CASology 5-Year Anniversary Blog Hop!

First of all, Happy Birthday CASology!! Congratulations on 5 fabulous years!!

To celebrate this fabulous anniversary, CASology has the cue card Balloon. How fun is that!?

I knew as soon as I saw it that I just had to use this adorable owl from a brand new sentiment kit from Unity Stamp Company. I decided to go super CAS with this card and let the sweet owl with balloons get all the love.

I find it so hard sometimes to transition from one medium to the next... do you do that too? 

I've been working with watercolor more lately and it took me awhile to get this little owl colored how I wanted him with the copics. I do like how the card turned out, though.

Here are the products I used for this card:

Stamps: Hugs, Kisses & Birthday Wishes (Unity)

Card Stock: White (PTI)

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black (SSS)

Copics: E31, E50, E53, E55, E57, R00, R21, Y0000, Y11, V0000, V000, V93, BG0000, 

BG11 (Oozak)

Go check out the challenge over at CASology... there's still some time to play along!!

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

Make It Monday #292 - Color Blocking

Hello again! When I saw this week's Make It Monday challenge, I just knew I had to play along. What a fun technique to use to make a bunch of birthday cards?! And I am always in need of more birthday cards! I just love it!

I started out with the watercoloring version of the technique. I love to watercolor... so this was really fun to make. My colors mixed a bit more than I would like so I actually set this panel aside. I came back to it later and decided to go ahead and finish it up. I layered it on a piece of Winter Wisteria card stock that I die cut with a larger stitched rectangle die. I adhered the panel to a white card base. I had stamped a bunch of the Gran's Garden flowers and leaves in the colors I planned to use for these cards so it was just a matter of picking pieces to go together. I also die cut a bunch of the happy birthday die pieces to make several cards. I like how the white card base makes the happy birthday sentiment pop. 

For the watercolored version I used Winter Wisteria, Simply Chartreuse, and Tropical Teal.

I used the same three colors for this card. All the same fun flowers and leaves from Gran's Garden.

I changed things up for this card and used all pinks... Pale Peony, Berry Sorbet, and Raspberry Fizz.

For this last one, I went out of my comfort zone a bit with the colors. I'm still on the fence with it... not sure that I like it. I used Bright Buttercup, Tropical Teal, and Simply Chartreuse. I used Bright Buttercup and Simply Chartreuse for the larger flower... I kind of like the way it turned out. Maybe I should have used a different green for the leaves. I'm just not sure. 

I did add some clear Wink of Stella to the flowers but that isn't visible in the pictures, unfortunately. I hope that you like the cards I shared today.

Here are the products I used for this card:

Stamps: Gran's Garden (PTI)

Card Stock: White, Winter Wisteria, Simply Chartreuse, Tropical Teal, Raspberry Fizz, Berry Sorbet, Pale Peony, Bright Buttercup (PTI), Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor (SSS)

Ink: Winter Wisteria, Royal Velvet, Simply Chartreuse, Tropical Teal, Raspberry Fizz, Berry Sorbet, Pale Peony, Bright Buttercup (PTI)

Tools: Gran's Garden die, Ways to Say: Birthday die (PTI), Stitched Rectangle Stacklets (TE)

Adhesive: Tombow Mono Multipurpose liquid glue (SSS), Stampin' Dimensionals, Tear & Tape Adhesive, Fine Tip glue pen (SU!)

 I'd love to hear what you thought of my creations.

Thanks for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

Papertrey July Blog Hop Challenge

It's time for another Papertrey Ink Blog Hop!! I almost missed this one completely... I can't believe I forgot about it. I did struggle with the inspiration for this month's hop, but I woke up this morning inspired!!

Here's the inspiration photo for this month's hop. When I first looked at this I just saw a lot of white... now, normally, I love a CAS card which would typically be mostly white space. So, I was really wondering why I was struggling with this one. I guess that will remain a mystery!

Now onto my card... on a side note, I don't know if it's the lighting today because it's mostly cloudy or if it's the white in the card, but I just couldn't get a very good picture... anywho, I heard a little birdie {named Jill *wink*wink*} say that Gran's Garden was a no brainer for this card and I had to agree with her... I mean, the birdie!

