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

World Cardmaking Day, Take 1

Hi, everybody!  I hope you had a wonderful World Cardmaking Day yesterday, full of creativity and plenty of time to play!  I had the chance to sit down and make a few cards, and I'll be sharing two of them today.  I'm playing along at the Paper Smooches Blog, where Kim has issued 3 different challenges: 1. use pink in your card (for Breast Cancer Month), 2. make a single layer card, or 3. make a card using a sketch from Operation Write Home.  I combined two of the challenges to create this paper yummy:

I really struggle with single-layer cards, so I wanted to challenge myself to make one.  And since I love making Christmas cards in non-traditional colors, I incorporated the pink challenge into this card as well.  First, I die cut the double-ended banner die from Lil' Inker Designs, as well as the Layerz Mat Stack 1 Die from Papertrey Ink.  I temporarily adhered them onto the right side of my card to be used as masks.  With the masks in place, I stamped the large solid circle stamp from the Paper Smooches Hullabaloo set around the edge of the larger die to create a scalloped border around it.  I also stamped the houndstooth background  from the Debonair set using the second generation stamping technique to give it a worn, distressed look. Then I removed the larger die cut mask and, with the banner die cut still in place, adhered only the negative of the larger die cut in place to use like a stencil.  I applied the green ink using a finger dabber.  I outlined both die-cut shapes with a black Copic Multiliner to give them more definition, then stamped the sentiment from the Paper Smooches Christmas Sampler set.  I finished off the card with some holly leaves and cute pink berries from the Chilly Chums set.

Here's a close-up of the cute little holly leaves and some Stickled pink berries:

I'll be back in a little while to share my second card, which totally has me GIDDY!!!  It may be one of my faves to date.  Thanks for looking!

I'm playing along here: 

Paper Smooches World Cardmaking Day challenge

Simon Says Stamp Celebrates World Cardmaking Day

Supplies: cardstock: Stampin' Up!; stamps: Paper Smooches (Hullabaloo, Christmas Sampler, Chilly Chums, Debonair); inks: Tsukineko (Memento Tuxedo Black), Ranger (Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Worn Lipstick and Crushed Olive); dies: Papertrey Ink (Layerz Mat Stack 1), Lil' Inker Designs (double-ended banner from Flags & Tags); black pen: Copic; corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers; glitter glue: Ranger (Diamond Stickles)

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

CFC58: Thanks

It's Friday!  And you know what that means...another CAS-ual Fridays challenge!  YAY! Here is this week's challenge:

Create as CAS project using pink. 

June 23 is National Pink Day so we're doing pink designs.

And the wonderful sponsor this week is The Ribbon Carousel.  The winner of this week's challenge will win a $20 gift card to spend in their store: 

I love pink, but I had a bit of a hard time with this challenge.  I think it was because I had so many ideas, that it was difficult to narrow it down and decide on just one.  But I'm pretty pleased with this paper yummy:

I used some cute pink polka dot paper from Lily Bee Designs, that I die-cut using a Nestabilities die.  I love that it's distressed looking, with the black "smudges".  I used a chevron stamp from the Paper Smooches Geo-Graphic set, and stamped it using Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Worn Lipstick.  Then I stamped a sentiment from the Paper Smooches Simply Said set in black ink.  I added a pink button, threaded with pink and white baker's twine:

To continue to distressed look and bring in more black, I drew lines around the card using a black pen, and made it a little thicker in the corners:

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

I'm also playing along here:

Crafty Catz Weekly Challenge 138: Pastel Colors

Fab 'n' Funky Challenge #126: Polka Dots

Paper Play Challenges '12 - Week 25: Use a die

Supplies: cardstock: Georgia Pacific; patterned paper: Lily Bee Design; stamps: Paper Smooches (Geo-Graphic and Simply Said); inks: Ranger (pink), Tsukineko (black); cutting die: Nestabilities by Spellbinders;  die cutting machine: Cuttlebug by Provocraft; baker's twine: Divine Twine; black pen: K & Company; button: craft supply