Fifty Shades of OHMYGAWSH!!!

For reals, you guys!  It's the FIRST CAS-ual Fridays Challenge of the new term WITH the new format, dudes.  It's gonna ROCK!!!

Yup.  Good news, though.  You don't have to use fifty.  Just use two or more shades of grey and that will be sexy enough for us, thankyouverymuch!  HAHAHA!  I crack myself up sometimes.  I really and truly do.  *sigh*



Ummm...I love grey.  Like, super duper LOTS of love grey.  THUSLY, it was not even remotely difficult for me to find a few different grey inks in my stash, so I decided to pull those out along with a touch of mint julep because, well, it's yummy, THAT'S why!  Right?  Right.  K.  My greys are Hero Arts charcoal, soft granite, and silver.  Mmmm.... grey! (You can find links to all below.)  I used the Exclamations stamp set from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps.  It's awesome, dudes.  For reals.



I would love to tell you that the popped up banner, which I LOVE, that offsets the string of gems on the bottom row quite nicely was all a part of my original scheme, however, it was totally a happy accident.  P.S.A of the day:  When using silver ink, let it dry 100% prior to erasing your guidelines.  Just sayin'.  *insert shifty eyes here*

SOOOO...here's the deal, this new design team has ROCKED this challenge and you are NOT going to want to miss out on their amazing inspiration!  A.MAZE.BALLS, people.  Plus, this post has altogether too many capital letters, so you probably need to go rest now, anyway.  It happens from time to time.  I'm not usually considered a quiet person.  What?  *crickets*

K....  so, anyway... head on over to CAS-ual Fridays, check out the inspiration and then link up your amazing shades of grey inspired project!  You are going to ROCK IT!  You have lots of time to enter and the prizes (yes, plural) are awesome, so... do it.

Have a Happy!

*CAS-ual Fridays EXCLAMATIONS Clear Stamps *Hero Arts Shadow Ink Pad MINT JULEP Mid-Tone 2013 AF246 *Hero Arts Shadow Ink Pad SOFT GRANITE Mid-Tone 2012 AF226 *Hero Arts Shadow Ink Pad SILVER af257 *Hero Arts Shadow Ink Pad CHARCOAL Black Mid-Tone 2013 af236 *C-Thru T SQUARE RULER JR12 *Fiskars Compact STAMPING PRESS Stamp Entire Project at Once! 02958 *Hero Arts Bling GEMSTONES Pretty PINK Gems ch127 *Crafter's Companion 50 PACK ULTRA SMOOTH PREMIUM WHITE CARDSTOCK 752252 *Simon Says Stamp Card Stock 100# BLACK BL8 *American Crafts FOAM DOTS Adhesive Circles 61709 This to That

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Just a Quick Thank You

I will be honest.  I haven't yet decided if I like this card or not.  I don't hate it.  Not so sure I love it, either.  Maybe it will just land there...somewhere in the middle.  LOL!  That happens sometimes, right?   Right.  K.  One thing I CAN say for this one is that it is super quick, great for someone who isn't into florals or cute and pretty type stuff all of the time, and it is easy to create, too!

The double chevron pattern is from the Camden Town Male 2 set from Crafter's Companion.  Umm... in case you haven't noticed, I am a BIG fan of these Camden sets!!!  Love them!  I love how this is intended to be tire tread, but it can so be used as a simple pattern, too!  LOVE that!  The sentiment is a sticker!  WHAT?!  Yup.  That easy, my friends.  That.  Easy.

I used a touch of glitter paper at the top for a bit of sparkle.  Sparkle is good.  For reals, folks.  For reals.

Be sure to head on over to the Crafter's Companion Facebook page for lots of inspiration!  Let them know that Jingle sent you!  

Have a Happy!

Let Us Celebrate The Day of Your Birth

Happy Wednesday!!!  It's time for a new Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and it is an ANYTHING GOES week!  Create your card using ANY theme you would like!  We just want to see you add PEARLS in some way!  You can use pearls, pearlescent papers, pastes, etc, or even perfect pearls!  Just let us know how you used pearls in your post!  The Design Team is using Bazzill Products on our projects today.  Always good stuff from them!  YAY!



I pulled out some fun Avery Elle stamps for my card, as I also created this one for the brand new AEI♥U challenge!  I LOVE that super cute balloon animal stamp!  He is just TOO.MUCH.FUN!!!!  And the wording on that sentiment CRACKS me up, thus, it had to be employed as soon as I got the stamp set in my hands.  HA!  LOVE IT!

I also used some pretty papers from Crate Paper's Flea Market collection designed by Maggie Holmes.  I love her papers SO MUCH!!!!

