Simple-eee a Thistle.

Hello and Welcome to today's post.

Time for a new challenge over at Addicted to Stamps and More

and it's our popular CAS (Clean and Simple)

Sometimes they are sooooooo hard to do - 

you just want to add just that little bit more don't you?

This time round I had my cas hat on and came up with this - 

I decided to use the old faithful Distress Ink in

Dusty Concord and smooched away. Added a bit

of iridescent medium for shimmer.

I then got out my new Black Wax and

 Dreamweaver Thistle stencil sponging 

to get the coverage. 

Added this to a thin background of black.

Heat Embossed my SU Happy Birthday,

attach to white cs as a frame then to

my purple card stock and my CAS card was done.

Pop over and see more CAS styles from the Team

and come join us in our Gallery.

Thanks for dropping in.

When Black really isn't Just BLACK!

I'm back with another card with my

Screamin' Banshee Black Magicals and the result I got

with this card really surprised me.
I did warn you there would be more Black Magic!
How cool are the colours it created here!

It's for the current CAS Mix Up Challenge

I love these challenges as I get to try out
different Mixed Media Techniques every month.
Some I have done before and others -
it's a whole new experience.
I saw this technique on You Tube not long ago
and loved it, just hadn't had a chance to try it
so here it is!
I chose my Dusty Attic Stencil called Webbing
placing it down on my craft mat then
sprinkled that black magic onto it,
 spritzed with water then turned it over
onto water colour paper. WOW!
I then looked at it and decided to cut it
around part of the print leaving
enough white space  for my card base.
I then cut  my Tall Flower die from Simply Dies
from leftovers (Tim's Oxide Inks)
 as it blended nicely with the background.
My sentiment is from Gina K Designs
in Memento London Fog.

My Mix is - Stenciled Monoprint, Stamping
and Die Cutting.

Thanks for dropping in
Till next time - Cherrio from

It's simply 'Merry'

Hello and Welcome. Here's what I have been up to for

the CAS Christmas Challenge. This month's prompt is Tree

Such a simple one? Which way will I go? Dies or Stamps?

I landed up with trees as I had this tiny stitched cut out

 left over from a previous card and 

 a perfect backdrop for my snowy trees.

It's simply smooched lots with Screamin' Banshee Black Magicals.

You will see it used quite a bit in the lead up to Christmas.

I cut out my trees with some Mulberry type paper

heat embossed and added glitter, I flicked

some white acrylic paint to the background sky for the snow,

popping the trees and adding a star.

Cut out the Merry from Lawn Fawn.

Card Base is Ripple Card Stock.

Since I am WAY BEHIND with Christmas cards

I'm sure you will see more before the end of the month.

I will added this to the Monochrome Magic Challenge Gallery

for the  

Monochrome or Monochrome with a Twist of Christmas

as I have only used the Black Magicals 

as my Monochorome colour.

Hope that it counts.

Thanks for dropping in.

Hope you leave a comment as I love reading them.

Are you a WINNER at Send a Smile 4 Kids?

How time flies! Hello and Welcome.

Have you come over to check and see if you are a 

WINNER for the Send a Smile 4 Kids Blog Hop?

If so you can check out ALL THE WINNERS HERE

There were certainly some awesome Prizes up for grabs.

***

Before I announce the Winner of my prize

 for commenting here

I would like to say A BIG THANKS to all those that did .

I truly appreciate you taking time to do so.

I have chosen Andrea La Vigne

with this comment.

Really cute card! I love the coloring on your elf, 

and the little scene you created for him. :) ~ Andrea

Congratulations!

I had a sneak peek at Andrea's Blog and noticed

that she contributes to the SAS4KIDS challenges

so a Bonus Thank You Andrea.

Now you need to - 

Please contact Karen at khasheck@gmail.com BEFORE August 18^th at midnight CST 

with your NAME, EMAIL ADDRESS AND MAILING ADDRESS. 

If you do not contact Karen before August 18^th at midnight CST, your prize will be forfeited.

Once more a Big Thank You to you all.

Life is a BEACH

Hello and Welcome to my Saturday post for

Just Us Girls

It's our Word Week and Hosting is Maria choosing

a very Summery Word - BEACH.

You all know that it's not Summer in my neck of the woods

but it's a good excuse to create a beach scene for when it will be.

This was a lot of fun to make taking my mind off the cold weather.
There were lots of bits & bobs added here starting with
the background sky using Distress Inks and Blue Wax.
The sand is made from heated Embossing Enamel
followed by Embossing Powder.
Stamp set is from Inkadinkado Flamingo Fun.
Added a few coconuts to the tree and on the sand
and some sea shells.
Sentiment is heat embossed on vellum.
Attached to coloured card stock.

