Just Us Girls #707 - CAS Week and a Fond Farewell

Hi friends!  It's our last challenge for 2023!  What a year of challenges it has been!  This week is our CAS week and Bobby has chosen In a Circle.  Lots of interpretation ahead!

I chose to use this new die set from Spellbinders.  A very simple but elegant ornament.  I also stenciled the background with a holly and berry stencil then cut it down to make it more CAS.  The ornament was simply die cut from red card stock and white glitter paper.  I used gold shiny paper for the hanger and green and red for the holly and berries.  I stamped the sentiment and die cut it with the corresponding die then added gold pearls for a more elegant touch.  I love this and may use it as my main card this year!

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our November guest, Melissa Craig, on the JUGs blog.  This is Melissa's last week with us and I'd like to thank her for the wonderful cards she's made this month!

On another note, it's been 14 years that I've been on this team.  We started it in October 2009 and I've been on it ever since.  I've really loved being a part of this team.  I've seen some amazing talent come across this challenge over the years and made some even more amazing friends.  I've even managed to meet a couple in person...Nancy Leppek while I was in Florida and just recently Sue Vandevusse who traveled from Michigan through my hometown where we met for lunch (I hope you stop again when you are on your way through!).  All this to say that I am stepping down from this team.  This will be my final challenge.  I'll probably regret it next year, but I just felt it was time.  Thanks to all my teammates and best of luck with the new challenge!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Recipe

Stamps:  Elegant Christmas Sentiments (Waffle Flower)

Paper:  White, red, green, gold shine, sugar crystal

Ink:  Versafiine onyx black, candy apple, evergreen

Accessories:  Festive Ornament dies (Spellbinders), Elegant Christmas Sentiments die (WF), Holly & Berries stencil (Honey Bee), stitched rectangle die (MFT), gold pearls

Just Us Girls #706 - Photo or Mood Board Challenge

 Hello everyone!  Carol is the hostess over at Just Us Girls for our Photo or Mood Board challenge.  I just love the photos she chose for the mood board!

I was cleaning my craft room today and found some things I haven't used yet.  This one is a stencil and die set from Pink Fresh.  I stenciled everything in the colors on the butterflies (although the aqua looks green even though the color is Aqua Sky).  I then die cut them.  The pink panel was stenciled with a snow fall stencil and white ink.  I adhered the ornaments and bough to the panel along with the die cut sentiment.  I added the gold pearls and some star dust stickles to the ornaments for sparkle.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our November guest on the JUGs blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Peace Love Joy (Honey Bee)

Paper:  White, pink

Ink:  Versafine onyx black, unicorn, aqua sky, candy apple, olive, evergreen, rose petals, Delicata gold

Accessories:  Holiday Ornaments stencil and die (Pink Fresh), Joy die (Honey Bee), stitched rectangle (MFT), Falling Snow stencil (SSS), gold pearls, star dust stickles

Just Us Girls #705 - Word Week

Hello!  Carol is the hostess this week over at Just Us Girls for our Word Week challenge, and she has chosen the words THANKS or THANKSGIVING. 

I chose Thanksgiving as my word because I need more of these cards to send to friends and family.  I started by stenciling the background with a two-part stencil.  I chose several different autumnal rainbow colors and brown for the stems.  I just love those colors!  Then I chose this die and die cut it three times.  First from the brown card stock for the background.  Then I die cut the thanks part from white card stock that I first sponged with the rainbow inks and once again from just white card stock for the bottom part of the sentiment.  I added the orange card stock to the card base then the main panel.  That panel was spritzed with shimmer spray before adding it to the base.  I also added yellow crystal for more sparkle.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our November guest on the JUGs blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Paper:  White, orange, brown

Ink:  Sweet mustard, marigold, fresh pear, olive, evergreen, gathered twigs, sorbet, cranberry

Accessories:  Layered Fall Wreath stencil (PPP), Thanksgiving die (SSS), stitched rectangle (MFT), crystals, shimmer spray

Just Us Girls #704 - Color Week

Hi friends!  Carol has a great color combination for the week's Just Us Girls Color Week challenge.  Perfect for getting those holiday cards started! 

