Like a Peacock

Hi everyone!

Just a quick post for this week's CAS-ual Friday Challenge. This week's challenge is:

Yep, make a CAS card with a congratulatory sentiment...for graduation, wedding, a new home, a new baby--anything you can think of.

For such a broad theme, I had trouble narrowing down my ideas. I remembered a submission reject I made a little while ago, and decided to revise it. I changed the color scheme for a more summery feel, but I kept the design the same:

The card is a digital journaling card from the Kraft Edition collection at AC Digitals. I enlarged the journaling card, recolored the background white, and then played around with the petal colors. Seriously, I bet I spent 45 minutes obsessing over fiddling with the colors (but it was okay because I was watching some cool Weather Channel show at the same time).

The winner of this week's CAS-ual Fridays Challenge wins stamps from CAS-ual Fridays Stamps. There are some cool new designs to choose from. :)

To enter your project, you can link them up HERE.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great weekend!


Supplies
Cardstock: (white) PTI
Other paper: (Premium White Photo Paper) OfficeMax
Digital element: (journaling card from the Kraft Edition collection) AC Digitals
Font: (Ostrich Sans) 

Hot Dog!

Hi everyone! I hope your week is going well! I have a new blog design, thanks to Designer Blogs. I decided the winter colors had to go, and I wanted something cheerful.

I was thinking about ideas for the Paper Crafts Magazine's Gallery Idol contest, and since the theme was kid/teen birthday, I asked my seven-year-old what she would like. Cute animals, pink, glitter... So, here's what happened:

The style is a little different for me...more coloring, more fussy-cutting. But, it still is a hybrid card. ;) I used a digital stamp from the Flying High set at Tiddly Winks and colored it with Copics. I'm not going to lie--it took me three tries to get the shading I wanted on the balloons.

I knew I wanted to have the balloons hanging over the edge, so (holding my breath and praying that I didn't have to start again), I cut him out. Here's a close-up:

For the background, I die-cut some clouds from WPlus9 to use as a mask and misted over them with several different mists. The sky is a subtle gradient (I misted from the top of the panel).

When I was done with the card, I got a double thumbs-up from my kids. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great rest of the week!


Supplies
Cardstock: (white) PTI
Digital stamp: (dog from Flying High) Tiddly Inks
Copic Markers
Dies: (clouds) WPlus9
Mists: (Dewey) Studio Calico; (Dandelion) Fireworks; (Iridescent Gold) Tattered Angels; (Baby Blue Eyes, Marigold Yellow Orange) Lindy's Stamp Gange
Font: (MTF You Are) SugarHill Co.

You're a Star

Hi everyone! Thanks for all of the well-wishes about SPARKS. It means so much to me!

We're nearing the end of our first week of summer vacation. Today, my daughter and I went to see where Jesse James supposedly jumped over a 20 foot gorge on a horse to get away from a posse. Ha! Summer is good for trips like that.

Anyhoo, it's time for another CAS-ual Fridays Challenge. In honor of Memorial Day in the States, the theme is red, white, and blue:

The red and blue reminded me of the nautical trend, and I used that theme for this hybrid card:

First, I opened up the digital sentiment from One Little Bird and recolored it. Then, I layered it on digital patterned paper and printed it. I partially cut the banners using the my My Favorite Things Jumbo Fishtail Banners--I wanted the banners to be a little longer, so I simply trimmed the edges to make them longer.

I finished the card by inking the edges and tying a Figure 8 knot. I used THIS website as a tutorial for the knot.

This week's challenge is being sponsored by Simon Says Stamps:

You can link up your red, white, and blue creations HERE. :)

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great Memorial Day weekend!


Supplies
Cardstock: (cream) Avery Elle
Ink: (Antique Linen Distress Ink) Ranger
Digital elements: (navy paper and sentiment from Stargazer) One Little Bird at The Lilypad; (red and cream stripe from All American Girl) Robyn Meierotto at Pixels & Co.
Other: (packing cord) hardware store

Oh Em Gee & Good News

Hi everyone! I have exciting news--I'm joining the Paper Smooches SPARKS team! Yeah--I am psyched about it! The announcement is on the Paper Smooches blog HERE.

Today is my last post as the Paper Smooches Guest Designer. I used the new Slang Gang set to make this interactive card:

I was playing around with the Slang Gang set when I realized many of the sentiments fit on the easel from the I Heart Art set. Sometimes for work, I use flip chart papers on easels during meetings. It gave me the idea of an office-themed card for a co-worker.

