A Little CASE, A Little CAS

Happy Monday!  We are having a bit of a "heat wave" where I live, and we're supposed to see temperatures in the mid-70's today.  That is AMAZING for January in the Midwest!  I was almost ready to break out the shorts and t-shirts until then I saw that we'll dip back into the 20's and 30's for lows over the next couple of days.  It may not be time to pack my winter coat just yet!  But today we have lots of sunshine and beautiful weather, so it's not a bad way to start the week at all!

This week's Featured Stamper at Splitcoast Stampers is a crafter whose blog I have been following for awhile now, so I was excited by the challenge to CASE (Copy and Share Everything) one of her darling cards.  She makes the most amazing Clean and Simple (CAS) cards.  With this challenge, we pick a project from her gallery to CASE by changing at least two elements to create a new card.  

Here is a link to the card I chose to CASE: No Shoes

And here is my card: 

I kept the card's design and CAS style.  I changed the image and die cuts, and I used a stamped layer in place of her embossed layer.  

I started by stamping the coffee cup image twice on a piece of Natural White card stock using Rich Cocoa ink.  I fussy cut the entire cup from one image and the center circle only from the second image.  The image doesn't include a band on the card, so I created a band from kraft card stock and pieced it onto the cup.  I adhered the center circle over the band using foam tape to give it some dimension.  I die cut and embossed a layer from dark brown card stock and adhered the coffee cup to it.

I stamped the coffee beans on a piece of Natural White card stock, adhered it to a slightly wider piece of dark brown card stock and attached the panel to a Natural White card base.  I adhered the coffee cup layers, once again using foam tape.  I stamped the sentiment directly on the card base to complete the front of my card.

I'm working on several cards this week and plan to get them posted over the next few days, so I hope you'll visit again soon.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Products Used:
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko)

Stamp (cup image): My Cuppa Joe (Gina K. Designs)

Stamp (coffee beans): Espress Yourself (Stampin' Up!) 

Stamp (sentiment): Warm Cup of Coffee (Stampabilities)

Paper: Classic Crest Natural White 80 lb. (Neenah); brown and kraft card stock (unknown)

Tools and Accessories: Nestabilities Labels Eighteen (Spellbinders); Big Shot (Sizzix)

Cocoa and Friendship

Happy Thanksgiving week!  Here in the U.S. we're busy getting ready for a holiday.  It's been unseasonably warm where I live, so I'm having trouble believing we're coming up on the end of November so quickly.  Christmas (my very favorite time of the year) is just around the corner!

Today's card is a quick and easy winter card.  I collect coffee and hot chocolate stamps (and snowman stamps...do you see a wintry pattern emerging here?), so hot drinks appear quite often on my cards during this time of year.  One of my favorite ways to embellish a stamped cup of hot chocolate is with puffy white Liquid Applique.  This is such a fun (and easy) way to add a bit of fluffy whipped cream!

Here's my card:

I stamped my mug in Rich Cocoa on some light brownish card stock (it was in my stash and I have no idea what the color name is).  I added the steam in Close to Cocoa.  The steam is from a different set.  I love to mix and match my stamp sets to make them more versatile. 

I stamped my sentiment in Rich Cocoa, then die cut it and inked the edges with Rich Cocoa.  I used a dewdrop-sized pad this time because the smaller size makes it so much easier to ink the edges on a small label.  I added some baker's twine to my panel and then attached my sentiment piece with Stampin' Dimensionals over the twine.  I adhered the panel to a dark brown card base (also from my stash) and applied Liquid Applique.  I allowed it to dry, then used my heat tool to puff it up.  I decided it needed just a bit more so I added more Liquid Applique over it and puffed it up with the heat tool again.  I love that you can add layers and continue building the "foam" if you want to.  I thought it needed a little something else, so I added a red striped straw over the foam.  Unfortunately a bit of the red got on the foam (those new SU ink pads are JUICY!), so once again I added some more Liquid Applique and heat set it.  See how great this stuff is for covering up mistakes and creating dimension?

I am leaving this card as a "friendship" card by not adding any other sentiment, but I could easily change it to a missing you, thank you, love you, thinking of you, etc. card just by adding a sentiment to the inside. 

Thanks for visiting! 

Products Used:
 

Stamps (mug and sentiment): Close to My Heart

Stamps (steam and straw): Like it a Latte (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko); Close to Cocoa, Real Red (Stampin' Up!)

Tools and Accessories: White Liquid Applique (Marvy); Baker's Twine (unknown); Nestabilities Labels One (Spellbinders); Big Shot (Sizzix); Stampin' Dimensionals (Stampin' Up!)

Coffee Break Friends

Happy Monday!  I hope you had an enjoyable weekend.  It was a busy and productive one at my house.  I always feel better about the upcoming week if I've managed to get a few things checked off my to-do list over the weekend.  It was also nice to just spend some time together as a family.  We ate lots of chili and carved a pumpkin and went to a Halloween party...the perfect way to spend a few chilly days in Autumn, if you ask me!

