A New Love

I finally bought a new camera and I love it! Yeehaw! Woohoo! (Insert your own personal cheer!) I took everyone's advice, coupled it with my own desires and needs, and settled on this:

There were a few models that I had on my list but, in the end, I decided on the Canon SX20IS mainly because of three things: a beautiful wide lens, super macro capability, and high-definition video. This camera is in a category all its own because it's neither a point-and-shoot nor a digital SLR. In fact, digital SLRs can't shoot in super macro without a specific macro lens. That really sold me because my camera allows in maximum light with its wide lens and it can focus on something only two millimetres away!

Having this new camera in my possession really got my creative juices flowing and I whipped up this card for the CAS85 Fall Colour Challenge (kraft, red, vanilla and brown). Have you ever known me to pass up a challenge that involves kraft? LOL I wasn't sure what I was doing with the colours until I gathered all the cardstock together in a pile. Then I decided I would try inking up an impression plate (as seen in some of the popular letterpress tutorials that have been floating around blogland lately). I don't have a brayer so I just swiped my ink pad across the plate before impressing. Then the rest of the card fell together after I decided that red would be the accent colour. See the looped hemp cord on the side? I totally made that up after the card didn't look finished. I think I'll be doing more of that soon!

Sources: SU Early Espresso, Kraft, Naturals Ivory & Real Red cardstock; PTI Butterfly Dreams; PTI Birthday Basics; Memento Rich Cocoa ink; Vivid Red ink; SU Crumb Cake ink; PTI In Bloom impression plate; PTI Butterfly die; QuicKutz Epic Six; Fiskars Nostalgia Corner Edger; SU Scallop Trim border punch; Darice hemp cord; Stampin' Dimensionals; SU Crystal Effects

CAS84 Guest Designer

Two weeks after my stint as guest designer for the summer season, I'm back as a guest designer for Splitcoaststampers' CAS84 Challenge! I'm so happy Jen and Denise picked a spot for me at the start of the fall season since it was torture having to wait 'til the very last week in the summer ;) This week's challenge is to be inspired by the photo shown at left. Isn't the balloon wreath gorgeous?! I love the bright and bold colours of it against the black door and I couldn't help but notice that the house itself is painted in a very kraft-like colour. Maybe I went a little overboard in making four cards for this challenge but I just couldn't help it. The photo really is inspirational... so inspirational, in fact, that it even inspired my camera to function properly long enough to photograph these cards! LOL All four of my cards feature images I've never used before.

My first card features a wooden door stamp and a small wreath I made with hemp cord and baker's twine.

I made these cute little sentiment wreaths last Christmas and I thought they could be revived with some baker's twine. They're so fun and easy to make!

The second card I made uses PTI's 3rd Anniversary set Round and Round.

I decorated the medallion image with multi-coloured rhinestones and adhered it flat to the kraft background which was then popped with dimensionals. The sentiment was heat embossed with white pigment ink.

My third card uses images from Unity and Ippity. The wreath is stunning and I can't believe I haven't use it 'til now. Yes, you're allowed to call me insane for cutting it out! LOL

I was so happy to receive my new Ippity background stamp, Book It, in the mail on Friday and I just had to use it here. Be warned that you'll be seeing this used a lot from now on!

My fourth and final card is a little notecard of the 4.25" x 4.25" variety and could be replicated in the hundreds faster than you can snap your fingers. I created a frame using PTI's eyelet lace border die in the colours of the inspiration photo and stapled them in place before stamping the cute little texty house in the centre.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope I've inspired you to create at least one card for the CAS84 Challenge this week. Be sure to let me know if you did! :D I hope you all have a relaxing evening and a wonderful start to the week.

