CAS-ual Fridays February Calling All Sistahs

Welcome to the CAS-ual Fridays Calling All Sistahs hop if you are just starting you can click on this link

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps  to start at the beginning. That way you won't miss a thing!

Calling All Sistahs!

1 in 8 women in the U.S. will develop invasive breast cancer in her lifetime.

On August 17th, 2015  an Awesome friend of ours became 1 in 8

Calling All Sistahs was started by Michele Gross, owner of CAS-ual Fridays Stamps, shortly after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. It is her hope to create awareness for breast cancer beyond just the month of October by reminding you to do your self breast exams on the 17th of each month, and encouraging us all to remind all the great women in our lives to do the same. You can read more about her story HERE.

The Calling All Sistahs Collection was created by Michele with the specific intent of donating 50% of her profits from this collection to Breast Cancer Research and Awareness programs in honor of all who have been affected by breast cancer.

We at Laura's Loft are thrilled to be one of the first stores in the country to offer this special collection of stamps and dies. It's important to us to be able to remind all of our sistahs to check yourself and we are proud to continue Michele's effort by donating 50% of our own profits from this collection to breast cancer research right here in VA. 

Join us here on the blog on the 17th of each month for CAS-ual Fridays projects dedicated to the fight against Breast Cancer and in support of our sistahs suffering through it along with a personal reminder to get yourself checked.  

 ***This is your reminder to do your breast self-exam!***

and remind your sistahs too! 

If you're not exactly sure how to do a self exam, you can click here to get the information you need, and then follow up with your doctor at your next appointment. 

CAS-ual Fridays is giving away three $25 gift certificates and Laura's Loft is giving away two $25 gift cards which will randomly be draw from the comments so be sure to go to each hop stop to leave lots of love!

I was thrilled to be in on this collaboration with CAS-ual Fridays and help bring awareness to self checks for early detection of breast cancer. 

What an awesome thing Michele is doing every month! 

I wanted to create a card to represent the beauty of what Michele is doing and one that would bring comfort to someone facing a scary situation.

For my card I started with a piece of Strathmore watercolor paper. I stamped the sentiments from the Calling All Sistahs set with Versa Mark and heat embossed them with WOW Bright White detailed embossing powder. This created a resist so when added Dylusions sprays in Bubble Gum, Crushed Grape and Funky Fuchsia the sentiments stayed white. I stamped the Hope Ribbon in a pale grey and the colored each flower using different colors of Le Plume II markers. I was able to do this with the use of my MISTI. I used the Ruffled Ribbon FRI-DIE and cut a piece of pink fun foam to put behind my Hope Ribbon. The word hope was cut using the Hope FRI-Die. I used MFT Blueprints to cut my technique and background pieces and after assembling my card I added sequins from Design Creative Bling's breast cancer sequin mix Hopes Desire. 

Warning: tiny micro glass beads are uncontrollable, they go everywhere! 

I started this card buy cutting a piece of Neenah Solar White 110 lb card stock with an SU postage stamp die ( you would think I'd see enough postage at work but some how I'm drawn to envelopes and the like) and the Girl Fri-Die from the Sistahs Fri-Die set. When cutting out the word Girl I made sure my stamp sentiments would fit. Since I was already die cutting I used MFT Blueprint 25 stitch frame and cut a piece of MFT Razzleberry card stock as my background. I picked out several sentiments from Cas-ual Fridays Calling All Sistahs and the ribbon from Calm and Loving and stamped them in different MFT colors. Now for the fun part....I cut a piece of Stick It to fit behind my die cut piece and adhered it to the Razzleberry piece. Then i attached my Neenah die cut piece. Hind sight is 20/20 so I'll give you a tip...do this next part in a container. I laid a piece of paper down and started sprinkling black Micro beads into the Girl cut outs then rolled over them with a brayer to smoosh them in good. All that was left was to attatch it to a card base.

I hope I was able to inspire you! 

Be sure to leave me a comment. 

I love to hear from you!

For More information on Breast Cancer Awareness just click here. 

Please do your self exams!
Nothing could be more important!

