CAS-ual Fridays Stamps - Happy New Year

Happy Saturday!  I hope everybody's Christmas was as awesome as mine!  My family traveled to Oklahoma to spend Christmas and New Year's with my brother, his wife, and their ADORABLE baby.  She is just too stinkin' cute!!!  I just wished they lived closer so I could see her more than just at Christmas.  But we did have a white Christmas, and even more snow yesterday, so this Arizona girl is having a great time!  We'll be here through New Year's Day.  And speaking of the new year, I have a card to share with you using the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Countdown set. Michele featured this card on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps blog today. Now for the paper yummies:

I decided to make a shaped card using the Labels Collection Framelits Dies from Stampin' Up!.  I used one of the larger dies to create the card, then used a smaller die to create a mask and apply the pink ink.  Then I stamped the border from the Countdown set across the middle of the card.  After that, I used my embossing buddy across the front of the card, then stamped and embossed the sentiment.  I used Copic markers to color in parts of the border stamp, then added some embroidery floss.  Another single-layer card!  What's gotten into me lately?

Well, I wish everyone the happiest of new years!  Thanks so much for looking!

Supplies: card stock: Stampin' Up!; stamps: CAS-ual Fridays Stamps; inks: Close To My Heart (Hollyhock), Tsukineko (black, embossing ink); embossing powder: American Crafts; dies: Stampin' Up!/Sizzix; embroidery floss: DMC 

CFC83 - Let it snow

Happy Thursday!  I'm here today with an extra special CAS-ual Fridays challenge.  Yep, on a THURSDAY!  Okay, here's the challenge:

Sounds festive, right?  Well, here's what makes it really special!  We're teaming up with the 10 Minute Craft Dash challenge, AND you get an extra week to play along:

So the challenge is to create a holiday card in 10 minutes or less.  Don't worry, you can gather all your supplies before you start your timer! Okay, now for the paper yummies:



I decided to single-layer with this one, peeps!  Which, as you know, is really not my cup of tea, but I'm trying!!  I also went with some non-traditional holiday colors, as the three ink pads were stacked on my shelf and I thought they looked pretty cool together (they are Close To My Heart inks in the colors Desert Sand, Hollyhock, and Smokey Plum)!  To create the large rings, I used the back side of a circular sentiment stamp from the Merry Kiss-mas set.  I stamped off each ring one time onto some scrap paper to lighten the color up a little bit.  Then I stamped a large snowflake from Snowflake Greetings in the center of each ring (again, I stamped off the snowflake over which I was going to be stamping my sentiment, to lighten it up).  Then I stamped the sentiment, lining up the small snowflake from the word "snow" with the larger snowflake in the background.  I added pink rhinestones to the centers of the Hollyhock snowflakes, and a purple rhinestone to the center of the Smokey Plum snowflake.  To finish off the card, I rounded two opposite corners.  BAM!  There you go.  Single-layer and under ten minutes (9:06 to be exact)!

I hope you'll be dashing through the holidays with us.  And don't forget, you have TWO weeks to play along with this challenge!  WAHOO!!!  CAS-ual Fridays Stamps is sponsoring this challenge, and the winner will receive $20 to spend in the store!

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: card stock: Stampin' Up!; stamps: CAS-ual Fridays Stamps; inks: Close To My Heart; rhinestones: Me and My Big Ideas; corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers

8 Happy Nights - Night 6

If you've been following along at the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps blog, you've had a chance to see all the wonderful Hanukkah cards the other Girl Fridays have made.  Well tonight it's my turn to share a card made with the 8 Happy Nights stamp set!  Now for the paper yummies:

I started off by cutting my stamp (I know...EEK!  Even though I know it's okay, it still causes just a little bit of angst when I first start cutting a stamp apart!).  Since I was going to be stamping the 8 repeatedly, it just made more sense to cut the 8 away from the adjoining words than to mask the words every single time.  I used a white pigment ink to stamp the 8s on my kraft card base.  By a happy accident, I ended up with just enough room at the bottom of my card to fit the perfect sentiment (rather than a sentiment banner going across the 8s, as was my original plan).  I randomly stamped some blue Stars of David right on top of the white 8s, then added some Diamond Stickles to the stars.  I finished off the card with a seam binding bow.  If you don't mind the repeated stamping, this card would be super easy to reproduce, as it's basically a single layer card (plus ribbon).  And, the recipient of this card said it was the prettiest Hanukkah card she's ever received.  YAY!  Here's a close-up of the sentiment and glitter:

I hope all of you who celebrate Hanukkah are indeed having 8 happy nights!  If you haven't seen all the other creations, check them out here.  You can see the entire stamp set below, and you can buy it here:

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: card stock: Recollections; stamps: CAS-ual Fridays Stamps; inks: Joann (white), TPC Studio (blue); glitter glue: Ranger; seam binding: Hug Snug; corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers

CFC82 - Sorry!