And while my family slept, I spent a few hours in my craft room to work on completing a few challenges.  The first card I made was for this week's CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge, which uses the following sketch:

 

I combined this sketch with the Operation Write Home Midweek Throwdown.  The current Midweek Throwdown challenge theme is "Celebrate Friendship", so I used both challenges to create this card:

 

 

This card combines two of my favorite themes: friendship and coffee! (Side note: I collect coffee stamps, so you'll see those quite often on my blog.  I also collect snowmen stamps, so I make a lot of winter cards!) 

 

Since this card will be donated to Operation Write Home, I wanted to keep the colors neutral enough that it could be sent or received by a man or a woman.  I made a card base from brown card stock and cut a panel of red card stock to run the length of the card. I stamped my coffee cup in Memento Espresso Truffle, then masked the cup to add the frothy milk. I applied Liquid Applique, then set the tag aside to dry. You're *supposed* to let the liquid applique dry overnight, but I never have that much patience!  After it seemed dry enough to me (an hour or two), I used my heat gun to make it puff up.  I love the texture it adds!  Because frothy milk isn't stark-white, I applied some metallic rub-ons with my fingers to change the color a bit.  Because I wanted the brown card stock to show through the vellum on my tag, I laid my tag on the back side of the red panel, traced around it and then cut out the area with my craft knife. I adhered the panel to my card base, then attached the tag to the card base using mini glue dots. I stamped my sentiment on white card stock in Memento Espresso Truffle and inked the edges of the white piece with the same color, then adhered it to the card. 

 

This old stamp set is just so much fun to use!  White Liquid Applique works perfectly for creating the frothy milk (which can also become a dollop of whipped cream for hot cocoa if you just change the sentiment). 

 

I noticed that in this photo, the red panel looks slightly skewed. It is perfectly straight on the card (I know this because I measured it...my darned astigmatism makes lining things up difficult so I rely on my trusty ruler!). I either need a better camera or I need to brush up on my photography skills!

 

Looking at this card today (when it's not the middle of the night!) I think I would like this a bit more if I had embossed the red panel to add a bit of texture.  I can definitely see several uses for the sketch and am looking forward to trying it with other images and sentiments.

 

I'll be back tomorrow to tackle another challenge or two.  I hope those of you who are hunkered down for Hurricane Sandy are staying safe and dry!  My thoughts and prayers are with all who are in the storm's path. 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Products Used:

Ink: Memento Espresso Truffle (Tsukineko)

Stamps: Espress Yourself (Stampin' Up!)

Other: Liquid Applique (Marvy); Golden White Metallic Rub-On (Craf-T Products), heat tool, vellum tag

 

 

 

Coffee and Pumpkins: Autumn is Coming!

For this week's Sketch Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers I created two cards: a coffee card and a pumpkin card.  I have quite a collection of coffee-related stamps (coffee is this insomniac's friend!) and I love working with brown hues, so this first card was really fun to make.

I started with a brown card base. I stamped the coffee cup (Close to My Heart) in Stampin' Up! (SU) Chocolate Chip dye ink on Ultrasmooth Vanilla card stock (SU). I cut the image out with a circle die on my Big Shot, then layered that circle on another piece of brown cardstock. I used an old SU tool, Layer Ease, to outline a layer around the stamped circle and cut that out by hand. (On a side note, I am seriously thinking I need to purchase some nesting dies. Trying to cut a perfect layer by hand in the middle of the night is no fun!). I attached two panels of coffee bean patterned paper to a layer of Ultrasmooth Vanilla card stock, then attached them to the card leaving a gap between them. However, the circle is so large that it looks like I just used one large panel. If I were to make this card again, I would just use one large panel across the page rather than taking the time to make two separate sections. I adhered the circle between the panels using dimensionals to help it "pop" off the page.

I stamped the sentiment (Art Impressions) on a piece of Ultrasmooth Vanilla card stock, layered it on a piece of brown card stock, tied some jute around the lower portion of the card and adhered the sentiment over the jute with dimensionals.

You will see more coffee-themed cards on this blog in the coming weeks, and since the weather is turning cooler, hot chocolate will probably make an appearance, too! I stock up on a lot of brown paper during this time of year!

Here is my pumpkin card (sorry for the picture quality...I was trying to capture the embossing):

This card was more challenging for me.  I rarely use orange in my crafting and rarely create Halloween-themed cards.  The image is a stamp I picked up at Michaels.  I stamped it in Memento Espresso Truffle dye ink on white card stock, then colored it with markers.  I cut the circle with my Big Shot and inked the edges with a brown marker.  I embossed a piece of brown card stock in my Big Shot using a Tim Holtz woodgrain embossing folder.  I cut that into two sections and adhered it to a piece of orange cardstock.  I attached a brown card front to a tan card base, then attached the orange panel to the card front.  I adhered the pumpkin image in the space between the embossed brown sections.  I stamped the sentiment (Unity) in Memento Espresso Truffle on white card stock, layered it on orange card stock and adhered it to the card front. 

I actually re-worked this card so many times that I had to put it away and work on it again this morning.  Sometimes putting a project aside and coming back to it later gives me a new perspective and fixes any "creative blocks" I'm experiencing.  I have a box of images and started cards that I keep on my craft table, and every now and then I will dig in the box and give one of those projects a second chance!

Do you ever just get "stuck" on a card?  How do you spark your creativity and breathe new life into an abandoned project?  I'd love to hear your comments!