Clean and Simple Challenge 73

So, do you notice that I am trying to catch up a bit? I would like to be a bit more regular at posting. I keep trying!
CAS Challenge 73 at SCS is a color challenge. Colors are bashful blue, certainly celery, and orange. Here's my submissions.
Click here for details.
Click here for details.

Clean and Simple Challenge 72

The third week's challenge was a sketch challenge based on one of my own cards. Here is the sketch.

Here s the card that I made that week:
Click here for details.

Clean and Simple Challenge 71

My second week on the CAS DT the challenge was a Theme challenge...Things that Fly. Here's the two cards that I made for that challenge.
Click here for details.
Click here for details.

CAS Challenge cards...week 1

These are the cards I posted for my first week on the CAS design team on SCS. The challenge was to make a card with the greeting/saying/verse as the focal point.
Click here for a list of supplies.
Click here for a list of supplies.

Splitcoast CAS Design Team competition

The past couple weeks or so have been taken up by focusing on the Clean and Simple Design Team competition for the summer season. The theme was a trip to the amusement part and I wanted to share my entries with you.

Challenge 1: You are walking into the amusement park and meet the photographer who wants to take your picture. Make a card that 1)has a person, character, or group as a focal point, 2)add a tiny bit of bold, flashy ribbon, bonus points for adding texture as well, 3)keep it clean and simple.
Click here for details on supplies.

Challenge 2: Make a card with a summer theme.
Click here for details on supplies.

After challenge 2, Jen narrowed the field to 20 people who would continue to the semi finals. I made this list! WooHoo!

Challenge 3: Make a clean and simple card using pop dots (aka dimensionals) to create height and dimension on your card. Since I always use dimensionals on my cards, this was not a big challenge for me, so I tried a technique I had seen before and liked.
Click here for details on supplies.

Challenge 4: Create a clean and simple card with a moveable part. It was fun seeing the great variety of cards that everyone made! I made a viewmaster card.
Let me say right now that I will probably NEVER make one of these EVER again!
Click here for details on supplies.

So now the tension has built to a very high level. Who will make the finals? Ten people would be chosen, and I made the cut! Love it!

Challenge 5: At the close of the day at the amusement park, we visit the water park. Make a clean and simple card with a water theme. I was having a difficult time deciding what to do. Not that I had no ideas, but that I had too many! I made three cards and entered these two:
Click here for details on supplies.
Click here for details on supplies.

What a GREAT time we all had. The last night was tense, particularly since Jen posted the guest designers a few at a time and left the design team to last! But I made the design team this summer! So for the next 3 months I'll be designing for Splitcoaststampers CAS design team! Cooool! I've tried for this for five competitions and I finally made it!
So, I invite you to join the fun in the SCS CAS challenge forum every Monday for wonderful challenges!

Waltzingmouse Blog Hop...Happy Birthday!

I made this card for the CAS67 Shabby Chic and Clean and Simple challenge over at Splitcoast Stampers. I think that it is almost an oxymoron to put these two together but I made an attempt and this is the result.

I didn't use any image stamps at all, just a word stamp...and it is from the Waltzingmouse Earth Angel set.
The paper is assorted designer paper from my stash.

...did I really use a die cut?...

Yes, I guess you could say that...but technically it is an embosslit. So can I say that I really didn't give in to die cuts? I made this for CAS65 on SCS.

I ran the popped up panel thru the BigShot with a texture plate. The texture plate and embosslit are from SU! as is the punch for the greeting. The leaves are a Martha Stewart punch. I sponged the embosslit flowers with apricot ink to give them some dimension.
Paper: SU! vanilla, apricot, wasabi, celery
Stamps: SU! small script
Accessories: Lots of Dimensionals!

Waiting.....for.....Spring.....

I'm ready! Too much snow this winter. We've had snow on the ground since last fall and that NEVER happens around here. Never say "never"!

So, in anticipation of spring coming (sometime) I have a couple of cards to share with you.

