CAS-ual Fridays The Challenge - Celebrations

It's The Challenge time again over at CAS-ual Fridays!  This is a week for Celebrations!  The challenge is to make a card to celebrate anything you wish!

For my card this week I used the following stamps and dies from CAS-ual Fridays:

Shenanigans, Thanks and Funky Round Tag

 

For this challenge I decided to make a card that could be used to celebrate just about anything.   I like to keep a few cards on hand in case an occasion pops up and I need a quick card.  I can add any sentiment to the inside that says happy birthday, happy anniversary or even happy new year!

The focal point of this card is the extra large, bold sentiment embossed in white.  I pulled out the distress inks and did some emboss resist blending in some bright, cheerful distress ink  colors.  Then I cut the blended panel into three sections to add more emphasis to the sentiment.

For this card I also used:   Ink: spiced marmalade, ripe persimmon, mustard seed, twisted citron (Ranger Distress Inks), clear emboss (Versamark).   Paper: silver sparkle cardstock (My Favorite Things), white 110 lb cardstock (Catherine Pooler Designs).   Accessories: Falling Snow Stencil (Simon Says Stamp), white embossing powder (WOW!), fun foam.

I raised the center panel up using a piece of fun foam then tucked a sparkly diecut accent up under it for some fun dimension.

I hope you'll play along with us for your chance to win!

All you have to do is make your own card celebrating whatever fun event you wish to celebrate,  then link it up over on the 

CAS-ual Fridays The Challenge blog by January 10th ----------->HERE<--------------

I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Have a great weekend and happy stamping!

Flying by........

Hi all!  I'm just flying by to drop off a couple of birthday cards that I made for my nephews.  December is full of birthdays for me and the week before Christmas is no exception.   For these two young men I wanted to use my new For The Guys stamp set from Unity Stamps.  I was so excited to get this set mainly because of the airplane image.  My husband is a pilot and I'm always on the lookout for images that even closely resemble his Cessna.   There are not a lot of airplane stamps on the market so I grab what I can get and this one is a beauty!

For this first card I tried to create a scene above the trees when coming in for a landing.  Usually during landing my eyes are closed so.....  I had to wing it.....bahahaha!  Ok, I've had my pun for the day, back to the card. 

First I stamped some tree tops and black birds onto the bottom of the card using Penny Black's Woodland Beauty stamp set.  I am in love with that little tree!  I filled in the trees a little by blending some distress inks over them.  Moving up I did some more ink blending with some cloud stencils.   To keep things light and airy I chose this thin lined sentiment from the Birthday Wishes & Balloons stamp set by My Favorite Things.

I had this card all centered nicely with a white framed edge but it just wasn't working for me so I tilted the front panel a little and trimmed off the top and the side.  Then pulling from the orange color of the plane I added an orange striped border using my favorite YAY Stripes! border stamp set by Catherine Pooler Designs.

For this card I used the following supplies:

Stamps: For The Guys (Unity Stamps), Woodland Beauty (Penny Black), Birthday Wishes & Balloons (My Favorite Things), YAY Stripes! (Catherine Pooler Designs).

Inks: orange twist (Catherine Pooler Designs), tumbled glass, old paper, peeled paint (Ranger Distress), forever green (Hero Arts), onyx black (Versafine),  Clean Color Real Brush Watercolor markers (ZIG).

Paper:  premium white 100 lb cardstock (Catherine Pooler Designs).

Accessories: Blueprints #15 dies (My Favorite Things), dimensional tape (3M).

Adding the plane onto the card with dimensional tape adds to the illusion of it flying.  Having the tail hang off of the edge of the panel adds movement and the illusion that it is flying into the scene.

For my second card I went a little cleaner by containing the sky scene inside this Instant Camera die by Lil' Inker Designs.  I added dimensional tape to the Instant Camera die as well as the airplane and once again the plane is flying into the scene.

For this card I used the following supplies:

Stamps: For The Guys (Unity Stamps), YAY Stripes! (Catherine Pooler Designs).

Ink: orange twist (Catherine Pooler Designs), tumbled glass (Ranger Distress), onyx black (Versafine), clear emboss (Versamark), Clean Color Real Brush watercolor markers (ZIG).

Paper: black (Simon Says Stamp), premium white 100 lb cardstock (Catherine Pooler Designs).

Accessories: Instant Camera die (Lil' Inker Designs), white embossing powder (WOW!), dimensional tape (3M).

