botanical.