Eek! Boo!

It is time again for our Just Us Girls Challenge: CASE a DT #699. If you want to play along, and we hope you will, choose a card made by one of us this week and make it your own. Explain which card you chose and what inspired you from that card to end up with your creation. Here is my card for this week.

 

I love all the stencils that cardmakers are using these days and after making a recent project I had the negative panel from die cutting I had done. It looked to me like a Halloween stencil, so I grabbed some dark grey cardstock and some white ink and stenciled a background with heavy and light pressure to make it a little eery-looking. I cut the arched shaped from this background panel, then decided on purple for my card base. In addition to the purple card base, I cut another purple panel and die cut the same arch in the middle of it. 

After my grey stenciled panel dried, I decided that I would make a little arrangement over to one side with some spooky die cuts as well as sparkle it up with purple rhinestones. Once that part was complete, I adhered my grey panel to the card front. Then I popped up the purple panel (with the arch cut out) over the stenciled panel using a double layer of foam tape. It is hard to see in the photo, but the grey panel is recessed. The pumpkin was cut from orange glitter cardstock and the faces on the treat bag and pumpkin, as well as the EEK letters, are cut from black glitter cardstock.

Products I used:

Homemade stencil: dies from Papertrey Ink Pumpkin House dies

Pumpkins and treat bag: Spellbinders

Letters: Alex Syberia Foxtrot Alphabet die set

White ink: VersaMagic Cloud White Archival Multi-surface Chalk Ink Pad

Rhinestones: Pretty Pink Posh

We hope you will like this challenge and CASE one of our cards! It is as easy as copying a card's colors or theme, or you could make a similar card with different colors. You could also take one element from a card and use that on your card. This is a versatile challenge!

Psst!!! You don't want to miss our 700th Challenge coming up next week with fun surprises for participants!!!

See you soon,

-Carol

Fashion Demands

One thing that is great about living in the tropical zone is that you never have to wear anything uncomfortable or on your legs when you dress up. You make sure that you get a little sun year 'round and that color becomes your hose or tights. I have had this RubberMoon woodblock stamp for years after snatching it up the minute I saw it. A friend gifted me the Julie Nutting doll stamp recently and I think the two pair well together. I am playing along at #woodblockwednesday and Sisterhood of the Snarky Stampers SoSS #243 with my vivid card. It's a bright one in person!

I die cut this bright patterned paper with my Sugar Pea Designs stitched rectangle die and adhered it to an A2 card base. I stamped the girl using Versafine Onyx black ink, then used Copics to color her. I fussy cut her and adhered her to the card. I stamped my sentiment and matted it, then placed it in a prominent place on my card. I hope it made you chuckle!

-Carol

Just Us Girls Sports Week

Our challenge this week at Just Us Girls #698 is CAS with Sports as the theme. I have lots of soccer stamps but no reason anymore to make a soccer card other than this challenge. I looked around the internet and found a piece of graphic art that I liked, then searched for a sport to go with it. I chose Cliff Diving! I know that is a little out there but here is a snippet of information about this actual competition.

In a nutshell, it originated in Hawaii in the 1700s, but the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series started just 14 years ago in 2009. Here is a link to the website with all the details and photos!

Cliff diving

This past June of 2023 there were eight competitions in locations all around the world. I would love to watch a cliff diving competition in person! Would you?

Here is my card and the one that inspired it.

Art print: Wild Swim, for sale on Etsy at Papershore. 

I am also playing along with my CAS card at Inkspirational Challenges #299 Clean and Simple.

Products I used: 

Simply Graphic Les Nageuses dies

Reverse Confetti Sun dies

My Favorite Things Wave dies

I made my diver a USA swimsuit with patterned paper in red with stars. Also, I wanted my card to CASE, not copy the art exactly. We hope you will join us for this Clean and Simple challenge with Sport as the main idea.

See you in the gallery!

-Carol

A Pie-fect Friend

This is my first fall card of the year and it was inspired by our Just Us Girls Challenge #697 Moodboard Challenge brought to you by the talented Carol Mayne on our team. I tried to create a table top with a pie and cup of coffee (or in my case, steamed apple juice with 5 pumps of chai). Play along with this warm, cozy challenge!

