CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #33

I'm really excited about this week's challenge that just so happens lasts for TWO whole weeks! Your challenge this week for CAS-ual Fridays is called...

Which in translation means you need to make a project that uses kraft and twine :)

Our sponsor this week is Market Street Stamps and the design team has joined us for the inspiration parade! I'm kinda partial to this design team as I'm one of the designers as well and I can assure you there is a fab prize to win. ALSO...the Market Street Stamps Block Party is happening the next two weeks too, so be sure to pop over there to see some other ways you can win some goodies plus win a chance to guest design with the Market Street Stamps design team :)

For my card I went with very simple and some repetitive elements...in my colors that is.

A simple kraft card base topped with three colors of baker's twine and then I mimicked the color pattern in the sentiment by coloring certain words with copic markers. The Girl Fridays would love to have you play along and there's loads of time to play...in both challenges! I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with for this challenge :)

Thanks for stopping by and happy stamping!

Julie 

Market Street Stamps December Release - Faith in You

Whoo-hoo! It's release time again! Tonight we're sneak peekin' the stamp set Faith in You. Be sure to stop over to the Market Street Stamps blog to check out all the sneak peeks the designers have made and to get the deets on how you can win some fab prizes :) Here is the simple card I cam up with using the scroll heart image from the set and a sentiment.

Tomorrow is the big reveal of all the stamp sets so be sure to stop back to the Market Street Stamps blog at 7pm CST to check out all the fun!

Thanks for stopping by and Merry Christmas!

Julie

Cas-ual Fridays Challenge #32

Everyone ready for Christmas? I'm not, but that's par for the course around this time. If you're behind in your christmas cards, the CAS-ual Fridays challenge would be a perfect opportunity to catch up. Not only will the card get made, but a matching envelope to boot!

Yup, that's what the challenge is a card with a matching envelope. I know most people are probably getting pretty sick of seeing Christmas cards, but I promise you'll only have to see Christmas-y related things from me for 9 more days and then I'll be moving onto New Year's :)

Our sponsor and guest this week is Sherri Thompson who is an Ippity Chick, you can find her shop here. Be sure to pop by the CAS-ual Fridays blog to see what you can win :)

Trying to catch up on my Christmas cards, I made a simple manger scene using the stamp "A child is born" from Unity. I kept the card base, ink and embellishments monochromatic.

I thoroughly enjoyed the gallery last week and picked up some great ideas for misting! The Girl Fridays can't wait to see what you come up with for this week and there's lots of ideas to inspire you and they're not all Christmas lol.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Julie

Holiday Card Crunch

It's December 13th and Christmas is only 12 days away and you still have a WHOLE bunch of Christmas cards to make and SO little time! Well, today you're in luck, because I have a super easy way to dole out card after card with just a few supplies and a fun technique. If you missed yesterday's post about masking, you should check out DoBea's tutorial here for some great masking tips and tricks.

This is what you'll need to make your cards:

* post it notes

* xacto knife

* ruler

* marker

* white cardstock

* background stamps/sentiment stamp

* ink

The technique I'm going to show you today is how to mask with your background stamps. To make your mask, take a post it note and using the ruler draw a simple triangle (tree) and a trunk. Cut the shape out using your xacto knife. This is what you should end up with:

Stick your mask to your card front (I tried to center mine as close as possible) then stick post it notes around the edge to cover the rest of the card front. This is what it will look like:

Now for the stamping part, I left my background stamp on that clear piece of acetate because I first tried stamping with a block, but I found I couldn't apply pressure in the right areas to get inside the mask. By using just the acetate sheet you can press harder with your fingers in the area where your mask is. Another trick is to make sure a piece of the design lands in each corner of the triangle, that way your image outline is better defined. If you look at the image below, you can see that a piece of the image Flurries fills up each corner of the tree.

Once you've stamped over your mask, remove the post it notes. If you leave all the post it notes stuck together you can just lay this over your next card and stamp again. You can probably stamp about 15-20 times over the post it note mask before it starts to bleed through. You could also double mask your tree image using two different background stamps. The card on the left I stamped the tree with Flurries and the trunk with Mesh. 

Give some of the other background stamps a try. For these cards I used Vintage Wallpaper and stamped one with the design vertical and the other horizontal. 

I find background stamps that are 'busy' or that have very little empty space in between images are the best ones to use with masks. To top it off I paired each tree with a sentiment from the Essential Holiday Elegance set which are perfect for cards :) I ended up making five cards in just under 10 minutes, I'd say that's pretty good for a holiday card crunch. 
Thanks for stopping by today!

