CFC104 - Celebrate

Happy Friday!  I hope everybody had a great week.  I'm here today with this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge.  This week's challenge is especially near to my heart, because this is my last challenge as a Girl Friday. :..( I have SO enjoyed being on this design team for a multitude of reasons.  One, it was my first ever design team "gig", so it'll always be extra special to me. And I felt so honored to be part of such a wonderfully talented team.  I mean, these girls do CAS like nobody's business.  For reals.  And the players are so talented too!  But mostly, I enjoyed being on this team because Michele is so wonderful to work for.  She's got it together!  Ladies, if you ever get the chance to become a member of her design team, DO IT!  I will really miss being a Girl Friday.  But...I do have some very happy news!  (And commenter JanR. guessed my secret last week, so she will be getting a little something special from me.)  What is the secret, you ask?  Drum roll please..................I'M HAVING A BABY!  Yep, I'm pregnant with my first baby, and we could not be more excited!  For another chance to win a little prize from me, leave a comment guessing when my due date is. The first person to guess it or come closest will be the winner.  Okay okay, less talky, more CAS-ual Fridays challenge.  That is what you came here for, right?  Ok, check it:

And the sponsor for this week's challenge is the wonderful Ellen Hutson.  The winner will receive a $25 gift certificate to spend here.  YAY!

Okay, so when I first thought about what to make for this challenge, my mind immediately went to the Happy Pinwheels stamp set from Unity Stamps and Simple Stories.  This set not only has these super cute pinwheels, but it also has a bunch of cute little sentiment flags, perfect for this paper yummy:

This card came together pretty darn quickly.  Two stamps, some paper-piecing, and a couple of buttons, and BAM!  Done!  Here's a close-up:

I really 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 stock: Georgia Pacific (white), Core-dinations (kraft); patterned papers: Echo Park; stamps: Unity Stamps/Simple Stories; ink: Tsukineko; buttons: craft supply

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

CFC72 - miss you

Happy Friday!  I hope everybody has had a wonderful week!  I'm back with the CAS-ual Fridays challenge for this week, and it's a fun one:

 CFC72: Create a clean and simple project inspired by your own blog banner

This week's challenge is sponsored by A Muse Studio.  They have some seriously cute stuff, and the winner of this challenge will win a prize valued at over $35!  How awesome is that?!?

So you can see my blog banner above, and when I chose it, it was because I was drawn to the color combination.  I used the same inspiration to create this paper yummy:

I stamped the Hero Arts Graph Background in gray ink, then cut a frame from blue patterned paper using a Nestabilities die.  The yellow circles are from the Paper Smooches Potpourri set, and the sentiment flag is a stamp by Pebbles Inc.  I added some yellow baker's twine to a cute little blue button, and adhered it onto the sentiment flag.  Here's a close-up:

So will you toot your own horn?  I can't wait to see the entries this week!  You have until next Thursday at noon EST to play along.  We'd love to have you!

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: cardstock: Georgia Pacific; patterned paper: Making Memories; stamps: Hero Arts (graph), Paper Smooches (rings), Pebbles Inc. (sentiment flag); inks: Tsukineko (gray), TPC Studio (yellow, red); cutting die: Nestabilities by Spellbinders; die-cutting machine: Sizzix; button: Buttons Galore & More; baker's twine: Divine Twine; corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers

CFC71 - I ♥ fall

Happy Friday!  I'm so excited that the official start of fall is almost upon us, even if we don't really have a fall season here in Arizona.  It is refreshing to feel that change in the air though.  And that's exactly what we're celebrating this week at CAS-ual Fridays!  Check it:

And our wonderful sponsor for this week's challenge is Great Impressions Stamps.  The winner will receive a  $25 gift certificate to spend in their store!  How cool is that?!?

For this challenge, I knew I HAD to use my Simple Stories Harvest Lane collection.  It is to fall paper crafting what their Summer Fresh line was to summer: absolutely PERFECT!  It made it so easy to create this paper yummy:

So, I've been doing a lot of sewing lately, and just so happened to have a leftover piece of ruffled fabric.   It was the first thing I've made using my new ruffler foot.  Has anybody else tried one of those?  AWESOME!!!  It makes ruffling so. much. easier.  And serendipitously, the yellow in this fabric matched the yellow in the Harvest Lane collection perfectly.  Thanks to that, and the collection pack sticker sheets, this card came together pretty darn easily.  I adhered the ruffle to the card...

...then adhered the alphabet stickers to the card, starting at the right and working backwards to make sure it all fit.  I popped the wood grain house sticker up on foam tape, and popped a punched heart up in the middle of the house's heart.  With a white gel pen, I drew a heart between the two hearts and a line around the edge of the card.  I finished it off with a button:

Of all the things to love about fall, my favorites are the color schemes, warm-scented things to melt and make the house smell delicious, and being inspired to create different kinds of crafts, i.e. sewn projects.  What do you love about it?  Show us in this week's challenge!  You have until next Thursday at noon EST to do so.

I'm also playing along with the Gallon/Quart/Pint challenge in the Moxie Fab World.

