CAS-ual Fridays Stamps: HB2U

Happy Saturday!

I'm up today on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps blog with the Whole Shebang!

Head over there to see how I created this card and a full list of supplies!

Peace out!

(Because it looks sort of tie-dye, right?)

RC Party Hats: It's Your Day!

Happy Tuesday!

I started this card for the Reverse Confetti #27 challenge about two weeks ago...

I finally finished it last night...after a 3 hour nap...after the 1st day of school! 

I used the Party Hats stamp set & matching Confetti Cuts, 

as well as the Woodgrain Confetti Cuts. Cute stuff!! 

The paper is from the Studio Calico Baxter collection.

Off to the next project!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs & happy stamping!

Recipe

Stamps: Reverse Confetti Party Hats

Cardstock: SU Basic Black, Studio Calico Baxter paper pad

Ink: Memento Black

Accessories: Big Shot, Reverse Confetti Party Hats Confetti Cuts, Black/White Baker's Twine.

Freshly Made Sketches #200: Wishing...

Happy Wednesday!

Ready for a big celebration with lots of prizes, including one from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps?

Check out this Anniversary Celebration from Freshly Made Sketches:

Cool, huh? And the sketch is great!

For my card, above, I used Tim Holtz distress markers with a technique demonstrated by Kristina Werner right here. So fun! I used a great sentiment set, Lovely Greetings, embossed in black, and the Shuffle Fri-Die by CAS-ual Fridays Stamps.

Hope you like it and play along!

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Hugs & happy stamping!

Hooray! #likeaboss

Happy Saturday!

Hope you are enjoying your weekend! 

I'm afraid I have slept a LOT today. 

Three days back to work and it's a hard adjustment! hahaha!

I'm sharing a card I made this week for a special vice principal at school who got promoted to principal at another campus. I'll miss her terribly, but she is awesome and deserves this, so I'm happy for her!

I played along with Freshly Made Sketches #199.

Isn't this sketch great? So much you can do with it.

Keep it clean and simple or pile on some layers.

I used paper, stamps, and accessories from my Studio Calico card kit stash.

The recipient loves color, so I went for it! 

Hope you're doing great!

Thanks for stopping by! Hugs & happy stamping!

Recipe

Stamps: Studio Calico

Cardstock: SU Black, Studio Calico patterned paper

Ink: Memento Black, Versamark

Accessories: Heat Tool, White Embossing Powder, Studio Calico Flair, Mister Huey's Black Color Mist.

SU: You're Amazing, Dad!

Happy  Tuesday!

Farewell, summer vacation!

Yes, I woke singing Taps in my head...day is done...

True Story.

But I know this time tomorrow I'll be stoked to be back at it! :)

My dad's birthday is tomorrow, so I whipped up this card for him using the great sketch from Cardabilities #128. I used mostly Stampin' Up! supplies, except for the molding paste, stencil, and scrap of patterned paper for the pennant flag. Don't you love that elephant from the You're Amazing set? He'll always be one of my favorites. I colored him in with my chalk pastels. Whaaaattttt? Yes, I got them out and used them! 

I hope my dad doesn't think this means he's an old elephant. 

At least he's a winning old elephant, right?! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs & happy stamping!

Recipe

Stamps: You're Amazing, Sketch Alphabet

Cardstock: Michael's white, SU Cherry Cobbler, Island Indigo, scrap of striped paper.

Ink: SU Basic Gray, Memento Black, Tim Holtz Wild Honey Marker (hat)

Accessories: Stampin' Pastels, Ticket & Pennant punch, Golden light molding paste, Heidi Swapp stencil, toothpick.

SU: Small Wonder

Happy Sunday!

How has your weekend been? It's hot here! Says 102 at 8:04 pm!

I head back to school Wednesday, can't believe summer has gone by so fast! 

I'm ready (I think!), but we move into a new building, so that means unloading my storage unit and moving everything into the new classroom. Ack! Bright side, surely I'll sweat off a few pounds!

I needed a baby card to mail out with a gift tomorrow, so I whipped this little thing up using the cute CAS(E) this sketch #135! I pulled out all Stampin' Up! for this one, except for the teeny tiny pennants the little bunny is holding, just grabbed some nearby scraps for that.

I got the Zig markers (thanks mostly to my wonderful in-laws for a birthday gift card!), and this is my first attempt at watercoloring with them. Argh! Why is it so hard? I think it has something to do with my patience. I'm a quick and simple stamper! lol! I need to watch some more videos probably. I also used my new Ranger blending tool, with which I'm obsessed.

That's it for now! Let the mad dash begin to finish up everything I was supposed to get done on summer vacation! haha!

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Hugs & happy stamping!

Recipe

Stamps: Stampin' Up! Furry Folk, Whimsical Words

Cardstock: Michael's white, watercolor paper, SU silver glitter

Ink: SU Soft Sky & Pearl Pizazz, Memento Black

Accessories: Zig markers, Aquapainter, Big Shot, heart die cut from SU Mini Treat Bag Thinlits Die, 2 1/2" Circle Punch, SU Strawberry Slush ruffled ribbon.

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps: Hugs & Love

Happy Saturday!

I'm up today on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps blog, yay!

Head over there and check out a step-by-step photo tutorial, if you want! :)

My little card was totally inspired by this card from Laurie Willison at Soapbox Creations.

I'm also obsessed with blending ink now, thanks to Laura Bassen at Doublestick Heaven!

Hope you have a great weekend! 

Thanks for stopping by! Hugs & happy stamping!