Be sure to check Laura's Loft and CAS-ual Fridays blog for the announcement of the winners of the Gift cards on Feb. 20, 2016. The announcement for Laura's Loft Gift cards will be at the top of the Watercolor Challenge Blog.

The next stop on the hop is 

Jasmine

She has some awesome creations to share with you!

I'll be back next month to remind you again :)

All products can be found by clicking on the images below!

Somebunnies Luck With Laura's Loft

So happy to be hopping with Laura over at Laura's Loft today. With Easter and St. Patty's Day coming up we wanted to show you some creations with those holidays in mind.  If you arrived here from Laura's blog I know you enjoyed what she created for you. If not you can click on the previous button below and it will take you there so you can check her out!

We have an absolutely awesome guest designer this month!

Noe Gonzalez

     Laura is having a GIVEAWAY and the winner gets this awesome prize!! 

   The details of Laura's GIVEAWAY are at the bottom of my blog.

Let's not forget Christmas Stamps & Dies are 45% OFF and if you spend $75 get $10 off with coupon code $10off75 on Laura's Loft!

Be sure to check out the new additions we have this month in these collections:

Tim Holtz Mini Ink Kits

Stamping Bella

Hero Arts

Ranger

Lawn Fawn

Laura's Loft Sequin mixes

From the moment I saw the Lovely Links Fri-Dies I wanted to make a St. Patrick's Day card with it. I know it is intended as a hearts and love theme but I saw four leaf clovers. To start this card out I chose several shades of green card stock and cut them with the dies. Then I arranged the dies on a 3 3/4 x 5 1/4 piece of white card stock and ran it through my Big Kick. I took another piece cut the same size and put a piece of Stick It on it then attached the piece of die cut white card stock lining it up so it was even. I inlaid the white link pieces and then started putting the Hearts and circles in, in various shaded of green. After I finished I ran the finished piece through my Big Kick to make sure the were in good. I used a Sentiment from CAS-UAL Fridays Clover, stamped it in Versa Mark on Vellum and heat embossed it in WOW Rich Gold. I couldn't really decide where I want it and after moving it around several times I cut it apart and adhered it between the links. I also used the same embossing powder to add the Clover on the middle circle. I added some sequins from Design Creative Bling Puttin On The Ritz mix. The last couple of things I did was Mont it on a piece of MFT Gold Shine card stock and then a piece of MFT Dill Pickle card stock.

I had this idea in my head of creating an Easter card that the egg was created by stamping floural images within an egg shape stencil. So I made me a stencil on my ScanNCut using the

plastic that Gwaltney bacon sits on in it's package. I sprayed it with adhesive and lined it up in the center of my white card base. I used Altenew's Vintage Flowers and Painted Butterflies and stamped my images using Altenew inks. after I finished this part I removed my stencil and covered my egg with the negative and began with the lightest color Altenew Blue and worked my way up to the darkest with a blending dobber blending the colors all around the edge of the egg getting lighter as i went outward. When this was done I re positioned my original stencil and used Buttercream around the edges. I placed the negative back down with the stencil and slightly offset it to blend in a shadow. I wrapped up this card by drawing my flourishes, sentiment and dash lines around the egg in white Signo Gel Pen then shadowed them with a black marker.

I first colored the Bunnies and flowers then cut them out on my ScanNCut 2. I used Mementoe's Duel Marker Pen to finish of the edges and make them standout. I used the Balloon edge from MFT Blueprints 26 to cut my hill. I trimmed the balloon tail off. I used MFT Blueprint 20 Scallop and Stitched Frame to cut the yellow frame. For the background I blended TH Tumbled Glass to make a sky then stamped the sentiment from Newtons Nook Simply Seasonal in different distress inks. I used the die from Hero Arts Happy Stamp and Cut to cut the word happy. To assemble this card I first put my frame on a piece of acetate. Then began gluing down the rest of my scene. When I was done I flipped it over and added my foam tape. I used Design Creative Bling Raspberry Crush Sequin mix. The last thing I did to finish it up was put the back on and pressed firmly around the edges.

