Bittersweet Endings, Exciting Beginnings

Happy New Year!

Today we kick off the first Time Out Challenge of 2025 with a fitting Theme of Beginnings!

Speaking of new beginnings, we are so pleased to welcome a new Design Team Member to our Time Out crafty family: Carol McFadden of Saw it. Had to Make It. Carol is a wonderfully creative person and her cards are a joy and an inspiration. Please join us in welcoming her to the team.

We are generously sponsored by DoodlebugsWA with a $25.00 store credit as a prize for our challenge winner as chosen by the Design Team.

We welcome Ellen Coats of georgia_jayhawk on Instagram, Stamping Sans Souci blog and winner of Time Out #274 as Guest Designer.

In thinking about the card I would make for this challenge, I was trying to come up with something a bit off the beaten path. I decided to use this opportunity to make a card for a special young woman who is quite dear to me and just graduated from college in December from my own alma mater. She is sad to leave her college life, especially her roommates, but she is ready to hit the ground running. I am excited for her, and wish her every good thing as she begins her new chapter. We will celebrate her accomplishments right after New Years. The sentiment is perfect for her.

 Please head on over to the Time Out Challenge Blog where you can see what Ellen and the rest of the Design Team has created for your inspiration. Oh, and speaking of beginnings, with this first challenge of 2025, we are thrilled to welcome Carol McFarland to the Time Out Design Team Family! Come play with us!

Project Details
Stamps/Dies	Unity stamp Company Bittersweet Graduation Cling Stamp My Favorite Things Stitched Scallop Basic Edges Die-namics
Cardstock	110lb. Neenah Solar Crest Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Cardstock Magnolia Dreams Patterned Paper
Ink	Altenew Obsidian Black
Embellishments
Other	Spellbinders Platinum Plus Die Cutting & Embossing Machine Scor-Pal Score Board Fiskars 12" SureCut Deluxe Craft Paper Trimmer MISTI Stamping Tool Scrapbook.com Craft Glue Altenew  Watercolor Essentials 12 pan set Ranger Artist Brushes

I am also playing at:

Just Us Girls #756 - Use a Die A/G

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Something New

Congrats!

Time for a new challenge at Addicted To CAS where the Code Word is GRADUATION. Our Hostess with the mostest is Angie..

I went with a traditional (High School) graduation card. I wanted to use the recipient's school colors, black and yellow, for my card. My stamp and die are from Papertrey Ink. I am away from my craft desk at the moment, and I do not know the names of the stamp set and die, but I believe they are both retired. I love the simplicity of this card, though I felt the addition of the twine was necessary to finish it off well, still keeping it a CAS design. 

Please head on over to the ATCAS Challenge Blog, take a look at the wonderful inspiration pieces the Design Team has created for your inspiration, and make something to share in the gallery. Challenge winner will be offered a Guest Designer spot for a future challenge. Happy crafting!

Please remember that this is a CAS challenge. Here is a definition to remind you:

I'm also playing at:

Watercooler Wednesday Challenge #222 - Occasions

Something Incredible

My twin sons just graduated from High School. They both love to receive a handmade card from the mama. This is Greg's card. I so love Tim Holtz's Bird Crazy stamps and dies, and this one reminds me of my brilliant and sometimes kooky son... He is ready to discover the universe. I am trying to get ready for both of them to fly the coop, and it is not an easy task. LOL.

For my creation, I used Distress Oxide inks, acetate and a spritzer to create the background on watercolor paper. I added white spatters with Ecoline White Liquid Watercolor which is fabulous for this purpose. The sentiment is from Reverse Confetti's Shine From Within.

I'm playing at:

WWC175

Sisterhood Of Crafters - "Animal Crackers"

(Use any animal image as the focus of your project.)

Hats Off To You

My twin boys graduated from High School on Friday. A new chapter begins. They still love and appreciate a hand made card. I used Avery Elle's Hats Off stamps and dies along with Numbered Balloons Elle-Ments to create this card for Jon.

I'm playing at:

Muse #271

Focusing on Celebration, lots of color, multiple images on the bottom, sentiment on top.

WWC175

Bright And Cheerful

Something Incredible

I made this graduation card for the daughter of a dear fried of mine. I love this sentiment stamp from Reverse Confetti especially for an occasion where one is starting a new chapter in life. Crazy Bird is dressed in the University of Scranton school colors of purple and gold. This young woman is going on to Grad School in September, and this is just perfect for her. 

I am linking my card to the following challenges:

CAS Mix Up - June 2016

I used a combination of Stamping, Die-cuts and watercoloring.

HLS June Anything Goes With Dies

Tim Holtz Bird Crazy Dies and Bird Crazy Accessories, Reverse Confetti Star Banner Die.

Thanks for stopping in today!

You're Invited

I needed to come up with an invitation for my twin sons' graduation party. I spent a rainy day on Saturday working on an idea, and this is the final product.  I used a combination of challenges for inspiration. The Dynamic Duos color choice for this week was perfect as their school colors are green and white.  I chose gold for the "other color" using metallic for the embossing and a mustardy gold for the base of the circle on the top. I also used the Paper Players Tic-Tac-Toe challenge elements of punch/die, patterned paper, and dots (I have no enamel so I substituted the self-adhesive half pearl on the cap).

 

Thanks so much for stopping in today. Spring is still struggling to spring here in the Northeast... Hope springs eternal.



Dreams Achieved

I am so excited about this card.  I needed a very special graduation card for a very special young woman who graduates from High School in suburban Chicago on Friday and is heading to Fordham University in New York city in the Fall.  She has had a rough few years that include the loss of her beloved dad.  I will have the honor of attending her graduation with her mom on Friday.   

I just got this fabulous New York stamp set from Artemio with the help of my dear friend Jenny.  It's a Belgian company for which I could not find a US resource.  It arrived just in time - I leave tomorrow for Chicago.  When I saw the I Spy Sketch Challenge for this week, my design immediately fell in to place.  Inside are two metro cards that Ellen can use to ride the subways in NYC.  I just love the way this all fell together, and I wish Ellen the most wonderful adventure in New York and every success in her endeavors.  She is one special person!!

Thank you so much for stopping in.

Congrats Kelly

I needed a graduation card for a dear friend's daughter whose school colors are red, black and white. I made this with the inspiration of Retro Sketch #12 for my layout, and Paper Players #96 which was to use Polka Dots.  I did not complete the card before those challenges closed, but I do love the result of the inspiration.  I hope she likes it as it is filled with loving wishes for a beautiful future.  Thank you for stopping by today!

CAS Graduation

There are a few very special 8th graders in the school in which I work, who are about to graduate and for whom I wanted to make special cards.  Our school colors are green and white.  I came up with this creation with inspiration from three challenges this week: 
The theme of graduation is inspired by this week's CAS-ual Fridays Girl Fridays CFC4 - This one is for the Grads!
The layout is inspired by this week's Clean & Simple sketch - FTL142.  I loved the idea taken from Nancy's card for this layout and Natasha's card which is just below the layout HERE, of embossing 3/4 of the card and then adding 2 scor lines to the right of the embossing.  Great idea - looks fabulous.  Thank you Nancy and Natasha!
The color scheme is taken from this week's Play Date Cafe Color Splash Challenge PDCC83 : Black & White with a SPLASH of green.

Here are my ingredients:
Stamps ~ PTI For the Graduate, Just Rite 15 pt alphabet.
Paper ~ Gina K's Pure Luxury Black, PTI White.
Ink - SU Garden Green, Memento Tuxedo Black.
Accessories ~ Provocraft EF, Scor-It, 5/8 Stitched grosgrain ribbon, star button, The Twinery's Peapod twine, Scor-Tape, Just Rite 1 1/2" circular stamper.

I loved the idea that I came up with last year of using my Just Rite circular stamp and alphabet/numbers to stamp "SMS Class of 20??" in the circle with the hat and stars.  It's a nice touch and the kids love it.
Thank you so much for stopping in today.  I hope you had a great weekend!

Leave a Trail

I recently found Betty Bee's Buzz - a wonderful blog that has all kinds of things - projects, challenges, instructions and sharing...  Every Monday at Betty Bee's Buzz, one of the Honeybees shares a special project with you on the Monday Motivational. Last week, the incredibly talented Amy Sheffer of Pickled Paper Designs was guest Honey Bee for Monday Motivational.  Amy shared a great challenge that I got very excited about - a wedding theme for your not-necessarily wedding themed project: something OLD, something NEW, something BORROWED, and something BLUE.  What a brilliant idea!!

I have to laugh at myself about the process of making this card.  Lately I have been trying hard to discipline myself to create more in the CAS style.  For this one though, I intended to go for lots of layers and DP. It had much more going on when I first started.  I started with three panels of DP matted on black.  I changed the paper and the colors and the layout a million times... I fussed and I fussed... and then something wonderful happened!  I decided to simplify it and I stopped struggling.  I do love the layers and embellishments so much, but I labor so long and hard and I just don't have much time.  This card took me hours and hours by the time I built it up and broke it down, but I am happy with it in the end.  What a nut I am.    

This is a graduation card for my friend who just finished her Masters of Education degree.  I wanted to do something different, and I thought this image and sentiment from MFT's Enjoy the Ride, which is in their June 2011 VIP Package, was perfect for this occasion.  In the end, the only DP I used was to paper piece WTG's clothing.  I colored the rest of her and her bicycle with Copics.  You can't really see it in my photo, but I colored the handlebars and two other parts on the bicycle with my silver Zig Painty pen to make it look "chrome-y".  I love that touch!  The yellow panel is dry embossed with a polka dot impressions plate from SU - also hard to see in the photo. 

My something OLD is retired Barely Banana card stock from SU.  My something NEW is my new MFT Enjoy the Ride set.  Something BORROWED is the technique I've seen many times but seldom used, of stamping a sentiment twice, highlighting a word or words with color, cutting them out and popping them up on top of the sentiment already stamped.  My something BLUE is this WTG's paper pieced pants.  To tell the truth, there was a lot more blue when I was playing with panels and background colors, but they went away in my process of simplification!  I do love those pants though - I have a pair just like them!

Anyway, I really enjoyed this, and am so glad I finally got to play one of these challenges.  I plan to do more.  If you haven't yet, please go on over and check out Betty Bee's Buzz.  You will love it!  

I had a stroke of genious when I thought to use my Just Rite 2" round stamper and 15 point Times New Roman font stamp set to personalize this graduation card design. I have made many of these and the kids just love them!!! I CASE'd THIS card by Debbie Olson, personalized my cards with the school colors, the school initials and the graduation year. The stamp set is "For the Graduate" from Papertrey Ink. I love how these turned out and I have made many of them for this year's grads.

Success & Dreams

"Tis the season for all kinds of celebrations, and I am trying to be ahead of the game. This is a graduation card for a friend's daughter.. her school colors are green & white. I love this new set from Papertrey Ink called "For the Graduate", and when I saw Jen del Muro's Skipping Stones Designs guest designer sketch for this week, I knew they would go together nicely. I really love this sketch.

There is some detail that you can't really see in the photo, but they really enhanced this card. The cap & tassel are stamped twice in black and cut out. I colored the cut out with a black gel glaze pen to give it some shine & texture. Also, the black circle in the middle of the focal point is cut from black glitter paper that I got at Target a while ago. I also used that paper for the star that is popped up on the greeting band. I am happy with the way it all came together.

Ingredients:

Stamps ~ Papertrey Ink's "For the Graduate".

Paper ~ Papertrey Ink White cardstock. Basic Black, Certainly Celery, Yo Yo Yellow, black glitter (unknown source), BasicGrey Origins DP.

Ink ~ Versafine Onyx Black.

Accessories ~ Nestabilities, Papertrey Ink Matstack 1 Die, Dimensionals, Swiss Dots EF, Sakura black glaze gel pen, atyou spica glitter pen, SY star punch.

Thanks for looking...