CAS-ual Fridays: Black and White Plus One

Hello Everyone,
I was excited to see the challenge at the CAS-ual Fridays blog. Black and white, plus one other colour. I had a request from the principal at  my school to make some thank you cards. She wanted something simple and elegant. When I saw the challenge at CAS-ual Friday, I knew what my colour scheme would be. Then I remembered this card at the wonderfully talented Tasnim's blog. I love the use of value in the way she sponged the background. All of these inspirations combined and I came up with this card.

This was a CAS card indeed. I masked off the sentiment area, and stamped the vines in versamark, then white heat embossed them. Next, I sponged with Broken China Distress ink. Finally, I took off the mask and stemped the sentiment. Really easy and I think a striking result. Thanks for looking.

Happy Stamping,
Meg

Muse #5: Marion Vagg

 

 

Hello Everyone,
When I saw that this week's Muse is Marion Vagg, I actually squeeled in delight. I LOVE Marion's designs. I first came across her blog through one of Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner's online card classes. I saw Marion's gorgeous creations in the gallery and started to follow her. If you haven't checked out her blog, you must - it provides a plethora of inspiration! Have I gushed enough?! Here is Marion's Muse card:



I love the yellows and orange and that is what I drew my inspiration from. It made me think of the Tulip Festival we have each spring in Ottawa. I don't have a tulip stamp, so I opted for roses instead. Here is what I came up with:

I created a watercolour background on which to stamp the roses. I used Fired Brick, Mustard Seed and Orange Marmalade Distress inks. I used the same distress inks to ink up the Hero Arts background stamp too. I love the way it turned out. Thank you so much Marion for your wonderfully inspiring Muse card. I am just loving this card challenge blog!

Happy Stamping,
Meg
 

Thank you Anita!

Hello Everyone,
I had a lovely surprise this morning. I was scrolling through some previous posts on my blog and noticed new comments on a card I had entered in a CASology challenge. One of them was from Anita (mypapercraftworld.wordpress.com) letting me know that she had awarded me the Liebster Blog award! Here it is:

 

I am so touched. I decided in January to start taking my papercrafting hobby a little more seriously. I made the commitment to blog more (so far, so good); I am a Stampin' Up demonstrator and I have been running classes with these prducts for a few years. I am finding that I am outgrowing their products, style and the limitations of the demo agreement. So, I decided to continue classes, but just not as a demonstrator any longer. I was worried about making this decision, but when I did I had another wonderful surprise. The owner of a local stamping store (Heather's Stamping Haven) asked me if I would be interested in teaching at her store. So I made up some sample cards and I will be teaching two classes in March and April! I am so excited!

 

So, all this to say that this Liebster Award is just another sign that I am moving in the right direction. Now here are "rules" of the Liebster:

• Thank the person who haas given you this award.
• Post the award on your blog.
• Pass the award on to five other bloggers who inspire you and have fewer than 200 followers.
• Leave a comment on each of their blogs letting them know they have been given the award.

 

I follow many blogs everyday, but here are the five I am passing the award to:

 

1. Jen W. at JENerally Speaking
2. Tasnim at Cards and Bookmarks
3. Deanna at Kloset Kreations
4. Shirley at Shirley-Bee's Stamping Stuff
5. Sue Wieberg at Crafting the Day Away

Thank you ladies for all the inspiration.

Happy Stamping,
Meg

Muse Challenge #4

Hello Everyone,
This week at Muse our inspiration is the above-pictured card by Therese Clavird. I love the purple and chartreuse colour scheme. This is what I drew the inspiration from - that and the drink of course. I knew I wanted to use that colour scheme, but it took a couple of days before the card percolated to the surface of my brain. Today, when I got home from school, I felt it was time to move the ideas that had been brewing to the paper.

 

This is the result. I love this little stamp set - it is by Stamp Barn (a local stamp company) and is a signature set from Heather's Stamping Haven here in Ottawa. The picture does not do the card justice - in the picture the colours look blue, but it is purple! Anyway, I am excited to head over to Muse to see the other great creations.

 

Happy Stamping,

Meg

 

CAS-ual Fridays: Love Song

Hi Everyone,
this week at CAS-ual Fridays, the challenge is "Love Song". This card is inspired by the song "Thank you for Being a Friend" - I am celebrating platonic love. My best friend has been in my life for 27 years and I am so grateful for all the love, support, fun and laughter she brings me. Each week I make her a card and send it to her, just so she knows - in the midst of the "busyness" of life - how much she means to me. This is my homage to her! The "Thank you" heart and the sentiment are both from Kristina Werner's line at Simon Says Stamp. I cut the heart from masking paper and sponged the card front with fired brick distress ink. Then I white embossed the sentiment. Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Stamping,
Meg

CASology 31: Red

HI Everyone,
Time to play along with CASology again, This week's cue card is red, When I went to the mailbox yesterday and saw that my new Neat and Tangled stamps had arrived, I was thrilled! I knew that I wanted to use it for this challenge. I thought this card would be simple to make and while the concept was simple, the execution was way more time consuming than I was anticipating. Funny how the simplest design can be very tedious to make! I am pleased with the way it turned out. Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Stamping,
Meg

CASology Week 30: Fariytale

 

Hello Everyone,
I made the New Year's resolution to blog more regularly and one of the ways I was going to ensure that was to participate in CASology challenges every week. Well I am sad to say that I missed last week's challenge. The cue card was "game" and I have to say it had me totally stumped. I was really impressed with all the entries, but try as I might, I could not come  up with anything. I love this card that was an honourable mention so much that I went out and bought Spirograph!
                                                            
At any rate, the minute I saw that this week's challenge cue card word was "Fairytale", I knew exactly what I would do. I just purchased the "A Little Lovin" stamp set from Paper Smooches and I thought the frog would be a perfect homage to the fairytale  "The Frog Prince". I coloured his royal Frogginess with my coipcs and added a touch of Glossy Accents to him and the heart just to create abit of dimension. The baker's twine added a nice balance and voila - my CAS card was done! He really is a cute frog - I'd kiss him! Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Stamping,
Meg

Muse Challenge #3: Laurie Willison

Hello Everyone,
It has been a long week - I am a teacher and we are in the thick of report card time, so I have not been able to blog. I am going to get my entry in to the Muse challenge just in the knick of time! I am just loving this new challenge blog - Muse. You really must check it out if you are not familiar with it yet. Not only is the premise great, but the muses are amazing. This week's Muse card was made by Laurie Willison. I love her design esthetic - I have visited her blog everyday for about two year's now and continually find inspiration in her style. So, when I saw her card on the Muse blog, I was thrilled. What really spoke to me was the tone on tone background paper that she used. Immediately I thought of a card I had seen on Kristina Werner's blog - I had saved it in my "cards to case" file. I opened it up (the file that is) and cased away. The flowers and the background on which they are mounted were originally whisper white, but I sponged them with Crumb Cake ink from SU. I like the way it softens the look. I did want some contrast, so I embossed the card base with a wood grain embossing folder (SU also). I love the way this card turned out. Thanks for stopping by. Now I am off to go and comment on all those great cards posted over on Muse!

Happy Stamping,
Meg