Distressed Weekend

Hi there! I played with Distress inks this past weekend making backgrounds and also created a few cards to play along with some of my favorite challenges. There are three cards so I'll keep the descriptions short 😉 

The first card is for CASology #346:

The cue is "Ring" and I thought of Life Rings. Down at the beach, a lot of neighbors use them for outside decor but we all know how important they are!

The life ring was created with MFT's Donut die, masked off, and blended with DI Carved Pumpkin. I added the hemp rope and popped it up over a masked MFT Wave background. The sentiment is from Lawn Fawn's 'Float My Boat' stamp set. 

The second card was for Seize the Birthday's latest Anything Goes challenge with the Topping of "Cover the Card". 

I used a number of blue/green Distress Ink Cubes DTP (direct to paper) and swiped my background on Neenah Solar White cardstock.

Then I added Tim Holtz' Wildflower Stem die cuts in white cardstock and a heat embossed birthday sentiment from The Stamps of Life.  The card base is SU's Shaded Spruce cardstock.

My last card was for The Paper Players #447 - A Sketch Challenge from Jaydee.  I like this sketch...very clean!

More distressing on this one! The Mermaid Tail (Ellen Hutson) was embossed and blended. I added some Pixie Dust for sparkle - I wish the pic showed that.  The distressed blue cardstock layer was clear heat embossed with the same 'Bubbles' background stamp (Hero Arts) as the card base. I die cut some grass (Memory Box) and popped up the tail.  The heat embossed sentiment is from the same Mermaid Tail stamp set. 

Thanks for stopping by ~ I hope you're having a great week!

Hugs,

Annie 

CASology Week 343: COLOR

Hi There! The last card I made today was for CASology, one of my favorite challenges, that I haven't played with in F-O-R-E-V-E-R.  I've missed playing along and glad I could sneak this one in before time ran out. The cue is COLOR and like many others in the link up, it reminded me of colorful rainbows.

It also reminded me of my rainbow collection of flip flops!  Yes, definitely my shoe of choice as the weather warms up :)

The center was masked off and the rainbow blended with Distress Inks over the white heat embossed flip flops.  Pretty simple and colorful! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful week!

Hugs,
Annie

CASology: Week 336 - Ocean

Hello! I hope you had a great weekend! A little bit of spring cleaning, cardmaking, and treasure hunting at the beach for me. I was hoping to play in CASology's latest challenge with the cue of OCEAN and I think I just made the deadline:

MFT Cardstock

MFT Beach Buds Stamps & Dies

Memory Box Big Splash Border Die (inlaid)

Nuvo Glitter Gloss

Glossy Accents

Copics

Thanks for stopping by!

CASology: Heal

Hi again! Another challenge I've missed playing in this summer has been CASology. When I saw the cue word, I knew I wanted (and needed) to make a sympathy card.  

Simple masking and Distress Ink blending gave me the sunset backdrop I was looking for. The wheat stalks and sentiment (Hero Arts) were stamped with VersaFine ink and heat embossed. 

Thanks for visiting ~ Have a great week!

Hoppy Birthday

Hoppy Birthday...bet you thought you'd see frogs here, didn't you?!  I thought about frogs for CASology's latest challenge with a cue of "Jumpy," but then I thought about my Labradoodle who can be a little jumpy (that's the doodle part :).  Anyway, neither won out.  I went with a birthday card for a neighbor girl who is also very jumpy...with a jump rope!

It's been so gray the last couple of days due to a pretty heavy marine layer.  I'm sorry the picture is not the best!  The jumpy little girl is from Stampendous and the sentiment from Sunny Studios.  I did super simple coloring with Copics and added a bit of washi to ground the sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a great weekend and a sunny one? Hope so!

It's the Little Things

Hello friends!  I had some quiet time during the busy Memorial Day weekend and wanted to play along over at CASology:

The cue this week was "Thrill."  One of the greatest thrills I've had is being a grandma to my sweet DGS.  He's so much fun to be around and I'm looking forward to his annual summer visit in a couple of weeks.  Kite flying on the beach is definitely one of the "thrills" we look forward to.