Hope you will pop over and see what our
August Guest Designer - Talented Ros Crawford from
https://ros-mikeysmom.blogspot.com/
and the Team created for your inspiration.
A big Welcome to you Ros -
so happy to have you join us this month.
***
I'm sure you will have fun with this challenge.
See you in the Gallery.
Thanks for dropping in

Happiest Birthday Wishes

We're looking for something a little different this time round at

Crafting with Dragonflies -  A Gatefold Card!

I know they are pretty easy to make and thought I would try

something a little different. 

I did a trial run and even had a few mishaps along the way.

Pretty happy with the result.

Not much to explain here as the products just happen to be
all from Stampin' Up.
The front flower is from Botanical Blooms
with matching DP,
The inside flower - Morning Meadow that
I thought went perfectly with the focal flower
and sentiment - Happiest Birthday Wishes.

Pop over and see what the Dragonflies have created
and come play.

Thanks for dropping in.
Love reading your comments.

It's All About You.

Hello and Welcome!

It's the beginning of a new Month and that means

it's time for our Watercolour Challenge over at

Happy Little Stampers 

and this month's Optional Twist is Flowers!

I got out my trusty Oxide Inks in 

Picked Raspberry & Peacock Feathers

and smooched and dried till my

card stock was covered.

I then selectively cut 

from Tim's Wild Flowers Dies.

I flicked what ink was left on my craft mat onto

 my background then placed my flowers.

Added my sentiment from

Inspired by Stamping cut from

a MFT stitched die.

 Inked with Memento Teal Zeal.

Card base is matching the flowers.

A nice easy Challenge this month don't you think?

Hope so and I see you in our Gallery.

Our winner for this challenge will receive a 

$20 coupon to spend at the shop!

 Check out all the details HERE.

IF YOU USE STAMPS BY HAPPY LITTLE STAMPERS 

AND YOU ARE OUR RANDOM WINNER, 

YOUR PRIZE WILL BE DOUBLED!

PS This card was sent to our Leader Kylie
for her Birthday last month.

Thanks for dropping in and don't forget to

see what my Team Mates created.

Wishing You Happiness

It's Saturday and it's Just Us Girls day.
Hello and Welcome.

It's our Photo Week and our Hostess Nancy
chose this beautiful photo for our Inspiration.

Of course I saw that beautiful orange flower
with the sparkly centre and just went from there.
I have used a few Stampin' Up products here.
My background is from
Timeless Textures - a great mixed media set
and my flower is from Bloom with Hope.
I do like that set and use it often.
The background was inked with
Oxide's in Carved Pumpkin and Fossilized Amber
as is the flower which was heat embossed with
Lindy's Pumpkin Fiesta powder.
The centre was sprinkled with Diamond Dust
and Cool Diamonds Glitter.
My leaves are from Marianne Designs.
Sentiment - Happy Little Stampers.
Added a strip of dp to the edge for added effect.

Hope you get a chance to pop over and see what
our Guest Julia and The Team created
and join in our Gallery this week.
In doing so you could be our next
Chic of the Week and go on to be
our Guest in September. 

Thanks for dropping by

You've got Rainbow Flowers

Hello again and Welcome.

Here is my second CAS card made for the

Somewhere over the Rainbow Challenge at

AAA Cards

My Rainbow coloured flowers are from

STAMPlorations Eclectic Florals

using Tim's Distress Inks.

Sentiment is from  VIGNETTE-Celebrate-Artsy

in Black Soot.

I finished by scoring 3 lines to add interest

and what a QCAS card it is as Darnelle calls those

quick clean and simple cards. 

 Came together so easily. Love when that happens -

just not often enough. 

Well that's a short post.

Thanks for dropping in. 

Love reading your comments.

Colour me a 'Rainbow'

Hello and Welcome to a CAS card post today for the

Somewhere Over the Rainbow Challenge

over at AAA Cards

As STAMPlorations are sponsoring this challenge

I had to use a few of mine.

My butterfly image and a bit of grunge are from

Flutter-Zen-Row-Artsy-Borders and Art-Marks

heat embossed in white on watercolour paper.

I then got out Tim's Distress inks and 

inked my craft mat spritzed it and

blended together with a dipped acetate sheet.

The background is a little larger than I wanted

but still plenty of white space.

The birthday sentiment is from

Balloons-and-Banners.

I then cut with a stitched die and attached to

white card stock.

While I had all my goodies out I made another

CAS card so keep your eyes open for that soon.

I am also going to pop this over to the current


Details Here

That's it for today.

till next time - Cherrio from

I Made My Mark with...

It's time for the Make Your Mark Challenge over at

Addicted to Stamps and More

Hi and Welcome.

I love making cards with Kraft card stock

adding white elements.
My mark is simply the heat embossed white lace.

I saw a card on Pinterest and decided to CASE it

but unfortunately I didn't save it to give credit.