Of course I thought of a poinsettia for this color challenge, as did a couple of my design team friends did!  I die cut the poinsettia from cranberry and red card stocks and accented them with ink.  I also die cut some leaves and evergreen sprigs from green card stock and accented them with inks as well.  For the background, I used a cover plate to get the snowflake design and accented it with antique linen distress oxide ink.  The sentiment was die cut three times from cranberry card stock and stacked for dimension.  I spitzed it with shimmer spray for some sparkle and added gold pearls.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our new November guest, Melissa Craig, on the JUGs blog.  

Welcome Melissa!  We are so happy to have you joining us this month!

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Paper:  White, red, cranberry, green

Ink:  Marigold, doe; cranberry, evergreen, antique linen oxide

Accessories:  Lovely Layers: Poinsettia (Honey Bee), Pointy Pine Needle Sprigs (Memory Box), Snowfall cover plate (Concord & 9th), sentiment die (Paper Roses), stitched rectangle (MFT), gold pearls, shimmer

Just Us Girls #703 - CAS Week

 Hello friends!  The new challenge over at Just Us Girls is the CAS Week challenge.  Nancy is our hostess and she wants us to just use the center of the card.  I like this challenge!

I need to send out some Halloween cards to the kiddos in the family.  I chose to make this cute black cat for my great-niece who has a black cat.  I started with the stencils.  Since we had to use just the center of the card, I used an oval masking stencil over the spider web and then the spiders.  The cat was die cut from black cardstock and I added an orange band to the hat and pink for the eyes and nose.  I added star dust stickles to that orange band and crystal effects to its nose.  I used wobblers to add the cat to the main panel.  I stamped two sentiments in orange ink and added another sentiment on orange card stock stamped with black ink.  I found these silver stars and added them for some sparkle.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our October guest, Bonnie Klass, on the JUGs blog.  This is Bonnie's last week with us, and I'd like to thank her for her beautiful cards she shared on our blog this month.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Sentiment Strips: Halloween (Pretty Pink Posh)

Paper:  White, black, orange

Ink:  Versafine onyx black, clementine, rocky slope, licorice

Accessories:  Layered Spider Web stencils (PPP), Masking Ovals stencil (PPP), Spooky Cat die (SSS), stitched rectangle (MFT), crystal effects, star dust stickles, silver stars, wobbler

Just Us Girls #702 - Photo or Mood Board Challenge

 Hi friends!  Sorry my post is going up so late, but my computer crashed and burned and I was finally able to have the Geek Squad look at it.  Unfortunately, it died so I had to get a new one.  I lost a lot of stuff on there!  I can't figure out how to get my signature that I use at the end of my blogs to load.  Ugh!  Such a pain!

Anyway, I was able to load my card onto the JUGs blog and post it here.  

I also don't have the software on this new computer to edit my photos.  So it's a little blurry looking at it here.  I used some new products from Waffle Flower.  I started with the stencils and used the colors from the photos.  After stenciling, I die cut it using the coordinating die and stamped the images using the coordinating stamp set.  Then I stamped the sentiment on black card stock with Versamark ink and embossed it with white embossing powder.  I mounted the main panel onto a rust panel and onto the white base.  I did add some shimmer which you can't see in the photo but it's there!

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our October guest on the JUGs blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Postage Collage (Waffle Flower)

Paper:  White, black, rust

Ink:  Versafine onyx black, Versamark, apricot, clementine, candy apple, shea butter, warm buff, doe

Accessories:  Postage Collage Fall stencils and die (Waffle Flower), white embossing powder, shimmer

Just Us Girls #700 - Color Week

 Hello friends!  It's Just Us Girls 700th challenge!  That's something to celebrate!  I'm the hostess for this challenge, and I guess it's appropriate because I've been with this challenge since the beginning 14 years ago!  So let's see what I came up with for this Color Week challenge.