First of all, I scored this A2 card so that it opened in the middle of the front... I believe that's a gate fold, but I'm not sure. I then stamped the leaves in opposite corners using VersaMark and heat embossing in white and did the same for the sentiment. Using a blender tool, I then blended Enchanted Evening ink along the edges and into the center leaving the center of the card pretty white. I wiped off the leaves and sentiment with a paper towel to help the white pop a bit. On a scrap piece of white card stock I stamped the flower from Gran's Garden, but I decided to stamp it off first so that it wasn't too dark. I then stamped and heat embossed the other portion of the flower using the same method as the leaves. I stamped the center of the flower using Enchanted Evening and then I die cut the flower and set it aside. I made a quick band to wrap around the entire card to help keep it closed and to attach the flower. I die cut the leaves and debated stamping the leaves... but decided I liked just the plain white. I added a 1" circle just off the side of the band so that I could have the flower hang off the band and give it some support. I adhered the leaves and the flower and then decided the white band needed a little something. I remembered that I received this lacy ribbon as a freebie in a Unity order and thought it was perfect. I dabbed it a bit with Enchanted Evening ink (which is hard to see in the photo, but it's there) and then adhered it to the band using tear & tape adhesive. I don't know that it turned out just how I envisioned it, but I like how it turned out. I hope you do, too!

 Here are the products I used for this card:

Stamps: Gran's Garden (PTI)

Card Stock: White (PTI)

Inks: Enchanted Evening (PTI), VersaMark (SU!)

Adhesives: Tombow Mono Multipurpose liquid glue (SSS), Tear & Tape Adhesive (SU!)

Tools: Gran's Garden die (PTI), Heat Tool (SU!)

Miscellaneous: Ranger Super Fine White Embossing Powder (SSS)

I'd love to hear what you thought of my creation.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

CYCI166 - Coffee and a Farewell

Hello! I have a sweet card I made for this week's final challenge for Can You Case It? But first, I'm so thankful to Eva, our leader and coordinator, for encouraging me to start a blog and then for asking me to join her Design Team. She planted a seed in my creative mind that is growing and blossoming and I'm so very thankful to her. I'm also thankful for the opportunity to work with so many wonderfully talented team members. I wish the very best for each and every one of you.

Now, to this sweet card... I've been under the weather a bit this past week and so I went with a simple card. In fact, there's not even any stamping on this card which is very unusual. I still think it turned out pretty cute! I hope you like it too! I cut a 4 x 2" piece of this cute coffee paper from the paper pad called Cream & Sugar by Doodlebug Design. I adhered that to a 4-1/16 x 2-1/16" piece of Soft Sky card stock and then adhered that to a 4-1/4 x 2-1/4" piece of Baked Brown Sugar card stock. The little square piece just happened to be the left over piece from my original cut so I just flipped it over and saw these adorable little coffee beans and knew they were perfect! So I adhered that 2 x 2" piece to a 2-1/16 x 2-1/16" piece of Baked Brown Sugar card stock. Then I grabbed my little bag of Cream & Sugar odds & ends to see what little die cut pieces would work and this Coffee sentiment fell right into my hand. It was meant to be! I also found the cute pink heart. The little coffee guy is a card stock sticker also in the Cream & Sugar line. I'll have links for all of these goodies down below. I adhered all the pieces to the card and BAM!

This is our last challenge for Can You Case It? and I sure hope you'll play along!

Here are the products I used for this card:

Papers: White (PTI), Cream and Sugar 6x6 paper pad (SSS)

Card Stock: Baked Brown Sugar (retired SU!), Soft Sky (SU!)

Adhesives: Fast Fuse, Stampin' Dimensionals (SU!), Tombow Mono Multipurpose liquid glue (SSS)

Miscellaneous: Cream and Sugar Odds & Ends die cuts, Cream and Sugar Card Stock stickers (SSS)

I'd love to hear what you thought of my creation.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

CYCI165 - Birthday Wishes Sent Your Way

Hello! I have a fun card today with colors that I had chosen for this week's challenge. I sure hope that you will play along!! My card is a special birthday card for my niece. She celebrated her birthday by having a moonlit party. How fun is that?! I wanted to bring that fun to her card just a bit.

I stamped Unity's Patience Girl in VersaMark ink and heat embossed her in black. I watercolored her using the ZIG markers. Once the panel was dry, I die cut the edge using a new border die that I had recently ordered called Border Builders dies by Lil' Inker Designs. I just recently... like two days ago... received my Distress Oxide inks and I was able to use a few of those colors to make the card base look like a night sky. Love that there are more colors available! I stamped the sentiment from Unity's June Kit of the Month called Time to Enjoy Life using Versamark and then heat embossed it in white. I cut the banner by hand and popped it up on the card. I added a few drops of white Nuvo drops. And there you have it! 

This is our second to last challenge for Can You Case It? I sure hope you'll play along!