Happy Friday to all!  I'm back with this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge:

CFC82: Use creative scoring on your clean and simple project

And the sponsor for this challenge is none other than Scor-Pal!  The winner of this week's challenge will receive her very own Scor-Buddy!  Yayness!

I love the look of decorative/creative scoring on cards, I just wish I could remember to use it more often!  For this challenge, I racked my brain trying to think of clever ways to incorporate scoring, but nothing was clicking.  Then I decided to put to paper a card idea I've been mulling over in my head, and it hit me!  And now for the paper yummy:

So, this card was inspired by the little game piece stamp from the Paper Smooches Knick Knacks set.  It looks just like the game piece from the board game "Sorry!".  So I stamped it in each of the four colors from the game, then created the word "Sorry!" using the Alphadot stamp set.  Then I used my Scor-Pal to create a grid pattern around the edges of the card, to simulate a game board.  I added some Glossy Accents to the game pieces to finish off the card:

How will you even the score?  You have until next Thursday at noon EST to play along with this week's challenge, and I hope you do!  Thanks for looking!

Supplies: card stock: Stampin' Up! (white), Recollections (black); stamps: Paper Smooches; inks: TPC Studio (red, blue, yellow, green), Tsukineko (black); Glossy Accents: Ranger; scoring board: Scor-Pal

CFC81 - Believe

Happy Friday!  I hope everybody has had a wonderful week.  I'm here today with the super-fun CAS-ual Fridays challenge for this week!  Here it is:

CFC81: Knotty or nice

Incorporate knots into your clean and simple project

And since it's the first challenge of the month, that means we're sponsored by the fabulous Simon Says Stamp!  But not only will the winner of this challenge receive a gift certificate to spend in their store, she will also be a future guest designer at the CAS-ual Fridays challenge blog!

So, onto the challenge.  I really had a hard time deciding how I wanted to incorporate knots onto my card.  I kept thinking about the knots in a wood grain pattern, but wasn't sure if that would count.  So I decided I would learn how to make French knots to use on this paper yummy:

I used this tutorial, which was great and super easy to follow.  I used the All Yule Need stamp set from Paper Smooches to stamp and paper-piece the tree and star.  I made the French knot "ornaments" using red embroidery floss.  I cut the December calendar from the Simple Stories Handmade Holiday 6x6 pad, and stamped the "believe" from the Paper Smooches Christmas Sampler set under the numbers.  I stamped a star over the 25.  Here's a close-up of the knots and calendar:

We'd love to have you play along with this week's challenge!  You have until next Thursday at noon EST to get knotty with us.  Thanks for looking!

Supplies: corrugated card base: Recollections; patterned papers: Simple Stories (red plaid, calendar), Lawn Fawn (green chevron for tree, yellow for star), Echo Park (tree trunk); stamps: Paper Smooches; ink: Ranger (Tim Holtz Distressing Ink in Frayed Burlap); embroidery floss: DMC

CFC80 - Season's Greetings/Happy Holidays gift tags

Happy Friday to all!  Since the last challenge at CAS-ual Fridays was a two-weeker and I didn't have any other pressing projects, I took a much-needed break and enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving with my family.  I did a 5K "turkey trot" race that morning (with my parents there to cheer me on!), complete with water jumps and hay bale hurdles.  It was a lot of fun!  I hope you all had just as wonderful a Thanksgiving as I!  I'm back with this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge:

And the wonderful sponsor this week is Bossy Joscie!  If you've never checked out her site, I highly recommend that you do.  The girl's got FLAIR!!!