When I was stamping the sentiments, I thought it would be cool if the paper was really like flip chart papers. That thought led to the idea of an interactive card. When you lift up the first page on the easel, you see a second message from Slang Gang:

And then a third message:

I could have added more, but the mini glue dot might not have held down the sheets. ;)

As you can see, I simply fussy cut three sides of the front of the easel. I trimmed the top two papers slightly higher to make an edge for adhering. I found scoring and Score-Tape helped. It would be fun to make other messages with the set--any ideas what to write?

If you want to see the other projects on the Paper Smooches blog, you can check them out HERE. I want to give a big "thank you" to Kim for having me this month as the Guest Designer. It's been a blast, and I am so thankful for the opportunity!

Have a great day! Thanks for stopping by.


Supplies
Cardstock: (Kraft) PTI
Patterned paper: (polka dot, calendar from Sn@p collection) Simple Stories
Clear stamps: (sentiments from Slang Gang; easel from I Heart Art) Paper Smooches
Ink: (Tuxedo Black) Memento; (Teal, Ultramarine) Vivid; (Raspberry Jam Mid-Tone) Hero Arts
Die: (Notebook Edge) My Favorite Things
Washi Tape: (blue stripe) Bella Blvd.

You Make Me Smile

Hi everyone! I hope you've had a great week.

It's time for another CAS-ual Fridays challenge. The theme for this week is stamping on patterned paper:

I used some of my CAS-ual Friday stamps to make a collage card:

Somehow I managed 7 layers on a CAS card. ha ha I started with a little Dewey mist and splattered it. I started by die cutting the pink chevron banner from the Atlantic collection. I stamped the sentiment from the Casual Elegance set on the banner, and then I stamped the leaves from the set four times on the Mint Julep paper to make a flower.

After the stamping was done, I die cut the small tag and used other elements from Chic Tags and BasicGrey. Here's a close-up of the layering:

Want to play along? This week's sponsor is CAS-ual Friday Stamps:

You can link up your projects HERE.

I also need to announce the winner of the Paper Crafts Magazine's 350 Cards and Gifts blog hop (drum roll....):

#28 Cheryl (Clee)

Cheryl, please contact me at redballooncards at yahoo dot com, and I'll get your information to Holly at Paper Crafts. Thanks for your comments!

Have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies
Cardstock: (Rustic White) PTI
Patterned papers: (light blue on tag from Mint Julep) BasicGrey; (pink chevron from Atlantic) Studio Calico
Clear stamps: (sentiment, leaves from Casual Elegance) CAS-ual Fridays Stamps
Ink: (Chocolate Chip) Stampin' Up; (Dewey mist) Studio Calico
Embellishments: (yellow doily tag) Chic Tags; (blue journaling spot, red chipboard, red transparency arrow from Mint Julep) BasicGrey; (sequin from Kelly Purkey) Simon Says Stamp; (red enamel dot) My Mind's Eye
Fibers: (Natural twine) Maya Road
Dies: (Tag, Large Fishtail Banner) My Mind's Eye

Thanks, Teacher!

It's that time of year again--the last week of school. My daughter is looking forward to sleeping a little longer, but generally she's sad that it's her last week. She's moving to a new (magnet) school next year, and I think that has added to the finality. :(

I made a thank you card for her teacher, and I used Paper Smooches stamps for the card:

I used a whopping 5 different PS sets on this card. The card started with the idea of turning the hamburger in the Think Fast set into a vase. Yep, that's a hamburger. Then I realized I could make the perfume bottle in Retail Therapy a vase, too...

I actually did a great job masking off the bottom and lining up the vases. As you can see, I then ended up covered the masking with patterned paper. Doh! For once I'd like to think through a card entirely before I make it. Ha ha

The vases are stamped in Brilliance ink, and you can see the shimmer in the close-up:

For the flowers, I used the Retail Therapy, A Magical Spring, and Bold Blooms. I love how Kim includes small stamps like these in every set.

My card is on the Paper Smooches blog. If you get a chance, please stop by and check it out. :)

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day!


Supplies
Cardstock: (Rustic White) PTI
Patterned paper: (gingham from Hopscotch; woodgrain from Trendsetter) Fancy Pants
Clear stamps: (flowers from Retail Therapy, A Magical Spring, Bold Blooms; perfume and vase from Retail Therapy; hamburger/vase from Think Fast; sentiment from Smarty Pants)
Punch: (apron punch) Fiskars
Ribbon: (pink/yellow ribbon) May Arts

350 Cards and Gifts Blog Hop

Hi everyone! Today I'm participating in the Paper Crafts Magazine's 350 Cards and Gifts blog hop. (yeah!) This is one of my favorite issues--there are so many great project ideas!

