Because sometimes there are goodbyes

In February of 2013, I decided to apply to be on the Design Team for a stamp company that I absolutely LOVED.

That company was CAS-ual Fridays Stamps. I have been so fortunate to have been a part of this team since that call and I have loved every single minute of it! Michele has truly unique designs that are simply wonderful! She also has a heart of gold and put up with me through all of my ups and downs through the last few years. This team has truly meant a lot to me. Which is why I am sad to say that I have decided to step down. This is my final post as a DT member for CAS-ual Fridays and that is really hard to type. Wow. 

When considering what to create for today, my mind went to one place very quickly. Thank you. I wanted to create a card that said thank you to Michele, thank you to those who have followed my CFS designs, and thank you to those with whom I have designed over the years. So...

Funny... My absolute favorite CFS sets happened to be perfect for my card! What a coincidence! LOL! But really and truly... Michele - It's been awesome. Thank you. For everything.

Jingle Out.

THANKS for joining us for Day THREE of the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Release!

And yes, we have another giveaway and more inspiration for you today! Today's brand new CAS-ual Fridays Stamps stamp set is a sentiment MUST HAVE. Thank you cards. We all make 'em. We probably even send those ones sometimes! *wink* Having awesome thanks sentiments in your stash is essential! And today's stamps give you JUST that! I love it!



Oh, and did I mention that there is an awesome die involved, too? 'Cause THERE IS!!! Yup! And I'm loving it! I decided to use the negative die cut to create the 'thanks' and then stamped the rest of the sentiment in a break in my patterned paper for a fun design. A few sequins added some great color, too!



I love that these don't just say 'thanks' and 'thank you', but rather they offer complete sentiments to use for heartfelt thank you cards. It really is such a great set!

Don't forget to head on over to the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps blog for your chance to WIN this stamp set and to check out the awesome inspiration from the Girl Fridays!

And, if you need to do some shopping, don't forget to use code JINGLE2016 for 15% off your entire order!

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a Happy!

It's Ombré Time!

Hello, all, and welcome to another installment of the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, brought to you by Simon Says Stamp, your one stop shop for all of your paper crafting needs! *And the crowd goes wild!*

Yup. It's a game show opener kind of day. Why? Because that's just the kind of mood I'm in. And I'm in charge around here. So, that's what you get.

Whatever. You know you love it.

The challenge this week is to use the ombré technique on your projects! The design team is featuring Hero Arts products this week. You don't have to use them to play along, but if you've got some on hand, we'd love to see what you do with them!



I used this AWESOME dot background stamp to create my card for today. I seriously love this stamp! I stamped in VersaMark and heat embossed with white embossing powder on white cardstock. I then used distress inks to create the ombé background. I kind of love it. The sentiment is the Simon Says Stamp Painted Thanks die, cut several times, layered, and then I used Wink of Stella, Glossy Accents, and some super fine glitter to make it sparkle. It sparkles. Lots.


Now it's YOUR turn! Created something awesome based on the Ombré inspiration and link it up over on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog for your chance to win a $50 Gift Voucher to the Simon Says Stamp Store! 

That's all for today, folks! Thanks so much for joining us and be sure to come back next week for another fabulous installment of... the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge! *Closing Music Plays* 

Have a Happy. *wink*

So Incredibly Grateful

Have you SEEN the November Card Kit from Simon Says Stamp? Have you SEEN IT? Well, it is fabulous. For reals fabulous.

Actually, I'm not even going to say too much, I'm just going to show you this card that I made with it. Because... THESE STAMPS, YOU GUYS!



I used the gorgeous leaf stamps with several different embossing powders to create a layered, embossed design on the Kona Coffee cardstock and layered that over one of the pretty patterned papers. I am in love with those leaves. Lots. Lots of love for leaves. And such.



AMIRIGHT? I am. You don't even have to answer that. Those leaves are awesome. Those stamps are awesome. This kit is awesome. Basically...

Everything is Awesome.

And I'll just leave that right there. *wink*

Have a Happy!

