CASology’s challenge this past week was “Sunshine.” As soon as I saw it I knew I had some stamp sets that hadn’t seen much use that would be perfect for the challenge. This afternoon was the first opportunity I’ve had to sit down to play with them.

I pulled out two stamp sets, one from Papertrey Ink and one from Simon Says (last year’s August card kit which included a stamp set and a die.) 

I used both stamp sets to stamp the background circle (“Hello, Sunshine” Papertrey Ink), and the HELLO (“Flip Flop Season” Simon Says), and added some Copic marker to the sentiment. The die cut is also from Simon Says. It’s all mounted on a pre-embossed square card by Lasting Impressions that’s been in my stash for years.

The inside sentiment is also from “Hello Sunshine,” and I added a punched shape (that’s been in my stash as long as the card!)

I’m always in need of encouragement cards, so I’m happy to add this to my card box. And I’m happy to say we’re enjoying days of ample sunshine here!

A last minute post and entry for the Addicted to CAS challenge, Petals.

I have several new floral stamps and was determined to get another card made for this challenge. I won’t even begin to tell you how many mistakes I made before I finally got a grip on the process and finished the card. It was just one of those days. But I’m pretty happy with the final result, and it’s good to have a birthday card on hand.

The new-to-me stamp set is Papertrey Ink’s 2016 Anniversary set. You can only purchase it with points, so it took awhile to accumulate the ones I needed. One of the draws of this set for me, was the unique sentiment which allows you to insert the smaller sentiment into the larger one. I also like the multi-step stamping, and the stamps in this set are clearly marked in the order in which you stamp them. Ought to be easy-peasy, but I didn’t separate the die cuts correctly the first time, and got totally confused. There are a pile of die cuts in the garbage, and in the end I only used one of them anyway. The cardstock is Amethyst Allure, a new favorite. 

The card needed a “little something,” so I made three score lines in the middle to add just a touch of dimension. Although this certainly isn’t as CAS as some of my cards, I think it qualifies for the challenge. 

Hope you have a great weekend!

Sarah and Adam celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary on Saturday. I forgot to take their card to them, so it got to them a bit late, and I didn’t want to post it until I knew they’d received it. 

I started out thinking I’d use a watercolored background, but I wasn’t happy with it so I used a Simon Says “Stitched Rectangle” and cut a piece from it. The “Stacked Hearts” (SS) was a Christmas gift, and it’s the first time I’ve used it. I layered two of them together to get some dimension. The card is really old, from Current Company and had the perfect pink border.

Today is a another kind of anniversary. I started blogging eleven years ago today. My then future son-in-law thought I should have a blog, and set it up for me on Typepad. I had NO idea what I’d do with a blog, and would have never guessed that I’d still be blogging eleven years later. I’d have been even more surprised to know that I would find a supportive and friendly blogging community, many of whom I’ve now “known” for many years. Even more amazing is that I’ve met several of them in person. It turned out to be a very satisfying and rewarding experience and I’m grateful for the impetus to get started and for the many friends who stop, and especially those, who comment regularly and frequently engage me in email exhanges as well. This post represents the 1, 673 post I’ve written. Who knew?

This week I made an anniversary card for friends who celebrated their anniversary yesterday. While we were away, I got a package from Papertrey Ink with this $5 stamp, “Splits: Thank You.” The nice part about the stamp (aside from the price) is that you can use multiple sentiments instead of the thank you. This time I used one from an old, often used, set called “Fillable Frames #4.”

I got the ideas for embossing and watercoloring the images from Dawn McVey who used that technique during the release. 

This card works for the current challenge at Addicted to CAS: Petals:

This week’s challenge at Addicted to CAS is inlaid dies. I made an earlier version of this card for two guys in grays with one red stripe, but today’s are for two female friends who celebrate their birthdays later this month.

