CAS challenges

I love CAS cards.  Funny thing is, sometimes they are harder to come up with than layered, embellished cards.  There are many great CAS card artists...and I thought I'd play along with two of them this weekend.  I have long been a subscriber to Simplicity and was excited when Susan decided to challenge us.  This is the first one I've had a chance to try.  The challenge was to overlap an image and a sentiment.  And did I mention it has to be a ONE layer card?  Not only are Susan's ideas wonderful, but there is a lot of great inspiration in the submissions.  Check it out!

Newer to me is the CAS-tastic challenge blog.  Their challenge this week is using a "touch" of green.  So I tried to use just a touch!  This one didn't have to be one layer, but I tried to keep it simple and uncluttered.  I wanted "waves" for the border punch...but I'm not able to find that darn Martha Stewart punch around here anywhere.  Perhaps it's discontinued?  Oh well...I will continue my quest!  (Imagine waves when you look at the scallops!)  That's a SU bordering blue - which I'm sad to see retiring! - sea on that card...I've had the darndest time getting it to show up blue-r than gray-er in photos.

OK...enough posts for this weekend.  I just don't know when I'll have another chance...and I don't want to let it go for a month again.  It's the end of the school year and baseball season is still in full swing.  (no pun intended!)  If I can carve out some rubbah time, I'll be back to share with you soon!

Sketch Saturday - on Sunday

I found a new challenge to try today after visiting a few blogs out there for inspiration.  (love that...all of the great inspiration out there...thanks fellow stampers!!)  I tried the Sketch Saturday layout today.  I saw all of the embellishments at the bottom of the focal point image and (don't ask why...because I don't know!) I immediately thought butterflies.  I don't have an oval big enough to fit the sentiment I used, so rounded corners had to do!  I also tried to use The Pink Elephant's challenge color this week- orange.  And all of that chocolate chip brown (with a splash of color) is for the Just Scraps challenge this week. 

This card will go to Patti over at The Queens Ink in Savage. It's a Unity stamp I bought at her BEAUTIFUL shop a while ago. She hosted a great stamping "yard sale" last week.  It was soooooo fun to go there and be amongst "my kind."  (If you're reading this, they were most likely YOUR kind, too!)  It was a chance to talk rubber, techniques, sell a few older stamps and pick up a few "new to me" stamps.  What a great idea and a great day.  Thanks, Patti!

If you are local to the Baltimore area...another area scrapbook store, PhotoScraps, is hosting a scrapbook "yard sale" event next weekend.  I'd love to be there, too, but I can't.  I will be attending my friend's daughter's bat mitzvah.  She's so excited.  I made all of the invites, thank yous and placecards, etc.  for her as a gift from our family.  She is very active on her swim team, and her "mitzvah project" was to do a swim-a-thon to raise money for breast cancer research, as her mother (my friend) is a breast cancer survivor.  Nice young lady!  Here's the invite we decided on...had to be "watery"! 

Christmas in...May?

Oh, yes!  It's that time again to join in with the ladies at Christmas Cards All Year 'Round.  This month's challenge was to use flowers ("April showers bring May flowers"), ribbons and buttons.  Ribbon - got that under control.  But the buttons and flowers...I'll tell you, it's hard to incorporate a flower on a Christmas card!  (obviously why it's taken me the whole month to figure out a design!)  I actually thought I wouldn't participate...but today it finally hit me - thank goodness!  Wouldn't want to miss out on the fun!

Funny to be thinking Christmas thoughts on Memorial Day weekend...but I finally got time to stamp.  I'll take THAT whenever I can get it!  Thanks for stopping by! 

CPS sketch...just under the wire!

No thunderstorms, neighbors over for a casual get together...great start to the holiday weekend!  But I almost forgot to post one of the challenges I was able to work on this week.  I tried the sketch at Card Positioning Systems.  There were already so many great submissions!  I've been trying hard to finish some cards for the Christmas Cards All Year 'Round...so I had some winter stamps out.  Funny thing is...I got this one done...but not the actual Christmas ones!  Oh well...maybe tomorrow!  (Helps to stay cool in 90 degree weather when you're working with snowy stamps!) 

Color Q and Aussie Thanks!

I wanted to play along with the Color Q challenge this week.  They are always so much fun to see how everyone uses the same colors.  There were a lot of colors "required" this week, but the inspiration picture reminded me of some paper I had used for a baby book when my nephew was born...almost 4 years ago now!  (insert craft supply hoarding joke here.)  This is for my friend Mary (a teacher I work with) who will be very glad when the school year is over!  She just needs a little help getting there...and what better way to help out than a little lift in PTI's cute car?  (Mary has a yellow VW bug...but that just didn't fit in the color challenge!)  I added a little crystal effects for a "windshield". 

I also want to update everyone and express our thanks to Aimee and her Mom, Jessica, at Aimee's Challenge Blog.  The ladies run a challenge blog for moms and kids...which I've mentioned before is a wonderful idea.  I've seen a few more popping up.  Charlie, my 8 year old, played along a while ago and we were thrilled to see that he'd won.  Well, the excellent mail came a bit ago...and he was excited!  I don't know if you can tell in the picture, but the stamp has a kangaroo on it!  He loved it.  I think the postmarks and stamp were almost as exciting as winning and the goodies inside.  Also, I have to mention that there was a note inside from Jessica that Aimee thought with Charlie being a boy, he may not like the heart stickers that were the prize for the challenge...so they included some cool sparkly blue star stickers.  Just so you know, Aimee, they are all over his school folder and agenda where he writes his homework!  Thanks again and continued success with your challenge!  I'm sure we'll be back to play again...as soon as baseball season ends! 

I've been a baaaaaaaad blogger...

I have tons of excuses - some real REASONS, even! - that I've been a bad blogger!  Let's just say "little league baseball season."  'Nuff said. 

We've had quite a few things going on around here...my husband is coming up on a year after being laid off last July (with no new full time job - he started his own consulting business).  Not that I want to get into that nightmare situation, but it seems that IT was sure the trigger for everything else!  We seem to be at "that point" where everything we own is in the "end of it's useful life" phase.  This includes A/C, mini van, water main (yep!) and living room furniture.  Obviously the furniture is going to have to wait...so if you come over any time soon, pretend it's not horrible!  :)  The only reason I get to update the old blog today is because I'm home with the A/C guys...replacing the A/C system.  When it rains, it pours, I guess.  But I'd like to move somewhere where it's not monsoon season!!!  Please?????

But it is allowing me to stamp for the first time in (dare I say it???)....a month.  YES.  And I do SOOOOO  love the challenges and seeing what everyone is creating.  Just couldn't get to it!

How handy that Pixie Dust Studio helped me out of my funk!!  Their challenge this week is to use a pearl on your card.  I can also thank my friend Beth who - like all of us - has waaaay too much to do and not enough time to do it.  She comes to baseball games for her son with a whole tote of projects to work on!!  She said she just doesn't have enough time to stamp, so she brought me a cute SU! set, some papers and some glitter!  Since I just HAD to make her a thank you note (with her set and paper!)...it got me stamping again.  I'm grateful to her for that, as much as the crafting goodies!  The pearl is for the center of the flower - and is just what I needed to get over my "purple problem."  The paper Beth gave me is plum from SU...I've mentioned before that purple and I don't get along!  But I'm happy with the finished product!

More catching up and housekeeping in the next post!  Thanks for stopping by!