CASE Study

CASE Study is celebrating its 2nd anniversary, and they've had some really fun challenges this past month! This time we are to pick a card of our own and CASE it.  Here's my choice:

A big part of why I liked it was the beautiful designer paper that was showcased.  This led me to thinking about what other paper I could use for the same reason, and I remembered this gorgeous 12" paper from Prima's Romantique collection that I found at Hobby Lobby earlier this year.  It is a vintage floral, with a subtle overprinting of text.  I don't normally buy papers this big anymore since the 6" pads were born - the scale is usually not right for cards, but I made an exception and bought it anyway - so glad I did!  Here's my new card:

supplies: eggshell cardstock (thanks, Joy!) and rust to frame, Prima Romantique Collection "Estella" dp,  Lifestyle Crafts Vine embossing folder, Technique Tuesday This is the Day by Ali Edwards sentiment, Art Print Brown ink, K&Company Grand Adhesions butterflies 'Susan Winget Nature Insect"

Just to change things up a bit I embossed the printed panel instead of the card base this time.

I love the added texture it gives - kind of like brush-strokes on a canvas........

Tuesday Trigger, Take Two

As I said yesterday, the Tuesday Trigger this time has my creativity simmering!

This time my eyes focused on the little flowery prints in the hexagons, and I went looking for a little flower stamp.  Once that was colored and trimmed out into a circle and framed with a brown scallop, my "plan" took on a life of its own.  I had originally thought I'd use some gingham and ditzy prints and make different sizes of circles to sprinkle down the card - that just didn't pan out, and instead I cut those same papers into strips and made a little strip-pieced panel, which I then embossed to look like it's been quilted.  I added some lace down the right side, found a sentiment that would fit into what was left of my card base, and here is the result:

supplies; white and brown cardstock, Amuse and various scraps of old dps, Hero Arts CL500 Love Every Day (the flowers from a little vase), CL417 Huge Hugs, Palette Burnt Umber ink, Memento markers, Hobby Lobby lace, Cuttlebug Wicker Weave embossing folder, Ranger Glossy Accents for centers of flowers

Tuesday Trigger - SEW cute!

When Cath put this Tuesday Trigger up, I practically fell over myself gathering some papers to play along.  This one hits all my buttons, and then some!

supplies: white cardstock, dps from Simple Stories Baby Steps and assorted bits and pieces from The Girls' Paperie, Crate Paper's Emma's Shoppe, and doodlebug designs sugar & spice, Die-Namics hexagon die, paper doily, Signo white pen, natural twine, Hero Arts CL397 Sew Original, Artprint Brown ink, pins from Heidi Grace

I went literal again, couldn't help it, I just loved all the patterns on the photo inspiration.  I already have another idea, so I'll be back...... 

Hero Arts and distress markers

Happy Wednesday!!  Can you believe another month has flown by and it's time again for another Anything Goes challenge at the Simon Says Stamp Challenge!   The design team is using Hero Arts stamps this week, so I made you two cards, both using distress markers in place of inks, which allowed me to add more detail and colors to my stamps.  Here is my first one:

This one features the Designer Woodgrain background, the Floral Blossoms cling set as the main image, and a clear set called Find Joy for the sentiment.  I used 3 distress markers to color the roses: Mustard Seed, Worn Lipstick, and Peeled Paint.  After coloring them directly onto the rubber of the stamp, I spritzed with water, and stamped onto ordinary cardstock.  Then I cut out my panel using Spellbinder's Nestabilites Labels Eighteen, and framed it in gold hand-cut label.

My next card uses the same principles.  My Hero Arts Stamp here is called Garden Bouquet and the sentiment is from the clear set called Just Find Me.

This time I used Wild Honey and Peeled Paint distress markers, and a Tombo periwinkle marker.  I just sponged on some Shaded Lilac distress ink while the panel was still in the Scalloped Rectangle die.

