Are You Playing?

 

There is still time to play along with this week's challenge at CASology! You have until Sunday at noon (CST) to submit your creation and we'd love to have you join us!

Week #8: RELAX

With summer winding down, kids returning to school and autumn knocking at the door, I think we could all use a little break from the rush!  For this week, let's try to take a little step back from things and just RELAX!

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This week, Cindy from Cindy Coutts Designs has generously offered to sponsor us!  How exciting is that?!  If the thought of Halloween quickly approaching has you shaking in your boots, have no fear because she is offering the most adorable Stampin' Up! stamp bundle to this week's winner!

Let's meet Cindy!

Hi.  My name is Cindy Coutts and I am so thrilled to be a sponsor of this great new clean and simple challenge!  I live in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area and have 4 kids and 1 daughter-in-law.  My son and his wife live in upstate New York.  I am almost an empty nester and about to embark on an exciting new adventure in my life.  I've been making cards for a little over 5 years first starting out with Stampin' Up! in 2007, leaving for a few years, and then resigned again in December 2011.  I am a Supervisor and just attended my first Convention last month!  I have a very successful online club membership.  I would like to thank Melissa for allowing me the honor to be part of the CASology challenge this week!

Cindy ever-so-kindly created a card for today's challenge too!

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Now let's see what the design team has created for inspiration!  If you look carefully, you might notice quite a few of us have the same idea about relaxing!


Karen, last week's winner, is joining us as our guest designer!

Guest Designer:  Karen

design defined:
The word RELAX was cut out using ecraft and white card, then coloured using promarkers.  The 'On Your Special Day' was printed straight onto the card blank and the letters were attached with foam pads for a bit of dimension.

Melissa

design defined:

A simple color scheme keeps the focus on the main image.

Rosemary

design defined:
A classic white on white designed with a well placed focal image is always a CAS winner.


Tracey

design defined:

The polaroid frame with the cut out for the sentiment highlights the single image without making the card too busy.

Ardyth 

design defined:

A negative die cut popped up to create a frame can add visual interest without making the card too fussy.

Jen

design defined:

A bold, centrally placed image is as classically CAS as you can get!

Now go have fun and don't forget to link up your RELAXing creations by Sunday at noon (CST)!

Week #7: Weekly Winners!

Before we announce this week's winner & honorable mentions, let's see who has won the package of Paper Trey white cardstock!  Drumroll, please.....Random.org has selected...

#21 Carol L.

Congrats, Carol!  Please email me your mailing information to:  gimmeink@gmail.com

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Now let's see who has been chosen as our Weekly Winner and Honorable Mentions! Each design team member has chosen a card and explained why.

  Rosemary had the honor of selecting the Winner for Week #7 and here is the card that she selected:

WINNER:  Debbie

When I saw Debbie's sweet little card I was completely smitten!   It is the perfect balance of white space and focal point.  I love how the graphic look of her focal point is softened by the embossed background.  And those cute little green smiley faces just made me laugh!

Congratulations, Debbie!

Here is your winner badge to proudly display on your blog:

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Here are the Honorable Mentions chosen by the rest of the design team:

1. Melissa's Choice: Meghan's cute little gator walking on twine caught my eye with its simplicity! One focal image and a perfectly placed sentiment!   2. Ardyth's Choice: The first thing you see on Lindsey's card is the green trees, but a closer look reveals all sorts of texture, making this a perfect CAS Christmas card.   3. Jen's Choice: The layered stamping in the background add movement and a funky flair to Monique's fun card.   4. Tracey's Choice: Chupa's beautiful sponged background behind this gorgeous die cut fern makes such an elegant CAS card.

Congratulations to all of you!  Here is your badge to proudly display on your blogs:

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Don't forget to stop back tomorrow morning and take a little break with Challenge #8!

Are You Playing?

There is still time to play along with this week's challenge at CASology! You have until Sunday at noon (CST) to submit your creation and we'd love to have you join us!

Week #7: GREEN

Are you ready to try your luck on Challenge #7?  One lucky participant is going to win a 40-sheet package of quality white cardstock!  All you have to do to enter the drawing is play along with us this week and link up your creation here on the CASology blog!  The winner will be chosen using Random.org.

With all this talk of luck, we thought we'd use the color GREEN as our cue word!

Let's see what the design team has created for inspiration!  Aileen, last week's winner, is joining us as our guest designer!

Guest Designer:  Aileen

design defined:
It's possible to keep a card CAS whilst still having a lot of detail.  Simply stamping a tone on tone design on the background adds more depth to this card. 

Jen

design defined: 
Let a busy piece of patterned paper be the focal point and keep further design elements to a minimum.

Melissa

design defined:

Use multiple shades of one color to create visual appeal.

