Our Talks

I love this Our Talks tea cup image and sentiment from Unity Stamp Company. The CASology Cue is TEA, and I am screaming in at the last second with my card. The CASology Cue and the FMS Sketch were the perfect combination. I thought this image called for a vintage feel. I wanted to background to be lacy. I stenciled Picket Fence Studios Fancy Flourishes with  Antique Linen Distress Oxide Ink on a card base of Taylored Expressions Buttercream Choice Cardstock. I stamped the teacup with VersaFine Vintage Sepia ink on SU Confetti Cream cardstock and diecut the circle with an MFT Wonky Stitched Circle die. I heat embossed the sentiment on SU  Early Espresso cardstock and die cut the banner with an MFT Stitched Fishtail Flag die.

CASology Week #364 - Tea

Freshly Made Sketches #428

There's Life After Chaos

It's time for a new challenge at Addicted to CAS. Our Code Word for ATCAS Challenge #181 is TEXTURE. Angie is our hostess!

For my card, I used an alcohol ink panel from my stash that I just LOVE. It reminded me of the ocean. I just received an order form Picket Fence Studios, and decided to use images from 2 of the sets I received: Swim In The Sea, and Things On The Sea Floor. I stamped the turtle on my AI panel, then masked it and stamped the seaweed, etc. What I learned is that when you use juicy ink on Yupo paper, it does not dry quickly. I should have realized that since I know it is "plastic". Because of that, the masking paper lifted some of the black ink (versaFine Onyx Black). It looked so gorgeous to me though, that I left it as is even though I would rather have had crisper images. Maybe I could have cleaned them from the Yupo panel and started over, but I was afraid to mess up that gorgeous panel. I made a note to self for next time. I love the look of this. I thought the sentiment was so perfect for these times. Looking forward to life after chaos, but my family is all being totally compliant in the meantime. I hope you are too. It's a matter of life and death. 

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:

No Sentiment

A new challenge is up at Less Is More where the challenge is One Layer and No Sentiment. Our sponsor for March is CAS-ual Friday Stamps.

For my card, I stamped an image from CAS-ual Friday's Bold Wishes stamp set in several PTI Inks in rainbow fashion. I stamped a larger image from the set using VersaFine Onyx Black ink. I love the result, and any sentiment can be used for the inside. A great card to have in my stash.

Please head over to the Less Is More Blog and see what the Design Team has created for your inspiration. I hope you'll play along with us to share your creations and for a chance to win. Remember to keep your design Clean And Simple.

To be eligible for showCASe and PRIZE WINNER choices you will need to carefully follow the guidance on our GLOSSARY OF TERMS and our HOW TO PLAY pages. Your design should feature lots of clean / white / blank / non patterned / non textured space. All challenge details are on the Less Is More blog. Good Luck!

You Are Loved

A new and very special challenge begins at Time Out Challenges today, March 26, Epilepsy Awareness Day. As a team, our purpose is to help raise awareness of this condition in which nerve cell activity in the brain is disturbed, causing seizures.

Epilepsy is a complicated condition that is often misunderstood. Many see seizures as depicted by  the media as convulsive seizures, but the truth is that there are many types of seizures. Many are silent and you wouldn't even know they were happening! Rather than us explaining Epilepsy in detail to you, take a look at THIS link to find out more. 

Our team leader, Sandie of London Days, has Epilepsy. She tells us her experience of living with this condition on her blog. To visit, click HERE. 

Purple is the international color representing Epilepsy awareness and we want everyone in the world to become knowledgable or increase their understanding of this disorder.

All that said, our challenge is to use the color purple in your design. We chose 'friendship' as our 'optional twist' as we thought it would be nice to send a purple card to a friend to make them smile! Those who choose to twist have a chance of winning a prize of $25.00 from our wonderful sponsor CAS-ual Fridays. Winner will be drawn at random from all of our twisters.

The winner chosen by the Design Team will have the opportunity to join us as Guest Designer for a future challenge.

Our Guest Designer for this challenge is Kavya of Handmade By Kavya. She is an amazing artist. Her cards are all swoon-worthy. Treat yourself to a visit to her blog. It is amazing!

My card is in homage of my dear friend, Sandie. Purple is her color, and I think she would love this dress which is more purple IRL than it looks in this picture. The image is from a Flourishes set that I have had in my stash for years and years called Think Pink. It is gorgeous, and perfect for a card of encouragement particularly for those dealing with a serious health issue. It is made for you with love, my friend. It is also a shout out to my dear sister who has been battling Fibromyalgia for a very long time. She is brave and strong, compassionate beyond words, and truly such a rock star to me. Her pain is constant, and her spirit is fierce. The ribbon color is the same for Fibromyalgia awareness, so Li, this one is for you too.

