CAS(E) This Sketch #187 and Paper Smooches

This is my second post for today. I just wanted to pop in and share another card I created yesterday during my creative afternoon.

I used CAS(E) This Sketch #187. Here is the card I came up with:

Here is the sketch that I used as my inspiration.

My card was very deliberate in how I constructed it. I used Paper Smooches "First Aid Kit" stamp set to stamp the heart "band aids" with "Jet Black" Ranger Archival Ink onto some patterned paper by Craft Smith. I was making this card for my Uncle who had a stent put in his heart on Wednesday. These hearts were PERFECT to use and using patterned paper made it quick to create!

I fussy cut each heart out and mounted them onto some gray paper that I had stenciled a chevron pattern onto with WPlus9's "Fairy Dust" ink. I stamped the sentiment with My Favorite Things "Red Hot" ink using Paper Smooches "Sentiment Sampler." I then mounted it on matching "Red Hot" card stock.

I covered each heart with my new Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Marker and then with Glossy Accents. I am so excited with how this card came out as at first glance, I hadn't a clue on what kind of card I was going to create for this challenge!!

That is all for now. I thank you for stopping by today to peek at my card. Have a great day!!

Stamping Smiles Design Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge Inspiration #16

Happy Sunday everyone!! It is my turn for some inspiration over at the Stamping Smiles Design Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge Blog for some more inspiration for Challenge #16.

Here is a sneak peek of my creation:

Hop on over to the blog to see how I created it!!

Thanks for stopping by today!!

Gratitude Cards and a VERY Busy August!

Happy Saturday everyone!! I have not posted much this month. August has been busier then I predicted and since it was super hot, I didn't feel like crafting much. I also didn't buy any craft supplies, either. Now THAT is a miracle that needs to be repeated for the rest of the year!!

I spent all day in my craft room today. I had some cards I required myself to make to get out on Monday and I needed some regenerative time due to a memorial I went to today. A woman died unexpectedly that I worked with last week. Her kids (whom were 30 and 34) gave a eulogy that was just heart wrenching. It made me think about my own death and losing my mother at 23. Anytime someone loses a mother, it always makes me reflect.

One thing I learned from my mother dying young is to do the things I want to do now rather then waiting for "someday." We are not promised that someday. If you want to do something, do it. Laundry can wait. Your house can wait. Spend time with who you love and live your life to the fullest. Some can say they can not afford to do what they want but you don't have to have money to be present in others life and take pleasure in the little things.

That being said, I created some gratitude cards today. I totally CASEd Betsy Veldman's design she created ages ago using the PaperTrey Ink "Beautiful Butterflies" set. I really was not in the mood to think so copying Betsy's basic design helped me get what I needed to get done.

I stamped different butterflies in a sort of rainbow along the edge of the card of a white piece of card stock measuring 4 1/4" by 5 1/2." I then stamped the sentiment in black.

I die cut each panel using the My Favorite Things "Blueprints #13" die and mounted the stamped card front onto different colored A2 sized card stock.

I tried to match the colored card stock to a different corresponding butterfly for each card. 

I left the card rather plain and flat, very unlike me, because I just wanted something simple to send out. Sometimes flat cards are better. It kills me NOT to put sequins on it or add some mist spray but I talked myself out of it each time I was tempted to. 

I also stamped an envelope for each card with a red butterfly in the bottom left hand corner.

I created two other cards today as well but they are drying so I cannot photograph them yet. One was a challenge so I want to get it up before the challenge passes. Maybe tomorrow!!

Thank you for stopping by tonight. Have a fabulous night!!

Supplies:
Paper-PaperTrey Ink "Orange Zest" and "Aqua Mist,", My Favorite Things "Red Hot," Simon Says Stamp "Duckling," Recollections White Card Stock
Ink-My Favorite Things "Red Hot" PaperTrey Ink "Orange Zest," Simon Says Stamp "Duckling," Hero Arts "Soft Pool," Umbrella Crafts "Amethyst," and Ranger Archival Ink "Black"
Stamps-PaperTrey Ink "Beautiful Butterflies"
Dies-My Favorite Things "Blueprints 13"
Other-Big Shot, MISTI, Scotch ATG Gun

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps "Mon Ami" Stamp Set with Prima Oil Pastels

Hi everyone!! Today it is my turn for a little CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Inspiration on their blog today. I chose to use the "Mon Ami" stamp and die set to make a pretty card.

