CASology Week 403 -- BOTANICAL

I seem to be entering challenges more often, and the reason being I'm discovering

products that I've purchased that were "hidden", aka buried under even newer goodies. 

 

The theme for CASology is BOTANICAL so I chose Simon Says Stamp's Fine Textured 

Leaf Dies for my project.

 

After die cutting some fronds from watercolor cardstock, I colored them with

Zig markers and a water brush. I mounted them on a Reverse Wonky Rectangle

panel and finished off with the Gina K Designs sentiment.

I know the colors are somewhat non traditional, but it's such a dreary day here 

that no amount of greens or yellows could brighten it up for me. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

CASology Week #380 -- SNOWMAN

 This week's cue word at CASology is SNOWMAN and I couldn't wait to

finally ink up the layered WPlus9 snowman. He's so cute! There are two snowmen 

in the set and I chose the larger one and the layering tree.

This stamp set is pretty amazing and for someone who's not so proficient at

layering, it's very forgiving. And Jennifer McGuire shared tips for mass

producing in her video which made it even more stress free.

 

I added some sparkle to the tree, grounded the snowman with a Copic marker, 

and finished off the card with the sentiment. I resisted the urge to add some 

falling snow to keep it as CAS as possible.

 

Thank for stopping by today!

CASology #378 -- STAG

The cue word for Week #378 at CASology is STAG.

 

 Here's my card featuring a discontinued Maggie Holmes stag head die.

I covered white card stock with Altenew's Painted Fantasy washi tape, then cut 

out the stag and adhered it to two more stag heads cut from card stock to form a 

thick chipboard piece. I stamped the sentiment and ran the panel through 

an embossing folder for a bit of texture.

This is total happenstance, but note how a flower bud on the tape became

the eye of the stag and he even appears to have a nose! Total chance 

but I love how it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by!

CASology Week #377 -- Sunset

 The cue word for the latest CASology challenge is SUNSET.

And here's my take on it.

 

I ink distressed a panel with several colors of Distress inks and spattered it with

water. After it was dried, I trimmed and adhered it to a card base, then topped it

with a retired landscape die from Memory Box, and finished off with the

discontinued Lisa Johnson sentiment.

The scene could go either way--sunrise or sunset. What do you see?

Thanks for stopping by today!

 

* * *

 

Edited to add: My card was given an Honorable Mention honor!

Thanks, CASology!

 

 

CASology #373 -- SEPTEMBER

I'm joining CASology's latest challenge with the cue word SEPTEMBER.

I decided to go the autumnal route after spotting this maple leaf in my

stash of die cuts.

It's an oldie from Simon Says Stamp and I may have cut it out from a

"boo boo" piece and just tossed it in the stash pile. I adhered it to a card

base, stamped the sentiment, and rounded off a corner. 

I'm so glad the "boo boo" finally found a home.

Thanks for stopping by today!

CASology Week #368 -- PLANT

The cue word for Week #368 at CASology is PLANT.

Truthfully, plants do not thrive under my care, but I do feel comfortable with
stamping them. I recently discovered an Altenew set that I bought a while ago
and decided to finally let it touch some ink.

I stamped the basil plant directly on woodgrain card stock and colored the image
with Copic markers, then stamped the sentiment beneath it. The panel was cut
with a stitched rectangle die and adhered to an aqua card base.

I was planning to leave the card as one layer, but couldn't resist adding the snail
and a glittery trail behind him. It's hard to capture, but here's a closer look.

I hope you're having a great week and thanks so much for stopping by!

CASology Week #364--TEA

The cue word for CASology Week #364 is TEA.

Are you a fan of tea? I am! A HUGE fan. Mostly hoji-cha with a roasted flavor

and matcha (green tea). And it doesn't have to be in drinkable form, either. 😉

Here's my card.

I adhered Altenew's Painted Fantasy washi tape to white card stock and die cut

MFT's tea cups in opposite directions. The cups were stacked and adhered to a

white card base and the sentiment was stamped beneath them. I finished off the

card with a strip of pale gray patterned paper.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Think I'll make myself a cuppa.

CASology Week #363--SKYLINE

The cue word for Week #363 at CASology is SKYLINE. I have a few building
dies but wanted to try a one layer card so it was Altenew's City Scene Stencil
to the rescue.

I used five colors of Hero Arts' Reactive Inks to stencil in the buildings on the bottom of
a card base. I stamped the two part sentiment in gray ink and was ready to call it done,
but felt the buildings needed to be grounded somehow.

I scored a few lines beneath the buildings and was quite happy with the result and
that I still managed to keep it one layer 😊

Thanks so much for stopping by!