Sources for Wreath on Door: SU Kraft cardstock; GinaK pure luxury Black Onyx & 120lb pure luxury White cardstock; Local King Rubber Stamp Welcome Inn; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; PTI Woodgrain impression plate; QuicKutz Epic Six; Darice hemp cord; The Twinery baker's twine in Maraschino, Pink Sorbet, Lemondrop, Peapod & Caribbean; Glue Dots minis

Sources for Wonderful Friend: GinaK pure luxury Black Onyx & 120lb pure luxury White cardstock; SU Kraft cardstock; PTI Round and Round; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; SU Whisper White pigment ink; PSX Snowflake embossing tinsel; Hobby Hot Boss; PTI Mat Stack 1 die; QuicKutz Epic Six; Forever in Time coloured gemstones; SU Basic Rhinestones; Glue Dots pop up relief

Sources for Season's Greetings: SU Kraft cardstock; GinaK 120lb pure luxury White cardstock; Unity July 2010 Kit of the Month - Happily Ever After; Ippity Book It; Sunshine Designs CRSW 004 CU (lg); Memento Tuxedo Black ink; SU Garden Green ink; Vivid Red ink; Copics; Ranger Xmas Red & Diamond Stickles; Gary M. Burlin green glitter glue; Glue Dots pop up relief

Sources for There's No Place Like Home: GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; SU Real Red & Wild Wasabi cardstock; Bazzill Basics textured yellow & teal cardstock; Unity July 2010 KOTM - Happily Ever After; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; PTI Eyelet Lace border die; QuicKutz Epic Six; stapler & staples

I Can't Wait!

As you all know, I don't normally use sketches but when I thought about my new Urban city scene, I thought it would look pretty darn cool in the layout of this week's CAS83 Challenge. After all, I do live right in downtown Toronto and this what I see every day. My son loves to look out the window and people-watch. He gets even more excited when emergency vehicles go by with their sirens blaring. At the top of the excitement meter are the construction vehicles, airplanes and helicopters. So, Flob, that little creature on my card embodies the excitement of my son looking out the window in many ways.

Sources: GinaK pure luxury Black Onyx cardstock; SU textured Basic Gray cardstock; GinaK 120lb pure luxury White cardstock; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; DoodleFactory Urban; DoodleFactory Creatures II; SU Whisper White ink; PSX Snowflake embossing tinsel; Hobby Hot Boss; Glue Dots pop up relief

Life and Love

This is my card for the third and final challenge of Splitcoaststamper's Fall CAS DT search. Something on our card needed to be a couple whether it be embellishments or an image that has two of something. I went the natural route and picked Billy and Lily riding a tandem; two people in love, two wheels and two helmets. Well, this is actually me and my husband in Italy. Would you like to hear a love story? You may skip the next paragraph if you don't! ;)

I met my husband when I went to visit my sister in Indianapolis. They used to work together and she never even mentioned him! I met him two weeks before he was moving to Italy. I was never one to make the first move but I ended up telling my sister I thought he was cute. Of course she told him and he thought it was too bad that he was moving so far away. Well, we ended up exchanging emails and kept in touch. About three months later, my sister was working in England and I thought I would go visit her. My husband said that I should just fly over to Italy and visit him, too! I did, we had our first date there and that is a true story. Although we were in a long distance relationship, it didn't take long for us to fall in love and make plans to be together!

I honestly thought I wouldn't be able to submit my card for the finals since my camera has been acting all spazzy on me. It would work one minute and not the next so when I finished my card I was hoping that my camera would work. Well, it did not and I thought I'd be out of the running just because I couldn't photograph my card. I waited a bit, worked on some Pink Cat Studio release cards and tried again. My camera decided to work and I was so happy! I guess I have to start looking for a new camera whether I like it or not. I got some quotes to have it fixed and it will cost about the same as buying a new one. Printers are like that, too. What a complete waste especially since most everything goes in the landfill! Argh.

I've had a lot of fun trying out for the CAS DT so I won't be too disappointed even if I'm not named to the DT. I wish all of the finalists the best no matter what happens!

