These two challenges seemed to go hand in hand this week, with CASE Study casing a birthday card and CAS-ual Fridays celebrating their first birthday.  Happy birthday CAS-ual Fridays!!!!!

And as a bonus, it was really fun playing with an all black card!  I really like how it turned out…my sweet pink butterfly gets to be edgy  I also tried stamping directly in the ribbon and heat embossing.  I think I would have had better luck if it wasn’t grosgrain, but it’s still a fun look.

Here are the challenges for anyone who would like to play along!

http://cas-ualfridays.blogspot.ccom/2012/05/cfc51.html

http://casestudychallenge.blogspot.com/2012/05/case-study-challenge-89.html

And here is the lovely May Muse,  Agnieszka Malyszek’s, inspiration card:

And my take on it!

Young Crafters Unite always hosts really cool challenges for things I’ve never thought about…my first try with them was for the clear card challenge.  I’m so thankful that they encouraged me, since I’ve now tried several clear cards with great success.  Thanks ladies!!

This challenge is to make a card without the use of coloring. Usually I would hop to my go-to, the die cutting machines, but I thought I’d use it as an excuse to try something new.  I’ve never stamped on colored and pattered papers and then used them with paper piecing.  I love the result when others try it, so I did my best today  My cup and saucer are stamped on a floral paper while the steam and spoon were stamped onto silver cardstock.  I really dig the result and I’m so happy I stepped out of my comfort zone.

Here’s a link to the challenge and my take on it!

http://youngcraftersunite.com/2012/04/challenge-9-no-coloring-allowed/

If it’s Tuesday, it’s time for a fabulous Trigger challenge at the Moxie Fab blog

http://www.moxiefabworld.com/2012/05/tuesday-trigger-vintage-vogue.html

This week’s trigger is the Vintage Vogue photo…super light, airy and a little bit sparkly…gotta love it!

I decided to challenge myself with a more layered/vintage style card.  Not my usual, but I had some fun new stamps to try and I thought it would be a good fit.  I played around with some scrub board stuff for the first time as well.  I layered on oil pastels and chalk pastels and then sprinkeled some gold embossing powder on top of that.  The dress form’s wings appear to be barnwood splattered with gold!  Kind of crazy, but I liked the effect.  My gold dots are just run of the mill brass fasteners, but I think they really popped for being cheapies

Here’s my take on this week’s challenge!

Getting excited for my trip to Minnesota to see my Grandma for Mother’s Day!  She’s my biggest cheerleader and my kindred spirit.  Made this card for her, since she likes the big bold elements best

Also submitting these to the CASEStudy Challenge and CAS-ual Fridays, flower element challenges!

Here are the links to both challenges for anyone who would like to play along!

http://casestudychallenge.blogspot.com/2012/04/case-study-challenge-88.html

http://cas-ualfridays.blogspot.com/2012/04/cfc50.html

To quote Joey Lawrence…Whoa.  I can’t believe I’m this week’s winner at CASEStudy!!  It has been my favorite challenge blog to follow for a year and I never in a million years would have guessed I would be the winner.  Everyone who competes is so talented and I draw so much inspiration from them, I feel truly honored.  It’s a great day to  celebrate!  Hosing a girls’ craft day today, so this is just the icing on the cake of what’s going to be a fabulous day

Today I had a few extra minutes to whip up a birthday card for my mom and also jump into two card challenges from two fabulous challenge blogs, CAS-ual Friday and The Play Date Cafe!   I really love the bold color choice from the Cafe and the really cool, minimalist sketch from CAS-ual Fridays, so this was a really fun card to put together.

Here are the links to the challenges for anyone who would like to play along!

http://cas-ualfridays.blogspot.com/2012/04/cfc49.html

http://theplaydatecafe.blogspot.com/2012/04/play-date-cafe-pdcc128.html

I’m a big fan of this month’s Muse  Her cards are so lovely and her layering is FABULOUS!  As a CAS girl myself, I find it hard to layer and make it look crisp and coherent.  Usually….a big ol mess  It was really fun to see her take on CAS this week and I totally dig the color scheme and graphic elements.

My take on it is headed to a soon-to-be 2 year old, sweet, sweet girl. I know she’ll be a fan of the glitter

Here’s the challenge link! http://casestudychallenge.blogspot.com/2012/04/case-study-challenge-87.html

And here’s the inspiration card:

And here’s my take on it!