Simon Says...........Clean and Simple

Happy Wednesday - welcome to our challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog!

Our theme this week is Clean and Simple, and the team is playing with CAS-ual Fridays products.  We'd love to see you using them, too, but you can use anything  you'd like, as long as you follow the theme. 

supplies: white and Audrey Blue cardstock, CAS-ual Fridays Peaceful Garden clear stamp set, Simon's Audrey Blue, Hydrangea, Jelly Bean, and Green Apple inks, sequins to match

Now it's your turn!  We have a $50.00 gift certificate 

to the amazing Simon Says Stamp store for 1 lucky random winner of this week's challenge!  I can't wait to see what you all make this week!

Please don't forget about our Kids' Challenge going on all month.  The theme is Anything Goes with Sparkle, and it's open to kids 16 years and under.  HERE are all the details.

Simon Says...........Clean & Simple

Happy Wednesday, and welcome to another challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog!

Our theme this week is Clean & Simple, and we are being sponsored by CASual Fridays!  They were so nice to let us each choose a stamp set for this challenge!   Here's the card I made with mine - it's September, so I'm running with a fall theme!

supplies: white, Audrey Blue, and Burnt Orange cardstock, Lawn Fawn Perfectly Plaid Fall dp, CASual Fridays Calm & Loving stamp set, Simon's Watermelon, Lemon Zest, and Orange Slush mini inks, and a brown ink, My Favorite Things Stitched Mini Scallop rectangle 

I love that the "leaves" are all hearts, and there are lots of sentiments in this set that will work for lots of occasions.  And you wouldn't necessarily have to use the tree trunk each time, either, just the circle of hearts would be fun to stamp as confetti.  There are also several sizes of tiny hearts, which I used to make my tree even denser.  And can you see that the sentiment has teensy hearts dotting the "i"s?  For this heart girl, this set has it all - I know I'll be using this one lots!

Now it's your turn - I can't wait to see what you create!  Heidi has provided another $50.00 gift voucher

to the amazing Simon Says Stamp store for 1 lucky random winner of this week's challenge!

And don't forget about STAMPtember!

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

Welcome to another challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog!

Our theme this week is your favorite Anything Goes!  The Design Team are playing with Concord & 9th products this week, and I made 2 CAS cards with their products, and a bonus project, too.

supplies: white cardstock,  4 shades of aqua and blue glitter cardstock, silver glitter cardstock, Concord & 9th Take a Bough dies (snowflakes only), Tim Holtz Holiday Words: Script die and woodgrain embossing folder, bow die from retired DieNamics Spring Wreath set, sequins to match

I cut the 3 snowflakes from the Take A Bough die set from 4 different shades of aqua to royal blue glitter cardstock, and then attached them to a doughnut I cut using 2 circle dies.  I embossed the woodgrain panel, then attached my wreath, bow, and sentiment, and raised the panel above the card base.  I finished by adding some sequins to match in the center of each snowflake.

I thought I'd share what this die set was really all about: adorable paper trees.

supplies: Take a Bough die set, green and gold glitter cardstock, wood skewers, old wood thread spools, red ribbons

You can see those same snowflakes at the very top of the trees here.  I am so glad I got this set last year......every year now I make a few more of these trees for a forest that's growing on my fireplace mantel at Christmas.  I used some almost lime cardstock for these - the one on the left has some sparkle in it.

And one more card  - I couldn't resist getting this new mistletoe die when it was released this year.

supplies: red, white, and green cardstock, Concord & 9th Mistletoe die, sentiment from (retired) CAS-ual Fridays Merry Kiss-mas, Avery Elle Wonky Stitches framing die, pearls

I cut the mistletoe branch out 3 times and trimmed away everything but the leaves, then grouped them together, adding the bow and some pearl "berries".  Could the sentiment be more perfect? 

Now it's your turn - I can't wait to see what you create!  Heidi has provided another $50.00 gift voucher

to the amazing Simon Says Stamp store for 1 lucky random winner of this week's challenge!

Simon Says.........Clean and Simple

Happy Wednesday!  Welcome to another challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday blog!

Our theme this week is CAS: Clean and Simple, and the DT are all playing with CASual Fridays products.

I find myself in an uncomfortable position this week - the stamp set I got to use this week has evidently now been discontinued, as it no longer shows up at Simon.  I'm pretty sure that is the case, because I found a newer very similar set called Mistletoe and Holly, which would work at least for my first card.

supplies: kraft and BoBunny Wild Berry cardstock, CASual Fridays Merry Kiss-Mas clear stamp set, VersaFine onyx black and VersaMark inks, Simon white embossing powder, Doodlebug Ladybug twine, Hero Arts pearl heart, Signo white gel pen, Quickie glue pen, DieNamics Blueprints 20 stitched rectangle die, adhesive foam squares

There is a bow on the mistletoe sprig - using a glue pen, I glued some twine right over the stamped bow.

