Perfectly CAS November Challenge

 

The new prompt for November's Perfectly CAS challenge is Snowflake.  I had so much fun creating my card that I actually have a two-fer to share with you today.

Card one uses a beautiful blue textured cardstock showcased on a white background.  The blue cardstock peeks out from underneath the dots.

Card two is exactly opposite using the the beautiful blue textured cardstock as the background.   

I used a large arch die to create the see through element of the background panels.  The J and the Y were die cut from an alpha set however I substituted a snowflake for the O.  This is a very simple but elegant design that could easily be mass produced.

Supplies:

MFT - Stitched Alpha dies

MFT - Let it Snow snowflake die

PinkFresh Studio - Braided Arch die

Tonic Studios - Ice Grey Glacier cardstock

Come check out our blog for more inspiration!  We'd love to see your cards in our gallery.  Please remember to use only 1/3 of the area in your design.  

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Perfectly CAS October Challenge

 

We are Going Pink over at the Perfectly CAS challenge blog this month.  I decided an autumnal themed card done in nontraditional colors would be fun to try.

In keeping with our 1/3 or less challenge requirement I opted for a top heavy card with lots of beautiful white space below achieved by some easy masking and ink blending.  The pumpkin and leaves were die cut from white cardstock and blended with Distress Oxides.  I added gold splatter to the elements and some water splatter to the blended panel.  I arranged the elements to the left of the card and stamped the sentiment on the right.  Super simple and fun.

Supplies:

Spellbinders - Large Die of the Month Oct 2019

Clearly Besotted - Tiny Type stamp set

I invite you to visit our blog and hope to see your CAS card in our gallery.

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Perfectly CAS September Challenge

 

It's time for another round of Perfectly CAS challenges where we ask that you use only 1/3 of the card front in your design.  Our challenge prompt this time is Halloween.

I knew I wanted my little ghosty to be in the bottom left of my card panel.  Being a white ghost on a white background I needed a little something something to set him off.  I used a circle background stencil as a guide for Distress Oxide blending.  I then stamped and die cut the ghost and balloons.  I used a tiny bit of gray shading on the ghost and colored his balloons in with a purple Copic marker before adhering to the circle background.  The sentiment was stamped onto black cardstock and embossed in white.  I adhered the panel to a white card base using fun foam.  I am very happy with the outcome. So cute! 

Supplies:

Miss Ink Designs - Boo Sheet stamp set

Taylored Expressions - Masking Circle stencil set

Distress Oxides

I invite you to visit our blog for more CAS Halloween inspiration and hope to see your creations in our gallery!

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Perfectly CAS August Challenge

 

The Perfectly Clean and Simple team is back with a new monthly challenge and this time around we would love to see embossing on your card.

As always we are looking for cards that use 1/3 (or less) of the card front in your design.  There are several types of embossing and the choice is entirely up to you.  

I began with a striped embossing folder and a scrap of white cardstock.  After running the paper through my die cutter I swiped it horizontally with my Distress Oxide pad.  I added a messy nest of silver thread, a die cut washi tape flower and the sentiment.  I adhered it all to a white card panel which was popped up onto the card base with fun foam.

Supplies:

Heidi Swapp - horizontal lined embossing folder

Pink Fresh Studio - Rainbow Floral washi 

Simon Says Stamp - pre-printed sentiment strip

Distress Oxide - Speckled Egg

silver thread

I invite you to visit our blog and hope to see your creation in our gallery.

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Perfectly CAS June Challenge

 

Are you a fan of Clean and Simple cards?  We have the ultimate challenge for you over at the Perfectly CAS card challenge blog.  Rather than our customary 1/3 design rule this time around we're shaving it to 1/4.  

A simple card with simple instructions.  I stamped the sentiment block followed by the hummingbird which colored with Copics.  A tiny blue mat around the white card panel is attached to a white card base.  That's it folks.  Just a quick CAS card to make someone smile.  Challenge yourself and come play along!

Supplies:

Colorado Craft Company - Today & Always stamp set

Ellen Hutson - Backyard Friends stamp set

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Perfectly CAS May Challenge

This is my second post for today.  Scroll down if you missed my earlier one.  Thanks!

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It's time once again for our Perfectly CAS card challenge.  Today marks our 27th challenge and we are looking for Distress.  This can be a technique, an emotion, etc.  Or as in my unimaginative state of mind at the time, it was Distress Oxides.

 

I used my Distress Oxide inks to blend out a panel of white cardstock using different shades of yellows and greens.  I die cut the stems from the blended panel, blended a bit of light blue onto a card front and adhered the stems over top.  I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment onto kraft cardstock strip which I adhered towards the bottom of the stems.  I finished the simple design off with a few pearls.  

I invite you to visit our blog and hope to see your card in our gallery!