Sources: GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Pink Cat Studio Billy & Lily Bicycle Built for Two; Unity May 2010 Kit of the Month - A Little Happy; PTI Top Ten; Vivid ButterScotch ink; SU Taken With Teal ink; Copics; Glue Dots pop up relief

CAS82 Guest Designer

Three months ago, I tried out for a spot on Splitcoaststampers' Summer CAS DT and I didn't make it to the finals. That was no biggie because I did win a coveted guest designer spot! I'm truly excited to be a guest designer this week (along with Melina) because it's the last week of the summer and I've had to wait all summer for my moment in the spotlight. Good things come to those who wait, see? :D Without further ado, the CAS82 Challenge for this week is to be inspired by the word DELICIOUS. Can you imagine all the possibilities? If my camera hadn't died on me (more on that later), I definitely would've made more than one card!

For this card, I decided to try out GinaK's kraft cardstock and it's quite different from SU's kraft (now known as Crumb Cake) but in a good way. GinaK's kraft is much thicker, I can use my Copics on it (though I didn't on this card) and it has more colour variation in the wood pulp fibres used to make it. You can probably see some of the lighter areas in it which give it dimension and catches the light better. I used a Pink Cat Studio digi that I hadn't played with yet and coloured her in to look just like my fur-daughter. I added a burlap background and created a punny sentiment using two PTI sets. I popped Kitty on with dimensionals and tied two citrusy colours of twine at the top to finish. I'd love for you to play along with us this week if you can!

Boy, am I ever glad I did not procrastinate as I usually do when it comes to deadlines. I made this card last night and was able to take photos this morning right before my camera conked out on me! I'm not kidding!! My camera seems to be suffering from some sort of software malfunction and I'm really bummed about it since I only bought it a little more than a year ago. I hadn't planned on spending money to fix or replace my camera but it looks as if I might have to since I can't live without it. Argh. So, unfortunately, this will be the reason you may not see cards from me for a few days. Hopefully, that won't be the case!

Sources: GinaK pure luxury Kraft cardstock; GinaK 120lb pure luxury White cardstock; Pink Cat Studio Kitty Holding Fish Bowl; Ippity A Bit of Burlap; PTI Enjoy the Ride; PTI Simple Alphabet; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Vivid ButterScotch ink; SU Crumb Cake ink; Copics; The Twinery baker's twine in Mandarin and Lemondrop; Glue Dots pop up relief

Chalkboard Special

This is for Challenge #2 of Splitcoaststampers' Fall CAS DT search. The challenge, called Fashion Statement, required us to use designer paper but not too much. When I saw the dp requirement, I started to panic. I haven't used dp in a very long time! I don't know why I stopped using it. I guess I just wasn't inspired by it. I love when others use it but it no longer interests me. Gasp. What was I to do? I went through every single stamp I had to determine which one would be most suited for paper piecing. Finally, I decided that I would use one of my new monsters, Sprat, from Starving Artistamps.

I'd had enough of flimsy black cardstock so I decided to try Gina K's and, boy, do I ever love it. I love it as much as her 120lb white for Copic colouring. The black is so saturated and matte that it actually looks like a chalkboard. That's what inspired me to create this little scene. In high school, I had a super skinny music teacher with bleach blonde hair. She wore four-inch stilettos every day which only accented her horrible posture. Most students despised her because she was so hard on us but I really enjoyed her classes and practice sessions. She really made me feel special even if her personal style was a little odd!

I stamped Sprat three times, cut him out and pieced him together. I thought the hearts would look cute on the centre belly since he really does look like he loves you! I cut out the same pink for his tongue which was added after I cut out his mouth, eyes and horns from white cardstock. Sprat's tail curled naturally during cutting so I decided to leave it. I think it looks cute that way, plus it gives Sprat some added personality. I heat embossed the sentiment to make it to look like chalk and added faux stitching. Then I used a new stamp set with alphabets, numbers and calendar months to add to the whole school scene. I made sure that Sprat and the chalkboard were centred as a unit and popped Sprat with dimensionals. This is probably one of the whackiest cards I've ever made! My son loves it. Do you? ;)

