Monday 30 June 2014

CASE Study 197 - Happy Birthday!


A quick CAS card for this week's CASE Study Challenge, where our inspiration comes from Pamela Ho and this card:



I find orange and black hard to work with. Somehow it always screams Hallowe'en to me. So I looked back at Pamela's to figure out why hers wasn't screaming Hallowe'en. And it's because (in my humble opinion) the black isn't black. Because she's used vellum, it's grey. But it shows black around the orange dot because of the way the vellum is cut. AHA!

I can't remember where that little circle sentiment came from, but I'll hold onto it forever because every once in a while, it's really useful!

The bigger dot is from Simon Says Stamp and the bling is Doodlebug.


Sunday 29 June 2014

Modern Love


My friend's brother got married last weekend. She asked me to make a card for them, in their colour scheme of black, white and silver.

They're pretty young, so I decided to go sleek and modern. I started with a stacked heart in a silver foil paper that I think looks almost like stainless steel. I inlaid the 'lway', and added the 'a' and 's' outside. The trickiest bit of this was the spacing of the letters, so I lined the dies up on my graph paper and then picked them up with masking tape to keep them properly spaced when I cut them out of the heart.

We dropped Struan at his gliding school yesterday. He'll be there for 2 1/2 weeks or so, and when he's done, he'll be fully qualified for his license (except for the small fact that he's only 15 - he'll have to wait until he's 16 to actually be licensed). I'm trying hard not to think of him thousands of feet up in the air with only the wind holding him up! :-)

Saturday 28 June 2014

Muse 73 - Hello


Here's my card for this week's Muse challenge, where our Guest Muse is Beverly Brown, of Uniko Studios.



I focused on the colour scheme by using some striped dp and a black inlaid sentiment. At that point, I felt it was lacking some of the white of Beverly's Muse so I added a little white MFT butterfly.

I hope you'll get a chance to play along with us - the deadline is on Monday at 8: 00 am. Even if you can't link up a card, you can still vote for your top 3 favourites from Monday at 8 until Tuesday at 8. Results will be posted at noon Tuesday.

Friday 27 June 2014

CFC133 - Summer Lovin'

This is my second post for today. For my Festive Friday post, please scroll down.


Time for a new CAS-ual Fridays challenge and you're going to love this one!

Tell me more, tell me more, I hear you saying. Or should I say "singing"!



Make a CAS card in summer colours, with hearts on it!

I used one of the background stamps from Lotsa Links, and curved it to create a wave and then stamped it in Summer Sun, Only Orange and Tempting Turquoise. I then used the nested heart die from Heart Board Fri-Dies. I finished it off with a sentiment from Brickworks.

Now it's your turn - you have until July 18 to link up! Even better, Simon Says Stamp is our sponsor, offering a $25 Gift Card. See CAS-ual Fridays for details!

FFC34 - Mid Challenge Inspiration!


We're entering the last few days of the current Festive Friday challenge and I'm back with some more inspiration. See that present under the tree slightly to the right? That's where I got this card from.


I used various snowflake dies that I've collected over the years and a Simon Says Stamp sentiment die. They're all inlaid.

Thursday 26 June 2014

STAMPlorations Birthday Blog Hop


 STAMPlorations is celebrating its first birthday with a blog hop and new release! I am so thrilled to have been invited to join the party as a Guest Designer!



Here's my card. I realized at the last minute that somehow I don't have any Stamplorations sentiments (I'l be fixing that situation ASAP)! So I used my favourite flower from Eclectic Florals  two ways. I stamped each flower on a circle die cut and then flipped the stamp over, stamped off once and 'coloured' the flower in with that impression.  I used the stem in the set to create a frame. And finally, for some more interest, I stacked them all with the flower colour, but each one at different heights. 

You can win Eclectic Florals set by leaving a comment here. And by visiting all the stops on the hop and leaving a comment  on each one, there's more chances to win stamps. There's over $120 worth of stamps to be won!

FOURTEEN (14) lucky hoppers randomly drawn from the designers' blogs will each win a stamp set and ONE (1) lucky hopper randomly drawn from the STAMPlorations blog will win all the stamps in the July release. You have until Wednesday, July 2, 11:55 p.m. PDT (GMT -700) to comment here and on my fellow designers' posts for a chance to win. Winners will be announced on the STAMPlorations blog on Sunday, July 6.