So yeah, this week it's a gift card challenge rather than a card challenge (unless of course you make a card that incorporates a gift tag).  Fun, right?  I really liked this challenge because I was able to use something I've had in my stash for years, and never really had an idea for.  It worked out perfectly with my CAS-ual Fridays Stamps to create these paper yummies:

So, do you see that cute tree-patterned strip?  That's a decorative packing tape I found years ago (Tuesday Morning, maybe?) and have never really had a vision or a plan for.  It worked out so wonderfully on these tags, and made it super easy to make a bunch of 'em!  I just cut a piece of the tape and adhered it across the bottom of a pre-made kraft tag by Ranger.  I trimmed the excess from each side, then stamped the sentiment (from Snowflake Greetings) with Staz-On ink, since half of it would land on the slick surface of the tape.  I finished off the tags with some white dashed lines and baker's twine.  After I took the above picture, I had the idea to add a bit o' Stickles glitter.  Here's a close-up:

I love how these turned out!  I hope you'll play along with this week's challenge.  You have until next Thursday at noon EST to do so.  Thanks so much for looking!

Supplies: kraft tags: Ranger;decorative tape: craft supply; stamps: CAS-ual Fridays Stamps; ink: Tsukineko (Staz-On); white gel pen: Uniball Signo; baker's twine: Divine Twine; corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers; glitter glue: Ranger

CFC79 - Season's Greetings

Happy Friday!  I hope you all had a wonderful week, and enjoyed all the sneak peeks of the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps November release.  To see the entire release, and to see if you're a winner, click here.  And to purchase the newly-released sets, click here.  But first, I'm here with the new CAS-ual Fridays challenge:

CFC79: Winter blues

Use blue in your winter-related clean and simple project

And the sponsor for this challenge is CAS-ual Fridays Stamps!  

So you have yet another chance to win yourself some awesome new stamps!  Like the ones I used on this paper yummy:

For this card, I used the Snowflake Greetings set.  First, I used the back side of the snowflake stamp to create the solid circle pattern on my white card stock.  Then I flipped the stamp over and used the correct side to stamp the snowflake in the same ink against the solid circle on the top two rows and the bottom row. Then I used a darker blue ink to stamp a single snowflake on the remaining row, and then stamped a circular sentiment around it.  I put a glittery brad through the center of the darker snowflake and mounted the white card stock onto a kraft card base to finish off the card:

Do you have the winter blues?  We hope so, because this is a TWO-WEEK CHALLENGE!!!  You'll have plenty of time to play along AND enjoy the Thanksgiving season!  You have until Thursday, November 29th at noon EST to link up your card(s).  Thanks so much for looking!

Supplies: card stock: The Paper Studio (kraft), Georgia Pacific (white); stamps: CAS-ual Fridays Stamps; inks: Hampton Art (light blue), TPC Studio (turquoise); brad: craft supply; corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers

CAS-ual Fridays Sneak Peek Week - Day 4

Happy Wednesday to everybody!  It's sneak peek week at the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps blog, where you can see a preview of the November stamp release!

Today is the fourth and final sneak peek, but you can leave comments on any of the days for a chance to win that day's stamp set.  The Girl Fridays have been killing these new releases, and our wonderful guest designer has showcased them all beautifully!  Today, I'm here to show off the new Countdown set.  This is the coolest New Year's Eve stamp set EVER!  And now for the paper yummies:

See, the reason I think this is the coolest New Year's Eve set EVER is because, not only did Michele create fun and unique sentiments, but also some super cool, buildable geometric designs like the one I used here.  I repeated the stamp over and over to create a pattern on my white cardstock.  See how some of the ovals have blue stripes going across them?  That's a separate stamp Michele included in the set, and it fits exactly inside the ovals!  LOVE THAT!  I stamped two separate sentiments together on the orange patterned paper, and used a matching orange Copic marker to color in some of the little circles from the geometric stamp.  I love the funky cool look it has!  

Thanks for joining us for sneak peek week, and don't forget to comment at the new stamp blog for your chance to win!  Winners from each day will be announced on Thursday.

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: cardstock: Georgia Pacific; patterned papers: Lily Bee Design; stamps: CAS-ual Fridays Stamps; inks: Tsukineko (Memento Tuxedo Black), Hero Arts (Soft Pool); markers: Copic

CFC78 - HO HO HO

Happy Friday to all!  I hope everybody's week was great.  I know I'm ready for the weekend, and it looks like we're actually going to get some wintery weather here in Southern Arizona.  It's only supposed to be around 58 degrees for the high on Sunday, with rain and mountain snow.  Today was 90 and sunny, so I'm pretty excited for that change. Although it does make me a little nervous, because I'm supposed to do an 8.5 mile run on Saturday morning, and I might just freeze.  I'm SO TORN!!!  And speaking of being SO TORN, let's talk about this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge (see how I did that?  Hee hee):

CFC78: So torn

Tear something on your clean and simple project

The sponsor for this week's challenge is CAS-ual Fridays Stamps! If you haven't yet taken the plunge on these fantastic new stamps, you have the opportunity to win some by playing along with this challenge.  YAY!

