Inspiration From a CASEd Card

TGIF!  Hope you all had an enjoyable week.  I'll be sharing three cards with you today.  The first is a card I CASEd from Pam Sparks of Expressions with Heart.  Before I share more about the cards I made, I need to take a minute to share my thoughts about Pam and her talents.  Her blog is full of wonderfully creative cards, and she is super helpful and sweet to fellow crafters.  While I have never met Pam, I appreciate the hand of friendship and guidance she has offered.  She wants to see others succeed.  Thank you, Pam for your inspiring cards and deeds!

Now, back to the cards.  The graphic nature and clean lines of the CASE card really captured my attention, and I knew I had to make one.  Not having the same font Pam used, I scoured the fonts on my computer and cut a few out of red cardstock with my Silhouette.  I also do not have a postage stamp die cut so again I used my Silhouette.  Not wanting to waste paper (or the time and effort it takes to set up the machine...another story for another day, lol), I cut out extra postage stamps, pine trees, grass, and other assorted "greens".   Here is my CASEd card.

After making the first card, and using the same base of kraft, red, and white, I began playing with the extra cut pieces.  In minutes I had two cards inspired by the first!

Have a fun weekend!
 

A Not So Cute Witch and the Trouble She Caused

Today's card is actually one I made last year and gave to our dear next door neighbor.  I have to share the pitiful story with you.  Ralph is an elderly gentleman, 90+, a total sweetheart, who on his morning walk on Mondays returns my garbage container to the side of my house if DH or I haven't yet put it away.  He also reads his newspaper, folds and re-bags it, and places it on our doorstep each morning.  He's the type of man who'd give you the shirt off his back if he thought you needed or wanted it.  While I was power washing our sidewalk, I decided to wash his as well as a little thank you for all of the nice things he does for us.  What does the man do?  He brings me out a straw hat (says I'm too fair to be out in the sun without a hat), a gallon of iced tea (says I need to stay hydrated), and a bag of toffee candy (says I need the energy).  I tried to refuse these gifts to no avail.  Anyway, I made this card (which btw I really, really liked) and sent it to him.  I was horrified when I later found out through a mutual friend that he had asked why I was angry with him.  What?!?  Angry with him?!?  I couldn't understand why he would think such a thing.  Apparently he didn't see the humor in the witch and her saying.  I had to apologize profusely and assure him that in NO way was I angry or upset with him.  Lesson learned.  This year he's getting a VERY CUTE and SWEET Halloween image on his card!

Little Witch

Today's card features the Witch for Halloween image from A Day for Daisies.  Isn't she the cutest little witch?  I paper pieced her top, and colored the rest of the image with copic markers.  The papers are from the We R Memory Keepers - Spookville.  Black cardstock cut with a tree border die on one side and a bubble border die on the other edge the horizontal strip of patterned paper.  I added a few bling stars to the background and chalked around the image to complete the card.

Gingerbread Men

Happy Monday to all!  For today's card I used the iSpy Sketch 25 as the design layout.  Other than cutting out 8 very small (1 inch high) gingerbread men, this card was a snap to make.  The gingerbread men are colored with Prisma pencils and the snowflake is covered with Recollections snow glitter.  Have a wonderful day!

P.S.  I'm off again this afternoon, and the next three afternoons, to make flowers for my daughter's wedding cake.  Last week's trial run didn't go so well.  Wish me luck today!

A Rescue

Did you ever like an image so well you just had to rescue it from a horrible or not so good card?  That was the case for me with Bossy, from Mo's Digital Pencil.  She is one of my all time favorites from Mo (maybe because my siblings and parents say she is me when I was young, lol).  I colored Bossy over a year ago and had her on a card, but it never felt "right".  My unloved cards end up in a box, tucked away so that no one else can see them.  Periodically I pull out those cards, try and determine why the card didn't work, then usually trash them.  Well, Bossy was too cute to toss, I had to try to "fix" the card.  No such luck!  The card was atrocious!  So bad in fact that I am not even going to show you a picture of it.  Luckily I was able to lift Bossy with her frame off the card.  Card trashed, Bossy saved!  Not taking any more chances with the card design, I used the MFT Sketch 90.  Much better card.  Now Bossy will no longer be sentenced to the box of unloved cards!

Don't Be Crabby

Well it's Thursday, and I'm looking forward to making a trial run of gum paste flowers with my mother for my daughter's wedding cake.  The date is quickly approaching (10-11-12).  Lauren and her fiancee have been together for several years and officially engaged for over a year, and I couldn't be happier for her!  She's not had an easy road as an adult, and I'm hoping her life with her new husband will be filled with love and joy.  Anyway, before I get too mushy, I'll move along to today's card which is a CASE of one by Danielle Daws from January 7, 2012.  Her placement of the elements of the card and its simplicity really spoke to me.  The sentiment I used is from Create with TLC (love her word art!).  Hopefully I won't get too crabby myself today as Mom and I attempt to make some cabbage roses and peonies...the perfectionist in me struggles with artistic freedom, lol.  Once again, I've used my Prisma pencils (yes, even if it is just a wee bit of color on this card), and I'll have to get them out more often as I like the look on kraft cardstock.