My photo isn't showing up very well.  This is supposed to be a terrarium.  I have die cut the glass top of the terrarium from vellum, however you can't really see it!  Oh well!  It's there!  I die cut all the leaves and mushrooms from white card stock, then used the coordinating stencils to color the pieces.  I added them to the terrarium and placed some pearls on the mushrooms.  I stamped the sentiment with Versamark and heat embossed it with white embossing powder on brown card stock.  Love these fall colors!

To celebrate this 700th challenge, I'm giving away a little prize.  I have a Distress Oxide ink pad, some mica sprays (these are so fun!), some stamps and a few other things.  In order to win this, please comment below on my blog and on the JUGs blog as well as enter the JUGs challenge with a card in these colors.   Unfortunately I'm only sending this to US residents (shipping costs are too expensive outside the US!).  I will select one winner randomly.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our new October guest, Bonnie Klass, on the JUGs blog.  Welcome Bonnie!

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Decorative Pumpkins sentiment (Pretty Pink Posh)

Paper:  White, brown, vellum

Ink:  Versamark, sky blue, summer shower, clementine, persimmon, warm buff, doe

Accessories:  The Magic is in You stencils and die (Pink Fresh), terrarium die (Pink Fresh), stitched rectangle (MFT), pearls, white embossing powder

Just Us Girls #699 - Case a Design Team Member

 Hi friends!  The challenge this week at Just Us Girls is our CASE a Design Team Member challenge.  You can choose any of the JUGs design team cards to CASE and enter.

I took a class at my LSS over the summer and we created a set of these Colorado Crafts stamp sets.  I just thought they were so adorable that I decided to post this one for the challenge.  The image and sentiment are from two different stamp sets.  The images were stamped, colored with copic markers and die cut.  They are layered with adhesive dots.  Nice and simple CAS cards!  I love the sentiment!

You can see more from the JUGs design team on the JUGs blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Carrot On and Garden Therapy (Colorado Craft)

Paper:  White

Ink:  Memento tuxedo black, Versafine onyx black, copics

Accessories:  Carrot On die (Colorado Craft), adhesive dots

Just Us Girls #698 - CAS Week

 

Just Us Girls has a new challenge this week.  It's our CAS week challenge and Sue is our hostess.  She has added the subject SPORTS for a focus or theme.

I was a bit stumped thinking I didn't have anything sports related when I recalled some golf themed stamps/dies I have.  I chose this golf bag stamp and die set I had purchased at a stamp show a few years ago.  When I pulled out the die I realized it was two dies.  One cuts out the entire bag and the other the front pocket so you can layer them.  I colored it with copic markers and added the pearl for the snap on the pocket and some shimmer on the golf clubs.  For the background (I forgot it was CAS this week...I thought it was our word week...oops) I stenciled an argyle pattern.  Argyle for me is associated with golf!  The sentiments are from a Gina K golf set and I added them around the bag.

You can see more from our JUGS design team and our October Guest, Stephanie Lanzalotto, on the JUGs blog.

This is Stephanie's last week with us and it was so nice having my former Time Out teammate joining us on Just Us Girls.  Thanks for the beautiful cards Stephanie!

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Golf Bag (The Artful Stamper), Golf Diva (Gina K)

Paper:  White

Ink:  Memento tuxedo black, Versafine onyx black, sky blue, seaside, grassy knoll, copics

Accessories:  Golf Bag die (The Artful Stamper), stitched rectangle (MFT), layered argyle stencil (Pretty Pink Posh), pearl, shimmer

Just Us Girls #697 - Mood Board or Photo Week

 Hello all!  This week's Just Us Girls challenge is our Photo or Mood Board challenge.  Carol M. has chosen this fabulous fall mood board.  I love fall!