Sources: SU Kraft cardstock; GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; GinaK pure luxury black onyx cardstock; Imaginisce Fancy Hearts & Frilly Floral dps; Doodle Factory Creatures II; Hampton Art {foot·longs} Number Border; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; SU Whisper White craft ink; SU Crumb Cake; Copics; PTI Mat Stack 1 die; QuicKutz Epic Six; PSX Snowflake embossing tinsel; Hobby Hot Boss; Uniball Signo Broad White gel pen; Forever in Time pop dots

CAS81: Magical Day

I was out with some back pain for a couple of days but I feel much better today. I was also working on this week's Pink Cat Studio release which you'll see tomorrow! I did get a bunch of new stamps in the mail on Monday and Tuesday so I thought I would share a little something with you today. I made this card for this week's CAS81 Challenge to use the colours kraft, turquoise and white. You'd think that with kraft it would've been easy but for some reason this trio threw me for a loop!

I used my new Wplus9 set, Magical Moments, to create this simple but pretty card that I'll probably use as a birthday card. I had trouble inking the peacock evenly and this is what happened on the fifth try. The bird is still a bit splotchy but I guess those dark spots add dimension. :Þ Is it me? It's not like I have no experience with stamps! LOL I overlapped the sentiment panel with watermark ink and added one of the flowers from the set on the bottom left corner for balance. I notched the inner corners, adhered the kraft piece to the card, added the rhinestones and it was done. Pretty easy!

Here's a little scene I stamped out with a few of my new Doodle Factory stamps. I let my son pick the ones he wanted to colour.

He's a budding impressionist, don't you think? ;) My son loves the little monsters because he's so into Uglydolls. Of course, he wanted the bike and a kite attached to it, too. Ever since he got a massive helium-filled mylar Thomas balloon on his birthday, he sometimes imagines it's a kite. The little monster on the right is "stomp-stomp-stomp(ing)" ever since he saw my Dad using a garden fork in the garden. LOL The middle monster is rubbing his belly "mmm-yum-yum-yum" and the monster on the right is a "bee". My little guy just cracks me up! I can only imagine what he'll say when he can speak in sentences.

Sources: GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; SU Kraft cardstock; Wplus9 Magical Moments; SU Taken With Teal ink; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Versafine Watermark ink; Fiskars Nostalgia corner edger; SU Basic Rhinestones

CAS79: Grow Love

Hello, and thanks for stopping by today! I hope you're enjoying the weekend so far! I used the leftovers from making these cards to make a second card for this week's CAS79 Challenge: Gardens. I had die cut the flowers in all three sizes thinking I would use them but the large ones just didn't fit into the sketch. I cut this card at 4.25" x 5" and hung the chartreuse flower 0.75" off the edge to make this a 5" square card. The flourish stem(s), flowers and polka dots are Papertrey Ink, and the hearts and sentiment are Unity. The sentiment is one I hadn't inked yet and I thought it would be perfect for this week's garden theme. The hearts in the centres of the flowers are from the wings of the owls shown in this card. See you again soon!

Sources: SU Kraft & Naturals Ivory cardstock; Unity June 2010 Kit of the Month - Fly Free; PTI Fancy Flourishes; PTI Polka Dot Basics II; SU Pink Passion, Kiwi Kiss, Taken With Teal & Crumb Cake inks; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; PTI Beautiful Blooms II #2 die collection; PTI 100% wool felt in Raspberry Fizz, Hawaiian Shores & Simply Chartreuse; QuicKutz Epic Six; McGill 1-1/4" circle punch; Glue Dots mini dots & pop up relief; Ranger Diamond Stickles

CAS79: Three Wishes

I made this birthday card for this week's CAS79 Challenge: Gardens. Easy. Sure, I say that now when I own quite a few floral images but if you had asked me to make a nature-inspired card last year, I would've just laughed and said, "No such luck!" Birds and flowers are two things that have grown on me since I started blogging and selling my cards. Hmm, what new things am I going to try next? ;)

For this card, I used a couple of images from the last two Unity KOTMs that hadn't seen ink yet. Correction, the floral image (which reminds me of dandelion explosions) from the June kit was barely used for yesterday's pair of cards. When I realized how beautiful this image was, I knew I had to showcase it somehow and there was no better way than to frame it with this stunning lace frame from the July kit. In real life, it looks like the flowers are popping right out of the frame but it's all one-layer! I created a mask for the frame which I've file away for future use and stamped the flowers inside.

