CASology Week 234: YOUTH

Welcome to Week 234 at CASology!

I am really curious to see where this Cue word takes you. Kitty Bee Designs is our sponsor this week and offered the Design Team a couple of adorable images to use on our cards. I choose to work with this sweet, sleeping ladybug which immediately made me think of welcoming a new baby.

This card is a bit of a happy experiment as I was surprised how well a watercoloring technique worked with a digital image. A lightweight watercolor paper went through my printer easily and multiple images were printed as I played with different mediums and colors. In the end, this red-headed lady bug was my favorite. The image is colored with a mix of Zig pens and Distress Inks and left to dry before die cut and the MFT sentiment added.

Check out the Design Team cards for more terrific inspiration!

Deidre Payne

Hannelie Bester

Hazel Hodgkins

Jacquie Southas (you are here)

Janet Ribet

Jen Wills 

Joyce Mehrberg

Judy Marino

Kymona Tracey

Melissa Chipperfield

Rachel Bergfeld

Sherrie Mannion

Guest Designer: Lucie

Sponsor: Kitty Bee Designs

We are looking forward to seeing how YOUTH inspires you -  just remember to keep it Clean & Simple! You have until Monday at noon (CMT) to link your card to the CASology blog. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

FMS #272 + Inspired by All the Little Things #41 + SSS Anything Goes

I combined a few challenges to make a clean & simple Valentine's Day card today. The sketch from Freshly Made Sketches #272 provided the basis for my design and the inspiration photo for Inspired by All the Little Things #41 pushed me to use felt and burlap for the hearts.

A Lawn Fawn die provided the simple sentiment.

This card is also being linked to the Wednesday Challenge Blog at Simon Says Stamp where Anything Goes this week.

   

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

The Card Concept #65 + SSS & Muse #200 + Seize the Birthday

Happy Friday! Our winter storms have passed and the weather has been glorious the last couple of days, making me want to play with bright, spring colors. For this first card, the inspiration photo for The Card Concept #65 {Fresh & Bold} fit my mood perfectly.

Although white is the predominant color on the card, the bright pink and orange add great energy and take up a lot of visual space, pushing this card more into the Clean & Graphic category. The Poppystamps Simmons border mimics the patterned pillows and a simple Avery Elle Brushed sentiment finishes the card.

This card is also being linked to the Anything Goes challenge at Simon Says Stamp's Wedneday Challenge blog.

My second card is inspired by Jenni's card for Muse #200. I followed her design closely, with a single blossom flanked by leaves, but anchored mine on an oval die cut.

An Avery Elle sentiment is curved to follow the line of the oval.

Muse #200 Jenni Murray

This card is also being entered at Seize the Birthday in the Anything Goes category.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jacquie

Papertrey Ink January 2017 Blog Hop

Today I'm participating in the Papertrey Ink January 2017 Blog Hop. I couldn't resist the beautiful inspiration photo that Nicole provided and the challenge to play with bright flowers on a black background.

My desk had a little pile of untouched dies I was determined to use on this card. Beginning with a white A2 Scalloped vertical die cut card base and adding a black stitched rectangle panel gave me the foundation. The Big Basics: Wish Big die is also cut from white cardstock and adhered to the black panel.

The small flowers and leaves are cut from felt using the One Big Happy dies, with a few extra leaves coming from the Painted Petals die set. These felt pieces were arranged with a trio of orphan flowers from my paper flower basket. In a nod to the white dots on the iced cookies, a pearl center was added to the flowers.

I am also linking this card to delightful Darnell's NBUS Challenge #9.

I can't wait to see the beautiful creations in the gallery this month!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CASology Week 233: GLISTEN

Welcome to Week 233 at CASology!

We have a fun cue word this week that brings a variety of images ito mind. My first thought was glistening snow, and with Poppystamps sponsoring our challenge this week, I pulled out their large Laurette snowflake die for my card.

Wanting to highlight the glistening snow look of the white glitter paper, I went back and forth between a white or aqua card base, finally deciding I liked the contrast of the aqua for this card. A selectively stamped Mama Elephant sentiment in white ink finishes this card and allows flexibility in how I use it.

Check out the Design Team cards for more great ways to interpret GLISTEN on a card!

Deidre Payne

Hannelie Bester

Hazel Hodgkins

Jacquie Southas (you are here)

Janet Ribet

Jen Wills 

Joyce Mehrberg

Judy Marino

Kymona Tracey

Melissa Chipperfield

Rachel Bergfeld

Sherrie Mannion

Sponsor: Poppystamps!

We are looking forward to seeing how GLISTEN inspires you -  just remember to keep it Clean & Simple! You have until Monday at noon (CMT) to link your card to the CASology blog. 

I am also linking this card up to the Poppystamps Challenge #28 Silent Snowflakes.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Muse #199

Winter has hit southern California hard and we are having our third storm pass through within a few days, so I'm taking advantage of the gloomy weather to reorganize the office and play along with a few challenges. Tracey's card for Muse #199 had me stumped until I looked through my stencils. The MFT Sunray caught my attention and I left it on my desk while my brain worked through how I could use it.

