Seize the Birthday: Totally Tropical

Time for a Seize the Birthday Thursday! Spring has at last sprung here in Central Ontario, but that would not stop me from accepting a few days on a tropical beach right about now - except of course for the pandemic, sigh. So we are going Totally Tropical for our challenge topping, instead! As always, if the theme doesn't inspire you, all birthday cards are welcome in our link-up. Here's my tropical inspiration:

My tropical vibe comes from stencilling the background panel - the stencil is called "Botanical Lush" and tropical vegetation is so often lush. This is a current favourite stencil, so of course seems to have disappeared from the STAMPlorations website. Nevertheless, I'm entering this in the May STAMPlorations Stencil Challenge, as well as their Spring Fling challenge. :D The sentiment is from a new-to-me Studio Katia set. 

I'm also adding my card to the current CASology challenge, where the cue word is PLANT. 

For more tropical inspiration, visit the Seize the Birthday page - my snarky sister Jo continues as our surprise party guest, joining my regular teammates.  

 

Supplies: Neenah white cardstock, MFT Dots & Stripes Neutrals patterned paper, Studio Katia It's Your Birthday stamp, Versafine onyx black & spun sugar, faded lipstick, bundled sage & mowed lawn distress ink, Wow clear gloss embossing powder, ARTplorations botanical lush stencil

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CASology Guest!

Excited to be guesting for CASology for their new challenge starting today! I always check the CASology challenges, almost always mean to play... and too often, miss the deadline. (One week challenges are not for procrastinators, obviously.) But Melissa and the CASology team were nice enough to invite me to guest with them today, after winning late last year for this card (the second one). I'm also excited that the new cue card is right up my alley! 

The CASology team are experts at classic CAS designs. So I decided to go all out and attempt a one-layer card:

I cut a square out of a large post-it note and used a stencil brush with my ink so my colour would stay light. Then it was a simple matter to ink the cat and the sentiment in the same colour! The idea came from these cards by Lydia that I pinned ages ago. 

Since that was truly clean and simple - and QUICK! - I made one more, this time with a layer...

Exactly the same process, except switched up the colour and sentiment with a slightly narrower panel to pop up on fun foam with a sliver of matching blue cardstock showing. 

I can't wait to check how the rest of the CASology team interpreted the current cue card, and hope you will check them out too. And then play along! 

Supplies: Neenah white & scrap blue cardstock, Impression Obsession Mini Cat & Clearly Besotted Message Me stamps, bundled sage & blueprint sketch distress inks, fun foam

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Two More Christmas Cards

My idea of finding card challenges to encourage me to make Christmas cards seems to be working, as I have two more to share, for two challenges! First up, one for the current MFT Wednesday Sketch challenge. Here is the sketch: 

With some minor adaptations, here's my version: 

I sort of *suggest* the banner across the main panel with my sentiment, I think... ;) This sketch was perfect after making so many tags - I didn't have to adjust my mind to a much larger canvas for my little polar bear scene. Some minimal colouring with Copic markers, and a sponged and sparkly-sprayed night sky kept this card quick to make. 

Next up, CASology has a great cue word this week: 

I even have the word covered in two ways on my card!

A glass ornament on my glass of sparkly festive beverage! Technically, I suppose the swizzle stick could have a glass topper, too. Clean and simple, but lots of shine thanks to glitter pen and sparkly embossing powder for the sentiment. 

Together my little bits of colouring add up to another day of Kathy Racoosin's The Daily Marker 30 Day colouring challenge. 

Two more Christmas cards for the stash, phew. And the weather outside is currently frightful, so chances are I'll just stay in and make a few more. ;) 

Supplies: (merry christmas) Neenah white & Stampin' Up basic black & real red cardstock, MFT Bitty Bears stamps & dies, Versamark, Versafine onyx black & shaded lilac, faded jeans & chipped sapphire distress ink, Ranger clear & Wow fine white embossing powder, Copic markers, MFT wonky stitched rectangle die, foam tape; (cheers) Neenah white cardstock, Craft Smith green card base, MFT Christmas Cocktails & Simon Says Stamp Cheers stamps, Versafine onyx black & Memento Luxe love letter ink, Ranger clear & Hero Arts clear sparkle embossing powder, Copic markers, Gelly Roll clear glitter pen, Winnie & Walter Katharine cutaway die

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CASology Sympathy

The cue word this week at CASology is "sorry". Seemed like the perfect opportunity to add a sympathy card or two to the card stash. Of course, then it turned out I needed a sympathy card. And here it is:

(Trying a new style of photography... what do you think?)