Now it's YOUR TURN!!!  Create something fabulous, ANYTHING fabulous for the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes with PEARLS challenge and link it up for your chance to win a $50 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp Store!  Woot!  Woot!!!

Just make sure your project is new, that you post a direct link, and that you link back to the challenge blog in your post!  We can't WAIT to see what you come up with for this one!

You can find links to all of the products used on my card in the inlinkz below.  Thanks!!!

Have a Happy!

*Avery Elle Clear Stamps PARTY ANIMAL Set ST-13-24	Avery Elle Cake and Candles	*Crate Paper FLEA MARKET 6 x 6 Paper Pad Maggie Holmes 683290	*Doodlebug LILY WHITE MINI PEARLS
*Hero Arts Shadow Ink Pad MINT JULEP Mid-Tone 2013 AF246	*Hero Arts Shadow Ink Pad NAVY Blue Mid-Tone 2013 af234	*Bazzill SOUR LEMON Card Shoppe Heavy Weight 8.5 x 11 Cardstock	*Fiskars Compact STAMPING PRESS Stamp Entire Project at Once! 02958
*EK Success CUTTER BEE Scissors EKCB01	*American Crafts FOAM DOTS Adhesive Circles 61709 This to That	*3M Scotch ATG GUN 714 Use GOLD 1/4"" TAPE ROLL Adhesive Applicator Glue Stamp	*3M Scotch GENERAL PURPOSE 1/4"" x 36 yd REFILL Advance Tape Glider Rolls
*Tonic Studios 12"" INCH PAPER TRIMMER Guillotine Cut Trim

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Cheers!

Hello, friends!  Happy Tuesday!  I am enjoying a pleasant cup of tea this morning and I have a fun Crafter's Companion card to share with you today!



I pulled out the Camden sets again!  I really do love these stamp sets!  The simple art just makes me happy!  For this one I used the Camden Town Male 2 set.  I don't think this is strictly a masculine card, though.  But, then again, I sorta don't believe in masculine cards.  I give cards to people, not genders.  LOL!  I colored it with the following Spectrum Noir pens:  DR2, DR4, DR6, GB8, GB1, GB2, BG1, blender.  Only needed a few for this one and it was fairly easy to color, too.  Love that!  I added a few Studio Calico star sequins to the mix that matched perfectly!  YAY!




And, with that, I hope you have a delightful Tuesday!

Have a Happy!!!

Keepin' it CAS-ual! (Giveaway)

I am VERY excited to announce that I will, once again, be joining the CAS-ual Fridays Challenge Design Team!  I have enjoyed being on the team for the last term and I am looking forward to the next one!  As you know, I am also on the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps team, so I just can't stay away!  :) We have some exciting stuff planned for this coming year and I think you are going to LOVE IT!!!



This is a CAS card I created using CAS-ual Fridays stamps awhile ago that I haven't had the chance to share with you yet, so I decided to pull it out for today!  YAY!!!  And now to answer those burning questions you came for!  HA!

1. How long have you been a cardmaker, and how were you first introduced to it?  Umm.... a long time?  I started scrapbooking when I was in college and that turned into any and all paper crafting and just grew from there!  I just love playing with paper!  I started on my own with a spiral bound album from the Hallmark store and a white gel pen and some photo corners.  LOL!

2. What color are your toenails painted right now?  They totally aren't.  It's winter, dude.

3. If your family locked up your crafty supplies for an entire month, what would you do instead?  Cry.  And probably eat a lot.  HA!

4. Favorite thing to order at Starbucks:  I'm not a big Starbuck's girl, but I like that caramel apple spice cider thing they have in the fall.

5. You've reached your destination but just as you are turning your car off, a song comes on the radio and you are sooo happy to hear it that you sit in your car until it's over(singing along is optional *wink*). Name that song:  Delta Rain by The Blessing.  Hands down.  Best.  Song. Ever.  It is rarely played by anyone anywhere, so if I hear it, I STAY PUT!

Be sure to head over to the CAS-ual Fridays blog to check out some of the other new team members AND to see how you can WIN!!!  Don't forget to leave your comments here for your chance to WIN a CAS-ual Fridays Stamp set or Fri-Die of your choice!!!  Woot!  Woot!

Oh, My Stars!

Happy Friday, folks!  I decided to jump in for the Runway Inspired Challenge this time around!  This is really one of my favorite challenges and I just don't get the opportunity to play very often, so I was excited to play along!

This is the inspiration photo that was provided.  My first instinct was to create something that had nothing to do with the dress, to be honest, but rather, that amazing turquoise and white background!  That one may still be to come, however, after receiving some new goodies from Simon Says Stamp the other day, I had to dive into them and ended up inspired by the dress, after all!



