CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #5: Card Sketch

It's another CAS-ual Friday Wednesday today! This week's challenge is to use the below sketch and make a card.

I've participated in a couple of CFC's but I usually interpret the challenge in form of a layout. So I'm excited to share a card with you this time! The sketch was very close to a design I had in mind so it worked out! I made this card to accompany my "Will You Fly Me Away" mini album as a total package gift for my very special someone. I'll stop the sappiness here and just share the card. :)

Here's a closer look at one of my favorite parts of this card is the beautiful Kaisercraft Chapter One pattern paper used to make the hot air baloon and the Crate Paper Neighborhood pattern paper used to embellish it.

Used: Kaisercraft pattern paper; Crate Paper pattern paper and cardstock sticker label; EK Success border punch; Me & My Big Ideas; DMC embroidery floss; Michael's heart button

Hope you likes! :)

Now last but certainly not the least, a great big surprise to see my layout featured in yesterday's Two Peas In A Bucket weekly newsletter! A very big thank you to Two Peas! Woohoo!

Thanks for stopping by!
- KRAFTY pearl

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #3: Bring the Bling

It's once again Wednesday, but here, it'll be another CAS-ual Friday! This week's challenge is "Bring the Bling" in a clean & simple way. Sometimes it's very easy to overdo it with bling, so I'm glad CAS-ual Fridays came up with the challenge.

My guy and I love dogs! The other day, we met a friend's 3-month old Boston Terrier puppy. He is one of the cutest puppies ever! I quickly snapped this pic of my guy totally melting while holding the pup. It was certainly "love at first sight"! I loved the moment and the pic, so I just had to scrap it!

The layout design has been floating in my head since I first saw the Paper Smooches Boob Tube set. I wanted the layout to be cute yet masculine... To achieve "cute", I incorporated a heart, rhinestones as telly knobs and electrical current accents, and the super adorable Boob Tube image. To achieve "masculine", I used muted colors/neutral patterns from Cosmo Cricket's Togetherness collection and Echo Park's For the Record collection, made it a little off-center for the "thrown-together" look, and industrial-looking wire antennas to top off the super cute Boob Tube image.

So whaddaya think? Can cute and masculine coexist? :)

Here's a closer look: The antennas were created by twisting wire around a skewer to desired length. I then removed the skewer and attached the wire to the page with white thread. (It looks invisible.) The electrical current was drawn freehand. The rhinestones and twisted wire give a doubly bling and shiny effect.

I adore the telly images from the Boob Tube set by Paper Smooches. They're so cute and versatile! Love! To give the layout some additional dimension, I used 3-D pop dots to affix the Boob Tube to the page.

Used: Cosmo Cricket pattern papers, Echo Park pattern papers and alphabet stickers, Paper Smooches Boob Tube stamp, staineless steel wire from my dad's garage stash, Me & My Big Ideas rhinestones, Bic Mark-it markers

Thank you for the great inspiration, CAS-ual Fridays! And thanks to the lovely Girl Fridays who stopped by my last post and so kindly left encouraging comments!

And lastly, a big thank you to Aussie Scrap Source for featuring my "Blooms" layout two weekends ago. I used the Martha Stewart/EK Success punches in many different ways in it and it's one of my favorite layouts. Check out the post for more inspiration!

Thanks for looking!
- KRAFTY pearl

CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #1: Texting Skills

It may be Wednesday, but it's CAS-ual Friday here! My bestie, a CAS-ual Fridays design team member introduced me to the new challenge blog dedicated to clean & simple design. Its inaugural challenge was posted this past Friday: Texting Skills.

One goal crossed off of my 2011 list is: start craft blog. It seems like a simple enough thing to do, but having maintained this blog for the last 4 months, I can say that each post is a mini production on its own. Like a print magazine, there's a photo shoot, copy writing, sourcing, and timely publishing with each post. I would even call it a second 'job' if I didn't love it so much. Being that it's become a large part of my life, I wanted to document it in a clean & simple layout. The title "breaking free" is about having my blog as a platform to speak freely about my creative endeavors.

It was so nice to complete a layout with a simple and straight-forward design. What I loved most about creating this layout is that it challenged me to stay true to my contemporary whimsical craft style while keeping a very clean & simple design. I created dimension and texture with a paper-cutting technique in the title but was still able to keep the design very clean. I think it shows that designing with a CAS style doesn't mean loss of crafting technique! Thanks, CAS-ual Fridays, for great inspiration!

Here's a closer look at my "texting skills":

• The title was stamped and then following the letters' outline I cut the tops and bottoms leaving the middle of the letters still attached to the cardstock base... it gives the appearance that the title is "breaking free" from the cardstock. :)
  


• I then curled the detached parts to make the title pop.


• I also cut the negative parts of the letters so when I slipped a French-English dictionary page under, the text would fill in the negative parts of the letters, for a double text effect.
  

Used: Kaisercraft pattern papers; Papertrey Ink Outlines alpha stamps; Bazzil cardstock; EK Success border punch; Fiskars craft knife

Thanks for stopping by and check out the CAS-ual Fridays blog for awesome clean & simple inspiration! Hope you like my interpretation of their first challenge!

-KRAFTY pearl