Classy Christmas

Today starts a new challenge at Christmas 24.  We are looking for trees and ornaments. 

 I went classy with my card today- a bit unusual for me. I like cute and whimsical generally.

My card uses an old Clearly Besotted stamp set that unfortunately is no longer available. 

This CAS, quick and easy card came together seamlessly, especially with these sentiment strips from Simon Says Stamp.

You have two weeks to show us your trees and balls at Christmas 24!

May showers bring June flowers?

Yesterday was a free day for me. I spent it with my bestie stamping. The fun thing about stamping with a buddy is you get to use their stuff!! I "borrowed" her Altenew Botanical Gardens set. I stamped every darn piece and embossed with gold and watercolored the images with bright sunshiney colors. I then die cut the images and had fun placing them in a pleasing design.

playing with placement

 

 

My buddy Pat looked at the finished card and laughed. She said that is soooo not you. Where did this come from? She is right. I am more CAS and whimsical. This classic and elegant creation my have come from an alter ego.

We have had so much rain this May that I am hoping it will bring June flowers. Because of that I am entering this card the Time Out challenge.  The there is: 'May All your weeds be wild flowers'.

I am also entering this card at The Card Concept .

Sunshine brings flowers and my flowers are sunshiny colors, so why not enter this classy and elegant card!

 

 Done playing, time to get back to work! The pharmacology and pathophysiology of reflux and Barrett's esophagus. Woo hoo!!

Peace on Earth

This is my last challenge with the Card Concept Wild Card team! I have had so much fun experimenting with the different styles. It forced me to stretch my wings in other directions. It is good to be tested. I think it makes you a better artist

The last challenge for 2014 at the Card Concept is a color challenge, using just soft neutrals. They can put you in mind of homespun krafty or elegant.

Today, I am staying in my comfort zone; clean and simple, but I have added a dash of elegant. How could it not happen since the dove die by Penny Black just reads elegant! I added the sentiment from Papertrey Inks wet holiday collection.

I have so enjoyed my time at the Card Concept and if they ever want me back, I am there.

I am wishing all of you the most blessed and joyous holidays and a happy healthy new year!

Wild Cards at the Card Concept

Hey Everyone- exciting news, I have been selected to be on the Wild Card team at The Card Concept. The Card Concept is a challenge blog similar to the House of Cards. They post an inspiration and the designers create a card based on the inspiration photo and a certain style.  The Wild Card team is a group of designers who will create a card in a different style for each challenge.

Now most of you know that I am CAS gal, so I thought this team would be great to make me think outside my box and try those different styles that can be so intimidating. Basically,  I am gonna show you if I can do them, so can you!

So without further ado, the present challenge is to create a wedding card based on this awesome photo.

For my first challenge I was assigned to make a classy and elegant card. Wait! Hold the presses, classy and elegant?!!? All I can say is the idea of wedding and classy and elegant are like peanut butter and jelly, they just go together.

To start my process, I checked out the definition of what a classy and elegant card is. Classy and Elegant means: polished, shiny finish, sparkling embellishments, sophisticated sentiments, regal, sweeping, dramatic, monochromatic, layered textures, awe and impress.

I began by pulling stamps out and I went with Papertrey Inks- Love and Marriage and then I began to play with the definition of classy and elegant in front of me.

The base of my card was an embossed folder- a very old one from Cuttlebug. After it was embossed, I took a Copic and lightly colored the raised areas of the panel. Coloring the raised areas with a copic marker totally accents the embossed areas to create a classy and elegant feel.

I had an idea of where I was going. I knew I wanted the heart within the heart, so I started playing with combinations.

I finally decided I liked the die cut and popped heart. My hubby thought the blue and chartreuse heart was to much and I had to agree. I swapped it out for a more subtle green.

I completed this card and I was really pleased with it. After a few days though, it just didn't seem dramatic enough. So I remade the card with a more regal blue base. It felt right.

Which one seems more in keeping with a classy and elegant style? Did I miss the mark?

I hope that one of you might step outside your box and try a different style and share it with us for this challenge at The Card Concept.

Embracing trends

2014!!! Yikes that is so scary! Where did 2013 go? I mean here it is 2014 in just a few days and I am finally getting around to embracing the sequin trend. Sometimes it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks! 

I gotta tell you though, that the photo challenge this week at Just Us Girls just had sequins written all over it! 

Off to the store I went for a sequin fix. I tried not to go overboard, remembering the old adage that "less is more".

I hope you find my interpretation of the photo fun and will give the sequin trend a try if you haven't already.

See you all next year for another great JUG challenge.

Clean and Simple, Classic and Elegant??

If I am confused, I can't imagine what Mynette our fearless leader at House of Cards is going to think.

I am a member of the CAS team, but my oh my this card looks classic and elegant too! This week's challenge was a photo inspiration. 

Now, are you like me? Give me a color challenge, sketches anything but photos! I break out in a sweat, my hands get clammy and my creative juices just stop flowing. I think I get to literal and can't go with the flow.

Here is this month's photo challenge. The part that struck me was the wall paper. I used that as my jumping off point. I grabbed my Golden Glitz ink and this background stamp  by Impression Obsession. It is so difficult to really appreciate the gold leaf on the yellow background and difficult to photograph. Try clicking on the picture to enlarge it. The rest as they say is history.

A CAS and CAE card!

I hope you have enjoyed our first month of challenges at HOC. The work presented by all of you this month has been amazing, awesome and all-inspiring!

Please continue to join us in the fun for August.