Materials
Stamps: Calm & Loving, Mwah
Fri-Dies: Funky Round Tag
Cardstock: White, vellum
Ink: Memento Black, 4 - 5 different shades of red to pink
Accessories: Big Shot, Ranger blending tool, glue stick, Studio Calico decorative bow tie

CAS-ual Fridays and CAS-ual Chic Challenges: Pretty Patterns!

Happy Friday!

Are you ready for some new challenges?

It's all about "Pretty Patterns" this week at the CAS-ual Chic Challenge!

Celebrate patterns...use pattern paper, use a pattern stamp like chevron or houndstooth, or use any stamp to create a pattern...whatever you like! 

In the CAS-ual Chic Challenge it's all about utterly adorable layers, so in the card above, I created my own "pretty pattern" by stamping the flower from the Mon Ami stamp set in Memento black ink, then used the Ranger blender tool to fill in the flowers with Soft Sky ink. I saw Laura Bassen using that blender tool, and now I'm addicted to it! Almost forgot, I used the Mon Ami Fleur Fri-die on a piece of white cardstock to create a "stencil". I just placed it over each flower, then blended away! So easy, and it looks so smooth. Addicted, I tell you!

I layered that onto my back card base, then used the Bubble Box Fri-Die stamped with "Mon Amie" to create a place to plop my second flower from the Mon Ami stamp set. I used Copics to color in the flower, then smeared it up with a bit of black Stickles. I looped some silver cord behind the Bubble Box die piece, then layered in a few silver glitter cardstock vines created with the Casual Vines Fri-Dies. Whew, a lot to describe with utterly adorable layers! 

I hope you'll play along! Be sure and head over to the Cas-ual Chic blog to check out the *amazing* cards by the rest of the design team! They make my layers look wimpy! 

Now...how about a clean and simple card for the same "pretty patterns" theme 

at the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge:

I used the same flower from the Mon Ami stamp set to create a pattern, but I used Soft Sky ink on Soft Sky cardstock so it's more subtle than the black ink. Again, I used the Mon Ami Fleur Fri-Die to create a stencil, then colored in the flowers with the Ranger blender tool. I started out with a bigger "pretty pattern" piece, then cut it down once I had decided on its placement. Lastly, I stuck on some silver shimmery Washi tape, embossed my sentiment in white on black cardstock, then added a few sequins for bling. Ahhh, so easy! :)

I hope you'll play along with us at the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge too!

Check out the cards by the rest of the design team and link up your entry! 

So what's your favorite: the utterly adorable layers card or the clean and simple card? hehe

Thanks so much for stopping by! 

Hugs & happy stamping!

Recipe #1

Stamps: CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Mon Ami 

Cardstock: SU Basic Black, Whisper White, Soft Sky, & Silver Glitter 

Ink: SU Soft Sky, Memento Black

Accessories: Big Shot, CAS-aul Fridays Stamps Casual Vines Fri-Die, Bubble Box, and Mon Ami Fleur Fri-Die, SU silver cord, Black Stickles, Copics coral and green, Ranger foam blending tool, foam dimensionals.

Recipe #2

Stamps: CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Mon Ami

Cardstock: SU Whisper White, Basic Black, Soft Sky

Ink: SU Soft Sky, Versamark

Accessories: Big Shot, CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Mon Ami Fleur Fri-Die, Heat Tool, White Embossing Powder, Ranger foam blending tool, SU silver washi tape, Teresa Collins Memorabilia sequins.

Operation Write Home Makeovers!

Operation Write Home Makeovers!

One of my summer vacation goals was to go through my stash of cards and send some to Operation Write Home. I learned that the operation would soon stop taking donated cards due to decreasing numbers of deployed soldiers. (The deadline was August 1, 2015.) So I started right away to make my cards acceptable for the most desired categories: miss you and love you. Makes sense, right?

Before I mailed them off to OWH, I snapped some photos, then thought it might be fun to go back through my blog and see how they compared to the originals. So first you'll see the group of cards I remade, then the original versions and date below them. Of course, going through my blog and old cards led to a number of revealing insights, see those at the bottom!

Group #1

Originals:

Get Well Wishes

November 28, 2009

May 10, 2010

together

Group #2

Originals:

USA

July 30, 2010

Hello

January 20, 2006

Tweet Me

May 14, 2012

Hello

June 20, 2007

Group #3

Originals:

What's New

August 6, 2012

Group #4

Originals:

XOXO

February 3, 2011

Love

June 20, 2009

Top 10 Things I realized while searching through old blog posts for hours:

1. I remember making all of these cards, and it doesn't seem like very long ago!

2. I may be teased sometimes for my liberal application of adhesive, but dang, these cards are still stuck together! 

3. Related to #2, if you take care of your cards, they WILL hold up a long time!

4. The simplest cards are still my favorites.

5. Wow, I liked some big, fat ribbons and bows! *Oversized, padded envelopes required

6. Big pieces extending WAY beyond the card make them difficult to mail. See * on #3

7. I really should be working on the 10 hours of required online classes for back-to-school In Service, so I won't have to stay up until 3 am on a school night like I did last year.

8. The cost of mailing a standard size card has increased 8 cents, from 41 cents to 49 cents, during the history of my blog. (Okay, I didn't "realize" that one, I looked it up!)

9. My blog seriously needs an updated remodel! Who is someone you recommend, that's affordable for a poor teacher, of course?! :)

10. I need to make and post more cards!

Thanks for stopping by! Hugs & happy stamping!