Please head on over to our blog and see what gorgeous things Guest Designer Piali and my teamies did with Hero Arts stamps!

As always, Heidi has provided another $50.00 gift voucher at the Simon Says Stamp store for the random winner of this challenge - it could be you!  You don't have to use Hero Arts stamps, but we'd sure like to see them if you have some!

I made a wish.......

.......and it came true!  Got some happy mail yesterday which I can't share just yet, but I wanted to encourage you all to have a dream and go for it!

supplies; white cardstock, vellum, dps from Simple Stories Baby Steps, MME Howdy Doody, The Craft's Meow Butterfly Kisses stamp set, green dotty grosgrain ribbon, green pearls, Nesties Labels Eighteen dies

I'm entering this into MFW's Focal Point contest.

Moonlight Garden

My favorite challenge at the Play Date Cafe has rolled around again - their "Black and White with a Splash" challenge.  This time the splash is lime, a color I love - here's my entry:

supplies: white and lime cardstock, Hero Arts K5361 Flower Medley, CL493 Live Life, VersaFine onyx black ink and Hero Arts ultra fine clear embossing powder, lime gems, lime baker's twine from Jillibean Soup

Put on your Sunglasses!

This week at the CASE Study challenge we get to choose one of our fellow submitters and CASE one of her cards from a past CASE Study!  I've been going through past challenges and have found all kinds of inspiration, so I will be playing again......for now, though, here's the card by Wanda Cullen that I chose today:

I liked the way she tilted her stamped image, and her addition of the buttons.  Last night I was feeling do-less, as my husband calls it (or uninspired to the rest of us) and decided to just sit down and color.  Looking at my stamps, this little Hero Arts "Angels in a Vase" from 2004 jumped out at me.  Back then, the woodblocks had a colored image on the fronts, so I proceeded to follow that example with what I had on hand, using Memento and Tombo markers.  I even went as far as framing it up in the blue and orange, and then went to bed.  So when I saw Wanda's example today, everything clicked and here's my finished card:

supplies: white and aqua cardstock, dps from a digital download (ginghams) and doodlebug designs petite prints tangerine dot/grid, Hero Arts E3086, Angels in a Vase, CL456 Big Hugs, Really Reasonable Ribbon's  hot ink dot grosgrain ribbon, various buttons, Nesties scalloped rectangles dies

I really tried to use 2 background prints ala Wanda, but could find nothing in my stash that worked, until I came upon this digital aqua gingham, and you know me and gingham - it won!

Thank you, Wanda, for your inspiration!

I'd like to enter this card into the Card Design Handbook Week's Gallon, Quart, Pint challenge, though I have more than 3 colors here.  My gallon would be the aquas, quart is the orange, and pint is pink.......

Green

The word this week at CASology is green!  I thought about this for awhile, and kept coming back to how beautiful shade gardens can be......they are usually made up of various sizes and textures of interesting leafy plants, sometimes flowers, but mostly just 1000 shades and shapes of green.  So then I went and pulled out all my leafy stamps, and finally decided on this big fern.

supplies: white cardstock, Hero Arts K5314 Silhouette Fern, S5707 Envelope Pattern, S5101 Raindrop Background, CL491 Made with Love (dragonflies), Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden sentiment, peeled paint and shabby shutters distress inks

Unless you haven't been here lately you will also recognize the sketch from this month's Hero Arts contest which I have used on every other card this month.  :))

Card Design: Movement

Cath is posting a number of challenges based around some design concepts to be found in the new publication called Card Design Handbook.  This challenge is about the importance of movement in design.  I'm not sure I ever really thought about it, but a good card does move your eye all around the surface.  Here's my card:

supplies: white and pale aqua cardstock, Hero Arts CL596 Pattern Hearts & Flowers, CL491 Made with Love, S5324 Simple Frame, VersaFine onyx black ink and clear embossing powder, roses watercolored with tumbled glass, broken china, and peeled paint distress inks, Signo white pen, white pearls

If I'm understanding this design concept correctly, your eye should go to the popped roses cluster first, then the repeated subtle stamped roses in the background, then to the sentiment, and finally to the delicate frame that encloses all of them, which brings you back again to the main roses.  Hmmmmm......I think I need this issue!