Supplies:

Cottage Cutz - Garden Stems die

Hero Arts - Many Everyday Messages stamp set

Trinity Stamps - Pearl Perfections

As always, thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me!

Jules

Perfectly CAS - April Challenge

Calling all CAS card makers!  The Perfectly CAS card blog would love for you to join in our challenges.  This month our theme is Gold.

The idea behind the PCAS challenge is to use only 1/3 of the front panel in your design.  This isn't always as easy as it sounds.  

I've found that the use of a transparent 4.25" x 5.5"grid as an overlay is extremely useful when creating a design.  The easiest way to explain my process is to determine the total number of squares on your grid and divide by three.  Your finished design should use only this number of squares.  

 

I utilized the scraps from a previous alcohol inked background to create the colors you see peeking from behind the die cut panel.   I also used it for the sentiment grounding strip as well as the tiny die cut hearts.  The sentiment is from a pre-printed package of foiled greetings.  I popped the panel onto the white card base with some fun foam.  This is an easy card to recreate and it uses almost exactly 1/3 of the squares according to my transparent overlay grid.  :-)

Supplies:

Pink Fresh Studio - Foiled Sentiment pack

Ellen Hutson - Alpine Snowfall die

Ranger alcohol inks

Martha Stewart - heart punch 

Check us out here for more inspiration and come play along!

Thank you so much for spending a bit of your day with me.

Jules

Perfectly CAS - March Challenge

 

We at the Perfectly CAS challenge blog are back with a new prompt and it happens to be one I love...Die Cuts.

The idea behind this challenge is to use
 only 1/3 of your card space in the design.  
Please visit the blog for the official guidelines.  

I opted to use the lower right hand corner of my card for my design.  I began by lightly ink blending a green dye ink into the corner to ground my die cuts.  I die cut the elements from white cardstock and colored them in with Copic markers.  The trail and sentiment were stamped in a crisp pigment ink.  No frills added to this CAS card.  

I invite you to visit our blog and play along.  Limiting ourselves to just 1/3 of the card is definitely a challenge and we hope to see your creation in our gallery!

Supplies: 

Cottage Cutz - Mushroom Minis die

Cottage Cutz - Forest Critters die

Ellen Hutson - Snailed It stamp set

Thank you so much for spending a bit of your day with me.

Jules

Perfectly CAS - February Challenge

Happy Valentine's Day!  Today I'm here to share my card for our monthly Perfectly CAS card challenge where the theme this month is Metallic.

You all know my love/hate relationship with shiny cards so I decided to make this one a little easier on myself.  I chose gold metallic embossing powder to fulfill the challenge.

The root of our challenge is to create cards with lots of open space, using only 1/3 of the panel in our design.  

To create my card I stamped the image and sentiment in clear embossing ink, slathered it with gold embossing powder and then heat set it.  I used Copic markers to color the interiors of the image.  I created a top fold white card base and added a line of pink Copic markers to the vertical sides.  I then cut my focal panel down on the sides so that when adhered, the pink would serve as a border.  Very simple card.

I invite you to visit our blog and give our challenge a try!  

Supplies:

Simon Says Stamp - Paper Hug stamp set

Simon Says Stamp - Super Fine Gold embossing powder

Simon Says Stamp/Trinity Stamps - Clear Droplet mix

Thank you so much for spending a bit of your day with me.

Jules

 

Perfectly CAS - December Challenge

 

We're closing out 2021 with our last challenge of the year at the Perfectly CAS blog.  Our final prompt this year is Sea and/or Sky.

I couldn't help myself.  This cute stamp set was calling my name once again.  

This was a super simple card to make.  I began by stamping and coloring (alcohol markers) the shark in the upper left corner.  I used a microfiber towel and some Copic blending solution to create the scaly texture on his body.  I then masked him off and lightly stenciled in some waves and added the sentiment.  A few clear droplets serve as ocean bubbles.

I invite you to join us in the gallery!  We'd love to see your CAS cards using just 1/3 of the panel for your design.

Supplies:

Avery Elle - Santa Jaws stamp set

MFT - Perfect Pool Waves stencil

Continue to stay safe and healthy my friends.   _____________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

Perfectly CAS November Challenge

We have a new monthly challenge up over at the 

Perfectly CAS card blog where our new theme is TROPICAL.  

Remember to use only 1/3 of your

 card front in your design.

I am continuing with my holiday cardmaking and 

thought this wonderful flamingo satisfied the tropical theme.

I die cut the flamingo from heavy white cardstock and used my Copic markers to color each of the elements.  I ink blended the background, cutting it down so as to not exceed the 1/3 requirement.  I adhered my assembled flamingo onto the panel and popped up the panel with craft foam before adhering it to the card base.  The final step was to adhere the sentiment across the lower portion of the skater.

This Floridian is very excited to see your cards in our gallery so I hope you find time to play along!

