New Years Eve with CAS-ual Fridays Stamps

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 Hello my friends!! It is the eve of 2022 and I am so happy to say good bye to 2021. I am ready for a reset!!! How about you?

Today I am on the blog with a card for CAS-Fridays Stamps. I used the Champagne Flute Dies and the Pop Fizz Clink stamp set to create this festive card.

The background heat embossed but I did a little trick. I used the Bubbly Stencil and did a direct to paper method with the Versamark Ink through the stencil. I then used gold embossing powder on top of that. I knew if I did this technique with this glitter embossing powder, it would not be perfect but I like how it came out. 

All this gold made the card really difficult to photograph too!!

As a bonus, we are also blogging about our favorite card we created for the CAS-Fridays Design Team. 

This was my favorite card that I created all year. I was able to get MESSY and used techniques that I haven't used in years. I also LOVE the colors. Here is the link to my original BLOG POST to see how I created this card. 

What is a celebration without a sale? TONS of products are on sale at the CAS-Fridays Store. Use the code below to get an extra 22% off!!

That is all from me today. I hope you all have a FABULOUS and SAFE night.

(I will be going to bed early myself!!!)

Twofer Guest Designer for Challenge #20-Critters

Hello everyone!! I hope you are all having a FABULOUS day!!

Today I am a the guest designer for this months Twofer Card Challenge.

This month the challenge is "critters."

I created a birthday card and a Christmas card for my cards. I used a mouse from Hello Bluebirds "Field Mice" as my repeat critter. The mouse on the left is the same mouse but colored in a different color for each card.

Here are the rules for the challenge:

CARD DETAILS

For the birthday card I used Distress Ink in Twisted Citron for the grass and Tumbled Glass for the sky.

All the small details, like the butterfly, hats, flowers and the cupcake are small stamps from different stamp sets that I combed through to make my scene.

The grass was a stencil I created using an MFT die that I had. I used a craft knife to cut into it in two places to tuck the feet of the mice under it.

The finishing touches are using Glossy Accents on the balloon and hats, and Stickles glitter glue in a variety of colors.

For my second card I created a Christmas card.

I layered different patterned papers from Basic Grey and Prima. I added some snowflakes that were "extras" from a previous project that I tucked behind a pre-made Prima tag.

The "Merry" sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp that was another "extra" in my stash, that was already colored in. I used Antique Linen Distress Ink on all the white accents because the background paper was not a true white.

All the little mouse accents, from the cheese "present" to the hat and scarf are from Lawn Fawn.

I have to admit that this IS NOT my favorite card. The mice are a bit too close together on the tag but I had to do it this way because of the size of the tag. It is also busier then I usually make my cards. All in all, it was fun to create but not my usual style.

That is all from me today. I thank you so much for taking the time to stop by. Have a wonderful day!!

MFT Sketch Challenge #289, MFT Camp Create-Fantastic Foiling and a Busy Monday!

Hello everyone!! It was an EXTREMELY hot and humid day here today. A huge storm front went through and cooled the temperature off a little bit but it still remains very humid. Not my favorite weather!!

I have had very busy Monday at this point and am very tired. I got up early to go to the gym because I had a breakfast date with a friend. I LOVE summers!! I then came home, had time to throw in some wash and clean the bathroom. I put up some new organizers I bought at IKEA on Sunday. I took a quick photo with my phone. (Excuse the quality-something is wrong with it and the photos are all blurry!!)

I even had a chance to take my shower curtain down and wash it. You know you are old when something like that excites you!!

After my breakfast date, I came home and made manicotti shells for what was supposed to be our dinner. However, my breakfast did not sit well and so we are going to have it tomorrow. I even had enough shells to make an extra pan to freeze!

I know, I know, weird to make manicotti in the middle of the summer but I am getting kind of tired of grilled food. I HATE to cook in general but when I do, I have to do as much from scratch as I can.

While the shells were cooling, I cut up a bag of lemons, juiced them, grated their rinds, as well as juiced a bag of limes to make some home made sour mix for margaritas.

I then froze it until this weekend. Yes, it stays in the fridge but I don't like to chance things!!! Char and the dog kept me company while I was doing all this.

We bought tickets for the band Twenty One Pilots for January-Charlotte's 16th Birthday Present (her birthday is in December)-for Chris, Charlotte and I so we cooked along to some music.