No sentiment on the front, but it does say "with sympathy" on the inside. I started by ink smooshing some blue, green and mauve distress inks on watercolour paper. Then I stamped and embossed the flowers as well as a small butterfly and dragonfly. The panel is popped up on some textured cardstock with a cream cardbase. 
There are still a few days left in the challenge, so maybe I will get to add a few cards to the stash! 

Supplies: Stampin' Up very vanilla & Bazzill textured cardstock, Canson watercolour cardstock, Unity Insightful Meadows & Paper Smooches Botanicals 1 stamps, Versamark, chipped sapphire, tumbled glass, bundled sage & shaded lilac distress inks, Ranger clear embossing powder, Hemptique twine, Marvy/Uchida corner-rounding punch, fun foam

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Party Time?

This is my second post of the day — please click HERE

for the latest Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers challenge!

What? It's the middle of October already? That means you only have ten days left to come and play along with the current challenge at Naughty or Nice, Spooky Sistahs and Wild, Wild Women!

For my reminder card, I went witchy again, but in a totally different way: 

The only way I could get the sparkle splatter in the background to show was to take this angled, shadowed picture. The watercolour wash sparkles, too, since I used some Twinkling H2Os for my paint. I will likely never use anything but this cool black gold embossing powder for that cauldron — I love the flecks of gold and pebbly dimension it adds. Likewise, I think neon ombré tights may be a new favourite, too. I did some simple masking with my new masking pen to protect the tights against the watercolour wash. 

I'm hoping this qualifies as spooky and simple enough for the current CASology challenge, "SPOOKY"! 

Supplies: black cardstock, Strathmore mixed media paper, Stampin' Up Tee-Hee-Hee stamps, Versafine onyx black & Hero Arts neon red to purple inks, Zing clear, Hero Arts sparkle & black gold embossing powders, MFT wonky stitched rectangle die, Twinkling H2Os, Perfect Pearls white confetti mist, Molotow masking pen

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Release the Hounds!

Judging by the latest challenge at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers, it really is the dog days of summer!

Edna and the sisters, at least, have definitely gone to the dogs. (I may be out of corny dog jokes now, I'm not sure.) We want to see a dog or two or many on your creative projects! And of course, snark is always welcomed but not required. I went a little bit snarky. 

As my sister in snark Chris said when she saw this card... that face! While the new Tim Holtz Crazy Dogs are on my wish list (likely as mini dogs along with cats), my two nearest stamp stores still have them on order, so I went with this guy — his expression seemed perfect for the sentiment. I kept my design straightforward... black and white with a few pops of blue. 
While I had my dog stamps out, I made a second hound card, inspired by the current CASology challenge "Dream" and friend and design team member Jen's card: 

Funny thing, usually I use the cat in this set, but Jen helped remind me there's a dog, too. ;) Both of us paper-pieced, but in my defence, I don't think I've ever used the set any other way — the pet and pillow seem to demand it. I decided to leave the front without a sentiment other than the puppy's dream of a shiny, delicious bone to chew on, but inside reads, "May all your birthday dreams come true." 

Now it's your turn! If you are looking for more inspiration, you need to look no further than the cards my sisters in snark have made, as well as our newest Queen of Snark, Jane! Jane has been such a loyal player, we decided to adopt her as a full-time sister! 

Supplies: (HB2U) white cardstock, We R Memory Keepers It Factor patterned paper, Inkadinkado (?) & CASual Fridays The Whole Shebang stamps, Versafine onyx black & Memento Luxe Danube blue inks, Zing clear embossing powder, Spectrum Noir marker, MFT blueprints 24 stitched rectangle die, pop dot tape; (dream) white cardstock, Glitz Designs Cashmere Lane & Studio Calico Classic Calico patterned papers, Simon Says Stamp Pillow Talk & Paper Smooches Woofers & Tweeters stamps, Versafine onyx black & Memento grey flannel inks, Winsor & Newton iridescent medium, Paper Smooches stitched borders & (?) dies, $ store metallic washi tape, fun foam, pop-dot tape 

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Creating Art with CASology!

I'm excited...

