You bring me sunshine .....

.... Hi again!  I'm back a bit quicker than expected - got all the washing and ironing finished quicker than expected - so free time to play!!!  And that's good because as soon as I saw the challenge at CASology - CAS48, cue word YELLOW, I knew what I'd be making.  The card also works for the current Addicted to CAS Challenge - ATCAS14, cue word CIRCLES - here there are many!!! Here's my card:

Stamps: Waltzingmouse - My Island; My Favourite Things - First Class Friend; Verve - Learning to Sail
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Daffodil Delight; Memento - London Fog
Dies: Lil' Inkers - Stitched Squares #6; Memory Box - Circle Burst Sm
Accessories:  SU DP - Daffodil Delight; White Lustre Card

This came together so quickly - I think it took 30 minutes from start to finish!!!  The cue word yellow just shouted sunshine to me.  I used the polka dot bright paper from Stampin' Up! to make the mat layer; I also stamped a little sun on this paper and cut it out.  I used the Lil' Inker squares to cut out the white layer and then used the Memory Box die to create a "sun".  I love the words on this sentiment, absolutely perfect for the card.  I finished off the inside with a mat layer in yellow card and on the white panel a heartfelt sentiment.

Kathryn has just come home from school, weighed down by the contents of her school locker.  The children had to clear everything out today.  I think the last couple of days consist of fun activities - films, parties and signing of the Year Book.  I can't believe how fast the past year has gone.  Kathryn really has enjoyed her first year at an American Middle School - junior high!!!  She's grown up such a lot too!

I think that really is all for today. The weather has turned out to be much nicer than expected and I think I need to do a bit of weeding before we fly to the UK.  See you tomorrow.

Complementary birthday card ....

.... Morning - it's another gorgeous day here in Northville and I've managed to get a hour in my craft room this morning and made a birthday card for a couple of challenges:

• CAS-ual Fridays - CFC100 - it's their 100th challenge and 2nd birthday!!
• Less is More - LIM118 - to use colours opposite each other on the spectrum

Stamps: Verve - Polka Stars; CAS-ual Friday Stamps - Bold Wishes
Inks: Memento - Danube Blue, Tangelo
Dies: Lil' Inkers - Stitched Squares # 6 & 7
Accessories:  White lustre card

The challenge at CAS-ual Friday is such fun - they've given us a grid and we have to pick a line - I selected the line that included: polka dots, square card and birthday - yep!!  And at Less is More the ladies want us to make a CAS card using colours from opposite sides of the spectrum wheel.  I nearly went for green and red, but decided that these polka dot stars needed orange and blue!!  This card was very easy to make - stamping the stars onto white card, cutting them out and attaching them to the card.  The two orange stars have been given a little dimension.  For the inside I used the huge "Wish Big" stamp - love it!

That's all for this morning - off out to the shops and then I've got a huge pile of ironing to do - better find a good movie to watch while I do it.  See you soon.

Coffee and friends .....

.... I'm rather late with my post today - but I've been having a lazy day.  After I cleared the snow off the drive this morning I decided to sit in the warm with a nice hot coffee and a good book.  I finally decided I'd go have a quick play - this card has been lurking in my mind all day.  I've used four challenges in the making of it:

• Less is More - LIM103 - where the theme is Friends
• Colour Q - cQC173
• Retro Sketches - RS47
• CASology - CAS28 - where the cue word is DRINK

Stamps: Lil' Inkers - Coffee Cozies; Verve Stamps - Better with You
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze; Distress - Antique Linen
Dies: Lil' Inkers - Coffee Cozies
Accessories: Cuttlebug EF - Spots and Dots; SU Card - Crumb Cake; Promarkers - Burnt Orange (Dusty Durango), Apricot (Apricot Appeal), Dusky Pink (Blush Blossom); White Lustre card from stash

I used this week's Retro Sketch for the layout and stamped the coffee steam and coffee rings directly onto the white panel before embossing.  I adhered the panel directly onto the card.  Next I diecut the coffee cups and holders, then coloured the holders with Promarkers (matching the colours as closely as possible to the Colour Q challenge).  I made the sentiment panel and attached it to the card, and then adhered the coffee mugs with dimensional tape.  I stamped the inside with a fun sentiment and a couple of coffee rings!

As a coffee lover - there is only one drink that I could use for the drinks challenge!!  Just love the smell of coffee - yum!!

I'm off to a craft class this evening at Stampeddlar - the teacher is Valerie Brincheck and I'm going to be playing with Distress Inks - so I'm going to get very inky!!  Should be lots of fun.

That's all for now.  See you soon.

Coffee solves everything ....

.... well, I think it's pretty good at solving most things :)   I love a good cup of coffee and I've used that theme on my card for the following challenges:

• CAS(E) this Sketch! - CTS1
• Play Date Cafe Challenge - PDCC153

Stamps: Verve - Better With You; My Favourite Things - Clearly Senitmental About Coffee
Inks: Stampin' Up! - Soft Suede, Peach Parfait
Accessories:  SU Card - Peach Parfait, Pear Pizzazz, Blushing Bride; Glitter and card from stash

There's a new CAS challenge in town - the team provide a sketch for us to play with.  I've teamed the sketch with this week's colours from The Play Date Cafe - mine is very clean and simple.  It was really quick to make.  I stamped the coffee cup several times onto cream card, cut them out, glued them to a backing card.  Then I stamped the cups again onto coloured card to make the cup bands.  I finished off by adding some coffee circles, some steam and a sentiment.  It's hard to see in the picture above, but there are lines embossed above and below the row of coffee mugs - check out the image below.

The light here isn't great today and it's made taking photos really tough.  I think I need to invest in a small photo booth with some decent lights.  And that's all for now - off to get dinner ready now.  I've had a really fun day - equal amounts of tidying and playing.  See you tomorrow.

A one for three ....

... Good afternoon - just popping in quickly to share the card I've made for the following challenges:

• Dynamic Duos - DD#22 - mix 'n' match week
• Retro Sketches - RS#31 - lovely sketch - I turned it through 90°
• Less is More - LIM87 - this a lucky dip week and the theme is Love & Marriage

Stamps:  Verve - Wings of Love, Stronger Love
Inks:  Stampin' Up! - Cherry Cobbler; Memento - Tuxedo Black
Accessories:  SU Card - Pool Party; Twine and card from stash

I got these fabulous new stamps from Verve this week and thought they were absolutely perfect for this week's Less is More challenge of Love & Marriage.  At Dynamic Duos the colours are Cherry Cobbler (again perfect for love & marriage) and a choice of my own - I picked Pool Party as the soft, turquoise really make the cherry colour pop!  And for the layout I used this week's Retro Sketch which I've turned through 90°.

I think this sentiment is absolutely true - my someone is Jonathan, my wonderful husband and best friend.  I rounded the corners of my card base and did the same to the two mat layers.  I stamped the hearts on white card and cut them out.  I attached the wavy hearts directly to the panel and then wound round some white twine.  I mounted the panel to the card with dimensional tape - I did some careful stamping before all this to make sure that the tail of the "l" was in the right place!!  I finished off with the winged heart - stamped once on white card in red, and then on Cherry Cobbler in black - cut them out and attached to the card with dimensional tape.

That's all I've got time for now - I'm off back to school this afternoon to help out on the Bake Sale!!  I was in this morning at the Book Fair (came home with a couple of new books for our library) and now back again!!  See you tomorrow!