A New Year Of Birthdays - 12 Kits of Occasions January 2021

Hello friends.  We've taken a bit of a break, but the The 12 Kits of Occasions is back with an AWESOME and FUN kit from Tracey and we're celebrating A New Year Of Birthdays!

The photo above shows all the fun elements Tracey included in her kit to the DT and her 3 special guests, and you can check out what all of us did with this kit right HERE.

Tracey's kit was so colorful and easy to use, so let's get started, and here is the 1st of the 5 cards I created...

Tracey included a lot of elements from The Greetery like the die cuts from Pinwheel Party and Birthday Blooms, and I added those to a background I blended with TH Speckled Egg Distress Ink, and then stamped over it with The Greetery's Ticker Tape Background Stamp also in the Speckled Egg ink.  I also added a few die cut Twisted Crepe cutouts from my stash that are also from The Greetery!  A few sequins finished off this fun card!

I apologize for the glare on this card, but the sun caught the acetate just right on this shaker card!  Tracey sent such fun dsp (Vicki Boutin - Let's Wander) in her kit and this candle paper made a fun background to add some colorful little shaker bits (from a previous 12 Kits kit) to, and a sweet little cupcake (MFT's All The Cupcakes) colored with my Copics and a birthday banner sentiment finished off this CAS and fun birthday card.

  I absolutely LOVED this bear image (Studio Katia - Bearing Gifts,) and simply colored him up with my Copics and added him to a piece of the dsp Tracey included.  The "Celebrate" sentiment is also from The Greetery.

This next card is so not my style but yet I absolutely LOVE it!  Graphic and oh so simple, but just perfect for a masculine card!!  I pop dotted the "BIG" (MFT's Big Birthday) to make it stand out even more (like you could miss it, huh??!!) and then glued flat the "Birthday Wishes" onto the dsp .  I mounted it to a Pool Party card base and it literally didn't need anything else!  :0)

 My last card uses a die cut from Studio Katia called Craftastic, and after coloring it up with my Copics and a Gelly Roll pen, I added it to another piece of the fun dsp Tracey included in the kit.  I'm not sure all the colorful buildings and houses really go with the cup full of crafty tools, but I liked the dsp SO much and just had to use it...so artistic license and all that fun stuff!  I die cut one of the sentiments Tracey included and pop dotted that along with a piece of black & white bakers twine up near the top, and easy peasy and done!

  And here they are all together!  Thank you SO much Tracey for such a fun and colorful kit...you totally brightened my day with this one and I had so much fun just playing around with all the different elements you included in the kit!!  I can't wait to see what the rest of the DT and Tracey's 3 special GD's did with this awesome kit, so come hop along with me starting right HERE . 

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

A Just For FUN Post and The Flower Challenge (#52)

Hello friends.  I'm playing along with The Flower Challenge, but mostly I'm just playing for FUN today!!

Recently I posted a card that was inspired by the side of a Kleenex box (HERE), and since we go through a LOT of Kleenex boxes at our house, I was inspired by the side of another box using a color combination of light blue and light yellow.  Most of you that know me know I'm not much of a blue fan, but I have to admit that the light blue and light yellow combo really got to me...so much so that I made 3 cards!!!  

 Isn't that such a soft and pretty color combination?!!  All 3 of my cards are using the new multi set stencils from Pinkfresh Studios.  My slimline card uses the Seamless Floral Panel (set of 5 stencils), and I stenciled from the center up, then flipped the stencil over and stenciled from the center to the bottom.  I repeated this process with each of the 5 stencils, so it was a bit of a lengthy process, and then wouldn't you know it, I covered up my beautifully lined up panel in the middle with a dry embossed piece (SU!'s Country Floral 3D embossing folder)!  But hey, it worked for the challenge now and gave me a neutral background to place my "happy" birthday sentiment (The Greetery)!

  I finished this card off with some Disco Ball sequins (Gina K), TH Distress Glitter, and the Slim Ornate Banner Dies (Pinkfresh Studios).

Because I couldn't seem to stop with these colors or the stencil sets, my 2nd card used the Daisy Wreath (set of 5 stencils) and Layered Sunburst (set of 3 stencils) and I made the light yellow the main color and the light blue the secondary color.  

I embossed my sentiment in gold on a strip of vellum (Pinkfresh Studios Just Because stamp set), so technically this card can be used for The Flower Challenge too!  I finished this card off using Pinkfresh Studios Diagonal Stitched Rectangle Dies and a bit of the TH Distress Glitter also.

