Clean and Simple, Classic and Elegant??

If I am confused, I can't imagine what Mynette our fearless leader at House of Cards is going to think.

I am a member of the CAS team, but my oh my this card looks classic and elegant too! This week's challenge was a photo inspiration. 

Now, are you like me? Give me a color challenge, sketches anything but photos! I break out in a sweat, my hands get clammy and my creative juices just stop flowing. I think I get to literal and can't go with the flow.

Here is this month's photo challenge. The part that struck me was the wall paper. I used that as my jumping off point. I grabbed my Golden Glitz ink and this background stamp  by Impression Obsession. It is so difficult to really appreciate the gold leaf on the yellow background and difficult to photograph. Try clicking on the picture to enlarge it. The rest as they say is history.

A CAS and CAE card!

I hope you have enjoyed our first month of challenges at HOC. The work presented by all of you this month has been amazing, awesome and all-inspiring!

Please continue to join us in the fun for August.

Is this you?

A friend sent me this video from You tube and I just had to share it with you. Something to laugh at while I am away!

Is this you?

I know it's me!

Anyway, maybe I will skip the Pocono's and just go shopping!

Girls' Stamping Weekend- see you in a week or so

I won't be posting until the end of July. I am taking my mini vacation this coming weekend. I will be going to the Pocono mountains with my best buds for a stamping weekend. I have been going up to the mountains with my buddies for the past 10 years or so for a crafting weekend.

I get up early and start stamping, and stop to make the meals for all of us. Not only do I have to figure out what stamps I am going to take with me, but I spend a fews weeks planning the menus. 

The evening brings chick flicks and sweets!

The best part of my day is when the sun starts to go down and I grab a drink and go down to the dock and enjoy the sunset. I think I will use this picture as my photo inspiration this week.

See you all in a week or so when I will share the adventures with you!

Watercolor stamping at Make it Monday

I don't usually have Monday off, so I can't always participate in Papertrey Ink's  Make it Monday . But I find myself with this Monday off after switching days off at work.

The challenge was to watercolor on your stamps with a highlight of die ink. Check out the video on YouTube to see how it is done. Now I have watercolored on stamps before, but never with my acrylics. I was quite surprised to see how well the acrylics grabbed the water color. The trick is not to get your water colors to watery. I used Turning a New Leaf and Heart 2 Heart #7. 

It is nice to revisit an old technique and even better to find a new spin on it. Thanks Erin!

Have a happy start to your week!

Blow out those candles

I have become obsessed, every time I sit down at my desk, I pull out the same 3-4 colors. These aren't even my colors normally, I mean I love greens, but this yellow, orange and turquoise with a splash of grey throw in there at times have become my go to colors. Green- bah.... So when I went to make a card based on this sketch for CAS(E) this Sketch, naturally these were the colors I pulled.

Don't they look like a summer birthday party?!!? I took some liberties with the sketch and flipped it on its side. Otherwise the banner would have been hanging off the side like toilet paper caught on someone's shoe. 

I used a mix of old and new stamps. New is the Kelly Purkey set- Make a Wish and the oldie but goody is from Hero Arts- Cupcakes. I was happy to see it still for sale. A bit of glitter added to the flames and sprinkles finished this fun summer birthday card.

I am also entering this at the Anything Goes challenge at Seize the Birthday.

Enjoy your weekend!

Summer Card Camp Week 1, Day 5 Inspiration

 

I got up early and caught up on day 5 at Summer Card Camp 2.  While Jennifer's card technique was cool (I will try it soon) it was Kristina's card with the embossed acetate window that caught my eye. i used one of the new color combos suggested, not ones I usually work with.

You know me, I just love acetate and I have embossed it before, but never as a window. The card was a bit time consuming but so worth it. A CAS card that takes time. I used an old spellbinder's fish die and die cut them using polka dot paper. I just love polka dots and over at CAS-ual Fridays they are featuring polka dots for this week's challenge. 

Don't you love how the acetate is embossed with swirls just like ocean waves? The fish are swing around in the ocean with a backdrop of aqua polka dot paper. The base card is embossed to represent the bubbles fish blow in the water.

Other challenges that I am entering this in are: Just Add Ink- featuring cards using water literally or as an inspiration, Addicted to CAS, featuring water as the inspiration, and Crazy 4 Challenges, featuring marine life.

I wished I had one of those cute little fish sayings like Happy Birthday Fishes so I had to be content with "don't forget to have some fun today".

I apologize for the not so perfect photos- just one of those crazy lighting days.

Have a great weekend!

Summer Card Camp Week 1, Day 1

Hi fellow campers, counselors and everyone else! This clever little card is from our day 1 lesson by Jennifer Maguire at Summer Card Camp 2. I just loved the way the pennant open with a message underneath. I stuck with the required color combo and instead of just using words for the background on the pennant, I mixed it up with a design stamp and used two different colors.