I started off by heat embossing the flowers from "Mon Ami"stamp set in white on watercolor paper and then die cutting the flowers out with their matching die. I "colored" on the flowers using two different purple pastel oils from Prima. I used a watercolor brush and water to blend them together.

While the flowers were drying, I cut a piece of patterned paper into a 4" by 5 1/4" panel and used my score board to score some lines at random intervals. I adhered the scored paper onto a "Soft Stone" A2, top folding card.

I die cut a tag using the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps "Tag Buddies Fri-Dies" to die cut a tag out of gray scrap paper. I adhered it onto the card front using foam adhesive. I originally was going to tie a silver bow at the top of the tag but decided to make a thread nest instead. I adhered the dried flowers over the nest with foam adhesive and added some Silver Stickles for the flower centers.

I then used foam adhesive to mount a sentiment strip that I had stamped with the same set. The last step was to add a few sequins around the tag.

I hope you enjoyed this card today. It was the first time I had used this stamp set and the oil pastels. I will be using both again soon as I love how this came out!!

If you would like to shop for this stamp set, use the code NORA16 to get 15% off your next shopping spree at CAS-ual Fridays Stamps.

I thank you for taking the time to stop by today. I hope you have a FABULOUS Weekend!!

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps: Calling All Sistah's "Remind a Sistah" Blog Hop

It is August 17th and you know what that means? It is a Calling All Sistah's Blog Hop sponsored by CAS-ual Fridays Stamps!!! For the blog hop, you should be arriving from Susan White's Blog.

I cannot believe it is the middle of August already. This summer has gone by too fast for me. Unlike some mothers', I am not ready for school to start. Since I work in a school, school starting means my vacation is over too!!

Today the Calling All Sistah's Blog Hop is a little bit different. We were all challenged to design a card to "Remind a Sistah" to either check themselves monthly OR a card to remind a friend to make their yearly mammogram appointment.  (This is something I need to do for myself so this hop was a great reminder for me too!!) Who doesn't appreciate a nice reminder-especially a home made card?

Please be sure to comment on each blog as there will be 3 winners randomly chosen for $15 CAS-ual Fridays Stamps gift codes from the blogs on the hop. If you get lost, just hop on over to the CAS-ual Friday Blog to get the full list of participants.

I chose to create a card to remind a friend to make their mammogram appointment.

I knew what I wanted to do right away once I saw the theme. I started by using my Silhouette Digital Craft Cutter to die cut a t-shirt out of watercolor patterned paper. I stamped a phrase from the "Calling All Sistahs" stamp set onto the front with black ink.

I then die cut a white tag using CAS-ual Fridays "Tag Buddies Fri-dies" and stamped the first part of the sentiment with "Raspberry Jam" in and the second part in black.

I used a heart embossing folder to dry embossed a piece of pink card and mounted this over an A2, top folding card that complimented the patterned paper t-shirt. Next I cut the top part off the tag and adhered the remainder to the top of the pink, embossed card stock.

I used foam adhesive to adhere the t-shirt and layered paper flowers over the collar, using a mini sequin for the center. My last step was to randomly adhere sequins in a diagonal down the front.

The next person on the hop is Vicky Dutcher.

Want to join the hop next month? Visit the "Calling All Sistahs" Facebook page for more details. You must use at least one product from the "Calling All Sistahs" stamp collections to join. Michelle donates 50% of the proceeds from each set to the National Breast Cancer Society.

Thank you for stopping by today! Remember to check yourself monthly and to get a yearly mammogram.

Supplies:
Stamps-"Calling All Sistahs" CAS-ual Fridays Stamps
Dies-"Tag Buddies Fri-dies" CAS-ual Fridays, Silhouette Digital Craft Cutter, DJ Inkers
Paper-"Baroque Burgundy"-Stamping Up!, "Hibiscus Burst"-PTI, "White" Hobby Lobby and "Watercolor" Patterned Paper-CraftSmith
Ink-"Archival Black" Ranger Ink, "Picked Raspberry" Distress Ink, "Vintage Photo" Distress Ink, "Raspberry Jam"-Hero Arts
Other-Lifestyle Crafts Embossing Folder, Prima Flowers, Sequins, Ranger Multi Matte, Foam Adhesive, Big Shot Machine

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Stamping Smiles Design Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #16

It is the 15th of August and you know what that means-another Stamping Smiles Design Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge!! It is Challenge #16 and I have a treat for you-Charlotte, my 15 year old daughter did the challenge along with me for a bonus card.

