CASE me a Christmas Card 2025 Blog Hop

 I'm most excited to join this year's CASE (Copy And Selectively Edit) me a Christmas Card with my crafty friend Michelle Lupton and friends. The format this year is slightly different to previous years as anyone can join in by making a Christmas card inspired by any card made by designers participating in the hop. This year, I was inspired by this card from Emily Midgett - Sixth Street Sundries. 

I don't have a dark brown card stock and decided to use a green card stock instead. I was inspired by the bright colours against the dark background and decided to use some old dies in my stash - some of these may no longer be available as I've had a them for quite a number of years. They get to feature every now and then! It was easy to put together as I'm really into simple cards that are easy to mass produce during this busy time of the year! Thank you so much for dropping by, please hop along to Emily's card on the blog hop! 

I'm adding this card to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Clean and Simple

Materials used:

Dies - Wreath and bow from Winnie and Walter, Sentiment from Simon Says Stamp, Square die from Lil'Inker designs

Others - enamel dots from Simon Says Stamp

Emily's card is below:

Happy Mother's Day

To all the Mums out in the cyber world - Hope you have a fantastic day on Mother's Day!!

Here are a couple of cards I made during a recent Craft Retreat in Bright. I used borrowed dies to make this card, details are below. I'm adding this card to the Addicted to CAS - Code word Mum challenge. Thank you for dropping by!

Materials:
Dies - Altenew Fantasy Flora, Framed, 
Stamps - Altenew Watercolour Frames, MFT About Mom

Purple Tea Rose

I have a Sympathy card to share. I wanted to use vellum with a frame to make it look like an embroidery hoop. I used two Stitched circles dies to make the frame and cut the vellum with the larger die. I white embossed the Hero Arts Classic Tea Flower stamp and coloured the back of it with Copic markers. The sentiment was stamped onto the card base and the frame was mounted with many small strips of adhesive tape to prevent warping. This is a simple CAS card and easy to make! I'm adding this to A Blog Named Hero's Vellum challenge, Less is More - Purple Colour and Addicted to CAS - Petals challenge. Thanks for dropping by!

I've used Hero Arts Classic Tea Flower and Sentiment stamps, Vellum, Lil Inkers Stitched Circles Dies, Copic Markers, Hero Arts white EP, Versamark.

Something Blue

I'm still having fun with my Altenew inks! This card is for the Fusion Card Challenge - Something Blue, Addicted to CAS - Petals Challenge and the CASology - CAS challenge. Thanks for dropping by!

I've used Altenew Painted Flowers and inks (Glacier Caves set), Tim Holtz stencil, Ranger Texture Paste, MFT Dienamics stitched rectangles die.

Hydrangea in blue

I'm back with a very simple card for the A Blog Named Hero's Clean and Simple challenge. I was inspired by a doona cover I saw at Laura and Ashley on the weekend. I stamped the Hero Arts Hydrangea flower with blue Memento ink on two cards. Cut both cards down to two different sizes (after lining them up of course) and coloured in the smaller stamped image with Copic markers in two shades of grey. I only coloured in the background, leaving the flower and leaves in blue and white. I then later coloured in the flower with clear Wink of Stella. I decided not to add a sentiment as I wanted the flower to stand out against the white. I'm also adding this to Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Anything Goes Challenge.
This post is for the A Blog Named Hero Facebook Fan Page. Thanks for dropping in!

Something New - A Baby!

A very CAS card for a new born baby using ME Lunar Animals, SSS Game Tiles and LF Critters Down Under. In the Chinese Lunar calendar, it is still the year of the Sheep, hence the baby lamb on the card! I'm adding this card to the CASology - Simple and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Something New challenges. Thanks for dropping by!

Polka Dot Butterfly

Sometimes, a CAS card is very hard to do! I wanted to use the current CAS(E) this Sketch #127 and I thought it was going to be easy.... not the case... you should see how may butterflies ended up on my work bench when I finally finished this card! Some of them might end up on a future card! I decided to get out some polka dot vellum paper which I've been hoarding for a while now. Believe it or not, it is from an Origami kit from Daiso (the $2.80 Japanese shop). I chose shades of yellow and orange to create an ombre effect with the layers. After the a lot of trial and errors, I ended up using a piece of vellum for the backdrop. Doing the four squares was just too hard and looked unbalanced. The sentiment and butterfly are from Hero Arts and the square die is from Lil'Inkers.
I'm adding this card to the following challenges:
CAS(E) This Sketch #127
Virginia's View Challenge #15 - Ombre/Monochromatic
Addicted to CAS - Butterfly
A Blog Named Hero - Favourite Challenge (My Favourite HA Butterfly die)
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Favourite Product (My Favourite HA Butterfly die)

Winnie & Walter First Birthday Challenge - Card 3

Ahhh, it is so nice to have a bit of free time to craft during this time of the year. We had a very hot day in Melbourne today, the temperature soared to 38C and we avoided the heat by staying at the local shopping centre the entire day! We had Yum Cha with friends, did some post Boxing Day shopping, watched a movie and did some grocery shopping before heading home to a hot house!! Anyway, there is a cool change tonight so relief is on its way! We watched Water Divination by Russell Crowe, very powerful story telling! So I had a bit of free time to make another card tonight for the following challenges:
- Winnie & Walter First Birthday Challenge - Gradient Challenge
- Virginia's View Challenge - A Clean Slate
- Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
The inks I used were Hero Arts Cup O'Joe, Wet Cement, Charcoal and Royal Red. The stamps and die are from Winnie & Walter. Thanks for dropping by! I may have time to do another one tonight....