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: cardstock: The Paper Studio; patterned paper, cardstock stickers (alpha and house): Simple Stories Harvest Lane collection; fabric: Joann Fabrics; sewing machine: Singer; quilting thread: Americana; button: Buttons Galore & More; white gel pen: Uniball Signo; foam tape: American Crafts; heart punch: Fiskars

CFC67: Nuts about you

Happy Friday, peeps!  Today I'm back with this week's CAS-ual Fridays Challenge (insert cheers here!):

CFC67: Use banners or flags on your clean and simple project

Yep, this week we're playing with trendy banners and flags.  I love them, and it's a good thing - you can hardly look through a new paper collection and not find banners on patterned papers, stamps, or pre-made embellishments.  So I was glad to have a "reason" to use them on this paper yummy:

I apologize for this picture, but I just could not get a good picture of this card standing up.  I don't know what it was...  Anyway, this card came together super quick, and I think it's so cute!  The Double Ended Banner Die and the Acorn Die and sentiment are from Lil' Inkers Designs.  The wood grain is Hero Arts Designer Woodgrain.  The patterned papers are from the yummy Pink Paislee Prairie Hill 6x6 pad, which is full of wonderful colors and patterns.  I popped up the top of the acorn with some dimensional adhesive, and finished off the card with a button tied with twine knots and frayed.  Here's a close-up:

Are you as crazy about flags and banners as we are at CAS-ual Fridays?  We'd love it if you joined in on this week's challenge!  You have until next Thursday at noon EST to do so.  Click here to see the rest of the design team's banneriffic creations.  Thanks for looking!


Supplies: cardstock: Core'dinations; patterned paper: Pink Paislee; stamps: Hero Arts (woodgrain), Lil' Inkers Designs; ink: Tsukineko (Memento Rich Cocoa); dies: Lil' Inkers Designs; die-cut machine: Cuttlebug by ProvoCraft; button, twine: craft supply; corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers

CFC66: You float my boat

Hello, and happy Friday to all!  I hope everybody has enjoyed their summer.  Even though it is still August, I am glad that summer is winding down.  Even though it is still ridiculously hot here in Arizona, the early mornings have become much more bearable when I go jogging.  I am excited to start all my fall and Halloween crafts.  But before I do that, I have one more summery card for this week's CAS-ual Fridays challenge!

CFC66: Splish Splash  -  Include something you might find in the water (ocean, lake, pool, etc.) in your clean and simple project

And the fabulous Stop and Scrap has generously agreed to be our sponsor again.  The winner of this week's challenge will receive a $20 gift certificate to spend in their store!

Okay, on to the challenge.  When I thought of "something you might find in the water", my mind went straight to the Cosmo Cricket Salt Air collection.  This line is so stinkin' cute!  I love the colors and the vintage kitschy feel it has.  So I perused my collection pack, and found a cute border strip that was perfect for this paper yummy:

I thought the people in the little boat were so cute and funny.  I paired them with a sticker strip from the same collection, then added a sentiment, twine, and a button.  Easy peasy!  Here's another view:

So what floats your boat?  Share it with us in this week's challenge!  You have until next Thursday at noon EST to play along.  We'd love to have you!

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: cardstock, patterned paper, sticker strip: Cosmo Cricket; stamps: Paper Smooches; ink: TPC Studio; button: craft supply; twine: Offray; corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers

Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge - Hey diddle diddle

Happy Monday, everybody!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  Today I have a card for this week's Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge.  Since it's the second week of the month, that means it's time for a designer drafts challenge:

Yep, it's another one of Kim's awesome sketches.  And like I've said before, these sketches have truly challenged me.  But from every challenging sketch has come a card I've been really happy with. And this sketch is no exception.  Here's the sketch:

See, those curved lines just messed with me. My brain wants them to have a purpose, and not just serve as an arbitrary place to change patterned papers or something like that.  I need to have a reason to have something shaped like that on my card.  Dumb, I know, but that's just how my brain works.  So after looking at that sketch for a while, it hit me: those two curvy lines create a shape that looks like a crescent moon.  Then I had the perfect idea for this paper yummy:

 I used that crescent moon to make a baby card based on the nursery rhyme "Hey, diddle diddle."  You know, the part where "the cow jumped over the moon."  I free-hand drew the moon, cut it out of the yellow gingham paper, and stitched around the edges.  I stamped the cow from the Green Acres set onto white cardstock, masking the legs when I inked it so that I could stamp them at an angle to make it look more like the cow was jumping.  After I colored it in, I fussy-cut around it, and boy is that tale skinny!  I stuck the back legs and udders behind the moon, and the front legs on top of the moon.  I adhered the back of the cow down flat to the card, and used foam tape under his face:

I stamped a star from the Space Cadet set onto the blue patterned paper, and drew in a line to make it "hang" from the moon. I used the Alphadot and Graffiti sets to create my sentiment.  I was inspired by this post by Kim Hughes herself where she encouraged us to use stamps in different ways. To create the "Hey", I used the A from Graffiti, but masked off the top part to turn it into an H.  The y is a lower case h turned upside down.  I ruffled some gingham ribbon and hot-glued it around the edge of the blue paper.  I finished off the card with a button and some twine:

I'm really excited to see how other people interpret and use this sketch!  You can play along with the challenge here.  You have until next Sunday, August 19th at 11:59 PM EST to play along.  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!  Now get busy with that sketch! :)

Supplies: cardstock: Core'dinations (kraft) Georgia Pacific (white for stamping); patterned papers: My Mind's Eye; stamps: Paper Smooches; ink: Tsukineko; markers, black pen: Copic; ribbon: American Crafts; button, twine: craft supply; sewing machine: Kenmore; thread: Coats & Clark (yellow), Singer (white)

Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge - HELLO SUMMER!

