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