CAS15 A Little Note

Yesterday I shared a masculine card inspired by the current Calling All Sistahs Encouragement Challenge.  Today I will share with you a card that is a little more feminine. 

I used Zig clean color real brush markers on Bristol cardstock to create this card.  I stuck to the colors in the inspiration photo and pulled out the hot air balloon stamp inspired by the baseballs.

How will you be inspired by this photo?  Use the color chips or the picture to create an encouragement card and link it up for a chance to win $25 gift code to CAS-ual Fridays Stamps.

Stamps: Floating (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps)
Ink: Real Red (Stampin' Up) Versamark
Paper: Bristol (Strathmore)
Accesories: 022, 092, 200 (Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers) Pewter Embossing Powder (SU) Wonky Stitched Rectangles (My Favorite Things) 

VersaMark Ink Pad

Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock, Marshmallow, 10 pk

Strathmore Bristol Pad 9x12

ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Marker 022, Carmine Red

ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Marker 092, Blue Gray

ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Marker 200, Sugared Almond Pink

My Favorite Things Die-namics, Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX

Altenew Crisp Embossing Powder, Antique Silver

Catherine Pooler Ink Pad, Rockin Red

Ranger Archival Ink Pad, Red Geranium by Wendy Vecchi

Silver Brush Black Velvet Watercolor Brushes, Short Round 6

CAS15

Do you like to send encouragement cards to brighten people's day?  The Calling All Sistahs Encouragement Squad is here to help you do just that with our monthly challenge.  Simply use the inspiration photo below to make a card to encourage someone else.

CAS15

The great thing about this month's inspiration photo is that it can easily be used to make a masculine card.  That's what I made for my card today using Bomb Diggity stamp set and circle dies to mimic the balls in the photo. 

Tomorrow I will be back with another card to share with you inspired by the photo with a more feminine look.  For now I encourage you to see what the rest of the Encouragement Squad has created and then make your own card to encourage someone else and add it to the linky for a chance to win $25 CAS-ual Fridays Stamps gift certificate.

Stamps: Bomb Diggity (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps) Linen BG (My Favorite Things)
Ink: Black Jack, Something Borrowed (Catherine Pooler Designs) Real Red, Smoky Slate (Stampin' UP)
Paper: Smoky Slate, Whisper White (Stampin' UP)
Accessories: Stitched Mats: Circles (Lil' Inker Desings)

July Reminder Post

It's the 17th of the month and you know what that means?  The encouragement squad is here again to give you some lovely reminders to do your self breast exams and schedule those yearly mammograms.  Here is my card for you.

To create my card I masked off the bottom of my card with post it tape and sponged the top in light pink, then brought in a darker shade of pink around the edges.  Next I stamped out hope in black and masked it off before stamping full on floral in versamark and heat embossing in white.  To make the hope sentiment stand out even more I watercolored the flowers.  To finish off the card I added a strip of glittery white cardstock and a white on black sentiment with a couple of flowers.

Now let's head on over to the Calling All Sistahs blog to see what the rest of the Encouragement Squad has created.  Clicky

Don't forget to use the coupon code when shopping at CAS-ual Fridays Stamps!

Stamps: Flower-Case Alphabet, Full On Floral, Hope Ribbon (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps)
Ink: Festive Berries, Picked Raspberry, Spun Sugar (Distress) Onyx Black (Versafine) Versamark
Paper: Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer, Basic Black, Whisper White (Stampin' Up)
Accessories: 4 Petals Fri-Dies (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps) Brads, Clear Embossing Powder (SU) Opaque Bright White Superfine Embossing Powder (WOW!) 

More CAS14 Inspiration

Did I tell you I was super inspired by the current Encouragement Challenge?  Here is yet another card I made with the inspiration photo in mind.

This card was created from a background that didn't turn out exactly as I planned.  That sometimes happens when you white emboss on white paper.  The flowers were not well placed.  I toyed with a couple of ways to salvage the piece and landed with a bold sentiment piece.  The background adds lovely color and interest to the card. 

There is still a couple of days to join CAS14 challenge.  Add your card HERE for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to CAS-ual Fridays Stamps.

