CFC92 - Irish you a magical day!

Happy Friday!  Can you believe it's already March?!?  Wow...time does fly when you're having fun!  And speaking of fun, I'm here today with a new challenge from CAS-ual Fridays!

CFC92: Wallpaper

Stamp your own background for your clean and simple project

And our sponsor this week is the fabulous Ellen Hutson!  The winner of this week's challenge will receive a $25 gift certificate to spend here.  Awesome, right?

So since it is March, I chose to make a card to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, and I knew the perfect stamps to use to make the background for this paper yummy:

For this card, I went straight to the A Magical Spring stamp set from Paper Smooches.  I knew the shamrock would make the perfect stamped background, and how could I resist that leprechaun?!?  I stamped and colored his skin, hat, clover, and shoes on some Copic X-Press Blending card stock, then paper-pieced his clothing and hair with some cute patterned papers.  I added some gold Stickles to his buckles and bow tie.  I fussy-cut around him, and stood him on the flag-cut sentiment panel. Here's a close-up:

Heehee.  He makes me happy!  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: card base: The Paper Studio; card stock: Copic X-Press Blending Cardstock; patterned papers: Lily Bee Design, Doodlebug; stamps: Paper Smooches; markers: Copic, Prismacolor; ink: Tsukineko; glitter glue: Stickles by Ranger

CFC89 - Three little birds

Hello, and happy Friday!  Today I'm here with a super fun challenge from CAS-ual Fridays!

CFC89: Love Song

Create a clean and simple project inspired by a song

This week's challenge is sponsored by CAS-ual Fridays Stamps!  The winner will receive a store credit to spend here!

For this challenge, I had so many songs that I wanted to translate into a card, but just didn't have the right stamp or a great idea for the card itself.  Then I saw it, just sitting there on my crafting table.  The perfect stamp for this paper yummy:

The three little birds made me think of the Bob Marley song, and I thought the sentiment "don't worry about a thing" would make a perfect card for someone needing some encouragement.  I stamped the three little birds and colored them in with Copic markers.  I stamped the sentiment using alphabet stamps by Hero Arts, then masked the birdies and stamped the Zig Zag background, also by Hero Arts.  I added a strip of patterned paper by My Mind's Eye to finish off the card.  Here's a close-up of the three little birds:

How will you be inspired by this challenge?  You have until next Thursday at noon EST to show us!  Play along here.  Thanks so much for looking!

Supplies: card stock, markers: Copic; stamps: Hampton Art (birds), Hero Arts (Zig Zag, alphabets); inks: Tsukineko; patterned paper: My Mind's Eye; corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers

CFC87 - Sunshine, peace & hope

Happy Friday!  I hope your week was wonderful! I'm here today with a card that I'm just giddy over, and it's my card for this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge:

CFC87: Make your mark

Use markers on your clean and simple project

And this week's sponsor is Crafter's Companion, who is offering up an awesome Spectrum Noir markers prize package!

So for this challenge, I wanted to use one of the cutest stamps (in my opinion) that Paper Smooches makes.  I'd never used this particular stamp, but I think it's absolutely PERFECT for a spring time card, and also to send well wishes to a friend who's been going through a rough patch.  And now for the paper yummies:

I stamped the adorable lion and lamb stamp from the Eco-Friendly stamp set on white cardstock, colored it in with Copic markers, and fussy-cut it out.  I thought the lion looked so contented, as if the sun was shining down on him and his little lamb buddy.  So, on the white cardstock panel, I embossed a square Nestabilities die to create a frame.  I masked off the area outside the square, and stamped the sunshine in the upper left corner of the square.  With my Copics, I colored in the sunshine, then colored in the rest of the square to create a "sky".  I used a stamp from the Needle Little Love set to create the stitching around the edges of the frame.  The "wishing you sunshine" sentiment is from Eco-Friendly, and I added the "peace" and "hope" from the Joyful Greetings set. The big ampersand is from the We Connect set, and I stamped it in a shade of ink just slightly darker than the sky background.  Here's a close-up:

I hope you'll make your mark on this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge!  You have until next Thursday at noon EST to play along!  Thanks so much for looking!

I'm also playing along with the inaugural Muse Card Club challenge.  My card was inspired by Amy Kolling's beautiful card at the Muse blog this week.  I loved her layout (I just reversed it on my card), the embossed square, and the fresh spring feel.

Supplies: cardstock: Copic X-Press Blending Cardstock; patterned paper: Echo Park; stamps: Paper Smooches (Eco-Friendly, Needle Little Love, Joyful Greetings, We Connect); inks: Tsukineko (Memento Tuxedo Black, Tangelo), Hero Arts (Soft Pool); markers: Copic; square die: Nestabilities by Spellbinders; die-cutting/embossing machine: Cuttlebug by Provocraft

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

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!

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

CFC74 - Baked with love

Happy Friday!  I hope everybody has had a wonderful week.  I am on my six day break from work until next Tuesday, so I've got no complaints!  I'm here today with this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge:

CFC74: Put your {heart} into it

Use hearts in your clean and simple project.

