Baby Card, Panda on Vine, New Arrival

When is a CAS card not a CAS card?

Well...  When it looks like this, of course!

I wonder who agrees with that statement?  I would certainly say that this card has a CAS 'feel' to it...  It has that all important 'white space' after all.  But then...  I did add an extra layer, a smidge of 'paper piecing', white twine as well as Dew Drops...  Do you get my point?

Perhaps this best fits Loll and Bonnie's CAS/Mixed Media Challenge style?  (If you don't know what I'm talking about then all I can say is 'where have you been')?  I know others use this style, too...  but kudos for them for coining the phrase.  Or was it already coined?  If so, I hadn't come across it...

Or maybe this best fits a CAS with layers category?  (Another challenge blog ran this for a while...  Not sure if they are on a break or whether they closed that challenge down).

Or maybe I should simply rephrase the question and ask, 'when does CAS stop being CAS'?

These are just my thoughts on the topic.  Feel free to let me know yours...  if you want to, obviously!

Anyway...  enough rambling...

Here's the inside...

Now I don't always decorate the inside of my cards...  but sometimes I just like to carry over the design a little.  

Supplies Used:

Stamp:

Crafter's Companion 'Baby Bamboo'

(Sentiment  - also by Crafter's Companion.  Discontinued)

Dies:

Memory Box 'Grape Vine'

PaperSmooches 'Gift Tag 2'

Ink:

Distress Marker 'Black Soot'  (Used to watercolour image)

Stazon 'Jet Black' 

Memento 'Expresso Truffle' (Stencilling)

Memento 'Tuxedo Black'

Ranger 'Perfect Medium' Embossing Ink

Stencil:

Creative Expressions 'Birch Tree'

Other:

Dew Drops (One clear, two champagne)

White Twine

Foam Pads

Stampendous 'clear' embossing powder

Challenges I'm Entering...

Pixies Crafty Snippets Challenge

(An 'all snippets' card this week) 

CASology

'Stencil'

Country View Challenges

'Use a Stencil'

Stamping Sensations

'Anything Goes'

Share Joy

(Challenge #36 - Keep It Clean & Simple)

Make My Monday

'In the Garden'

Time Out Challenges

(Challenge #57 - 'May All Your Weeds Be Wild Flowers')

 

Have a good week...

Donna.

Baby Card (Keepsake), Clothes Line, Female

I haven't made a card like this in a long time...

and to be honest I am in no hurry to do it again.

No hurry whatsoever...

It started off simply enough...  A request for a baby card that would be kept for a very long time.  And... well...  

You see baby cards aren't really something I have ever made before so I had to do a spot of online shopping.

See my washing line?

Beautiful stamp.  I love it.

And those super cute tiny buttons that I glued on?  They were bought especially for this project too, you know!

But...

What can you do with a clothes line/washing line to stop it from simply floating in mid air that doesn't look plain ugly AND doesn't detract from the focal image of the tiny baby clothes on the line?

(I thought about that one for quite a while...)  

I did have to wait for the stamp to arrive, you know!

 FINALLY, I made a decision I thought I was happy with.

My 'Never Before Used Schtuff' Poppystamps frame paired with my much loved birch tree stencil.

It went downhill from there...

I could continue to elaborate in excruciating detail...  (maybe then you would feel my pain?)...  but suffice it to say that EVERY SINGLE TIME I thought I was finished and finally happy with this card I would look at it the following day and realise that there was something still not quite right with it.

This was a soul destroying card to make if ever there was one...

So I've added bits and I've taken bits away... and I've stamped bits and I've taken them away...  and I've given up all pretence of this being CAS in any form whatsoever...  

And I've painstakingly cut out and glued on each individual peg for added dimension as it didn't look right without me doing that...   and I've smooshed on Gesso and lifted up edges to distress them as it looked too neat...

Are you getting my point yet?

Please tell me you understand my pain.  Seriously please.

