CAS Mix Up November Challenge - Stay Awesome

It's time for more inspiration from the CAS Mix Up Design Team and our wonderful Guest Designer, Arlene.
Our challenge for this month is Oxidized Metal. This is our last Challenge for this year, so I hope you join us!

Here's my card:

Using Oxidized Metal Technique, Die-cutting, and Stamping

[How I made the card]
1. Lightly wet a piece of silver foil paper and dropped navy blue and purple ink from re-inker bottles onto the paper.
2. Dried the surface with a heating tool and covered the surface with clear embossing powder.
3. Heated the surface until the color of the embossing powder changed. Last time I heated it too long, so this time I was very careful. 😉
4. Die-cut a cityscape from white cardstock 3 times and layered the pieces.
5. Die cut a tiny star from a dark blue sequin and glued it to one of the buildings.
6. Die-cut a window from the oxidized foil paper and inlaid it in the white frame panel.
7. Glued the cityscape onto the foil paper.
8. Stamped a sentiment in navy blue and then in purple over that. 
9. Attached the window panel to the card base.


I re-made this card a few times. At first, I thought the grungy city buildings were perfect for the Oxidized Metal look, but die-cutting the detailed pieces (building windows in this case) from oxidized metal paper didn't work well for me. The die-cut building didn't look sharp and some foil parts were stuck inside the die because of the pressure of die-cutting and got peeled off.
I still thought this technique was good for a cityscape, so I switched gears and used the oxidized metal piece for the sky.

I know that nobody likes an air-polluted sky (obstructed by so many buildings), but that's the sky I saw most of my life, so I sometimes miss the scenery. 😉

The challenge is open until November 24th. Looking forward to seeing your card in the gallery!

Stamp: Essential Sentiments (My Favorite Things)
Paper: Whisper White, Silver Foil Paper (Stampin' Up!) 
Ink: Night of Navy, Elegant Eggplant (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Die-namics City Block, Blueprints 11 (My Favorite Things), Double Pierced Rectangles (Avery Elle), Embossing Powder (Clear - Hero Arts), Sequins (Rhythm N Blues - Craft Medley), Connect Glue (Gina K)

CAS Mix Up November Challenge - thank you

Welcome to our new challenge at CAS Mix Up!

Our talented Designer, Susan Joyce, is hosting the challenge this month and her theme is Oxidized Metal. Our wonderful guest designer is Arlene (Sudaystamper Papercrafts). 

There are tutorial video links at the challenge site, so please check them out and try this unique technique.

Here's my card:

Using Oxidized Metal Technique, Die-cutting, Heat-embossing, and Stamping

[How I made the card]
1. Lightly wet a piece of silver foil paper and dropped green and blue ink from re-inker bottles on it.
2. Dried the surface with a heating tool and covered the surface with clear embossing powder.
3. Heated the surface until the color of the embossing powder changed.
4. Well, I think I dropped too much ink and heated it too long...
    The surface film started peeling and part of it was completely gone after wiping off the surface with a paper towel. It made an interesting shape, and I didn't want to waste the piece, so I continued making the card using the piece.

5. Made a rectangular window in the front panel using a die, cut the Oxidized Metal piece into a rectangle using the same die, and popped it into the window. Taped them together in the back.
6. Stamped the sentiment and clear-embossed it.
7. Popped up the front panel on the card base and glued the thyme die-cut.


You have until November 24th to link up your card here. Looking forward to seeing your card in the gallery!

Stamp: Yay for You (My Favorite Things)
Paper: Whisper White, Silver Foil Paper (Stampin' Up!) 
Ink: Bermuda Bay, Pacific Point (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Infinity Rectangle Dies (Hero Arts), Rosemary & Thyme (Alexadra Renke), Embossing Powder (Clear - Hero Arts), Foam Tape (3M), Connect Glue (Gina K)

CAS Mix Up October Challenge - so very grateful

Have you tried the Foiling technique featured in this month's CAS Mix Up Challenge? I tried stenciling the foil transfer gel last time, so I "inked" the gel for stamping this time. Thanks so much, Bonnie, for hosting this fun challenge!

