Addicted to CAS #81 - Bloom

Happy Valentine's Day.

I am not actually a big fan of this particular holiday. It's never really appealed to  me. Or maybe it did, as a kid. But I have definitely gotten cynical about it as I've aged.

It's been a really uneventful couple of weeks. I attended a crop on Friday, and a cardmaking thing yesterday. We had our SU group in early February, too. Work continues to go relatively well.

I have a quick card share for a challenge today. I'm actually going to post two cards, because all though I think the first one is a little more CAS, it is a complete CASE. I made it at Crafty Capers a while ago and finally finished putting it together recently. I could have made it more my own by adding some bling, in retrospect. But alas, the card has already been sent; I needed a quick sympathy card for a colleague recently. Sadly, I'll be needing another one this week, as I just saw on Facebook another acquaintance of mine passed away. I hate cancer.

I don't have the product details for this card. I forgot to write down which company makes that flower, the sentiment and that punch. If you'd like me to find out, please mention it in the comments. I definitely have to ask about the punch, as I love it.

The second card is one where while some CASEing took place, it wasn't an exact replica of the original. Made this one at my friend Angela's place. Everyone coloured their flowers differently and chose a different colour scheme. I have always loved purple, so it was an easy choice for me. The colouring is actually done using SU Blender pens. Made it into a birthday card because I knew a friend had a birthday coming up.

Check out the rest of the challenge entries at Addicted to CAS.
Card details

Birthday Card - All Products Stampin Up

Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant
Paper: Neutrals paper stack
Stamps: Birthday Blooms
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Garden Green, Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant

Simon Says and The Card Concept

It's been one of those weeks where life has been a little to dull for me to find motivation to do any blogging. I think the highlight of it was that my cousin came over Monday & Tuesday to help me reorganize my linen closet. Last night I hung out with my girlfriends at stitch. Today I went to the the esthetician, the butcher and the hairdresser. Yeah... exciting week here.

Beyond that, I've spent much of it trying to put the finishing touches on a Krispy Kreme doughnut sale fundraiser we're having this weekend. I know we're praying that we can get them all sold Friday evening and Saturday so we don't have to be out on Sunday, too. Part of that is the weather, and part of that is the Super Bowl. Normally, the football game wouldn't be a huge draw around here, since we're in Canada, but we're close enough to Seattle that there's more local interest than usual. Even I plan to watch. And I do NOT care for football. AT ALL.

I have two cards to share that actually fit challenges!

The first one is for a new blog I'm really enjoying called The Card Concept. The idea is to do more than just make a card based on the theme provided - it's also about learning to define your style. They define six main styles: 1) Clean and Simple; 2)Clean & Linear; 3)Clean & Graphic; 4)Shabby Chic; 5)Freestyle Collage; 6) Classy & Elegant. I've been looking through my work and it would appear I lean towards the clean & linear. I just don't tend to use a lot of embellishments. I'm not their definition of Clean and Simple, though, because I like layers too much. You can find all the styles defined here. 

I have looked at this card and looked at it, and I've finally decided it's not my normal clean and layered. This time, it's best suited to the freestyle collage. Basically, I figure it fits here because it brings together a diverse elements in the washi, the heat and dry embossing and the stamping. It's got bling and distressing but it's too bright to be vintage/shabby chic. It's a little too random to be clean and layered. I did have a rhinestone on the bottom circle, but it fell off. Just as well, as I like the triangle. In fact, a part of me wants to take off that circle completely. Or move it so it's the center of the pink flower. The card is a modelled after one I saw at my stamper's night. I knew I wanted to enter it for this challenge so I had to make it my own. The thing that was easy about that is when you're using a stamp as random as the splotchy background, as well as something like washi, it's easy to switch things up. I also played around with the location of the flowers, the number of flowers, and the colours.