Now for my REAL reason for posting!! I was a crazy woman yesterday in the craft room. I did a bunch of cleaning up AND had time to create some projects for My Favorite Things Camp Create -Fantastic Foiling and the MFT Sketch Challenge #289.

 

I combined the two challenges and created two cards. For my first card, I kept it to a black and white color scheme with the foiling being in silver and mint green.

I had NEVER foiled before and I have to say, it was kind of fun. However, I have a regular old laminator and I think I am going to break down and get a mini Minc. I don't know it if it was the toner paper I used, the die cutting or what but on all my foils, I have bits that just would not foil.

I used patterned paper scraps, as well as the MFT "Wild Prints" paper for the accent behind the foiled sentiment, which was die cut using MFT's "Celebratory Greetings" dies (retired.)

I have to say, I LOVE that "Wild Prints" paper pack and thought it was perfect for this card!!

I made the second card using the same patterned paper cut with a die from "Blueprints 13" but changed it up by using a "Red Hot" card base. I am not a designer for MFT (I wish!!) and get no compensation but out of any dies I own, I use this particular Blueprints die more then any other die in my stash.

The foil on this sentiment was very imperfect and I did try to mask the imperfection but it did not work.

I added a bit of black glitter tape behind the sentiment to make it pop out but I would not recommend doing this at all. I had a difficult time getting the "cheers" to stick to the glitter!

Well, that is all for today. Thank you for stopping by. I will be back tomorrow with some of the other cards I created for Camp Create.

I am always great at making the cards but HORRIBLE at taking the time to photograph them!!!

Supplies:
Paper-Card Stock-MFT-"Red Hot," "Black Licorice" Patterned Paper-MFT-"Wild Prints," Doodlebug Design, Icraft Toner Paper
Foil-I Craft "Silver Foil" and Heidi Swapp "Mint Foil"
Dies-MFT "Blueprints 13" and "Celebratory Greetings" (retired), Paper Smooches "Stars"
Other-Foam Adhesive, Big Shot, Recollections Black Glitter Tape, Darice Sequins, Silver Stickles

My Favorite Things Summer School Homework: Gallon, Quart, Pint Lesson

Happy Sunday!! It is hot and humid here, not a nice day to spend outside. My husband is packing for a trip to England he has to take for work. He leaves at 3:00. I asked if I could come but he said no. I would have loved to hop over there for a few days with him. Maybe when Charlotte is bit older and can stay by herself.

A little under the weather this week. Resting has not helped, nor has going on with my regular activities. I walked a little under 10 miles on Thursday and it just about killed me for the next two days. I am hoping that with Chris away, I will be able to rest a little bit more. His snoring can keep me up sometimes.

I finally went shopping today and found a dress for the wedding I am going to in August. Not my favorite but it will do. Now I need to buy shoes and a fancy necklace or earrings to go with it. The shoes will be even harder to find then the dress for me. My tootsies are so chubby and heels just look funny. Due to having to buy a 1/2 size up for high heels, my toes do not reach the bottom. It kind of looks silly. If they only made pretty shoes for wide feet!

Today I am sharing the card I created this week for My Favorite Things Summer School Lesson #6. It was to create a project using the "gallon, quart, pint" color philosophy. I think I do this on a regular basis without thinking. However, when I actually HAD to think about it, I had a difficult time.

I began this card by stamping MFT's Pinstripe background stamp, using Lemon Chiffon ink on a Lemon Chiffon A2 top folding card. Next I die cut the white split panel using a Blueprint die. I then splashed Lemon Chiffon ink that I had watered down across the white. I adhered the white panel to the front of the of the card.

For the sentiment, I used MFT's "Celebratory Greetings" dies and die cut the sentiment from white polka dot paper, as well as 3 sets of white. I then glued all the pieces together, with the polka dot on top and adhered it to the card. I always have a hard time doing this technique and can never get the die cuts to line up as perfect as I want. I think I need to let one layer dry, then add the other but I am so impatient I just want to do it all at once.

For my next step, I die cut the yellow and gray banner pieces out of scraps and adhered them under the sentiment. I die cut and adhered the little gray tab, as well as found the white glitter star in my stash to add to the card front. My last step was to adhere the teeny tiny stars. You cannot see all the glue around them IRL like you can see in the close up photo above. I debated whether to even use the close up photo or not but I like to see others detail shots so I included mine too.