I can't be the only one who lacks enough common sense to simply call it a day and start over, can I?

Anybody?

Please?

I really hated this card at one point...

Now it's been salvaged from 'I'm seriously contemplating throwing you straight in the bin' to 'I like parts of it but I'm still not sure'.

Maybe one day I'll revisit it with a CAS makeover!

This is my second baby card out of three that I will be posting online.

I made it for mum rather than baby.  Kind of obvious, hey?

Supplies Used:

Stamp:

Lili Of The Valley 'Babies Companion'

Dies:

Poppystamps 'Leafy Frame'

Memory Box 'Fancy Blossoms'

Memory Box 'Tall Birch'

Impression Obsession 'Bird House' Set

Spellbinders/Nestabilities A2 Card Creator 'Distressed Edges'

Papertrey Ink 'Wet Paint Alphabet' (Upper)

Tim Holtz/Sizzix (Thinlits) 'Tiny Tattered Florals'

Punch:

Martha Stewart 'Branch'

Ink:

Stazon 'Timber Brown'

Memento 'Expresso Truffle'

Tim Holtz Distress Marker 'Pumice Stone'

Tim Holtz Distress Marker 'Old Paper'

Ranger 'Perfect Medium' Embossing Ink

Stencil:

Creative Expressions 'Birch Tree'

Embossing Powder:

Stampendous 'Detail Silver'

Other:

Gesso (White)

Silver Thread

Baby Charm

Micro Buttons

Gems

Challenges I'm Entering...

Pixies Crafty Snippets Challenge

(Snippets of Watercolour card...  plus white/green card and vellum) 

Stamping Sensations

  'Anything Goes' 

The Sisterhood of Crafters

'No Design Paper'

Allsorts Challenge

Week #363  'Vintage'

Country View Challenges
'Use a Stencil'

Thank you for taking the time to stop by and visit...

Donna. x

Torn Tag, Butterfly, Female

I'm using something a little bit different for today's Tag You're It DT challenge tag - gorgeous natural looking Spider Web.  I hadn't come across this type before and I've got to say...  I absolutely LOVE it.

My tag takes it's inspiration from the very lovely Jeanne Jachna (see below). 

An off the edge butterfly, lots of flowers, some script text and dots, patterned paper, fishtail flags, three gems, twine...  and a strip running across the middle.  Can you see the script and dots on my tag?   And the flags?

No?

Well, in fairness to your eyesight that was a bit of a trick question...

The dots are acknowledged on the butterfly die I chose to use (see the round holes?), the script (my background) is actually from an old Lili of the Valley script stamp...  and the fishtail flags have morphed into leaves.

Oh yes...  and I didn't forget about the embossing...  I just substituted for a bit of texture paste :)

Now you might be wondering why on earth I tore the edges off those corners like that.

In truth, it was a last minute decision...

You see, Jeanne is super talented when it comes to layering up lots of pretty bits of paper...  and I am not.  So to give the illusion of more layers than there really are I opted for a bit of paper tearing.  

It also lends itself a little better to CAS with some white showing - it's a linen texture backing tag, but I'm not sure that shows up in the photo.

Supplies Used:

Dies:

Die-namics 'Flutter of Butterflies - Lace'

Elizabeth Crafts 'Curvy Leaves'

Memory Box 'Fancy Blossoms'

Stamp:

Lili Of The Valley 'Vintage Backs' collection (discontinued)

Stencil:

Tin Holtz 'Bricked'

Other:

Spider Web

Twine

Gems

Embossing Paste

Challenges I'm Entering...

Simon Says/Wednesday Challenge

'Flowers'

The Sisterhood of Crafters

'No Design Paper'

Creative Card Crew

Challenge #112  'Anything Goes'

CASology

'Tear'

If you have the time, why not join us at Tag You're It?

We would love to see how you've been inspired to play along.

Wishing you a happy/restful/peaceful weekend...

Donna. x