*Subdued Thank You*

Back in early July we lost a very good friend after a short illness... it was devastating to lose a friend that we loved so much.  She was one of my regular customers in terms of card orders.  Her husband approached me after her funeral, asking if I would please make him some thank you cards to send out to people who helped out so much during her brief illness and after her death... and I said "of course".

He had no guidelines for me, but I knew what I wanted to do.... I wanted something subdued and something floral as Steph was a master gardener.  This was the card I came up with.

*Black White and Gold*

The most difficult part of this card was getting the gold cord to look good.... LOL!  I'm still not sure I like how it turned out but after about 12 minutes of fiddling with it, I decided to leave it alone.

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black

*Images:  Concord & 9th Hello Sunshine

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Waffle Flower Additional Circles

*Etc:  Stampin' Up! embossing folder; gold cord

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Fricken Square Corners

*Addicted to CAS #227*

There's a new challenge at Addicted to CAS today... time to show us your clean and simple creations featuring the colour pink!

I don't know why but I struggled with this prompt....  but then I gabbed out some stencils and had a little play with them.  I stencilled the pink swirls first and then put a second stencil on top of the first stencil and used Glimmer Paste so that the sparkly circles only showed up on the pink swirls.

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black

*Sentiment:  computer generated and printed with a laser printer and foiled

*Ink:  Tim Holtz Picked Raspberry

*Stencils:  A Colorful Life Designs Big Swirls, Merry Dots

*Embellishments:  Moonstone Nuvo Glimmer Paste

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Fricken Square Corners

*Challenges:  Addicted to CAS #227

*Striped Flower*

This was a great way to use a little bit of patterned paper... 

Card Info
*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Granny Apple Green
*Paper:  Stampin' Up! Pattern Party
*Dies:  A Jillian Vance Design Open Daisy; MFT Celebrate
*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Fricken Square Corners
*Etc:  foam adhesive

*CAS Colours & Sketches #483*

There's a new colour challenge at CAS Colours & Sketches that starts today....  these colours are PERFECT to use on a black background if you like that sort of popping neon appearance.  We always love to see what others do with our sketches and colour combinations so I hope you'll play along and share your card with us!

I absolutely LOVE how some colours just POP off of a black background.  I kept it pretty simple for my card...

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Melon Mamo, Orchid Oasis, Bermuda Bay, Basic Black

*Dies:  Picket Fence Studio Hello; Stampin' Up! Pierced Blooms

*Tools: Fricken Square Corners

*Challenges:  CAS Colours & Sketches #483

*In Color Thanks*

I just love the 2022-24 Stampin' Up! In Color colours.... but I don't find I use all of them much.  I am really drawn to the red, green and light blue but not the two darker colours as much.  So I grabbed all five for this card.

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Sweet Sorbet, Parakeet Party, Tahitian Tide, Orchid Oasis, Starry Sky

*Images:  Altenew Sincere Greetings

*Ink: Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Spellbinders Be Bold Alpha

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Fricken Square Corners; Mis-T Ruler

*Stencilled Thanks*

I am back to work this afternoon after my week of isolation thanks to Covid.  I am feeling really good except a lingering tiredness but I'm sure that will get better with time.  I really need to just take planned holidays from work instead of illness and injury!!

A friend asked for some thank you cards recently so I did up a few different designs for her.  I really liked the look of using the last bit of ink on the blending brush to go over the white spots left behind by stencilling so I did a few like this one...

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black

*Images:  Simon Says Stamp Big Thanks Words

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne; Catherine Pooler Seafoam

*Etc:  Stampin' Up! Embossing Folder; Paper Rose Studio Big Drops stencil

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Fricken Square Corners

*Black & White with Sparkle*

It's been a long week away from my creative space as I've been isolating in the main bedroom of our home because I got Covid.  Honestly I didn't have a lot of energy some days so I didn't miss the creative time all that much, but as I started to feel better I wished I could sit at my desk and play.  I am now feeling better and out of isolation but wearing a mask when others are around.

