CAS - CWC013 ~ Inspired By Summer

Greetings Everyone!! I am SOOOOOOOO excited today for a number of reasons...one of which is because I am here to participate in my first EVER CAS challenge!!! Here is what CAS is:

CAS in the simplest of terms means Clean and Simple.

What is considered a clean and simple card? The answer to this question varies greatly depending on who you ask! So for our purposes, here are some Guidelines for creating CAS cards:

Clean: uncluttered, lots of white or open space
Simple: clear focal point with little distractions
Reproducible: can be quickly and easily mass produced

There are no rules in CAS, if it is CAS to you, that is all that matters!! We want everyone to play along!

This weeks sponsor is one of my VERY FAVORITE Digital Image Companies - Tiddly Inks. I simply drool over Christy's work every single time I work with it!!! She is BEYOND talented and I grab up her new images the second they hit the shoppe!!!

As I was contemplating what I wanted to create for my first ever CAS card, I parused through my stamp collection and was drawn towards my Bellas which have been sadly neglected for a long time. I busted open GRATTY'tude . I have never inked her up. As I was opening the package I noticed that she was designed by none other than CHRISTY CROLL owner of TIDDLY INKS!! I guess you gravitate towards what you love the most!!! =)
Anyhoo - In keeping with the CAS mojo I started out with my card base of SU! Summer Sun in a 4x4" square. I rounded all the corners to give it a little bit more...umph =)

I then stamped my image onto ivory cardstock (standard house brand from Michael's) using Tuxedo Black Momento Ink. Gratty is colored in with my Copic and Prismacolor markers. I carefully trimmed her out and adhered her straight to my card.
Using Scenic Route DP I cut out the words 'summer bliss' and 'a perfect day' and adhered them down as well.
Using my white gel pen I made tiny polka dots around the sentiments and halfway around Gratty for some added yet calm visual interest.

I had a BLAST and almost found doing a simple card more challenging than doing my regular loaded to the gills card!!

I can't wait to continue participating with CAS!!!

Thanks for visiting!!!

XOXO
Meredith

Live

Good Morning everyone! Greetings from the Dark Side of QKD!!

Today I've used one of my most favorite new stamps from one of our 3 new lines. This one is from the Ink Stained Roni line called Old London Fence. As you can see, I stamped it 3 times on a selection of Chocolate Brown, Hot Orange and Spring Moss cardstock.
I layered them together and stitched them with Chocolate thread in a zig zag pattern on the right hand side.

My card base is SU! Close To Cocoa cut to 5X5. You can see in the bottom left hand corner I have a tiny bit of silver, holey, blingy embellishment from Gauche Alchemy. My next layer is map Designer Paper which I stitched around the edges with a straight stitch and hit the edges with my Tim Holtz Tea Dye distressing ink.
I used my new Making Memories chipboard sticker letters to spell out the word LIVE and added colored staples for embellishments.

Check out the other new lines at the QKD line.

Studio 77
Eclectic Reasons

I hope you enjoy and have been inspired!!

XOXO-
Meredith

QKD Fabulous Tuesday Hop! Red White and Blue!

Happy Tuesday!! Welcome to our fantastic weekly hop!! This week we have a color theme we're working on! Red, White and Blue.

First and foremost you should have come here via Anita's fabulous blog however, if you have simply happened up on here you simply must start HERE so that you don't miss one fantastic creation!!!Today I am using one of QKD's newest lines Studio 77! I chose this image from the Thug Grunge set. I inked it in Tim Holtz's Broken China distressing ink and trimmed it out. I added two light blue brads to either side.

I created my card base using SU! Real Red cardstock and the new QKD templates. I LOVE THEM!!! They are so easy and versatile!!! And they layer so nicely.

I used lots of scraps that I had lying around. I try to do this as much as possible so I can use up what I have before moving onto new! I layered a flowery DP and the Kraft and blue striped DP as my last layer.
Next I edged my image with my gold paint pen and added some of the same to the brads. I then centered the image and adhered it with 3-D foam dots. The rest sort of grew around it. I knew I wanted a clustered look so I then added a scrap of red/blue/turquoise I had, on top of that the pleated navy ribbon and on top of that a ceramic heart adhered with glue dots.

