You are the Zest

Lemon dies have been calling my name for a long time and I finally bought some...but I also fell in love with these alphabet dies and recently saw cards online using both sets together. I basically CASEd this card here and added a shaker "twist" filled with little lemons, limes and oranges. Our Just Us Girls Photo/Moodboard Challenge #671 this week has all sorts of yummy colors for spring that inspired my card. 

I'm also playing along at The Card Concept 191a because...lemons! Who can resist their colors and scent! Spring and summer are on their way which means lemonade, lemon sorbet in the lemon itself (see below), and Arnold Palmers (iced tea and lemonade)!! Suffice it to say, I was taken by the Card Concept photo with the lemons.

Products I used: 

Lawn Fawn: Zesty Lemons die set, Henry's ABCs die set

Avery Elle: Scalloped frame die set

Sugar Pea Designs: Stitched rectangle die

Paper Smooches/Stampin' Up!: Stamped together into one sentiment

Pretty Pink Posh: Clay fruit shaker elements

Concord and 9th: mini ink cubes, Dew Drop assortment

Ink blending brushes

Versafine Black Onyx ink pad

Stampin' Up!: Patterned paper

Acetate

Foam tape

I like a clean and layered card style. First I die cut my lemons, leaves and flower out of white cardstock. I ink blended all of them and adhered the pieces and parts together. Next, I die cut the scalloped frame, played around with the arrangement/spacing of the inked die cuts, then decided on placement of the "zest" dies. After die cutting my word, I removed the letters and created the shaker, holding my breath as I always do (because I usually make a mistake and have to start over). I die cut the yellow patterned paper so it would have stitching around the edges, then attached it to my A2 card base. Then I mounted the shaker on top of the card front. I added the lemons and leaves, stamped my sentiments and added the dew drops. 

As I mentioned above, I have a lemon sorbet recipe (not this one, but this sounds amazing too) that my daughter just loves, so I surprise her when she visits us! You make and freeze it in the lemons you used to make it! (If you need details on how to prepare the lemon "boats" for the sorbet, leave a comment below.) I couldn't take a photo of the cookbook page with my recipe I use because it is so worn with use and lemon spills...I guess that is a good sign! 

Lemon Sorbet recipe

We hope you will find the colors and objects fun in our moodboard this week and that you will want to make a card using something you see in the photo. I think you will really like all of the team's ideas too, so be sure to visit their blogs for all the details on their cards!

-Carol

Let's Chill Soon

With spring break happening now here in Florida it is time for me to get out my beachy products and start creating. The Global Design Project #385 and Sunday Stamps Challenge SSC304 both fit with colors and sketch for this vacation card. Check out the challenge details below.

Products I used:

Simon Says Stamp: Chair die, sentiment

My Favorite Things: Cover plate

Variety of inks

Ink blending brushes

Patterned paper

I made a 5 x 7 card so that the swirly cover plate would fit with the card base border behind it. I actually used the exact colors of the GDP challenge! The chairs are ink blended on the edges and are popped up for depth. The shell patterned paper is glimmery!!!  That's about it! Makes me want to go to the beach right now!

See you soon,

-Carol

Thinking of You

It's time for a new Word Week at Just Us Girls #670: Rainbow! There are all sorts of ways to do a rainbow (traditional, bold, pastel, stamped, die cut, etc.) and mine is a "loosely interpreted" rainbow, meaning it is not an exact ROYGBIV. I chose colors that I really like and went with it and I could have been fussing with the color order as we speak, but decided to leave it be and take a picture!

Products I used:

Simon Says Stamp: Etched Laurel Leaves dies

Concord and 9th: Thinking of You sentiment

Versafine Onyx Black ink

Vellum

5" x 5" white card base

Various carsdstock colors and brands

Random sequins

Glue dots

I traced around a circle die with a pencil on my vellum square in order to have a shape to follow when arranging my leaves. I adhered them to the vellum square with glue dots so I could pull them off if need be to rearrange. I also adhered the vellum to the card base with glue dots, under the leaves only, so they wouldn't show though. Last, I stamped my sentiment and added sequins. The sequins match the leaves near them in depending on the lighting, so if you move the card, they change colors. You can see the differences in the two photos.