You can start at the beginning of the hop HERE, and if you get lost along the way, here is the order:

Chan Vuong

Heather Campbell

Kimberly Crawford

Amanda Coleman

Kelly Griglione

Nina Yang

Alice Wertz

Emily Branch

Jocelyn Olson <--You're here

Kalyn Kepner

Lori Tecler

Meghan McMillan

Piali Biswas

Vanessa Menhorn

It's such an honor to be participating with these awesome papercrafters! Holly asked us to make a birthday project. I don't know what came over me, but I couldn't stop with just one project. I made a mini ensemble for a fox birthday party:

I have a mild obsession with all kinds of animal prints (foxes, horses, whales), which, lucky for me, are pretty popular right now. It all started with the fox cupcake wrap. And then I figured, if you're eating a cupcake, you need something to drink, right?

I cut the Fox Cupcake Wrapper using my Cameo and finished it off with a black enamel dot for his nose. For the mini mason jar, I created the label using the Crazy for You digital papers and elements. I simply printed and die cut the papers, and I fussy cut the fox.

Next, I made a sneaky treat container for the party. It looks like a tree centerpiece, but it's really a candy container:

I die cut the 3D Gift Box-Basic, and after it was assembled, I added candy inside. The trunk looks like a stake to me. I suppose if someone else was removing the candy, you could poke him or her with it. hee hee

Finally, I made a pillow box and tag for the party favor:

I started off by die cutting the pillow box and adding some woodgrain paper and twine. For the tags, I used the same digital papers as the mason jar and pieced the papers and sentiment strip together. I die cut the papers using the Tag Scallop Die from Paper Smooches. I *had* to make both a boy and a girl fox tag.

There are fab ideas for other treat wraps in the 350 Cards and Gifts issue. Want to win a copy? You can leave a comment here and leave comments on each of the hop participants' blogs. Please comment by 9pm CST on Tuesday, May 14th. Or, if you can't wait another day, you can buy the issue HERE.

If you make your own bag/tag/wrap/gift, be sure to enter it into the Moxie Fab World challenges going on right now.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Next up is the sweet and talented Kalyn.


Supplies
Cupcake Wrapper
Cardstock: (Tangy Orange) Stamp School; (white, True Black) PTI
Die cutting file: (Fox Cupcake Wrapper) Silhouette Online Store
Embellishments: (black enamel dot) My Mind's Eye

Mason Jar
Patterned paper: (green polka dot from Collectable-Remarkable collection) My Mind's Eye
Other papers: (Premium Matte Photo Paper) Office Max
Digital elements: (digital papers and fox from Crazy for You Papers and Elements) One Little Bird at The Lilypad
Dies: (Limitless Layers) PTI
Other: (red and white straw) Simon Says Stamp

Tree Candy Box
Cardstock: (Dark Chocolate) PTI
Patterned paper: (green polka dot from Collectable-Remarkable collection) My Mind's Eye
Die cutting file: (3D Gift Box Basic) Silhouette Online Store

Pillow Box and Tag
Cardstock: (Kraft) PTI
Patterned paper: (woodgrain from Winter Wonderland) Studio Calico
Other papers: (Premium Matte Photo Paper) Office Max
Digital elements: (digital papers and fox from Crazy for You Papers and Elements) One Little Bird at The Lilypad
Die: (Tag Scallop Die) Paper Smooches
Font: (Ostrich Sans Rounded)

Mother's Day Note Cards

Hi everyone! It's my second post for the Paper Smooches Guest Designer (yeah!!). Kim is showing my projects on the PS blog.

With Mother's Day almost here, I made a present for my mom. She likes me to send her note cards that she can give away. She also really likes purses. I merged the two ideas and came up with a set of note cards and a bag.

First up are the note cards. I made them in four different colors with two different sentiments:

I started off by stamping the purses from Retail Therapy onto watercolor paper. I love the different purse elements in that set so you can really make your own style. Then, I used Inktense pencils to watercolor the purses.

I'm a total watercoloring novice, but I watched THIS video. I brushed onto the Inktense pencils with an Aqua Brush and then colored on the purses rather than coloring onto the purses first. That technique worked much better for these. 

Here are the next two colors and purses:

For the sentiments, I used the Wicked Nauticool and Word Salad sets (I think my purse is a life saver with two young kids).

