50-50 and I Don't Mean a Raffle!

Happy Hump Day!  Have you seen that current Geico commercial where the camel walks around the office asking "What day is it?" -cracks me up every time:)

I haven't played along with a CAS-ual Fridays challenge in a long time and this week's challenge to create a CAS project with some kind of material like felt, canvas, fabric, etc. intrigued me:

I've had some Claudine Hellmuth sticky-back canvas in my stash for awhile and decided to try embossing it.  After adhering a piece to a white cs scrap before running it through my Cuttlebug it worked like a charm!  I really like the subtle texture it gave to my card. 

After reading a comment my dear and talented friend Maureen left on a previous blog post I decided to do a little research and to revisit a design to create my card for the challenge:

I wasn't sure if I knew what a 50-50 ice cream bar that Maureen referenced in her comment was until I looked on-line and realized it's what I knew as a creamsicle growing up- Yum!  Did a little paper piecing and coloring with markers to get my embossed image from the North Coast Creations set "You're the Bomb!" to resemble a 50-50:)  Sentiment is also from this fun set.

Other Supplies Used:  Papertrey ink white cs, Hero Arts sunshine layering paper and dots, teresa collins Tell Your Story pp, Echo Park Dots & Stripes pp, WPlus 9 heart dies, Stampin' Up chevron embossing folder and baked brown sugar marker 

Thanks for all your supportive comments!

A Passion for Papertrey - Inspired By Challenge

I found a new challenge blog via my sweet and talented blogging buddy Greta called A Passion for Papertrey!  Their current challenge is called "Inspired By" and in your post you must include a link/pic of what inspired you to create your card.  Since I'm still on a HUGE flower kick I chose this colorful Lilly Pulitzer floral bedding set from the Garnet Hill website as my inspiration:

And here is my card:

I combined images from the set "The Sweet Life" (roses and flourish) with some from "Ruby Rose" (sentiment and leaves).  I love that both sets come with matching dies:)  I used some of the new Stampin' Up In Colors (Strawberry Slush and Coastal Cabana) and Hero Arts Green Hills shadow ink as I don't own any PTI inks and am woefully low on my supply of their cs.

Other Materials Used:  Stampin' Up Apothecary Accents framelit die and chevron embossing folder, Papertrey Ink white cs

This challenge runs until 9 am Monday 7/15 so you should give it a try if you're a big PTI fan (like who isn't???? LOL!).  Happy week everyone!

"I'm Crafting in the Rain!"

I don't think I've posted this many days in a row in a loooong time!  Course I can't remember when it's RAINED this many days in a row either:(  Yesterday I pulled out a really old (from 1997!) but well-loved stamp from PSX to make a birthday card for my mom:

The birthday girl's favorite color is yellow so I embossed the image and did some coloring with Ranger distress inks and an aqua brush.  Felt good to work with such a sunshiney color since it's been awhile since I've actually seen the sun around here:(  The butterfly is from my fave Hero Arts set Antique Engravings - I popped up the wing for a little dimension.  The sentiment that I embossed on vellum is from an older Stampin' Up set called Happy Harmony - it really is a sweet little set I should use more often!

Other Materials Used:  Papertrey ink white cs, Stampin' Up vellum, yellow cs and woodgrain embossing folder, WR Memory Keepers corner rounder

Today is "last call" for the Simon Says Stamp challenge "Anything Goes"!  Have a great day!

(Melon) Mambo No. 5!

Happy Monday!  It's shaping up to be another day here in upstate NY where it looks like the skies could open up at any minute and deposit gallons of rain:(  The only good thing I can say about this weather is that I've spent more time crafting!  Lots of birthdays this month and lots of new product to play with:

Have you ever heard that Lou Bega song "Mambo No. 5"???  Everytime I use this Stampin' Up color called Melon Mambo I can't help but hum this song:)  I am in LOVE with this hummingbird die!!!  It's from Cheery Lynn Designs and I picked it up at a stamping show last month.  After die cutting it from white cs I sponged on some Ranger distress inks to give it color.  The sentiment is from the Papertreyink set Ruby Rose.  I wanted to use the flowers from this set in my design but after "consulting" with my dh, "we" decided they really weren't the right scale for the hummer....(again, I swear the guy needs to get his own craft room!) So I pulled out this Hero Arts Etched Flowers cling and after randomly embossing it went to town coloring it with Stampin' Up Melon Mambo, So Saffron and Lucky Limeade inks and a blender pen. 