So the challenge this week is to tear something on your project.  I gotta say, I had never really been a fan of this technique...until now.  I mean, I love the way it looks when other people do it, but my straight-lined brain just doesn't let me do it on my projects.  And even though I did tear my paper on this card, I still had some reservations about doing it.  So, instead of just free-form, I tore my papers against a ruler, and I really like the way it turned out!  Now for the paper yummies:

I tore both edges of the patterned paper as well as the cardstock sentiment panel.  I inked the edges just slightly with some Antique Linen Distress Ink to accentuate them.  The sentiment stamp is from a new CAS-ual Fridays set that will be sneak peek-ed next week.  I stamped it using Black Cherry Staz-On ink, and added Diamond Stickles to the center of each snowflake:

I punched a snowflake border using a Martha Stewart punch, and placed it below the patterned paper.  I inked it a little too:

I really love the way this card turned out!  I think the torn edges really add to the homespun look.  How about you?  Do you prefer free-form or "orderly" tearing?  Either way, we'd love to have you play along with this week's challenge!  You have until next Thursday at noon EST to do so.  Thanks so much for looking!

Supplies: cardstock: Recollections; patterned paper: Simple Stories; stamps: CAS-ual Fridays; inks: Tsukineko, Ranger; border punch: Martha Stewart; corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers; twine: Recollections; button: craft supply

CFC77 - Go to your happy place

Hello, and happy Friday!  I'm back today with this week's challenge from CAS-ual Fridays!  YAY!  Here it is:

CFC77: Snips, snails & puppy dog tails

Create a clean and simple card for a boy (any type of masculine)

And the sponsor for this week's challenge is the wonderful Simon Says Stamp!  The winner of this challenge will not only receive a gift certificate to the Simon Says Stamp store, but will also win a future guest designer spot at CAS-ual Fridays!

And now for the paper yummies:

For my card, I used the professor from the Paper Smooches Smarty Pants stamp set, along with the luggage, tropical drink, and sentiment from Get Outta Town.  I paper-pieced parts of the image, and colored in the rest with Copic markers.  Here are a couple of close-ups:

Hee hee.  I love that guy!!!  I hope you will create a card for a boy and play along with this week's challenge!  You have until next Thursday at noon EST to do so.  Thanks so much for looking!

CFC76: Yeah baby!

Happy Friday!  I hope everybody has thoroughly enjoyed the big CAS-ual Fridays Stamps release and all the sneak peeks (click here to see if you were a winner!). It has been so awesome to be able to design for Michele using her fun, original stamp sets, and my card for this week's challenge was no exception.  Here is the challenge from the CAS-ual Fridays blog:

 CFC76: Kraft On

Use kraft on your clean and simple creation

And the sponsor for this week's challenge?  You guessed it!  It's CAS-ual Fridays Stamps!  And the store website is now up and running, so please go shop to your heart's content.  And don't forget to play along this week for a chance to win some wonderful CAS-ual Fridays Stamps, just like the ones I used on this paper yummy:

The "Yeah baby!" and "You did it!" stamps are both from the Woot Woot set, and I stamped them on a plastic die-cut piece from American Crafts (using Staz-On ink).  The bright coral/pink colored square is another plastic die-cut, and I just thought those two colors looked great together, especially with the crisp white on kraft.  The row of dots stamp is from the Big Thanks set, and I stamped it in Hero Arts Soft Pool ink, which is a near perfect match for the plastic piece.  I added a couple rhinestones to finish off the card:

I really hope you'll play along with this week's challenge.  You have until next Thursday at noon EST to do so. On a different note, a few of the Girl Fridays are retiring, so please stop by and give them some extra bloggy love this week.  Thank you so much for looking!