Originally I was going to place the sentiment in the centre but it didn't look right since it covered up too much of the flower stems and lace border. I decided to place it off to the right, seeing as I seem to love cards with all my embellishments to the right these days! To balance everything, I stamped two other 'wishes' in the top left in Crumb Cake ink (eeek, I finally have it!) to match the sentiment base. So there you have it: three wishes, three flowers, and three gemstones. I may have gotten a little carried away on the sponging. I sponged the centres of the flowers and then regretted it. They seemed to pop more when they were just one shade of pink. What do you think?

Sources: SU Naturals Ivory & Kraft cardstock; AC textured black cardstock; Unity June 2010 Kit of the Month - Fly Free; Unity July 2010 Kit of the Month - Happily Ever After; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; SU Pink Passion, Taken With Teal, Crumb Cake & Pink Pirouette inks; Forever in Time pop-dots; Forever in Time gemstone stickers

CAS77: You're a Great Catch

I feel awful about not having participated in any SCS CAS Challenges this month so I felt I should at least do the last one for this month. Making this card was super easy because this week's CAS77 Challenge is to be inspired by the Dr. Seuss book One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and my son has loved books from day one. This challenge also gave me the opportunity to discover a new colour combination that I normally wouldn't use and I quite like how it looks.

I loved Angela's third card from this post where she used rows of the eyelet lace border die and thought it would be fun to pair up the fish from Tiny Treats: Valentine with that border die. This was the first time using this die and it cut so nicely! My sewing machine was happy to get some love, too. ;) I framed the little fishes and sentiment with Fillable Frames #2. Since there was a lot of blue in the 'water', I used red accents in the sentiment, fish and embroidery floss to balance the card. Obviously my card is yellow-based just like the cover of the book!

Sources: AC textured yellow & blue cardstock; GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; PTI Fillable Frames #2; PTI Tiny Treats: Valentine; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Vivid Red ink; Copics; PTI Eyelet Lace border die; PTI Fillable Frames #2 die; QuicKutz Epic Six; Gutermann white thread; sewing machine; DMC red embroidery floss; SU Crystal Effects (to hold string in place at holes)

Happy Birthday, Girl

This is my card for this week's Splitcoaststampers' CAS71 Challenge, Things That Fly. With so many options, my first instinct was to pull out Butterfly Dreams again. I hope you don't get tired of seeing me use it! The last few times I used the set, I was thinking about how I could use the uber plain outline butterfly. Today it dawned on me that I could use Background Basics: Text Style II on it. Duh. Boy, do I love it! What I love even more is that the word butterfly appears in the text so I tried to make sure it showed up in the bottom right wing of each butterfly.

I was shopping at DeSerres on Sunday and bought a new package of hemp cord in bright citrusy colours, the ones you see on these butterflies. I think I may be subconsciously psychic because I also happened to use the colours from WPlus9's Color Cue {5} Challenge. As much as I'd love to, I don't blogroll every day so I had no idea that these were the current colours until I saw Maile Belles' post this evening. It's also possible that receiving Susan Raihala's blog candy and this incredible thank you card from her yesterday put those same colours in my head! In my one year of serious blogging (see my blog candy giveaway at the bottom of this post) I've always wanted to do a colour challenge but never did because I didn't have the right colours and/or I couldn't figure out how to use them. Well, coincidences like this are nice but I'm sure they don't happen very often! ;)

This card is actually 5"X5" with the butterflies hanging off the edge. I cut the base as 4.25"X10" and scored it at 5". The green butterfly was placed in the middle and the other two right next to it so that they hang off exactly to measure a 5" card width. This is the first time I used pop dots and I'm not sure I like them because the butterflies don't sit parallel to the base. I suppose it's okay because these are butterflies and it gives them a bit of movement but I think I prefer the flat spongy dimensionals.

