Mutual Admiration CASEing Society (MACS) ~ Becca!

Hello Lovely Friends,

If you're looking for NBUS Challenge #3, please click HERE.

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How about that? We managed to whoosh around to the second Friday of the new year already! Those darn Time Flies are already on the move! Today I have a very special treat for you! To give it justice, this turned into an epic post, so please go pour yourself a beverage, grab a snack, and kick your shoes off.

Let me start by introducing you to Becca Cruger, a very special card artist and a very charming young lady:

Becca's blog is Damsel of Distressed. It's about a small-town girl with glitter on her fingers and a love of card artistry in her heart! She has only been blogging since September, but she has already won many awards. More importantly, she has won over many hearts in Blogland in her short time here by her enthusiasm for this hobby and by how she has embraced her fellow card artists and left them lots of love during her frequent visits! 

As far as her style goes, I think her own words describe her best when she says she likes to mix up her card art style between vintage, distressed and grungy, clean and simple, and humorous. A style for everybody! 

Detour to CASEville

Let's take a few minutes to pull over and talk about CASEing. Or at least CASEing as I understand it and as it relates to me.

It is the ultimate compliment in our community to CASE another card artist. Blog etiquette, of course, requires that we give credit to the artists we are CASEing. (By the way, CASE stands for Copy And Share Everything.) Some people CASE by pretty much making an identical card, but I think most of us find that as we start to copy the design elements of another card, pretty soon our own sense of style works its way in. When that happens, their card becomes our card, Al Beit, still heavily under the influence. As such, our card should not operate heavy machinery.

~~~So. I've been making cards since 2002. Before I knew blogs existed, I used to cut pictures of cards out of stamping magazines and put them in binders for future inspiration, i.e., to CASE, although, at the time, I'd never heard the aackronym CASE. Did you do that? Or just save mags? 

There are literally hundreds of cut-outs in my binders. Can anyone say, "delusional!" To my credit, you can see I made an effort because every time I CASEd a card I ripped the picture out of the binder.

~~~So. Then when I found blogs three years ago, I started a "CASE Someday" folder in my Gmail. In that short time,  there are 602 entries!

Can anyone say "delusional!" Cough.

~~~Oh, hahaha, but, wait! There's more! I also have a Pinboard called Card Ideas which is really the same thing: cards I want to CASE Someday!! I started that a couple of years ago. Today there are over 1,400 cards and 21,500 followers. Apparently there are a LOT of us who aspire to do some CASEing Someday!! AND, wait, wait, what about the NBUS Challenge Pinboards I have which together and to-date have over 850 cards in the galleries, all CASE-worthy?!

Can anyone say ... okay, okay, you get the point. It's pretty delusional to think I can CASE thousands of cards in my lifetime, but golly gee, I sure like to think so! I keep hoping that darn hamster will actually start making cards!

~~~So. Last January 14th, 2014, I resolved to start a new feature on my blog whereby every Friday I whooshed around to present a card that I had CASED, calling it a DJKASE instead of a CASE just because I thought it was cute to be sort of matchy-matchy with my blog name. We won't talk about how many Fridays it took before that every-single-Friday resolution fell over and died. Sigh. But I do continue the feature when I can.

Other CASErs

Of course, I'm not alone in the idea of featuring cards and/or card artists or CASEing cards from a Pinboard. To name a few others:

1. There is a Pinspired Challenge for turning pins into cards (CASEing).
2. CASE-ing the Catty is a challenge for CASEing cards from the SU catalogs.
3. For a time, Wida had a fun "telephone" type game of CASEing here.
4. Kara of K and R Designs has a CASE challenge based on her Pinboard called "Friday Inspiration File."
5. Noor of Paperie Designs Studio did "Fascinating Fridays" posts where she featured a total of 123 card artists before she stopped last fall.
6. I am reminded of another former website by Maria F. It was the "Iron Craft" series over on  Chaitali's Cuts, Crops, and Creativity.
7. Mynn has started a brand-new challenge called CASE-ing Christmas.
8. Kelly of You and Your Big Dreams does a regular feature called "CASEing Genius" where she interviews and CASEs cards of other card artists who inspire her.
9. And just recently, Bev of Happy Dance put a tab at the top of her home page called "Brought to You By" where she will post cards she has CASEd.