I also wanted to make a bag for the note cards, and I used cute purse die cutting file to make this gift bag:

For the tag, I used the Paper Smooches Tag Scallop Die. Instead of watercoloring, I decided to stamp on some Crate paper and fussy cut the purse. To remove the inside of the handle, I cut through one of the purse straps, cut out the inside, and then put a tiny strip of paper on the backside to hold the cut handle down.

Here's a close-up to see how the purse is popped up with foam tape:

The tag is finished off with a sentiment from the Retail Therapy set.

I'm entering my set in the Moxie Fab World Card Set Challenge. If you want to play along with the challenge, there's still plenty of time to enter a card set.

If you get a chance, stop by the Paper Smooches blog and leave some love. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great day.


Supplies
Note Cards
Cardstock: (Peacock, Yellow, Persimmon) The Paper Source; (pink) Bazzill
Other paper: (watercolor paper) Hero Arts
Clear stamps: (purses from Retail Therapy; "hello" from Word Salad; ""life saver" from Wicked Nauticool) Paper Smooches Stamps
Ink: (Black) Staz-on
Watercolor pencils: (Inktense) Derwent

Gift Bag & Tag
Cardstock: (pink) Bazzill
Other paper: (watercolor paper) Hero Arts
Patterned paper: (floral from Maggie Holmes) Crate Paper; (blue polka dot from Yes, Please) Amy Tangerine
Clear stamps: (purse and sentiment from Retail Therapy) Paper Smooches Stamps
Ink: (Tuxedo Black) Memento
Die: (Tag Scallop Die) Paper Smooches Stamps; (purse bag from Tricky Treat Tote die cutting file) My Time Made Easy
Twine: The Twinery

The Waving Skunk

Hi everyone! Thanks for all the nice comments and messages this week for my Diagnosis Design and Paper Smooches posts. Y'all are nice. :)

It's time for another CAS-ual Fridays Challenge, and this one is a doozy. It's the second birthday and the 100th challenge. To celebrate, this week incorporates the top CFC challenges of all time, and to play, you pick one row:

I don't know if there were too many options, but I could not come up with any ideas. I must have spent two hours going through my stamps and digital files, and I decided I didn't have anything to make a card (somewhere, my husband is laughing).

But, as soon as I saw this skunk image, I got the idea for this card:

I used the row birthday-embossing-black & white.

I started off by slightly recoloring the skunk in Photoshop (he looked a little too dingy for a black and white challenge). I resized him and created the sentiment below. After printing the panel, I printed a second skunk and fussy cut him.

I wanted to add something to make him look stinky (I was thinking of Pig Pen from Snoopy). Apparently, I don't have a stinky stamp, but I used the spark marks from the BombDiggity set. Here's a close-up:

I fiished the card by put the white panel on a black card base to look like the skunk tail. Hee hee

Since this week's CAS-ual Fridays Challenge is a big one, there are a whopping 10 prizes. The winner, the VIPs, and the Contenders will each win a prize. This week's challenge is being sponsored by Ellen Hutson

and CAS-ual Fridays Stamps:

You can enter the challenge HERE.

Thanks for playing along. Have a great day!


Supplies
Cardstock: (True Black) PTI
Other paper: (Premium Matte Photo Paper) OfficeMax
Clear stamp: (spark images from BombDiggity) There She Goes Stamps
Ink: (Tuxedo Black) Memento
Digital images: (skunk from Mr. Campy Elements) Cosmo Cricket
Font: (MTF You Are) Miss Tiina at Sugar Hill Co.

The Pick-Up

Hi everyone! Today is my first day as the May Guest Designer for Paper Smooches. Eek! I have been so excited about it.

For my card today, I used three of the new stamp sets released today:

It's supposed to be a boy fry trying to pick up the girl fry. My husband didn't get it--he thought "sup" was a shortened version of "ketchup." Then I felt like a dork explaining the card to him. ha ha

I created a mask for the eyes and then stamped over the eyes with the fry boxes from Think Fast. I added the mouths from the same set. The bow tie and hair bow come from the Retail Therapy set--that bow tie always makes me laugh.It's hard to tell, but I fussy cut the fry boxes. Now I'm not quite sure why I did, though. Does anyone else ever accidentally make extra steps?

I finished the card by stamping the sentiments from Slang Gang.  The sentiments are hilarious in this set! Here's a close-up:

Kim is showing my card on the Paper Smooches blog HERE. If you wouldn't mind, please stop by and leave some love. :)

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day.

Supplies
Cardstock: (True Black, white) Papertrey Ink
Clear stamps: (fries, eyes, and mouths from Think Fast; bows from Retail Therapy; sentiments from Slang Gang) Paper Smooches Stamps
Markers: Copic