Solidarity and Uber-Duber CAS

Hello Stamplings!

I hope this finds you doing well! Welcome to March! 

I'm going to jump right in today. Lots to cover and I'm starting with this card I made to show solidarity with the people of Ukraine.

Bright blue and yellow are the colors of the Ukrainian flag and the sunflower is their national flower. Many of you know talented Blogland card artist, Yana Smakula. She is living in this nightmare right now and has information on her blog about how you can help if you are able. It has been heartening to see so much of the world standing strong and united against this madness and war. 

I have been intrigued to learn the background of Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and how he came into office. The egos of politicians are well-known, so I was quite moved to read that in his inaugural address, President Zelenskyy told his Cabinet and others not to put his portrait on their office walls. He urged them instead to hang photos of their children and to look at their children's faces each time they made a decision. Wow. Refreshing.

I feel a rant coming on, but that is not why you visit ~ well, not for that kind of rant anyway! So let's return to the language of cards, which is a language of love. The rest of the cards today were schparked by the challenge at AAA Cards where the prompt is to use one-ninth of an A2 card panel, plus your favorite animal. 

Onefer

Hmmm? Which animal is my favorite?! As we used to say when we were kids, I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't count. 😂 Needless to say, Hammy took center stage in the middle space, being the star he is! This hamster stamp and die are from the Birthday Wishing set from Colorado Craft. I love that his arms are outstretched to give you a hug!

Twofer

This wee porcupine is as old as the SU hills and I still love him. He came with his own "hang in there" sediment, but I used this unmarked NBUS sediment instead because of the size and the font.

Vellum One/Ninth Tool

I can't remember who taught me back in 2013 how to make a template to help place images and sediments to make them more "pleasing" to the eye. To make a template, you take a piece of vellum the same size as an A2 card (4.25 x 5.5) and divide it into nine equal rectangles. Where the rectangles intersect is where your eye naturally rests and for uber CAS designs, the template helps keep your elements where you want them.

In the photo above, you can see a portion of my template off to the side. Over the years I've made several because, being vellum, they seem to slip away and hide.

Threefer

This NBUS nurse and sediment are part of the Call the Doctor set by Your Next Stamp.

When I began blogging, this uber duber QACAS style of card design was my go-to style. I have evolved over the years to making designs that aren't quite so minimalist, so I had a lot of fun returning to (mostly) one-layer super simple cards. If I have more time this week, I hope to make six more cards with six different stamps for six different occasions to occupy the six remaining spaces of the nine-spot template, but for now I stopped with the nurse.

Ouch!

And I stopped with the nurse to let you know that in six days I will be in surgery getting a completely new right hip! I've been in pain and unable to walk any distance without a cane since June of last year, so you can imagine how becited I am to finally get it fixed! (That's all the complaining I will do because I know there are many of you who have had to wait much longer for surgery and my heart goes out to you.) I am really looking forward to being able to take my daily walks again ~ and so is Nellie!

I'm not sure when I'll be back with a post, but as I recover I hope to be able to visit and comment. 

Enjoy the days ahead! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*

*Life is too short!

Challenges

AAA Cards: Game 209 ~ 1/9th + favorite animal. Onefer.

Color Hues: Joining with Seize the Birthday to flood the internet with #cards for Ukraine. Thank you, ladies! Sunflower.

Krafty Chicks: All occasions. Twofer.
Less is More: OLC +JOW (one-layer card plus just one word). Threefer.
• SSS Wednesday: Anything goes. Sunflower.