My last touch is the red striped ribbon at the top.
I hope you enjoy and have been inspired!!

Now off you scoot to the WIS blog to see what gorgeousness is happening over there!!

And don't forget to check out the 3 BRAND NEW stamp lines at The Castle!!! Get your wallet out!!! =)

XOXO-
Meredith

Smeared Ink - Elementals - Gorgeous Love

It was a GORGEOUS weekend here in MA!!! My family and I have been REALLY enjoying "Sunday Morning Deck Time". My husband grabs the Sunday Globe, I bring out my most recent creation in process, my daughter brings out her favorite at the moment Crayola Color Wonder and my son bring out his cars and other toys and we all chill for a couple of hours enjoying the early morning in the sun and breeze. It's very inspiring and THIS is where my creation ended up today because of that time outdoors.
I had colored my image from the Smeared Ink - Elementals Set a few days ago...but just the basics with my Copic and Prismacolor Markers.
Today as I sat on my deck in the gorgeous weather I was inspired to use my light blue Souffle pen to adorn my Air Goddess' body and around the edges of her frame and my gold Elmer's paint pen in her hair.

I set her aside to dry.
I then worked on my card.
I chose orange and slate blue textured SU! cardstock. I then chose 5 different pieces of DP to layer and mix and match. Knowing this, and knowing the weight of the textured cardstock I cut the slate blue cardstock 1/4" smaller on all sides from the orange, adhered them together, scored them and stitched the 2 together creating a super strong card base. I find there's nothing more frustrating then when you have a great card but the front is so heavy that it can't hold itself up.
I then set to cutting, layering and maneuvering my different papers all around to maximize their exposure and create the look that I wanted to best show off this gorgeous stamp.
I stitched each layer save one, including the flower behind my main layer. I used 2 jewel strips to anchor the bottom left hand side of my card and draw the eye to and compliment the main image.
I have to tell you I LOVE how this came out. I hope you have been inspired and enjoy!!
XOXO
Meredith

Tiddly Inks Challenge #13 - Match!

I'm thrilled to be playing along again this week with Tiddly Inks Challenge #13! Here is the challenge that we were presented with:

"This week we are Matching it up! Your colors with your papers, your image's clothing or hat or some accessory with the papers... what ever you want just Match it up!"
I've been dying to work with Poppy and I took this chance to do so!!! Poppy is colored with my Copic and Prismacolor markers and trimmed out.
I knew that I, obviously, wanted to use the color poppy considering her name and I do so love orange and purple together! (you know that opposite thing on the color wheel that we were taught in art school? ;)
I chose a background of hot coral/orangey. My next layer is PTI Spring Moss. The next very flowery layer is from The Paper Source and the reverse side is the front paper which are the larger purple flowers accented with the gold buttons. The back of that layer is SU! chocolate chip.
Each layer is stitched with chocolate thread in a zig zag pattern. I wrapped PTI grosgrain ribbon around the second panel and adhered buttons as the centers of the flowers using small glue dots to adhere them. The yellow button with the scrap of ribbon fed through is attached separately but looks like it's all part of the first layer of ribbon.
My sentiment from Lawn Fawn 'thank you' is stamped in Tim Holtz distressing ink in Tea Dye on a scrap of the PTI Spring Moss paper. The edges are rubbed with the same ink to make it stand out a bit more. As a finishing touch I added 3 of the gold buttons to the left of my sentiment for a bit of symmetry.
I hope you enjoy and have been inspired!!

XOXO-
Meredith

19 Years

Happy Sunday Everyone!!

My husband and I celebrated 19 years (our first date anniversary) this past week. I couldn't resist this adorable TGF image that I've been waiting for JUST the right time to bust out.
My background is royal blue cardstock followed up by 3 pieces from a fantastic mat stack that I picked up a while ago.
I stitched each layer's edge with a straight stitch and then layered them on top of each other.
My image is colored with my Copics with the heart glittered up with MS Turquoise Glitter. One of the sheets of DP was all different umbrellas of which I picked some favorites and trimmed them out. To give this simple card a bit of dimension, I added the umbrellas with 3-D foam adhesive to make them pop.
My internal sentiment is "Keep The Sun In Your Heart" from Lawn Fawn's 'Partly Cloudy' set.