*** The stops in the hop*** 
Design Team:
Cornelia | Debra | Kylie | Maria | Monika | Nonni | Shery | Shirley | Vicki
Guest Designers:
Ardyth | Chrissie | Deepti | Melissa | Mynn

The new release will be available to buy on the shop during the hop. If you buy all 6 sets it's only $30 (17% off) + free shipping in the US (flat rate to other countries). Go check it out at  http://stamplorations.com/newrelease/ !


PS - this is another card I made solely with the 'back' of that flower stamp, inspired by the scrap paper where I was stamping off while making my first card - see? inspiration really is everywhere! 

Wednesday 25 June 2014

The Card Concept #13 - Oh Baby!


Time for lucky challenge #13 at The Card Concept! The theme for this challenge is Oh, Baby - make a baby-themed card.



I focused on the baby buggy cookie to create my Clean & Graphic Card. Simple colour blocking and a bit of texture (just a bit) keep this card feeling very clean. I used a Clearly Besotted die and a little heart punch as well as my MFT Grosgrain texture plate.

Coincidentally, my baby boy was born on this day, 15 years ago! Seems like yesterday! Happy Birthday, Struan!


Our Rules
  1. Use the Challenge to create a card.
  2. Choose one of the design team "styles" to create your card. Click HERE for the different styles summary.
  3. Explain in your post which style you used.
  4. Link up your blog post here, not your whole blog.
  5. Comment on the card ahead of you and behind you in the linky. Everyone loves comments!
    This challenge will end on Monday, July 7 at 3 pm EDT.

    Tuesday 24 June 2014

    CASology 101 - Wood


    This week's CASology Cue Card is Wood!



    This card may look familiar. It looks a lot like my Festive Friday card from last Friday, doesn't it?



    That brings us to the process of 'CAS-ification'. I think it was my friend Susan who coined 'CAS-ify' as a verb and it's a good one. There is a lot of inspiration all around us, and a lot of it isn't very CAS, but that doesn't mean we can't use it.

    You know where my FFC card came from. And today's card came from that card. This time I simply die cut the Simon Says Stamp tree out of the cream panel and popped it up on a craft card base. By reducing layers, bling and colour, I CAS-ified it. And I changed it from a girly, glitzy Christmas card to a rustic, masculine card that could be used for Christmas, or a birthday or even as a sympathy card.

    Now it's your turn! But before you go, make sure to check out the other DT members' blogs for even more inspiration.

    Monday 23 June 2014

    CASology 100th Cue Card Celebration - Day 10


    Today is Day 10 (and the final day) of our big celebration, and our featured designer is Jen. Be sure to read all about her at CASology and then leave a comment on her blog within 24 hours for a chance to win some blog candy!

    And don't forget to play along with us - there's a $25 gift certificate to Endless Creations, LLC & Everyday Cards up for grabs! The deadline is 1 pm EDT on Monday.

    And tomorrow, we'll be moving on to our 101th Cue Card, and back to our regular schedule. We hope you've enjoyed our 10 day Celebration!

    Pinterest Inspired Happy Birthday


    For those of you who follow MASKerade and my Pinterest inspiration board, this card will come as no surprise. In fact, you're probably wondering what took me so long, right?

    I made this card for last week's CASology DT Feature:


    and then I found this on Pinterest (ignore the words, I was attracted to the design):

    The New Pornographers  by steven wilson, via Behance

    For those of you interested, here's a how I did these inlaid die cuts - I'm sure there are many other ways, but I've found this works pretty well.

