Muse #10 and CASology - Hope

Hello Everyone,
I wasn't sure if I was going to make it on time to participate in the challenges this week. My card has been percolating in my brain since I saw the beautiful card Ardyth Percy-Robb created for this week's Muse Challenge. Then when I saw the CASology cue card (hope) I felt that the sentiment for my card fit the theme perfectly! I was inspired by the layout/sketch of Ardyth's card and ran with that. I created a negative mask to sponge my clouds and then masked them off to stamp the sun. The senitment is from a Hero Arts set; the clouds are a Memory Box die and the sun stamp is from a Lawn Fawn set. I am really pleased with the result. Thank you Ardyth for the inspiration. Thanks for looking.

Happy Stamping,
Meg

CAS-ual Friday: No stamps

Hello Everyone,
This week's challenge at CAS-ual Friday's is "No Stamps" - Hmmm! That had me stumped for a little bit and then this card popped into my head. I used the paper bead die from PTI to create the rays. The cross is cut out from the SU! lattice die - when that die first came out I resisted buying it because I didn't think I would really use it even though I loved the design - boy am I glad I caved. I love its versatility. THe hills are also a PTI die. This is my Easter card for this year. Thanks for looking!

Happy stamping,
Meg

Cas-ology Song: Happy Birthday to You

Hello Everyone,
This week's CAS-ology is song. So I did the obvious, and went with "Happy Birthday to You". I had a birthday card to make for my best friend's daughter, so this is what I came up with. It doesn't look CAS, but it was actually very easy to put together. I used "Notebook Doodles" from Lil' Inker - I almost didn't get this set because it was a little more than I usually spend, but I am just loving it! It was very easy to take the various swirls and put them thogether to make the focal image. Then I just quickly coloured everything in. I also embraced patterned paper (took the online class "Pattern Play"). I have a fair bit of it, but use it sparingly. I added some rock candy stickles to the peace sign - you can't really see it in the picture, but itdoes add a little sparkle IRL. I had a lot of fun with this card - thanks for looking!

Happy Stamping,
Meg

Pattern Play Card Class Day Two: Part Two

Hello Everyone,
Yesterday I posted a card I made using the technique that Jennifer McGuire showed us in Pattern Play class. Today I am posting the card I made with the positive die cut from that card. I masked off the area where the "Thanks" was going to go and stamped some flourishes from the Lil' Inker "notebook Doodles" set. I used another technique that Jennifer had demonstrated in the "Clean and Simple 2" class - I stamped in yellow, then inked in yellow and orange to create some gradient colour; finally I inked in straight orange. The lighting wasn't great when I was photographing the card this a.m., but in real life it is more distinct. Love the way it turned out.

Happy Stamping,
Meg

Pattern Play Online Card Class Day Two

Hello Everyone,
I am dropping in to share the card I made for today's Pattern Play class. I loved Jennifer McGuire's idea of using emboss resist and sponging to change up the look  of a pattern. So, that is what I did. I started out with a piece of yellow patterned paper that had white polka-dots on it; then I stamped my background with versamark and clear embossed. Next, I sponged all over with Spiced Marmalade distress ink and sponged just around the edge with fired brick. I love the way it turned out. I die the Thanks sentiment and popped everything on dimensionals. I will use the positive die cut on another card. Anyway, thanks for stopping by - if you haven't taken one of these online classes, you really have to try it out. They are fantastic.

Happy Stamping,
Meg

Pattern Play Card Class: Day One

Hello Everyone,
I am thrilled to be participating in another of Kristina Werner and Jennifer McGuire's online card classes. This one is all about using patterned papers. I have to admit that I love patterned paper and have lots of it, but never really use it effectively. Today's class focused on how to combine different papers by balancing the large, medium and small designs. I cased one of Kristina's cards almost directly - I used her sketch. I was surprised at how easy it was to pick out the papers. The papers I chose all come from one pad and with the sketch in mind it was simple figuring out how I juxtapose them. Initially, I didn't have the thin strip of yellow between the bold floral pattern and the stripes and it looked too fragmented; just adding that thin little strip really pulled things together. The speech bubble and sentiment are from a new Neat and Tangled set called "Just Thinking of You". I just love it. Anyway, thanks for stopping by and I look forward to hearing from you.

Happy Stamping,
Meg

Muse Challenge # 9: Marion Vagg

Hello Everyone,
It is Monday, so it is time for a new Muse challenge. This week's inspiration comes to us from the fabulous Marion Vagg. If you are not familiar with her designs, you really need to hop on over to her blog and feast your eyes. Here is her inspiration card for this week's challenge.

