CAS 89 Guest Designer

Yippee!  I was chosen as a Splitcoast CAS Guest Designer for the fall, and this week is my week!  It was based on a super sketch by kstamper, a card that was already in my faves (love the hand drawn cord border and the wonderful "glow" she sponged around the bulbs).  I was a bit stumped when I sat down to make a card, so I asked my DH for some ideas.  He suggested using a branch in place of the bulbs, and then this card resulted (ok, to be honest, two and half fails resulted first, and then this card):

This card makes me want to put on my fall boots!  I started by masking the left side of the card with a 3/4 inch border.  I also masked off part of the top, just so I could eyeball the top leaves to break the border. I used PTI's Out on a Limb stamp set, and I found it easier (read: fail number one) to stamp the leaves first and then the branch.  I used SU Summer Sun, Pumpkin Pie, and Really Rust classic ink for the leaves, and Really Rust for the branches.
The set also comes with individual leaves, so I stamped four of those falling from the tree.  I tried to be really artsy (read: fail number two) and have one of the leaves be behind the sentiment, but it ended up looking better just above the sentiment.  After stamping the PTI Vintage Picnik Sentiments sentiment (ha) in Pumpkin Pie, I used a ruler and SU Really Rust marker to draw the border.  Fail 2.5 involved the left side not being lined up perfectly, so some of the branches came out the other side of the border.  As Ben Franklin once said, "When life gives you branches outside of the border, just make your border thicker."  Such a wise man, that Ben.

After the first card, my mojo started working on its own, so I made this one for my DH.  I masked off a 1/2 inch border all the way around the card and used a paper towel to sponge in Fresh Ink Blue Slate.  I stamped the sentiment, from PTI's Tiny Treats: Valentines, in SU Chocolate Chip, then hand drew the border with the Chocolate Chip marker.

The airplanes flying in formation are also from Tiny Treats, stamped on Riding Hood Red with Crystal Effects applied (a little silver and pink prismacolor pencils, too).  I threaded one piece of brown and white twine through the eyelets and tied the planes on, so you can pull one down and the other will go up.

I hope you're inspired to try the sketch out this week!  Thanks again to the fabulous CAS DT team for picking me as a guest designer!

(Random blog question: do you need/like/want the in-depth description of the card making?  Or should I assume I'm dealing with fairly well-educated stampers that can figure most things out on their own, besides a few supplies and such? I always say I'm not going to write a novel about a card, and then I end up with War and Peace.  I teach teenagers, so seriously, you can't hurt my feelings with your opinion on the matter!)

DTGD: Phase Four

I did have good intentions of posting my Dare to Get Dirty challenge cards every day this week, but then someone took the camera to work and left it there until yesterday.  So now I have a back log of cards to post, but I'll try spreading them out over the next couple days.  This one is my most recent favorite of the bunch:

These are two stamps from Eat Cake Graphics, that can be used either separately or together to form a big tree in the middle.  I first made a house template in Word and cut it out of Soft Suede (I told you I'm addicted to that color now--and I only have 2 sheets left!  Eek!)  The fold is on the left side of the house; the roof is a separate piece. The patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye Christmas pack from last year--it's a little bit glittery, but not over the top (have you ever noticed that every paper pack at Michael's now has massive amounts of glitter?).  I then had the "great" idea of using another paper from the same pack at the "wallpaper" for the background of the card.  Which meant stamping and cutting out:
1) The wallpaper layer
2) The tree, pet, and person layer (after coloring with prismacolor pencils & baby oil)
3) An acetate square (hard to see but looks so cute in real life!)
4) The window frame & snow
all times two windows. I'm definitely buying one of those pencil-grip thingies for my craft knife ASAP.  I also cut out the chimney from Cherry Cobbler, adding some score marks 1/4 inch apart for bricks.  On the windows, I colored everything snowy with a white pencil first (I forgot on the roof & chimney), then added some snow using a "Snow Writer" from Hobby Lobby (which I would soooo not recommend), and finally some Frosted Lace Stickles. Extreme close-up!

To keep with the cooler weather mode, I also made this card for Thanksgiving.

 These leaves and sentiment are from the Inkadinkado 5-set package that was sold at Costco about 2 years ago.  Such an awesome deal; it had something like 150 stamps for $20, plus an acrylic block. I picked up all three packages (flowers, holidays, and occasions) and they come in handy all the time, in fact, I should probably start using them more-I just tried some SU classic ink with them today and they stamped wonderfully.  Anyway, I stamped the leaves onto a paper lunch bag to get a nice "leafy" look, then cut out and glued to a one-inch cream square, matted with a 1 1/4 inch Really Rust square. The sentiment is stamped with Really Rust, then I drew the double-line border using the Really Rust marker.

So what is your Best Stamping Deal Ever?