Please join us with your rainbow ideas!

-Carol

Peace on Earth

At Christmas Craft Creations we are making one-layered cards this month! I grabbed some old Stampin' Up! stencils, one of their stamp sets, some distress inks and some irridescent rhinestones to make my card. These would be easy to mass produce or to create a boxed set.

We hope you will join us for this simple style of card this month. The team has made a variety of nice cards for your inspiration!

-Carol

Long Time No Sea

It is that time of year when spring break (and soon thereafter summer) will soon be here. It is quite warm already where I live so I am in the mood to get out my beachy stamps. I happened to see that the AAA Cards Challenge #235 is Ink Blending Along an Edge, so I thought I would create a bird's eye view beach scene. Many of the beaches here in Florida are famous for having sugary white sand, so that is what kind of beach my CAS card has to be!

Products I used:

Ellen Hutson: umbrella, sentiment

Sugar Pea Designs: wave stencil

Stampin' Up!: ink pads

Concord and 9th: ink pads

Versafine: Onyx black ink pad

First I ink blended a turquoise ink on the left edge of my A2 card. Next, I blended in some aqua/teal ink. I put down my stencil and added more of those two inks for the waves to appear. I stamped the umbrella (three layers to get the different colors and the stripes) and fussy cut it out. Last, I stamped the sentiment at the edge of the waves.

Now I need to hop in the car and go sit at the beach because that is all I can think about now!

Sea you soon,

-Carol

Look on the Bright Side

It's Color Week at Just Us Girls Challenge #669 and my sweet teammate Ina chose Turquoise, Mustard and Black. I ran across this printed design in my stash by Becky Oehlers from 2010 that I have never used. All I had to do was color and make a card with it. For some reason I thought of the old photo corners we used to use to hold photos in our albums and decided to add them here for more color on my card. What I like about this print is that it reminds me of the creative process of  starting a new card and how I picture in my mind the elements I might include. Nevertheless, I thought it was cute when I saw it on Becky's blog all those years ago.

Products I used:

Hero Arts: stencil (ground)

My Favorite Things: Mini Cloud stencil (sky)

Distress Ink

Ink Blending brushes

Tim Holtz Idea-logy stickers (sentiment)

Stampin' Up!: Patterned paper, markers

Post it Notes: to make masks for stenciling/ink blending

Here is the first card I made with another copy of the same print...not for this challenge.

I could just be dating myself with the photo corners and am now questioning my use of them on these two cards. This second card could be the first page of a photo album with its sentiment. What do you think?

We hope to see you in our gallery this week! Check out the team's cards to see all the details on their creative takes with this color combination!

-Carol

Miss You

I flipped out over this new My Favorite Things Creature Comforts die set when I first saw it and I needed to hurry up and use it once it got here so...here is its maiden voyage for two current challenges. The Paper Players PP629 challenge is a sketch that I really like, a square card, and The Color Throwdown #732 is using coral, yellow, blue and navy this week.

Products I used: 

My Favorite Things: Creature Comforts die set, Mini Messages and More stamp set

The Greetery: Cozy Cup Coaster Die

Archival Ink

Silver cardstock

Vellum

Ink blending brushes

Distress inks

I die cut all the elements out of white cardstock, then ink blended each one. I pieced them together, then arranged them on the coaster die. I wanted vellum for the tea bag to look real...I love it! I made the glasses look ombré, just like a pair I own. I always use silver cardstock for a spoon too because it looks so real! I tried to be CAS on my 5" x 5" card, but keep with the sketch. Can't wait to play with this set again with its cell phone!!!

Hope it made you smile!

-Carol