My next card is for the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes, but include twine or string. This card is another one I made at my demo's place. I changed a lot - she only did three flowers and her sentiment was on her tag. I moved the brads and didn't use the chevron ribbon. And I added the freehand stems/vine to connect the random flowers. There's a reason I don't draw very often. It is NOT my forte. All the colouring, as well as the drawing of the stems/vines, was done using an Aqua Painter 

Card Details - All Products Stampin Up

Flower card

Cardstock - Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit, Whisper White

Stamps - Mixed Bunch, Gorgeous Grunge 

Ink: Midnight Muse, Strawberry Slush, Summer Starfruit

Other: embossing powder, rhinestones, punches, washi tape, Mosaic Madness embossing folder

Sending Sympathy & Prayers

Cardstock: - Pool Party, Whisper White

Ink: Crisp Cantaloupe, Pool Party, Summer Starfruit, Pistachio Pudding

DSP: Sweet Sorbet

Stamps: Petite Pairs, Petite Petals

Other: Brads, Twine, Aquapainter

Make & Take Monday....

Do not panic.

No need to check  your calendars.

I know it's already Tuesday. But this post was meant to go up yesterday. Various things came up which made that not possible. That said, the cards in question were created at Make & Take Monday events. Both of the two stores in our area do something on Mondays in the summer. The store in my town does a $2  Coffee and a Card Club from 11-1 in the summer. Here's the one we made yesterday. So glad I was able to get there on time, as I love the card, and especially the sneak peek of the card we'll be creating in a couple weeks. The store is closed this coming Monday due to a statutory holiday.

It's a little bigger than the standard 4.25x5.5 card. I'm not actually sure what size it is but if I had to wager a guess I'd say 5x7. Luckily we were given an envelope to go with it. For my Stampin' Up only friends.... can't you just see this card with the Pleasant Poppies sent and the glimmer paper? Add some taffeta ribbon and you're set. This card doesn't have a sentiment yet, as I haven't decided how I want to do it - either run it vertically, or do something small, punch it and attach it in an area near the bottom right where there's some white space. 

This next card is one I made at the Parksville store. I actually drove up there first, because while their M&T Monday goes all day, I like to meet a friend there and she prefers to go in the morning. This week they gave us a choice as they had some leftover M&Ts from various times to use up. I made this card because it was the only one I had missed. I love the Jillibean paper, and yet I'm totally inspired to make my own version using my new Birthday Basics DSP from SU. It also makes me want the Sketched Birthday set even more. That said, I do have other SU birthday sets that would work perfectly. 

I hope you enjoyed these cards and you're inspired to do some CASE-ing using your own favourite sets!

VC Rocks July Blog Hop

It's blog hop time!

The gang over at VC Rocks have begun posting their creations for you to see. We are doing things a bit differently with our hops this year. Instead of having us link to each other's blog in our posts, everyone's creations will be linked up via in inlinkz at the VC Rocks site. 

Today I have two cards to share with you. I was only going to share one, but sharing both will force me to do some creating between now and the end of August so I have something to share for our final hop of the year. I've been having trouble being creative right now, because it is just too hot in my apartment! I have been managing to head to the scrapbook store up in Parksville on Fridays, which has been great. My weekly trips ensure I get something done every week, it gets me out of the house and this heat, and I get to visit with some of my friends. I haven't been doing cards, though, lately - I've been working on an 8x8 gift album. I'll share some of my favourite pages from it later.

As I mentioned, we were asked to feature some new items -  be it colours, paper, stamps, or accessories. I haven't purchased any new stamps from the new catalogue. I'll be honest; I don't actually remember waht I ordered in June at our final party of the year. It was probably ink pads. And I couldn't pass up the awesome buy 3, get 1 free DSP deal that is running July 1-31. You'll see cards using some of those papers next month.

But I always wait to buy new stamps until the fall. I like to see the holiday catalogue, and I like to wait and see samples using the new products. That system has served me well; I always find stamps that I didn't appreciate when I was perusing the catalogue. And by the same token, I've saved money by seeing some things inked up and realizing they were not my style.