Rosemary

design defined:
Think carefully about where you place your embellishments so that you create interest, but still keep things simple.


Tracey

design defined: 

Versamark Ink is a simple way to create the look of tone on tone.  Using one stamp for your background saves time too, but you need to remember to turn the stamp as you go around the card to give the illusion of multiple stamped images.


Ardyth 

design defined:

CAS can include busy patterns - use small amounts, and lots of white space to keep the design uncluttered!

Now go have fun and don't forget to link up your GREEN creations by Sunday at noon (CST)!

Week #6: Weekly Winners!

It's time to announce our Weekly Winner and Honorable Mentions! Each design team member has chosen a card and explained why.

Melissa had the honor of selecting the Winner for Week #6 and here is the card that she selected:

WINNER:  Karen

Karen's card earned my stamp of approval with its simple (& very school appropriate) image!  I love how she tilted it slightly to add a little interest!

Congratulations, Karen!

Here is your winner badge to proudly display on your blog:

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Here are the Honorable Mentions chosen by the rest of the design team:

1. Ardyth's Choice - Sally's primary colours and simple repeated image really caught my attention!

2. Tracey's Choice: I picked Amy's CAS card for the fabulous white embossed image with the red apple and I loved the red polka dot background paper that really made the black panel pop.

3. Jen's Choice: The masked, crooked crayons give a lot of movement to Donna's one layer card and draw your eye smoothly to the sentiment.

4. Rosemary's Choice: The simple elegance of Allyson's design caught my attention immediately. It is the perfect mix of classic colors and lovely details.

 Congratulations to all of you!  Here is your badge to proudly display on your blogs:

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Don't forget to stop back tomorrow morning to try your luck at Challenge #7!

Are You Playing?

There is still time to play along with this week's challenge at CASology! You have until Sunday at noon (CST) to submit your creation and we'd love to have you join us!

Week #6: SCHOOL

Take your seats, please! It's time for your next cue word!  With many children about to return to school in the weeks ahead, it seems natural to make a school themed card (or two...or three...)!  We hope you've learned a thing or two about clean & simple cards while visiting CASology the past few weeks.  You've inspired us with your creativity and we're eager to learn from you too!

Math Lesson:  1 main focal image + lots of open space + limited layers & embellisments

= a quick & easy CAS card

Let's see what the design team has created for this week!  Shirley, last week's winner, is joining us as our guest designer!

Guest Designer:  Shirley

design defined:

Layers don't necessarily have to be aligned, as long as they are anchored to each other in some way.  The ruled paper is anchored to the base card by the red margin line and the XO.  The sentiment, which has been stamped in Brilliance Moonlight White to resemble chalk, is on the same angle as the ruled lines (teachers could never write straight on a blackboard!).

Ardyth 

design defined: 
Small pops of bright colour add interest to a classic black and white colour scheme. 

Jen

design defined:
Tone on tone stamping can add interest and texture without overwhelming a CAS design.

Melissa

design defined:

Popping up the focal image gives the card some quick & easy dimension.

Rosemary

design defined:
Simple details like a rounded corner and a bit of bling can add a lot to your CAS design.

Tracey

design defined:

The apple image was die cut, stamped then embossed with clear embossing powder then adhered with a foam dot to add interest. The red A+ adds pop without overtaking the white on white card.

Now go have fun and don't forget to link up your SCHOOL creations by Sunday at noon (CST)!

Week #5: Weekly Winners!

It's time to announce our Weekly Winner and Honorable Mentions! Each design team member has chosen a card and explained why.

Jen had the honor of selecting the Winner for Week #5 and here is the card that she selected:

WINNER:  Aileen

I was immediately drawn to the bold colours and simplified design elements of Aileen's card.  The touch of shading on the bulrushes and the popped up panel take the card from simple to fabulous!

Congratulations, Aileen!

Here is your winner badge to proudly display on your blog:

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Here are the Honorable Mentions chosen by the rest of the design team:

1. Ardyth's Choice - The depth of the pond-y colour and the offset sentiments and bling give this card so much visual interest!

2. Rosemary's Choice - The design of Ann's card is just amazing. Beautiful colors combined with well placed images. Perfectly CAS.

3. Melissa's Choice: Gillian's beautiful color gradient background steals the show behind two perfectly placed die cut silhouettes!

4. Tracey's Choice: Judy's cute little alligator, coloured with Copics, is situated perfectly on the two toned card base as though it is floating on top of the water.

Congratulations to all of you!  Here is your badge to proudly display on your blogs:

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Don't forget to stop back tomorrow morning with your thinking caps on for Challenge #6!

Are You Playing?

 

There is still time to play along with this week's challenge at CASology! You have until Sunday at noon (CST) to submit your creation and we'd love to have you join us!