Here's my card:

Using Foiling, Die-cutting, and Stamping

[How I made the card]
1. Inked the stamp with the Foil Transfer Gel with a piece of sponge and stamped on the dark brown card base.
2. Placed a copper foil sheet over top and ran it through my laminator.
3. Die-cut the leaf from the front panel to make a leaf-shape window.
4. Stamped the sentiment on the front panel, glued the die-cut sentiment, and added a sequin to the panel.
5. Popped up the front panel on the card base with foam tape.

I love how the leaf veins were foiled! I didn't expect the details to show so clearly.

You have until October 24 to link up your card here. I hope you'll try this magic-like technique!

Stamp: Lace Leaf (Concord & 9th)
Paper: Early Espresso, Naturals White (Stampin' Up!) 
Ink: Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: Grateful Leaf Dies (Concord & 9th), Deco Foil Transfer Gel (iCraft), Deco Foil (Copper - iCraft), Sequin (Metallic Gold 4mm - Pretty Pink Posh), Foam Tape (3M), Laminator, Connect Glue (Gina K)

CAS Mix Up October Challenge - thank you

Hi everyone,
It's the 1st and time for another fun challenge!
The CAS Mix Up October Challenge is Foiling hosted by our very talented Designer, Bonnie. Our wonderful Guest Designer for this month is Michele (I Card Everyone).
There are very useful tutorial video links provided on the challenge site, so please check out the site to see how you can use foiling for your cards! 

Here's my card:

Using Foiling, Stamping, Stenciling, Die-cutting, Heat-embossing,
and Dry-embossing

[How I made the card]
1. Stenciled a piece of cardstock with Transfer Gel and let it completely dry.
2. Placed the foil paper on top of the stenciled piece and put it through a laminate machine.
3. Die-cut the laminated piece with a floral frame.
4. Added Stickles around the edges of the die-cut.
5. Dry embossed the card base.
6. Stamped the sentiment in black and clear heat-embossed it.
7. Edged the left and bottom sides of the card base with Stickles
8. Popped up the die-cut foiled flower on the card base with craft foam.

This was my first try with foiling, but now I'm hooked! Peeling the foil sheet after laminating is like magic. It's so much fun!
This is Watercolor Amethyst foil and I love that it has lighter and darker shades of Amethyst.


You have until October 24th to link up your card. Check out the challenge site for inspiration and join this fun challenge!

Stamp: Dotted Blooms (Altenew)
Paper: Whisper White (Stampin' Up!) 
Ink: Versafine (Onyx Black - Tsukineko)
Accessories: Floral Frames Framelits (Stampin' Up!), Fairy Tale Forest Stencil (Artplorations), Deco Foil Transfer Gel (iCraft), Deco Foil (Amethyst Watercolor - iCraft), Embossing Folder (Subtle Dynamic Textured Impressions - Stampin' Up!), Embossing Powder (Clear - Hero Arts), Stickles (Champagne - Ranger), Craft Foam, Thermal Laminator (Scotch)

CAS Mix Up September Challenge - just because

It's half way through Joanna's Inchies challenge at CAS Mix Up and time for some more inspiration.

Here's my card using Pearlescent watercolored inchies:

Using Inchies, Watercoloring, Die-cutting, and Stamping

[How I made the card]
1. Painted Pearlescent Watercolors on black cardstock. These watercolors look much more shimmery painted on black than on white paper.

2. Made 3 mod square die-cuts from the watercolored paper.
3. Sponged Always Artichoke with Distress Ink to make the dark green darker and cut a panel out of it.
4. Glued the watercolored die-cuts to the panel and added sequins and a gem stone.
5. Cut a front panel and added moss green thin strips to both sides.
6. Glued the front panel to the card front, and the dark green panel to the front panel.
7. Stamped the sentiment.