I loved that leaf in one of the pictures and tried to recreate it.  I sprayed a piece of card stock with three different colors of mica stains:  yellow, red and brown.  I think I have all of them but this is the first time using them.  They are so shimmery!  Once dry, I die cut the leaf from it and die cut it two more times and stacked them for dimension.  For the background, I used a leaf stencil and distress inks to get fall colors.  I wanted something on top of the leaf and chose this cute mouse in a bed of leaves from MFT.  I added the sentiment and pearls.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our October guest on the JUGs blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Harvest Mouse and Piles of Fun (MFT)

Paper:  White

Ink:  Memento tuxedo black, Versafine onyx black, copics, marigold, clementine, candy apple, doe; Mica Stains: harvest moon, tart cranberry, fallen acorn

Accessories:  Thanksful Leaves die (C&9th), floating leaves stencil (SSS), stitched rectangle die (MFT), pearls

Just Us Girls #696 - Word Week

 Hello!  Bobby has chosen a great word for the Just Us Girls Word Week challenge this week.

MOON

What a great word, considering we just had that beautiful moon in our skies last week!

I really wanted to use my Tim Holtz moon stencil, but in my mess of a craft room I couldn't find it.  Organizing that room is on my to do list!  So while searching, I found this slimline tree stencil from ARTplorations and pulled that along with my newest purchase of this cat.  I'm not a cat person, but when I saw this cat I couldn't resist!  So it took me a minute to figure out how to get the moon in there (this is my second try!).  I first stenciled the trees using a blue ink for the background.  I didn't want to make it too dark because of the black cat, but in hindsight I think it could have been darker.  Then I die cut a circle from a piece of masking paper and, while the stencil was still in place, laid it over the stencil.  I then used yellow and orange inks to get the moon shape.  The cat was die cut and assembled and adhered to the card.  I chose this cute sentiment and embossed it with white embossing powder.  The band on the hat was sparkled up with some star dust stickles and I added some black crystals.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our September guest on the JUGs blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Sentiment Strips: Halloween (Pretty Pink Posh)

Paper:  White, black, orange

Ink:  Versamark, marigold, clementine, slumber

Accessories:  Beyond the Trees stencil (ARTplorations), Spooky Cat die (SSS), circle die (Spellbinders), stitched rectangles (MFT), white embossing powder, star dust stickles, crystals

Just Us Girls #695 - Color Week

Hi friends!  The new Just Us Girls challenge is up and this week it's our Color Week challenge.  Lisa E. is our hostess and she has chosen AQUA and APRICOT.  I love these colors!

 

I had so many ideas running in my head, mostly pumpkins, but I instead went with a floral design.  I chose this stencil set from Pink Fresh.  I used only aqua and apricot inks.  I used a lighter hand for the lighter color then a stronger hand to get the darker colors.  I spotted another stencil on my desk, this time a script one.  I decided to stencil over the floral design with a very light gray ink for a different look.  I have to say I love it.  So for the sentiment, I used a sympathy die with a shadow companion die and used a light gray for the shadow.  I added a secondary sentiment with another gray ink.  Crystals were added for sparkle.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our new September (how is it September already?) guest, Stephanie Lanzalotto, on the JUGs blog. 

Welcome Stephanie!  So happy to have you joining us this month!

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Moments of Grace (SSS)

Ink:  Versafine onyx black, apricot, ocean breeze, misty coast, rocky slope

Paper:  White, apricot, gray

Accessories:  Seamless Floral Panel stencils (PF), Script stencil (Hero Arts), With Sympathy die (SSS), stitched rectangle die (MFT), sentence strips die (Gina K), crystals

Just Us Girls #694 - CAS Week

Hello friends!  The CAS Challenge over at Just Us Girls is brought to us by Sue this week.  She has chosen a BABY theme to go along with it.