I used MFT Blueprint 3 & 20 plus MFT's Peek a Boo Window to cut my pieces. When I layed them out I decided the solid light green needed breaking up so I laid a stencil over it and sponged some green ink over it. I took a piece of Neenah Solar White card stock and stamped the shamrock from Newtons Nook Simply Seasonal in various green inks. I used Hero Arts Happy Stamp And Cut Happy Die and cut a piece of black card stock. St. Patrick's Day is stamped in Versa Fine ( not sure why but where it was stamped over the ink from stenciling it bleed some and the part not over the ink is fine). I adhered a piece of acetate on the backside of the window then made my shaker out of foam tape. I added some Design Creative Bling Just My Luck sequin mix to the shaker then put the back with the clover stamped on it down and pressed all over to seal it. I finished it up my adding sequins and gold cord.

I hope you enjoy these as much as I did creating them. Next on our line up is Jasmine. You won't want to miss what she has created so click the next button and it will take you there.

1. Laura 

2. Deana Benson- You are Here!

3. Jasmine Burgess 

4. Robbie Rubala 

5. Emma Hall 

6. Lisa

7. Linda

8. Sue T.
9.Kim
10. Noe

TO ENTER:

There are several ways to enter and the more comments you make in the different social media outlets, the more entries you earn! It is required that you comment on each blog in the Hop.  After that, you are encouraged to like, and comment on our Facebook page, tag on our Instagram post and pin on Pinterest, as well as share on your own pages. The participant with the most entries wins the fabulous prize package! How cool is that!?!

MFT Sketch Challenge 258

I haven't participated in an MFT sketch challenge in the last few months and I really missed it. It's been a very busy time between a death , work, surgery that I'm recuperating from and the general extra things that are thrown in there I just haven't had time. So with the fact that I'm recuperating I'm trying my best to be able to create cards and had some time to participate in the latest challenge.

On with my card! Prior to my surgery I had colored some images not knowing if I would be able to color afterwards for a while. One of the sets that I colored was MFT Santa's elves by Birdie Brown. I had also recently purchased some Bazzill Basic Paper called Holiday Style Classic Christmas and decided that I wanted to use the striped paper in that selection. I didn't have the Die-namic that cuts the stitch rectangle with the one rounded corner. So my solution was to use the stitch rectangle from Blueprints 25 and after cutting that laying the rounded corner rectangle from Blueprints 26 over top of it and only cutting the one corner. Next I used my pinked edge circle and cut a piece of Wild Cherry MFT cardstock. The top layer was a piece of Gumdrop Green MFT cardstock cut using the MFT stitched Circle frame. As I looked at this I decided instead of cutting a rectangle to go below these pieces I wanted to make a rectangular shaker card area so I used the rounded rectangle from blueprints 6 and cut the striped basil paper and I also cut two pieces of fun foam to create my shaker area. Then I got a piece of acetate that was a little larger than the opening and stamped my sentiment and Versa Mark then heat embossed it in black detail embossing powder by Stamp N Stuff. I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to back my shaker with and ended up going with a piece of MFT Blue Raspberry which picks up the blue stripe in the paper. I put my shaker together and used Design Creative Bling's sequin mix called O'Tannenbaum. Which is available at Laura's Loft!

 After assembling my shaker high attached all my elements to the front and added some glossy accents to the ornaments and the bells on the elves hats. My finish card front was mounted to a piece of Neenah solar white 110 lbs card stock as my base.

                        

I had just created my own stamp, which I tried out on this card, to stamp the back of my cards with using my Silhouette Mint and I really like how it works you can create what you want to personalize your stamp and it's so easy.

I hoping everybody is having a good time getting ready for the holidays. Hope to participate in the color challenge and the upcoming sketch challenges. Until next time....

Ringing In The Holidays With Laura's Loft

             

              So happy to be hopping with Laura over at Laura's Loft today. I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving! We have some wonderful things to share with you today. If you arrived here from Laura's blog I know you enjoyed what she created for you. If not you can click on the previous button below and it will take you there so you can check her out!