These are Some Awesome Fish

No, seriously, you guys! These FISH! I love them! But I didn't make them. Nope. They are handmade paper fish that were created by a wonderful young lady who is preparing to begin third grade. She is a smart girl with a heart of gold. She is a thinker and a creator. She helps others and she gives entirely of her own accord. I'm telling you, this kid is AMAZING. And her Mom is pretty amazing, too. Kathy (her Mom) runs a blog called Bliss Habits. It is WELL worth your time. As a matter of fact, it is a gift each day. A moment just for you. I highly recommend it. You can also find her on her Bliss Habits Facebook page.

This young lady created these fish and is considering starting a small online business selling them to crafters and card makers like you and me! She sent me a few, absolutely free, to try out and show off!



Yes. Those fish. She made them. By hand. And she sent me several in a variety of sizes including a tiny one that I absolutely LOVE!!!! For REALS, you guys! They are so well made, too! I was actually really super impressed by the craftsmanship. I couldn't have done it better myself and I work with paper a LOT, folks.



I added the fish to a cute background paper and then stamped a simple thank you sentiment on a white panel across the card. A few enamel dots were the perfect accent along with these super cute fish!

Keep an eye on the Bliss Habits Facebook page, as I'm sure if these go up for sale it will be mentioned there! If not, I promise it WILL be mentioned HERE on my blog! Because I love them. And I will be first in line to buy some!

Have a Happy!

A Card and an Introduction

I have some exciting news to share! LOOK!



This is Morgan! She is the newest member of our family. She is ten weeks old and a bundle of sheer puppy joy! And exhaustion. Joy and exhaustion. LOL! So far she loves boxes, her stuffie, and is absolutely fascinated by the world around her. It is a lot of fun to watch her discover and learn.

I also wanted to share another super fun card I created with the Simon Says Stamp July Card Kit. I love this one. It's a bit of a more rustic style than I normally do, but I just love the elements and how they came together!



I did cheat just a bit and used another Simon Says Stamp die with my kit contents, but shhh! Don't tell. *wink*



I hope you had a wonderful holiday weekend if you are here in the United States, and a wonderful non-holiday weekend if you are somewhere where there wasn't a holiday. HA!

Have a Happy!

A Bit of Texture

Hello, folks! We have another fabulous new challenge for you today on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge Blog! This week we are ADDING A LITTLE TEXTURE to our projects! Yes, that's right, we want to see you add texture in some way to your creations this week. The design team is showcasing Simon Says Stamp Exclusives on our projects this week. If you have some, we'd LOVE to see how you use them for the challenge, but they aren't required to enter.



I pulled out some favorites for this one! I used the Grid Background stamp along with the Dots and Lines stencil to create my physically AND visually textured background. I then added a bit more texture by gold embossing the flower from Friendly Florals and layering that over some gold thread. The sentiment is die cut from Bazzill Gold cardstock and layered a few times to give it depth and dimension. I super duper love how this card turned out.



As I was beginning the design work on this card, I wasn't sure if I wanted to go with the white grid background or something darker. Soooo...instead of actually MAKING a decision (who wants to do that, anyway), I just went ahead and made BOTH! Here is another take on this design.



For this one, the background is left a bit more plain, but the dark color fills that space beautifully. I used the same techniques for the rest of the design and even used the same colors. I love how they are both so pretty, and yet, pretty different.



You can find the complete list of products I used for my two cards below, along with links (they are affiliate links) to find the items in the Simon Says Stamp Store.

OH! And Speaking of the Simon Says Stamp store, one lucky participant in this week's challenge will win a $50 Gift Voucher to Simon Says Stamp! TOTALLY worth entering, you guys. For reals, though. Just do it. Go make something fabulous!

Supplies:

Stamps: Simon Says Stamp Friendly Flowers, Simon Says Stamp Grid Background (love these SO MUCH!)

Stencil: Simon Says Stamp Dots & Lines

Gold Cardstock: Bazzill Gold Metallic (DUDE... you need it.)

Thread: DMC Metallic Trio

Embossing Paste: Wendy Vecchi White Embossing Paste

Ink: Simon Says Stamp Fossil, Slate and Versamark

White cardstock: Crafter's Companion Ultra Smooth White

Gold Sequins: Studio Calico

Embossing Powder: Stampendous (Gold detail)

Tools: Milwaukee Heat Gun, Fiskars Stamp Press, Teflon Bone Folder

Die Cut Machine: Spellbinders Artisan Explorer

Have a Happy!