Yay! Deirdre from the CASology design team was nice enough to select this card as the winner of their ROW challenge. That means I get to play along with the talented team for this cue: 

We were away from home for a few days when I got the news I would be playing along, which meant I had lots of time to mull over ideas. A few of them that were ultimately rejected:
- flowers and a nature quote, since nature is a fine artist
- an art-related quote from an artist
- a card with Art Garfunkel on it
- etc.
After all that, I ended up with this:

Design defined: Few or no embellishments
help to keep a card CAS.

I started by stamping this Crazy Cat on watercolour paper. I die cut the tail from the sticky part of a post-it so I could mask it and stamp the brush. Once I'd done that, I realized that it was more complicated than simple masking; I wanted the brush on top of one part of the tail and under the second part. The easiest work-around was to make the brush handle solid black. :D Once I'd watercoloured the cat, I stamped the paint splash in ombré ink, then stamped and embossed the sentiment. Hey, did you know that even after a couple of minutes, ombré ink, despite not being pigment ink, will still hold embossing powder? I know this now. ;) Because of that fun effect, I added a little Versamarker to the paint drip on the brush and embossed that, too. Finding a patterned paper that coordinated perfectly with my kitty for the card base once again justifies me keeping ALL of my paper pads. 

Lots of amazing ART inspiration can be seen over on the CASology blog. You have until Monday at noon central time (one pm for me in the eastern time zone) to play along! 

Supplies: white cardstock, Strathmore watercolour paper, Studio Calico Memoir patterned paper, Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Crazy Cats & Crazy Things stamps & die, Paper Smooches Nine Lives & Neat & Tangled Ink Splash stamps, Memento Luxe tuxedo black, My Favorite Thinks black licorice & Hero Arts neon ombré chartreuse to blue inks, Zing clear embossing powder, Zig watercolour markers, Versamarker

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Pawesome

July 1st means Canada Day (or Dominion Day, if you are so inclined) and a brand new Naughty or Nice Challenge. This month, we're making it easy for you... it's ANYTHING GOES! 

Just to prove that we mean it when we say "Anything Goes", I have made a card that is absolutely ALL nice with NO naughty! 

I had fun playing with these cat stamps a couple of weeks ago for My Favourite Things' Camp Create, so decided to pull them out again for another card. This is my version of a spotlight card, with the sleeping cats stamped in grey, and the main one stamped in black, embossed in sparkle powder and coloured in. I added a little extra sparkle to his collar, nose and ears, too. 

For the background kitties, I did just a tiny bit of masking so the two cats on the left could overlap a bit. I added a strip of double-sided tape underneath them and added some glitter to ground everyone. I tried a bunch of different papers for the card base, but went with the grey zig-zags so as to not detract from the pops of colour on the main panel. 
What would you know, Simon Says Stamp is having an Anything Goes challenge, too, so off go my kitties to the link-up there. Meanwhile, the current CASology cue word is ROW, as in my row of sleeping kitties. 
With no restrictions, you have no excuse not to come and play along with us! The Anything Goes challenge runs until July 25th. 

Supplies: white cardstock, Studio Calico patterned paper, MFT I Knead You & Cat-itude stamps & die, Memento gray flannel & Luxe tuxedo black, Hero Arts sparkle embossing powder, Spectrum Noir markers, Gelly Roll clear glitter gel pen, Wow powder ultra-fine glitter, dimensionals

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CASology MUSEing

Hope you are enjoying your early June weekend! While there has been a lot of gardening/yard work in my life lately, I took a break this afternoon and made a card... it had been so long! I wanted to be sure I still knew how. ;) There were two challenges I wanted to play in, as well. This is CASology's 200th challenge! And while I don't manage to play along as often as I'd like, I did manage to snag a month-long guest post in honour of their 100th post, so it seemed only right to play along with this milestone. And I've been absent from Muse for a while, too, so decided to combine the two challenges. 

This week's guest Muse is Leigh Penner. Her card is so fun! This week's CASology cue word is CAS (clean and simple). From Leigh's card, I focused on the central image with large sentiment, the frame (although mine turned into a mat), the little olive and the mostly neutral colours with bright red. From those, I got to this...

Leigh's central image made me think of using a journaling card or something similar. I have lots of different panels, just rarely think to use them. I found a pack of cat-related pieces that I've had forever, but never used. This cat seemed to have just the right expression and fit perfectly into the quote. He's coloured with Spectrum Noir markers, and his collar coated with Wink of Stella sparkle. His ears and nose got just one coat of Stella sparkle. Here, squint and pretend you can see it! 

