Online Card Classes: Stretch your Dies Day one

Hello Everyone,
I am so happy to be participating in another Online Card Class. It just happens to coincide with my March Break, so I can play along without having to juggle work too! Today Jennifer McGuire showed us this great way to "shrink" fun foam die cuts. Essentially, you cut your fun foam with your chosen die and then heat it up with your heat gun - magically it shrinks... Tons of fun! Here is my first card (pretty much a direct case of JM's - different word die):

I die cut the hugs sentiment from black fun foam and punched the flowers. I cut extra hugs from white cardstock to make the background. I shrank the foam pieces and adhered the card together. The black strip at the side was stamped with Hero Arts "Swirled Background" and then heat embossed with white and attached to the back of the main panel and finally, I added the strip of gold paper. I also coated the Hugs with Wink of Stella.

You can see a bit of the shimmer in the close-up. I am thrilled with this new technique - I just added a whole bunch of fun foam to my collection - gotta love the Dollar Store! I had some extra fun foam die cuts left over so I made this simple card:

Thanks for stopping by; I love to hear your feedback, so please feel free to leave a comment.

Happy Stamping,

Meg

CASology Tropical and Time Out Challenge

Hello Everyone,
Happy Saturday! I am so excited that the March Break has finally arrived. Today I wanted to play along with Time Out Challenges - they have an inspiration photo:

I love the bright colours and the geometric shapes so that is what I chose as my inspiration. I decided to play along again with CASology where the cue card is "tropical". So here is my card:

I masked off the center and created the design inside. I used Peacock Feathers, Mowed Lawn, and Broken China Distress inks. Then I masked off the outside and did the same thing with Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, and Picked Raspberry Distress inks. I die cut the Hello out of the middle. I die cut 5 more Hellos from black cardstock and layered it in. Then I offset the original to create a shadow.

I think the colours are very tropical and the "frame" and geometric shapes are inspired by the photo.

I am happy with the way it turned out - Please feel free to give me some feedback and leave a comment.

Happy Stamping,

Meg

CASology: Tropical

Hello Everyone,

It is time to play along with CASology! This week's cue card is Tropical - what a great inspiration word. You have to head over to check out the design team's cards - they are, as always, fantastic. My design focuses on the colours of a tropical sunrise or sunset.

I had the heart die cut left over from some shaker cards I had made for Valentine's. I inked it up with Picked Raspberry and Spiced marmalade Distress Inks. The colours don't show up as vibrant in the photo as they are in real life. I also used Ardyth's card as inspiration which is where I got the idea for the black silhouette flower. I popped the heart up on foam. The sentiment is stamped in behind the heart and then I lined it up and stamped it on the heart too.

I am pleased with this simple card - hope you like it too!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Little Tangles: Anything Goes

Hello Everyone,
I am happy to be joining Little Tangles challenge this week. It has been awhile since I last played along. I used Neat and Tangled's "Ink Splat" and "Everyday Circles". The You Rock part of the sentiment is from Paper Smooches "Sentiment Sampler".

I stamped the splat with Distress inks: Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade and Peacock Feathers - normally I don't use these inks for stamping, but I think they worked out well.I will be sending this little gem to my bestie this week. I think she will get a kick out of it!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to head over to Little Tangles to see the fabulous cards! Please feel free to leave a comment!

Happy Stamping,
Meg

One More CAS for the Card Concept

Hello Everyone,
I am playing along again with the Card Concept "Thinking of You" challenge. With this card I am using the clean and simple style. A very straight forward card. The flower dies are Simon Says Stamp, as is the sentiment die. The sequins I used are from Neat and Tangled.

I love the way this card turned out - I send cards each week to family and friends and this one will go to my wonderful Aunt Nuala! I like its springy feel and I think she will too!

Thanks for stopping by - I would love to hear your feedback!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Muse and The Card Concept: Thinking of You

Hello Everyone,
I have been busy these days with school, so not much time to stamp. I have to say that I am really looking forward to March Break. Today I am playing along with Muse and the Card Concept. Here is the Muse inspiration card for this week.