I pulled out an oldie but a goody stamp set from Papertrey Ink for this challenge.  I started by masking off a section of the main panel and inked it with Kitsch Flamingo ink.  I used another oldie but goody embossing folder.  I haven't used this Swiss Dots folder in a long time.  Then I matched some pattern paper to it and stamped the elephant on it and fussy cut it (no dies with the older sets...ugh).  I also die cut the word die from the same pattern paper.  The secondary sentiment was stamped and die cut on white card stock and all three were adhered to the inked panel.  I matted the main panel on another piece of pattern paper and added crystals and shimmer spritz for that bit of sparkle.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our August guest, Greta, on the JUGs blog.  This is Greta's last week with us and I'd like to thank her for joining us this month with her beautiful cards.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Bitty Baby Blessings (PTI)

Paper:  White, Plaid Patterns (MFT)

Ink:  Memento tuxedo black, Versafine onyx black, kitsch flamingo

Accessories:  Wonder Words: Baby die (PTI), Swiss Dots embossing folder, stitched rectangle die (MFT), crystals, shimmer spritz

Just Us Girls #693 - Photo or Mood Board Challenge

 Hello friends!  Bobby is the hostess over at Just Us Girls for this week's Photo or Mood Board Challenge.  I love the summery feel of this photo she chose.

I loved the starfish and the stripes in the photo, so I was contemplating a card with those aspects.  I didn't think I had a starfish, but I actually found one in my Crop & Create Cardmaking event box from this past March.  I haven't had a chance to make everything from that event yet but I've been going in there from time to time to make some of the cards.  There is so much in there!  Anyway, I found a set from Concord & 9th in the box and there was a starfish die in it!  The card made with this set also had blue stripes.  So I decided to make the card and enter it here.  Cathy Zielske was the teacher for this class and this card is her design. I did change out the sentiment.

I started by using a stencil with this Concord & 9th set to ink the stripes on two squares.  Then I used a square stencil to ink the sky backgrounds. I die cut them with a postage stamp die, also from the set.  Then I die cut the starfish, sailboat, life saver, and bridge from various card stocks and added them to the die cut postage stamps.  I used the stamps from the set to stamp them to look like actual postage stamps.  I die cut the wheat card stock with the large postage stamp die and added the smaller postage stamps and sentiment.  (I used the word "stamp" a lot here, huh?)

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our August guest on the JUGs blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Seaside Post (C&9th), Brushstroke Expressions (MFT)

Paper:  White, blueberry, rust, wheat, buttercup

Ink:  Versafine onyx black, buttercup, harbor, nectar, spiced cider, blueberry

Accessories:  Seaside Post dies and stencil set (C&9th), sequins

Just Us Girls #692 - Word Week

Hello friends!  I'm the hostess over at Just Us Girls this week and I've chosen the word

BEE.

I'm seeing bees a lot in decor and thought it would be a good word for card making.

 

So you may remember the background of flowers on my card from last week.  When I made last week's card, I made four of these floral backgrounds.  I was going to use a honeycomb stencil when I saw the remaining three backgrounds on my desk and thought it would look great with a bee on it.  So I started by stamping the bee and coloring it with copic markers.  I die cut it two more times and layered it for dimension. I die cut the word bee three times as well from black paper and stacked them. Then I went on a hunt to find a secondary word that would work and settled on awesome.  To add some interest and fun, I put the bee on a wobbler.  I love how she moves!  I added star dust stickles to her wings, flower and drink and some black clay hearts to finish off the card.  Now I'll have to see how I use the remaining two backgrounds in other cards.  Who knows?  Maybe you'll see one next week!

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our August guest on the JUGs blog.

Thanks for buzzing by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Beekini Season (Honey Bee), Monster Love (MFT)

Paper:  White, black

Ink:  Memento tuxedo black, Versafine onyx black, copic markers, sunshine, marigold, summer shower, grassy knoll, warm buff

Accessories:  Spectacular Sunflower stencils (Gina K), Bee Cool die (Honey Bee), stitched rectangle (MFT), clay hearts, star dust stickles, wobbler

Just Us Girls #691 - Color Week

 Hi friends!  Vicki has chosen a pretty color combo for this week's Just Us Girls Color Week challenge.