There are a couple of others that I'm drawing a blank on at the moment and I'm sure there are lots of others I haven't seen yet. If you're one, please let me know in a comment or email and I will edit this post to add your feature.

~~~So. That's the back story on my history with CASEing inspirational card artists. This brings us back to Becca!

Being an observant cookie and an imaginative girl in her own right, Becca recently started a feature called "Featured Fridays!" The special thing about Becca's feature is that she "interviews" her featured card artists so you get to know them as well as their cards. It's similar to the Creative Blog Hops that went around last year, except with the added delight of the CASEings Becca does. 

I had the honor of being asked by Becca to be a featured artist. I said, "Of course," but with the caviar that I would turn around and honor her as well ala a DJKASE. So she sent me her interview questions and I sent them right back to her. 

We agreed to go live at the same time and the Mutual Admiration CASEing Society (MACS) was born! I don't remember ever seeing where that's been done before with mutual live CASE postings. Someone will tell me if I'm wrong. Knowing my memory, there will be such a thing and I'll have participated in it! I'll be embarrassed, but then I'll get over it. Or. Or, maybe it really is a first!

Below are Becca's answers and over on Becca's blog are my answers. First, please enjoy this look at three of Becca's favorite cards:

Simply fantastic! Here are Becca's interview answers:

1. How did you get your start in stamping?

My grandmother was an amazing woman and she patiently taught me all sorts of everything I never knew I didn't know - including how to stamp. She let me raid her supplies and would never complain when I asked for yet another ribbon or embellishment. I would peer over her shoulder as she showed me new things and she always praised my work - whether it deserved it or not. She passed away in November and I miss her so much, but am so grateful for all those days spent across from her at her kitchen table, happily inking away. 

2. What's the craziest/funniest thing you've ever made?

I think the craziest thing I've ever made was my "Inspiration Station". When I first began blogging, I was going CRAZY trying to figure out how to keep track of all those due dates and which challenges belonged where. So I bought and old window frame, locked myself in my craft room for 5 hours and used my trusty glue gun, some cord, and lots of glitter to create an organization method. I now print out each challenge's photo and hang it on my Inspiration Station to stare at me and remind me how many things I wish I could do! 

3. If you could be any craft supply, what would you be and why?

Distress Inks! They are gorgeous, versatile, never make the same thing twice, and messy - just like me! Ok, I might be stretching the gorgeous part a little, but I'll take what I can get. Plus they are attached to Tim Holtz and - let's be honest - I wouldn't mind being in his hands all the time ... :) 

4. What kind of cards are your favorite to make?

As the last question may have told you, I really like to work with Distress Inks and any sort of mixed media. Embossing paste, stencils, textures! The more things I can throw on a card, the happier I am. I also REALLY like to create punny cards, which usually are bright and much cleaner. I'm a sucker for a good laugh. 

5. What are your favorite card making challenges?

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE STAMPlorations's challenges. They have 4 of them every month: 2 sketches, one monthly themed challenge, and one for their customer gallery. Besides the last challenge, you don't have to use STAMPlorations's products, which I also like because it gives a fair shake to anyone. And they give away a ton of prizes, in my opinion. Plus their design team members are just the nicest ever and leave lots of comments for you. 

I also love Eclectic Ellapu (although I'm a little biased because I just made their DT). I've been a long-time participant though. They have so many cool mixed media projects!

I also really like Retro Rubber Challenge, which is brand new. I'm a lover of all things vintage - including old rubber stamps and this challenge wants to see all those old stamps you've got in your collection. It's fun to bring back some of your old, forgotten favorites. 

Lastly, and this is probably technically not a challenge but still really cool, is the Card Chain Challenge run by Deborah Nolan of Society of Stampaholics. Every month there's a sign up and you can exchange a card with someone somewhere else in the world. I've made so many bloggy friends this way!

6. What is your least favorite crafting supply?

Non-blendable markers. I really can do nothing with them. They hate me.

7. What's your advice for new stampers/bloggers?

Do what makes you happy! Don't participate in challenges that don't inspire you. And comment on as many blogs as you can. If you visit a blog and don't leave a comment, nobody will know you've been there and they can't come visit you back. Also - take lots of pictures of your process. People like that stuff. I think... Or maybe it's just me.

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My DJKASE of Becca

And now here is another one of Becca's pretty cards which I chose to DJKASE:

Becca's card

I was especially inspired by this card because Becca included it in her very moving tribute to her grandmother here. 

This is my DJKASE:

Darnell's card

I used two heart punches to make the masks and then I sponged some distress inks (oh, yes, I did!!) on a white panel. Over that I stamped the En Francais stamp by SU. The tag is a NBUS die from Papertrey Ink and the NBUS sediment is from the Waltzingmouse "Compact Sentiments" set. 

I hope you like my card, Becca! Thank you very much for your friendship, for featuring me on your blog today, and for the privilege of featuring you!!

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Because I was all chatty about CASEing, you are prolly plum wore out, which isn't fair to Becca. I'd love to have you mustard the energy to go say hello to Becca, leave her some love, and join her site! And, bonus, when you are there, you can read her interview of MOI faux gras and see her beautiful CASE of one of my cards!

I hope you have enjoyed this first episode of MACS! If you like, you can use the term and acronym in your own posts when you do something similar. However, the interview questions used in my post today are Becca's, so please ask her permission if you would like to use them.

Maybe we can change the world with all this mutual love and admiration, one MACS at a time!! Hmm, now I'm thinking in terms of changing the world that it should be SMAC! Society of Mutually Admired CASErs has a nice ring to it!

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