Birthday Bash Blog Hop with CAS*ual Fridays

Today is CAS*ual Fridays Stamps 3rd birthday and I have been invited to join their bash for a special celebration blog hop!   There are prizes to be won and inspiration to be found.  

You should have come from Joanna Harty.  If you are just starting the hop and want to go back to the beginning clicky to go to the CAS*ual Fridays blog.

First I want to wish CAS*ual Fridays Stamps a HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY!!!  Thank you, Michele and your Design Team, for having me along on your Birthday Bash blog hop!  How fun to celebrate 3 years with you! 

For my card I had to use 2 of my favorite CAS*ual Fridays Stamps sets, Loving Thoughts and Love Notes.  I didn't have a sentiment in CFS stash that said "Happy Birthday to You"(from the birthday song we all love to sing at parties) so I made my own using 3 different stamp sets in my stash. That is one of the great things about the CFS line. Her stamps and sentiments go together so well, even when combined with different set in the CAS*ual Fridays line.

SHOP HERE

It wouldn't be a birthday without presents, would it?  Everyone who shops this week in the CAS*ual Fridays shop will get a no*code*needed discount.  Woot-Woot!  

There are also some awesome prizes to be had.  All you need to do to be eligible is to leave comments on each of the blogs along the hop.   (1) person will win a $75 gift certificate to the CAS*ual Fridays store!!!  Imagine all the stamping goodness you can create with that!

(2) people are going to get a MISTI!  That's right, Michele will be giving away one of them and this just in... Illiana is matching her MISTI prize! There will be 2 lucky ducks getting gift certificates to become MISTI-fied!!! 

Now on to your next stop on the blog hop, the insanely talented Catherine Pooler.

Clicky 

Supplies
Stamps: Autumn Blessings, Love Notes, Loving Thoughts, Woot Woot (Casual Fridays Stamps)
Ink: Lilac to Grape Purple Ombre (Hero Arts) Onyx Black (Versafine) Versamark
Paper: Silver Glimmer Paper, Whisper White Cardstock (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Clear & White Embossing Powder (SU)Heart Note Fri-Die (Casual Fridays Stamps)

Casual Friday ~ Poppy Sketches and Fri-Dies

I found another sketch challenge.  What can I say?  I love sketches.  They always get my mojo flowing.  This one comes with a built in color challenge too.  BONUS!  Sometimes I get stuck in a color rut and just keep choosing my favorite combos that I know work together. It's nice when someone gives me a new combo to try.

I was so inspired that I actually made two cards using similar supplies.  Did I mention the name of the challenge yet?  It's called Poppy Sketches and this week it is being sponsored by CAS-ual Fridays.  That means there is a chance to win PRIZES!

PS#4

The vellum strip on both cards was stamped with Love Notes in Pistachio Pudding and then the sentiment was stamped in Bermuda Bay.  It takes awhile for the ink to dry on vellum, so sprinkled it with clear embossing powder, then heat set it with my heat tool.

This led to a new challenge, the vellum strip now had a "wave" and  adhesive can be seen through the strip.  To solve that I did too things.  I adhered the vellum with washi tape and then used clear foam adhesive to make it look like I wanted the vellum to wave.  :)  It sort of reminds me of the way old sheet music looks.

The 4 petal set Fri-Dies were one of the giveaways I got at StampNation Live 2014, so I decided to pull them out and give them a try.  It was a nice surprise when the die cut and embossed at the same time.  I added some candy dots to the center of each petal on my first card.  As the petals were laying there I thought they looked like little butterflies, so on the next card I folded up the "wings" and added a body + antennae with a black fine tip pen.

Supplies:
Stamps: Love Notes (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps)
Paper/Ink (all SU): Coastal Cabana, Crisp Canteloupe, Pistachio Pudding, Whisper White
Misc: 4 Petal Fri-Die (CFS), Chevron Washi Tape, Score Board, Clear Foam Adhesive, Clear Embossing Powder, Brights Candy Dots (SU)

Casual FUN + Blog Hop Winner

It's Thurdsay.  Are you ready for a sneak peek at the new StampNation challenge this week?   There's lots of exciting ground to cover today, so grab your favorite beverage and enjoy.

