Simply Snowpeople Shaker

My recently attended a weekend-long Crop & craft sale, and she sent me this fun build-a-snowman clear stamp set. It has all the little pieces, which I stamped separately, fussy-cut, and pieced together. I colored them with Copic markers & glitter pens. I covered the mittens with glittery blue flocking. I stamped the snowballs & sentiment with blue ink; I used black Memento ink for the other parts. The sentiment is made from stamps from A CAS-ual Fridays set. I used foam to create the base, including a strip below the die-cut treeline strip. The shaker is filled with blue glitters & microbeads & three little snowman heads!

Inspiration/Challenges:

CAS-ual Fridays #184: Sketch

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Christmas

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Sew many chevrons

I had so much fun making my paper Feria dress that I just had to use the technique again. I've had The Ribbon Reel's current inspiration photo (see below) in my head ever since I saw it while updating the Monday Challenges on Paper Playful, so I raided my embellishment stash and made this CAS card:

For the origami paper dress, I followed the tutorial at Inklings & Yarns (although I used a 3x3 piece of paper for this).

I used one of my favorite papers, "You & Me" from the Seen & Noted collection by Pebbles Inc., but the flower "trim" is actually a bonus from the paper's copyright section. Don't you love it when company do that?! For the dress, I cut the paper to include that bonus trim, but I did cut-and-paste the sleeves. The dress embellishment is finshed with a satin ribbon sash and a coat-hanger clip.

The Prima flowers were sewed onto the tiny buttons. I wrapped the tiny spool with variegated craft thread, and wrote the "love" sentiment with it & Glossy Accents.

The lower half of the card was embossed with my newest Cuttlebug folder, Charles. The front of the card is made of manila cardstock, but it is on a white cardstock base. The top edges were notched with my favorite Marvy punch. 

Tuesday Morning Sketch #210

The Ribbon Reel Challenge #59

Inspiration/Challenges:
CAS-ual Fridays #111: Buttons
Crafty Bloggers Network: Favorites (twill ribbon, coat-hanger clip, DP, wooden spool, tiny buttons, corner notch punch)
The Ribbon Reel Challenge #59: Photo  + Chevrons & Flowers & Ribbon
Tuesday Morning Sketches: #210

Update: This was featured on the Tuesday Morning Sketches's Facebook page!

Thank you for visiting,

Arizona colors

I was really intrigued by this week's "Your State" challenge at Speedy Fox and Friends, so I tried my hand at an idea my friend had while he was visiting. I have some cut-out masks from a cityscape project, and I used that to make a mountain like you see in Arizona. Although I now live in Maryland, I consider Arizona my other home... that's where my folks live, and where I was living when I met my friend. I used the same wood-stamping technique that I used on my Portlandia card to make the little "quail".

Inks: SU! Barely Banana, ColorBox, Versamark watermark ink, Versamark chalk ink
Wood bird used as stamp: Prima
Stamps: sentiment from Verve's Let It Shine set, cactus from My Favorite Things' Fred Bear Out West set, bubble border by Annabelle Stamps
Papers: SU! Whisper White, Core'Dinations
Embossing Powders: ZING! Brown Sugar, Lemonade Scentz by ColorBox  
Dies/Cutting Files: Card frame and Cityscape/Mountains designed in SCAL and cut on my Cricut, Banner die from a•muse studio, Button from SU! Embosslit, scallop scissors for corner rounding

Inspiration/Challenges:
Annabelle Stamps Challenge #157: Sketch
Color Throwdown #231: Melon Mambo, So Saffron, Crumb Cake, Lucky Limeade
CAS-ual Fridays #92: Stamp your own background
Speedy Fox and Friends Challenge 148: Your State

Thank you for visiting,

Because hot pink embossing powder is awesome, that's why!

Judging by the wonderful projects that keeping coming up on my Google Reader, lots of you are enjoying the black & white + one color challenge at CAS-ual Fridays! I knew what I wanted to do as soon as I as I saw the theme...because, as the post title reflects, "Hot pink embossing powder is awesome"!

I also used a recipe from the BINGO challenge at Stamp n Doodle (diagonal right-to-left): Emboss, Ribbon, Sparkle.

I really like matching this Cuttlebug embossing folder with this medallion rubber stamp from my stash (You may remember my Roman Bath card). The black-and-white ribbon and printed tag are also from my stash; I just added the embossed sentiment (Hero Arts) and some shimmer to the little circles. I used the same glitter pen for the frame on the medallion piece. The sparkly white ribbon is actually decorative tape.

Thank you for visiting,

Simply Blue Jay

I've been having lots of fun making CAS cards, so I decided to visit some of my favorite challenge blogs and get inspired ... and it worked so well, I made four cards!

Here's my favorite:

The CAS-ual Fridays challenge this week is to be Inspired by a Song (I'm pretty sure it's a song that I love, not just a love song ... anyway, this is my kind of love song!) I chose the song "Blue Jay Way" by The Beatles (read the lyrics and listen to song). This challenge paired really well with Less is More's Music challenge, and used the simple Blue & White color combo from Crafty Boots. 

One of the reasons I chose "Blue Jay Way" is that the other day I went open the back door to let out the dogs, and much to my surprise there was a giant Blue Jay poking around in our herb pots. The jay population in our neighborhood has really grown in the past few years, and I've witnessed some of their beautiful ferocity in the trees, but up close it was much bigger than I had expected!

