CAS(E) This Sketch 277 Meets Fusion

Every couple of weeks I combine the sketch challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch with some of the design elements at Fusion.  This week I got to make a fun, clean and simple card with a bit of a color-block look.

N@ Ali's sketch took the CAS(E) This Sketch design team in many awesome directions this week.  For my part I decided to turn that arrow into a simple line of narrow blocks of color a-la the Fusion challenge then added a simple sentiment on top of them.  The card went together pretty easily - aside from some angst about making sure those tiny strips of cardstock were the same width!

So we'd love to see you in the respective galleries at CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion.  I hope you'll join us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Painted Butterflies (Altenew)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); White (Catherine Pooler); Vintage Jadite (Papertrey Ink); Pacific Point, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair)

CASology 8 and Less is More 83

This week's challenge at CASology really got me thinking.  The cue card is RELAX and it was fun to see the samples from the design team as well as the gallery submissions about what relaxing means to everyone.  I saw a sofa or two which gave me a chuckle.  I have a love/hate relationship with my sofa!  I love it because it is very comfortable and I hate it for the same reason.  I no sooner sit on it to relax and I fall asleep!  I can't tell you how many TV shows I've missed because I can't keep my eyes open.

So, I decided to go in a different direction for my relaxing card.  I incorporated the brown and pink challenge over at Less Is More.

I live in New England where the summers are kind of short and, since I love summer, I try to enjoy it as much as I can.  So on the weekends, after I've done the cleaning and the errands, I high-tail it out to my patio to relax on the chaise lounge with the sun on my face.  I usually have a book in my hand, and quite frequently I fall asleep, but I love to sit out there and just do nothing!  And my patio is surrounded by flowers, hence the pink flower on my card.  It's a wonderful thing to sit out there smelling the flowers and the boxwood.  I regret when summer comes to an end and the cold weather chases me inside!

Well, all this "talk" about relaxing has made my eyes droopy, so I think I'm done for the night!  But thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate it when you do!

Create With Connie and Mary 212

Are you ready for a fantastic color challenge from Create With Connie and Mary this week?  When I first saw these colors I was in heaven because they're subtle, bold and bright all at the same time!  Check it out:

Sometimes I think that Sahara Sand gets lost in the Crumb Cake shuffle, because this is a lovely neutral color all on its own.  I should definitely use it more often when I am contemplating neutral and earthy colors.  A big thanks to Connie and Mary for reminding me that this color has been languishing in my stash for a while!

Now that I've got these three colors together - ooh la la!  A perfect CAS combination.  And perfect for the sketch challenge this week at Less is More.  I started with the script from En Francais stamped in Sahara Sand then added one of the floral stamps from Summer Silhouettes stamped in Basic Black and Real Red.  I just love how the flowers jump off the card!  I followed this all up with a simple sentiment from Bring On the Cake.

I think you should run, don't walk, to Create With Connie and Mary so that you can see all the lovely inspiration from the design team.  Then dig out your stamps and get all inky with us!  We love to see what you do!

colourQ 134

I've got to admit the colors that Arielle has cooked up for us this weeks colourQ challenge were a bit of a stumper for me.  I made a couple of cards before I decided that this one was the one I would show everyone.

I went with the pretty CAS design for this weeks CAS-ual Fridays challenge.  I drew the squares with a ruler in Bravo Burgundy and Calypso Coral, then stamped the stars from Seeing Stars in Pumpkin Pie and Pool Party.  For some reason I always associate stars with wishes, dreams, or even achievement so I chose the Verve sentiment to go along with that theme.

Day II of my vacation and the rain has stopped so I really must get outside and start raking.  It's a bit chilly and overcast so I hope the sun will come out soon and warm everything up.

I hope you have time this week to head on over to colourQ and join in the challenge.  The Design Team has once again out-done themselves and I know you'll find some inspiration there!  

ColourQ 117 and Less is More 47

To my eye, the color challenge this week at ColourQ just screamed for a CAS card.  And since the ladies at Less is More are all about CAS, I checked out their challenge this week.  They had a pretty interesting one to make a card with just One Word.

The ColourQ challenge invited us to add one color of our own choosing to a combination of black and white.  I just love the adding a bright color to elements of black so I chose Melon Mambo for my card.  I inked up a Verve flower and stamped it off the edge of the cardstock.  (I can't take credit for this idea, because I went to my "binder of sketches" and found the FTL 54 sketch, which I thought was pretty cool).

To make the square outline I lightly drew a square with a pencil (using a piece of cardstock as a template).  Then once I stamped the flower and the sentiment, I went over the pencil marks with a Basic Black marker (using a ruler to keep the lines true).

I actually made this as an A2 card first but decided there was too much white space, so I made this version which is 4 1/4-inches square.  It's much more proportional to the flower and sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!

FTL92 Birthday

I'm a big fan of clean and simple (CAS) cards, although I don't always make them.  Whenever I see someone's work who primarily does CAS I'm always struck by how beautiful in their simplicity the creations are.  So I've been looking recently at the clean and simple challenge blog sort of biding my time until I felt ready to make a card that fit the bill.  Today I decided to give it a go and try the FTL92 sketch challenge.  The whole idea is simple enough, but can be quite difficult.  I have this desire to cover up the white space until I remind myself that the white space is the point of a CAS card!  I'm learning!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!