Supplies:

Cottage Cutz - Christmas Flamingo die set

Flora & Fauna - Flamingo Holiday sentiment set

Continue to stay safe and healthy my friends.   _____________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

Perfectly Clean and Simple October Challenge

 

It's time for another Perfectly CAS monthly challenge where the theme for October is Sympathy.

Remember, the goal is to use only 1/3 of the card front as your design space.

Trust me, it's not always as easy as it sounds.  :-)

I find sympathy cards extremely difficult to make at the time of loss, 

preferring instead to create them ahead of time.  

It's always wonderful to have a stash of unneeded sympathy cards.

I also like to keep my sympathy cards very CAS so 

this is the perfect challenge blog for the prompt.  

I began by creating my own stencil using a heart die and a piece of transparency film.  I first ink blended the lilac heart followed by the two overlapping hearts.  I then went back over the center heart to blend out the color overlap just a bit.  Once dry I stamped the sentiment in a crisp black pigment ink, popped it up onto a pink card base using fun foam and then finished it off with a trio of pearls.  

I invite you to visit our blog for more CAS inspiration and hope to see your card in our gallery!

Supplies:

The Greetery - Thinking of You stamp set

Distress Oxides - Kitch Flamingo and Wilted Violet

Little Things by Lucy - bling

Continue to stay safe and healthy my friends.   _____________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

Perfectly CAS September Challenge

 

It's time for another Perfectly CAS monthly challenge where the theme for September is Geometrics.

Remember, the goal is to use only 1/3 of the card front as your design space.

Trust me, it's not always as easy as it sounds.  :-)

I opted to use squares as my geometric and got a bit "fancy" 

by turning them on point to create diamonds.

I started by ink blending white card scraps with three colors of Distress Oxides.  (Peacock Feathers, Picked Raspberry and Twisted Citron.)  I cut them with my trimmer to be 1 1/4" square and arranged them in the horizontal center of my white card front, overlapping the edges before adhering them down.  I used a hello die to create the sentiment from black cardstock, adhered it to a black card base and finished it off with a sprinkling of clear droplets.  

I invite you to visit our blog and come play along with us this month!  We'd love to see your card in our gallery.

This is my second post for today in case you missed my first post earlier this morning. 

Supplies:

Distress Oxides

CZ/Simon Says Stamp - Just Words 1 die set

Continue to stay safe and healthy my friends.   _____________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

Perfectly CAS - August Challenge

 

We have a new prompt up at the Perfectly CAS challenge blog.  This month we'd like you to incorporate stripes and/or dots on your card.  

Remember that the guidelines state that you should only use 1/3 of your card in the design.

 Being the overachiever that I am *wink* I opted to use both stripes and dots in my design.

I began but first stamping the trio of narrow lines along the bottom third of my card.  I used a stitching die to create the cut out circles that run parallel to the lines.  I die cut the bird in white, colored it in with Copic markers, adhered it to the bottom right of my card leaving just enough space for the tiny sentiment.  I felt like it needed a bit of embellishment so I opted for a few dots of clear glossy accents.  They add just a little without distracting from the focal point.  I would have preferred a smaller focal image but overall I think I kept within the 1/3 guideline for my design.

I invite you to visit our blog and hope you'll join us this month.  We'd love to see your card in our gallery!

Supplies:

MFT - Holly Jolly Cardinal die set

MFT - Itty Bitty Basics stamp set

MFT - Candy Stripes background stamp

Your Next Stamp - Stitching Border die set

Continue to stay safe and healthy my friends.   _____________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

Perfectly CAS - July Challenge

I am very excited to share that I have joined the Perfectly CAS Design Team!  This is a definitely a challenge for even those who love Clean and Simple designs.  The objective is to use only 1/3 of your card in the design which mathematically means 2/3 of your card is left clean with visual "white" space.  The challenge opens on the 15th of every month and always incorporates a prompt.  This month's prompt is embossing.

In my opinion white space can still be very Clean and Simple even when embossed (no different than using a textured cardstock, right?) so I incorporated my embossing to the front panel by way of simple diagonal stripes while still using only 1/3 of the card as the focal point.  

For my sentiment I did a light touch of ombre' blending to white cardstock prior to die cutting.  After die cutting (but prior to adhering to the front panel) I triple heat embossed my letters with clear embossing powder which created a smooth shine.  I heat embossed the sub-sentiment in white onto a strip of glossy black cardstock for some additional shine.  I finished the card off with three small black clay hearts.   I wish the glossy finishes came through better in the photograph as it's quite pretty in real life.  

Supplies:

MFT - Big Thanks die

Simon Says Stamp - Because of You stamp set

Fun Stampers Journey - Love Stripes embossing folder

HAI - clay hearts

If you're new to this challenge I invite you to play along with us at the blog.  If you're already a regular, I'll see ya there!  