It's pretty simple - I heat embossed the lace

from SU Delicate Details and my IBS Sentiment

then cut out the MB Quinn Flourish, cut a bit of 

the bottom and tucked the side under the kraft

card stock. Got out a much neglected die

called Heirloom Rose from MFT and

blinged it up with Nuvo Crystal Glaze.

I got a pack of Crystal Gems from

a recent craft show and they matched

nicely with the glazed flower so sprinkled them

around to finish my card.

 Added one to the centre of my popped flower also.

Here's a close up of the glittery flower.

Pop over and see how my Team Mates 

made their mark and come join us this week.

Love to see you in our Gallery.

Thanks for dropping in

Till next time - Cherrio from

Christmas in July for the 175th Challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids

Welcome to a Special Blog Post and Hop here today for 

Send a Smile 4 Kids The theme for this hop is
Christmas in July 4 Kids.



If you are unfamiliar with this blog
please go over HERE to read all about
the wonderful work done for inpatients
at Children's Hospitals.

I am part of the Alumni Team and am
happy to be part of this super Blog Hop Celebration.
Thank You Karen for the Invitation.
There is so much information to read regarding the Hop
 that I urge you to go over to The Blog and check it out.
***

**The Christmas in July 4 Kids challenge at SAS4Kids 

will run from July 21^st until August 3^rd at Noon CST 

(as is typical of our two week challenges.)

 You can qualify for one of 8 prizes by entering a 
Christmas or holiday card 

appropriate for a child following the rules 
of all of our challenges found on the Blog. 

The prizes will be awarded by random drawing 

and announced with the rest of the winners on August 4^th on our blog.

For comments left here
I will choose my Winner of a $12 Gift Code from
Bugaboo Stamps
 so be sure to leave yours
before the Blog Hop closing on July 31st.
Winners will be announced here on August 4th.
If you see you are the Winner.
Please email Karen at khasheck@gmail.com
before August 18th to arrange your prize.
 Good Luck!

***

A quick rundown on how I made my card -
My night sky was created with Magicals and
Perfect Pearls. I stamped trees from Repeat Impressions
as a background to my snowy slopes - smooched
again with Magicals. These were cut from a wonky stitched die.
My elf is from STAMPlorations Christmas Elf
and coloured with Distress Markers and pencils.
Added a Nuvo Drop to the peak of his hat
and some glitter to the rim and shirt.
He was popped in front of the snow.
Both sentiments are from the same stamp set.
Added a few stars to finish.
***
The hop will start with Send a Smile 4 Kids
and next is Karen  Here and so on.
If you are following the blog order you should have come from
Cyndi's Blog Here
and your next stop after mine is to
Deonna's Blog Here
and so on...
***

Here are the rules for this blog hop:

**You do not need to comment on every stop of the blog hop to have a chance to win a prize. One comment on any of the blogs or on the main SAS4Kids blogpost qualifies you to win one of the prizes on that blog. If you leave a comment on each stop, you will have earned 17 chances to win a prize, and if you enter a card in the Christmas in July 4 Kids challenge, you will also earn a chance to win one of 8 random prizes there.

**You MUST have an USA mailing address to qualify to win any of the prizes. We apologize to any of our readers outside of the USA, but this is a requirement to win any of the prizes in this blog hop and in the Christmas in July challenge.

**The blog hop will start July 21^st at 8:00 a.m. CST and continue until July 31^st at midnight CST. When the blog hop is done, all the winners will be drawn randomly from the commenters on each blog and on the main blog, and announced on the SAS4Kids blog on August 4th and on each individual blog. If your name is listed as a winner, 
you must contact Karen at khasheck@gmail.com
 BEFORE August 18^th at midnight CST with your 

NAME, EMAIL ADDRESS AND MAILING ADDRESS.

 If you do not contact Karen before August 18^th at midnight CST, 

your prize will be forfeited.

***

Here is a list of all our wonderful sponsors and the prizes that you could win:

Kitchen Sink Stamps $25 gift certificate
Sparkle N Sprinkle  $5 gift code
Fred She Said $10 gift certificate
Motion Crafts by Uchi's Designs 3 prize packages each with 1 die set and 1 stamp set $35 value each
Bugaboo $12 gift code
Tonic Studios USA Six Tonic Studios Paper Trimmers (159e)
Stampendous Five prizes: CRS5101/DCS5010 Rose Garden Cling Stamps and Dies, CRS5067/DCS5067 Hydrangea Garden Cling Stamps and Dies, DCP1009 Spring Borders Cutting Dies Set, DCP1007 Build a Wreath Cutting Dies Set, DCP1008 Pop Up Stages Cutting Dies Set
Paper Nest Dolls Two prizes of 3 digis each of the winner's choice plus one free digi for a commenter on each blog that uses a Paper Nest Dolls image
Doodles Paper Playground Four prizes of one package of Fairy Dust Sparkle Blends sequin mixes
White Rose Crafts  Gorjuss Tweed Craft Card Compendium (makes 24 cards - retails at $16.99)
Dies R Us $15 gift code
Cheapo Dies (owned by an American I know) $15 gift code
All Dressed Up Stamps - two digital stamps
Janet Bailey - two Stampin' up Party Panda Stamp Sets