For my second card, I stamped the holly repeatedly in the center of my card base, masking the top and bottom.  Then I added some red strips and a colored version of the holly.

supplies: Hero Arts Grass layering paper and Simon Schoolhouse Red cardstock, CASual Fridays Merry Kiss-Mas stamps, Grass and Versamark ink with white embossing powder, Signo white gel pen

After I'd put all my elements onto my card, I felt it needed something, and so I added the little white dots by hand with my white pen.  That really helped to pull everything together.

Now it's your turn - I can't wait to see what you create!  Heidi has provided another $50.00 gift voucher

to the amazing Simon Says Stamp store for 1 lucky random winner of this week's challenge!

CAS-ual Fridays: Oval

After seeing DT Tracey's take on the CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week, I was excited to use an embedded die-cut for my entry, too.  We are to use ovals, and my oval reminds me of an old-fashioned hand-painted cameo pin:

supplies: Hero Arts A Real Flower Drooping, from 2002, (it reminds me of snowdrops when colored white like this, which I've never done before) embossed in white and shaded with tumbled glass distress ink, Die-Namics Oval Decorative Doily, Simon's Surf Blue cardstock to line inside of card, Simon's Audrey Blue ink for stamping sentiment from discontinued The Craft's Meow Potted Garden

And I'd like to put this also into the current CASE This Sketch challenge this week:

Embossing

I haven't played at CAS-ual Fridays in awhile, but I do love embossing in all its forms, so I made a card for their current challenge:  to use dry or heat embossing on a Clean and Simple project.  Here's my entry:

To start I sized a digital poinsettia by Jane Beljo into 2 sizes, then printed them out on vellum.  Since I had had smearing problems before, I immediately sprinkled some clear embossing powder over them and heated them - problem solved.  The heating made them naturally curl a bit, so I had instant dimension, too!  Then I used 2 shades of pink markers to roughly color them in, and then fussy-cut them out and layered them up, three-deep, adding white pearls to the center.  My dry embossing is a Cuttlebug embossing folder called Juli's Garden, embossed on Core'dinations whitewash corner hutch.  Then I sanded it to bring the pink out a bit more.  My sentiment is from The Craft's Meow's Christmas Lantern, embossed in white.

An Anniversary card

Our youngest son and his wife will be celebrating their anniversary at the end of this week, and here's the card I made for them.  It fits the CAS-ual Fridays challenge, so I'm sharing it today.

I used My Mind's Eye washi tapes, a sentiment from The Craft's Meow Typically Teen, and the little hearts from Simon's Just a Love Note, along with Navy, Latte, Tide Pool and Butter Bar Hero Arts inks.  Nice and flat for mailing!

CAS-ual Fridays: Stamp on Design Paper

I just got some new stamps and new pads of paper, so this challenge was perfectly timed for me!  The CAS-ual Fridays challenge #101 is to stamp on design paper.  I took it a step further and paper-pieced also.  Here's my card:

My card uses the lovely Wplus9 Blanket Stitched Blooms and papers from My Mind's Eye "Notable" paper pad, along with some matching enamel dots.  

Thanks for visiting!

Fusion challenge, take 2 and CAS-ual Fridays #97

I'm giving the Fusion challenge another try, and this also works for CAS-ual Fridays current challenge, "Chevrons and Flowers".

I used part of a gorgeous large Penny Black stamp called Bed of Roses and paper-pieced it with some Amuse dotted papers in the colors I saw in the Fusion challenge.  Again I used my MFT Die-Namics Chevron Stripes die and added a PTI sentiment from Garden Variety.  I added some orange/gold gemstones to the center of the big pink rose.  This looks really neon here, but irl these colors are not quite so bright......it's a dreary day here and I did the best I could with my editing........If you'd like to see another take on the Fusion challenge, please scroll down 1 post or click here.

Making My Mark

I haven't played at CAS-ual Fridays for awhile, but this is my week!  The challenge is simply to make a CAS card and use markers.

I wanted to use this new Hero Arts Tall Flowers stamp again, and the colors from the current Hero Arts blog challenge: canteloupe, pool, and soft olive.  I stamped the top of the stamp, fussy-cut around the flowers to eliminate the stems, then glued them to my white card base.  A simple sentiment was all that was needed to keep it CAS.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Winter Blues

supplies: white light and dark blue cardstock, Skipping Stones Heartsong (music), Our Daily Bread Designs Peace & Joy (snowflake and sentiment), Hero Arts LL956 Three Holiday Messages (text)), CL562 snowflakes, CL234 Winter's Butterfly (snowflakes), HA stonewash and mid-tone pool, broken china and chipped sapphire distress ink, VersaMark ink and white embossing powder, Spellbinders snowflakes, glitter, blue gem

Here is my card for this week's CAS-ual Fridays "Winter Blues" challenge.  I used my favorite sketch from a Hero Arts contest several months ago, stamping my own panel with music, text, and various snowflakes, mimicing a favorite printed paper from Hobby Lobby .   The snowflake dies are from Spellbinders, I think, on loan from my friend Yvonne.