The silver glitter paper heart takes the place of the olive on Leigh's card. I would have liked to have cut a frame for the quote panel, but at 4"x4", my frame die cuts just weren't big enough. (This also meant my woodgrain texture plate was too small to use on the card base, so I couldn't take that from Leigh's card.) Instead I matted it on some textured shimmery black cardstock. 
I think this card will be a perfect thank you card next time we need someone to cat-sit! 

Supplies: white, American Crafts silver glitter & Recollections black textured cardstock, MFT Cat-itude stamps & dies, MFT black licorice ink, Spectrum Noir markers, Simple Stories Snap! Cat Insta Squares and Pieces, (?) heart die cut, Wink of Stella clear glitter brush marker, pop-dot tape

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Tearing Up at CASology

CASology has an interesting cue word this week:

Tear... is it crying? Is it the rending of paper or other materials? Maybe you could go on one? So many options. 
Of course I decided I had to incorporate two meanings... sadness in the form of a sympathy card and masking using torn paper. I spent a day making attempts for the recycling bin. But I didn't let that stop me! Today I tried again, with I think a little more success. 

It may have helped that I CASEd myself and this card. Different stamp from the same floral set, a new sympathy sentiment, one straight and one torn edge mask for the sponging, and an offset panel on patterned paper. 
I had meant to use this challenge to build up my sympathy card stash, not my recycling pile. ;) I still have till Monday to see if I get any more done! 

Supplies: white cardstock, Heidi Swapp No Limits patterned paper, Unity Insightful Meadows & Hero Arts sympathy sentiment, Versamark & milled lavender, tumbled glass, stormy skies & chipped sapphire distress inks, Ranger clear embossing powder, Marvy-Uchida corner-rounding punch


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Mother's Day Sprinkles

I've got a card today that combines two fun challenges, CASology and CAS(E) This Sketch. 

      

With Mother's Day just a week away, I thought it might be time to make the one card I need, for my mother-in-law. 

I decided to take the CASology prompt literally and got out my watercolour powders, so I could sprinkle them on this mondo hydrangea! I really like how it turned out. I didn't want to take away from the flower too much, so I thought the sketch added some interest without competing with the focal image. This scripty hello fit nicely in the bottom right part of the panel. (I bought this Simon Says Stamp set for precisely ONE reason... it offered a COLOR and COLOUR option in the sentiments. You have to support these kinds of things. :D) 
Wow, I'm a week ahead with this! That never happens. ;) 

Supplies: white & Bazzill textured yellow cardstock, Strathmore mixed media paper, Authentique Be(you)tiful patterned paper, Essentials by Ellen Mondo Hydrangea stamps & dies, Simon Says Stamp Color and Sunshine sentiment, Versafine onyx black ink, Zing clear embossing powder, Magenta Nuance violet & grass green watercolour powders, MFT Blueprints 24 stitched rectangle die, pop-dot tape

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Guesting at CASology: Week 184

Eek! Thanks to my win at CASology last week (#humblebrag) I get to guest alongside the talented design team this week! The current cue word is most timely: 

Time is running out to get those valentines made for the big day this weekend. This seems to be my year to make cute and mushy ones, and today is no exception: 

I started by stamping and embossing these sweet cats and colouring them using distress markers. I also stamped and embossed the sentiment and gave the panel a light wash of distress marker pink. I did the same with the perimeter of the heart, not that you can see it in my photo. If I continue using patterned paper at the volume I used it on this card, I should be through my current stash by the dawn of the next century. 
I used a sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, but with the size of my focal image, it really didn't look right on a standard A2 card. Luckily, it just so happened my cluster of elements was quite nicely centred when I chopped off the right side to make a square card! Of course, since that challenge is done, it doesn't really matter, does it? ;) I am adding this to CAS on Sunday (valentine), Just Us Girls (word week: valentine) and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday (have a heart). 
On behalf of the clean and simple regulars at CASology, I hope you will play along! 

Supplies: marshmallow Bazzill cardstock, Strathmore mixed media paper, Pebbles Yours Truly patterned paper, Simon Says Stamp Furry Kisses stamps, Memento Luxe grey flannel ink, Zing clear embossing powder, QuikCutz heart die, distress markers, Stampin Up ticket corner punch. pop-dot tape

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