My last card went back to the mostly blue color theme and I used the Garden Florals (set of 5 stencils).  Although you can't see much of it, I also used the Argyle (set of 2 stencils) set for my background along with layers of the Diagonal Stitched Rectangles.  My sentiment is once again from the Just Because stamp set.  I finished this card off with a few clear sequins and some more of the TH Distress Glitter.

So there you have it...3 cards inspired by a box of Kleenex!!  There is also LOTS of BEAUTIFUL inspiration from the DT over at The Flower Challenge, but if you'd like to play along you need to be quick as the challenge closes on the 26th!

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Color Hues Challenge #10 - NAVY & CREAM

Hello friends.  Playing along with the latest Color Hues Challenge where they are looking for the colors of NAVY & CREAM on our cards.

NAVY & CREAM is such an elegant color combination that I thought wedding or anniversary at first too, but decided to go in the direction of sympathy since I needed to add a few to my stash and hate having to make them when absolutely needed, if that makes sense?!  I used a Christmas stamp from Gina K called Holiday Tapestry and came up with this:

I inked the image with SU!'s Night of Navy on Gina K's Ivory cardstock, and then die cut with Gina K's Master Layouts 2 dies.  Next I matted the image to a piece of Night of Navy cardstock, before layering onto a Ivory card base, and then adding some ivory ribbon and my sentiment from Gina's Peaceful Florals stamp set to finish off the card.

  I even stamped a cream colored envelope to match...I never get tired of stamping this tapestry image!!  I think it's probably one of my favorite stamp sets from this past year and I bought a LOT!!  (Hey, not much else to due when you're stuck home everyday!!)

If you need more inspiration for this color challenge, be sure to check out all the beauties from the talented DT right HERE and then play along!

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

CAS Christmas Reminder - SILHOUETTE

Hello friends.  Just a friendly reminder that there's still time to play along with us at the CAS Christmas Challenge where we are looking for a SILHOUETTE on your CAS Christmas Card.

 I actually have a twofer for you this time, as I'm using a couple Spellbinders dies, and couldn't decide which one to use, so I just made two cards!  I wish I could tell you the names of the dies, but I've had them for quite some time and had put them in a clear envelope and just marked it "Spellbinders", but no name!  I looked on their site and couldn't find them, so I'm assuming that they're retired.  If anyone knows the names, let me know and I'll add it to my post.

For my first card I started with a piece of white cs and ink blended it using a bunch of turquoise blue inks from Gina K, and then die cut with a stitched rectangle die.  I die cut my image from black cs and attached to the blended piece before adding both to a white card base.  My sentiment is from PTI's Stylish Sentiments: Holiday.

For my 2nd card I embossed my background with a FSJ Evergreen embossing folder and attached that to a Real Red card base.  After attaching my silhouette, I added a piece of black & white bakers twine along with a circle tag and sentiment also from PTI.

This challenge is open the 24th, so go through your stamps and dies and see what you have that would work as a silhouette and play along with us!  If you need more inspiration, check out all the FABULOUS cards from my team mates and our Special GD this month (Pat) right HERE and then play along and get an early start on those Christmas cards.  Remember to keep your cards CAS and to have FUN!!

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Twofer Challenge #34 - FLOWERS

Hello friends.  Welcome back and Happy New Year!!  We're looking forward to another FUN and CREATIVE year with you all, and seeing how we can stretch our stamps, dies, & stencils each month to come up with TWO DIFFERENT cards for TWO DIFFERENT occasions using the SAME stamp, die or stencil!  Are you ready for this month's challenge??  We're looking for FLOWERS this month and you can check it all out right HERE.

  I had a new Altenew stamp set to play with called Paint-A-Flower: Spider Mums and came up with  Birthday and Hello cards...

 Let's take a closer look at each one...

My birthday card uses my favorite CAS style, and I simply heat embossed the image in white, and then used a couple sponge daubers to blend in the ink colors.  The sentiment comes with the stamp set, and I finished the card simply with a black border and white card base, and a few clear sequins.  Easy peasy and pretty!

My 2nd card has a bit of a WOW factor to it and uses a technique that I saw Gina K do on one of her Stamp and Chat lives.  It's a bit time consuming, but I love the way it turned out.  You get as many colors of cardstock as you want (I chose to go in rainbow order) and stamp and heat emboss the image (using your MISTI) on each color of cardstock you chose.  It's important to start with the same size cardstock (5 1/2 x 4 1/4) and stamp them all in the same spot in your MISTI, so you end up with 6 or 7 colors that are all stamped EXACTLY the same.  Then you simply cut them into strips (mine were 1/2") and start placing them on a thin piece of cardstock or printer paper that is also A2 size.  Once you get all your pieces adhered you can trim it down or leave it that size.