Neenah Solar White Cardstock

Hero Arts Stamp Set (from May Kit)

Impression Obsession Cover-a-Card Background Stamp - Clouds

Catherine Pooler It's a Boy Ink

VersaFine Onyx Black Ink

MFT Stitched Arch Die 

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you're enjoying the long weekend!

Seas the Day!

FINALLY, I had some time to play along with a few challenges.  I've missed playing along over at CASology the past few weeks, so thought I would try to squeeze this one in for their current challenge...which is their 300th btw!  Congratulations!

My thought was that there is major excitement for the Copper River Salmon which hit our region this weekend.  At $60 per pound, the closest I'll get to one this year was to play on the cue word of Copper and show a "fish" splashing.

But, as you can probably tell, it's a Mermaid's Tail!  So let's just say I went with the obvious and used copper metallic cardstock and heat embossed copper glitter embossing powder.  The splash was smooshed with Distress Inks.  Either way, it was a fun card to make!

Thanks for visiting ~ Have a wonderful week! 

Bon Voyage

Yippee!  I found some time to play today in a couple of challenges:

CASology Week 294

Shopping Our Stash #348 - Black, White & One other color (yellow)

A card for a friend starting a new adventure in search of SUNNIER days!

Neenah Solar White

MFT Sun Ray Stencil

Catherine Pooler Stamps & Dies (Bon Voyage)

Distress Oxide Squeezed Lemonade

VersaFine Onyx Black

Thanks for stopping by ~ I hope you're having a great week!

Hugs,

Annie

Pre-Spring Cleaning!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I thought I'd do some pre-spring cleaning of the craft desk this morning before the parade.  I also challenged myself to only use what I found on my desk to play along with a few challenges before putting things away!  

The first card is for Freshly Made Sketches:

On a Kraft card base, I layered the Distress Watercolor piece that had been embossed with a Prima Wave Stencil, watercolored with Distress Oxides, and die cut with a Wonky Rectangle (MFT).  The Adirondack chair die cut was from Stampin' Up's Seasonal Framelits in my die cuts "to be used sometime" stash.

The second card was for the current Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge:

I went with the Middle Row, Across - Watercolor, any Type of Accents, & Monogrammed.  I layered the Concord & 9th 'H' monogram stamp & die cut onto a Neenah Solar White card base that had been splattered with Distress Ink watercolor in Squeezed Lemonade. Die cut florals and enamel dots were added as accents.  H is for...Happy Easter!

The last card today was for the CASology challenge:

I saw my first bumble bee of the season yesterday, so I had to go with it!  The bumble bee is from Stampin' Up's Dragonfly dreams and I added the sentiment with my old label maker.  This will be another lunchbox note for my DGS! 

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you're having a wonderful weekend...with or without green beer!  Happy St. Patrick's Day!!   

CASology #289: Fit

Hello!  A quick card for the CASology Challenge:

When I thought of FIT for the cue, my mind went to clothes.  And if you're an Easter Bunny, I guess it goes to tails??

This stamp set (Taylored Expressions "If Bunnies Could Talk") made me laugh out loud in the craft store this weekend, so of course, I had to get it!  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great week!

CASology #288: Pun

Hello!  It was a 'snow day' at the beach yesterday - something that doesn't happen too often around here.  It was so pretty and peaceful which made for a great crafting day.  I was able to get a couple of DT cards done and also play along with CASology this week:

I love puns of all kinds and have a few punny stamps.  For this challenge I went with hot air balloons and a sentiment from The Stamps of Life:

I masked off a section and ink blended the sky with Distress Oxide Broken China.  I added a few die cut clouds, sparkled up with Wink of Stella, from the same stamp set.  The balloon was stamped with Catherine Pooler's Rockin' Red ink.  All three elements were popped up with foam tape and done!

Thanks for visiting ~ I hope you're having a good week!

CASology & FMS #324

Happy Friday!  I was finally able to play along with a couple of challenges this week so I chose two of my favorites:

CASology #287:  Together

I thought the green background was a good idea to make the feathers pop...maybe not so much!  Sorry about that.  I used a small feather stamp from Stampendous, sentiment from Avery Elle Love Notes, and Catherine Pooler inks.

The second card was for Freshly Made Sketches:

A birthday card for my SIL using MFT products (DSP, dies), Lawn Fawn's Happy Birthday Border die, and Copics for the candle flames.  I usually do not make too many pastel-type cards but I like how this one came out with the gold metallic cardstock for accents.