 I've linked most of the products I used above. Here are the rest of the products I used for this card:

Distress Oxides: Black Soot, Seedless Preserves, Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry (SSS)

Adhesives: Tombow Mono Multipurpose liquid glue (SSS), Stampin' Dimensionals (SU!)

Miscellaneous: Heat Tool (SU!), Ranger Super Fine Black embossing powder, Fine White Embossing Powder (SSS)

I'd love to hear what you thought of my creation.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

~ You Have a Pizza My Heart ~

I was inspired by the CASology cue card Pizza to ink up this adorable stamp set from Lawn Fawn called Pizza My Heart. I just adore this set! 

I created the fun little background behind the pizza by using Stampin' Up!'s Gorgeous Grunge set which I'm shocked to discover, they retired! I love this set! I'm so glad that I bought it a long time ago! I stamped each of the stamps in the set using different distress inks layering them here and there. I then stamped the heart pizza and all the toppings on a scrap piece of card stock and used the coordinating die to cut it out. I stamped the sentiment on True Black card stock using VersaMark ink and then heat embossed fine white embossing powder. I then trimmed the black strip and adhered it to the card. I popped up the heart pizza using stampin' dimensionals. I love the way this turned out!

Here are the products I used for this card:

Stamps: Pizza My Heart (LF), Gorgeous Grunge (retired SU!)

Card Stock: White, True Black (PTI)

Inks: VersaMark, Fired Brick, Barn Door, Black Soot (SSS)

Tools: Heat Tool (SU!), Pizza My Heart Lawn Cuts (LF)

Miscellaneous: Fine White Embossing Powder, Powder Tool Applicator (SSS)

Go check out the challenge over at CASology!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

CYCI164 - Another Year Wiser!

Hello! I have a cute birthday card to share with you this week. I used some of Stampin' Up!'s retired Tasty Treats Specialty DSP from my stash for this one. I thought it would be perfect for a birthday card and I think it pairs up well with these adorable owls from Unity's Hoot Hoot Hooray kit. What do you think?

I've had this layout in mind since I saw the sketch for this week. I just love this new set of dies I got from Lil' Inker Designs called Anytime Tags. It's so versatile and worked perfectly for this week's sketch. I die cut the stitched rectangle and adhered it to a white card base. I die cut the tags in the DSP and then a plain piece of white card stock. I stamped the little owls onto the white piece of card stock using my mini Misti. I then colored the little owls using Copics. I adhered the little owl piece onto the DSP tag. I then popped up that entire piece using stampin dimensionals and adhered it to the card base. I stamped the sentiment using Memento tuxedo black ink. I die cut the sentiment and the little banner end piece using My Favorite Things Blueprints #31. I adhered the banner/sentiment piece and then added a few tiny sequins from Stampin' Up!'s retired Sprinkles Embellishments at the end of the sentiment and around the DSP. I think it turned out cute.

 I've linked most of the products I used above. Here are the rest of the products I used for this card:

Adhesives: Tombow Mono Multipurpose liquid glue (SSS)

Copics: R14, R24, R27, BG11, G21, E95

 Please leave a comment. I'd love to hear what you thought of my creation.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal

CYCI163 - We Salute You!

Hello again! I have a patriotic card for you today. I had planned on making something else but just yesterday I received this beautiful Angie's Girl from Unity Stamp Company called America Girl! I just had to ink her up! 

I stamped America Girl in VersaMark ink and heat embossed her with fine silver embossing powder. I then used Ken Oliver's Color Burst in Alizarin Crimson and Ultramarine Blue to make my watercolored background. I'll admit, it was difficult keeping the red and blue from becoming purple, but I think I did okay. In the picture the red kind of looks pink but it's really more red in person. I die cut the watercolor panel using My Favorite Things Blueprints #31. I then added some Pure Platinum Nuvo Mousse over a star stencil I have from Stampin' Up! I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed it with fine silver embossing powder. I trimmed the sentiment and cut out a banner by hand. I then adhered it to the watercolor panel. I decided to also die cut a piece of Brushed Silver card stock using the same Blueprints #31 die set. I offset those two pieces and adhered them to a true black card base using stampin' dimensionals.

Here's a picture that shows the shine on the America Girl and the stars.

 I can't wait to see what you create using this fun color combo as your inspiration!! Be sure to join our Facebook group so that you can see the Design Team creations and enter the challenge... Can You Case It? Challenge Group

 Please leave a comment. I'd love to hear what you thought of my creation.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

See ya next time.

~ Crystal