CAS Colours & Sketches: Tropical Birthday

This is my third week as the May guest at CAS Colours & Sketches and I am so enjoying it. I love the mix of challenges between colors and sketches.  The third week of each month is colors.  I used the colors for this tropical scene.

My boss's birthday is next week.  Given everything that's going on (and has gone on over the last few years in my little department), I decided an "escape and relax" theme would be good for her.  I also just ordered the Colorful Seasons set as it was retiring, although I'd had the dies from the beginning because there were many great stand-alone dies (see the card I made for the colors two weeks ago!)  When I saw the stamps were retiring, I decided I needed it for a variety of reasons but mostly for that little drink stamp - I needed it for the arm of the chair!!

Normally I would have gone for extremely bright tropical colors for this scene, but my boss is not a frilly and bright kind of person.  So as I was thinking through the colors and my need for this birthday card, I liked the idea of the richer Curry and Cherry Cobbler on the card.  It's still tropical but toned down. I like the richness of it.

Thank you to the inspiration from CAS Colours & Sketches.  I hope you will all play along with us this week!

SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: Stampin' Up Colorful Seasons, Watercolor Wishes (sentiment)
Dies: Stampin' Up Seasonal Layers
Ink: Stampin' Up Cherry Cobbler, Crushed Curry, Coastal Cabana
Other: Taylored Expressions Stencil, Stampin' Up Glitter Enamel Dots (the old set that goes back to Dapper Denim, but also includes Crushed Curry)

The Paper Players: Beautiful Bouquet

For reasons I cannot explain, I waited until Stampin' Up's Beautiful Bouquet and the dies were retiring to get them.  They have been at the top of my wishlist for the last few years, but there were always other things to get.  When I saw the cheerful colors at The Paper Players, I figured this would be a good time to try them for the first time.  They are wonderful!!

This card is going out to my Stampin' Up "dealer" - our husbands use that particular word and always with a hint of annoyance!!  I had just received my massive order of retiring products when she called and said she had new catalogs.  We spent an hour and a half  yesterday going page-by-page!  She also brought presents - two of which are the punch and wooden elements I used on this card.  The bouquet and the embossing folder were in my recent order.


Thanks to The Paper Players for this color combination!

SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: Stampin' Up Beautiful Bouquet
Dies: Stampin' Up Bouquet Framelit Dies, Darling Label Punch
Cardstock: Stampin' Up Granny Apple Green, Melon Mambo, Pool Party, Crumb Cake
Ink: Stampin' Up Melon Mambo, Pool Party, Tip Top Taupe
Other: Stampin' Up Brick & Mortar Embossing Folder, Frames Elements

Freshly Made Sketches: Dainty Blossoms

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by me!! Here’s what I did with it!


The sketch actually only includes the stripe pattern at the bottom so it's wide open for your own creativity!

The flower is from a large set by Pinkfresh Studio called Dainty Blossoms. I picked a flower with lots of detail since it's the star of the show on this card. I did initially plan on a black flower silhouette with the sentiment strip being black - it looked good, more dramatic than this one. But I am so feeling the need for light and fresh so I switched everything to white and added another colorful stripe.  The bitty butterflies have a colorful sequin in the middle to bring up a little of the color.

Have fun with the sketch! I hope to see you playing along with us at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: Simon Says Stamp Messages for Everyday
Dies: Pinkfresh Studio Dainty Blossoms, Memory Box Butterflies
Paper: Honey Bee Stamps Over the Rainbow, Taylored Expressions Confetti Cake

CAS Colours & Sketches: Eat Cake

It's my second week of being the May guest at CAS Colours & Sketches. The second week of a month is sketch week. Here's what I did with it...


And here it is...

The cupcake die was a recent purchase for me (mostly because I got a freebie die at another company that said "happy birthday cupcake" so of course I needed a good cupcake die!)  I like the layered frosting and it's a great size.  I used two patterned papers to create it (which is a lot for me!) so instead of paper behind it, I embossed the stripe. As I was browsing my cardstock stash I found this golden brown paper which I'd never used.  I was surprised by that because I think it's the perfect baked cupcake color!  I added some texture to the cake with a subtle embossing folder.  