To create this look, I stamped a white panel with the Hero Arts Capture Prism background stamp and heat embossed it with clear powder.  I then used Mini Distress Inks in a variety of colors over the embossed image to create a colorful happiness!!!!  I then die cut the stars with the Lil' Inker Stitched Star dies.  I LOVE THESE DIES!  I die cut the stars from black cardstock to create the shadow and popped the colorful ones up on the shadow.  Then I added a few enamel dots and the sentiment from Lil' Inker Shiny Happy stamp set!  LOVE IT!



And with that, my friends, I wish you a HAPPY!

Distress Ink Watercoloring

With the watercolor look gaining in popularity, I have been playing with different methods more and more.  For this card, I pulled out some of my Tim Holtz distress inks and my craft mat to do a little ink watercoloring.  I pressed the ink pads onto my craft mat and then used a waterbrush to pick up the colors and add them to my stamped images.



For the sentiment banner, I masked off an area and then used a couple of different inks in blue tones to get my ombre look.  I really love how that part turned out.  The colors just blended beautifully and did exactly what I wanted them to do.  I grounded them with a bit of black and then added a strip of glitter paper for some sparkle!



The postcard stamp is from the Camden Town Male 1 set from Crafter's Companion and the sentiment is from the Sentimentals Love is All You Need set.  I love the sentimentals sets.  And the Camden sets, for that matter.  This card combines some of my favorites!  YAY!!!

Have you tried watercoloring with distress inks?  I love it.  I really do.  It's a lot of fun to do and a bit less messy than pulling out the tubes of watercolors.  I have some pots, too.  Those aren't messy.  I like them.  I need to get a good watercolor palette, though.  Like... the grown-up version of those white trays with the 6 colors in them we had as kids.  If you have one that is great quality I'd love to know about it!  Well... that was a bit of a random rambling on watercolors, but, alas.  HA!

Have a Happy!!!

Made With Love

Happy Wednesday!  Hey!  Guess what?  It's NOT snowing!!!  It's a MIRACLE!  LOL!  I am excited to share a card with you for our Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge!  The challenge is to create cards with a Wedding or Anniversary theme.  This week the Design Team is using some Prima goodies!  They have such a wide range of pretty things!  I wanted to find something a bit different that not everyone might think of when they think Prima, so I went with this great pocket pad!  I also pulled out some of the Lizzie Anne Designs stamps and dies that are exclusive to Simon Says Stamp for my card!



If a marriage isn't made with love, well, than I would say there isn't much hope.  My sentiment isn't necessarily the first one considers when creating a wedding or anniversary card, but I think it works so beautifully!  And...if you look closely, you will see that the gift card tucked into the pocket is for Michael's!  I know if MY husband gave me this anniversary card I'd be a pretty happy girl!  :)  For reals, though.



I used some fun stuff on this card!  Dies, wood veneer, AWESOME papers, and, like I said, some super cute stamps and dies!  You can find them all in the inlinkz at the bottom of this post!

And now it's YOUR turn!  Create a NEW Wedding or Anniversary themed card and link it up over at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $50 Gift Voucher to the Simon Says Stamp Store!  DUDE!  If you need help spending that, just give me a heads up.  *wink*  *wink*

Have a Happy, folks!  I certainly plan to do so!

*Simon Says DIE & STAMPS SET LOVE LABELS SetLL44 *Simon Says Stamp LABELLED WITH LOVE Craft Dies SSSD111333 *Simon Says Clear Stamps LABELLED WITH LOVE SSS101379 *Simon Says Clear Stamps OBJECTS OF LOVE SSS101378 *Simon Says Clear Stamps CHALKBOARD LOVE SSS101380 *Memory Box WOVEN CIRCLE Craft DIE 98114 *Simon Says Stamp MINI HEARTS SET Craft DIE S142 *Carta Bella WILDFLOWERS 6 x 6 Paper Pad CB-WD22015 *Carta Bella WILDFLOWERS 12 x 12 Collection Kit CB-WD22016 *Bazzill COOL DOWN Card Shoppe Variety Pack Heavy Weight 8.5 x 11 Cardstock *Simon Says Stamp LIFE BIRCH WOOD VENEER PAPER 12 Pack L12B *May Arts IRRIDESCENT WHITE Metallic String *Versamark WATERMARK Rubber Stamp Emboss Chalk Resist INK PAD *Tsukineko Embossing Powder WHITE Emboss *Precision Heat Embossing Emboss Tool Gun Hero Arts PW200 *Sizzix BIG SHOT MACHINE Powder Blue & Teal 657900 *Tombow Adhesive Craft Stamp DISPENSER & REFILL Dot Pattern Runner 62143 Permanent

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