Thanks a Latte!

You guys know I love a good pun. Or a bad one, to be honest. I just can't even HELP it! I decided to play along the the MFT Card Challenges Sketch Challenge and pulled out one of the fun punny stamp sets from MFT. And gold and white. Because gold and white.

I don't work with ovals often, so this sort of intrigued me. I pulled out the Pierced Oval dies from Spellbinders to serve as my base for the die cut image. I love those pierced dies. I seriously reach for them SO STINKING MUCH.



This has a few layers, which was kind of fun, as I don't often work in layers. I stamped the cool triangle background (from Aha Arts)in gold Delicata ink and then added a cute puffy sticker border from Pinkfresh Studio. I {HEART} PUFFY STICKERS! For reals, though. I totally do. I then die cut the oval, added it with foam tape, die cut the cup, lid, and sleeve, added that with foam tape, and then heat embossed the sentiment in gold on vellum and wrapped it around the whole lot of it! Layers can be fun, guys!



I have to be honest, I'm not usually one for sketch challenges, as working with a sketch just isn't my favorite thing in the world, but this one was very clean and simple in style and pushed me out of the box a little with the whole oval thing, so I jumped in. I am so glad I did! This card turned out super cute and was a lot of fun to create!

You can find links to the supplies I used below. Please note that Simon Says Stamp links are affiliate links and your support is appreciated. The other links are not affiliate, but I love this stuff, so check it out anyway! HA!

Cardstock: Crafter's Companion Ultra Smooth White, Bazzill Gold Metallic Cardstock
Vellum: Bazzill 40lb. Vellum
Dies: Spellbinders Pierced Ovals, My Favorite Things Coffee Cup die set
Stamps: Aha Arts Border and Pattern set, My Favorite Things Perk Up set 
Embossing Powder: Simon Says Stamp Detail Gold Embossing Powder
Tools: Milwaukee Heat Gun, EK Success Powder Tool, Spellbinders Tool 'n One
Ink: Tsukineko VersaMark Clear, Gold Delicata
Sticker: Pinkfresh Studio

Thanks for stopping by! Have a Happy!

A Bit Floral, A Bit Shabby, and a Bit Challenging!

Hiya, folks!  It's FRIDAY!  WOOT!   WOOT!  Today I have another card to share with you.  Our homework from yesterday's lesson at Summer Card Camp 2 was to go outside of our usual style.  *sigh*  Okay.  Fine.  I'll try this shabby thing.  HA!

I am a CAS kind of girl.  I like clean, I like graphic, and I REALLY REALLY like simple.  BUT, I am always up for a challenge, so  I stepped up and gave this layered and shabby look a shot.  It's not a ton of layers, but I did include a few.  I also decided to toss some florals into the mix because I pretty much NEVER do florals.  I kinda suck at 'em.  HA!  I don't have a ton of floral stamps and precisely ZERO floral dies, so I found some cute flowers from a Simon Says Stamp set and fussy cut them.  Yup.  Kickin' it old school all up in here, folks.  HA!



I went for a sort of shabby garden shed window look.  Did I hit that?  I hope so.  HA!  Can I tell you something... creating cards like this takes a LOT of planning.  I mean, you have to KNOW where you are going before you start gluing, stamping, etc.  It's a little crazy-pants, if you ask me.  Just sayin'.  I don't know how those shabby layering awesome folks do it!  You need like time and forethought and planning and...  well, I guess I'm just all kinds of willy-nilly and such.  HA!



I used a die cut banner to create the 'windowsill' and then cut out the leaves and flowers by hand and popped them up with foam dots to give them dimension.  That part was kind of fun to put together.  That's another thing I don't normally do... scenes... again, with the planning and forethought and such, but this was a lot of fun and I think it turned out kinda cute, if I do say so myself!

So...that's my card for you today.  I hope you like my little diversion from my usual CAS style.  AND... I hope you have a happy dappy weekend!  I have some posts coming up for the weekend.  That's a little unusual, too, but it happens from time to time, so stop on by and say hello!  Hopefully I'll be at the beach!  HA!

Have a Happy!!!