I used the following stamps: Kelly Purkey's Make a Wish, Mama Elephant's Trifecta and a birthday die from Papertrey Ink.

Please check in again. Hopefully I will be able to spend more time on lessons this weekend!

Summer Card Camp 2 week 1, day 4

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Time for camp! Not just any camp but Summer Card Camp!

Three weeks of designs, inspiration and challenges with our favorite counselors- Jennifer Maguire and Kristina Werner and a bunk house full of guest counselors.

What with work, school and doctor appointments today is the first day I have actually been able to sit down and practice what we have learned in the past few days.

I decided to really challenge myself with the 10 minute challenge. I figured with all my work with making CAS cards this should be a no brainer. LIke others, I gathered my materials and had them ready. I used a card base and some scrap paper- that yes was trimmed in the time frame. I used CAS-ual Friday's Bold Wishes stamp set and a old stamp saying from some unknown set. I used the colors combo required and and one of the card sketches as the basis of my inspiration.

As you can see I made it in 8 minutes and 4 seconds. I wished I had taken advantage of the las minute or so to more carefully cut out my embellishment for the card. and I wish I had trimmed the card down so when I added the embellishment it would fit in a standard envi. It's like in the food challenge Chopped, where the chef finishes their dish with a few minutes left and doesn't clean the plates! But this isn't bad for my first 10 minute card and what the hey, I can go back now and fix it. I can, can't I??!!?

House of Cards Debut Challenge for CAS

Hi Everyone!

This is my first posting for the new challenge site- House of Cards. We have a special color, sketch or photo inspiration posted once a month and each week a different style of stamping is introduced.

This week features CAS cards featuring this months colors.

Naturally my first CAS entry had to have flowers on it. I found this in a box of old flower stamps and rescued it from being hauled to the attic and never enjoying the feeling of wet ink on its back again!

I hope  this card inspires you to create a CAS card for the challenge.

It's your Birthday!!

Boy, I am starting to get the hang of one layer cards! I am so proud of myself! Lots of birthday in July besides my own, which we all know is really the only important one! But, I do have to make the effort-hee hee!! :) 

This one layer card is based on the sketch for CASE this sketch and will be for my brother whose birthday is at the end of the month. It is a mix of old and new. The strip down the side is a washi  tape stamp from Inspired by Stamping and the saying is from Simon Says Stamp's Make a Wish. The circles/dots are very old sets from Hero Arts and Memory Box.

I am entering this at Crazy 4 Challenges, a new challenge blog I discovered. The challenge is to "Get Wordy". I think this card fits the bill don't you?

"Anything Goes" that's the challenge at An Inky Situation- especially since my card is just stamps and ink! Talk about back to basics. It sure doesn't get old huh?

I have been taking the cards I make into sets of different colors and will probably work this card up into other color schemes and keep them on hand.

Well I better get out of the studio, the temperature is quickly rising- 89 degrees at 10:00. I have to do all my stamping early in the morning.

Have a great weekend all and stay cool!!!

Yay for the Red, White and Blue!!!

I just love the 4th of July, when  was a kid, I so wanted to have been born on the 4th of July (is you follow my blog you know that yesterday- the 2nd was my big day) that I told people that the 4th was y birthday! I wanted to be a fire cracker baby! Well, I may not have been born on the 4th, but ask most people and they would say I am a firecracker!

I used an oldie, but good stamp, It's a parade by Hero Arts and a brand new stamp- Lawn Fawn's Happy 4th. If you click on th picture, you will see all the fireworks are coated with glitter.

My patriotic card this year reminds me of when I was a kid and a whole group of us would to head to the hollow for the town fireworks. I am entering this in the CASology firework challenge.

Because so many challenges naturally are calling for a red, white and blue theme this week, I am also entering this at Craft your Passion, Paper Playtime ,Shopping our Stash and the Color Throw Down.

Wishing all of you a firecracker day!

Happy Birthday to me!

What is better then a down-staff day during a summer day during 4th of July week? It is being down-staffed on your birthday!!!

Yep today is my birthday! Hooray for me!! Of course I am spending this glorious day in my studio making  my own birthday card!

I picked this great color combo of blue, yellow and orange and used my curved snowdrift die to create the curve in the card. Of course I used my favorite stamp set  Reflections by Paper Smooches and a new fav from Simon Says Stamp- Flower Friend.  The saying is an old Hero Arts acrylic saying that I bent to fit the curve. 

I am entering this at Sunday Stamps- the weekly challenge is to use blue, yellow and orange- how perfect! :)

I liked the design so much, I tried it in a few other colors.

Margarita- the pink and purple is for you, girlfriend!

This fun mix was based on this Pinterest card. I just loved the colors. You will be seeing more of this mix from me.

Thanks for checking in on my birthday. Feel free to leave a comment for me on my special day! After all it is all about me!!