Enough chatter! Today's cards:

This card features 3 of the new In Colours - Baked Brown Sugar, Strawberry Slush and Coastal Cabana. We used sponge daubers to apply the ink to the Swallowtail stamp. I love the effect. Still, it's not something I can see myself doing very often. It was nice to play with the big butterfly, and if one of my friends gets it I could definitely see playing with it again. It's not a must have for me, though... it's just too big for my to handle comfortably. 

This card is more clean and simple and a little more my style.  It uses one of my favourite sets, Thoughts and Prayers. Yes, it's an oldie, but it's beautiful and versatile. The 'new' here is the designer paper and a bit of the colouring. The flowers are done in Strawberry Slush and the paper is the new Gingham Garden set. You'll be seeing more of that paper; it's one of the 4 I just got.

See you soon and please check back periodically at VC Rocks this weekend to see new blog hop entries!

Card Details: - All Products SU

Thinking of You Card

Cardstock: Pear Pizzazz, Whisper White

Stamp: Swallowtail, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana, Pear Pizazz, Baked Brown Sugar

Other: Oval punches

Sharing In Your Sorrow Card

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Whisper White

Stamps: Thoughts and Prayers

Markers: Strawberry Slush, Pear Pizazz

DSP: Gingham Garden

Other: Pear Pizazz Grosgrain Ribbon

May Stamper's 10 cards

I went to my Stamper's 10 group last night and we had a wonderful evening of crafting, eating and laughing..... not necessarily in that order ;)

We made 3 cards and we got to use one of the new Stampin' Up 3 layer punches with one of the three cards we made.

The punch itself is a great concept. Love being able to get 3 different layers of the flower. I did find it hard to use, however. I couldn't get it to punch cleanly, especially on the first level. The punch has a different feel than other SU punches and I just couldn't get the hang of it. Of the 6 of us who were there last night, I think 2, maybe 3, of us had trouble. I would suggest you see if you have a demo or a friend who has already purchased this item and try it before you buy.

I'm not sure why there's so much glare on this photo; sorry about that. The base is Wild Wasabi.  The one thing I did love about making this card is that I got to use the SU! pearls, which I fell in love with. Had to get some as part of my order last night.All of us did this card a little differently; I made mine landscape orientation and used a different sentiment than the other women. I forgot to write down the names of the sets this sentiment and the 'Just for You' (below) sentiment came from.

I loved making this card, too. Again, I chose a different sentiment, but everything else is pretty much the same as the sample card our demo showed us. I think I actually used a different texture plate, as well. We stamped the sentiment onto the base prior to running the card through the Big Shot. The flower layers are raised using Stampin' Dimensionals and inked with Melon Mambo. Love the rhinestone brad, too. I resisted the temptation to buy some of those for now, though, as there were too many items I wanted from the Summer Mini.



This card was our final one of the night. It was meant to be a Father's Day card, but I converted it into a sympathy card simply because I need one. Again, I am having problems with glare on my camera. Sorry about that. You can't see it clearly, but the Crumb Cake layer was run through the Big Shot dots folder to give it texture. The Wasabi image mat is stamped with the Canvas background. Just something I thought it needed for dimension.

Card Details:
Thank You card:Cardstock: Wild Wasabi, Regal Rose, Rose Red, Whisper White

Accessories: Stampin' Up 3 Layer flower punch, pearls

Just For You:

Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, Early Espresso

Stamp: Petal Pizzazz

Ink: Pear Pizazz, Regal Rose, Melon Mambo, Early Espresso

Accessories: SU Scallop Border Punch, Finial Press embossing folder, ribbon

Praying For You

Cardstock: Early Espresso, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake, Sahara Sand

Stamps: Thoughts and Prayers, Canvas background

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Early Espresso

Accessories: Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder