CASology 188 - Laugh

This week's CASology Cue Card is Laugh!

I don't have a lot of joke (or even punny) stamps, so I decided to go with a famous laugh.

When you look closely, this card really has quite a lot going on - die cut panel. Die cut & coloured image. Plus another solid, dark image/sentiment which grounds Santa. By limiting the colour palette to (mostly) red, white and black, and preserving white space, the card still feels clean and simple.

I used:
-MFT Jingle All the Way
-Simon Says Stamp Circles for the Holidays
-Avery Elle Double-pierced squares

-Copics
-Stardust Stickles

And now it's your turn! We can't wait to see what you come up with! Be sure to drop by the rest of the DT for more inspiration:

Deidre Payne

Hannelie Bester
Hazel Hodgkins
Jacquie Southas
Jen Wills
Joyce Mehrberg
Judy Marino
Kymona Tracey
Melissa Chipperfield
Sherrie Mannion
Tracey McNeely

and this week's Guest Designer: Jane

MCV34 - Good Will to All

This is my card for this week's Muse: ChristmasVisions Challenge, where Kimberly gave us this dramatic, beautiful inspiration:

I focused on Kimberly's
-winged image ;-)
-gold embossing
-addition of colour

I used:
-Stampin' Up Dove of Peace
-Avery Elle Joy to the World

There is still time to join us - the deadline is 8 am on Wednesday.

FS474 - Merry!

This week's Splitcoaststampers Featured Stamper is genistamps. She has a huge gallery of so many fun cards! I chose this one as my inspiration:

I focused on Geni's:
-patterned background
-die cuts
-two overlapping trees

I changed:
-background pattern
-used kraft instead of white die cuts
-added a sentiment

I used:
-WPlus9 Merry die
-WPlus9 Fair Isle backgrounds stamps
-Lawn Fawn Tree dies

Muse 155 - Happy Birthday, Kate!

Today is Kate's 13th birthday. ALL she wants for her birthday is a dog.

Yep. Nope. Not happening. (Ironically, we call her Katy-kat!)

So I decided to use Tasha's Muse inspiration and give her 13 dogs instead:

I focused on Tasha's:
-birthday theme
-balloons and masking
-masking technique

I used:
-Mama Elephant Playful Pups
-MFT Birthday Bears (for the balloon and birthday cake)
-*new* (for me) Ellen Hutson Linen Cardstock

Some of these dogs have been coloured to look like the dogs in Kate's life - her aunt's two dogs (Dexter and Dirk), her piano teacher's (Bianca and Finnegan) and our neighbour (Lola).

Later we are taking a bunch of her friends to a trampoline park for the party. All the bouncing will be done before the pizza and cake! lol!

Happy (UK) Mother's Day

I just had a near-heart attack when I Googled UK Mother's Day for this year. It's on SUNDAY.

Let me back up. My mother-in-law lives in Scotland. The UK, in its wisdom, does not celebrate Mother's Day when we do (their Father's day is the same as ours, though). Not only that, the UK MOVES Mother's Day (Mothering Sunday) every year (like Easter). I'm sure this is a conspiracy to make those of us who are non-British daughters-in-law living outside the UK look bad. And I manage to, almost every year. Especially when it's so early in March! lol!

At least the card doesn't look bad, despite its very quick construction! Fresh and springy.

I used:
-WPlus9 Doodle Buds
-Simon Says Stamp Best Mom Ever  

And now I'm going to put an early-early warning into my 2017 calendar. ;-)

Card Concept GD - CC50 - Thank You

I am so thrilled that I've been asked to be a Guest Designer at The Card Concept this month! I will be using the Clean & Graphic style (surprise!)

Here's this week's inspiration photo:

I don't make St. Patrick's Day cards, but I was really drawn to the freshness of the green and white and the golden cookies (YUM!). These colours are perfect for a masculine card.

I used:
-Papertrey Phrase Play 7 die
-Papertrey Perfect Pairing sentiment

CASology 187 - Spin

This week's CASology Cue Card is Spin!

Oh, this is going to be a fun one - so many great ways to interpret this cue card!  I chose one close to my heart - a plane's propeller.

When you're making a CAS card, knowing when to stop is the most important thing - generally, the earlier, the better; but you still want it to be interesting!

I started with the Sugar Pea Designs plane and the Papertrey sentiment both in black. Ultimate CAS (and my favourite CAS - one image, one sentiment). You can stop there. Sometimes that's all you need. But this time it was boring.

So I added the MFT (You Move Me (retired)) sun. Better. Still dull.

Clouds? Hmm. Need 3 (for balance and all that). Too busy? How about a REALLY light colour (WPlus9 Fairy Dust)? Will it be too much? What should I do?

Added them - and in fact the scene is much better. But still CAS. Stop there or have more clouds on the card base? What colour card base? White helps to extend the white space around the focal point.

The result is a light, airy card that has a lot on it, but still feels perfectly CAS!

Now it's your turn!

Be sure to drop by the rest of the DT for more inspiration!

Deidre Payne

Hannelie Bester
Hazel Hodgkins
Jacquie Southas
Jen Wills
Joyce Mehrberg
Judy Marino
Kymona Tracey
Melissa Chipperfield
Sherrie Mannion
Tracey McNeely

and this week's Guest Designer: Michele