Happy Monday to all!  I hope everybody had a fantastic summery weekend.  It sure is hot here, but we might be getting a little rain today and tomorrow.  I don't love too many things about summer in Arizona, but one thing I do love is our monsoon season.  The smell of rain on the desert is one of my summer faves... and speaking of summer, let's talk about the Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge for this week!  YAY!!  Since it's the fourth week of the month, that means

Yep, it's a photo inspiration challenge.  And this photo just SCREAMS summer to me:

I love that cool tiered tray with the red and white checked tissue paper, and those de-freaking-licious looking cupcakes with the flags are too cute for words (and I'd like to eat all of them. Right now).  That scrumptious photo inspired this paper yummy:

Another thing that screams summer to me is this paper line by Simple Stories.  LOVE IT!  I couldn't NOT use it on this card, especially since they included that awesome red gingham patterned paper!  I used a little journaling card from the 6x6 pad, that already said "HELLO SUMMER!", and based my card around that.  One of the flags from the Paper Smooches Circle of Honor set fit perfectly around that sentiment.  I used a ruler and a pen to draw in the "toothpick" that sticks into the cupcake (from Yummers).  I paper-pieced the cupcake wrapper with the gingham paper, and paper-pieced the icing with some text patterned paper, to which I added some sprinkles:

 
I added a little ribbon tab and a button with brads through the holes to balance out the card a little bit:

I used the chevron stamp from the Geo-Graphic set and some Versamark ink to add some subtle detail to the navy paper:

I'm really excited to see how other people interpret this photo!  You can play along with the challenge here. You have until next Sunday, July 1 at 11:59 PM EST to play along.  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: Recollections; cardstock: Core'dinations (kraft); patterned paper: Simple Stories; stamps: Paper Smooches; inks: Tsukineko (Onyx Black, watermark); ribbon: Michael's; button: craft supply; brads: American Crafts; black pen: K & Company; glitter glue: Ranger

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

Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge - Squeal!

Happy Monday, everybody!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  Today I have a card for this week's Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge.  Since it's the second week of the month, that means it's time for a designer drafts challenge:

Here is the awesome sketch Kim designed for us this week:

I thought this was a pretty fun sketch to work with.  I wanted to use some of the super cute stamps from the Paper Smooches June release to make a baby card.  Now for the paper yummies:

I stamped and paper-pieced the adorable little piggy from the new Green Acres set, and used the "squeal" from the same set.  Then I used another sentiment from the Pip Squeaks set below that.  I used patterned papers from the new Echo Park Sweet Day collection.  I fussy-cut this banner from one of the patterned papers, and stitched across the top of it and around the orange paper:

I finished off the card with some twine and a button:

I'm really excited to see how other people interpret and use this sketch!  You can play along with the challenge here.  You have until next Sunday, June 17th at 11:59 PM EST to play along.  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!  Now get busy with that sketch! :)

Supplies: card base: Recollections; patterned paper: Echo Park; stamps: Paper Smooches; ink: Tsukineko; twine: Offray; button: craft supply; sewing machine: Kenmore; thread: Singer

October Afternoon 9 to 5 contest - hello

Happy Wednesday, everybody!  I am super excited today, for a couple of reasons.  One is that I just put a deposit on a new (to me) SUV this morning, and I can't wait to get it!  I've been wanting one of these for a few years now.  The other reason I'm so excited is that October Afternoon is having a sketch contest using their 9 to 5 line, which I happened to pick up recently.  It's such a cute collection!  Here's the sketch:

I think this sketch lends itself more to a layout than it does to a card, but I haven't done a layout in years, so I went ahead and turned it into a card.  And now for the paper yummies:

I really loved working with this sketch, and I think the card turned out so cute!  I used Nestabilities dies to cut different sized circles out of several patterned papers, then arranged them according to the sketch.  I popped some of them up with dimensional adhesive:

Then I used some of the cutie buttons from the same collection and arranged them in place of the hearts in the sketch:

I used the alphabet stickers to create the "hello" sentiment.  Then I punched a heart from the black chevron paper, popped it up on dimensional adhesive, and applied Glossy Accents:

I finished the card off with some machine stitching around the edges and under the sentiment.
Thanks so much for looking!

I'm also playing along here:
Crafty Creations Challenge #172: Running in Circles
Little Red Wagon WOOD you? Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge

Supplies: card base: The Paper Studio; patterned papers, alphabet stickers, buttons: October Afternoon; Glossy Accents: Ranger; sewing machine: Kenmore; thread: Singer