Wow...a CAS Card!

I joined Mo Manning's Facebook group, Bella and Bronte's Clubhouse, a while ago.  It is full of inspiration and wonderful people who are always ready to encourage!  It has been a great source of inspiration and courage!  If you are a fan of her art, you should pop over and join too!  Because of the group, I am actually going to enter my first-ever Mo's challenge!  Wouldn't you know, it is to create a CAS card?!  It could have been worse...it could have been a masculine card.  No actually, I think CAS is harder for me!

I am so pleased with the way this turned out.  I used Thanks! and colored it with Copics.  I am not sure I breathed the entire time I was coloring it!  The image was printed directly on the card base and I was so afraid I was going to have to start over!  I was so happy when the last marker stroke was completed!

Card measures 4.25" x 5.5"
Stampin' Up! Banners Framelits
Stampin' Up! Banner Blast stamp set
American Crafts ribbon

A Little Metal...Well Okay...a Lot

Hello everyone!  What a fun challenge at Meljen's Designs this week:  use metal on your project.  It can be a little or a lot!  I decided to go with a lot!

Do you know how hard it is to photograph metal?!  It took me several tries to get a picture that I was happy with.  I used Hot Air Balloon colored with Copic markers and I also used Little Stitched Cloud.  To create the background, I used a piece of craft metal.  It came in a 12 x 12 sheet and I have had it forever, so I am not sure who made it.  I printed Little Stitched Cloud several times in a couple of sizes and cut them out.  I used them as a template to pierce the metal with my Tim Holtz piercing tool.  I also used a larger sized Little Stitched Cloud for the sentiment and a smaller one for the embellishment.  All of the images are popped up with leftover stamp foam for a lot of great dimension.  I found the lace trim at a local antique mall along with some great buttons and other fun embellishments!  You never know what you will find!

I am also going to link this up in the Blitsy Linky Party!  Love that website!  So many great crafty finds!

I can't wait to see how you get creative with your metal embellishments!

Card measures 4.25" x 5.5"
Stampin' Up! Island Indigo Baker's Twine
Stampin' Up! Send Me Soaring stamp set
Basic Grey button
Paper Studio Ribbon Scraps
lace from my stash

Candy Land Colors

Wow!  It is time for another challenge at Meljen's Designs!  This time we have a color challenge for you.  Take a look at this color swatch photo!

Such bright colors!  When I looked at that photo, I immediately though of the digital stamp, Candy Land Dreams.  So, of course, that is what I had to use for my card!

The stamp is colored with Copics.  My "candy dots" are actually melted pony beads!  It is the latest craze sweeping the crafting world.  If you don't mind a little bit of stinky odor, you can cook up a batch of these yourself.  I used mini beads and melted them at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes.  You can get glitter beads, pearl beads, translucent beads...the list goes on and on!

I am also going to enter this in the Card Makin' Mamas challenge to use Buttons, Bits and Baubles!  

I hope you will join us this week for our color challenge!

Card Measures 1.25" x 5.5"

Spellbinders Labels Nine

Cuttlebug Mini Monsters embossing folder

Stampin' Up! Goody-Goody Gumdrops Stamp set

ribbon from my stash

Happy Anniversary

We are celebrating Meljen's Designs 4th anniversary this week.  What better way to celebrate than to get a gift, only in this case, YOU get the gift!  Melissa has drawn a special digital stamp that you can get for free for this week only.  Just pop on over to the shop and download it.  (Clicking on the image below will also take you to the shop.)  To play in this week's challenge, you MUST use this image.

Isn't it just adorable!  It is called All Our Friends and you can see many of the images that have become favorites over the last four years:  Brooke, Jaycen, Cupcake Mouse, and Raggy Puppy.  The design team has used this image on their projects and I am amazed at how different they all are!  Here is mine.

I continued with spring colors because today was a gorgeous day and I was inspired by sunshine and warmth!  The image was colored with Copics and it was great practice in using a light hand!  There are a lot of wonderful details in this image.  My card is 5.5" wide so the image was about 2.5" wide!  I think I may print it just a bit larger next time. =)  I made the crocheted flower myself.  I have actually gone a bit crazy and have an entire garden of crocheted flowers!

Don't forget...to play along, you MUST use the anniversary image.  It's free, so what are you waiting for?!

Card measures 5.5" x 4.25"
Spellbinders Lattice Rectangles
My Mind's Eye Collectable Notable Wonder brads
Heidi Grace printed punchboard add-ons
Stampin' Up Friendly Phrases

Getting Springy

It was my turn to post on the Meljen's Designs blog this month.  I am excited by the return of sunshine and warmer weather, so I thought I would post a spring project.

The colors and patterns were inspired by the current Card Makin Mamas photo challenge.

When I saw this picture, I just had to play along!  I decided to step out of my comfort zone and mix patterned paper.  Still not sure how I feel about it!  I used Little Round Flowers from Meljen's Designs and paper pieced the image.  I also popped several layers up on dimensional foam.  The base image was closely cropped with a die so that parts of the image would extend when pieced.  I like how the piecing turned out at least!

And since the card fits into the spring theme over at the Blitsy Linky party, I am going to post it there too! 

Card measures 5.5" x 4.25"

Spellbinders Labels Twenty-Two

TPC Studios metal embellishments

ribbon and gems from my stash

Let's Hear it for the Girls!

I am so excited by the challenge this week at Meljen's Designs.  The challenge is to create a girly card!  Easy peasy!  I got out all of my favorite embellishments and went to town!

I used Tiger Butterfly and colored it with some soft, girly Copic colors.  Then I layered on flowers, ribbon, trim and gems.  I am not sure it is girly enough!  What do you think?!

I am going to add this to the Blitsy Linky Party happening now.  Fingers crossed for some Blitsy credit!  Love that website!

Card measures 4.25" x 5.5"
Martha Stewart doily
LifeStyle Crafts nesting circles
Fancy Pants embroidered trim
flowers, ribbon, gems from my stash

Winner! Winner!

First, I would like to thank everyone for all of the sweet comments you left during the blog hop.  It is always so much fun to read them and I love them all!

Second, I used random.org to draw a number out of the...well...not really a hat...from the cybersphere.  Drum roll please!

The winner was comment number 32, which was an anonymous comment.  The comment was:
                 
                    ·:*¨·••·¨*:· Thanks.·:*¨·••·¨*:·for sharing such a beautiful creation with us.
                    your creation is super cute, love your design and fab coloring!Fantastic project! 
                    I wish you many more creative years of inspiration!!Keep up the fabulous work.
                    Have a marvelous weekend.take care of yourself and stay warm.

                                  (¯`v´¯) 
                                   `*.¸.*´ 
                                  ¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨) 
                                 (¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•sending hugs across the miles
The email address has snowbird in it, so Snowbird...you are the winner!  Lovely ASCII art in your comment too!  You will be receiving an email from me with the image attached.  Please let me know if you do not receive it.

Thanks again for all of your lovely comments.  Stop by again soon!