Happy Birthday Celebration

Hello, today I'm playing along with this weeks CAS(E) This Sketch #304.

 I opted to make a boys birthday card, as I usually am out of those in my stash of cards.  I stamped everything on white cardstock, and colored the present with markers.

Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Cupcake Sprinkles, Happy Birthday, Make a Wish - Close to My Heart
Ink: Pacifica - Close to My Heart, Memento Tuxedo Black
Cardstock: Enchanted Evening, White - Papertrey Ink

Unicorn Celebrate

Hello, it's been a long time since I've posted.  We bought my husbands grandparents house on the farm and have spent the past year remodeling it.  I just moved into my new craft room this last week, so I was excited to create something in my new space.  My daughter had a recent birthday, now that the kids are back in school, we needed to pass out invitations for her party.  She wants a unicorn themed party.  I decided to create a quick, post card style card for her to hand out at school.  I used this weeks CAS(E) this Sketch #303 as the pattern, its a retro sketch #251.  Here's the sketch:

Here is the invitation:

Supplies used:
Cardstock: Ocean Mist and white - Gina K.
Embossing Folder:  Cloudy Day - Stampin' Up!
Stamps and Die:  Dreamer - Tailored Expressions
                             Say it in Style - Close to My Heart
Punch: XL Curly Label - Stampin' Up!
Ink: Tuxedo Black - Memento
Jelly Roll and Glaze Pens

Many Thanks

Hello.  I took a break from crafting last week, it wasn't a restful break, it was more of a keep my sanity break.  We had a large auction last Thursday and Friday here at the farm.  We are no longer dairy farmers, we are now crop farmers.  It was a super hard decision, I still walk around our empty farm crying.  I wanted to get back to creating, so today I decided to participate in this weeks CAS(E) this Sketch and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, which was anything goes.  We had so many of our friends to help us through last weeks emotional rollercoaster that I need to start making thank you cards to send to them.  Here is this weeks sketch:

I was excited to use some new stamps for my card.  I love the Altenew Peony Bouquet stamps and dies, especially since some of my fondest memories of my grandmother growing up include her and the peony bushes at her house.  

 I layered four different Close to My Heart inks using the four different layer stamps for the flowers, they were Blush, Hollyhock, Tulip, and Vineyard Berry.  For the leaves, I layered 3 Close to My Heart inks, Sweet Leaf, Topiary, and New England Ivy.  I made a card base using Papertrey Inks Pale Peony cardstock. I matted it with a white cardstock that I embossed using the Honeycomb embossing folder from Stampin' Up!  The sentiment from Lawn Fawn I stamped with Close to My Hearts Archival Black ink and cut it out using a scissors.  I hope this card conveys to my dear friend who came and made sure we had food to eat during our action and days following how much we appreciated everything she did for us.

Simple Birthday

Hello!  Today I'm posting the card I made using this weeks CAS(E) this Sketch card sketch.

I ended up playing around with some of my new stamps and dies from Concord and 9th.  

This is the first card that I can remember using washi tape on.  I bought a pretty pack of coordinating Recollections washi tape at Michael's a few months ago.  When I was trying to come up with an idea, I remembered that I had this tape and decided to try it for a quick and easy background.  I die cut happy with a scrap of metallic gold paper that I had laying next to my Big Shot.  I cut the banner from the Happy Card Frames Dies and stamped birthday using Close to My Hearts Hollyhock ink and the stamp from the Happy Words bundle (linked above) set from Concord and 9th.

Magical Day

Hello.  Today, I wanted to use this weeks sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch.  I just couldn't decide on a theme for it.  However, when I saw the cupcakes for this weeks Cupcake Inspirations, I knew exactly which stamp set I was reaching for.  Here are the pictures for the inspiration:

I just loved the unicorn cupcakes, they are so fun!  I used my stamps and die combo called Dreamer from Taylored Expressions to stamp and cut out my unicorn. I colored using Copic markers, then I brushed her with Wink of Stella for some extra shimmer.  I decided to put her on a hill that I cut out using the Sleigh Ride Edgelits from Stampin' Up and Sweet Leaf cardstock from Close to My Heart.  I embossed the cloud background using the Cloudy Day embossing folder from Stampin' Up.  

