CRISP, CLEAN, & SIMPLE

A FLYing and stamping buddy MissBoo started a new weekly challenge over on SplitCoast Stampers. IT is the CAS Challenge. CAS stands for Clean And Simple. This is a challenge for those who don't want to do cards that are overly elaborate with lots of layers and embellishments and that take hours to design and make. Those fancy cards are beautiful don't get me wrong. I love seeing them and I love making them when I need a card that will not be mailed, but I also like the idea of CAS cards. IF for no other reason but that they can be mailed for 42 cents (well at least until May).

I decided to take on MissBoo's first challenge. It was to take inspiration from one of two pieces of flannel and make a CAS card. One pieve of the flannel had butterflies and the other had frogs. I choose to be inspired by the butterflies since I knew I had lots of butterfly stamps to choose from. I'm not sure I have any frogs. I could have used the colors of the flannel for my inspiration, but I wanted to do a white card. Here is what I came up with............................................

You know CAS cards are not all that easy to do. Either that or they just take some getting used to doing. There's so much white space. My tendency is to what to fill in empty spaces. But I resisted. A caution also for working with mainly white cards. MAKE VERY SURE YOUR FINGERS ARE VERY CLEAN!!!!!!!! Also make sure your work space is clean. Smudges and fingerprints really show up on white card stock.

Having made my first CAS card I wanted to try and make another. Totally on my own no jumping off point from a challenge. I had recently found this wonderful quilt block stamp from the Lockhart Co. I decided to try a birthday card with it. Here is my card. I colored it using my copic markers and I was happy that I have quite a few of the original style markers. They have a fine point nib on one end and that was really helpful in getting into the small spaces on this stamp.

IF you have a few moments of stamping time why not try a CAS card. They may not end up being your favorite style of card but they can be fun and yes they can be a challenge.

Tomorrow I'm taking a break from cards and showing you what I have been doing to my stamp room. It took some work, but I'm loving it.