Other Materials Used:  Papertrey ink white cs, Stampin' Up melon mambo and gumball green cs. Michael's black pearl 

I'm going to pop this into the current Simon Says Stamp challenge: Anything Goes!  Have a great day and thanks so much for commenting:)

You're the Bomb!

One of the things I love about CASology challenges is the freedom to use whatever products I have to interpret the cue in whatever direction my mind takes me:)  And it just so happens that this week's cue is the word "FREE":





Because of the time of year it is my thoughts naturally went to Independence Day.  But I took it a step further and thought about all the times in my life when I've felt the most free and I would have to say the summers of my youth rank right up there.  Summer then meant the freedom to spend my days doing or not doing anything! (And also not suffering those weird pangs of guilt when a whole day was spent on the porch reading a book or just daydreaming).  It also meant eating ice cream every day and not worrying about how many carbs I was ingesting:)

  

When I saw this set from North Coast Creations called "You're the Bomb!" I HAD to have it!  Hands down, my fave treat from the ice cream trucks that used to regularly troll my neighborhood growing up was the Bomb Pop!  I used some star dies from Papertrey ink to create a negative space panel from white cs and instead of popping up the panel I adhered it flat to the card base to keep the design more CAS.  I added some texture to the white star using a Stampin' Up woodgrain embossing folder.  The bomb pop image was embossed then colored with copics - difficult to see in the pic but I did add glossy accents to give it more of an "icy" appearance.  And yep, I finally hopped on the sequin trend train - so proud of myself for actually buying and using something:)  

Other Materials Used:  Papertrey ink white cs, Stampin' Up pp, Echo Park Dots & Stripes pp, Michael's sequins

I'm also going to link this up to the current Simon Says Stamp challenge - Anything Goes!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!  Thanks for all your supportive comments!

PDCC#188: Raspberry, Pastel Pink, Lilac

Happy weekend everyone!  We've been having such unpredictable weather here in upstate NY  - sunny one minute, then skies as dark as night with torrential rain the next - that it's difficult to make plans to do anything outside:(  Today was one of those days so I decided to spend some long overdue time in my craft room playing with some new (and old!) stuff:)  The colors and inspiration collage for the current Play Date Cafe challenge inspired an idea I had for a congrats card:

 

I absolutely love that plate in the lower left hand corner of the photo collage - would love to own a stamp of that image!  I pulled out an old Hero Arts clear set called Asian Elements and randomly stamped one of the images several times in black.  I had to restamp it several times in pink on scrap cs then cut out each flower by hand.  All I can say is thank goodness for the current trend of producing dies to match stamp sets!!  I recently acquired the cute Memory Box bike die - it comes with a bike basket and horn!  I wanted to keep my scene simple so I scored a couple of lines to ground the bike.  Sentiment is from Penny Black.

Other Materials Used:  Papertrey ink white cs, Stampin' Up raspberry ripple cs and brads, pretty in pink cs and ink, orchid opulence ink, Hero Arts clear gems, Michael's black cs

I'm sure glad some of my blogging buddies are on top of the demise of Google Reader effective 7/1!  I'm so non-techy but I think I successfully transferred the blogs I follow over to Bloglovin'!  Hope the sun's shining wherever you are:)

Cards for Maddy!

I just saw this Simon Says Stamp post via Lin's blog regarding the current card drive for Maddy:

It's really heartbreaking when you read about what this courageous young girl and her family have been through.  And I hope that by reading about their story many others will want to create and send cards to Maddy. 

I wanted to create a card that might bring a smile to Maddy's face:

I know this little vase full of smiley faced flowers from the Lawn Fawn set "On the Mend" always makes me smile!  After embossing a piece of white cs with a swiss dots embossing folder (and using a Darice easy folder frame to leave an unembossed oval) I embossed the flowers and sentiment from the same set and colored with copics.  Difficult to see in the pic but I also added some Ranger glossy accents to the centers of the flowers.

Other Supplies Used:  Papertrey ink white cs, Teresa Collins Tell Your Story pp, W R Memory Keepers corner rounder

Also, have you checked out the current Lawnscaping Challenge???  This time around it's all about coloring:

I am sooooooo glad I saw Lin's post about this card drive (Thanks Lin!).  Some recent comments from a few acquaintances about how I choose to spend my free time caused me to question the value of my cardmaking.  Creating this card for Maddy was a gentle reminder of why I started making cards in the first place.  Making and sending a card to someone to let he/she know you care is a powerful thing!

Happy week everyone and thanks for listening:)