The cards that didn't make it

As I'm sure everyone is well aware, that today was the day where acceptance emails went out for the 10th anniversary special of Card Creations for Paper Crafts magazine. I had submitted 10 cards this time. Four were re-submits and 6 were new ones. Here is my rejection parade, some of which I'm kind of glad didn't make it because I like them so much :)

First up is my Market Street Stamps card featuring the new background stamp Grace.

Perfect for a Mother's Day card and lots of pink!

Next up was a re-submit for the wedding category involving some masking tape :)

This one was also a re-submit for the wedding category with handmade pear embellishments made from sculpey clay.

Another re-submit for the love category featuring lots and lots of buttons.

One more re-submit for the wedding category with flower, pearls, crystals and rhinestones.

This card was my super simple card I submitted for the love category which features my own lip print with pink lipstick, I love this card. I think I will set this one aside for hubby for Valentine's Day :)

A simple colored in card for the miss you category .

And last but not least, my two fave interactive cards. One for the halloween category and one for the encouragement category.

When you pull the Boo tab, the cut little ghost creeps over to Mr. Frankie :)

On this one if you push or pull the tab, the squirrel  slides along the wire :)

And the 10th card you'll just have to wait and see in May ;) 

Thanks for stopping by and having a peek, hope everyone has a great crafty weekend!

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #31 - In the Mist

There were some fab ideas in the gallery last week for CAS-ual Fridays for the Tic Tac Toe challenge, some that I intend to use for some Christmas cards too. This week, you get to get a little messy with your project :)

We want to see your misting skills! Here is the list of options for misting:

• Use pre-made misting products available at your local or on-line retailer.
• Create spray mist using a mix of re-inkers and water squirted through a spray bottle.
• Create opaque splatters with a mix of acrylic paint and water flicked off a paintbrush.
• Add fine water droplets to your background of distress inked paper.
• Utilize an airbrush system or marker misting tool
• Channel your inner child and spray ink or paint from a brush onto paper by blowing through a straw

Our sponsor this week is the Sweet Stamp Shop and they sent us some fabulous stamps to work with :) Make sure you pop over to CAS-ual Fridays to see what goodies you can win from our sponsor ;)

I went with the misting marker tool because that is what I'm most familiar with. I do have a couple of tattered angels products but I have yet to figure out the correct pressure to use on the pump so I don't make a complete mess! lol Here is what I came up with.

Very CAS and super easy! A misted card base and a paper pieced ice cream cone colored with copics. You can't tell in the picture, but I coated the chocolate sauce with some crystal effects to give it a nice sheen.

The Girl Fridays would love to have you play along this week and I can't wait to see everyone's misted ideas, I'm really hoping to learn something new or how to use my spray bottles properly :)

Thanks for stopping by and see you over at the Break Room!

Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge

I managed to find a few minutes in this busy holiday season to play a challenge, the Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge, check out the inspirational photo...

I tell you what inspired me before I show my card, here's the list :

* Blue and White (I've been in Christmas card mode so I couldn't envision the yellow in my design)

* The close clustering of the picture frames

* The idea of a party or gathering

* The textures (ie. fabric - translated into hats and scarfs for me) lol

Based on the above ideas, here is what I came up with:

And here is a close up of the party goers...

Nothing says winter like the colors blue and white! My snowman party is all clustered together like the frames in the picture, well somewhat like the frames :) This was a fun card to make and a little tedious...there was a LOT of masking involved to get all those snowman to fit together properly. I used Copic markers to color everything, I originally was going to paper piece the whole thing, but that would have taken forever!

Snowman Christmas Card

Cardstock: (white) Gina K. Designs

Stamps: (Swanky Snowdudes, Hang Ups) Paper Smooches

Ink: (Tuxedo Black) Memento

Markers: (R46, BV00, BV02, BV04, R85, B00, B01, B02, C3) Copics

Glitter: (frosted lace) Stickles

Thanks for stopping by and having a peek and my snowy scene!

i {heart} papers and Market Street Stamps Blog Hop

Welcome to the i {heart} papers and Market Street Stamps combined teams blog hop!  We're so excited to have you join us, and we know you're in for a real treat!