Now I only have two more lessons to complete. I am having so much fun playing with color!! My only wish is that I don't have a ton of solid stamps to use for the challenges. I have not been in the mood to color.

I hope you are having a great day!! To end this post, I am going to share a photo of my "baby" Zack aka "Stinky" (because he is a little stinker and gets into trouble!) He has been my partner this summer. He goes with me on all my carpool duties for Char. He loves to be a passenger and look out the window of the car. Thanks for stopping by!!

Supplies:

Sequins-unknown

Patterned Paper-Yello Polka Dot-Bo Bunny Back to Basics "Ella Butter Blossom, Gray-Elle's Studio

InLinkz.com

#Time Out Challenges and the Mess on my Desk

Happy Hump Day!! I cannot believe it is JULY already. My vacation is flying by and I don't want it to. I like the summer. I actually have the time to get things done!!

This week has been very busy. Yesterday I was a cleaning machine. I took everything off my counters and cleaned them, as well as washed most of the outside of the cupboards. Then I straightened out one of the closets. My goal for the summer is to go through all of the closets in this house. I also washed, folded and put away a ton of laundry.

Another goal is to kick it up at the gym. I went Sunday and Monday but pooped out yesterday. Part of it is because I have bruises all over my legs from a mishap I had at the gym on Sunday. I dropped my I pod shuffle when I was on the elliptical. As I was bending down to look for it under the machine, I fell forward over my elliptical onto another. My left ankle is now swollen as well as the bruise that covers the entire knee cap of my left knee, bruises on my shins and on my right thigh. If I was a person on the treadmill in back of me, I would have laughed my butt off. To make matters worse, I went to the front desk to have them help me because I thought the shuffle was inside the feet part but it was stuck UNDER it in a place I could not see at first. Yes, I am a dork. So today I took it easy.

My Zig Clean Color markers came today. Yeah!! I had to go to the post office to pick them up and of course I had to rip the package open to look at them.

Did I use them? No. My desk was covered in an unfinished scrap book page that had a ton of pieces. I did not want to mess the page up so I will use my markers tomorrow.

When I got home, this is what I found on my kitchen table.

My dog likes to get on the kitchen table while we are gone so he can look out the mudroom window. We have tried everything to get him to stop it minus taking the chairs out from the table completely. If there is any type of paper on it when he finds his way up, he will shred it with his paws and his teeth. This is the work that Charlotte did at Chinese Camp yesterday. So yes, sometimes dogs do eat kids homework!!! Little stinker.

Finally my card!! I used the inspiration photo from Time Out Challenges to get my creative juices going. Here is my card:

This is the inspiration photo that I had to use.

I primarily used the colors for my card. I originally tried to use pieced chevrons but wound up throwing everything out and starting over. I knew what ever shape I used, I was going to attempt to utilize some of the mess on my desk as card elements.

I started this card by die cutting the Horizontal Stripes Cover Plate die by Paper Trey Ink from five different pieces of card stock, as well as my sentiment.

I then sat down and placed different colored strips into one of the die cuts. Next I die cut two circle frames, one from a scrap piece of patterned paper and one from some white glitter paper.

I was not sure which frame I was going to use so I played around with the design a little bit to see which one I was going to use.

I decided for this card that the pattern paper looked the best. Besides, it was also the same color and had some of the shapes from the inspiration photo. The bear still looked kind of blah so I decided to go back to the Pandamonium set by Mama Elephant to see what decorative element I could use to spruce it up.

I decided to use the stick and the large lantern image. I stamped both of them and colored the large lantern in with Copic Markers.

I then used the matching dies to cut the images out with my Big Shot.

Now it was time to assemble the card. First I adhered the cover plate pieces to a white A-2 card base. Next I glued down the circle frame and then the sentiment.

I then covered the back of the Panda the stick and the lantern with foam adhesive. Since these images were the focal point, I thought it was important to give them some dimension.

My last step was to cover the lantern in clear Wink of Stella, glue on the tiny google eyes and adhere the pink enamel heart.

This card is a bit bright but I LOVE how it came out. I have enough to make a few more of these cards, which I will do at a later date. None of my "extras" can go to waste!!

That is all for today. I hope you all enjoy this first day of July. Thank you for stopping by!!

Supplies:

InLinkz.com