This “Stars and Stripes” die from Frantic Stamper takes care of any design questions. It’s just a matter of choosing the colors and the orientation of the die. All the purple papers came from my scraps file—a good way to use up perfectly good paper that’s left over from earlier projects. I keep a file folder labeled by color for my scraps and that’s my first “go-to” when I’m looking for paper. Although the die comes with a die cut for the “celebrate” sentiment, I substituted Papertrey Ink’s “Wet Paint” die. The star rhinestones are from Michael’s.

A slightly different version with some Simon Says star dies and some tiny enamel dots. I love the look of inlaid dies, so I’m off to check out the other contributions to the challenge.

It’s good to be home, despite the 4 inches of snow we got as a welcome home gift from Mother Nature. This week’s challenge at Less is More is an interesting one. One of their designers questioned whether or not my dotted backgrounds for the last week’s challenge constituted “white space,” and she was probably correct. This week the challenge asks for colored “white space,” and I have a birthday card that fits the bill.

The cardstock is from Simon Says and the patterned paper from an old MME’s paper pack, “Go Fly a Kite.” I used Papertrey Ink’s “Sentiment Splits” die to create the curved bottom of the top layer, and the candle and sentiment both come from Papertrey’s “Wishes Come True.” I added a bit of Glossy Accents to enhance the flame of the candle.

I spent most of the first day home unpacking and organizing, and sadly, I think there’s still at least one more day for the organizing piece. I took some projects to Chicago to work on, and got a good start, but have more to do. Hope your week is a productive and happy one!

I have another card for the Less is More Challenge, “Polka Dots,” this week. It uses the same paper pack as the last card, but a different design.

So, once again, a piece of Silver Luxe paper from Papertrey Ink, this time with a sentiment in silver, die cut from the Wet Paint series (the stamped sentiment as well.) I finished it off with three enamel dots from My Mind’s Eye. I love these card size paper packs which make for a quick, but lovely, card.

This angle gives you a better view of the shimmer of the card stock and the die cut. 

This week’s challenge at Less is More is Polka Dots. I’m a huge fan; I just bought a cute hat in Florida and the initial draw was the black and white polka-dotted ribbon on the band. I’m also a fan of Papertrey Ink’s Silver Luxe patterned paper pack, which makes for a quick and easy card:

A gold die cut of “Swoosh” and one stamp from the same set, a little heart from an old punch, and it’s done. It’s hard to see the silver from this angle, so here’s another look.

Hope your Easter weekend was a good one! We got sunshine and warm temperatures for the egg hunt after church, but it turned cloudy and rainy around dinner time. I’ll be back with pics later this week.

Before I had grandchildren, I don’t think I did much Easter crafting, but now it’s lots of fun. Two of these cute bunny boxes work for the current Card Concept Challenge, “Naturally Pink,” so I thought I’d post them a couple days early. All three of them are too young to be visiting my blog, so no surprise will be ruined.

When I saw the cute projects done by the design team at Papertrey Ink for this set, “Bunny Basket,” released in February, I couldn’t resist. I die cut the bunny from felt, used some Black Enamel Accents for the eyes, a Copic marker for some pink cheeks, and pom-poms from Michaels for the tails.

The sentiment is also from “Bunny Basket” stamped on a “Double-ended Banner” die. The patterned paper for the Easter eggs came from the Simon Says March kit from Carta Bella (“Spring.) The “grass” was cut with Martha Stewart Fringe Scissors from Simply Chartreuse paper. Everything was layered on a Spring Rain circle cut with Simon Says “Stitched Circles.” It all got put on a pillow box made with the Papertrey Ink die from Lovely Lady (a great new pink paper) and tied with ribbons from my stash. Inside I put some chocolate eggs and some cash. Two of the grandchildren are definitely old enough to appreciate a little spending money.

Two pink boxes for the little girls, and a yellow one from another new Papertrey color, “Bright Buttercup,” for Caleb. 

Not very springlike here today. There’s a strong wind blowing, and snow flurries are in the forecast. Later this week, temperatures in the 60’s are forecast. Typical western New York spring weather.