CAS266 -- Let the Birds Sing

The sun is shining. The temperature is to climb into the 50's this afternoon. I am not a real baseball fan, but it is opening day for the Tigers in Detroit. I can see the tops of my crocuses, daffodils and tulips. "This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Today's CAS challenge was a color challenge. We were to use 3 or more colors from this Design Seeds color palette. What beautiful colors. They make on think of "bluebirds". The option to the challenge was to make a card with a bird theme.

Since I need to add to my supply of mascaline cards, this is the card that I created.

I used Stampin' UP stamp sets "Serene Silhouettes" and "Simply Sketched". The card stock I chose was Stampin' Up's Crumb Cake and Brocade Blue (retired). The stripped designer paper was from my scrap box. My ink was Memento Luxe in Espresso Truffle. This is a new pigment ink from Memento. Love it! I think that the stripped paper contains the 3 colors that I needed and more.

Cards This Week

Sharing the cards I have made this week--

CAS 265 at SCS Monday 24, 2014

Made using Rubber Stamp Tapestry set "Cherry Blossoms"

Just for fun--I cased a card I saw on Pinterest

This was my inspiration 

Love flowers and love this stamp set!

SC481

I want to get my card posted for today's SCS sketch challenge. It was a fun sketch to work with, but it sure did cause me problems. After choosing the stamp I wanted to use, I colored it with markers and did my stamping. The image was OK but could have been better. I turned the paper over, recolored the stamp and stamped again. This one was better. I stamped the greeting and went to cut the image out. Well, I cut the first image out which was not the best one. I started the process over with a new piece of paper. When I cut the image out, the greeting was so crooked that I tossed the piece in the wastebasket. The fourth time, everything worked perfectly. Now my card is finished!

I used the Stampin' Up set called "Thoughts & Prayers". I colored the stamp with markers--Perfect Plum and Pear Pizzazz. I used SU Perfect Plum card stock with white. The little green piece came from my scrap box. It worked perfectly.

A Gift

Today has started out rather gloomy, but the forecast is for some sun this afternoon. It seems that on sunny days, my husband always thanks the Lord for "the sunshine that cheers our hearts and warms our world".

Last Wednesday, I made a card for the sketch challenge -- SC479. I enjoyed making it so much that I decided to make a set with a matching box. I just used different colors and three different sentiments. It is now a gift waiting to be given.

SC480

Today's sketch challenge looked easy, but its given me trouble. There seemed to be a lot of distractions  in my life today. Well, I finally got my card finished and ready to post. I think maybe the black made too much of a contrast. I was hoping that it would look more like stained glass. It didn't turn out like I wanted it to. Maybe I can try again at a later time.

Everyday Enchantment -- Mojo337

I decided to try making a card using the sketch from Mojo Monday posted on March 17, 2014.  I studied the sketch for a while and remembered some pieces of DSP that were laying on my work table from another project that I had worked on. There were two pieces that were almost the exact size that I needed. I had just gotten a new package of SU Calypso Coral card stock last week and that was going to make the perfect card base. I decided to use green as the accent color--found some SU Lucky Limeade card stock. WOW! I was pleased at how quickly things were coming together. Now I just needed to come up with a focal image. There was a little piece of Very Vanilla card stock that was the perfect size. I used the birthday sentiment from the SU stamp set "Simply Sketched" stamped in SU Calypso Coral ink. I wanted to add a flower, but it needed to be a rather large one. I thought of the die from Cheery Lynn Designs called "Shasta Daisy". That would work perfectly. I cut it out using SU Crisp Cantaloupe card stock, sponged the edges with Calypso Coral ink, did a little shaping, glued it all together, added a yellow center with a yellow brad. Finished! I enjoyed my time working on the card. I look forward to sharing it with a friend one of these days.

Monday Again

It's Monday--again. A new week has begun. A new week with new challenges. The first one I always look forward to is the "Clean and Simple" (CAS) challenge at SCS. This week it was to CASE a card from the gallery of Loll Thompson. She has made so many beautiful cards that I found it difficult to choose just one. Actually, I used two as my inspiration. This is a link  the first one and this is a link to the second one. I loved the little hydrangea flowers on the first card and I loved the vine effect on the second one, so I tried to put the two together. The flourish stamp is from Rubbernecker Stamps and is stamped in SU Old Olive ink. The sentiment is from the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamp set "Faith". I love that set and have used it often since purchasing it last August (2013). I used the Martha Stewart hydrangea punch for the flowers. After finishing the card, I put it in the mail to a friend whose birthday is today. I'm a little late but sometimes that just happens before I know it.

