So I have a cold.  Not a real cold, no.  Not the kind that makes you see a doctor, or curl up in your jammies with a box of tissues on the couch.  No, it is just one of the stupid colds that make you stupid and lazy.  So bare with me today, cause my cold (really I think it is allergies pretending to be a cold) are making me a little goofy, which isn’t fair since I’ve taken zero medication.

This is also one of those weeks where I’m not certain where the week has gone.  How is it already Friday?  And while we are one the subject, where has February gone?  So between the abnormal passage of time and the stupid cold, I feel that I haven’t gotten much done this week, and yet I know I have.  I have actually five challenges to share with you today, and one really cute card that I had the idea to make, and wanted to share.

---

Up first today we have the a really fun clean and simple challenge from the designer team over at The Paper Players.  They’ve given us a CAS challenge that celebrates the things that go up, up and away.  Balloons and kites and planes, anything that can take flight was what everyone was searching for this week.

I decided to embrace the inspiration photo, not only with the balloons, but with the soft muted colors as well.  I embossed an Ellen Hutson sentiment onto a piece of card stock.  Then I added a bit of post-it tape

onto the paper, having stamped out my image only on the post-it tape.  I blended some Distress Victorian Velvet Ink over all the paper, hoping for a smooth blend.  I pulled off the tape and stamped out the balloon images purposely off center and stamped out the balloons strings.  I added a piece of glitter paper to the other side of the card and a strip of gem embellishment between the two cards.

I know typically in CAS challenges there is a desire to not use blended ink, but there was no other way to get the negative images onto the paper, and I like how simple those white balloons look.

---

Next up today we have a fun sketch challenge from the sleuths over at Can You Case It.  This is one of those really simple, you can do anything with it sketches that become incredibly hard to actually design a cool unique card.

I did not want to do the predictable colored image in the circle, sentiment on the strip formula.  I decided to flip the formula, using my images in the strip and my

sentiment in my circle.

I stamped out a bunch of pies from a stamp set from Avery Elle and colored in the images in with my Primacolor colored pencils.  I tried to make each pie look unique and yummy.  I added a bunch of forks and colored them into with silver.  I die cut out the circle out from a set from Little B and stamped out the sentiment.  I added a bit of gridded card stock and die cut some stitching into it.  The card is pretty simple, and yet, it makes me ready for summer and picnics.

---

Rounding the corner on today’s challenges is another sketch challenge from the gals over at Sunday Stamps.  They have given a much more detailed sketch then the previous one, and yet no less of a challenging one.  Since Easter and spring are around the corner I thought I would dive into some cards with bunnies.

I pulled out this Inky Antics stamp and colored in the images with my alcohol markers.  I tried to keep the coloring simple, but I messed up the egg and had to go darker than I originally wished.  I pulled out some coordinating printed paper and cut banners out of them.  Finally I pulled out a piece of pink card stock and embossed the paper with my Big shot with have some pretty spring flowers onto it.  I rubbed over a bit of ink to pot the embossed image and assembled the card.

---

The designers over at Cupcake Inspiration have given us out weekly dose of decadence in the form of a color challenge this week.  Clearly they are leaping into the joy of spring as well with our color combination of sky, white and grass.

I choose once more to use balloons and Distress Ink

in this card.  I pulled out some images from two different Ellen Hutson stamp sets and stamped them out on post-it tape so I could blend the color onto the card stock leaving only the negative images behind.  I also clear embossed my sentiment onto the card.  I blended two shades of blue, one Tumbled Glass, the other Salty Ocean onto the card and added a bit of Mowed Grass ink on the bottom.  Once the ink dried, I pulled up the post-it tape and stamped the images onto the card, purposely once more stamping the images off center.  I adore doing this negative image technique thinking it all looks so clean.

---

Finally today, we have an inspiration challenge from the designers over at Always Playing with Paper‘s The Challenge.  I love the rustic-ness of this image and decided this image was the perfect one to paper piece with.  I am a big fan of paper piecing lots of ephemera together, but so few challenges really

present the opportunity to do this.  This picture however screams for it.

I pulled out a bunch of ephemera and distressed with with a little frayed burlap Distress Ink and started layering it.  I pulled out a sentiment and stamped it onto a bit of scrap paper trying to make the sentiment look just like the other ephemera.  I added a bunch of silk flowers to the corners, and the little brass key.  I know this card will never fit into an envelope, but I’m going to attached it to the top of a gift for a friend, who I know will enjoy all the texture.

---

 

That’s it for today.  I hope I’ve made clear (just kidding) in my cold addled brain, and more importantly inspired you to go out and do something creative.  May you all enjoy you weekend and hopefully find sometime to relax.

Till next time.