The first one turns out to be a Mother's Day card. (No, my mom doesn't read my blog or check SCS. She is somewhat computer-challenged.) The sketch was a challenge for me. I had to spend a bit of time getting what I wanted. The tulip is PTI's Wishing You set and the greeting is an old SU set called Wonderful Wishes. The kraft paper is dotted with SU's new Dot, Dot, Dot then punched with a Martha border punch. I love the twill tape! It is on a roll in the sewing department at WalMart. I'm going to have to stock up!


I've been wanting to make some of those really cute trees that are made of patterned paper and cut out. But I don't have the stamps and can't afford them right now. So I made do for this card by using SU's Sheltering Tree on some dotted-watercolor-wash type designer paper I had in my stash. The check paper at the bottom is from Creative Memories. I think it sets the card off well, don't you?


Have a wonderful week anticipating the coming of Spring!

"New" PTI stamps

I'm bad, I know. I buy new stamps and then they sit for long periods of time before I use them. I did it again with a huge order of PTI stamps that I bought about 4 months ago! So I broke out two sets today.


This one is PTI's Tea for Two set. I even recycled some paper from one of the set boxes to do the narrow polka dot band.
Paper: Wausau 110 pound white and recycled PTI paper
Ink: SU Not quite Navy, Old Olive
Ribbon: Blue Grosgrain (from Michaels?)


This one is PTI's Wishing You set. The images I stamped on the card had some "bloopers" so I restamped, cut, and popped the tulips up. It was designed for the CAS52 Sketch challenge at Splitcoaststampers.
Paper: Wausau 110 pound white and Basic Gray PP
Ink: SU Groovy Guava, Wild Wasabi
Ribbon: SU Groovy Guava stitched grosgrain

Hope you enjoy these!

Playing Post-vacation Catch-up

Here I am, sitting here at the computer, with my chai tea, reading the blogs I have been following, and enjoying the gloomy, misty day. It's fall! I like fall. Fall is when we take a vacation. Now you have to understand that vacation is a broad term for us--it may mean a missions trip, a camping trip, or a trip to Grand Junction to get apples. It might even mean taking time off to do a project around home. But this time we ventured out to Yellowstone and the Tetons. It was cold at night (we were prepared with a heater for our tent) but the days were gorgeous, until the last day there. It was cloudy, rainy, blustery...but the "moods" of the Grand Teton on that day were spectacular!

Anyway, I have several challenges to get caught up on, and I did two yesterday.

This card is totally different from anything I have ever made...but I sure do like it! I started by planning for the CAS31 "pop it up" challenge using dimensionals. The pumpkin inchies are popped up. But it also fits CAS 30 because I took those images off of a card I made years ago in a workshop and this works as a "remake". Then there have been two challenges for "bling" or "sparkle" that fit the use of heat and stick powder with glitter (CAS21 and CAS27). I used a 1 inch punch for the inchies and a MS border punch so that fits CAS07 to use punches. Have I missed any?
The paper is SU Kraft, black and mustard DP. The orange dot is CM. I used Black hemp for the cord.

This card is for this week's CAS33 sketch layout. Again, I used an image from an old workshop card that was done with the technique where you put drops of reinker on a baby wipe and use that for a "stamp pad". The pear was done with green galore, tempting turquoise, and yoyo yellow inks. I just cut the image out to make this card.

The card is crushed curry, and I used turquoise and white cs and a turquoise dp that matched. There are two layers of dimensionals...under the box and under the pear. The picture doesn't do the sentiment justice...it is really much clearer IRL.

Thanks for stopping by.

Wonderful Color Combo

Just thought I would share a couple of cards I made last week with the Color Challenge on SCS. The colors were Baja Breeze, Ruby Red, and White.