I am taking some liberties with my design... I love the long image in the center and sentiment across it. This is what I chose as my inspiration.

I used this gorgeous stencil from Simon Says Stamp. I love this tulip - I blended Picked Raspberry and Spiced Marmalade Distress inks. I sued Mowed Lawn for the stem. Then I stamped the sentiment right over the middle with Versafine ink. I am entering this into the Card Concept Challenge too - the theme this week is "Thinking of You". This is a simple card but really stunning IRL. The sentiment is from Hero Arts "Fancy Basics".

Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to leave a comment!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Muse: Marion Vagg

Hello Everyone,
I am playing along with Muse to day - the inspiration card was made by inimitable Marion Vagg. Here is her card:

I actually made two cards and I will confess that I did not really mess with perfection - both are pretty close cases of Marion's card.

This was the first one I made. I used Peacock Feathers and Crushed Concord for the sky and a faux tile technique I learned from Online Card Classes. I gave a step by step a few posts ago. I used Paper Smooches "Scripty Sayings" for the sentiment. When I was sponging, I forgot to unmask the door and the window in the house and I didn't like the way it looked white, so I decided to colour them - not sure that I like that  either. That is what led me to make my second card. That and the fact that I had a bunch of blank hearts lying around on my craft table...

I think that i like this second attempt better. This time I used Spiced marmalade and Picked Raspberry Distress inks (on the background panel too).

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are cozy wherever you are. We have been in a bit of a deepfreeze in my neck of the woods - this morning when I got up it -38 degrees celsius!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Paper Smooches Sparks: Anything Goes

Hello Everyone,

Today I am playing along with Paper Smooches Sparks - it is an "Anything Goes" challenge this week. I created this card:

I took Online Card Classes' Clean and Simple Techniques last week ( or was it the week before) - anyway this was one of the techniques called faux embossing. You simply cut out a bunch of die cuts the same colour as your card base and adhere them down in any pattern you like. The die cut is from "Hello Word dies". I simply inked up an extra one with some Peacock Feathers Distress Ink and adhered over one to create my sentiment. I love this simple look. Super-easy but striking result!

Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to check out PS Sparks to see the amazing DT cards and the gallery. Please feel fre to leave some feedback!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

CASology Hot Part 2

Hello Everyone,
Here is entry number two into the "Hot" challenge over at CASology. Same technique as before - you can read a description in my previous post. Here is my card:

I sponged the base panel with distress inks and then popped the die cut panel up over it with foam tape. I couldn't let the die cut heart go to waste, so here is what I did with it:

Two very simple Valentine's Day cards! Thanks for stopping by - love to hear your feedback!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

CASology: Hot and Online Card Class - Fab with Five

Hello Everyone,

What a week! This past two weeks are crunch time at school. I have been madly racing to meet report card/marking deadlines and have had no time to craft. Finally, I was able to spend some time watching my OLCC videos and try a few techniques.

On Day 6 of the class the challenge was Fab Five - create something unique with only five "ingredients". I loved the technique that Tasnim Ahmed demo'd. Simply mask with post it tape (at any angle across your panel) and sponge distress inks - start at the tape edge and taper off. Very simple and you get this beautiful gradient look. Move the tape and do the same thing. She demo'd creating diagonal stripes and just one colour of distress ink. I couldn't stick to just one, so I chose my colours based on CASology's cue word: hot. I chose the colours of the sun and threw in hot pink for good measure. I love the way these cards turned out - I made a bunch. Here is the one I am entering in the challenge - you will have to excuse the photo it was quite hard to photograph.

First I sponged the horizontal stripes using Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon, and Picked Raspberry Distress Inks. Then I sponged on the diagonal. I die cut my heart and covered it with four layers of clear embossing powder. It is gorgeously glossy in real life. I topped everything off with a simple Technique Tuesday sentiment. I am thrilled with the way it turned  out.

Thanks for stopping by - I love to hear your feedback, so feel free to leave a comment!

Happy Stamping,

Meg