I am playing along with my card over at Addicted to Stamps and More.

Products I used:

My Favorite Things: Creature Comforts die set

Spellbinders: Sky View Pies die set

Sugar Pea Designs: Card Front Elements Builder die set

Textured cardstock

Silver cardstock

Patterned paper

Ranger Distress Rock Candy Crystal Clear Glitter

This was not a difficult card to make...die cutting and arranging them onto the card front! I added "sugar" on the pie top using a ZIG 2 Way Glue pen and fine glitter.

There are so many good fall items in the moodboard to choose from to create a card. Please join us for some fall papercrafting!

-Carol

New Challenge Blog: Mini Album Mania

I've got news!! There is a brand new challenge called Mini Album Mania (MAM#1 for this first challenge, Anything Goes theme for every challenge) and this is the first month of its existence! This challenge will run September 1- October 15. I am on the new design team and I made a 3.75" x 3.75" mini album with 5 pages, plus the inside and outside of the front and back covers. I will elaborate on rules and guidelines below. 

We are looking for more design team members as well as papercrafters to play along with mini albums that they make. If you are interested in being on the design team, please contact our fearless leader Leslie at ltscb at mail dot com (not gmail).

I started my project using a Lawn Fawn cross stitch die and pattern for the stitched Jack-o-Lantern. It took me an hour and a half or so (with some interruptions) to complete.

I found the pattern for the album by Samantha Ziegenfuss here. It is quite easy to make. The decorating and embellishing are up to you. I had the white album base done in a few minutes.

Next, I had to decide how I wanted to decorate the album. I started with Papertrey Ink Pumpkin House dies for the centerfold. I cut most of my die cuts for the album with white cardstock, then ink blended them to the colors I wanted.

I used Spellbinders Dancin' Ghost dies and he has moving legs! (page 2)

The big mugs are Pretty Pink Posh: Winter Mug.

The smaller cups are Trinity Stamps: Boo Brew dies.

The car die is from My Favorite Things. 

The cat and ghost at the end of my album are from Spellbinders: Gnome Drive Halloween. 

The candy corn is from the same die set that the centerfold pumpkin is from, Papertrey Ink Pumpkin House dies.

It was a labor of love. I had fun and took my time with all of the details. It took me the better part of two days working pretty steadily. This one is a "Halloween decoration" but in coming months I plan to make practical albums such as little recipe albums, Christmas tag holders for the tags we reuse in our family each year, crafting idea notes/lists in albums, etc. 

Now, here are the details about our challenge: 

We'll have six challenges per year, each lasting about six weeks, commencing on the 1st day of odd months. Challenges will go live at 4:00 AM Mountain Time on the 1st and end at 4:00 PM Mountain Time on the 15th of the following month. Themes are always 'any type of mini album goes.' The size should be no more than 6" on any side, must have at least three pages (the more the merrier) and must be embellished and decorated. Photos are optional. Mini albums can have any kind of binding (such as rings, wire, ribbon, staples, glued tabs, etc.) or accordion or flap type with no binding. Just remember they must have at least three pages. No blank undecorated albums.

We hope you will be inspired to join us each challenge. Tell your crafty friends, too! There are lots of uses for mini albums to keep yourself organized or to hold things you love. See you in the gallery!

-Carol

Joy

Here is a quilty Christmas card for you with lots of shine and sparkle for the Christmas Craft Creations Metallic theme for September. (I looked up what is considered metallic regarding cardstock. One store called Cardstock Warehouse here in the USA wrote: "When you need some shimmer and shine for a special occasion, this premium collection of metallic cardstock paper is sure to please. Choose from pearlescent, glitter and mirror papers..." so I used some card stock that was previously the packaging for chocolates as well as  some glitter paper.

I have been looking at "quilt" dies for a long while and finally decided on this one, based on the great examples using it on the Concord and 9th website. I took so many photos to try to show the shine/sparkle on this card and I wish you could see it in person. 

