CAS-tastic Buttons!

Who doesn't love them?  And who doesn't have them?  I seem to have collected them over the months and I'd have to say my favourite colour is the shiny Pure Poppy ones from PTI.  It's been a while since I've worked with red and oh how I've missed it!

The current CAS-tastic challenge is to use buttons and what better way to make a Clean and Simple card than a one-layer.  I don't know about you but I find one-layer cards to be very challenging.  They aren't hard it's just that whenever you mess up you have to start all over again...and I've determined that I'm really not a great stamper.  I know I'm being fussy but I definitely need to get gridded acrylic blocs.

Not much to say about my cards, except maybe that I really like them.  I realize the yellow buttoned card isn't a true one-layer card but I got tired of putting the paper in the scrap pile =)  Oh and my good news note for today is having my card featured on the WPlus9 Colour challenge.  Between my recent nods on CAS-tastic and WPlus9 I'm on top of the world!  Thanks so much ladies for your encouragement.

Hope you have a very fantastic weekend and that the weather is beautiful!

Birthday Wishes Elements

Paper: White cs (PTI)

Ink: Real Red, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive

Accessories: Pure Poppy buttons (PTI)

Stamps: Round & Round (PTI)

Live Laugh Love Elements

Paper: White cs (PTI), Kraft

Ink: Always Artichoke, Soft Suede

Accessories: Lemon Tart buttons (PTI), yellow brads (MM), large corner rounder

Stamps:  Round & Round (PTI)

Bring Your Own Sunshine

Sometimes it's as easy as smiling when you don't feel like it.  Do you ever find that smiling is the one physical act of happiness that can actually convince the rest of your body that you are happy?  It doesn't always have to be your brain telling you that you're happy and allowed to smile.  This verve sentiment reminds me of that.  Even as I was rushing the kids out the door and out to school I thought of this quote and added my smile.  My husband always says "Smile, it makes people wonder what your up to" my reply is  usually "It's easy for you to do because you're almost always contemplating world domination" and other things that men spend the majority of their time thinking about...or so I'm told. 

Anyhow, I've digressed almost too much and will now tell you about my card.  My inspiration came from this Card Pattern's sketch, the current Embellish colours, and some new PTI goodies that I ordered back in April before having bought our new house.  My 'supplier' of all that is PTI dropped them off last night and it was nice having some new materials to work with including the new anniversary set.  That was a nice surprise since I wasn't planning on having a new stamp set for quite some time.  Thanks for supporting my habit Maureen =) I'm hoping to sell the house soon so I can treat myself to a few goodies, starting with Courtney's new set at Practicing Creativity Designs.  The tree in that set is one of my favourites.

I'm feeling particularly chatty today so please forgive the long post.  Hope you are having a fabulous Thursday and if I don't chat soon have a wonderful weekend.

Elements

Paper: Kraft, Whisper White, Close to Cocoa, Raspberry Tart dsp (SU!)

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Crushed Curry, Cameo Coral

Accessories: Rick rack die (PTI), 1" circle punch, linen thread, lemon tart buttons (PTI), brown ruffle ribbon (SU! Flirty collection), foam tape

Stamps: Feel the Sun (Verve), Round & Round (PTI)

Nothing But Happiness

Wow hey?  My second post for this week!!!  Yesterday we had another house viewing so I was feeling a bit hopeful and found a little time last night to get this card started.  I went to bed early so I didn't finish  but I did this morning.  The house is clean, I've sent out a couple job applications and it's raining cats and dogs outside so I figured I deserved a bit of play time.

This card was made using the current Sketch Girl challenge along with the latest Embellish magazine colours.  I don't use a lot of Coral but this colour combo was enticing.  The Embellish also gave me a chance to brake out my favourite Labels 1 nestibilities and Top Note die.  I embellished with some cotton floss, unique Papertrey buttons and polka dots.  This was one of those cards where I had no idea what I was doing until it was done.  I just went with the flow and let inspiration be my guide.  I'm very happy with the results and hope you enjoy it as well.

Thanks so much for popping by.  I hope you have a fabulous day.  Happy Crafting.

Elements

Paper: Kraft, Cameo Coral, Early Espresso, Whisper White, SU! dsp

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Versamark

Accessories:  Labels 1 Nesties, Top Note die (SU!), DMC floss in brown and yellow, Lemon Tart Buttons (PTI), foam tape

Stamps:  Polkadot Basic Background I (PTI), Blessings (Verve)

Simple Gifts

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

It will be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and to bed we shall not be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come round right.

~Joseph Bracket 1848~

Simple was what came to mind when trying to create this card for the current CAS-tastic challenge which is to make the sentiment your focal point.  The simple theme also brought me to one of my favourite songs I listen to with my kids.  Do you have Jewel's Lullaby album?  It's on my top ten simply for her renditions of  "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and "Forever and a Day".  My ipod is set to this music when trying to find some tranquility in a noisy house.  While this song was originally written in a Shaker community it has made it's way into the hymnals of contemporary Christian denominations.  And apparently even Weezer has included their rendition in two of their albums.  How's that for popular even 162 years after it was written?

Anyhow, back to the simple theme, I used one border punch, one label die, one stamp, and some canvas letter stickers.  Oh and I added a few clear buttons painted with nail polish  for the latest EBTKS challenge.  If you're not someone that uses buttons very often nail polish is a great thing to use because it covers any colour so that the embellishment can better match your project. No need to collect a million buttons in various colours (like I have) and save yourself some money with something you may already have laying around your house. The label die was made using the woodgrain packaging from the Making Memories canvas stickers so I even managed to recycle.

Thank you friends for leaving all your kind words even though I haven't been hangin' around blogland lately.  I've been really busy getting my resume together looking for a part-time job and I'm also in the process of registering back at school to finish up that Bachelor's degree.  So with all the stress of trying to sell the house, job hunting, school, and home I just haven't had the time for inspiration.  When I do find some down time I've usually got my nose in a book. Right now I'm rediscovering the works of Farley Mowat in "The Dog that Wouldn't be".  It's light, humorous and enjoyable.

Elements

Paper: Kraft, Groovy Guava

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Stamps:  For the Love of Dots (PCD)