We had a lovely night just hanging in watching our new favorite show True Blood (ya...I know, I know...we're late in catching on) and eating sushi from one of our most favorite places!!!

Happy 19 honey!! Thank you for always helping me find "me".

I hope you enjoy and have been inspired!

XOXO-
Meredith

Very Sketchy - Smeared Ink Style

Hey All! I'm back with another fun creation using one of my favorite sets - Grumpies!! This card is based on this month's July sketch challenge over at the Smeared Ink forum:

I started with a base of light blue cardstock. My designer paper mimicked what I wanted to do with my creation. It has hints of blue, green, red, kraft, tan, etc in it.
I used a middle strip of SU! Old Olive. I stamped the 4 Baby Grumpies and then the large one once. All in Momento Ink in Tuxedo Black. I colored all of them with my Copic markers and ran my Lipstick Red Copic around the outer edge to coordinate with the circles on the DP.
The babies are punched out with my SU! 1 1/2" circle punch and the Big Guy is punched out with my scalloped oval.
The Big Guy is adhered directly to the card where the 4 babies are all popped up on 3-D foam adhesive. My sentiment seemed all too perfect "leave me alone.". LOL! Well...it made me giggle. Please come join us for this fabulous sketchy design!!!
Enjoy!

XOXO
Meredith

Just for Ewe - Smeared Ink Sassy Pants

One of my assignments this month for the rockin' Smeared Ink Design Team was to create a sassy or semi-snarky card. I mentioned in a previous post that I've been trying to color my images in ahead of time. Not necessarily knowing what I'll be using them for but it's so nice to have them as a jumping off point when I'm ready to create...they are ready for me.

I'd colored one of Killer Bo Peep's sheep with my Copic markers and added white flock mixed with clearish/iridescent sparkles to the tiny tufts of wool. I then hit the image with my Smooch Spritz in Log Cabin and set it aside to dry.
My card base is PTI chocolate. My next layer is holographic paper in shiny silver which I love because it peeks out around the edges picking up the sparkle from the tufts of "wool".

The next layer is a grey sort of muted flowery layer that I misted with the Smooch Spritz to tone down the "flowery-ness" of it.
I stamped my snarky sentiment Just For Ewe 4 times and trimmed it out. I backed my sheep with the same red cardstock from The Paper Source. As you can see I edge distressed all but the sheep and my card base. I added my striped ribbon after I misted it a bit to darken it up a little bit.

I placed my image and sentiments down and voila! My super snarky sassy pants card!!

Come hang with us at the Smeared Ink forum!!!

XOXO-
Meredith

Splash

I am delighted to be here today bringing you another dark creation from the Royal Castle!!
I'm using our brandie new QKD templates as my card base and shape. As you can see, they come in 3 graduated sizes nestling in nicely within each other. They are beyond easy to use. Simply trace, cut and voila!!
I used a base of PTI Enchanted Evening as my card base followed by 2 different DP selections. I spritzed all 3 layers with Smooch Spritz in Log Cabin to give it a vintage vibe.
I wanted to highlight the gorgeous Koi Fish from the Dark Ink line of QKD stamps. I colored the fish in with my Copic markers along with my Souffle pens. I then trimmed my image out purposefully leaving a white edge so that it seems to pop off of the page...it also helps that I adhered it with 3-D foam adhesive. ;)

After my main image and card base were all set I added a few embellishments to complete my creation. I added the sparkly blue wave as well as the stickers that look like they came out of one of those old school label makers (which I have and LOVE!) with the words Brilliant Summer...because thus far...it has been JUST that!!

My last bit of love on this card was the thick, rope-like, hemp twine that I tied to the top of the card to polish it off.
I hope you enjoy and are inspired!!!

XOXO
Meredith