All but one of the dies used on this card are from the Concord and 9ths Poinsettia Quilt Top dies set.  This is my first time using it. You can use the main die and have it imprint the quilt (stitching) design on your card front. I chose to use the main die and its outline die to cut around three sides of the stitched design. I did not let the outline die cut along the folded edge of my card base so that the quilt becomes the card front. The quilt piece opens the card. I also die cut a stitched rectangle panel (Sugar Pea Designs) and adhered it to the right side of the card (inside) for sturdiness.

It was fun to pick out patterned and metallic papers for my "quilt" design. JOY is included in the set in two parts: a shadow for the word (I cut it out of vellum) and the three letters J-O-Y, I cut out of regular cardstock. I finished by adding a rhinestone in the middle for more sparkle.  

We hope you will join us this month with your metallic adorned cards! Make sure it is a very obvious foal point of your card.

See you in the gallery!

-Carol

Fall Weather in the High Country

I have lived in a couple of places where it snows. Two pretty scenes that I always loved were a full moon through the trees and the snow lit up by the moonlight. I like snowy scenery but now choose to live again near water and palm trees. For this week's Just us Girls Word Challenge #696 Bobby chose Moon and I came up with a snowy fall or winter card. I left off the sentiment and can add one later if I feel the occasion calls for one.

 

Products I used;

Poppy Stamps Pondering Layered Deer die

Simon Says Stamp Drifting Stitches Border dies

Concord and 9th mini ink pads

MFT Birch tree dies, A2 circle dies

My mini slimline card was a simple make. The deer is 6 dies, easily layered. I added shading with smaller ink blending brushes to the deer. 

We hope you will join us with a Halloween, baby, Christmas, winter or any other idea you have using a moon!

-Carol

Clothing Boutique

I have had these Concord and 9th dies for a while, and used the store base die several months ago with bicycles. I also bought the add on set with the clothing boutique accessories. When I saw two challenges this week that fit the idea I had in my head with this set, I finally made a card today, after not having time to do it for a week! 

I am playing along with Inkspirational Challenge #297 Word Prompt: Clothing/Closet as well as The Color Throwdown #759 whose colors are Orange, Red, Maroon and Gold. 

Products I used:

Concord and 9th Window Shoppe Pop-Up Base dies, Fashion Shoppe Bundle

Pink and Main: Enamel dots

Mirrored cardstock

Gold cardstock

This type of card takes a few hours, but it is so fun to watch it materialize as you put together the inside and outside elements. Hard to see in the photos is the gold table as you "enter the store" with shoes on display. The chandelier hangs back from the door and the mannequins are popped up to look like they are standing away from the wall. The free standing mirror is adhered to the back wall though. My boutique is attached to the front of an A2 card base AND folds up to fit into an A2 envelope! Fun!

See you back here soon!

-Carol

Water You Been Up To Lately?

Our sweet Lisa E. has chosen Aqua and Apricot for our Just Us Girls Color Challenge #695. I asked myself if I should still make yet another summer card and then an idea hit me...an Ellen Hutson set (sadly closing- but will still have products via Amazon) called Just Squidding. In this set there are two cute ways to have the octopus play a trick on boaters and swimmers with a fin or a serpent "puppet." Here's my card.

Products I used:

Ellen Hutson: Just Squidding stamp set

Versafine: Onyx black ink

Concord and 9th: Dew drops

Stampin' Up!: Markers, ink Bermuda Bay ink pad

My Favorite Things: Wave dies

Vellum

I started by ink blending an ombré section on a piece of vellum. Next, I cut it down to the size I wanted and die cut waves at the top. I stamped my creature on a white panel and colored it. I stamped the fin puppet on another scrap of white cardstock, then colored and fussy cut it. I adhered it to one of the creature's arms. I watched Julie Ebersole put this same vellum water/wave on a panel by cutting it wider than the panel and folding the sides around the back side to adhere. That way no adhesive shows on the front! I stamped my sentiment and added "water drops" before adhering the panel to an A2 card front. Sneaky octopus!!!

Join us this week with these two pretty colors. Can't wait to see your creations in the gallery!

-Carol