And our sponsor this week is i {heart} papers:

The winner of this week's challenge will receive a gift certificate to spend in the i {heart} papers store.  They carry a ton of cute products, and even some exclusive stamp lines.  That is where I bought my first ever Paper Smooches stamp set back in January of this year.  Needless to say, I was hooked.  Nine months and 46 Paper Smooches sets later (LOL! But seriously...), I created this paper yummy:

So just like I've been playing around with the teacher from the Paper Smooches Smarty Pants set, I've also been experimenting (pun intended!) with the mad scientist from the Great Chemistry set.  I replaced his rubber glove with the oven mitt from the Yummers set, and paper-pieced it.  And it cracks me up!  Then I put the heart-shaped pie (iced sugar cookie?) in his mitt.  I colored him and the pie with Copic markers.  I stamped the sentiment onto the gingham paper (from Lily Bee Design), and paper-pieced the little {heart}.  The pink and blue patterned papers are Pebbles Inc., as is the floral oven mitt.  I scored a line along the top, bottom, and left side of the card.  Here's a closer look at the sentiment:

And here's a close-up of the scientist-turned-pastry chef:

Tee hee.  I love that guy!  I hope you will play along this week, and put your {heart} into it!  You have until next Thursday at noon EST to join in the fun.  Also, don't forget about the HUGE announcement that will be made at the CAS-ual Fridays blog.  And if you put this special button on your blog and link up to the CAS-ual Fridays post, you could win an AWESOME prize!

Thanks so much for looking!

Supplies: cardstock: Copic X-press It Blending Card; patterned papers: Pebbles Inc. (blue, pink, floral), Lily Bee Design (yellow); stamps: Paper Smooches (Great Chemistry, Yummers); ink: Tsukineko (Memento Tuxedo Black); markers: Copic; corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers; scoring tool: Martha Stewart Crafts Scoring Board

Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge - Let's be merry

Happy Monday!  I hope everybody had a wonderful weekend and a great World Card Making Day!  I know I sure did.  I got to sit down and make a few cards, and even had a friend stop by and make one with me.  I played along with the challenges over at the Paper Smooches Blog.  And speaking of Paper Smooches, let's get to the SPARKS challenge for this week!  Since it's the second week of the month, that means...

...yep - it's a sketch challenge!  And here is the sketch we're working with this week:

And I think I've probably said this about every single other sketch that Kim has given us during this design team term, but this sketch truly challenged me.  I struggled with it for the longest time.  But as soon as my brain stopped seeing a big ol' arrow head, but rather 4 triangles at the bottom of the sketch, I had an idea!  And I paired that idea with the new (adorable) Chilly Chums set to create this paper yummy:

I would have NEVER thought to do something like this on a card, and that's why I love Kim Hughes and her sketches. And her stamps.  I started off by cutting a piece of cardstock down to 2.25" x 4.25".  Since, in the sketch, the square on the right (below the word) looks just slightly wider than the square on the left, I cut the cardstock so that I had two pieces: one a 2.25" x 2.25" square, and the other a 2'"x 2.25" rectangle (the difference is pretty subtle).  Then I cut each of those directly in half, diagonally, to create a total of 4 triangles.  I stamped each triangle with the little hat (also from Chilly Chums), then masked it and stamped the adorable animals over the mask.  I colored them in with Copic markers, then positioned them onto my patterned paper so that there was just a slight gap in between each one.  I stamped a sentiment from the Christmas Sampler set (which I'm really loving!) onto some candy cane striped patterned paper, and rounded the top corners.  I stitched around the edges of all the chums, and between each lil' guy as well.  I added some baker's twine to represent the vertical line in the sketch, and finished off the card with Stickles on the hat trims and Glossy Accents on the eyes and beak.  I LOVE THIS CARD!  I think it's so different, and what's not to love about those cute little faces looking back at you?!?  Here are a couple close-ups of the chums:

EEK!  I love those faces!  I'm super excited to see how other people are inspired by this sketch!  I really hope you'll play along.  You have until next Sunday, October 14th at 11:59 pm EST to do so.  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: card base: The Paper Studio (kraft); cardstock: Copic X-press It Blending Card (white); patterned papers: Lawn Fawn (yellow, green), My Mind's Eye (red); stamps: Paper Smooches (Chilly Chums, Christmas Sampler); ink: Tsukineko; markers: Copic; Stickles glitter glue, Glossy Accents: Ranger; corner rounder, hole punch: We R Memory Keepers; sewing machine: Kenmore; quilting thread: Americana; stapler/staples: Ranger (Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher); baker's twine: Divine Twine

World Cardmaking Day, Take 2

Hello again!  I'm back with the second card I made yesterday to celebrate World Cardmaking Day.  This is the card that has me absolutely GIDDY!!!  I played along with the Paper Smooches Blog, and for this card, I followed the sketch that Kim posted (from Operation Write Home).  Here's the sketch:

I've been playing with the teacher stamp from the Smarty Pants set, exchanging the pointer in his hand for other various objects.  Well, I found that the candy cane from the All Yule Need set fits quite well is his little hand, and the hat from the Chilly Chums set looks pretty darn cute on his head too!  I don't know what it is about this card, but I think it may be one of my favorites...ever.  And now for the paper yummies:

So, I changed the sketch ever so slightly by making that center panel a little bit smaller.  I just couldn't bear to cover those plaid and candy cane striped patterned papers!  I love 'em so hard!  I stamped and colored the guy, then paper-pieced his tie.  I gave him the hat and the candy cane, which look so stinkin' cute with a little Stickles on them.  I stamped a sentiment from the All Yule Need set, and added some machine stitching.  Here are some other views:

I would love to remake this card a bunch of times using different patterned papers...maybe tomorrow!