Thanks for stopping by ~ Have a great weekend!

Valentine Dance

Hi there!  A quick card today to play along with CASology's latest challenge:

When I saw the cue of "Butterfly," I knew I wanted to pull out one of my favorite, old Valentines' stamps from Penny Black.  It's called Valentine Dance and I love the sketchy look...perfect for some loose watercolor with splatters.  The sentiment is from a SSS sentiment set called Loving Heart.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you're having a great week!  

CASology and FMS #321

Hi there!  I have a couple of quick cards for two of my favorite challenges today.

The first one is for CASology:

I kept thinking about the tortoise and the hare when I saw the cue word "Late."  I found a very old turtle image that I had to use and paired it with a sentiment from The Stamps of Life.

I made a square notecard out of Strathmore watercolor card and did simple watercoloring with my Distress Inks.  Hopefully I won't miss anyone's birthday, but I'm ready if I do!

The second card is for Freshly Made Sketches #321 by Jen B.

And, yep, I'm still making Valentines!  I need about 10 more for the Assisted Living Facility that took such good care of my Dad and I'm almost there!

I stencilled a little checkerboard pattern with Spun Sugar Distress Ink, die cut some stitched hearts (Memory Box) out of Doodlebug Designs DSP, white heat embossed the Hero Arts sentiment, and finished it off with tiny enamel hearts (also Doodlebug Designs).  I like how it came out...a great sketch to play with!

Thanks for stopping by ~ I hope you're enjoying the weekend!  

H is for Hugs

Happy Friday!  A quick card today for the latest CASology challenge:

I was looking at a few of the new Monogram stamps from Concord & 9th that I had ordered to make some notecard sets for birthday presents.  The H stamp comes with the sentiment H is for Hello so I went hunting for 'hugs' and found one on an old Stamps of Life set.  You could also substitute Hope, Happy, or any number of words.  I wasn't even thinking of how versatile the monograms could be when I bought them...woo hoo!  

Thanks for stopping by ~ Have a wonderful weekend!

A Three-fer to start the New Year!

Hi! If you're looking for the new Paper Players Challenge, click <HERE>

Happy New Year!  The holidays are finally boxed up and I was itching to play along with some challenges.  It has been a couple of weeks away from the ink and paper.  Since there's three cards here, I'll try to make it a short post 😉.

First up is CASology's latest cue word - Encourage

I make school lunchbox notes for my DGS and this is one of my faves from Concord & 9th's Above Average stamp set.  He always gets 5 gold stars from Grandma!

The second card is for the Just Us Girls Challenge.  I hope to play a lot more this year!

LOVE is the word...this card reminds me of the wild and colorful 70's and I think that's all I'll say about that!  I do LOVE Stampin Up's Marbled Background stamp, Catherine Pooler's ink colors and all things Concord & 9th like these Love You So dies.

The third and last card for today was inspired by the latest challenge over at Tic-Tac-Toe:

I was inspired by the photo, especially the blue cups with hot cocoa and marshmallows, so I went with the diagonal - Stamping, Free, & Photo Inspiration.

My poor little fun foam marshmallows...there were three of them but one dropped on the floor and my Sydney (the Schnauzer) gobbled it up.  I'm sure it won't be the last time that happens!  The stamped sentiment and die cuts are from The Stamps of Life's "hotchocolate2stamp" set.  

Thanks for visiting today!  Here's hoping that 2018 is a very crafty year for all!

'Tis the Season

Happy Friday!  The plan is to mail the Christmas cards today.  Later than I would like but hopefully still in time!  I just have a couple left to do and this took care of one of them. 

A simple CAS card for the latest CASology Challenge:

I used three different shades of gray ink: Catherine Pooler's Black Jack (a wonderful dark gray), Lawn Fawn's Hippo, and SSS Fog for the fun layering on Sunny Studio's bell as part of the Holiday Style stamp set.  The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Think Big Favorites #8 stamp set...I just love the font on those sentiments.  I had to add a pop of red with a little bow and Wink of Stella on the bell to finish it off.  IRL it's very sparkly and makes me happy!

Thanks for stopping by!