We both used the middle column down-hexagons, misting and birthday to create our cards.

On my card, I started off by using a PaperTrey Ink "Hexagon Cover plate" die to create a mask from copy paper. I taped the mask over a piece of Strathmore Bristol Board and blended "Abandoned Coral" distress ink through the stencil. I then used a MFT "Blueprints #13" die to cut the card front out.

I used Heidi Swapp "Gold Lame" Colorshine, "Abandoned Coral" and "Twisted Citron" Distress Spray Stain to mist the front of the card. While that was drying, I used MFT's "Celebrate with Cake" stamp set to stamp the cake, the flowers, the leaves and the cake stand. I then used the matching die set to cut them out. I stamped and heat embossed the birthday sentiment onto a scrap of coral card stock in gold.

When the card front was dry, I adhered it to a piece of Stampin Up! "Green Galore" card stock (retired.) Next I used PaperTrey Ink's "Smokey Shadow" ink to stamp the string and embossed the banner in gold for the top of the cake. I used foam tape to adhere the cake and the flowers, as well as the sentiment.

My last step was to use Stickles in "Fruit Punch" to make some pink cake decorations and "Gold" for the middle of the flowers.

This was such a fun card to create and I stepped out of my comfort zone creating my own stencil. I will have to try this more often now!!

Charlotte was in my room as I was creating this card so she decided to make a card too using the same challenge elements-hexagon, misting and birthday.

She used the same hexagon stencil that I had created but used Distress Ink in "Wilted Violet" for her blending. Like my card, the white panel was then die cut using "Blueprints #13" die and then misted with "Twisted Citron" and "Picked Raspberry" Distress Spray Stain, as well as Bo Bunny's "Frost" Glimmer Spray.

Once the panel was dry, it was adhered to a pink, top folding A2 sized card. Next Charlotte stamped the sentiment using Ranger's "Archival Black" ink and a stamp from Paper Smooches "Party Posse" onto a "Raspberry Fizz" banner. She adhered the banner to the card at the top.

The Avery Elle snail (from the "I'm Late" set) was colored in wth Copic markers and on my desk ready to go. Charlotte use foam adhesive to adhere the snail to the card front and decorated the balloon and the shell with "Clear" Wink of Stella. She then used "Diamond" and "Yellow" Stickles on his hat.

This was the first time that Charlotte has shown any interest in stamping and it was really fun to show her how to do some of these techniques. I look forward to doing this with her another time.

I hope you have as much fun creating with this challenge as I did. Please go to Stamping Smiles Design Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge Blog for more detail. I cannot wait to see what you create!!

Have a fabulous day!!

Supplies:
Card #1
Paper-Strathmore Bristol Board, Stampin Up! "Green Galore" Card stock (retired), Coral
Stamps-My Favorite Things "Celebrate with Cake"
Dies-My Favorite Things "Celebrate With Cake," "Blueprints #13," PaperTrey Ink "Hexagon Cover Plate"
Ink-Ranger Distress Ink-"Abandoned Coral," Simon Says Stamp "Jellybean" and "Sunkissed," Hero Arts "Soft Green," WPlus9 "FairyDust," PaperTrey Ink "Smokey Shadow," and Tsuinko "Versamark" ink
Spray Mist-Heidi Swapp "Gold Lame" Colorshine, Distress Spray Stain in "Abandoned Coral" and "Twisted Citron"
Other- Big Shot, Ranger "Gold Tinsel" embossing powder, Stickles in "Gold" and "Fruit Punch," foam adhesive, Ink Blending tool

Card #2
Paper-White Card stock-"Paper Studio", Pink Card stock
Stamps-Avery Elle "I' m Late" and Paper Smooches "Party Posse"
Dies-MFT "Blueprints #13," Avery Elle "I'm Late," and PTI "Hexagon Cover Plate"
Ink-Ranger "Wilted Violet, Memento "Tuxedo Black," Ranger "Archival Black"
Spray Mist-"Twisted Citron," "Picked Raspberry," and "Frost" Glimmer Mist
Other-Stickles "Diamond" and "Yellow," Big Shot, "Clear" Wink of Stella, Copic Markers, Ranger Ink Blender

Throwback Thursday and a Little Update

Hey Everyone!! I have been a little MIA as of late. I do not have any air conditioning in my craft room and it was really HOT for a couple of weeks. Heat does not make me want to craft!! I am hoping to rectify this next year but right now it is pretty steamy.