The first card is one that was also made for the CAS challenge. The birds are a part of Inkadinkadoo's Birds Galore and the sentiment is from SU! set All Year Cheer 1, a retired set. The card is 5.5 inches square and the red layer is popped up on dimensionals.
The next card is one that I made for my dad for father's day. The layout is one that I used before with different images and colors, and I like this combination even better. The image stamps are from the SU! set Winds of Grace and the sentiment from an old retired set called Wonderful Wishes. I used a strip of Ruby Red CS on this card where I had used ribbon on my previous card. Why? Well, no such thing as Ruby Red ribbon in my stash!
Best thing about this card? My dad really liked it!
Blessings for this glorious week :)

Curious Iridescent Papers

I love these papers, but sometimes I forget to use them. I purchased both Cryogen White and Poison Ivory with some friends...from Cut Card Stock . I often think of ideas to use this beautiful, shimmery, iridescent paper, but today I actually did something about it. Some time ago I did a wedding card in white and ivory, and that provided the inspiration for doing this wintery card...in both ivory and white.

The card base is Poison Ivory. The first layer, in Cryogen White, is popped up, as is the image layer in Poison Ivory. The snowflake is stamped in SU! White and embossed in Iridescent Sparkle EP. The ribbon is SU! narrow white organdy. Hope you enjoy these pictures!

Inspired by...

I particularly like to do inspiration challenges. Some are difficult for me, but sometimes things just "click" and I get something that I really like. I wanted to share some of my recent cards that are inspired by "something"...oftentimes clothing!

This first card is inspired by a new Life is Good tee. I used the single flower in Merci, and colored the outer half of the petals with Prismacolor Premier pencils. I then used the colorless blender pencil (also known as a burnisher) to smooth and blend the color out. It spreads the color a bit more into the centers of the flowers. The paper is heavyweight white and I stamped the flowers in Basic Black. The greeting is from the old SU! set Simple Sayings.

This card was inspired by my youngest granddaughter's t-shirt from Carters. They have the most adorable fabrics! The shirt was pale pink with an over-all flower design in orange, bright pink, and green. The paper for the card is Pirouette Pink, the flowers are stamped in Pixie Pink, Green Galore, and Pumpkin Pie. The stems are also Green Galore. The flower set is Big Blooms. Ribbon is from Michaels.

This last card was for the CAS11 challenge at SCS and was inspired by a JCPenney comforter. The card is Pink Passion. The flowers on the white panel are Pixie Pink, Rose Red, YoYo Yellow, Certainly Celery, and Taken with Teal. The flower stamps are from an assortment of SU! and CTMH sets, and the greeting is from Curvy Verses. The paper piercing on the corners of the card completes the card.

Monochromatic Cards

In the past few months I have made quite a few cards that fit the definition of "monochromatic". I wanted to share some of them with you.

This first one was for the CAS14 challenge on SCS, which was for rock and roll technique. I used apricot and pumpkin inks on the flowers. For the rest of the details see the card in my gallery.

This next card is a super-simple masculine card that I made for the CAS10 monochromatic challenge. Its details can be seen here.

This card uses the same apricot and pumpkin colors as the first picture above. I made this for the CAS10 monochromatic challenge as well, and I have left a space for a sentiment. This link will take you to the details.

Have a great day! and keep stamping!

Back again...

Ah, well, my sidebar says that I blog without obligation. So I shouldn't feel obligated, should I?! But I do. I think I should be posting more frequently. I think that I am so far behind with what I have been doing lately that I don't know how to get caught up. But those 'shoulds' and 'oughtas' and all that just make me feel guilty for not posting...and I put it off even longer.

Well, I figure that I will not try for any 'shoulds' and I will post when I can. After all I "blog without obligation" right! So I'll just post what I want whenever I can!



This card is for the CAS15 challenge at SCS. We were challenged to use only black, white, and one (only one) Bold Bright. I used Gable Green. The image is Stampendous' Agapanthus Blossom and it is stamped on Shimmery White in Versamagic, which is the only black I could get a really good image with. Hope you like it!

Inspiration Challenges

I seem to like the inspiration challenges...get my creative juices flowing a bit more than some of the others. So, here are a few from the last few days. This first one is SCS inspiration challenge 117...details on the card are in my SCS gallery.



This next card is for SCS inspiration challenge 107...again the details on this card are in my SCS gallery.



My last one for today is for Beate's inspiration challenge 17...see my gallery for the details.