I liked how my inchies turned out. They're super shimmery (looks almost metallic) and have slight brush stroke marks. 
I also liked the sponged dark green panel. You can't tell the difference in the pictures but the sponged panel has a suede-look and is different from the cardstock in the same solid color.


You have until September 24th to link up your card. Check out the wonderful cards made by our Designers and Guest Designer, Stephanie, and join this fun challenge. Looking forward to seeing your inchies in the gallery!

Stamp: A Dozen Thoughts (Stampin' Up!)
Paper: Always Artichoke, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!), Linen Cardstock (Ellen Hutson)
Paint: Pearlescent Colours (Pearl Silver, Purple - Fine Tec)
Ink: Distress Ink (Forest Moss - Ranger)
Accessories: Die-namics Stitched Mod Squares STAX (My Favorite Things), Sequins (Clear Mix - Pretty Pink Posh), Jewels (Clear Iridescent Mix - Little Things from Lucy's Cards), Connect Glue (Gena K)

CAS Mix Up September Challenge - love & thanks

Welcome to our new challenge at CAS Mix Up!

Our very talented Designer, Joanna, is hosting the challenge this month and her theme is Inchies. Our wonderful guest designer is Stephanie (my ink well).

I used postage-stamp inchies for my card:

Using Inchies, Stenciling, Heat embossing, Dry embossing, and Stamping

[How I made the card]
1. Stenciled the flowers on Kraft cardstock with Distress Oxide Inks. Used q-tips to shade and blend colors for small space.
2. Cut 4 1-inch squares from the stenciled piece.
3. Punched out 4 postal stamp shaped squares from Kraft cardstock and sponged the edges with Walnut Stain and Vintage Photo.(*1)
4. Glued the squares to the postal stamp inchies.
5. Dry embossed a piece of white cardstock to give it a little texture.
6. Heat-embossed the sentiment in Gold.
7. Glued the inches to the textured panel and glued the panel to the card base.

(*1) I punched out postal stamps from dark brown cardstock at first, but they looked very stark and didn't fit the soft stencil images. The sponged ones with brown inks had more warmth.


You have until September 24th to link up your card here. Looking forward to seeing your card in the gallery!

Stamp: Geometric Greenery (My Favorite Things) 
Paper: Whisper White, Crumb Cake (Stampin' Up!) 
Ink: Distress Oxide Ink (Squeezed Lemonade, Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry, Festive Berries, Carved Pumpkin, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint - Ranger), VersaMark (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Postage Stamp Punch (Stampin' Up!), Stencil (Bloom Silhouettes - ARTPlorations), Embossing Folder (Subtle 3D Embossing Folder - Stampin' Up!), Embossing Powder (Metallic Gold Rich Pale - Wow!), Connect Glue (Gina K)

CAS Mix Up August Challenge - you are my inspiration

We're halfway through this month and it's time for more inspiration for CAS Mix Up. The challenge for August is Paper Towel.

This time I used a colored piece of paper towel itself to create a background instead of transferring the inks to a background.

Here's my card:

Using Paper Towel, Die-cutting, and Stamping

[How I made this card]

1. Spritzed water on a piece of paper towel, sprinkled Black Brusho over it, and spritzed more water to make colored paper towel. Black Brusho turns into various colors when reacting to water.
2. Dried the colored paper towel, peeled it into two pieces, and wrapped one piece around a 4-1/4" x 5-1/2 white card stock.
3. Die-cut 2 pieces of rectangular panels and stamped the sentiment in blue on the bigger panel.
4. Glued the paper towel panel onto the card base, popped up the rectangular panels on the paper towel piece with foam tape.
5. Die-cut the herbs and glued them across the panels.


I liked how the Brusho colored paper towel turned out. It looks like a stormy summer sky, doesn't it?

