Muse #41 + CASual Fridays + Simon Says Stamp & MFTWSC#148

I am concentrating on Christmas cards for the next little bit, still trying to decide whether to make mostly unique cards this year or pick a design to mass produce.

I pulled out some My Favorite Things stamps and dies for this first card based on the MFTWSC#148 sketch.

I love the little topper piece that come with the ornament dies. The patterned paper is from Authentique and the sentiment from MFT's Inspired by Christmas.

Foam adhesives pop up the ornaments.

This next card was inspired by the Muse #41 and this card from Janet Ribet.

I love the frosty palette, the falling snow & quiet sentiment!

I wish I had Janet's embossing folder - my snow is created taking three different flower center stamps and stamping them randomly all over the panel with Versamark ink. They are heat embossed and then the panel is inked with TH Tumbled Glass.

The SSS tree die is cut several times and adhered together for depth & strength and attached to the panel. Twine & a few jingle bells are added after the MFT sentiment is stamped. The tree, snow drift and a few random snowflakes are given a frosty touch of stickles to finish the card off.

Is this design CAS enough to enter in the CASual Friday Challenge #119? I'm going to link it up and see what they say.

CFC119: Use dry or heat embossing on your Clean And Simple project.

Deadline is Wednesday, Nov. 13th at noon eastern.

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

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Muse #24 + MFT Weekly Sketch

I absolutely love the Muse card from Laurie Willison this week - it took me a few days to be inspired because I was mesmerized by the green woodgrain base!

In the end, I used a PTI cover plate to emboss the card panel (and yes, I stayed with a green base). The same cover plate is used to die cut a strip of black paper and overlaid on the embossed panel to create a border. 

Scraps of kraft paper  created the diamond & triangle pieces I filled in on the border. This nice bold sentiment is from Technique Tuesday and I really don't know why it doesn't get used more often.

This second card is for the My Favorite Things Weekly Stamp Club sketch challenge at Splitcoaststampers. I started out the year with the goal of participating every week, but things fell apart a few weeks ago.

This week's sketch was too much resist when it was posted the same day I received my new Chalkboard Frame Builder die-namics. The sentiment is made by combining and masking three stamps from Birthday Sentiments. 

My little daisy is made with cardstock and tissue paper diecut and layered.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

MFTWSC123 French Country Anniversary Card

At noon eighteen years ago I walked down the aisle to wed my sweetheart and it has been a wonderful, fantastic adventure ever since!

I used the My Favorite Things weekly sketch to make this card - you can find all the details of their challenge here at Splitcoast Stampers.

I loved this sentiment from the You Make My Day stamp set and knew I would use it on an anniversary card.

The papers are from Graphic 45's French Country and I made sure to line up the text panel so "mon amour" and "amour" were clearly visible.

With Simon Says . . . Things With Wings this week, I am also linking this card up at the Simon Says Stamp challenge blog.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Three Cards/Five Challenges

We have had a very busy, very beautiful weekend here. The highlight for us was attending the retirement of our neighbor after twenty years service as a member of the Marine Corps - the day started with a military ceremony on the base parade deck and ended with a Luau at their home. I made this card, using the MFT sketch as my starting point.

I had what I thought were brass star brads in my stash, but when I went to attach them, I discovered they were push pins!?! 

I little muscle and wire clippers removed the pins and Glossy Accents was strong enough to hold the star in place.

For this second card, I used the CAS(E) This Sketch sketch and the CASual Fridays Challenge to make a birthday card.

 

I had fun making this final card for my daughter's birthday. When I saw the Simon Says Stamp Blog challenge this week is Travel/Cityscapes I knew I was going to use my new Hero Arts Cityscape die and a water colored background. Her really big gift this year is a trip to New York City, but she will be busy writing state tests on her actual birthday and have to wait 47 days for her trip once the school year is finished. 

I punched out all the "windows" on the building die cuts to mimic a sunrise (or sunset) being reflected off the glass.

This last card is also being entered in the Moxie Fab World The Wonder of Watercolor Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Fusion + MFT Thank You

I missed the first week of the Fusion Card Challenge, so put it to the top of the list when I knew I would have a little creative time today.

With this challenge, you have the option of using the sketch, the inspiration photo or both to create a Fusion - I used both on this card.

I had a small scrap of green chevron paper on my desk from a card I made last week and used it to cut an open circle border and left the remaining piece to anchor the design. The large dots look black in this photo, but are a dark grey and the sentiment is from MFT's Let's Toast stamp set.

This second card is for the My Favorite Things Weekly Stamp Club (MFTWSC119)  at Splitcoaststampers. You can check out the details of this sketch based challenge here on the MFT Forum.

I made the banner with Sentiment Strips dies and alphabet stamps from Let's Toast. Another Sentiment Strip is used to make the "birthday" banner.

Starbucks gift cards are popular with my daughter & her friends, so I love using this a la Mode Miss You a Latte to make her birthday cards.

My heart goes out to all those in Boston today - my daughter's seventh grade teacher ran the Boston Marathon numerous times, including the year she taught my daughter so it is a race we have paid attention to the last few years.

Jacquie

My Favorite Things sketch + Simon Says Birthday

I made a birthday card for the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club sketch challenge at Splitcoaststampers this week. You can check out the details at the MFT Forum here.

Super easy card, but I love both the sketch and the way the card turned out!

The sentiment is from the ALM Birthday Girl set and mounted on fishtail flag die cuts that I cut both ends.

I am also entering this card over at Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog where Simon Says . . . Birthday this week.  They are celebrating their 4th birthday and have some extra great prizes this week.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CASology + MFTWSC117 + Simon Says

Two things have conspired to really mess up my schedule this week: first, the kids have been on Spring Break and second, my dear husband has been coming home well before dinner.