Wood Veneer Card

This card was made during our Craft Retreat a few months ago and I have not had a chance to blog it yet (along with a few more yet to be finished cards!). When I saw the Wood challenge on CASology, I knew this was the ONE! Just before I went on the Retreat, I purchased some Australian themed MT tape. The one used here features an Aboriginal design and it was just what I needed to add some colour to the card. I must thank Joy Taylor for the use of her Simon Says Stamp Dies for this card and also for showing me how to glue multiple layers of die cuts. The sentiment has 5 layers of card stock under the wood veneer. I'm also adding this card to SSS Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge. I'm also trying out the InLinkz thumbnails for the first time, any hints will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for dropping by!!

Twine Flowers for Maddy

I'm back with a very quick card, well sort of.. I was going to post last night but got involved with watching the television. We had a change in the leader of our country last night due to a ballot within the Labor Party. The elected Prime Minister who was overthrown three years ago was voted back in by the same Members - go figure. Our first female PM resigned last night and a newly elected PM was sworn in today... just in time for our up coming elections!

This card was inspired by the sketch on CAS(E) this Sketch and the colours of the current Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger - Scene in Tangerine. I'm also submitting this card to Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes challenge and I'm also sending this card to Maddy. Thanks for dropping by!

Ingredients:

Cardstock - Neenah Solar White

Stamp - Hero Arts CL661

Ink - Hero Arts Green Hill

EF - Sizzix Tim Holtz bricks

Others - Twine from The Twinery, Enamel dots from My Minds Eyes

Paper Rose

My creative juices have been running on overdrive! I've been dying to make this card all week ever since I saw the paper piecing video by Melissa on Nicole Heady's Make It Monday. I was also waiting for my Ellen Hutson order for the Hero Arts medallion embossing folder. This arrived on Thursday and here is my creation. I'm also submitting this card to CASE study #142. I'm using Flickr for the first time to link photos on my blog. Hope it looks OK! For those wondering about my Kaisercraft DT call - I've just submitted 2 cards, 2 layouts and an OTP project last week. The projects are due in on Monday 28th, so I got them off early. The cards were very easy to do as the papers were very nice, but the layouts were a bit of a challenge, hope the judges like them! I made a series of Christmas tags for the OTP project as I figured they were easier to package and send off with the layouts. Nervously awaiting the next email! Thanks for dropping by!

A close up of the paper piecing and layers.

Ingredients:

Cardstock - Neenah Natural White, Desert Storm

Paper - Basic Grey Clippings

Stamp - Papertrey Ink Year of the Flowers - Roses Stamp set

Ink - Ranger Archival Jet Black

Embossing - Hero Arts Sizzix Medallion 

Others - Kaisercraft pearls

Reem Acra card

A bit of good news to start of with. I just found out that my 21st birthday card got a Retro Sketches Shout-out! Yay! I did make another card for this week's Retro Sketch, but I ended up submitting it for publication, so I can't show it yet! Another one of my favourite challenges this week is the Runway Inspired Challenge - Reem Acra Fall 2013. Here is my card using just black and a bit of red and also very CAS. I must welcome a couple of new blog followers. I've been a bit slack with blogging this past week as I have been busy with publication submissions. I submitted 6 cards last week to Paper Crafts Supply Savvy call and I have another 7 to submit tomorrow! Thanks for dropping, I really appreciate all the comments I have been getting with my posts. I do try to visit commenters' blogs whenever I get a chance. Until next time...

Ingredients:

Cardstock - Neenah Solar white, black card stock

Stamps - Hero Arts CL508 Luscious Patterned Flowers, CL661 Find Joy

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Hero Arts Red Royal

Others - Kaisercraft rhinestones

Washi Thank You

Some of my regular followers will know that I won $100 worth of MT wash tapes before Christmas with this card. I made a 'Thank You' card for Sam from Paperpoint who picked my winning card from the November washi tape contest on Facebook. This card was made with some of my winnings and some tapes already in my stash. Paperpoint is my favourite shop to visit in South Melbourne. I get all my card stock (they are now stocking Neenah Desert Storm) in A3 sheets and cut them down to size. They also have a great range of ribbons, card stock and patterned papers! I love going there!! CAS-ual Fridays have just announced their new challenge today - CAS Thank You card! The sister to this card (the negative) will be submitted for a magazine publication as I like it a lot! This card is also submitted for Simon Says Stamp's Use Washi Tape Challenge!