CASology Week #361--Guest Designer

I have the honor of guesting for this week's CASology challenge since my card 

was chosen as the BRANCH winner for week #358. Thank you, Melissa!

Here's the cue word for this week--just in time for Valentine's Day.

And here's my take on the cue word.

I stamped the adorable hedgie off center on a white card base and colored
her with Copic markers. I white embossed the sentiment on the balloon,
 added a few clouds, then rounded off the bottom corners.

By using one main image and placing it off center, this gives the illusion of
more white space, even with the addition of die cut clouds.

Visit the CASology blog for all the details and deadlines, and see how the
design team interpreted the cue word. Come and join us if you can--we hope
to see you in the gallery!

CASology #359--REPEAT

I'm joining CASology this week with the cue word REPEAT.

And here's my pretty straight forward card.

This card came together in about 5 minutes. Using the MISTI, I stamped the 

"thanks" once with Versafine Clair Onyx Black, then moved the card up 1/2" 

and did some second generation stamping. Moved it up another 1/2", "huffed" 

on the stamp to reactivate the ink, and I was quite pleased with the opacity. 

I stamped the second part of the sentiment in red ink, and even found a small 

heart in my stash. I thought about leaving it as is but added the strip of patterned 

paper to balance out the card, then called it done. 

It feels like a belated Christmas for me as I "discover" stamps and dies that

I bought a while ago (or were gifted to me!) and I'm finding time to play with.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Essentials by Ellen Totally Random Sayings Vol. 3

CASology Week #358--BRANCH

I'm joining the last CASology challenge of the year and here's the cue word:

And here's my take on the word.

I've wanted to own the Paper Smooches Dove Die for a long time and waited

for the right time to use it on a project. I die cut the dove three times from 

white card stock and was happy that one layer stayed intact.

Two outline layers were adhered together, then onto the "solid" piece.

I colored the olive branch and eye with Copic markers, adhered the dove, 
stamped the sentiment and rounded off one corner for a bit of interest.

 I'd like to take this time to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a

safe holiday filled with peace, love and joy.

* * *

Edited to add: My card was chosen as the weekly winner! Thanks so much, Jacquie ♥

CASology Week #353--FEATHER

Talk about under the wire. I had my CASology entry ready to go but totally

forgot to write up the blog post. Duh! So it's less than a day until the deadline

and here we go...

Ah, feathers. I love them almost as much as leaves. I've done a few feathery cards

in the past but it's my first time using this Spellbinders feather.

I was going for a peacock feather and you should have seen the attempts

that ended up in the trash. "What are those big, black dots???" So I went with

an ombré feather with gold spatters. A Gina K Designs sentiment completes 

the card. Oh, and a rounded bottom corner.

And now I'm off to link this up. Thanks for stopping by!

CASology Week #351--LOL

It's been a while since I've joined a CASology challenge, and this week's

cue card caught my attention.

It has certainly been a rough few weeks worldwide, with Mother Nature wreaking
havoc and personally, I'm better understanding "global warming" with our record
breaking local temperatures soaring in the 90's 😎. Not much to laugh about.

So here's my take on the cue word.

I love this Birdie Brown penguin and try to find any excuse to use him. I
stamped and colored him, then stamped the sentiment underneath. He looked
a little too plain, so a Copic marker outline saved the day.

I hope this made you laugh, or maybe brought you a smile 😄.
Thanks for stopping by!

***

ETA: My card was chosen as the winner for Week #351! Thank you, CASology!

CASology 5th Anniversary Blog Hop

Melissa and her team are celebrating a 5 year Anniversary with a fun Blog Hop!

CASology is one of the first challenges that I joined and my CAS heart is always
happy there. I've also had the honor of guesting several times and Melissa
is always so gracious and wonderful to work with.

Here's a look back at some of my favorite CASology projects:

This week the cue word is BALLOON.

And here's my take on it.

I die cut five of Avery Elle's number balloons and inked them in rainbow order,
adhered them to a card and stamped the sentiment. Tiny clear sequins finished
off the card.

Happy 5th Birthday, CASology! 
Here's to many more years of CAS inspiration ♥

CASology Guest Designer

I'm guesting for this week's CASology challenge, since my ICING card

was chosen as the weekly winner! Here's this week's cue word.

And here's how I interpreted the word--with springtime butterflies.

I ink distressed three butterflies and adhered them to the card, leaving

as much white space as possible. I adhered the label sentiment, a few sequins,

and finished the card by rounding off the bottom left corner. 

We hope you'll join this week's challenge and share your interpretation of the 

cue word. You have until Monday, May 1st at 12PM CST to link up your card.

And big thanks to Melissa and the CASology girls for having me as a guest!

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