still not over... but embossed

Pretty monotonous here on my blog lately, eh? CAS and watercolored rainbow paper heaven. But monotonous. Today I've a couple cards that I took up a notch. Still CAS but not as extreme.

A wedding card. Absolutely inspired by the inspiration photo at Altenew's February challenge.

Pink, burgundy, glitter, gold, love theme, embossing. Got it all. I stamped the gorgeous blooms from Persian Motifs in gold. Partially embossed the top with Maggie Holmes Doily embossing folder. TIP: Put cardboard over the areas you do not want embossed before running your folder through your Big Shot. A strip of glitter CS and hand-stitched metallic gold thread up top finished the white panel.

Then I die cut "celebrate" from Essentials by Ellen Zipper Panel from my rainbow watercolored paper, using the purple to pink spectrum of the lighter version. Stacked it, inked the edges with a Distress marker and wink of Stella-ed it too. The secondary sentiment from Persian Motifs completed the sentiment.

And I even channeled my inner Joni A. and Jocelyn O. (notice the inked panel underneath and the lifted edges of the panel?!?!)

My second card is also love related. An anniversary card this time. 

Papertrey (Tipped Tops die) meets Technique Tuesday sentiment (Swanky Sentiments which BTW is a fabulous set for "go to" sentiments) meets a dry embossed Sizzix heart for a bit of interest in the background. "Happy" was also die cut from the lighter rainbow watercolored version and stacked before adhered. TIP: I use a skinny paintbrush and Matte Medium for stacking and adhering die cuts. It's still tedious work, but beats the days of adhering skinny strips of foam adhesive doesn't it?

I'm hooking up to these challenges:

Mod Squad - Use Water (I've used watercolors)
Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge - "H is for"
Happy Little Stampers February

Inkspirational #75

AAA Cards #32

CASual Fridays #136

1. TGIF. And happy weekend!

it still ain't over...

Back with a couple more of my CAS watercolor cards, like here and here. Today it's about hot stuff and hot colors.

Hot, right? Amy Tangerine Associate die meets Paper Smooches sentiment. And the red spectrum of the rainbow watercolored paper.

I'm playing at:

ATCAS #56

ATSAM #130

CASology #132

 And here is a hot version of yesterday's card.

QuicKutz monogram die meets Lawn Fawn sentiment and the red to yellow spectrum.

Playing here:

Bright and Beautiful

Lawnscaping #99

There's more to come. I've changed the design up a little too. Thanks for visiting.

it ain't over...

... 'til the watercolored paper is used up.

Remember this post and these watercolored pieces.

Following the same card design and AAA Cards Challenge #32 I created this.

Decided to use the "love" to create a sympathy card this time. Die cut Amy Tangerine Associate "love" from my bolder watercolored paper. Selectively inked a sentiment from Altenew Ori Kami. And called it quits.

Next card was created with the current Lawnscaping challenge in mind.

I love the "be unique" sentiment from Clear to See. I just changed it up a bit, using my QuicKutz Monogram U die. TIP: If you try this design, stamp the sentiments before adhering the stacked die cuts so that your die cut doesn't interfere with your acrylic block.

I'm playing in the current Cards and More challenge #125 - Turquoise, Purple and Gray - with both cards.

Warning. The watercolored paper ain't used up yet...

CASEplorations february

It's a two-fer post day today. For my Mixed Media Card Challenge please scroll.

Cool header, eh? Shery's talents extend beyond stamp and stencil design as you can see ;)

Welcome to the STAMPlorations girls' first CASEplorations post. We figured if we were asking you to join us on the Inspiration CASE Playground, then maybe we should do some CASEing too. So the first of every month we'll have a CASEplorations post. You never know, maybe we'll be CASEing one of your cards!

I personally love to CASE. So let's get right to it.

If you hang out in blogland, you surely know Julie Ebersole. Of Hello, Mondays in the Classroom at Ellen Hutson fame?

Well, check out her card. It just makes my heart smile.

Source: Julie Ebersole

So when I set out to CASE it ("copy and share everything"- more or less), I started by noticing the various elements - cupcake, pink, lotsa white, gold thread and sequins, black banner and splatters, doodling. I looked at it a couple times and then headed to my craft room.

I couldn't resist using a cupcake cuz I had the perfect one from Sketched: Cupcake but the splatters and cupcake for a birthday celebration morphed into a party which morphed into a shaker card in my brain. So I followed that thought and enclosed my cupcake inside a shaker.

I stamped the cupcake on white CS and on a scrap of watercolored CS. Added a bit more pink to the frosting before fussy cutting it and adhering it to the white one. Made some splatters on my cardbase and then it was shaker assembly time.

Gathered some pink and gold sequins and black star confetti and placed them and the cupcake on my card front. I used the Lil Inker Stitched Rectangle dies to cut one frame from CS and two from craft foam as well as a piece of acetate. Used Matte Medium and glued together CS frame, acetate, foam frame, foam frame, and cardbase - in that order. Put an acrylic block on it to dry overnight.