Today I am sharing a photo of Charlotte and my father that was taken a few years ago. My father just had knee replacement surgery on Tuesday so that has been on my mind. So far he is doing all right. It always scares me to have him in the hospital because a few years ago he almost died from a really serious infection.

Charlotte and I spent a long weekend at my Aunt's house this past weekend. Her house is on Lake Champlain and it is one of the most peaceful places to visit. Charlotte went tubing for the first time ever and I even had a chance to go too.

One of my cousins lives there too and we had so much fun spending time with her children. I love that we can not see them for so long but how the kids love to be with each other when they do. All my childhood vacations were spent seeing family and staying with my Aunt and then staying at a different Uncle's. They were some of the happiest times and it is fun to laugh about it now. I was a HORRIBLE child-very fresh and not well behaved, especially on vacation, so there are a lot of stories!!

My Aunt took me to a flea market and then to some antique shops while I was there. I bought some depression glass at the flea market but the antique store was a bit to pricey for my blood-especially when a few pieces I saw at the antique store I had gotten from the flea market for so much cheaper!!

On Sunday, my Aunt drove around the town so Charlotte could get some Pokemon for her Pokemon Go game. I just love this woman!! No one else would have done this and she was so excited every time Charlotte caught one. I had fun seeing the town. I so wish I could live there!!

We were supposed to come home on Sunday but decided to stay an extra night and play BINGO. This was something that we used to do as kids when we came up to my Aunt's. We would go with her and my grandmother. I wanted Charlotte to have this same experience. It was always so much fun!!

Unfortunately I did not win anything but my Aunt did! Charlotte was one away from winning $1000! It was a "special" game where you had to cover the entire card. Alas, it wasn't meant to be.

All this nostalgia has made me think about the past. My Aunt and I stayed up until 3:30 in the morning talking the first night I was there. She and my mother were extremely close and when I visit her, we always wind up talking about my mom. It just makes me miss my mother so much. I don't think about her daily but as I get closer to the age that my mom died, I think about her a lot more. It is hard to believe that she died almost 24 years ago. I still have so much guilt about so much that I did when I was young and I didn't have time to make any of it up to her. It is so hard to let it go.

So that is about it. Though I have not been blogging myself, every few days I do try to look at all my favorite bloggers. I try to leave a post when I visit. I will not be able to next week as we will be busy but I will be back the next.

I thank you for stopping by. Have a fabulous day!!

Stampin Smiles Designs Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #15

It is August 1st so that means a new Stamping Smiles Design Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge!! It is Challenge #15 and this badge is fantastic. I don't know how Ka does it but each badge gets better and better!!

I decided to chose the middle row across for my project-word dies, sparkle and color blocking.

I went for a very simple design for my card this time. I also decided that I was only going to use minimal stamping. Rarely do I do this so this, in itself, just added to the challenge.

I started off by die cutting Pretty Pink Posh's "Storybook #1" die out of scraps of Black Bazzill, "Terracotta Tile," "Raspberry Fizz," and Aqua card stock. I trimmed the black panel, inlaid the different color die cuts inside like a puzzle and taped it on back so all the pieces would stay together.

I then adhered my color blocked rectangle to the center of a gray, A2 sized, top folding card. I used Mama Elephant's "Happy Script" die to die cut the word sentiment out of Die Cuts With a View silver sparkle paper.

I adhered the "happy" to the card. The last step was to add a strip of white card stock that I had stamped a sentiment from Mama Elephant's "Happy Everything" set in black over the die cut using foam adhesive.

I toyed with adding sequins but decided to just stop. Sometimes I can get carried away when a CAS is best.

I hope you hop on over to Stamping Smiles Designs Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge Blog to play with us. I cannot wait to see what you create!!

Thank you for stopping by. Have a fabulous day!!

Supplies;
Paper-Stamping Up! Gray, PaperTrey Ink "Raspberry Fizz" and "Terracotta Tile," Bazzill Black and Aqua, Hobby Lobby White Card stock, Die Cuts With a View-" "Glitzy Glitter" stack
Dies-Pretty Pink Posh "Storybook #1," Mama Elephant "Happy"
Other-Memento Tuxedo Black Dye Ink, Big Shot, Foam Adhesive, ATG Adhesive, Ranger Multi Matte