The challenge is open until August 24th. Check out the challenge site and enjoy the wonderful cards made by our Designers and Guest Designer, Betty.
I hope you try this fun technique and share your card in the gallery!

Stamp: Halftone Circles (Altenew) 
Paper: Whisper White (Stampin' Up!), Paper Towel
Ink: Pacific Point (Stampin' Up!), Brusho (Black)
Accessories: Dies (Rosemary & Thyme - Alexandra Renke, Die-namics Horizontal Stitched Stripes - My Favorite Things), Foam Tape (3M), Connect Glue (Gina K)

CAS Mix Up August Challenge - happy birthday

Today is the start of the CAS Mix Up August Challenge and it's hosted by our very talented Designer, Loll. We have a wonderful Guest Designer, Betty (created by bjk).

I think this challenge theme is one of Loll's favorite kitchen items, and definitely mine. 😊

I've seen so many beautiful cards where she's used the technique, and I'm so happy to get to try it for the first time.
I actually made a piece of colored paper towel first because I didn't have beautiful pieces of paper towel like Loll did! 😁

Here's my card:

Using Paper Towel, Die-cutting, Heat-embossing, and stamping

[How I made the card]
1. Spritzed water on a piece of paper towel, sprinkled a few colors of Brusho over it, and spritzed more water to make colored paper towel.

(Drying the colored paper towel on a rack)

2. Place the colored paper towel on mixed media paper and spritzed water over it to transfer the colors to mixed media paper.
3. Die-cut the Mixed Media paper into a square and glued it onto the black card base.
4. Die-cut a frame and cut out a square window from a white front panel.
5. Gold heat-embossed the sentiment on the front panel.
6. Popped up the front panel over the card base.
7. Fussy-cut a butterfly from Patterned Paper (*1), brushed Wink of Stella over it, and added a black Nuvo drop on the body of the butterfly for a little bit of shine. Popped it up on the paper towel panel.

(*1) Upcycling gift wrapping paper I received from a sweet friend.


It was so much fun to play with colorful paper towel. I hope you'll join us for this fun challenge!

Stamp: Birthday Builder (Altenew) 
Paper: Whisper White, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!), Mixed Media Paper (Strathmore - 140 lb.), Butterfly Pattern Paper 
Ink: VersaMark (Tsukineko), Brusho (Ost. Red, Sea Green, Cobalt Blue, Violet)
Accessories: Embossing Powder (Gold - Hero Arts), Dies (Hemstitch Squares - Spellbinders, Square Collections Framelits - Stampin, Up!), Nuvo Crystal Drops (Ebony Black), Wink of Stella (Clear - Tsukineko), Thin 3D Foam Squares (Scrapbook Adhesives)

CAS Watercolour July Challenge - happy bear-day

This month's CAS Watercolur Challenge is hosted by Susan and she chose Bouquet of Flowers as the challenge.

It's Bonnie's birthday today and I made this card for her. Happy birthday, my sweet friend!

[How I made this card]
1. Stamped the images, die-cut them, and watercolored with distress inks.
2. Die-cut the front panel, made/die-cut a window, and black heat-embossed the sentiment.
3. Painted a graduated wash on a piece of square watercolor paper in light blue and sprayed shimmer mist over it.
4. Glued the watercolored sky panel behind the window, arranged the bear with a bouquet of flowers in the corner of the window, and popped up the front panel with craft foam.

This is my favorite bear stamp and die set and I hope Bonnie likes the card too.

Thanks for visiting me today!


Stamp: All Inside, Bear Ware, Warm Fuzzies (Ellen Hutson)
Paper: Watercolor Paper (Arches - 140 lb. cold press) Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Distress Ink (Picked Raspberry, Spiced Mermalade, Mustard Seed, Shabby Shutters, Spun Sugar, Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers - Ranger), Versafine (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Dies (All Inside, Bear Ware - Ellen Hutson, Die-namics Square Peek-a-Boo Window - My Favorite Things, Stitched Rectangles - Simon Says Stamp), Embossing Powder (Black - Stampin' Up!), Gel Pen (White - Uni Ball), Glossy Accents (Ranger), Shimmer Spray (Sparkle Sheer Shimmer Spritz - Tsukineko), Craft Foam, Connect Glue (Gina K)

CAS Mix Up July Challenge - hello

Hi everyone,

I'm here with the reminder post for this month's CAS Mix Up Challenge.