                  Laura is having a GIVEAWAY featuring Newton's Nook's awesome stamps!                                                                The details of Laura's GIVEAWAY are at the                                            bottom of my blog.

WHAT AN AMAZING SALE
All Christmas Stamps and Dies are 30%, no code needed prices have been changed to reflected sale. This will run from Dec. 3 until they sell out. Don't miss these awesome prices! They are going fast!
We also have WRMK products on sale 20% off with code WRMK20% from Dec. 3rd through Jan. 3

We have the Fabulous Jasmine Burgess as our guest designer this month!

I started this card with a piece of Bo Bunny Altitude paper. I dusted it with my anti-static tool and stamped my sentiment and music notes with Versa Mark, then heat embossed it with Ranger Liquid Platinum EP. I then stamped the trees in Versa Mark and heat embossed them with Stampendous Pearlustre Emerald Opaque EP. The Little People are from The Greeting Farm Sing Hello and Happy Winter and were stamped in Mementoe Tuxedo Black Ink, then colored with Copics and Die Cut. I used MFT Grout Gray card stock and Lawn Fawn Hillside Die to make my Snow.

To start this card I pulled out a piece of Canson water color paper and my Dylusions Sprays. I layed out my stamps to see where my sunset would be and lightly marked it. Then I wet the sky area and used Lemon Zest, Squeezed Orange, and Cherry Pie Dylusions. I let that dry then started the ground. I didn't want it straight black so first I used Fresh Lime then went over it with Black Marble. The trees, animals, and sentiment are all from Newton's Nook Whispering Pines and stamped using Simon Says Stamp Black Ink. I mounted my finished piece on a Neenah Solar White 110lbs card base.

 I just love this Nordic Holiday paper from Basic Grey and wanted to use it for this card. I stamped my snowmen from Newton's Nook Frozen Friends in Mementoe Tuxedo Black Ink on Neenah Solar White 110lbs card stock and colored them in Copics using colors in the paper. I cut my background papers using MFT blueprints 24 & 25. The light blue was cut using MFT Stitched arch then I heat embossed the sentiment and snow flakes using WOW opaque bright white super fine EP. I cut my snow out of MFT stone gray using Lawn Fawn's Stitched hillside dies then cut them to fit the arch using the same MFT stitched arch die. All that was left was to assemble my card in which I popped up the light blue arch using fun foam.

 

Making this card required some creative thinking but once done was pretty easy. I started with a piece of water color paper and MFT big dots stencil. I mixed some Silver VIVA Ferro with Tim Holtz Lucky clover distress ink and spread it over the stencil. I set it aside to dry. Then I cut the MFT Layered Champagne Glass out of Shiny Gold and trimmed off the top part of the glass. I taped down the same die to my dotted piece and hanging the part I didn't want cut off the plate I die cut them. I took two pieces of white fun foam cut slightly smaller and put them behind the dotted piece and trimmed out the glass shaker with an exact o knife.putting a piece of acetate behind the dotted piece I glued my layers together. I cut the Avery Elle Simply Said Happy Die from MFT Silver Sparkle. The New Year sen

timent from Avery Elle Holiday Fill In The Blank was heat embossed in silver on vellum and wrapped around the dotted piece. I added Design Creative Bling Sparkle and Shine sequin mix to my glasses and backed the shaker with MFT Tropical Teal card stock. I absolutely love how this turned out!

Links to products are at the end of the blog. Just click the picture and it will take you there.

Laura's Loft-
Deana Benson- You Are Here!
Robbie Rubala-
LeeAnn Mckinney-
Debbie Brunssen-
Joy Hadden-
Lisa Bedigian-
Jasmine Burgess-
Emma Hall-

TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY:

1. Follow Laura's Loft on IG @InLaurasLoft, like the IG Hop/Giveaway post and tag a friend. as many as you like but one tag per comment(this part is for extra entries), If you do not have IG, say so!

2.Visit & Like Laura's Loft store page on facebook https://www.facebook.com/Lauras.Loft.Shop

3. Leave a comment at each stop on the blog hop including Laura's.

After doing these 3 things they need to fill out the rafflecopter to be entered!!