CAS

This is my first card in the CAS series. I fail at leaving things alone! I made the card and felt it needed something so I added the butterflies you see in the second image. I dont know, just hard cards for me to love :) I do however like the shaped card, it is the new SU die set - love the shape and so nice of SU to come out with it. I know a lot of demos are happy about that with all the competition from Spellbinders. One thing I learned after making my first two cards like this, I need heavier card stock. After I use the water colors on the image the card curls and no amount of flattening will stop it. The third one you will see I used Gina K's heavy card stock, I am going to order more of that unless someone knows of another brand that's less expensive and as thick. I don't like the Neenah white stuff and don't need it since I don't use Copics. It held up very well :) This image is a Hedgie by, you guessed it, Penny Black. I will use other stamps for the next few cards! I have a Stampavie and a Magnolia coming up.

More Pretty Paper

Here is another card I made with paper I wanted to use. It is SU also. The image is from Penny Black, yeah got a theme going here lol! My attempt at using markers didn't go as well as planned but I like it anyway. Funny thing is this was a birthday card that I sent about 6 months early! I don't know how I read it but I got an email notice saying it was her birthday and after she got it she told me it was a little early :) Oh well it's the thought that counts, right? My next few cards are a series in CAS. Very clean and simple as in one layer even for a couple of them! I wonder if CAS is defined by no designer paper also? Hmmm. Until then, have a great day!

Blue Bird

Just a pretty card I enjoyed making, wanted to use this SU designer paper and this stamp and this is what I came up with! I am pretty sure the stamp is Penny Black, if you want to get it let me know and I will look it up :) I used some adhesive blue faux pearls, SU ribbon and some miscellaneous ribbon I had around. The main image is die cut with a Spellbinder's die and the sentiment is a SU punch. The card stock is soft suede, it's a nice neutral kind of like Kraft to me (oh it's called crumb cake now...) but darker, I need more of this so I can use it a lot more often. Not much more to tell ya!

Brushstrokes by Penny Black

So here we go, back to mixing up my stamps and papers etc. When most people think of Penny Black stamps they think of Mimi and the Hedgies (hedgehogs) and all of the cute character stamps. I first found PB from the brushstroke flowers! I saw a beautiful calendar made with them and had to make it (btw never did though, tried but mine wasn't quite good enough). I ordered the stamps and then realized I had a cute little clear stamp set from the same company when I saw the logo! Anyway this is one of those stamps and I saw a card made with it that is clean and simple and gave it a go (ie. this is a case). The background is Hero Arts Envelope pattern bg stamp. I like it, might make another one actually! Hope you like it too :)

Last Stampin Up Survivor Card

Last card from the Survivor Stampin Up series. I made this card in a whole different color scheme a while back and just really like how easy yet pretty this card is. I used the new purple color from SU (can't remember what it is and too lazy to look it up lol) but the green is pear pizzazz :) The stamp set and punches are SU of course. Thus concludes my series. Now back to mixing all my stamps together! Hope you enjoyed or got inspired by at least one of them!

CASEd Card

I have to say CASE and CAS are confusing. CASE is copy and share everything and CAS is clean and simple. This is a CASE of a card that just "hit me right". When looking for clean and simple (CAS) ideas I always find things I like but when I make them I am not so sure. It is hard to pull of one of these cards. I really liked the line around the edge, I thought it was just the right touch. The colors are calypso coral and old olive - all SU of course (still on the swap).

Bird Punch Again

This is using the same bird punch along with the stamp set that goes with it. I think it gives it a nice touch. Same colors with the addition of early espresso (I think that is the "new" brown). I did use Spellbinders dies but the rest is SU. Thanks for looking!

Flap Fold Card

This card is a fun one to make, I love this bird punch almost as much as the owl! Once again this is for the Survivor pool and all products are from Stampin Up. The colors are old olive and baja breeze. It's pretty simple so not much to say other than I really like this card! I think this could qualify as clean and simple. Does designer paper disqualify it for that I wonder? Thanks for stopping by!

Masculine Card

So I decided to show the masculine card next. This one is not quite clean and simple, is it now? It is one of the other of my favorites of this group of cards though. Except the words, this is all one stamp set (Stampin Up). I stamped the background with the ledger stamp in the set, it is smaller so I had to stamp 4 times to fill the paper but it lines up super easy and lends itself to repeated stamping. The compass images are stamped and punched with a circle punch, the ship once again stamped in night of navy on white card stock and then everything was distress sponged on the edges with crumb cake ink. I did add some crumb cake on more areas to give it an old look. The twine just seemed to be the right thing to use with the nautical theme.

I don't know if you can tell and now that I mention it you will be able to tell but I got a new paper trimmer and am having a heck of a time getting straight edges with it! I had to re-cut and fuss with the background piece and it still isn't straight but I did what I could and adhered it. I don't know if I am going to like this trimmer! It's just that the arm type cutter is too big for me to use at the table with me and I don't want to get up and down 50 times to use it (Ok I exaggerate a tad) and this is a rolling blade type trimmer and it just goes curvy or at an angle as it goes down. I try really hard to hold my hand steady and use the same amount of pressure but it still messes up. If I could return it I would but Archivers told me once I open it I can't return it. I am now starting at the bottom and going up to cut the paper and it seems to be better, I have my fingers crossed I will get the hang of it. I don't want to waste the money! OK enough blabbering :) Only a few more to go in this series, thanks for looking!

Owl Punch Card

Here is my owl card! Of course I had to do one for this group. When making 10 cards together I had to make them more or less clean and simple (CAS). The less coloring the better so this owl fits right in. I believe it is purely pomegranate card stock and pretty in pink. The image panel is mounted on dimensionals and the pink is embossed with a polka dots embossing folder. So next shall I post the masculine card or one of the flower cards? We'll see!

Next Card

This card looks better in person, it is one of my other favorites of the group! Baja breeze again along with old olive and a card base of crumb cake formerly known as kraft card stock. There are three layers of ovals for the image. the designer paper is from a new set I just love called Everyday Enchantment. It has that grungy sort of look so I sponged the edges of the image panel and the tag with crumb cake to match. I think I will share the owl card next. You know how I feel about that owl punch!

Butterflies Card

I have often seen cards with butterflies lined up and thought I would give it a try. The good thing about this stamp set is it has the antennae stamp seperate so I could line those up with a ruler and then put my stamped and punched butterflies on. The stamp set is butterfly prints by Stampin Up of course (for these Survivor cards...) and they have a punch to match. The colors are calypso coral, lucky limeade and pool party. got to love those names! The ribbon is also SU as well as the pearls. Four down and six to go!

Next Card for the Group

This is one of my favorites of this group of Survivor cards. I used Baja Breeze and Calypso Coral colors to match the SU designer paper. The layout is a card I have done before which is a case of a catty card. I really love the use of negative space or white space, just enough color to balance. The ribbon is Stampin Up also as well as all the stamps and edge punch. I have to use all SU on these cards and sometimes it's hard to remember who makes what!