Honestly, if it's not one thing it's another for me lately!  I'm doing my best to remember that it could all be so much worse but some days I just shake my head and think "why me!".  Since April I've had a broken wrist, seized muscles and now Covid.  Covid happened with good timing since my one co-worker left this past weekend for a 6 week vacation and there's no time for me to be sick now!

Anyway... I stamped up this image and I was going to colour it in but while it was sitting there waiting for me to colour, I decided to see what it would look like as just a black and white card... and honestly, I think I love it!

Card Info

*Cardstock: Stampin' Up! Basic Black

*Images:  Altenew Celebrate Today

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Embellishments:  Studio Katia Sparkling Crystals

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Fricken Square Corners

*Bright on Black*

I absolutely love the look of bright colours on black...  I just love how they POP with brightness!!  These new In Color colours from Stampin' Up! are perfect for this!!  

Card Info

*Carstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black, Tahitian Tide, Sweet Sorbet, Parakeet Party

*Images:  Taylored Expressions Simple Strips

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Stampin' Up! Pierced Blooms; Taylored Expressions Simple Strips

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Fricken Square Corners

*Floral Best Wishes*

Why do the months of June, July and August seem to fly by while December, January and February go by at a snails pace?  I am in awe that summer in already half over!  I know there's still lots of warm sunny weather to come, but it feels like it's going by so fast!

I saw a card using this layout on Pinterest and wanted to play with it.  For some it would still be considered clean and simple, but for others it is not.  Clean and simple really is subjective.  While I love to play with truly clean and simple styles, I do enjoy making cards that are a little outside my comfort zone as well.  This one didn't stretch the comfort zone too far...

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Melon Mambo

*Paper:  Cocoa Vanilla Studio Sunkissed

*Images:  Avery Elle So Kind

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  Waffle Flower Additional Circles; Spellbinders Scalloped Circles

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Fricken Square Corners

*Your Day Sparkles*

I really love this glitter paper from Stampin' Up!  It's in all of the new In Color colours that I love and I love that I can use one tone of it or the ombre effect.  It adds a great little "something extra" to my cards!

Card Info
*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black, Sweet Sorbet, In Color ombre sparkle paper

*Images:  Pink Fresh Studio Happy Birthday Sentiments

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  A Jillian Vance Open Daisy; Pink Fresh Studio Slim Stripes

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Fricken Square Corners

*Softened the Look*

I will admit that I love stencils... and I have a few dozen... but I hardly use them because I feel intimidated by them.  I think it's because I prefer the clean and simple style for my creations and stencils tend to be pretty busy.  I've been trying to pull them out to play with a little more often...  For this card I used the ink through the stencil and then the same colours of inks over top without the stencil to soften the look a little bit.  This is one of the computer generated sentiments I printed with my laser printer and foiled.  

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black

*Stencils:  A Colorful Life Artistic Bullseye
*Ink:  Catheine Pooler Be Mine, Tiki Torch, Limoncello

*Embellishments:  Studio Katia

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Fricken Square Corners

*Addicted to CAS #225*

 The code word at Addicted to CAS is Nautical... I hope you'll play along.  The design team has created some fun ideas that you can see HERE.

I had a bit in my stash that would have been ok for this challenge but nothing that was speaking to me... so I used some dies to create my nautical themed card instead.

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Sweet Sorbet, Starry Sky

*Images:  Catherine Pooler Hook Line and Sinker

*dies:  Waffle Flower Additional Circles; Pink Fresh Studio Slim Stripes

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Fricken Square Corners

*Challenges:  Addicted to CAS #225

*Less is More #469*

There's a colour challenge at Simply Less is More... and that challenge is traditional Christmas.  I hope you'll dig out some of your Christmas stash and play along with us!

To me, the traditional colours of Christmas are red, green and gold.... and I think "sparkle" should be a Christmas colour as well LOL!  I just love sparkly things, especially for Christmas cards!