Ruby Christmas - Ornaments

Yes, it's another Bugaboo Christmas image!  Ruby Christmas Ornaments is perfectly suited to the SW Florida lifestyle, lol.  Where else would she be wearing a short strapless dress and spiked heels at Christmas time?!  Well, I suppose she could be an Aussie, but with the big bauble earrings, I still think she's a SW Florida gal.  It doesn't really show in the photo, but I've glittered the snowflakes and added some sparkle to her hair and ornaments with Spica Pens.  For her glasses' lens I used a Sakura Gelly Roll pen.

An Oops Moment

Thankfully I don't have too many of them, but I certainly had a big "Oops Moment" with today's card.  While experimenting with embellishments, one of the candy canes attached itself to the card in absolutely the wrong spot!  When I tried to remove it, pieces of the background paper came up with it, yikes!  So, now my choices were 1. Try to lift the image, Leah in PJ's from Whimsie Doodles , without damaging her and place on a new background or 2. Cover up the damaged paper and hope the misplaced embellishments don't look too wonky.  I chose option number 2.  Certainly not the card I'd envisioned making, but it is what it is.  At least little Leah is still adorable!

Positively Frightful Halloween Cutie

The title sounds like an oxymoron doesn't it?  Today's little cutie really isn't frightful at all, but then again she is a witch.  So by definition she must be frightful, correct, lol?  Anyway, Hazel and Webster (the spider) are from Sweet November's 2011 release.  I didn't get a chance to use them last year, so they are making an appearance this year!  With the Halloween images it's fun playing with non-human colors for hair and skin.  Green is my favorite for witches' hair.  It stands out and compliments any orange in the picture.  To give Hazel's skin a more witchy look, rather than that of a little girl playing dress up, I used W1, W3, E40, E41, and then RV10 (for a tiny bit of rosy glow...didn't want her looking like a zombie).  YG0000 was the finishing touch all over her skin to give her a slightly green cast.

It's a Bugaboo Christmas Fest

Rather than bore you all with a week of Christmas cards, I decided to group the cards made using Bugaboo images together in one post.  Bugaboo has soooo many wonderful digis, and I'm especially fond of the Christmas ones.  The variety is amazing...cute, sassy, animals, kids, adults, etc.

First is Little Penguin Winter - Reindeer.  The front of the card has a window cut into it.  And I couldn't resist the question, hehe.

Next on deck is Little Penguin Winter - Candy Cane.  It doesn't show in the picture, but I glossed the holly berries and the candy on his hat.

Here's Ava Christmas - Sitter.  She is definitely one of my favorite images!  Do not be surprised if you see her on another card this season.

Using the same patterned papers (the other pieces of the circles cut for the previous card) this card features the digi Christmas Cupcake - Lights.

 

I think I got a little accent crazy on this card, but I like the little ornaments I made using a hole punch.  Isn't Poppy Xmas Tree so adorable?!

I'm not sure Scarlette Present is a Christmas digi, but I've used her as one!  The bottom present in her stack is paper pieced and I added a red pearl to the ribbon hanging from her skirt.

A Cute Goth

This sweetie, Luna Bitterfrost Skulls Rock, from the now closed Pollycraft (whine, sniffle, pout) was an experiment in coloring for me.  I tried the "grey first" technique.  Not sure I will use that technique much in future, but it sure provided Luna some funky hair!  I've had her colored up for ages, but wasn't quite sure what type of card to place her on, and nothing in my stash provided any inspiration or wow factor.  Perusing my newly purchased Bewitched DCWV matstack, I noticed several papers with that odd pinky purple color and papers with skulls and lime green.  A perfect match!  Adding a few skull accents, a headstone border, and some bling flourishes, and this card is ready for Halloween!

Dear Santa

When I saw the Santa paper in the Paper Studio "Santa and friends" 6x6 paper pack, I immediately thought of the Bugaboo stamp, JJ Ornaments Dear Santa.  This image makes me giggle and remember my single days, hehe!  Now the question is, which of my single and slightly naughty friends will receive this card for Christmas?  Maybe I'll have to make more than one!

Not sure how much I'll be around this week as I've been called for jury duty.  I don't mind doing my "civic duty", but after years of working in Criminal Justice, I get too bored in court....seen it and heard it a thousand times.  Wish me luck and hope I don't fall asleep in the jury box.  Judges really don't appreciate that!

Halloween CASEd Card

I loved Sheri Gilson's (from Paper Crafty's Creations) Halloween card so much I had to CASE it!  Check out her card from September 6th.

I changed the background paper and the image for my card, and rather than stitching around the image, I textured the white circle and raised the little ghostie with pop dots.  In keeping with the spider theme I had going, I also added a little spider to the image.  I like the way the ghost appears anxious about the spider on the pumpkin.  Have a great weekend!