The paper for this card and one in the middle in the photo below is China Blue Eyes Linen Finish Card Stock from Mark's Finest Papers. I used my very last piece for this project; really need to order more! I used a Prickley Pear Stamp/Die set for the bird image. I cut the shape from adhesive masking paper and filled in the bird directly onto the card with blue ink (all the inks used are from Memento). I heated-embossed the white overlay stamp. The sentiment is from the Rosy Wishes set by Crafty Secrets. 
 

Here are my other takes on the same design:

I sure had fun!

Challenges/Inspiration:

• CAS-ual Fridays #89: Inspired by a Song ("Blue Jay Way" by The Beatles)
• Crafty Boots: Blue & White
• Less is More #106: One-Layer CAS Card + Music

Thank you for visiting,

Doodlin' with Roy G Biv

I had so much fun using this week's Less Is More sketch for my leafy CAS card the other day, that I just had to try it again. This time, I was inspired by the "Use Markers" challenge at CAS-ual Fridays as well as the "Doodle a Frame" challenge at Speedy and Friends.

For the color band, I used the "texturing with Copic blender solution" technique that I learned from my mom via Copic Diva Jennifer Dove. My current favorite fabric to use is scrap Aida cloth from my cross-stitching projects. I used my Copics to make a color-block band, soaked a strip of fabric in Colorless Blender Solution, and simply pressed it on top of the colored band. Presto! 

Then I stamped the sentiment in black, and then again with SU! Craft White ink, and traced it with a black glaze pen.

I used an XS PITT Artist pen to doodle the frame; this is a doodle that I've been doing for years but it's the first time I've used it on a card. But it won't be the last!

Inspiration/Challenges:
CAS-ual Fridays: Use markers
Less Is More: Sketch (2nd entry)
Speedy and Friends # 144: Doodle a frame

Thank you for visiting,

Scaredy Cat

I was so inspired by the projects (both DT & participant) for the current CAS-ual Fridays and Less is More challenges that I just had to make a card. I know, I know, it's only marginally CAS but I'm getting better at it ha ha!

I started by stamping the long web strands with a stamp from SP Stamps' Stitchery Doo set; I made the margin with blue painter's tape. I "empty-stitched" the border on my machine. I drew the smaller webs with pencil, marked the stitching with my awl, erased the pencil, and hand-stitched it with metallic thread.

The "Scaredy Cat" was cut with the Tim Holtz Alterations die and covered with black Sparkly Fluff from OCL. I did this by running the diecut face-down through my sticker machine ... if you follow this blog, you know how much I love this technique!

The sentiment on the inside is heat-embossed in black, and I added some webs to the corners with my Copic multiliner.

Inspiration/Challenges:

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #62: Clean And Simple card using a black card base

Less is More Week 77: Sewing

Thank you for visiting,

Green Graffiti

I was totally blown away by Agnieszka's gorgeous Monogram card using green sprinkles. It reminded me of the cool Moss Graffiti that people have been doing (what did we do before Pinterest‽) Both are on my "Must Make" Pinterest board, and this is first project inspired by both.

I cut the letters out on my Cricut using the Cursive cartridge, ran them face-down through my sticker machine, and covered them with green Sparkly Fluff from Our Craft Lounge.

For the fence, I embossed kraft paper using the Woodgrain Impression Plate from a•muse studio. I bought it via a•muse consultant Chris Franco and she's been so wonderful about answering my questions! Like when I used this Impression Plate for the first time last night, and didn't make my stack right and ended up bending the plate way too much! I freaked out and emailed her...she got right back to me and helped me out, and happily the plates are made quite well and mine has bent back into a more usable angle!

I cut the embossed piece into 1/2 inch strips, notched them, added dimension with TH Vintage Photo distress ink, and added some "nail holes" with a ball-tip embossing tool.

I was inspired by the Strips of Color/Pattern challenge at CAS-ual Fridays. This is about as CAS as I get, I guess! I'm also entering this into the Sparkle & Shine challenge at Dilly Beans.

Do look up Moss Graffiti ... the recipe is basically sugar, dairy culture & moss, and folks are doing really beautiful things with it. Next time I find moss in the yard, I just might have to try it myself!

Thank you for visiting,

Pun Ahoy!

[My stop on the Dude Time Doodles New Release Blog Leap is HERE]

I'm really enjoying everyone's projects this week inspired by the "Pun" challenge at CAS-ual Fridays. I do love a bad pun! It was difficult for me not to come up with my own, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use this pun-tastic wordart offered by Create with TLC on Talk like a Pirate Day.

I'm taking a stab at using up my never-ending collection of scraps, and I found this just-the -right-size scrap of compass-themed DP. The card itself is made from a scrap too; I just folded it in half and voilà. I simply printed the sentiment onto glassine paper.

Cards for Men Challenge #5

Inspiration/Challenges:

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #41: Jest for the Pun of it(Dang I missed the deadline!)

Cards for Men Challenge #5: Sketch

Less is More Week 56: Don't Scrap It

Party Time Tuesday Challenge #57: Anything Goes

Happy Chinese New Year!

I wanted to make a card this evening, so I whipped together this Chinese New Year card with help from the following challenges:

Mo's Digital Pencil Challenge #117: Clean & Simple w/Mo Manning Image

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #35: Clean And Simple project with scallops

clean&simple Fall-to Layout #173

I used InDesign to combine Fan's Cricket by Mo Manning and the sentiment by Create with TLC, and printed it onto the smooth side of a banana/coffee bean paper Mom bought on a trip to Ecuador. The backing paper is actual Joss Paper that I bought years ago at a local Chinese market. After coloring the image with Copics & gel pens, I glued the pieces together and ran the whole thing through my Big Shot with a Spellbinders emboss/die. I cut the bottom off of the top piece to reveal the ruffle. It's simple, but very textural.

Have a lucky day!