 First up, an announcement.  The winners were chosen from last week's blog hop and one of the randomly chosen commenters came from my blog!  Can I get a Woot-Woot?!!!

If you are one of the winners be sure to email Catherine at catherine@catherinepooler.com to get your free month of membership started.  See you both in the forums.  :)


Are you ready for more exciting news?  We have two new guest designers joining us in April  Allison Cope of  Your Memories and Amy Kolling of Stamp-n-Paradise.  Both of these ladies have more talent in their fingertips than I can hope to find in my entire body.  I'm excited to see what inspiration they will bring to StampNation.  Be sure to stop by their blogs and leave them some love.

Now for that sneak peek I promised.  It's a super FUN challenge sponsored by CAS-UAL Fridays Stamps, a fun, edgy and trendy stamp company.   The stamp set I used for my challenge card was Woot-Woot!  Totally appropriate for today, don't you think?
 

You can see the full card on StampNation in the challenge forum. I wanted to show you more from this fabulous sponsor so I made a card just for today using my personal favorite stamp set and die from CAS*UAL Fridays Stamps, Love Notes and Heart Note Die.  

To bring a little bit of the adorable note stamp into the card I clear embossed the space behind the heart. It's subtle, but really tied in the sentiment to the backdrop.  Little sequins from #prettypinkposh above and below my heart note die add just the finishing touch my card needed.

Have you had enough fun for one post?  One more little tidbit for you.

CAS*UAL Fridays is offering up a $25 gift certificate to one participant in this week's challenge at StampNation!!!!   All you have to do is make a fun card and post it to Challenge 123.  What would you get with $25 at CAS*UAL Fridays?

  

Guest Stamper Catherine Pooler

Today I get to share a video with you from my friend, Catherine Pooler.  She showed her design team a sneak peek of the cards featured in the video and I tried to figure out how they were done.  Turns out, her way is even  easier than mine.

No surprise there.  She has mastered the basics and does a fabulous job of taking her cards beyond the basic. On my card, above, I embossed the image from love notes with black embossing powder onto both black and white cardstocks.  Then I cut out the center of the red piece and layered it on top of the white.  Watch the video below to see how Catherine made her stunning watercolor card.

***Note if you are reading this post in an email or reader, you may need to go to my blog to view the video.  :)  Click on the post title "Guest Stamper..." to go there now.

These two cards are just a small sample of what you will find in the new Basics & Beyond class.

Want to learn more?  Click HERE now.
Want to get the class 50% off?  Become a StampNation member and grab your coupon code.  Clicky
Already joined the class?  Check back in to see the Bonus content added yesterday.  :)

See you in the classroom.

Supplies:
Stamps: Love Notes (CASual Fridays), Label Love (SU)
Ink: Versamark, Real Red (SU)
Paper: Real Red & Basic Black
Misc: Artisan Label Punch, Black Embossing Powder

Song In My Heart

Your are the song in my heart.  Don't you just love this stamp set and matching die from CAS*UAL Fridays?  It combines my love of music with my favorite shape, the heart.

I've been familiar with CAS-UAL Friday challenge blog for awhile and often wondered what UAL stands for.  Recently I was looking through their online store and clicked on a link to the store blog and found my answer.  (plus a fun new to me challenge)  CleanAndSimpe- Utterly Adorable Layers.  I can do CAS, but I love my layers. How fun to discover that CFS does too.  

CFS GDT challenge

If you go to the challenge post you will see who inspired me.  The first card made by Virginia had me running to the stamp room, but all the entries have sparked my creativity. Clicky

I tried out ghost stamping on a sponged background.  It is subtle, but nice.  I'm on the hunt for a more opaque white ink.  Any suggestions?  