CAS(E) Birthday Card

Hi, I'm glad you stopped by.  I made a few different versions of this weeks sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch.

I combined it with this weeks Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge - Happy Birthday.  My color inspiration was from a picture a friend posted on Facebook of a parakeet.

Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Happy Birthday, Just Because - Close to My Heart

Inks:  Black - Close to My Heart, Lavender Glaze - Taylored Expressions

Cardstock - Papertrey Ink

Dies - Skinny Mini Party Borders - Taylored Expressions

For You CAS(E)

Hello!  I sat down this afternoon after church to create this card from this weeks CAS(E) this Sketch challenge.

Sometimes when I look at a sketch, it makes me think of a stamp that I need to use for creating the card.  This sketch made me think of a set (Field Flowers) that I was given as a surprise hostess gift by my Stampin' Up! consultant.  She knew that I loved this set, and ordered it for me as an extra surprise.  She is so good to me.  Here is the card I created:

Supplies Used:

Stamps:  Bitty Banners, Field Flowers - Stampin' Up!

Inks:  Blush, Hollyhock, Tulip, Black - Close to My Heart

Paper:  Hollyhock - Close to My Heart, First Edition DSP - Stampin' Up!

Simple Christmas Wishes

Hi there.  I was so excited to combine 2 challenges for today's card.  I'll start with the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch!, it was perfect for showcasing a textured paper as the base.  I chose to use a new embossing folder that I hadn't even taken out of the package called Cable Knit.  I lightly misted the cardstock with water before I ran it through my Big Shot, the paper is deeply embossed with a sweater pattern with no cracking of the cardstock.  

Since I used the Cable Knit dynamic folder, I decided to combine the sketch with this weeks Merry Monday Christmas Challenge to use red, green, and white.  I cut the New England Ivy with my new die set from Papertrey Ink, I love the stitched border it adds.  I stamped the sentiment with Versamark and heat embossed it with Real Red Glitter Embossing Powder for some color and sparkle.  

I had a hard time capturing the sentiment, so here is a close up:

On a different note, I'm surprised how much of a difference cameras made in these photos.  I have an older point and shoot Canon that I keep in my craft desk for taking pictures for my blog.  I was having a hard time with it focusing on the sentiment, so I switched the memory card to my new camera that my husband got me for Christmas.  What a huge difference in photo quality.  I'm going to retire the Canon and let the girls use it when they go to church camp this summer.  

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Cozy Christmas - Stampin' Up!

Ink:  Versamark

Real Red Glitter Embossing Powder, Real Red Cardstock, Cable Knit Dynamic - Stampin' Up!

New England Ivy Cardstock - Close to My Heart

Neenah Solar White Cardstock

Double Ups: Rectangle Die Collection - Papertrey Ink

For Baby

I went super clean and simple for this weeks CAS(E) this Sketch #213. I wanted to combine it with this weeks The Paper Players theme, which was a CAS baby card.  When I sat down to create a card for both challenges, I couldn't decide between  boy or girl, since it was such a simple card, I decided to do one of each.  Here they both are:

Please forgive the photo quality, it's time to retire this camera.  I noticed especially with these photos the odd spots, and lack of focus.  My youngest daughter dropped it about 2 weeks ago, and I think its done.  Here is the boy card:

I've been playing with new inks and cardstock from different companies.  I still like my Close to My Heart inks, however, it's been long enough that some of my colors are retired and I can't order matching cardstock for them.  So this card has some new to me brands of ink and cardstock.   Here is the girls:

If you look closely at the cards, I wanted to do some sort of border on the main white cardstock.  I don't have any dies that emboss a border, but I did have a stitching stamp set.  So I played around with the color for stitching and ended up using a second generation stamped in Grey Wool.
Supplies Used:
Stamps:  Baby Love, Simple Stitches - Close to My Heart
Inks:  Grey Wool, Sky - Close to My Heart, Tuxedo Black - Memento, Lavender Glaze - Taylored Expressions
Paper - Neenah, Winter Wisteria - Paper Trey Ink
Sequins - Target Dollar section