Thank you so much for stopping by.  I'll be back tomorrow with another fun project I've been working on for CAS-ual Fridays The Challenge.  Until then......

Happy Stamping!!

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve and I just wanted to stop by and wish you all a very 

Merry Christmas!

I'm dropping off the last of my Christmas cards along with my holiday wishes to you.  Eat, drink, be merry and have a wonderful weekend my friends!

For my first card I diecut a white on white background and then used a large yet simple Sizzix tree die for the focal point.  The silver sparkle cardstock from My Favorite Things stands out well onto a white monochromatic background yet still blends in a nice soft way.

This little shaker card was inspired by a card made by Nina-Marie Trapani.  I loved how she folded over half of her diecut tree so I thought it would be fun to give it a try.  I just happened to have a tree die from Sizzix that I was able to do some partial diecutting with, to achieve the same look.  I think it adds a lot of interest and a modern element to my card.

 

For my next card I used this beautifully detailed tree stamp by Unity Stamps.  I stamped it in black, then used some Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers to color it it.  If you look real close you can see the tiniest little Christmas words stamped right into the tree design.  Such a festive tree stamp. All the dies I used on this card and the sweet looking sentiment are from Lil' Inker Designs.

This Memory Box deer is one of my favorite dies around Christmas time.  I stenciled the background using Simon Says Stamp snowfall stencil and some Faber-Castell glass bead glitter gel.  Lots of sparkle and shine on this card!

Check out this Hero Arts Layered Cardinal stamp!  Wowee!!  Being from "Cardinal Country" and a loyal SVHS fan this little bird flew right into my heart.

This layered bird is so majestic that it just carries the whole card.  Clean and simple is all I need along with that large sentiment from The Ton and my favorite Yay Stripes by Catherine Pooler Desigsn.  Go Cards! 

Thank you so much for stopping by!  Now it's time to head off to finish up those last minute holiday preparations and get this party started!   See you next week!

Sending snow for Christmas

It's the week before, Christmas and the snow is thick here in northern Illinois.  We may dream of it, but we sure don't like to shovel it!

Taking pity on my poor southern friends and family that may not have a white Christmas I've whipped up a few snowy cards to send their way.  Love ya'll!

 Stamps: Peppermint Stick background (Stamp of Approval: Candy Cane Lane/Catherine Pooler Designs), For Everything (Catherine Pooler Designs), Snowy Sayings (CAS-ual Fridays), Winter Greetings (Lil' Inker Designs).

Ink: midnight (Catherine Pooler Designs), rose quartz (The Ton), clear emboss (Versamark).

Paper: black, fog (Simon Says Stamp), white 140 lb cardstock (Neenah).

Accessories: Snowman Joy die (Penny Black), Streetlights, Blueprints #15 dies(My Favorite Things), white and clear embossing powders (WOW!), twine, clear sequins.

 

Stamps: Whoots (Art Impressions), Jolly & Joyful Sentiments (Lil' Inker Designs).

Ink: tuxedo black (Memento), Copic Markers

Paper: black (Simon Says Stamp), white 140 lb cardstock (Neenah).

Accessories: Many Labels dies (Stamp of Approval: Candy Cane Lane/CAS-ual Fridays), Blueprints #15 dies (My Favorite Things), white Nuvo Crystal Drops.

 

Stamps: Color Layering Deer (Hero Arts), Woodland Beauty (Penny Black), Holiday Cheer (WPlus9), Minor Stripes background (The Ton).

Ink: forever green (Hero Arts Shadow Ink), aspen cocoa, found topaz, warm hazelnut, red sangria (The Ton), tumbled glass, white spray stain (Ranger  Distress), midnight (Catherine Pooler Designs).

Paper: white 140 lb cardstock (Neenah).

Accessories: Color Layerine Deer dies (Hero Arts), Silly Stitched dies (Lil' Inker Designs), Stardust Stickles. 

Merry Christmas my friends!

Stay warm!

CAS-ual Fridays The Challenge - Christmas & Hanukkah

It's The Challenge time again over at CAS-ual Fridays!  This week we are celebrating the holidays by making  cards for Christmas & Hanukkah!!    The challenge is to make a card for one of these holidays.

For my card this week I used the following stamps and dies from CAS-ual Fridays:

Snowy Sayings,  Bring on the Snowflakes and Funky Flakes

 

And if you love these beautifully detailed snowflakes as much as I do, I'm happy to say they're all on sale!  Just click on the photos above to check them out today!