STS#13

The sketch for my card comes from one of my favorite sketch challenges, Seize the Sketch. Instead of a circle punch I mimicked the circular shape with sequins.  I thought it was a fun twist on the sketch.

This card is going to my hubby for Valentine's Day.  I practiced colors and inks on a scrap piece of paper and then used it to decorate the inside of my card.  I'm going to enter it in the Cardz4Guyz challenge as well.  

Truly, Madly Deeply.Challenge # 5

Three challenges for one card?  It must be a holiday week because this card could fit into several other challenges too.  :)   Each challenge is unique. One is color, the other a sketch, and the last one is a theme so I think it is safe to enter all three.  Check out the links to the challenges and see if they inspire you.

Creative Blessings,

Heather North

Stamps: Love Notes (CAS-UAL Fridays)

Paper: Glistening 6x6 pad (Authentique)

Color: (SU) Baja Breeze, Black Staz-on, Craft White, Marina Mist, Night of Navy, Soft Sky

Accessories: Basic Rhinestones, Heart Note Die (CFS), Gold Paper (CM), Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)

Song of My Heart ~ CTD278

I'm so honored to be a guest designer for Color Throwdown this week!!!  A couple of weeks ago the card I made using a cute little nurse that Julz Butler made for me was chosen as the Featured Stamper.  Clicky to see that post if you missed it.

Barbara Anders graciously asked me if I wanted to be the guest designer on February 5th and I said yes!   She didn't know she was helping me reach one of my goals for 2014.

Aren't those colors yummy?!    Color challenges often stump me, but Color Throwdown does a fabulous job of combing colors and I'm usually happy with what I come up with when I use a CTD pallet.

In case you were wondering, here are the little tags I tucked inside the front pocket.  It's hard to see but those Lil' Inker Design tags have debossed hearts on them.  I embossed them with my new Love Notes stamp set from CAS-UAL Fridays.

The inside was kept simple by using scraps I made while designing the front of the card.

I'm linking this up with the current Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.  Were they reading my mind when they put up a challenge for Have A Heart?  :)  I love this time of year where hearts can be found everywhere!

Have A Heart

Thank you  Barbara Anders and the Color Throwdown design team for allowing me to participate with you this week, and for the fabulous color pallet you give us each week.

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

Supplies Used
Stamps: Language of Love (SU), Love Notes (CAS-UAL Fridays),
Paper (SU): Crumb Cake, Fresh Prints DSP Stack, InColor DSP Prints, Pink Pirouette, Pistachio Pudding, Vellum, Whisper White
Accessories: Embossing Powder- Clear & White (SU), Linen Thread, Love Tags Dies (Lil' Inker Designs), Pink Pirouette Taffeta Ribbon, Pink/Red Baker's Twine, Stitched Scallop Border (LID)

Language of Love

Fresh Prints DSP Stack

Always & Forever

Do you ever just make something for the pure joy of creating?  That is what I did when I saw this challenge from the Monday Mood Board. In fact I was so inspired I want to make another card that is lighter in color with lots of lace.

Monday Mood Board Wplus9

Looking at the inspiration photo made me think of romance and femininity. You can see I had fun playing with some of my new goodies.  

I had to add some pearls and a pink flower to my romantic card. The card wasn't "pink" enough for me, so I stamped the Love Notes in pink and added a silver heart note die cut.

My layout came from a new-to-me sketch challenge called Tuesday Morning Sketches.  Isn't this a perfect pair of challenges?

TMS#234

When I saw this sketch I got excited because I knew I could use my new scallop square die from Reverse Confetti.

Creative Blessings,
Heather North

Card Supplies

Stamps: Hardwood (SU), Love Notes (CAS*ual Fridays), Lots to Say (Reverse Confetti

Paper: Smitten 6x6 (Authentique), Basic Black, Whisper White

Accessories: Black Satin Ribbon (SU), Basic Pearls (SU), Ribbon Flower (SU), Heart Note Die (CAS*ual Fridays), Love Note Die (Reverse Confetti)