NBUS Flower and CAS Mix Up Guest Designer

Hello Stamplings!

I hope you are doing well as we start this first day of June! Of note, today is National Pen Pal day! (You see what I did there?) Thanks to this wonderful blogging community of cardmakers, I'd like to thank all of the 200+ amazing pen pals friends who exchange awesome handmade cards with me!

The sales were insanely tempting this past weekend. Did you cave in? It was hard to resist and if you didn't resist, I hope you got everything you wanted!  

Due to a win in Febrooary, this month it is my pleasure to be the Guest Designer for CAS Mix Up!! CAS Mix Up has been on hiatus and it is wonderful to have the challenge open again! CAS Mix Up has a rotation of themes and for June the theme is "Stencils." In addition to a theme, there is a prompt for you to follow and the prompt for June is "Pastes/Gels." 

Here is my card to inspire you:

I have to tell you that when Jenny told me the theme was "stencils," I was glad because I purchased quite a few of them over the last coupla years and I even made up cool binders for them ... and then I pretty much ignored them. This was just the kick in the pants I needed to stencil again.

But then when she went on to tell me I needed to use a stencil AND embossing paste or gel, I literally gulped. Just like they do in novels.

Now what do I do? Embossing pastes and gels are another thing I got into for five minutes five years ago and then pretty much ignored. But, okay. I can do this. They wouldn't call it a challenge if it weren't challenging. And you know what? I ended up having the best time making my card. Forgive me for tooting my own honker, but I love how it turned out!

What happened first was, I blended CP Aquatini onto a white card through the NBUS round flower stencil from Funky Fossil.

Next, I applied the gel medium through the stencil. I hope you can see in some of the photos the wonderful silky "feel" that happens when the gel hardens. It is translucent, so the pretty aqua color remained.

Next I used a Poppystamps Pointed Rectangle Die to cut a frame to go around the circle. Because this is a CAS challenge, the card design needs to be clean and simple. That means lots of white space, so I cut the circle in half and made two cards. (I temporarily taped the circle back together on the back in order to take the photos for this post.)

So I held my half-circle up this way and that on my card and I finally decided to use it as a faux flap on a colored card panel. I know, I'm with you on wishing it opened up as a tri-fold, but it never even occurred to me until I saw it finished. To bring the eye in and make the design consistent, I added a matching pierced frame as a border. 

Now. What to do about a sediment? I was looking through my various word dies, when my little hamster helper challenged me to add another stencil element to really inspire everyone! Well, that was a cracklin good idea, but I don't have any word stencils ...

... so I just made one using a Hugs die from MFT! Shazambam! I used Dreamweaver Pearlescent Embossing Paste through the homemade stencil and it really worked a shiny treat. 

It's an honor to join the extremely talented group of designers at CAS Mix Up for June and I encourage you to check out their cards for lots of great design ideas ~ then get your stencil groove on using embossing paste or gel and join the gallery! If I can do it, you can do it, and I can't wait to see what you make!

Twofer

Real quick, here is another card that I made a while ago for a dear friend. I love this little mum-like stencil flower, but it's unmarked so I can't help you there. I do wish all stencil manufacturers would etch their names on their stencils. I used Gina K. Glitter Gel mixed with some Opal Magic (pink-blue) acrylic paint. The amazing sediment is from "Unforgettable" by WPlus9. Here's a closeup of the schparkle:

Challenges

• Addicted to Stamps and More: Die cuts and/or stencils.
  
• Just Us Girls: Photo challenge. Love the big pink flowers in the bike basket.
  
• Retro Rubber: The pp is years old and the sediment stamp set is from 2015.

~~~

Enjoy your day! No, seriously, enjoy! LITS!*

I'm excited that I'm going to be seeing some crafty friends over the next few days and, after that, enjoying some non-crafty time with another dear longtime friend! Pray for us that Covid leaves us alone to have some long-awaited time together. Mwah!

*Life is too short!

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