CASE-ing Alice

A certain little boy is potty-training, and I've been wanting to send along a card to him for encouragement.  This morning, I saw this post at Alice's blog, and knew it was perfect for what I wanted.  Alice is a master at color and design - make sure you look at her other posts while you're at her blog.

 I won these Purple Onion stamps awhile ago, and their style is exactly right for this card. I used bright primary colors, and CASED Alice's card almost completely.  Thanks, my friend - I ADORE this design!

supplies: kraft card base, design papers from The Dollar Tree (blue), pink paislee "Hometown Summer", Purple Onion Designs The Bird House and Hearts on a String, Hero Arts CL155 Playful Animals (sentiments), Susan Branch slphabet stickers, Die-namics cloud die (from Carol)

Jill's Flowers

Jilll Foster is the muse this month at CASE Study and here is her card for us this week:

Isn't it amazing?  Jill has such a wonderful color sense and her cards are always jaw-dropping!  Here is my CASE of her card, just reversing her colors.  I think this is the fastest card I've ever made.  Now that I've entered the 21st century and got myself some dies, I'm really enjoying the freedom it gives us!

supplies: kraft card, green card stock , papers from My Mind's Eye Hazel and Mabel paper pads, Sizzlits Branch with Leaves diecut, PTI Bloomin' Flowers II and Tiny Tags diecuts,  Hero Arts CL173 Happy Thoughts, a felt flower from Franziska, orange flower button, tiny green button, natural twine, , Anita's Teddy Bear Brown ink from Carol


And by the way, how did I live without the PTI tiny tags?  I find myself using them on everything!  Best buy of the year for me, I think!

Gingham Daisies

What's better than a basket of daisies?  Gingham daisies!!  As soon as I saw this inspiration picture of summertime colors for the Play Date Cafe Challenge this week, my mind went right to ginghams.

I already had the hot pink and orange ginghams, but not the turquoise. I remembered a site of printable ones.  They have 3 color families, with about 8 shades in each and 2 sizes of gingham in each shade.  Here it is, if there's anyone else out there who's batty about ginghams like me.

supplies: Hero Arts Cerulean layering paper, Core'dinations hot pink and orange card stock,  printed turquoise gingham, Making Memories Orange and Rasberry gingham dps, Hero Arts H3125 Heart Leaf Sketch, CL199 Sunny Smiles (basket), Papertrey tiny tags and stamp, Prismacolor spring green pencil for leaves and stems, hot pink ribbon, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, pearls.

Ribbon Reel challenge

Thanks to Suzanne, I found a new challenge, the Ribbon Reel,  and boy, are these colors challenging!  We are to use blue, kraft, black and grey/silver, and to make it masculine:

Thanks to my friends Mary Anne and Donna, I am armed with grey.  And after seeing this card at Wanda's blog this morning, I had the seed of an idea, to start with these lovely stamps from Pink Paislee's Butterfly Garden Collection.  The sketch is from Julee at Verve Stamps.

supplies: kraft card, dps from K&Company ("Blue Ribbed Flat Paper"), Basic Grey "Ambrosia", October Afternoon "The Thrift Shop", and The Paper Studio "Textured Cream Sheet Music", pinkpaislee Butterfly Garden stamps, PTI tiny tags stamp and die, Hero Arts S5507 Envelope Pattern, versafine onyx black ink, PTI flower dies, Maya Road Gingham Blossom, natural twine

Garden Party

Here's our photo inspiration for this week's Shabby Tea Room challenge, named "Pink Lemonade":

Pink lemonade - what a romantic theme!  We were to use, pink, green, a neutral, and flowers.   My mind immediately went to a garden reception or party, and I envisioned tables set outside with lacy tablecloths and vases of fat summer roses.  Of course there would be butterflies flitting here and there:

I stamped the vase of flowers on the rose print paper, on a tone-on-tone green check cardstock (the vase), on a slightly brighter green (the leaves), and on the paper doily, then cut apart the elements, piecing them back together on the doily.
supplies: white card, Hero Arts K5056 Garden Roses, Papertrey Ink Tiny Tags stamps and diecut, versafine onyx black ink, design papers from K&Company "Watercolor Bouquet" Die-Cut Mat Pad (pink dots) and Susan Winget "Spring Blossom" mat pad (flowers and green background), BoBunny green dot, Lasting Impressions Limeade checks dp, paper doily, skinny pink dotted ribbon, pink heart pearls and pearls, Martha Stewart Monarch Butterfly punch

Pink, green and neutral

Here's the graphic showing the colors we are to play with for this week's CR84FN challenge:

I really enjoyed making this card, as these are some of my favorite colors.  I used an old flower stamp, one of my favorite sentiments, and added some music paper, so this card makes me very happy:

supplies: white cardstock, Rubber Stampede #A2300H Bleeding Hearts, Versafine onyx black ink, watercolor pencils, Hero Arts S5507 Envelope Pattern, S4878 Old Letter Writing, antique linen distress ink, CL272 All Occasion Messages, The Paper Studio music dp, K&Company Tim Coffey "Cottage Garden" designer pad (green), The Girls' Paperie "Jubilee: Picnic Blanket" (pink dots), BoBunny tutu dot, lace, Martha Stewart punched butterflies, Kaiser pearls, heart button, natural twine

Stamp your HeART out

My sweet friend Virginia is having a little challenge, to find inspiration and then create a card based on it.  Virginia and I have been friends quite awhile now, first at the Hero Arts flickr group, and then as Hero Hostess sisters 2 summers ago.  Making friends through our shared love of cardmaking has been an unexpected joy I never expected.  This past February we finally got to meet!  So of course my inspiration is one of her cards, here, just one example of her happy, colorful cards.  This is my take on her card, using one of my all-time favorite sentiments: "I have you in my heart":

supplies: Hero Arts Poppy layering paper, white and brown card stock, Verve #Vs-0144 Bloom & Grow (flowers), Hero Arts E5388 Traditional Butterfly, CL377 Be Happy, CL272 All Occasion Messages, worn lipstick, spiced marmalade, scattered straw, broken china, and vintage photo distress inks, clear gemstones

CAS-ual Fridays #6

I needed a quick thank you card, and thanks to this week's  CAS-ual Friday challenge and my scrap basket, I was able to make one quickly.  This week we're to make a CAS card, incorporating any 3 lines of this table:

Here's what I came up with, using the diagonal line including emboss, punch, and buttons:

supplies: white cardstock, Hero Arts K5175 Houndstooth, Brilliance tricolor Peacock ink, clear embossing powder, H5426 Artists' Butterfly, and CL341 Thank You Sayings, versafine onyx black ink and clear embossing powder, tiny green buttons, Martha Steward butterfly punch

I started by stamping the Houndstooth pattern using Brilliance tri-color ink Peacock and clear embossed it.  That gave me my color scheme.  Then I pulled out an old finished scrap of the aqua/turquoise polished stone and clear embossed the butterfly, cutting it out.   I added some tiny buttons to its body and some previously punched MS butterflies as its trail.  All of my stamping was clear embossed.

Blueberry, dusty rose and cream

Aren't these colors from the Play Date Cafe scrumptious?  

I decided to use this label stamp from Gina K Designs, stamped in Adirondack Denim, and made some rolled roses :

supplies: cream and dusty rose card stock, My Mind's Eye "Hazel" dp, scrap of chatterboxinc "Denim Swirl" dp, Gina K. Designs "Lovely Labels 3" stamp set, Hero Arts CL177 SparkleClear Hello Birdie, Adirondack Denim ink, dusty rose organza ribbon, denim pearls

Tuesday Trigger: Neapolitan

Does anyone else find it difficult to get back into the groove after being away?  I've found that the best thing to do is just jump in and DO IT!  I remembered this Moxie Fab World post from before we left; here is the yummy Tuesday Trigger:

And here is my entry, using a variety of papers, stamps, and embellishments:

supplies: cream card stock, papers: My Mind's Eye Hazel paper pad, unknown striped scrap, Bazzill Cinnamon Stick, Hero Arts CL488 Congrats, Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden, Palette Burnt Umber ink, flowers: ribbon, brown fabric flower, and MS Rose embellishment, ecru lace


We had a lovely mini-vacation at a bed and breakfast in Kennebunkport, Maine.  We were pampered and ate lobster for almost every meal!  The weather couldn't have been better, and I got to see lots of patches of lupine growing alongside the roads as we took some little side trips.  We did a tiny bit of exploring in Boston, too, at the end of the week - loved the friendly people there!  That said, it's good to be home!

Yellow roses and taking a little break

My sweet husband and I are having a little getaway, so I'll be missing for awhile - today is our 40th wedding anniversary!  I couldn't ask for a better partner in life, he is my everything,  and I hope that we have many more years together!  I'll leave you with this beautiful yellow rose; my wedding bouquet was made of them.

This picture prompted me to make a card, not necessarily for our anniversary, but just because I like yellow roses.

supplies: yellow and white cardstock, pinkpaislee "Hometown Summer" dp, Hero Arts S5264 Antique Flower Background, mustard seed distress ink, S5324 Simple Frame, versafine onyx black ink, S5507 Envelope Pattern, antique linen distress ink, Stampendous Q098 Rose Points, gold colored pencil on details, Verve VS-0144 Bloom and Grow (leaves and sentiment), Hero Hues grass chalk ink

CAS-ual Fridays challenge #5

I'm really beginning to enjoy making Clean and Simple cards!  This week at CAS-ual Fridays, the challenge is to use this sketch:

 Many of the DT used a sunshine theme, and I guess that influenced me, because I used these sunny colors.  I haven't inked up this beautiful daisy stamp in a long time, and after I stamped it using mustard seed distress ink, everything came together for me.  I trimmed out the panel, then used a Nesties circle die to cut out an arch from the bottom.  I was originally going to use only that arch, but it occurred to me to use the negative image also, and then I liked adding the arch back in, with just a small break in the design.  This shows off the image so much nicer.  Aren't daisies the best symbol of summer?

supplies: white cardstock, scrap of unknown striped dp, Outlines daisy stamp, Hero Arts CL342 Everyday Sayings, mustard seed distress ink, EK Success scallop punch, Nestabilities circle die

And I used another arch for a second card, turning the sketch 90 degrees and substituting a bright yellow gingham, threaded with twine.  I used the same sentiment, but shaped it into an arch also.

Two happy cards from one fun sketch - thanks, CAS-ual Fridays!

Play Date Cafe challenge #84

Here is our photo inspiration this week at the Play Date Cafe:

I found this printed dp as part of a new K&Company mat stack called Watercolor Bouquet and I thought it represented all of the colors fairly well, so I designed the whole card around it.

supplies: cream parchment and lilac cardstocks, K&Company "Watercolor Bouquet" die-cut mat pad, The Paper Studio "Textured Light Pink" dp, Lasting Impressions "limeade checks" dp, PTI flower dies and  BoBunny "Raspberry Dot" dp, Northwoods sentiment, Hobby Lobby lace, Hero Arts large flower gem

CASEing Jill Foster

Our new muse for this month at CASE Study is Jill Foster!  Here's her card for us this week:

Jill is so talented, and as sweet as they come, too.  It's a real pleasure to turn the tables on her and CASE one of her cards.  Here's my version:

supplies: white cardstock, Inkadinkado 97633 Floral Flourishes, versamark ink and white embossing powder, Hero Arts CG222 Musical Background, broken china distress ink, CL156 Treasure the Moments, vintage photo distress ink, twine, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, tiny blue buttons, sponging on background using broken china, bundled sage, and vintage photo distress inks

I loved her layout, and the aqua and brown color combo, so I just substituted my own stamps and CASED her card completely.  Thank you, my friend, I will use these colors again - my husband, who rarely says anything, really liked them together!