Popcorn goes to School

Hi!  It's time for another Simon Says Stamp challenge!

We have a really fun one this week - Back to School!  Here's what I made:

I stamped, colored, and cut out this adorable Popcorn the Bear from the School Days set, and set him against a blackboard made of a paint chip framed in a woodgrain paper from My Mind's Eye Howdy Doody. paper pad.  I used my favorite white pen, the Signo uni-ball white gel pen to write on it.  Then I embossed some red cardstock with the Sizzix Dots embossing folder as my card base, and put everything together.  

What will you make this week using our theme?  As always, Heidi has provided a $50.00 gift voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store for our random winner!

Need some ideas?  Come on over to our blog to see what the our Guest Designer Piali and the rest of the Design Team did!

Minty Fresh

At Moxie Fab World, we are to showcase the color of green we know as mint.  I loved Cath's first example of a dress in mint with chocolate dots and I used that as my inspiration  (mint chocolate chip ice cream not being far from my mind either):

supplies: cream and brown cardstock, dps from American Crafts dear lizzy Neapolitan, Hero Arts K5376 Hydrangea, 330053 Heydey Sentiments, Pallette Burnt Umber ink, Hero Arts craft twine, Nesties scalloped rectangles, Scrapbook Adhesives 3D foam squares

Aqua, tan and cream

supplies: cream and tan cardstock, Hero Arts Tides layering paper, PTI  The Sweet Life, Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden Collection, Technique Tuesday Mon Ami Paris, tumbled glass and broken china distress inks on flowers, peeled paint and shabby shutters on leaves, soft pool chalk ink for tone-on-tone images on card, VersaFine Deep Lagoon ink, Nesties scalloped rectangles, tiny button and crochet thread

This is my entry for the 61st CR84FN challenge, based on these colors:

They are so soothing, I may play more than once this time......

And my card fits for the Card Design Handbook Week: Focal Point Challenge at Moxie Fab World, too.

Thanks for your visit and your kind comments!

Inspired by Clare

This week at CASE Study, we are to choose a member of the design team and CASE one of her cards.  I chose a card by Clare Buswell.  I loved the doily and the roses and her buttons sprinkled  here and there.  Here's my card for this week's challenge:

supplies: green cardstock, graph paper from K&Co Brenda Walton Flora & Fauna Ledger pad, roses from Pink Paislee's Spring Jubilee pad, Hero Arts CG168 Circle Doily, F3342 Stitched Ribbon (zig-zag faux stitching), Paper Inspirations E7011 Forget me not..., Skipping Stones Design Heartsong (music), vintage photo, tea dye, and antique linen distress inks, VersaFine onyx black ink, Die-Namics rolled roses, Sizzix Sizzlits Branch with Leaves,  May Arts dusty peach silk ribbon, PTI melon berry buttons

I made it my own by adding the music to the background and choosing the lovely peachy-pink color for my flowers and buttons.  Thank you, Clare, this was a fun exercise!

CASE-ing Cindy

Last Friday, Cindy hosted our 46th 90-minute scramble at the Hero Arts flickr group, and one of her sample cards was this gorgeous one.  I fell in love with it immediately and could not wait to CASE it.

I used what I had on hand: CG405 Leaf & Floral Background, AC005 Untitled Word Shadow, Cup 'o' Joe mid-tone ink, Grass and Splash chalk inks, Layering Papers from the Earth, Foliage and Pool sets, Art Flowers, and Mixed Buttons from several sets, all Hero Arts products, plus Colorbox Frost White ink.  I plan to add some other colors and then I'll have a nice gift set for someone special.

Thank you, Cindy, for your wonderful design!