Supplies: cardstock: Recollections (kraft), Georgia Pacific (white); plastic die cuts: American Crafts; stamps: CAS-ual Fridays Stamps; ink: Tsukineko (black Staz-On), Hero Arts (Soft Pool); corner rounder punch: We R Memory Keepers; rhinestones: The Paper Studio

Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge - Season's greetings

Hello, and happy Monday.  Well, it's actually a bittersweet Monday for me, as this is my last post as part of the Paper Smooches SPARKS design team.  Our six month term is up, and the team for the next term has been selected.  I'm excited to see what they come up with, since there are some seriously talented girls on the next team.  But I will really miss being part of the DT.  It has been such a pleasure designing with Kim's stamps and working alongside such creative ladies.  But I'll definitely be playing along with the challenges, and starting up some of my own challenges on the Paper Smooches Flickr fan page (more details to come soon!).  But first, on to this week's challenge!  Being that it's the fourth week of the month...

...that means it's a photo inspiration challenge.  And here is the photo:

I was drawn to the white-matted gray background and the three white utensils with yellow birds on top.  And being that Christmas is coming up, I created this paper yummy:

I used three snowmen and a bird from the Swanky Snowdudes stamp set, and the other two birds are from Chilly Chums and Santa Paws.  The sentiment is from Christmas Sampler, and I double-stamped it in black and red for a different look.  Here are some other views:

I'm super excited to see how other people are inspired by this photo!  I really hope you'll play along.  You have until Sunday, November 4th at 11:59 pm EST to do so (it's a 2-weeker!).  You can play along with the challenge here.  The winner will receive a $30 credit to the Paper Smooches store!!  And don't forget the check out the rest of Team 2's wonderful creations, and give em' some love!

Angeline

Erica

Jackie

Savannah

Thanks so much for looking!

Supplies: cardstock: Copic X-Press Blending card (white), Recollections (gray); stamps: Paper Smooches; ink: Tsukineko (black), TPC Studio (red); markers, black pen: Copic; white pen: Uniball Signo; glitter glue: Stickles by Ranger

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Sneak Peek

WTF?

Did that grab your attention?  Well, that's the name of the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps set I'm sneak peek-ing tonight as we kick off the week long reveal party!  And the stamps are equally as attention-grabbing as the name.  I've loved showing my (non-paper-crafting, of course) friends and family this set and watching their reactions.  Michele is such a clever designer!  She included so many usable phrases to fit the WTF acronym.  I used the set to create this paper yummy:

I love all things Halloween, so I made this card using Halloween colors.  Not only are the "WTF?" and "where's the fun" stamps part of this set, but see those cool linear dots repeated behind the "WTF?"?  That's another stamp in this super fun set!  I just turned it on the diagonal and stamped it in ink colors that matched my patterned papers.  LOVE THAT!!!  Here's a close-up of the sentiment:

I added some machine stitching to the left of the heat-embossed "where's the fun?".  I also added some Black Diamond Stickles to the strips of black cardstock at the top and bottom of the patterned papers.  Here's a close-up:

And here's another view of the card:

I'm so excited to be sharing this sneaky peek with everybody.  This has been such a difficult secret to keep because these stamps are so fun and original, and I know that cardmakers everywhere are going to love them so hard!  Here's a little info about CAS-ual Fridays Stamps, the week-long release party, and how YOU can win these fantastic new stamps:

• CAS-ual Fridays Stamps are the finest quality photopolymer and made in USA.
• There are 5 sets in the new release, one set being revealed each day.   
• We will be giving away a set from each release day, and all you have to do is come to the store blog and comment on each of the sneak posts for your chance to win. 
• If you miss a day of peeks, you can go back to days that you missed and still comment if you're joining the party a little late.  Commenting will close at 11:59 pm EDT next Wednesday night (October 24).
• We will have special guests posting sneak peeks with the Girl Fridays each day of the release week.  We're talkin' some serious talent here, girls!
• Winners will be announced next Thursday (October 25) and the stamps will be available on Friday (October 26) when the store website launches. 
• You can also play along in this week's challenge for your chance to win the entire release!  Um...WOW!
• CAS-ual Fridays Stamps has a Flickr Fan Page where you can feast your eyes on all the wonderful CFS projects at once.

Thank you so much for taking part in our sneak peek week.  I can't wait until everybody has the chance to ink up these babies!  You'll love 'em!

Supplies: cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white), Recollections (black); patterned papers: Doodlebug; stamps: CAS-ual Fridays Stamps (WTF?); ink: Tsukineko (black, green, watermark), TPC Studio (purple, orange); embossing powder: Recollections; glitter glue: Stickles by Ranger; corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers; banner die: Lil' Inker Designs; die-cutting machine: Sizzix; sewing machine: Kenmore; thread: Singer