***

Thanks so much for dropping in and
Please pop over to The Blog
to see some amazing Christmas Creations
by all the participants. Don't forget to comment
and leave some love along the way.
The more comments the more chances to win
some of those amazing prizes.
A Big Thank You must go to all those
that did the hard yards to get such
generous Sponsors and to
the Sponsors themselves.

Thinking of You

Hello and Welcome to my post for our New Challenge

over at Just Us Girls

It's 

and choosing these gorgeous pastel colours is our Host Lisa.

This is a simple card as I think the Hero Arts
 Leafy Vine Stamp heat embossed in white is Feature enough
with a background made from
Tim's Oxide's in Picked Raspberry & Peacock Feathers.
My die cut sentiment is from CUTplorations
cut a couple of times for dimension.
That's it - my card was done after I attached to white card stock.

Pop over to Our Blog to see what our Guest
Julia and the Team created for your inspiration.
Hope to see you in our Gallery this week.
Thanks for dropping in.

Happy Birthday Wishes

Hello and Welcome to today's post for

Crafting with Dragonflies. 

The new challenge over there are looking for Spots and Stripes.

This combination really threw me for a while

so I went looking into my stamp collection

to see what I could find. The spots were easy

but finding stripes - lucky I had just recently bought

a stamp from Kaisercraft that had the stripe border above.

Once more this card was nothing like I had planned

but once I found my SU Timeless Textures stamps

this is the direction I went. I love this set

as it is a bit grungy and you can do so much with it.

As you can see I added background bits inking with

SU Rich Razzleberry and Mossy Meadow.

My flowers from SU Petite Petals were die cut

and inked with the Rich Razz.

Leaves are from Marianne Designs 

cut from the MM paper

and sentiment - Avant Garden.

I corner rounded two sides and attached to

Mossy Meadow card stock.

Added a few pearls to finish.  

Pop over and see what the Dragonfly Designers

created and hope you get to join in the Gallery.

Thanks for dropping in.

A 'Blooming' Fabulous Day

Hello and Welcome to my make for the day.

I recently purchased the Retired SU Botanical Blooms

Stamp/Die Set. It was one that I had let slip away 

but when I saw it on a Retired SU site for sale

I JUMPED at it.

Here is a CAS (I think) trying it out.

Because I have used both required elements for the

CAS Watercolour Challenge which is

Splash Watercolouring and

CAS Mix Up Challenge

Colouring our Die cuts

(I used the splash technique)

Die cuts, stamping and pearls

I will add this to their Galleries.

***

I inked up my watercolour paper

with Tim's Seedless Preserves 

for the main floral die and a smidgen of Magicals

(couldn't help myself as the purple adds a lovely shimmer)

and Mowed Lawn for the smaller blooms.

The leaves were splashed with Milled Lavender

and a hint of Magicals (again)

Added my Darkroom Door Sentiment then

I cut a strip of the green paper tearing the edges

 to add to the background and then 

arranged my leaves and flowers.

Backed this with card stock from SU

and adhered to white card base.

Finished with pearls.

Here is a close up

I plan to play a lot more with this set

and include the matching paper so

be on the lookout! 

Thanks for dropping in

Till next time - Cherrio from

Simply 'Hello'

Hello and a Big Welcome to this weeks challenge at
Just Us Girls
Bobby is our Host and chose a Big Favourite -
 very in vogue and popular.


Oh how I love making backgrounds!

I have played around with some old and new products here.
Always nice to see how they stack up and I must say
I am REALLY happy how this card turned out.
Wanting to get away from the usual flower thing
I chose a new stencil from Kaisercraft - Bamboo.
This was stenciled with
Golden Olive Metallic Gilding Polish.
My watercolour background(s) were made with
Sea Grass Green Magicals and
Prima Marketing Rustic Brown Metallic Paint.
The front was cut with a circle die
then adding the bamboo stencil which was
smooched on the side with distress ink.
Behind that is corrugated cardboard
sponged with gold paste and a touch of
the green Magicals.
Again I backed that with leftovers from
the front smooching. As you can see it is a lot lighter
and adds another dimension.
I finished with a simple die cut sentiment from Altenew.

Our July Guest Julia and the Team
have also had fun with their watercolour backgrounds.
I look forward to seeing yours in our Gallery.
Thanks for dropping by.
Till next time - Cherrio from