Finally, Friketa of Bad Kitty's Craft Room has organized a blog hop that is a going on now, to raise awareness of Epilepsy with some super Guest Designers and some prizes along the way. Please pop on over and hop along!

I am also playing at:

Watercooler Wednesday #264 - All About Occasions

SSS Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes

Be Your Own Kind Of Beautiful - extended to March 31st.

Can't Wait To Hug You

I just love this inspiration photo above from Inspired By. I played earlier in the challenge, but today it dawned on me that Altenew's Botanical You stamps and die are just perfect for playing along, so I am back with a second card.  And there is that hemstitch rectangle again... I can't get enough of these dies, and I am loving putting colored card stock behind the die cut panel for a pop of color.

I think I am going make a ton of these and send them to everyone I wish I could hug right now. 

I am also playing at:

{PIN}spirational Challenge #259

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #361

Die Cut Divas - Anything Goes

Thinking Of You

I made this card yesterday and it raised my spirits. It was a glorious day, and being outside for some much needed sunshine and movement was a wonderful thing.

I've decided to take time every day to make something, and to use supplies that have been sleeping in my stash for far too long. In "normal" times when I am working, I have little time to do other challenges than those for which I design. So I am going to try to expand my making during these not at all normal times! 

Yesterday, I went back in the way-back and pulled out this wonderful WPlus9 set from 2013 - Fresh Cut Florals. When it first came out, gorgeous creations were popping out all over and I just had to have it. Well, I bought it and never used it! So I pulled it out along with my box of PTI inks, and went to town. It took me forever to make it, but I had all the time in the world. I arranged the flowers and leaves on a panel die cut with Spellbinders Hemstitched Rectangles. Michele Ferguson made me buy these - she is such an enabler with all of her amazing creations. Now I need them in all shapes.

I am playing at:

Inspired By... hello spring

The Daring Cardmakers - Flowers Focus

Double D Challenge - Welcome Spring

The Flower Challenge #42 - Anything Goes

Peace & Comfort

https://cas-ualfridaysstamps.com/products

A new challenge is up at Less Is More with a color theme of red, raspberry and grey. Our sponsor for March is CAS-ual Friday Stamps.

For my card, I stamped an image from CAS-ual Friday's Casual Comfort stamp set and 2 shades of Altenew inks. I stamped the sentiment in grey from the same set and die cut that panel with Spellbinders Hemstitch Rectangles. I backed that rectangle with a piece of grey card stock and mounted the smaller rectangle to a card base.

Please head over to the Less Is More Blog and see what the Design Team has created for your inspiration. I hope you'll play along with us to share your creations and for a chance to win. Remember to keep your design Clean And Simple.

To be eligible for showCASe and PRIZE WINNER choices you will need to carefully follow the guidance on our GLOSSARY OF TERMS and our HOW TO PLAY pages. Your design should feature lots of clean / white / blank / non patterned / non textured space. All challenge details are on the Less Is More blog. Good Luck!

Let's Celebrate!

It's time for a new challenge and a Happy 6th Birthday celebration at Time Out!!! The theme for Time Out Challenge #157 is BIRTHDAY with an optional twist of die cutting or fussy cutting. Our very wonderful and generous sponsor is Shery Russ of STAMPlorations fame.  She has offered a $40.00 gift voucher to the STAMPlorations store for the winner chosen randomly from those who twist. The challenge winner of the DT vote will be offered a future challenge guest designer spot.

Our Guest Designer is Christine. Her designs are spectacular. Please treat yourself to a visit to her blog and give her some love.

I LOVE being a design team member of Time Out Challenges, and I truly LOVE my Time Out Teammates. What a wonderful community of crafters. I started out as a player, and was later invited to join the Design Team. I was so excited. I was introduced as a DT member on 10/08/2016 in THIS post, and my first contribution was with  THIS card on 10/13/2016. I am so happy to be a part of the sixth birthday celebration of this wonderful challenge which was born of the creativity and friendship of 2 amazing papercrafters - Sandie Munro and Nonni Niskanen. The challenge has grown so much since its inception, and it is pure joy to be a part of it. It is currently run by Sandie Munro with the assistance of other team members. This mainly card purple card is in Sandie's honor. She is an awesome administrator and a wonderful person. Happy Birthday Time Out!!!!

For my card,  I used a couple of alcohol inking techniques on 2 different Yupo panels. Both turned out in a way that complimented the other. The panel I used for the base is subtle. The top one is much more bold and is die cut (twist) with STAMPlorations Bloomtangled 2. I added a white, heat embossed sentiment from Winnie and Walter's The Party cut from deep purple card stock to finish  it. Please hop on over to the Time Out Blog to see the wonderful creations that Christine and our Design Team came up with to inspire you. Come play with us!

I'm also playing at:

WWC262 All About Occasions

STAMPlorations Anything Goes Challenge

AAA Birthday Challenge #11

The Flower Challenge #42