Sources: SU Chocolate Chip cardstock; GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; AC textured green and orange cardstock; Bazzill Basics aqua cardstock; PTI Butterfly Dreams; PTI Background Basics: Text Style II; Memento Rich Cocoa ink; SU Taken With Teal & Kiwi Kiss inks; Vivid ButterScotch ink; PTI Butterfly die; QuicKutz Epic Six; Darice hemp cord; Pop Dots; Fiskars Nostalgia corner edger

The Road to a Friend's House...

In case you haven't heard, I won a CAS Guest Designer spot on Splitcoaststampers! Sometime this summer, you'll see me as a Guest Designer for one of the CAS Challenges. I'm over the moon excited and still doing the happy dance since I found out early yesterday!!

Today's card is for this week's CAS70 Challenge to create a card that features a quote, verse or saying. I dug through some of my neglected single wood block stamps and found a favourite quote and the perfect little image to pair it up with. Originally I wasn't going to add any embellishments but figured I should actually use some of the ribbon I've been hoarding as well as get out of my comfort zone a bit and use staples! I think it turned out okay. What do you think? ;)

Sources: GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; A Muse Artstamps Road to Friend; All Night Media Piglet's Heart Express; Memento Rich Cocoa ink; Copics; Basic Grey Mellow Collection ribbon AC Valentine 2009 Collection ribbons; stapler with staples

Happy Father's Day¹

I have three Father's Day cards to make and with SCS's CAS Fireworks Challenge #1 on my mind, I decided to use Chloe's Closet dp to make this a masculine literary card. My husband, Dad and father-in-law all love to read but since it's not appropriate to give a gift with black in my own culture, I decided this would go to my father-in-law. I usually make something cute and/or funny for my husband so I will stick to that tradition!

To make this easy card, I rounded two opposite corners and stamped the sentiment in both black and brilliant blue to make it pop. I lightly sponged the edges around the sentiment panel as well as the outer edge of the card. Then I strung five buttons together but only glued the middle three on blue ribbon so there would be some movement. Lastly, I distressed the right hand edge of the sentiment panel for added detail and attached it using dimension squares. I think this card is simple, elegant and manly enough for my father-in-law. :) I would've used it as my entry for the challenge but I realized it's not too colourful which was a requirement. Sometimes I have an idea in my head and can't change its direction. Oh well! Hopefully I'll have time to make an actual entry by tomorrow night. Have a great night!

Sources: SU Naturals Ivory cardstock; AC textured black cardstock; Making Memories Chloe's Closet dp; Verve Dad's Day; Memories Black ink; SU Brilliant Blue ink; SU 1-3/8" circle punch; Dashes, Dots & Checks ribbon; Forever in Time buttons; Darice hemp cord; Generations dimension squares

CAS69: A Hero's Birthday

I used this week's CAS69 Hero theme to make a birthday card for my father-in-law who served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War. His older brother was killed in action as a U.S. Marine in World War II so it must've been truly disheartening for his parents to have their sole surviving son to go off to war as well. Luckily he came back and is still with us today. A man who ran his own home renovations business for 30 years before retiring, my father-in-law was a truly do-it-yourself man and my husband learned much from his Dad. This card is for a great man who continues to be a hero to his sons.