Continue to stay safe and healthy my friends.   _____________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

Perfectly CAS #13

Today's card was inspired by the Perfectly CAS #13 challenge.  I do love CAS but their 1/3 requirement is often a challenge for me.  I am currently in need of birthday cards so I accepted their challenge and even made a bonus card before putting away my supplies.    

Here's my very simple take on the birthday challenge.

I started with a soft ink blended corner in the bottom right of the card panel.  I stamped the Happy using an scripty alphabet set and love how easy the letters are to align.  I stamped three florals in a triangle towards the left side of the sentiment, adding a white heat embossed sub-sentiment below the script.  I  finished it off with three gems in the center of the flowers and walked away.  

The tiny floral set I used above also includes a fun Hello stamp so I created a second card while I had everything out.  

I decided to add a few stamped dots to this version as well a few extra clear gems.  It's always nice to have an easy twofer and my Hello card can always double as a birthday card.  

Supplies:

Taylored Expressions - Frayed Edge Masking Stencil

Ranger - Distress Oxide inks

Concord and 9th - Sophisticated Script stamp set

Concord and 9th - Friendly Hello stamp set

Simon Says Stamp - Hello You stamp set

Honeybee Stamps - Wedding Ring Rhinestones

Continue to stay safe and healthy my friends.   _____________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules 

A Two Challenge Card

Maybe some of you can relate.  I don't really feel my age until my eldest's birthday comes around.  Then I feel darned old.  I mean, how can I be old enough to be his mother when in my mind I'm still his age?  *sigh*

Today is my son's 37th birthday and I made this card with him (and two challenges *blush*) in mind.

Challenge 1

Challenge 2

I wanted to come up with something really clean and simple that wasn't overly girly.  Green is is favorite color so I pulled out some cardstock scraps and put on my thinking cap to come up with something that would fit the shapes theme.  Here's the result....

It meets the "shapes" requirement as well as the white space/birthday requirement.  I thought the sentiment was appropriate for how I'm feeling today.  ('cause in the end, it's still all about me.  ROFL!)

I cut the rectangles out with my paper trimmer, added the stitched stamp line and sentiment and called it good. 

Happy Birthday to my first born!

Supplies:

MFT Bitty Birthday Wishes (sentiment)

Simon Says Stamp Crafty Friends (stitched line)

The Stamp Market (card stock scraps)

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Two Challenges / One Card ---- Perfectly CAS #5 and Less is More #411

I have a very full house and a tight crafting schedule as of late so today I'm conquering two different blog challenges with one card.  The theme of both challenges is to create a one layered card.  I've played along with the first challenge several times however this is my first time participating in the second challenge.  

Perfectly CAS

Less is More

Before I show you my card I'd like to address the whole "one layer" thing.  You can go back through my blog and even further back on my IG account and the only single layered cards you {might} see are the result of an online card class.   Why is that you ask?  Well, I don't like them much.  LOL!  I always thought it was because I considered them too flimsy but now that I've tackled the process once again I've decided it's because there just isn't any way to fix boo boos and Julie is the Queen of Boo Boos.   Today's card is my 4th attempt at this design and even now, it's not what I'd wanted.  I did salvage my previous three cards by cutting/pasting/covering etc and I'll post them sometime soon.  For now I have this and I'm calling it DONE.

The sentiment stamp and the greenery stamp are from two different sets designed by The Stamp Market.  The tiny dot is from an older Simon Says Stamp set.  

Remember when I said that even this 4th attempt wasn't what I'd envisioned?  Well, that's because the darned strip is supposed to be on the left side of the card front.  I got all discombobulated by having to put an entire 5.5" x 8.5" piece of card stock in my Misti.  Oy!  (I managed to get this part right during my first three attempts but those each had various other issues.)  Trust me when I say, there was NOT going to be a 5th attempt.

A closer look at the stamping.  

The recipient of this card will have absolutely no idea that it took me the better part of two days to create it.  Seriously.  So while earlier this week I mentioned that today's card would be even simpler than Monday's I obviously meant "in appearance" and not "in time spent."  I think my one layer days are officially over.  Been there.   Done that.  Wasn't fun. 

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Thank you for visiting my little crevice of the crafty blogosphere.  Your time, comments and friendship are much appreciated.  

Happy Crafting!

Jules

Perfectly CAS #4

Today's card was created with the challenge over at the Perfectly Clean & Simple blog in mind.  Their theme this month is Celebrate. 

I tried something a bit different from my usual linear 1/3 and came up with this....

A little closer look at the coloring and shimmer...

It may not technically be 33.33% of the card front but hopefully it passes their scrutiny.   It went postal as soon as I got it photographed as it was Perfectly CAS for my sister-in-law's birthday.  :-)

Thanks for stopping by during this busy holiday season.  Much appreciated!

See you on the crafty side....

Jules