It was quick and easy and just perfect for a friend's upcoming birthday.  I hope to see you playing along this week with CAS Colours & Sketches!

SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: The Greetery Sentiment Suite: Birthday
Dies: Honey Bee Stamps Cupcake Builder, The Greetery Sentiment Suite Basics Die
Paper: Honey Bee Stamps Sweet on You, Papertrey Ink Melon Berry, Honey Nut, Aqua Mist and Bright Buttercup
Other: Stampin' Up Delicate Designs Embossing Folder (old!), Subtle Embossing Folder (on cake), Pretty Pink Posh Buttercream gems

Freshly Made Sketches: Hey

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Linda Callahan and here’s what I did with it!

I already knew I was out of cards for my oldest son who elected to stay in his college apartment and is feeling extremely isolated (and he's an introvert - that's extreme isolation!)  I usually tend to "stay within the lines" but I was organizing my word dies and this big "hey" caught my eye so I figured I'd go outside the lines of that center rectangle. Then it just took some masculine patterns and embellishments and the card is already on the way to my lonely son!

I hope to see you playing along with us this week.  Check out the rest of the design team at Freshly Made Sketches - there is an amazing variety of cards using this same sketch!

SUPPLY LIST
Dies: The Stamp Market Hey, Simon Says Frame
Paper: Honey Bee Sweet On You, Stampin' Up Mint Macaron, Taylored Expressions Blue Corn

CAS Colours & Sketches May Guest!

I am thrilled to be the guest for the month of May at CAS Colours & Sketches.  It's a fun challenge to play along with because some weeks are colors, some are sketches and if there's a fifth week in a month they have a double challenge!  The first week is colors and here they are...

It's a trio of Stampin' Up in-colors! (You don't have to use Stampin' Up colors, the names are just given for reference.)  I do have all the Stampin' Up colors - and I do mean all - going back to the beginning of time!  So I pulled out my cardstock and matching sequins and created a trio of butterflies.


I had just browsed the Stampin' Up retirement list (and had ordered patterned paper and the faceted dots in the above colors which showed up late yesterday - too late for this card). I also ordered the stamp set that went with the Seasonal Layers dies so they were in my head. Thank goodness because I think this branch was a great backdrop for the sweet little butterflies.  I tend to use white backgrounds but I thought these colors popped beautifully on Crumb Cake and that allowed me to use a fresh white branch.
I hope to see you playing along with us this week.  A big thank you to the team at CAS Colours & Sketches for letting me part of their group this month!
SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: Stampin' Up Watercolor Wishes, Butterfly Gala
Dies: Stampin' Up Seasonal Layers Thinlits Dies, Butterfly Duet Punch
Cardstock: Stampin' Up Purple Posy, Terracotta Tile, Pretty Peacock, Crumb Cake
Other: Stampin' Up Woven Threads Sequin Assortment

Christmas Kickstart: Winter Wonderland

I have purchased all the scene builders from Stamp' Up - Snow Front, Water Front and My Meadow - but haven't used any of them.  The current challenge at Christmas Kickstart is Winter Wonderland and it seemed like the perfect time to challenge myself with Snow Front!


I've been loving all of the slimline cards that I've been seeing.  I have a number of the dies on order to add stitching etc. but mail order is understandably slow right now. Even without them, I thought the Snow Front set would work well on a slimline card and would help with the perspective of the large trees vs. the far away mountains. 
This took quite a few attempts.  Fingerprints and smudges became a problem as my stamps and fingers got inkier and inkier.  Then I had one looking good, but I dropped the house! I love all of the cards I have seen from other crafters for these sets, but I can't say they are my favorite sets.  I don't like the "stress" when I get down to the last few images and have to hope and pray nothing will go wrong!  But I do thank Christmas Kickstart for letting Snow Front get inky!

SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: Stampin' Up Snow Front, Greetings of the Season
Cardstock: Stampin' Up Seaside Spray, Soft Suede
Ink: Stampin' Up Seaside Spray, Soft Suede, Early Espresso, Garden Green, Real Red