Stamps: Bomb Diggity, Pretty Posies, Calm & Loving (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps)
Ink: Versamark
Paper: Distress Watercolor (Tim Holtz) Basic Black(SU)
Accessories: Merlot, Violet, Ultramarine Blue (Ken Oliver Color Burst) Calypso Embossing Powder, White Superfine Embossing Powder (WOW) Wonky Stitched Rectangles (My Favorite Things) 

Sew Saturday Seahawks

It's been ages since I did a Sew Saturday post.  Honestly, my sewing room has been collecting dust for the better part of a year.  Partly because I've been busy with my Rodan + Fields business, but mostly because I just haven't been up to sewing.  The last 2 quilts I made were for family members that had passed away.  It was hard being in the room.  My sewing room has always been my happy place, so I closed the doors and waited until I could go in and be happy again.


Thankfully, I am back in there and having a blast sewing again.  I remember now why I love creating with fabric.  It's magical seeing one thing turn into something new.  What got me back in the room?  Our car club has a fundraiser coming up to raise money for scholarships.  I decided to make a quilt for them to raffle off or sell in an auction.  Since I live in Seahawks territory, I figured a Seahawks quilt would bring in the most money for the kids.

I started with a bunch of fat quarters and cut them into 2.5" x 5" strips. Next I laid them out in a zipper pattern, similar to the one in THIS tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Company.  

I couldn't just follow the tutorial.  I had to make a few "alterations".   Instead of stacking the blocks on top of each other, I wanted them to look as though they were floating, so I added a 1.5" strip under each of the blocks.  

That was the only change I planned to make, but then I saw all of the extra 2.5" squares on my design wall and came up with the idea of added a strip to the bottom and top.  Here is how my wall looks now.  I like it, but I plan on adding a row or two of white 2.5" strips to separate them from the 5" strips. 

 

Now I am considering adding in a thin strip of green fabric too.  We will see what happens as I grow  closer to finishing this quilt top.  For now I will leave you with Thursday night's sunset from our balcony.  

Hello Fri-Yay

Did I mention I was super inspired by the colors in the CAS14 inspiration photo?  I used color burst in a small box to make several backgrounds that turned into 4 or 5 cards.  Don't you love when inspiration strikes like that?  You can see my first card HERE and my reminder card HERE.

Today's card is actually my favorite of the entire set.  I absolutely LOVE the way it turned out!!!

For this card I did several things.  I should have made a video to show you how it was made, but I'll try to explain the highlights.  First stamped and masked and stamped some more.  I wanted the flowers to overlap.   I also stamped a few extra flowers and die cut them out of leftover pieces from my other cards.  ;) To color these flowers I used my Zig markers to add bits of color, then spritzed heavily with water to blend. 

Once everything was dry, I masked the flowers again and placed the panel into a shallow box to color burst the background.  Not sure if I added water to the background first or added color burst, then water, but either way I used highly saturated amounts of both.  :)  This panel was left overnight to dry and then I cut it down to about 3.5"

To finish off the card I added a thin black diagonal stripe stamp to one side of the card, die cut the hello sentiment out of white and black cardstock and layered them together.  Finishing touches including embossing the "girlfriend" sentiment as well as popping up a couple of additional flowers.

If you are inspired by the photo, I encourage you to add your encouragement card to our challenge. Clicky

Don't forget to use the coupon code when shopping at CAS-ual Fridays Stamps.  ;) 

Stamps: Girlfriend, Pretty Posies (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps) Diagonal Stripes (My Favorite Things)

Ink: 025, 036, 032, 080 (Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers) Versamark

Paper: Watercolor (Tim Holtz Distress) White (CPD)

Accessories: Color Burst-Violet (Ken Oliver) Hello Die (CPD) Posies Fri-Dies(CAS-ual Fridays Stamps) White Superfine Embossing Powder (WOW)

Colourcraft Brusho Crystal Colour Watercolors Set of 12 (850007)

Ranger Distress Watercolor Cardstock

WOW Embossing Powder, Super Fine - Opaque Bright White

VersaMark Ink Pad

Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock, Marshmallow, 10 pk

My Favorite Things Cling Stamps, Diagonal Stripes Background

My Favorite Things Die-Namics, Hello