  For this festive Christmas card I pulled my inspiration from a cute little tree ornament that I found at the dollar store.  I'm not sure why, but this little swirly tree caught my eye and I just had to have it.  I love the sparkly red and green and I had the perfect sour apple sparkle cardstock that would look great on a Christmas card.  Keeping it clean and simple I layered the snowflake by stamping the first two layers in red and then adding some diecut snowflakes on top. 

 For this card I also used the following supplies:

Ink: Rockin' Red, Midnight (Catherine Pooler Designs).  Paper: lipstick red cardstock (Simon Says Stamp), sour apple sparkle cardstock (My Favorite Things), white 140 lb cardstock (Neenah).  Accessories: clear sequins, fun foam.

The little  star snowflake just wasn't enough green for me so I added two thin strips at the bottom of the white panel then popped it up with some fun foam.

Now it's your turn.

I hope you'll play along with us for your chance to win!

All you have to do is make your own card for Christmas or Hanukkah, then link it up over on the 

CAS-ual Fridays The Challenge blog by December 27th ----------->HERE<--------------

I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Have a great weekend and happy stamping!

Holiday Wrap-Up Bundle from Catherine Pooler Designs!

It's December already, can you believe that?  If you're like me you still have some Christmas cards that need to be mailed and presents that need to be wrapped.  Well, leave it to my friend Catherine Pooler  to help out by creating this  last minute Holiday Wrap-Up Bundle.

You can purchase these items separately or get a discount for buying the four pack bundle which includes:

Holiday Mittens stamp set

Holiday Mittens coordinating dies

Still Smiling stamp set 

Sending Blessings sentiment stamp

The best part is you can order these today, no waiting!  Just click on the stamps above to go directly to the Catherine Pooler Designs store.  You'll find so many great designer projects for each of these new sets.  But first.....check out some of my Holiday Wrap-Up creations right here!!

Oh those adorable Holiday Mittens!  These mittens line up so easily.  First I stamped the black outline, then I lined up each little  knitted mitten before stamping them at the same time. Super easy to stamp and diecut too!

So easy in fact, that I decided  a special gift needs some special wrapping paper.  I bought my niece a Foundations Box of goodies from the Catherine Pooler Designs store so I thought it would be super cute to create some one of a kind wrapping paper just for my little crafty girl.  I used some blank white paper off of a roll of drawing paper, turned up the Christmas music and just had a blast stamping mittens.   And check out that fancy pantsy coordinating tag!

A shout out to this sweet little Sending Blessings stamp too.  This sentiment is big and bold enough to stand alone and would work great for the outside or the inside of a card.  For this card I paired it with Catherine Pooler Design's Wild Bloom stamp set for a beautiful card that could be for Christmas or any occasion.

When Christmas card making winds down, I usually turn my attention over to making some special thank you cards for my friends and family who were so sweet to me over the holidays.  I really love this Still Smiling stamp set that Catherine is offering because the sentiments are so sweet.  They can be used on the front or the inside of the card.  I also love the script on all of the larger sentiments, they look hand written to me.

The cute little graphic images that are included with this stamp set are also very versatile.  The heart, leaf, flower and butterfly all lend a beautiful design element to my cards.  I used copic markers to give them a little color.

These thank you sentiments are perfect on any card you design and pair up with great with other stamp sets.  You can see this scripted "thank you" fits perfectly in the center of this wreath from the Wonderful Wreath stamp set.

Thanks so much for stopping by to look at my cards today.  If you haven't checked out Catherine Pooler Designs online store yet, you really are missing out on some great stuff.  The  Foundations Box will be back in stock in a few days and if you place an order by December 16th you're sure to get your goodies before Christmas.

Happy stamping my friends!

It's December - Mail Time!

Hurray! It's December!  It's countdown time to getting those Christmas cards in the mail.  This weekend and for the next week I'll be focused on finishing up a few more special cards and getting envelopes addressed and ready to go.  I admit I'm running a little later than usual but it's all good.  There are still a lot of Christmas card challenges out there and loads of fun to be had.  I still have a few black Friday Christmas stamps on the way too so  I'll be popping in a few times this next week to post my stragglers.

For this card I combined some stamps and dies from Catherine Pooler Design's last two releases.  The polka dots and Christmas trees along with all of these gorgeous ink colors are from the Foundations Box.  The sentiment, tag and bows are from the Candy Cane Lane Collection.  I think they coordinate so well together and make a fun, whimsical Christmas card.