Thanks so much for looking!

I'm playing along here:
Paper Smooches World Cardmaking Day challenge
Simon Says Stamp Celebrates World Cardmaking Day

Supplies: cardstock: The Paper Studio; patterned papers: Lawn Fawn (yellow), My Mind's Eye (red), Authentique (green); stamps: Paper Smooches (Smarty Pants, All Yule Need, Chilly Chums); ink: Tsukineko (Memento Tuxedo Black); markers: Copic; glitter glue: Ranger (Diamond Stickles); corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers; sewing machine: Kenmore; quilting thread: Americana

CFC73 - I respect you

Happy Friday to all!  Last week's CAS-ual Fridays gallery was chock full of inspiration!  I LOVED looking at all the cool blog headers and the cards they inspired.  This week's challenge is equally inspiring:

CFC73: Create a clean and simple project to celebrate the women in your life, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month

And since it's the first challenge of the month, that means that the wonderful Simon Says Stamp is our sponsor!  And the winner will not only receive a $25 gift certificate to spend in their store, but will also be a future guest designer at CAS-ual Fridays! YAY!

Thankfully, none of the women who are close to me have been affected by breast cancer, so I created a card suitable for any woman, for any occasion.  Short and sweet is this paper yummy:

I think this card is kinda different for me, and I really like it!  I'm not into tattoos, but I think it looks a little like tattoo art in a Vargas pin-up girl kind of way.  I kept the card VERY simple.  I stamped the rose (from Paper Smooches Pretty Momma set) directly onto the blue patterned paper, then colored the leaves with Copic markers so that the pattern would show through.  I stamped it again onto red and orange patterned papers, and also added some Copic coloring to them.  Then I cut the outer petals from the red patterned paper, and the inner "bud" from the orange.  I paper-pieced them, popping up the center portion.  I masked and stamped the portion of the sentiment that I wanted, then drew a simple black line around the edges of the card:

How will you celebrate the women in your life?  We'd love it if you joined in on this week's challenge, and you have until next Thursday at noon EST to do so.  Thanks for looking!

Supplies: cardstock: Georgia Pacific; patterned papers: Crate Paper; stamps: Paper Smooches (Pretty Momma, Zoo Crew); ink: Tsukineko; markers, black pen: Copic; dimensional adhesive: American Crafts

CFC69 - Boo!

Happy Friday!  I hope everybody has had a great week!  I've been super busy with a lot of non-card projects lately, so I hope to be getting back into the swing of things soon.  Maybe I'll share some of my other projects too.  Anyway, I'm here today with this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge!  This week's challenge is super fun:

CFC69: Incorporate embossing (either kind) into your clean and simple project

And once again, we are sponsored by the FABULOUS Simon Says Stamp!  The winner of this week's challenge will not only receive a gift certificate to Simon's store, but will also win a guest designer spot at CAS-ual Fridays!  Fun stuff!

So I just love embossing.  Whether it's the dry kind or the heat kind, it just adds so much dimension and texture to all kinds of projects.  For this week's challenge, I couldn't decided which kind I wanted to use, so I went with both!  And now for the paper yummies:

I started off with a piece of plaid patterned paper from My Mind's Eye Lost & Found Halloween collection, and embossed it with this texture plate from Lil' Inker Designs.  I added some distress ink over the top of the wood grain to help define it a little bit.  

Then I masked the wood grain so that only the center rectangle was showing, and applied black distress ink inside the rectangle.  I stamped the spider web, spider, and sentiment in Versamark ink (only after using my Embossing Buddy so that the powder wouldn't stick to my inked background), and embossed each in a different color powder.  It's hard to see in the pictures, but the spider is embossed with a glittery embossing powder.

I added a simple ribbon tab, some tiny staples, and colored the diamond on the spider's back orange to match the ribbon:

Which kind of embossing do you prefer?  Show us in this week's challenge!  You have until next Thursday at noon EST to play along!  Thanks so much for looking!

Supplies: cardstock: Core'dinations; patterned paper: My Mind's Eye; stamps: Hampton Art (spider, web), Martha Stewart (sentiment); inks: Ranger (Tim Holtz Black Soot, Frayed Burlap), Tsukineko (Versamark); embossing powders: American Crafts (green, black), Recollections (white); texture plate: Lil' Inker Designs; embossing machine: Sizzix; ribbon: The Ribbon Boutique; staples/stapler: Ranger; marker: Copic