    1) Cut white panel. Die cut HAPPY and remove it.
    2) Die Cut HAPPY in black.
    3) Lay double-sided (I use Sookwang) tape across the back of the opening. This creates a sticky 'nest' for your black die cut to sit in and also keeps all the tiny white bits stuck down.
    4) Lay the black HAPPY into the white panel
    5) This depends on whether your letter centres (for A and PP in this case) are still in the die cut or if they fell out. If they're still in the die cut, lay the white die cut over the black one and use a paper piercer to poke them into the spot. If they fell out, just place them in with your fingers
    6) Turn the panel over and burnish it (rub it) with a bone folder. This makes sure that everything's stuck in there really well.
    7) Repeat with the other HAPPY.
    8) Take the release paper off the double-sided tape and adhere your panel to a sheet of computer paper. This will hold everything together when you cut the BIRTHDAY.
    9) Repeat 1-6 with the BIRTHDAY die. This time, though, I coloured the white die cut from step 1 and laid it back in in step 4. Try harder than I did to get your rainbow colours in the right order, though!
    10)Trim excess computer paper and make your card.

    ETA: Papertrey for the Happy Die and Clearly Besotted for the birthday die.



    Sunday 22 June 2014

    CASology 100th Cue Card Celebration - Day 9


    Today is Day 9 of our big celebration, and our featured designer is Gillian. Be sure to read all about her at CASology and then leave a comment on her blog within 24 hours for a chance to win some blog candy!

    And don't forget to play along with us - there's a $25 gift certificate to Endless Creations, LLC & Everyday Cards up for grabs! The deadline is 1 pm EDT on Monday.

    Muse 72 - Thanks ever so much


    Wow, this week got away from me! I almost forgot to play along with Muse! GASP!

    This time of year is crazy if you've got kids - all the end-of-the-year recitals (and extra rehearsals that go along with those) and celebrations make it super busy, but fun!

    So this is my take on Marion's elegant card:


    I used Papertrey's Outline Alphabet, coloured with copics and stickles, and part of a Paper Smooches sentiment.

    Tomorrow morning at 8 am EDT is the deadline - I hope you'll play along, but even if you can't, you can pop over and vote for your favourites between 8 am Monday and 8 am Tuesday. Results will be posted on Tuesday at noon.


    Saturday 21 June 2014

    CASology 100th Cue Card Celebration - Day 8


    Today is Day 8 of our big celebration, and our featured designer is Meghan. Be sure to read all about her at CASology and then leave a comment on her blog within 24 hours for a chance to win some blog candy!

    And don't forget to play along with us - there's a $25 gift certificate to Endless Creations, LLC & Everyday Cards up for grabs! The deadline is 1 pm EDT on Monday.

    Fusion - Butterfly in Gold


    This is my card for the current Fusion challenge. I used the inspiration photo only for this card:




    I cut 7/8" strips of white and 1/8" strips of gold foil and laid them on a 4x4 panel. This way the surface is smooth. I then cut a gold foil butterfly using a Martha Stewart punch. Very simple, very elegant - perfect for a birthday or thank you.


    Friday 20 June 2014

    CASology 100th Cue Card - Blog Candy Winner!

    I used RANDOM.ORG to generate the winner of the blog candy, but I could not figure out how to post the little widget here.
    I used 44 comments (took out Judy, Tracey and Joyce who are fellow CASology DT members) and the number was 28. 

    Comment 28 is from Therese:
    Fantastic Ardyth, one of my fave techniques too, hard to imagine but my dies seem to be used as much as my stamps around here (who woulda thought)! Loved reading more about you... the piano hey? you really are one clever lady.


    Congratulations Therese! email me at ardythpr@gmail.com with your address and I'll pop your blog candy in the mail!
    Today, our featured Designer is Judy. Pop over to CASology to read more about her and then leave a comment on her
    blog for a chance to win!

    Thanks every one for playing along! We all hope that you're enjoying this 10 day celebration!

    FFC34 - Sparkle!



    Time for the next Festive Friday challenge! We have a really whimsical, pretty inspiration photo this time. Another one with lots and lots of details so you can choose to go in lots and lots of different directions!



    I focused on the golden tree with all the pretty ornaments. I inlaid a glittery gold Simon Says Stamp tree into a circle panel (to pick up on the 'world' on the wall) and then a Memory Box sunburst die to get the different-sized dots for the ornaments, cut out of various glitter papers.

    Now it's your turn - even now as I look at the photo again, I see more and more little details that could easily inspire a card! I can't wait to see how you all interpret this photo!