Sources: SU Naturals Ivory & Kraft cardstock; Verve Protector; Verve Dad's Day; PTI Enjoy the Ride; PTI Top Ten; Memories Artprint Brown ink; Memento Rich Cocoa ink; SU Kiwi Kiss ink; SU tearing edge; Forever in Time pop-dots; X-acto knife

Sheep in the Meadow

Ever wonder what sheep do when no one's looking? LOL This is my card for the final challenge in the semi-finals of the Summer CAS DT Call on Splitcoaststampers. We were required to make a card with a moving part. When I read that I started panicking because I've never made anything like that before. I had to do a lot of research and found some really amazing cards but I wanted to do something more original. I love cute so my card had to be cute. It's been ridiculous hot lately and that means two things: lots of time at the park and popsicles. Then the idea of a seesaw dawned on me!

Of course I had to put animals on the seesaw and I decided they would be sheep. I pulled out a much-neglected set fittingly called Happy Baa...thday. If the sheep were to rock back and forth, then it was perfect that I would hide one half of the sentiment behind each sheep. To complete the scene, I used the flowers from Lily Valentine Ballerina and the outline of the sheep's bodies as clouds. Oh, how I love those dotted lines from Top Ten. Let me count the ways! Much like the border on this card, they were a nice subtle touch to finish off this card. I left out the left and right borders because the sheep's legs would extend past them. Leaving the lines makes the card feel open and airy, much like a real meadow. :)

As soon as my son saw my card, he started "Baa..."-ing at the sheep and thought it was hilarious that they could rock back and forth. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't let him play with it because he would've destroyed it in ten seconds flat.

Sources: SU Kraft & Bashful Blue cardstock; GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Local King Rubber Stamp Happy Baa...thday; Pink Cat Studio Lily Valentine Ballerina; PTI Top Ten; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Vivid Sky ink; SU large oval punch; SU silver brad; popsicle stick; cordless drill

Relax.

I can't tell you how happy I am that I made it to the semi-final round for the Summer CAS DT call on Splitcoaststampers! I'm thrilled and scared at the same time. :) The third challenge for the DT call is to incorporate pop-dots into a CAS card. Since it's been so beautiful here (almost too hot if you can believe it), I knew I wanted to use my only TE set Beach Bum. The only time I used it was to make this wedding card but today's creation is making me want to use it again already.

Ever since I bought Background Basics: Retro, I've been wanting to use the scaly-looking stamp as both sand and water so here it is! I also thought this card needed a much bigger sentiment than anything I have so I decided to create my own using Outlines Alphabet. I masked off the first two letters before stamping the water and sand. All three beachy items are popped but the sunblock and beach ball are raised higher than the bag. To finish, I sponged warm, sunny colours around the edges of the card. I hope my card makes you feel relaxed!

Sources: SU Naturals Ivory cardstock; GinaK 120lb pure luxury white cardstock; Taylored Expressions Beach Bum; PTI Background Basics: Retro; PTI Outlines Alphabet; Vivid Red & ButterScotch inks; SU Summer Sun, Ballet Blue & Brilliant Blue inks; Memento Tuxedo Black ink; Copics; Generations dimension squares; Forever in Time Pop-Dots

A Brand New Bike

This is my card for the second Summer CAS DT challenge as well as this week's CAS68 challenge on Splitcoaststampers which has a summer theme. When I think of summer, I think about my son getting his first bike! He already has a Nutcase helmet which he loves. We got it for him this winter because we were going to take him tobogganing but, if you can believe it, we didn't get any snow! That was a disappointment but at least nothing can stop him from riding his bike. :D For this card, I used a stone background stamp on kraft to create the path and added a punched picket fence. Then I coloured in Billy riding a bike, popped him for a little dimension and added the sentiment to finish. It was easy peasy.

Thanks for stopping by today and I hope to see you again tomorrow for another Pink Cat Studio digi release featuring avian additions to the new Dots & Delights collection!

Sources: AC textured yellow cardstock; SBD white cardstock; SU Kraft cardstock; Pink Cat Studio Billy Rides a Bike; PTI Enjoy the Ride; Chapel Road Artstamps stone background; SU Basic Gray ink; Memories Black ink; Copics; Martha Stewart Picket Fence border punch; Forever in Time Pop-Dots