Time for Tea

I made a card using a stamp set that I have had for some time and never used from Rubber Stamp Tapestry. I read someone's blog post that said they never put away a new stamp set until they had used every stamp in the set. Wish I could say that. I CASED the picture on the stamp set box. I wasn't sure how to go about using the stamp set. It was fun and I want to try another design soon.

I used SU Elegant Eggplant CS for the card base. The teapots and cups are stamped using SU Elegant Eggplant ink. I still have to put a sentiment on the card. I will wait until I am ready to use the card.

SC479 -- Friend

Today's SCS sketch challenge was --

This is my card. The focal image is from SU's stamp set "Asian Artistry". I used Prima color pencils and Gamsol to color the image. 

Flash Cards by Connie Stewart

Some months ago, I found Connie Stewart's blog "Simply Simple Stamping". I have learned so much from watching her videos and following her posts. I watched her videos on Flash Cards and Flash Cards 2.0. It is a cool technique. In getting started, I CASED several of her cards. I have also been cutting some of my larger pieces of scrap paper into the flash card measurements. I am still working at creating cards using these pieces of paper.

I am sure that Connie would love for you to visit her blog -- Simply Simple Stamping

Here are a few samples of cards that I CASED from watching her videos.

The Sun is Shining

The sun is shining and the temperature is above freezing. It seems that the long, cold winter is loosing its hold and spring will soon be here. I got to my computer this morning, anxious to see what today's CAS challenge was going to be. I looked at the inspirational picture; I was not sure just what it was all about. I read it again and looked at the picture again. What did I see? First, I saw the tiny, little flowers and the pretty pastel colors. Both are things I love to use in making my cards. Then I got the e-mail regarding the weekly Mojo challenge. Ideas began to flow and the idea of making one card fit both challenges began to come to mind. This is my card.

I used the stamp set "Cherry Blossoms" from Rubber Stamp Tapestery. The inks I chose were: Memento Toffee Crunch, SU Soft Suede, Pear Pizzazz, Blushing Bride and, finally, Raspberry Ripple. I used a circle mask made with a Spellbinder's die to stamp the focal image. I used that same die and the next larger one to create the frame using Soft Suede card stock. My card base is the Soft Suede cardstock. To create the border for the main image, I used the SU dotted scallop ribbon border punch (a long name for such a small punched border). The sentiment, from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps Faith set, was stamped in Soft Suede ink.

I am including a picture of the Mojo Sketch and a link to the inspirational picture.

Some of my Favorite Cards

Some of my cards--

A Pretty Box with Matching Cards

On Sunday, March 2, I went down to my craft room and began on a project that I had been thinking about for some time. I took two sheets of designer paper from the SU Everyday Enchantment collection. I had found a pattern on line for cutting the designer paper and I used that as a guide. So far, I have a box with six matching cards plus two others that I worked on later.

Challenges For The Week

Monday -- March 3, 2014
The CAS challenge for the week was to make a clean and simple card using neutral colors. OK! That's not a big problem. Wrong!!! I stamped the image on my card "five" times before I got it right. I kept getting ink marks from the edge of the stamp on my paper or I would get ink on my fingers and then on the paper. I finally did get it right and this is my card--

I used the Stampin' Up set "Wetlands" and a stamp (the rocks) from Stamps by Judith. I stamped the rocks first, created a mask and covered them up. Second, I stamped the goose, did a mask and covered him up. Third, I stamped the plants on the left hand side. All pieces were sponged with SU Soft Suede ink. I scored around the edges of the natural colored card stock before assembling the card.

Wednesday March 5, 2014
This was sketch challenge day. I got the sketch printed early in the morning, but it was well into the evening before I got my card finished and ready to post at Splitcoast Stampers.

Over the week end I started a project using two sheets of designer paper and coordinating colored card stock to make a variety of cards. It was a fun project, and since I still had paper left, I used that to make my card.

SC477

I really loved the sketch challenge this past Wednesday at SCS. I chose a few pieces of designer paper from my scrap box and proceeded from there. It took me all day, but I finally got the card finished and ready to be posted. Then there were problems getting the pictures to upload to my blog. Finally getting it done!

CAS261--Color, Color, Color

After finishing a card on Tuesday, February 25, I realized that it fit the current CAS261 challenge. So here is my card. Tuesday I received three of the new Memento ink pads. Just had to give one a try. I used the new Memento Luxe Tuxedo Black ink pad and a scrap piece of Stampin' UP's Pool Party card stock. The stamp was "Blush" by Penny Black. For the card base I used Stampin' UP's Indigo Indigo card stock.