I do particularly like those days when I am eating chocolate cake

Sharing a QCAS card featuring one of the cute pandas from the Lovely Pandas set by Gerda Steiner Designs.

The prompt at Less is More had me reaching for this NBUS stamp set and this cute little guy who is peering around something fit the bill perfectly for an off-centre placement.  To keep my card one layer, I printed my computer-generated sentiment before stamping the image in Antique Linen Distress Ink and watercolouring the image.  I know pandas are meant to be white and black but every photo that looks the cutest on the web had the panda with a slightly golden glow, I know it’s really dirty fur from all that hard work of lounging around looking so adorable but still I went with it for the realism.  And, let’s face, colouring white is always so hard!

Given how CAS my card is, it more than qualifies for the current challenge at Krafty Chicks, where I’m also linking it up.

How my card fits the theme at Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers is a bit more obscure but I’m sure Edna will understand.  Or maybe not, maybe if she found out on a Monday while cutting the birthday cake she’d made for a colleague that it was another colleague’s birthday the next day she’d just shrug and say “this cake is for the both of you”.  But sadly, I don’t have Edna’s snark, not in real life anyway and not when the colleague in question is having a really crappy time at work at the moment.  So, home I went and after the usual dinner routine I raided the pantry to see what was available to make a cake.  The answer wasn’t all that much but I did manage to scrounge ingredients together for a chocolate cake.

With the cake finally in the oven I sat down to make the card.  Unfortunately, when it was done the cake was out of the oven but not cool enough to decorate, so into the freezer it went while into the shower I went.  After decorating and a quick kitchen clean, I finally climbed into bed near on 1:00 in the morning.  Alright except I get up at 5:00 for work.

So, suffice to say, the whole episode led to one big headache, only soothed by the look on my colleague’s face when he saw he had not only cake but a handmade card signed by the whole team.  Oh, and my own slice of chocolate cake heaven really helped too!

Ingredients:

Inks & Paints etc

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ Antique Linen, Black Soot & Ground Espresso

Papers

Bellbird Paperarts Card ~ 300gsm Cotton Blend

Stamps

Gerda Steiner Designs ~ GSD663 Lovely Pandas

Challenges

Krafty Chicks #490 ~ CAS

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Um...yeah, I think so

Sharing a card featuring part of the uber cute Carpenter Joe image from Tiddly Inks.

Sadly this image didn’t make the cut when Christy moved back to Esty and closed her online store.  I’ve cropped down Joe to fit with the sketch I’ve used, which is from CAS(E) this Sketch.  He’s the flower element and I’ve done the rectangle element with some ink blending.  I then stamped my sentiment over both and threw on some extra embossing ink to make the splatter pattern featured in the sketch.  I figured added the splatter in this way with the colour I’ve gone with makes it kinda like shiny saw dust or maybe some metal shavings, although I know the latter doesn’t really fit with a carpenter but heck, maybe he’s more an all-round handyman like Bob the Builder.

As my card is CAS, I am also entering it in the current challenge at Cardz 4 Guys.  Loads of white space on it with just some single colour matting to add a bit of interest.  They’ve got a real simple happy birthday theme at TGIF this week so I’m linking up there too.

Ingredients:

Chalks & Powders etc

Bellbird Paperarts Embossing Powder ~ Ultra Fine Copper

Inks & Paints etc

Arteza Real Brush Pens ~ A120 Seaweed Green

Kuretake Starry Colors ~ No. 904 Light Gold

Tim Holtz Distress Ink ~ Black Soot, Candied Apple, Faded Jeans, Gathered Twigs, Ground Espresso, Spun Sugar, Tea Dye & Weathered Wood

Tsukineko Ink ~ VersaMark

Papers

Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock ~ Marshmallow

Bellbird Paperarts Card ~ 210gsm Cotton Blend

Stampin’ Up! Cardstock ~ Blueberry Bushel & Early Espresso

Stamps

Tiddly Inks ~ Carpenter Joe (retired)

Challenges

Cardz 4 Guys #236 ~ Clean and Simple

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If you are curious…If you are determined…

Sharing a card featuring a digi image called Broken Rubik’s Cube from Designesque.

This card is going out to a cuber from work who uses a cube almost like a stress ball.  The speed at which he solves them is nothing short of amazing!  It was his milestone 30^th over the weekend, which called for something more than a simple happy birthday sentiment.  Instead I’ve got what I hope comes off as a funny simile between turning 30 and the cube itself.

As my sentiment is both longer than a word and funny, I am entering my card in the current challenges at Allsorts and Crafty Catz.  Even if the sentiment is only funny in my head, I’ve got the anything goes aspect covered so still good for the Craft Catz challenge.

The layout of my card follows the current sketch at CAS Colour and Sketches.  To keep my card CAS and to tie in with my cube theme, I’ve gone for different single coloured mats matched to the colours of the cube.  There’s something really appealing of the mostly primary colours surrounded by a black border although not quite appealing enough for me to waste hours on trying to solve one the birthday boy’s numerous cubes!

Ingredients:

Inks & Paints etc

Arteza Real Brush Pens ~ A128 Bumblebee Yellow, A112 Orange, A185 Parakeet Green, A101 Red & A131 Sapphire Blue

Papers

Bazzill Card Shoppe Cardstock ~ Marshmallow

Bazzill Classic Cardstock ~ Licorice

Bazzill Smoothie Cardstock ~ Tangy

Stampin’ Up! Cardstock ~ Blueberry Bushel, Call Me Clover, Pineapple Punch & Poppy Parade

Stamps

Designesque ~ Broken Rubik’s Cube

Challenges

Allsorts #555 ~ More than a single word sentiment

Crafty Catz #489 ~ Anything goes / opt. twist Funny

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