Things came together quickly once I lightly inked Spun Sugar Distress Ink on the white card base. A white die cut heart that had been sitting in my extras basket was also inked with the Spun Sugar and then a Mama Elephant sentiment stamped with Delicata Gold ink.

The heart is popped up slightly over the sunrays to finish this card.

Our gloomy day made it hard to capture the lovely shimmer of the gold ink but you can get a glimpse of it in this photo.

Muse #199 Tracey McNeely

As you can see, I was inspired by the heart, Spun Sugar Distress Ink, stenciled lines and touch of gold. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CASology Week 232: CUT

Welcome to Week 232 at CASology!

Our generous sponsor this week, STAMPlorations, provided the Design Team members with the word die cut of our choice to create a card. I love the font Shery has used on these words and picked "amazing" for my card.

Wanting the word to be the star of the show, I cut it from a piece of heavy watercolor paper that has been painted with Ken Oliver's Color Burst pigment. I'm very new to this product and was a bit heavy with the intensity so it is hard to see the color variation in this piece, but there is some. Two layers of the word die cut are adhered together and then adhered over the star embossed, star die cut on the card front.

A few Mama Elephant mini-stars are die cut from the same watercolored piece and scattered over the the card front to finish it off. I like having a versatile card like this in my stash to use as a congratulations or birthday card.

For more terrific ideas, check out the Design Team cards!

Deidre Payne

Hannelie Bester

Hazel Hodgkins

Jacquie Southas (you are here)

Janet Ribet

Jen Wills 

Joyce Mehrberg

Judy Marino

Kymona Tracey

Melissa Chipperfield

Rachel Bergfeld

Sherrie Mannion

Guest Designer: Anita!

Sponsor: STAMPlorations

We are looking forward to seeing how CUT inspires you -  just remember to keep it Clean & Simple! You have until Monday at noon (CMT) to link your card to the CASology blog. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Muse #198 + Seize the Birthday Anything Goes

I'm happy to see the Muse inspiration challenge back this week with a terrific card from Anita. I love so many things about this design and focussed on the inked clear embossed background along with the white embossed sentiment on black cardstock. 

The MFT Happy Birthday background stamp is clear embossed on a white panel before inking with Peacock Feathers and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks.

This sentiment banner is wrapped around one side of the panel and then the panel is popped up on the card base. An Elizabeth Crafts candle finishes the card off. I enjoyed the look of the inked background stamps so much that I have a few more panels waiting to be made into cards.

In addition to the Muse Challenge #198, this card is being linked to Seize the Birthday Anything Goes.

  

Muse #198

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CASology Week 231: FOREST

Welcome to Week 231 at CASology!

The cue word this week prompted me to make a birthday card for my dad. I always seem to run short of masculine cards and, given that he is a retired professional forester, this theme was made for him.

My dad is the one that taught me you can tell the age of a tree by counting the rings and I think of him everytime I see the Concord & 9th stamp used first on the white panel. The stand of trees is added next with the simple PTI birthday sentiment stamped last.

Check out the Design Team cards for some great inspiration!

Deidre Payne

Hannelie Bester

Hazel Hodgkins (taking the week off)

Jacquie Southas (you are here)

Janet Ribet

Jen Wills 

Joyce Mehrberg

Judy Marino

Kymona Tracey

Melissa Chipperfield

Rachel Bergfeld

Sherrie Mannion

Guest Designer: Christel!

Sponsor: Rubber Dance Stamps

We are looking forward to seeing how FOREST inspires you -  just remember to keep it Clean & Simple! You have until Monday at noon (CMT) to link your card to the CASology blog. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

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CASology Week 230: COLD

Welcome to Week 230 at CASology!

I hope you had a wonderful holiday break and are ready to dive into the New Year with both feet! We have a great, versatile CUE word to get the creative juices flowing. Are you snowed in right now and wanting to recreate the winter wonderland on a card front? Do you know someone fighting a cold in need of a Get Well card? The winter break is also known as the wisdom teeth extraction break around here. Both of my kids have had their wisdom teeth removed in the last couple of years and one has a friend facing oral surgery this week, so I made a little card for her highlighting one of the foods that helps get you through the first couple of days.

Images from Lawn Fawn's Treat Yourself stamp set were masked and layered first and then the PTI Sketched Shapes banner added in aqua. A few Copic markers were used to color the strawberry ice cream and carton.

I'm looking forward to seeing which direction COLD takes you. For more ideas, check out the Design Team cards and say a special hello to new Design Team members, Janet Ribet and Rachel Bergfeld!

Deidre Payne

Hannelie Bester

Hazel Hodgkins

Jacquie Southas (you are here)

Janet Ribet

Jen Wills 

Joyce Mehrberg

Judy Marino

Kymona Tracey

Melissa Chipperfield

Rachel Bergfeld

Sherrie Mannion

Guest Designer: Wendy!

Sponsor: Rubber Dance Stamps

We are looking forward to seeing how COLD inspires you -  just remember to keep it Clean & Simple! You have until Monday at noon (CMT) to link your card to the CASology blog. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

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