Card Info
*Cardstock:  assorted glitter papers

*Images:  Simon Say Stamp Good Cheer

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  MFT Holly Berries

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Fricken Square Corners

*Challenges:  Less Is More #469

*Ombre Stripes*

Another quick post from me as I am dealing with a seized muscle in my back and sitting at my desk might kill me...  thankfully I have a few cards made and ready to share since I can't sit here long enough to craft (and creating while in pain isn't easy... creativity doesn't flow)

I have a die by Pink Fresh that does slimline strips and I like to use that when making thin strips because I know they will be accurate.  I Played around with two of the three sizes and some of that great Stampin' Up! ombre glitter paper for this card.

*CAS on Friday #235*

Good morning friends...  a quick post from me today to share my creations for the current CAS on Friday challenge.  The current challenge is "silhouette" and instead of stamping, I did a black die cut instead.    I used my Copics to create a little rainbow and then put the die cut floral spring on top of it.  Because I used Copics, I used a smaller panel and put it on top of a white card so that the ink bleeding wouldn't show through to the inside of the card.  

*Color Throwdown #699*

I love the inspiration photo from the current Color Throwdown challenge so I had to play along.  But then I was stumped as to what I wanted to do...  I do much better with sketch challenges than colour challenges I think!

I pulled out a stencil I haven't used yet and this is the result.  I was going to orient my card the other way however the glitter paste made a mess in one area under the stencil so I flipped the panel and covered it with my sentiment!

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Tempting Turquoise

*Images:  Studio Katia Birthday Greetings

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne; Tim Holtz Distress Ink Salty Ocean, Wilted Violet

*Dies:  Waffle Flower Additional Circles

*Stencil:  A Colorful Life Designs Notre Dame Swirl

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Fricken Square Corners

*Embellilshments:  Nuvo Glimmer Paste in Moonstone

*Challenges:  Color Throwdown #699

*Embellishments: 

*Freshly Made Sketches #342*

 I loved the ease of the sketch by Kim at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  

I combined the idea of using patterned paper with Kim's idea of horizontal stripes to create my card.  I also used a stamp and die that I bought YEARS ago that I've never used!

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black, Granny Apple Green

*Paper:  Stampin' Up! Pattern Party

*Images:  Scrapbook & Cards Today; MFT Bitty Birthday Greetings

*Dies:  Scrapbook & Cards Today; Stampin' Up! Pierced Blooms

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Fricken Square Corners

*Challenges:  Freshly Made Sketches #342

*CAS on Friday #178*

 The current challenge at CAS on Friday is to make a thank you card.  I love these open daisies by A Jillian Vance Design.  I paired them with some of the new Stampin' Up! In Color colours to create my card for the challenge.

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Tahitian Tide, Parakeet Party, Sweet Sorbet, Starry Sky

*Images:  Taylored Expressions Simple Strips

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne

*Dies:  A Jillian Vance Designs Open Daisy; Taylored Expressions Simple Strips

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Fricken Square Corners

*Challenges:  CAS on Friday #178

*Stencil Background*

I had fun with some light stencilling for my card today.  I wanted some pretty colour without it being overwhelming.  I love layering stencils since it's so easy to do one colour at a time... it's achievable with a regular stencil but you have to be careful with the masking!  I actually used two different stencils for this card but only used a small portion of each, moving it around to fill my background.

Card Info

*Cardstock:  Stampin' Up! Basic Black

*Images:  Uniko Birthday Wishes

*Ink:  Versafine Clair Nocturne; Tim Holtz Distress Twisted Citron, Picked Raspberry

*Stencils:  Gina K Bold Flowers; A Colorful Life Designs Daisies

*Embellishments:  Studio Katia Arctic Breeze Pearls

*Tools:  Perfect Layers; Fricken' Square Corners; Taylored Expressions blending brushes