Whew! ANOTHER card!!

Yes, I have been a card making fool today.  Silhouette has a sketch challenge on their blog this week, and I needed a birthday card for my mother-in-law.  So I broke out the beautiful Basic Grey "Serenade" papers from my November Simon Says Stamp card kit and got to work.

Of course, I cut the tag, the banner and the speech bubble with my Cameo.  The brad is from My Mind's Eye and the jute is American Crafts.

CAS Get Well Card

This is the first time I've participated in a CAS-ual Fridays challenge.  My style tends to be clean and simple (CAS), so I'm not sure why I haven't jumped on these challenges.  This week's challenge is to use kraft, and Hubby asked me to make a get well card for a colleague, so I went to work.  I got a fun new embossing folder at Hobby Lobby yesterday, and I think the embossing goes well with the striped patterned paper.

The patterned paper is from Fancy Pants' Country Boutique.  It was the paper in the October Simon Says Stamps card kit.  I saw the 12X12 pack at Hobby Lobby and I'm tempted to get it.  Very subtle and classy prints.

A Cameo Halloween card

This week I'm playing in several different challenges (at least, I'm hoping to get the cards done for a few!).  I love playing at The Cameo Spotlight, because I love my Cameo!

 I'm not much of a celebrator of Halloween (especially now that I don't have kids at home), but I had fun making a card for this week's challenge:

All of the files, except for the ghost (which is a Silhouette file), are from Kerri Bradford's This and That Halloween kit.  If you are not familiar with Kerri's work, go NOW to her site and check out her awesomeness.  I have almost all of her This and That kits, along with various and sundry other goodies that she's created.  She is a true talent.

Hope everyone has a SPOOKY Halloween!!

A card for the Play Date Cafe 3rd Anniversary!

When I get the chance, I love to play with the challenges over at the Play Date Cafe.  Their color choices are always so beautiful.  Like this one, for their 3rd anniversary celebration:

 Aren't those colors just yummy?  And I love the inspiration photo.  I had a different card planned, but it wasn't coming out like I wanted it to.  And then I got the news that the Boy's best friend was offered his dream job for after graduation.  We've gotten to be very close to this guy, and we're so thrilled that he gets to stay in the U.S. after graduation (he's from Malaysia, so a company has to sponsor him in order for him to stay, and it's expensive).  So I made this card to send to him:

It took me two tries to get the masking right so I could do all the colors, but I love how it turned out.  I hope he likes it!

A sympathy card and a FREE download

It's always difficult when you have to make a sympathy card.  But I knew that the October Simon Says Stamp card kit had the perfect papers and sentiments to make a special card.  This card idea was inspired by Sarah Moerman over at My Impressions.  

And today I'd like to offer a cutting file, designed by me.  The triangle card that I made a few weeks ago actually was chosen for a "Best Supporting Cameo Role" at The Cameo Spotlight blog!  If you'd like the cutting file, just click on the caption below the photo.

Triangle card

Another Cameo Spotlight Challenge card

This week's challenge at the Cameo Spotlight uses colors I don't normally scrap with...orange and yellow (and red, but I use a LOT of red!).  After seeing all the beautiful mums around this time of year, I knew I wanted to try to capture them in a card.

Of course, the Silhouette online store had the perfect cutting file to create this (circle flowers by Hero Arts #27757).  It was a little tedious getting it off the mat and getting all the little middle pieces out, but the shape itself is actually all one piece!  It also comes with a negative version enclosed in a circle.  Really cool.  The stamp is from the June Simon Says Stamp Card Kit and can be purchased separately here.

Scrap Organization

Unlike some people, I keep pretty small scraps.  Since I do a lot of card making, these come in handy.  During the last organizational challenge, I put all of my scraps, by color, in file folders under my desk.  This method worked OK, since the scraps were right at my feet.  But there was a problem.  Any scrap that still had two 12" sides left didn't fit.  I know, I know...I could have trimmed the scraps down so they did.  But there were other issues, too.  Little scraps got lost at the bottom, and tended to fall out when I pulled the folders out.  So I came up with this solution:

These are old Memory Dock page planner protectors (unfortunately, they aren't available any more, which makes me sad).  They have a full 12.5 by 12.5 pocket on the back and four smaller pockets on the front.  I have one of these for each color of solid cardstock and each color of patterned paper.  Just looking at this makes me happy.  See all the combinations I could come up with?!  I got excited putting these together, because I could see how different papers from different manufacturers and lines could go together!  I put these protectors right next to the corresponding full sheets in my Cropper Hoppers.  So when I go to get a certain color of paper, there are scraps to look at right there.  I think this is going to work really well!