The colours and the layout are gorgeous! I love the somplicity of this design. I was inspired by the colours and the white stamped image. Here is my card:

I chose to create a similar colour scheme in the background. I used three shades of blue Inktense pencils and coloured in wide stripes on watercolour paper.  Then I blended these colours together to create the gradient background. I dried it with my heat tool, and stamped the lattice background in versamark and white embossed. Next, I die cut the white flower (love my wafer thin dies). and stamped and mounted the sentiment. It makes for a lovely soft card even though the colours are "cool" tones. Thanks Muse for the challenge; thanks Marion for the inspiration; and thanks to all the "players" for leaving me comments! :)

 

Happy Stamping,
Meg



Muse Challenge 8: Therese Calvird

 

Hello Everyone,

Week after week the gals over at Muse just keep coming up with fantastic inspiration cards - this week's is no exception. Therese Calvird is this week's muse - be sure to check out her blog. All I can say is WOW! I was inspired by the layout, so that is what I went with. The flower is from Clearly Besotted's "With Love". Check out their stamps, because they are gorgeous and so fun to use. The sentiment is from Neat and Tangled's "Kindness Matters" - another great stamp company. The butterfly is a Memory Box die that I just love. I sponged Behind the window with distress inks and used the same colours to colour my butterfly. The flower is coloured with copics. I am really pleased with the way this turned out - I think I will send this one to my sister! Now I am off to see what other creations people have come up with at Muse!

Happy Stamping,
Meg

Caseing Julie Ebersole: Case Study# 131

Hello Everyone,
I was super-excited when I saw that Julie Ebersole is the Case Study Muse! I LOVE Julie's cards! When I saw which card was selected, I was even more excited - Julie was the designer who introduced me to colouring on Craft paper. Here  is her card:

It is so soft and beautiful, yet it also has a striking vibrant quality to it too. I think that is what appeals to me most - I love vibrant colours, but I also love simple, elegant design. So her is my card:

I think the inspiration is pretty obvious. I used the flowers from "Loving Thoughts" ( a CAS-ual Fridays stamp set). The sentiment is cut from two separate dies. The "Love" is Paper Smoochesand the "You" is from Simon Says Stamp. I love the way the card turned out. I used some Glossy Accents on the little hearts to give that added touch. Thanks for looking and commenting!

Happy Stamping,
Meg

CASology Cue Card 34: Bunny

Hello Everyone,
When I saw the cue card this week at CASology, my heart sank a bit: Bunny. I immediately thought cutesy and that is just not my style. I also thought Easter, but I prefer to make religious Easter cards as it is a religious holiday, not a secular one. Then I remembered my funky crazy Paper Smooches Bunny and I knew he would save the day. I just got 'Lil Inkers "Notebook Doodles" and "Talk Bubbles" from Simon Says Stamp; so, I put them all to good use and came up with this simple fun card. I have mentioned before that I send cards each week to a small group of family and friends and I think this is a perfect "All Occasions" card. It was super easy - I clear embossed my bunny and coloured him with my distress markers. The way they blended makes him look furry (in my opinion). Anyhoo... hope you like it - he makes me giggle!

Happy Stamping,
Meg

Muse Week 7: Laurie Willison

Hi Everyone,
I am so happy to be taking part in the Muse card challenge this week. I just love Laurie Willison's cards and this new one for Muse does not disappoint. She had me at the Craft background! I love stamping on craft. I chose to case Laurie's card pretty directly! I was inspired by all of it. I used SU's "Delicate Doilies" for the background on the card base and on the sentiment tag. The sentiment is from CAS-ual Friday Stamps "Loving Thoughts" - I will just add how fantastic this new line of stamps is! The black ribbon I tried embossing with the same doily pattern I used for the background; it doesn't pop as much as I would have liked, but it is still a cool effect in real life. I am really thrilled with the way this card turned out - it will definitely find its way into the cards I send out each week to friends and family. Thanks for looking and thank you in advance for all your lovely comments!

Happy Stamping,
Meg

Muse Week 6: Deanna Jean

Hello Everyone,
I thought I was going to miss this week's Muse, but I am just going to make it. It was a crazy busy week at school and I have been so tired in the evenings, I have not had a chance to stamp. I would like to take a moment to say that I am loving the Muse inspiration designers - it just keeps getting better and better. Now, when you see my card you may think: "How was that inspired by Deanna Jean's card?" This card has been percolating in my brain since Monday morning when I first saw the inspiration card this week. What I loved about Deanna's card were the flowers and the frame. I decided to use the flowers as the frame - I also wanted to keep it simple because this stamp is such a delicate image. I love all the white space, but instead of using white as my card base, I decided to go with craft and use white to colour the flowers - I love the way it pops off the page. I am thrilled with the way the card turned out. Of couse I had to add a little bit of bling - my husband always says that that is the touch of "Megness"! Anyway, I hope you like my contribution.

Happy Stamping,
Meg

CASology Week 33: Circle

Hello Everyone,
the CASology cue card this week is circle. I made this card for my mom's friend who is turning 90. I was hoping to enter it into both the CASology challenge and the CAS-ual Friday challenge (Hiho Silver), but I was too late for CAS-ual Fridays :( However, I am going to be able to make the week 33 at CASology. The background of the circle is actually done with two shades of blue in a watercolour technique and is a little more intriguing looking IRL. I am still really pleased with the way it turned out. I love using a window in the focal image of a card; I also love the juxtaposition of the square card and the circular window. Well I am not going to go on and on - it has been a long week and I want to try to get a card in for the Muse challenge too!

Happy Stamping,
Meg