I used the Alcohol Ink Lift Pad for the launch card to remove alcohol ink, so this time I used 91% alcohol to do the job.

Here's my card:

Using Alcohol Ink Lift, Die-cutting, Stenciling, and Stamping

[How I made the card]

1. Dropped a few colors of alcohol ink on Yupo paper and blended them with blending solution, using an applicator.

2. Die-cut the Yupo paper.

3. Placed the stencil on the die-cut alcohol inked piece and stenciled/removed the ink using a 91% alcohol-soaked q-tip. (*1)

4. Die-cut a panel from white cardstock, and stenciled the paw marks with Distress Inks.

5. Inlaid the alcohol inked piece in the center of the front panel, and stamped the sentiment.

6. Die-cut "hello" from white cardstock 3 times, layered the die-cuts, and glued them onto the front panel.

7. Die-cut the card base and glued the front panel on to the card base.

(*1) Apply a VERY LITTLE amount of alcohol, otherwise, the alcohol seeps under the stencil and ruins the alcohol inked panel. Trust me on this ... 😓

The link is open until July 24th. Looking forward to seeing your card in the gallery!

The CAS Stencil July Challenge is Alcohol Ink/Alcohol Lift, so I'm adding this card to its gallery too.

Stamp: Beary Special Birthday (My Favorite Things)
Paper: Alcohol Ink Yupo Paper (Ranger), Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Alcohol Ink (Shell Pink, Flamingo, Raspberry - Ranger), Distress Ink (Brushed Corduroy, Spun Sugar, Picked Raspberry - Ranger)
Accessories: Die-namics (Stitched Mod Rectangle STAX - My Favorite Things), Big Hello Sugar Script Die (Birtch Press), Stencil (Paws Background - Simon Says Stamp), Connect Glue (Gina K), Isopropyl Alcohol 91%, Q-tips

CAS Mix Up July Challenge - u rock

It's the 1st of the month and time for a new challenge for CAS Mix UP!
The July challenge is being hosted by our very talented Bonnie and she chose Alcohol Ink Lift as the challenge. Our wonderful Guest Designer this month is Michelle W (Seashell Creations).

Here's my card:

Using Alcohol Ink Lift Technique, Die-cutting, Heat-embossing, and Stamping

[How I made the card]

1. Made a piece of Alcohol Ink background by dropping a few colors of ink on a piece of Yupo paper and blending the colors.

2. After drying the ink completely, stamped the marble pattern on the Yupo paper using Alcohol Lift Ink.

3. Trimmed the Yupo paper and glued it onto the card base.

4. Made a rectangular window in the white front panel with a die and heat-embossed the sentiment in black. Popped up the frame over the Yupo paper.

5. Die-cut a Koi, put a small piece of black paper on the back (for the eye), and brushed over it with Wink of Stella for a little shine.

6. Popped up the frame and the Koi with foam tape.

I'm glad that the marble background stamp made a pond for the Koi to enjoy gliding through.

Hope to see your card in the gallery!

Stamp: Marble Background Stamp (My Favorite Things), Perfect Words (Stampin' Up!)
Paper: Yupo Paper (Ranger), Whisper White, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Alcohol Ink (Turquoise, Patina, Aqua, Teakwood - Ranger), Alcohol Lift Ink (Ranger), VersaMark (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Dies (Rectangle, Koi Fish - Hero Arts), Embossing Powder (Black - Stampin' Up!), Wink of Stella (Clear - Kuretake), Thin 3D Foam Squares (Scrapbook Adhesives)