Torn

This week at CAS-ual Fridays, we are to make something using anything that is torn.  Tearing does give a different effect, and as soon as I saw this paper, this design popped immediately into my head.

supplies: kraft cardstock, MME Lost & Found "union Square Home Sweet Home collage paper, both front and back, natural hemp twine, a button from Marcy, Hero Arts 330053 Heydey Sentiments, VersaFine onyx black ink, clear embossing powder

Short and sweet today, but please visit me again tomorrow for a Christmas and Winter blog hop at The Craft's Meow!

For the Girls

Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, the ladies at CAS-ual Fridays have dedicated their challenge this week to all the wonderful women in our lives!  And it's a little reminder to make sure you've had your annual mammogram.  It's an easy procedure that could save your life!  I am presently acting as a ChemoAngel to a sweet lady at my parents' church, and send her a card once a week as she is undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer.  I thought this lovely flower would boost her spirits this week.

supplies: white and Core-dinations pink cardstock, Penny Black 30-113 Petal Party, Hero Arts CL490 Sending Smiles Messages, VersaFine onyx black ink, Memento dual-tip markers to color, Nesties labels eighteen, foam adhesive squares

If you as a card maker would like to make cards for cancer patients, Chemo Angels will pair you with a current patient.  Having been on both sides of this experience, I can tell you it makes a wonderful impact to them.  Or if you know someone having chemotherapy for any type of cancer, you can get them added to this program.  

CAS-ual Fridays, take 2

Almost as soon as I finished my card yesterday, I had another thought for the challenge at CAS-ual Fridays: to be inspired by your blog header.  Here it is:

supplies: white and brown cardstock, Amuse yellow and green dots, Simon Says Stamp Fresh Daisies die, markers to color flowers, Hero Arts CL586 XO, butter bar mid-tone ink

Inspired by my blog header

The challenge this week at CAS-ual Fridays is to create something inspired by our own blog header!

This is a great way for me to give credit to Ingrid at Cute Blog Layouts, from whom I get many of my blog headers (she also makes blog backgrounds, and all are free, just for the asking!).  She has a wonderful assortment, and it's so easy to change them when she's doing all the designing!

Looking at my header, this Hero Arts twig and daisy wreath immediately came to mind, so I started with that, and added some PTI sunflowers:

supplies: white cardstock, green paper from Authentique's Delightful paper pad, Hero Arts CL499 Special Note of Thanks (wreath), CL490 Sending Smiles Messages, CL586 XO, Paper Trey Ink Simple Sunflower, VersaFine Vintage Sepia ink, Hero Arts butter bar mid-tone ink, peeled paint and wild honey distress inks, green and gold markers, UniBall white pen, Tombow grey marker for shading edges

Fall Fun

I DID have fun making my entry for this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge!  Because it's a CAS challenge, I decided to make a smaller, square card, 4 1/4" square, and use this Papertrey Ink Vintage Picnic set.  Simply stamped and colored with Letraset Flex Markers.

And since I had this small scrapling left from cutting my card square, I made an even eensier one, this time using the images from Lawn Fawn's Happy Haunting set:

A scrapling, according to Shari Carroll, is 1 1/4" wide by 4 1/4" tall, the leftover paper after you've cut an A2 card (5 1/2" X 4 1/4") into a square 4 1/4" card.  My sentiment is from a Hero Arts Thanksgiving clear set, and I added some swirling winds with an embossing folder, Cuttlebug's D'Vine Swirls.

Sending you Sunshine

I appear to be in my yellow phase lately!  Really, I'm beginning to look forward to fall, and golds and yellows are a good lead into it from summer.  The challenge at CAS-ual Fridays this week is to use embossing.  I decided to use these new (to me) Papertrey Ink sunflower stamps and after I'd stamped and cut them out, this houndstooth embossing folder seemed to be a good match to them, bringing to mind more textured clothing coming up as we get into fall......so here's my card:

supplies: yellow/gold, white and brown cardstock, PTI Simple Sunflower set, Hero Arts butter bar mind-tone and Poppy chalk ink, Anita's Teddy Bear Brown ink, peeled paint distress ink, Cuttlebug Houndstooth embossing folder, natural twine

I'm also entering this card into the Moxie Fab World's Card Design Handbook challenge: Assymetry.