    The deadline is Wednesday July 2 - hope to see you there!

    Thursday 19 June 2014

    CASology DT Feature


    Hello! Today is my day to be featured at CASology as part of our 100th Cue Card Celebration! Head over and check it out!  I hope you've been enjoying getting to know all of us a little bit better. 

    I have some blog candy to give away, so be sure to leave a comment below before 10 am EDT tomorrow and then I'll announce the winner!



    I made this card with my (currently) favourite technique - inlaid die cuts. I love the smooth surface, the wow! factor and the satisfaction of getting everything back in the right place (this can be tricky!). For this card, I used a Papertrey Happy die and a Clearly Besotted Birthday die. I lost the pink dot on the i, so I substituted with bling!

    Thanks so much for celebrating CASology's 100th Cue Card with us - we are so thrilled to have all of you supporting CASology and playing along with us! 


    crafting in the kitchen, 2 1/2 years old.

    Wednesday 18 June 2014

    CASology 100 Cue Card Celebration - Day 5

    Congratulations to Lindsey, who guessed our 100th Cue Card!



    Today is Day 5 of our big celebration, and our featured designer is Joyce. Be sure to read all about her at CASology and then leave a comment on her blog within 24 hours for a chance to win some blog candy!

    And don't forget to play along with us - there's a $25 gift certificate to Endless Creations, LLC & Everyday Cards up for grabs!

    Happy Birthday, Mrs W!


    Tomorrow is my neighbour's birthday. You'll remember Mrs. W from the stories where she's asked me to make cards for her here, here and here.

    I'm never quite sure what her taste is, so I figured a foolproof way to make a card she would like would be to case the card she chose for me for my birthday. Here it is:


    I made this card at a time when I was attempting the baby wipe technique as shown at Papertrey for another card. My baby wipe card was a mess - muddy and brown. But I had cut one of the MFT butterflies out of vellum for Mrs W's card and decided to see if I could use the baby wipe on it. I simply pressed the butterfly into the baby wipe and look how pretty it turned out! I quickly cut two more and repeated the process.

    I used Neat&Tangled's Photo Booth for the sentiment.

    On another note, my daughter Kate has just started her own blog, Platypus Krafts. If you have time, I know she would love to hear from you!

    Tuesday 17 June 2014

    CASology 100 - CELEBRATE!


    This week is our 100th Cue Card and we're ready to CELEBRATE!




    I hope you've been following along with our 10-day celebration! Melissa will announce the winner of the July Guest Designer spot today, but there's still lots of fun to come! Every day, we're highlighting one of the members of the DT and giving away lots of blog candy! Today's designer is May. Check out CASology for all the details!

    It's amazing to think that almost two years ago, Melissa had this fantastic idea for a new CAS challenge. It's even more amazing that she asked me to be a member of the DT - my first DT! CASology (and Melissa) will forever have a special place in my heart!

    For this card, I used the shape of my Stampin Up sentiment to create my focal image. I simply lined up 3 little dots from Simon Says Stamp's Lots of Dots set and then repeated them in rainbow colours.

    Now it's your turn to help us celebrate! Before you go, don't forget to check out the blogs of the other DT members for some more inspiration!


    Monday 16 June 2014

    CASology 100th Cue Card Celebration - Day 3

    We're on Day 3 of our "Meet the DT" part of CASology's big 100th Cue Card party! Have you been enjoying it so far?

    You have until Tuesday morning at 9 am EDT to leave a comment with your guess as to what our 100th Cue Card will be. If you win, you will be our Guest Designer for the month of July!



    Also, each day, at 11 am EDT, one of the DT members will be featured at CASology (today is Tracey). Once you've had a chance to get to know each designer better, head over to their personal blogs within 24 hours to leave a comment for a chance at some blog candy!

    There's more information at CASology - go check it out!

    Inspired thanks


    Another card for the teacher from Kate's school who wanted a bunch of thank you cards. This one was inspired by this card by Nichole Heady. (yet another desperate attempt to prove that I don't need to buy more stamps....)


    Happy Shaker Card

    I used a MFT waterbrush stamp and inlaid a black Paper Smooches die cut.