In a nod to the doodled line around Julie's card, I went over the stitches on the frame with a thin black marker. Added a couple star confetti pieces outside of the shaker too.

I love how the font on the one portion of my sentiment is the same as a part of Julie's! I heat embossed it in white onto black CS, using part of the sentiment from Vignette: It's your Day.

TIP:  Stretch your stamps by selectively inking. Before inking it up, use tape to cover up areas of a stamp you do not want to use . Just remember to remove the tape before stamping :)

As a final nod to Julie's card, I wrapped some metallic gold thread around the sentiment which I cut into a banner shape similar to hers.

I hope you enjoyed hearing how I approach a CASE. Take another look up top at Julie's card and mine. See a resemblance? Then it's a CASE!

Remember, that's what it's all about over at the new Inspiration CASE Playground. Pick a DT card from the CASEplorations post on the first of the month or one of the Inspiration Project Posts (2nd and 4th Mondays and Fridays), CASE it and link your card up to the Playground gallery for the month. You could be the lucky random winner of a great prize.

Oh, and should the green fingernail in the photo have you irritated (Cornelia), this was the reason for it. Helau!

I'm squeaking in at the last moment at CASology 131 (not sure if a shaker qualifies as CAS) but it sure is birthday. And cuz it's all about shakers at Virginia's View February challenge! And at Seize the Birthday- Anything Goes.

Mixed Media Card Challenge #8

It's a two-post kinda day. Please scroll for my CASEplorations post.

Awww. Look at those adorable love birds in the graphic for the February Mixed Media Card Chellenge. May have to pull out an oldie but goodie from Hero Arts soon to replicate those birdies. Remember that stamp?!?

But for now, here's a mixed media love card created for a submission. Don't stare at it too long or your eyes will go wonky ;)

I stamped the herringbone BG from Impression Obsession. Then I made a heart mask and used the negative to sponge on red and pink Distress Inks. Took the negative off, masked the heart with the positive and stamped the grunge dots from Bo Bunny and coffee stains from STAMPlorations Holiday Artsy. Splattered with gold ink. Added some sloppy stitching and adhered the panel to my cardbase.

Then I selectively applied textured embossing paste (it's like it has sand in it) through a triangle stencil and let it dry. Stamped and trimmed my sentiment and adhered it.

Definitely not CAS, although it is mailable! Join us for some mixed media fun this month, won't you?

I'm joining the fun at:
Just us Girls # 278 - where it's all about the sentiment
Inspired by Stamping #90 - where I've got a bit of the Color and Hearts inspiration
Simply Create Too #78 - where it's about Hearts/Valentines

CAS watercolor

I have a problem with watercolor. When I've created some gorgeousness with it, I have a really hard time not plastering an entire card front with it. Take this, for example.

Grabbed a sheet of watercolor paper and my kids' old watercolors and created the one on the left. Cuz it was such fun, I created the one on the right too, using a bit more pigment.

I had seen this card of Kylie's and just loved the ombre look on her die cut. My plan was to create a set of super CAS cards for my mom. So I die cut some word dies from vellum and used them as a guide for where to place my dies for the color gradient I wanted.

My plan also included combining die cut words with stamped words. Took me the longest to decide on the right sentiment/font combinations! This is what happened.

Dee's Distinctively meets Papertrey

WPlus9 meets STAMPlorations

Paper Smooches meets STAMPlorations

Amy Tangerine meets STAMPlorations

Essentials by Ellen meets Avery Elle

And may I introduce the set for my mom. I think they are going to be right up her alley. Do you have a favorite?

 I'm joining a few great challenges:

CFC 136

HSL Feb Sketch Challenge

Anything Goes

and Addicted to Stamps #129 - Clean and Simple cuz yep, they certainly are! Happy weekend.

day 5 of STAMPlorations spotlight week

Welcome to the last day of STAMPlorations spotlight week. I bet today's stamp set is gonna put a smile on your face. Today we are showcasing A Girl and her Shoes! I've got a two-fer fer ya.

First off the Audrey Hepburn version. (Perhaps a turquoise cardbase and a gold embossed sentiment would have been more appropriate!?!)

Next up, the version inspired by Christian Louboutin.

Love how the peep toe is a solid stamp. I just had to bring in some shiny red to mimic the red soles of his shoes. Heat embossed the sentiment in black onto a speech bubble (recycled packaging) and backed it with a shadow bubble too.

Remember, there are lots of prizes to be won - from comments left on the DT blogs and the STAMPlorations blog  - you have until end of Feb 3rd. Take a look and leave some comments. There will be lots of prizes and winners will be announced on Feb 5th. Certainly hope you enjoyed the week. We had fun bringing it to you :)