I chose to trim mine down and then mat with a black layer and attach both to a white card base.  Before I added my black mat, I added a piece of vellum on a diagonal, and then added a "hello" die cut (one in black and one in white that I glued offset) from Catherine Pooler Designs.  Because you will have so many strips of cardstock in each color left over, you could technically make a lot more cards...if you're in to mass producing!  I made 3 and then put the rest of the strips away for me to find 10 years from now and wonder what the heck I was saving them for!  (Sorry...just the way my brain works!!  Haha!!)

I know you ALL have flower stamps, dies, and stencils, and we can't wait to see the gallery flooded with all your DIFFERENT cards!  If you need a little more inspiration, make sure to check out what the rest of the DT and our Special GD's  (Viv and Brenda) came up with right HERE and then play along with us.  This challenge is open till the 24th. 

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

CAS Mix Up Jan. 2021 - SPLATTERS

Hello friends.  Playing along with the new CAS Mix Up Challenge where this month they are looking for SPLATTERS on our cards.

I love doing splatters on my cards, but I do have to admit that I tend to get carried away and don't always know when enough is enough!  You know how it goes...oh maybe just a few more here...well now I need to balance it out a bit so I better add some more over here...and then before you know it the whole card is splattered and you can barely see the main image!!  Grrrr!!  But I restrained myself this time and did ok.  Probably because I had a new stamp to play with and didn't want to ruin it the first time out!  I used Colorado Craft Co.'s BIG & bold: Wishes Snowflake and came up with this:

I started by embossing the snowflake in white on a white piece of cardstock and then started water coloring using Distress Inks and my Aqua-Painter.  My colors were inspired by a Kleenex box...

I was flattening the box out to put in the recycle bin when I really started looking at the colors and then thought how pretty it would be to try my new snowflake stamp in those colors rather than the typical blues and silvers!  

After my water coloring had dried, I used some of the leftover Picked Raspberry ink and added my splatters, and then cut the panel down and added to a top folding white card base.  I finished by adding a thin strip of pink cardstock, stamped my sentiment (from the snowflake set), and lastly added a few faceted clear gems for a tiny bit of pizazz!  Don't the pinks, purples, and touches of coral make for such a pretty and whimsical snowflake??!!

You can check out all the beautifully SPLATTERED cards by the DT for inspiration and then play along right HERE.  This challenge is open till the 24th. 

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

CAS Christmas Jan. 2021 - SILHOUETTE

Hello friends and welcome back to a NEW year at CAS Christmas Challenge where our host this month is Julia and she would like to see a SILHOUETTE on your Christmas card.

This was an easy challenge for me this month as I had a brand new die I had just bought last month and hadn't had a chance to use it yet, so perfect timing!  It's a Sizzix die from Tim Holtz called Santa's Helper and here's how I used it as a silhouette:

It doesn't get any more perfect in my mind than this sweet little elf die cut in black and helping Santa with the gifts!  

I used a Penny Black background stamp called Christmas Story for my background, stamped in Smokey Slate ink and then matted with a piece of Real Red cs for a pop of color.  CAS and easy peasy!!  

Now it's your turn and we can't wait to see YOU in the gallery with your CAS Christmas cards using a SILHOUETTE!!  For more inspiration, check out what the rest of the DT and our Special GD Pat came up right HERE, and then play along with us...we'd love to help you get a head start on this year's Christmas cards!  This challenge is open till the 24th.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Color Hues #9 - Red & Grey

Hello friends.  I have the honor of being the Guest Designer for the Color Hues Challenge and this time around they are looking for cards done in RED & GREY.

I had fun with these two colors, although I have to admit I usually use them with Christmas cards.  This time around though, I used some new stencils I just received from Pinkfresh Studio...Daisy Wreath and Argyle and came up with this Hello card:

I used the Argyle stencil first and just stenciled very lightly in Smokey Slate ink the upper third of my panel.  Next I stenciled right over the Argyle with the 5 part Daisy Wreath stencils, using the Smokey Slate and Basic Gray inks for the leaves, and Real Red, Cherry Cobbler, and Basic Gray for the flowers.  

 To add a bit more definition between the Argyle and the Daisy Wreath I added a slim strip of Basic Gray cardstock where the Argyle ended.  I matted this layer with another piece of Basic Gray cardstock and adhered both to a top folding white card base.  For my sentiment I used Pinkfresh Studio's Sentiment suite: hello die which I cut twice with Basic Gray and white cardstock and offset them so it would stand  stand out a bit.  I finished with a few clear sequins and love how it turned out!

You can check out all the BEAUTIFUL cards from the DT using the RED & GREY color theme right HERE and then play along.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!