    Sunday 15 June 2014

    CASology 100th Cue Card Celebration - Day 2

    We're on Day 2 of our "Meet the DT" part of CASology's big 100th Cue Card party! But you're the ones getting the gifts!

    The first way to win is to go to CASology and leave a comment with your guess as to what our 100th Cue Card will be. If you win, you will be our Guest Designer for the month of July!


    The big reveal for this part of the prizes will be at our normal challenge time, Tuesday at 9 am EDT.

    Also, each day, at 11 am EDT, one of the DT members will be featured at CASology (today is Kimberly). Once you've had a chance to get to know each designer better, head over to their personal blogs within 24 hours to leave a comment for a chance at some blog candy!

    There's more information at CASology - go check it out!

    OLS6 - I've been framed!


    Here's my card for One-Layer Simplicity Challenge #6 - I've been framed, hosted by Karen.  Some new goodies arrived at my house this week, specifically Photo Booth from Neat&Tangled and Picture Perfect from Winnie & Walter. They combined to make this really fun card.

    There's still time to play along with us - the challenge closes on June 24. I hope we'll see you there!


    Saturday 14 June 2014

    CASology

    Have you heard? There's a big event going on at CASology! We're coming up to our 100th Cue Card and we're dying to mark this happy occasion with you! And there's PRIZES!

    The first way to win is to go to CASology and leave a comment with your guess as to what our 100th Cue Card will be. If you win, you will be our Guest Designer for the month of July!


    The big reveal will be at our normal challenge time, Tuesday at 9 am EDT.

    Also, each day, at 11 am EDT, one of the DT members will be featured at CASology (today is Melissa). Once you've had a chance to get to know each designer better, head over to their personal blogs within 24 hours to leave a comment for a chance at some blog candy! That's 10 (count 'em!) chances to win!

    There's more information at CASology - go check it out!



    Muse 71 - Thanks!


    I'm back with another take on this week's Muse challenge. 


    One of the teachers at Kate's school has asked me to make a bunch of thank you cards for her so this seemed like a good opportunity to multi-task. 

    I focused on the layered die cuts and even used some Lawn Fawn dp (I KNOW!), using the cut outs from the base panel as the top layer of the Clearly Besotted die cuts so that they matched perfectly. I added in some sequins that were included in one of my recent orders. 

    Here's a side view so you can see the coloured stacking.



    I hope you'll get a chance to play along with us - the deadline is Monday morning at 8 am EDT. At that time, you can vote until Tuesday morning at 8 and the results will be posted at noon. Hope to see you there!

    Friday 13 June 2014

    FFC33 - Mid Challenge Inspiration


    Time for some mid-challenge inspiration for the current Festive Friday challenge. Here's the inspiration photo:


    This time I focused  on the grey sky, the slats and the steering wheel on the sled, as well as all the snow.

    There are still a few more days to play along - the deadline is Wednesday June 18 - hope to see you there!

    Thursday 12 June 2014

    MM112 - Coming to Town


    A quick CAS card for Merry Monday where the challenge is to have a Santa hat on your card.



    I made a similar card for CASology last year when the Cue Card was Triangle, but pretty much as soon as I had posted it, I thought it would be much cooler not to have the whole Impress sentiment.

    The hat is an old A Muse stamp, coloured in Copics and Stickles.

    Wednesday 11 June 2014

    Muse 71, RS118 - Modern Father's Day


    There are so many great challenges around that it's hard to play in as many as I would like. So I thought I would start combining them. Harder than it sounds (for me, anyway!)

    This father's day card came together a little unexpectedly. I started with the Retro Sketch:



    In fact, I started by trying to combine this sketch with my Festive Friday card for this Friday, but it wasn't working. Then it hit me that DAD is a 3-letter word. Perfect for the sketch.  I looked at my various alphabet dies and settled on this new 'Smooth' Alphabet from Papertrey. The letters were almost too big for my 1" squares, so I decided to go with it and cut them off the edge.

    That's when I started to realize that this could also be my Muse card - colour-stacked die cuts with the top layer matching the card base (although this is much less fun than Therese's DP!)


    So a reasonable start at combining challenges!  But it's time to get this baby into the mail or it will be late!