Stamps: For Everything (Catherine Pooler Designs/Foundations Box), Candy Cane Lane, Merry and Bright Boughs (Stamp of Approval Candy Cane Lane Collection/Catherine Pooler Designs).

Ink: Rockin' Red, Grass Skirt, Midnight (Catherine Pooler Designs).

Paper: white 100 lb cardstock (Catherine Pooler Designs), sunshine, lipstick red (Simon Says Stamp), white 140 lb cardstock (Neenah).

Accessories: Candy Cane Lane Dies (Stamp of Approval Candy Cane Lane Collection/Catherine Pooler Designs), Merry Label die (Stamp of Approval Candy Cane Lane Collection/CAS-ual Fridays).  Fun Fetti Dies (CAS-ual Fridays), twine, dimensional tape (3M), clear Wink of Stella glitter pen.

Using Midnight black ink by Catherine Pooler Designs for a bold, crisp sentiment.

Instead of cutting this label die to fit just the front of the card, I folded it over the top and added a 

Rockin' Red bow to the inside.

For my next card I strayed away from traditional colors and went for the peaceful look of Berrylicious and Mint Julep.  Once again a beautiful, crisp sentiment stamped with Catherine Pooler Design's Midnight black ink.  I LOVE that stuff!!

Stamps:  Hand Lettered Christmas (My Favorite Things), Nature's Friends (Penny Black), Hip Holiday (Stamp of Approval Candy Cane Lane Collection/Catherine Pooler Designs), Yay Stripes! (Catherine Pooler Designs), Bright Baubles (Stamp of Approval Holiday Magic Collection/Neat & Tangled).

Ink: Berrylicious (My Favorite Things), Mint Julep (Hero Arts), Midnight (Catherine Pooler Designs).

Paper: white 140 lb cardstock (Neenah).

Accessories: Stitched Mats Circles, Stitched Mats Rectangles (Lil' Inker Designs), twine, sequins, fun foam.

Carrying the fun over to the inside I stamped another sentiment, this time from Bright Baubles stamp set.  And one more deer to add some color.

I hope you're having as much fun as I am creating your Christmas cards this year.

Have a great weekend and happy stamping!

CAS-ual Fridays The Challenge - Glitter & Snowflakes

It's The Challenge time again over at CAS-ual Fridays!  This week it's all about the Glitter & Snowflakes!!  Load your card up with sparkle and show us some snowflake love to welcome in the most wonderful time of the year!

For my card this week I used the following stamps and dies from CAS-ual Fridays:

And looky here!   All of these wonderful snowflakes are on sale!   Just click on the links below and you can see for yourself today!

Snowy Sayings                          Funky Flakes

 

Now, onto my card.  I admit it, I am totally hooked on blending those snowy hills.  I've made a few cards using this technique this year because it's so fun!  I just cut a piece of cardstock into a curve to use as a mask.  I start with the bottom hill by blending lightly along the mask with Tumbled Glass Distress ink.  I moved the stencil up to form two more hills by blending.  For the top hill I continued to blend  Tumbled glass all around the top edges.  Then I darkened just the edges a little by blending Salty Ocean Distress Ink over the top of the Tumbled Glass.  It makes the perfect cold winter backdrop to add my sparkly snowflakes to.

Stamps: Snowy Sayings (CAS-ual Fridays).  Ink: salty ocean, tumbled glass (Ranger Distress), clear emboss (Versamark), white pigment (WPlus9), onyx black (Versafine).   Paper: silver sparkle (My Favorite Things), white 140 lb cardstock (Neenah).  Accessories: Funky Flakes Fri-Dies (CAS-ual Fridays), clear sparkle embossing powder (WOW!), clear sequins, fun foam.

First I stamped and embossed a variety of snowflakes from the Snowy Sayings stamp set using white pigment ink and clear sparkle embossing powder.  To add some dimension I added some coordinating diecut snowflakes from the Funky Flakes Fri-dies set.  These flakes have such wonderful detail and they cut through thick cardstock like butter!

I hope you'll play along with us for your chance to win!

All you have to do is make your own card filled with Glitter & Snowflakes, then link it up over on the 

CAS-ual Fridays The Challenge blog by December 13th ----------->HERE<--------------

I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Have a great weekend and happy stamping!