You should have arrived here from Gretchen Belknap blog.  If not, visit Kate's i {heart} papers blog to start from the beginning.  You'll go from there to the blogs of our designers and finish up at the Market Street Stamps blog.  If you get lost, both company blogs have the complete list of links.

about i {heart} papers:

i {heart} papers is proud that we recently celebrated our 3rd anniversary in October. We’ve grown by leaps and bounds and have not strayed from our core principle of stellar customer service with FAST and FREE shipping. You ALWAYS receive free shipping with your $50 US order/$150 CAN order with no gimmicks or restrictions like so many other companies, and orders are almost always shipped within 24 business hours. We’re thrilled to be hopping along with the MSS team today and to be carrying the MSS line of stamps. If you’ve never ordered from us before, please mention that you learned about us on this hop for a free gift with your first order! Please visit us at www.iheartpapers.com, “like” us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/iheartpapers, where you'll find over 1900 other IHP fans!) and follow us on Twitter (@iheartpapers). Enjoy the hop! If you order by Wednesday midnight EST, all MSS sets are 15% off!  Leave comments along the hop to be entered in a drawing to win one free MSS set. The more you comment, the more chances to win!  You have until Wednesday at midnight...winners will be announced on the ihp blog on Friday!

about Market Street Stamps:

Market Street Stamps, LLC, was founded in January 2010 by Angelica and Jorge Suarez, a husband and wife team who create unique stamps made from peach-tinted photopolymer, the best available on the market today! Market Street Stamps' goal is to produce durable, high quality designs that you'll turn to again and again! We are thrilled to be hopping with i {heart} papers and their incredibly talented design team today! Be sure to "like" us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/MarketStreetStamps) for the latest releases and project ideas from our Design Team!

I've been on a gift card holder kick as it is getting so close to Christmas and decided to make another one using the stamp set Prancer and the background stamp Flurries. I made the gift card holder using Old Olive cardstock and then stamped the Flurries background in coordinating ink. For the front I made an accordion flower using some matching patterned paper and kept it together in the middle with a off white circle. Prancer was stamped with a deep brown ink and then cut out and popped up off the center. I opted for no sentiment as I think Prancer showcases the front very well all by himself :) Attach some ribbon beneath the flower before gluing on and you've got a perfect way to close your gift holder!

Here is a close up of the beautiful detail on the Prancer stamp...

From here, you're headed to Kendra Wietstock blog.  Enjoy the hop!  Thanks for your comments!  Remember to order your MSS from ihp before Wednesday to get the 15% discount!

Market Street Stamp Block Party -Stepping out of the zone

Let's get this PARTY started! A fab prize to be won AND one person will win a guest design spot for the following month. So hurry and link up your fab MSS creations over at the Market Street Stamps blog!

By now I'm sure most of you know I love to make two types of cards...cute as in little scenes or just plain clean and simple. For the Market Street Block Party this month I decided to challenge myself and try something different...so I did.

I'll warn you right now this card is very different than what I normally make and well, it's just downright dirty...grunge dirty that is :)

I got to playing around with the new background stamps and the idea I originally had, turned into something else. I started off with a white card base (yup there's white underneath there) and stamped the Mesh background in a dark blue. Then using the same stamp I stamped the background in green slightly off from the blue mesh. This is when the design started getting trippy to look at lol. Then I used the Gingham background and stamped it over top in a peach color. It was pretty messy at this point and then I just kept going. I rubbed Walnut Stain over the card front, with an emphasis on the edges and then I filled up a spray bottle with some chocolate ink and water and gave it a little spritz. I think I finally stopped when I couldn't see bright white anymore! I went with a masculine birthday card and colored some chipboard numbers black. Finishing touch was a row of black dots leading off the card edge. So what have a learned from this? Don't be afraid to get messy or step out of your card zone, because you just might miss out on an artistic discovery :)

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll load up your own Market Street creations over at the Block Party!

21 Card

Cardstock: White

Stamps: (Mesh, Gingham) Market Street Stamps

Ink: (Pacific Point, Kiwi Kiss, Peach Parfait) Stampin' Up!; (Walnut Stain) Time Holtz distress; (Tuxedo Black) Memento

Other: Chipboard

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #30

Well it's been two weeks since we've all had a new challenge to play, so let's jump right in! This week we're bringing you another Tic Tac Toe challenge, so lots of combos to play with.

Our sponsor this week is Paper Temptress who was kind enough to supply us with some cardstock. Be sure to stop on over to CAS-ual Fridays to check out the prize!

This was my first card I've made since the last challenge as I've been busy getting ready for a craft fair this weekend. I went with a vertical line using Polka Dots, Kraft and Orange and came up with a super simple masculine card :)

The Girl Fridays are looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and I for one can't wait to see what everyone comes up with for their creations. Be sure to pop over to CAS-ual Fridays to check out the inspiration and we hope you'll play along too :)