My card is below...

This is the stash I won from PaperPoint. I added a tape cutter to my collection. It came in handy during Christmas when I used it for place cards, last minute gift tags, etc. I can't wait to use some of the other tapes...

Ingredients:

Cardstock - Neenah Solar White

Tapes - MT 

Dies - MFT DieNamics alphabets

Others - Rhinestones and pearls from Kaisercraft

Liebster Award

Hi, I was surprised by a Leibster nomination today by Jenny from My Paper Epiphany. Thank your Jenny! The details of the award is below:

ABOUT THE AWARD

This award was designed to be a blog award in the pay it forward fashion. Once you've been nominated, you award it to blogs that you like that have fewer than 200 followers, to encourage new visitors to visit these new blogs.

RULES FOR ACCEPTANCE

Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to their blog. Post the award onto your blog. Give the award to five bloggers whom you appreciate that have fewer than 200 followers. Leave a comment on their blog letting them know that you have given them this awesome award!

I hereby nominate five blogs which I frequent and in a way thank them for visiting my blog and leaving lovely comments both on my blog and on Flickr.
Linda from Melbourne - PaperTracer
Teresa from Melbourne - The Tamarisk
Marcy from MA, USA - En Papillote Arts
Arlene - A Bit of This and That
Franziska from Frankfurt - Sharing Cards and Inspirations
Please visit their blogs and see what wonderful creations they have made.

Here is another CAS card I made tonight. Yes, it is Spring in Melbourne and I've made a card with Autumn leaves! I've been wanting to try out one layer stamping with masking. I recently bought some paper tape from overseas which is like sticky note pad but on a tape dispenser. It is not as sticky as washi tape. I used it to tape off the area I wanted to stamp, leaving enough white space for the card to be classified as CAS! The background was inked with Spiced Marmalade and Ripe Persimmon - don't you love Tim's creativity in naming his inks! The leaves were stamped with Seedless Preserve, Pine Needles and Gathered Twigs - the colours for the Hero Arts September challenge. I'm also submitting this card to Simply Less is More's One Layer challenge and Moxie Fab World Repetition challenge. Pop back tomorrow as I had time to make another one tonight, I think I'm over my CASphobia. Thanks for dropping by!

Challenges:

Hero Arts - September Colour Challenge

Simply Less is More - One Layer Stamping with Foliage

Moxie Fab World Card Design - Repetition Challenge

Ingredients:

Cardstock - Via Vellum Kraft

Stamps - Hero Arts CL457 CL272

Ink - Tim Holtz Distress Inks: Ripe Persimmon, Spiced Marmalade, Seedless Preserve, Pine Needles, and Gathered Twigs

Minty Flower

Back to making more cards this weekend after being away in Sydney last week. I have used the second Hero Arts August sketch with The Minty Fresh challenge from Moxie Fab World. I'm also submitting this card for A Blog Named Hero Krafty Crafter challenge and Basic Grey's current challenge. Thanks for everyone's comments on my last post - very encouraging! Please stay tuned as I have more posts this week.

Challenges:

Moxie Fab World - Fresh Minty Challenge

A Blog Named Hero - The Krafty Crafter

Hero Arts - August Sketch 

Basic Grey - Anything Goes

Ingredients:

Cardstock: Neenah Classic Solar White, Via Vellum Kraft

Paper: Basic Grey Paper Cottage

Stamp: Hero Arts Four Flowers, Many Sentiments

Ink: Archival Jet Black

Others: Kaisercraft Blossom, Pink Paislee ribbon,white gel pen

HA Scramble

Another quick card made from the Hero Arts 90 minute scramble this morning. It was hard getting up at 5am! The scramble task was set by Emily Leiphart and we had to combine two different sets of sentiments to come up with our own. It was a mad scramble to get all my HA sentiments out (I don't have many to choose from). I picked CL272 (HAPPY ANNIVERSARY) with CL 350 (Just Saying Hello) to make up Just Saying HAPPY ANNIVERSARY. I had something ink smudging issues (something about white - I always manage to dirty a white shirt whenever I wear one!!) Anyway it was all done with 2 minutes to spare and I managed to go back to bed!! I chose the colours blue and green for this week's challenge at Less is More. As I used HA stamps, I'm also entering this to ABNH Freestyle challenge.  I added glossy accents to the flowers after the scramble to give them a bit of a lift and to hide my glossy accents smudges!!  Pop back later as I managed to make another card today.

Challenges:
Hero Arts August - CAS card 
Less is More - Blue and Green
A Blog Named Hero - Challenge #9 Freestyle
Ingredients:
Cardstock - Ranger Specialty Stamping Paper
Stamp - HA Ancient Flowers and Butterflies, HA Sentiments CL272 and CL350, HA Lattice background 
Inks - HA Wet Cement, Ranger Archival Jet Black, Distress Markers
Others - Hero Arts Hues Dots, Glossy accents