I recently watched a Jennifer McGuire video where she used this stencil from Gina K Designs to create this design.  I loved it so much (and of course the stencil) I had to get it but it was out of stock.  I put myself on a wait list and when it came back in stock I snatched it up!  The technique was very cool.  I started by cutting a full piece of card stock into four equal pieces and taped them back together on the back.  I put the stencil in the center of the piece and stenciled it in the challenge colors.  When I took it apart, a quarter of the design was on one corner of each panel.  I kept arranging the panels so that the center was blank and stenciled again.  I did have to mask a few petals on the final time I stenciled.  I used the mask to stencil in the leaves too.  The sentiment was die cut three times and stacked for dimension.  I added crystals for shimmer.  The main panel was popped up with craft foam and adhered on a yellow card base.

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our new guest for August, Greta Hess, on the JUGs blog.  Welcome Greta!

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Paper:  White, yellow, black

Ink: Sunshine, marigold, summer shower, grassy knoll, warm buff (Pink Fresh)

Accessories:  Spectacular Sunflower stencils (Gina K), happy birthday die (Creek Bank Creations), stitched rectangle (MFT), crystals, craft foam

Just Us Girls #690 - CASE a Design Team Member Challenge

 Hi friends!  We have a fun challenge over at Just Us Girls this week.  It's our CASE a Design Team Member challenge.  The design team did not have any parameters to follow for this challenge and could create any card they wanted.  The challenge is for our participants to choose one of the design team members cards and CASE it, changing it in some way.  

So my card may look a little odd, but there is a story behind it.  Our friend's son just graduated from high school and has enlisted in the Navy.  He leaves in mid-August and his party was last night.  So I pulled out my anchor die and a graduation stamp/die set.  His school colors are purple and white so I chose a pinstripe background stamp and stamped it in purple.  The anchor and grad cap were die cut three times each and stacked.  I added the grad cap to the top of the anchor.  The sentiment was stamped and die cut then adhered to the panel.  I added the secondary sentiment in black ink.  I thought it came out cute and hope he likes it (but I'm sure he'll like what's inside the card more...LOL!).

You can see more from the JUGs design team on the JUGs blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Grad Party (SSS), pinstripe bg (MFT)

Paper:  White, black

Ink:  Lavender, Versafine onyx black

Accessories:  Anchors Away (Spellbinders), Grad Party dies (SSS), stitched rectangle (MFT)

Just Us Girls #689 - CAS Week

Hello friends!  Ina is our hostess this week over at Just Us Girls for our CAS Week challenge.  She has chosen for us to make a CAS card with three of something on it. 

I've been going through my box of crafty goodness from the Scrapbook.com card event from March that I still haven't gotten to!  It's so sad, but the stuff in there is so amazing!  I found this stamp, die, and paper pack from Scrapbook.com and it looked so cute I had to use it.  I die cut the strawberries using the die and the strawberry paper from the paper pack.  The tops were also die cut using a die and green paper from the same pack.  They were die cut two more times from white card stock and stacked for dimension.  I die cut the sentiment from black card stock three times and stacked it too.  I die cut the white panel and ran it through an impression plate for some texture (I hate a plain white panel!).  Then I die cut a piece of gingham pattern paper from the same paper pack using a stitched rectangle.  I stamped the secondary sentiment with black ink.  As I was posting this to the JUGs blog, I saw my friend Nancy also used strawberries on her card!  I did not see it before I did mine!  Great minds I guess! LOL!

You can see more from the JUGs design team and our July guest on the JUGs blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

Recipe

Stamps:  Berry Sweet (Scrapbook.com)

Paper:  White, black, Berry Sweet pattern paper (Scrapbook.com)

Ink:  Versafine onyx black

Accessories:  Berry Sweet dies (Scrapbook.com), stitched rectangles (MFT), impression plate (PTI)