If I see my husband in the afternoon, my mind says "it must be the weekend". I mean, it is Saturday morning now and he just called to say he is on the way home from checking on a project. The really exciting news for us is his office moved this week, so when I get the call he just left the office it means I see him in 15-20 minutes instead of 60-90 minutes (unless the fair is on, then add another 30-60 minutes).

This is my longwinded way to say I thought last night was Sunday and that I'd missed the CASology deadline.

Turns out I didn't, so here is the card I created.

The CASology Cue this week was "hope" and I made a CAS get well card that is heading off to a cousin.

This next card is based on the My Favorite Things sketch #117 - details of their weekly challenge can be found on the MFT Forum at Splitcoaststampers.

I have a few nieces & nephews that are either graduating or at a crossroad right now, so this will be heading off to one of them. I kept it very CAS and even used one of the brads that has hidden in my stash for years.

Because Anything Goes at Simon Says Stamp this week, I will link up the first card over there.

Happy Easter to all of those celebrating this weekend. There is a big gap between Western & Orthodox Easters this year, so we are still in the middle of Lent and looking forward to our lamb roast on May 5th.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CAS-ual Fridays + CASology + MFTWSC

I'm back with three cards to share today.

The first is for the CASual Fridays Challenge #94 to use chipboard.

CFC94: Use chipboard on your Clean And Simple creation

I have also sorts of little chipboard pieces tucked away - they keep making the cut every time I purge the office, but really rarely get used.

I am loving the way this came out. The chipboard banner pieces & hearts are from Maya Road and covered with MME designer paper.



The CASology Cue Card this week is "Song" and my card came together pretty quickly once I'd settled on a song.

My inspiration is "Home" by Phillip Phillips and the image and sentiment are both from Papertrey Ink.

The final card is for the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club at Splitcoaststampers. You can head over to the MFT Forum for all the details of this sketch challenge.

Are you getting tired of me using the cake & candle from Who's That Birthday Girl yet? It is too much fun to stop and makes a great quick and easy birthday card!

I love masking & stamping the single candle to get the variety of lengths and angles. A touch of stickles are sparkle to the flame.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CAS-ual Friday + Paper Smooches + MFTWSC115

What did we do before cell phones & texting? Our school commute was turned upside down last week when the local light rail train was suddenly and very unexpectedly taken out of service. Day two of using the new Express Bus service and it is late, so while I wait for my daughter to text me an update on their location I am going to try post a couple of cards.

The Paper Smooches sketch and CASual Fridays Challenge to color block combined nicely to create this card.

The images are from PS My Peeps stamp set and colored with Copics, fussy cut and added to the card stock panels.

CFC93: Use blocks of color in your Clean And Simple creations.

As always, projects are NOT limited to just cards :)

My second card is for the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club at Splitcoaststampers - you can find all the details on the MFT Forum.

I used the cake image from the MFT Who's That Birthday Girl stamp set, masking and stamping the single candle stamp numerous times - I really love the look of the uneven candles! They are colored with copics and the flames sparkle with Stickles.

Dear Daughter is almost at our meeting point, so I have to run!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

MFTWSC114 + CAS-ual Fridays + Simon Says

Hi, I'm back! Did you miss me? Did you notice I was gone for a few days LOL?

This time of year I head to the mountains with a wonderful group of crafty friends for four days of creative play time. Rain was in the forecast for sea level, but at 6,000 feet we woke up to this on Friday morning. Did I mention I live in San Diego County and this is only 40 miles from home?

ETA: Bailey's Resort on Palomar Mountain


Yes, that is 8 inches of fresh snow! My children have a hard time believing I didn't go out to play in it.

By Sunday afternoon, the cars still had to be dug out, but the snow was too wet to bother filling the cooler for a snowball fight at home and the 8 inches on top of the van slid off halfway down the mountain.

Here are a couple of my weekend creations - first up is a card for the My Favorite Things Weekly Stamp Club over at Splitcoaststampers.

The vertical greetings stamp and fishtail flag are mine, but I took advantage of having access to a few more dies and used the Sentimental Flourish and Scalloped Ribbon Border as well.

Because my card base is so dark, I finished off the inside of the card too.

The next two cards are part of a gift set I am working on and use the same cupcake blueprint stamp from Tim Holtz.

I used Copics to color in the image and will submit this to CAS-ual Fridays Challenge 93: Color Blocks and Simon Says Stamp a Bit O' Green.

CFC93: Use blocks of color in your Clean And Simple creations.

As always, projects are NOT limited to just cards :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Anything Goes with CFC91 + CQC178 + MFTWSC113

I have a card & a couple of tags to share today.

First up is this tag for the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge to add silver to a project.

CFC91: The object of this game? Simple! Add silver to your CAS project.

It can be a card, layout, tag, whatever...as long as it's CAS and has at least a touch of silver

I won Casual Fridays Stamps Only You stamp set during the February release countdown & was thrilled to ink it up for these tags. I masked the dot border and heat embossed it, adding three silver sequins when done.

I realized I was already working with some of the colors from the ColourQ Challenge, so made a couple of ink & sequin changes for the second tag.

This card is based on this My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club sketch - details on the challenge can be found here at their Splitcoaststampers Forum.

I started with papers from My Mind's Eye Memorable collection and created a base panel that is embossed. A number of Squiggle Border die cuts are layered and cut to fit the bottom of the sentiment panel.

This Happy Birthday sentiment is one of my favorites and is from MFT's Let's Toast stamp set, as is the  "to you" that is selectively stamped to fit the tag. 

Since Anything Goes at Simon Says Stamp this week, I am linking the tags & card to their challenge.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Edited to add: boo hiss, I'm too late for CFC91 - a sick boy required some attention and schedule rearranging this morning :(