Indiana took another winter weather hit last night. Adult snow days don’t happen very often, but today was one of those days giving me a great excuse to get crafty!!

The Artiste Cricut® Cartridge was essential in making this card!! All of the text balloons where cut using that cartridge in White Daisy Cardstock. The chevron pattern comes from the School Years Stamp Set in Ruby Exclusive Ink™, and the dotted pattern comes from the All The Details Stamp Set in Lagoon Exclusive Ink™. The sentiment is stamped using the Word Balloons Stamp Set {which is included in the Artiste Cricut® Cartridge Bundle} also in Ruby Exclusive Ink™. To fit the theme of the rounded edges I used my corner rounder to soften the edges of the card.

This card is designed to be clean and simple. Oh, what a struggle!!! The definition of CAS makes it seem as if these cards should be made quickly without much thought or design process. Not the case!! When I started editing my photos on the first rendition of this card I sat and stared at it feeling as if something was missing. So I grabbed a few Lagoon sequins from the Lollydoodle Workshop On The Go™ Cardmaking Kit. It’s amazing how such a small embellishment can complete a card, and yet still keep it clean and simple!!

This card is linked to THREE blog challenges. The Handstamped Sentiments Sketch Challenge, the Dynamic Duos color challenge, and the CASology Cue Card Challenge.

Today’s sketch is from the Retro Sketches Challenge, and is linked to their blog for the most current challenge. When I saw this sketch I immediately knew which products I was going to use for this card!! I LOVE WHEN THAT HAPPENS!

Starting with a white cardstock base, I added a layer or Proplayer patterned paper, followed by a layer of Outdoor Denim Cardstock, and finally another layer of White Daisy Cardstock. All of Close To My Heart’s colored cardstock are white core, so to let that show I used the Sanding Kit around the edge of the Outdoor Denim Cardstock to create the white border. Now, Proplayer is not a new collection from the Spring/Summer 2014 Idea Book, but it is the first time I’ve played around with it. I bought a packet of this collection, because I love that it is BOY themed!!! I’m the mom of a boy, so boy paper is a treasure when I come across it!! I was saving it for my scrapbook pages, but it just fit my theme too well so I had to use it! I’m thankful that this is one of the four collections that will be transferred into the Spring/Summer 2014 Idea Book {2/1/2014}.

The hexagon stamp and the circular sentiment both come from the same stamp set, Reel Life. The hexagons are stamped first in Crystal Blue Exclusive Ink™ and then the edges are rolled in Outdoor Denim Exclusive Ink™. The circle for the sentiment can be cut 2 ways…you could use the Art Philosophy Cricut® Cartridge/Artiste Cricut® Cartridge like I did or you could use the 1¼” Circle Punch that CTMH offers.

Adding a little 3D Foam Tape & some paper piercing and the card was done!! Although I am a mom of a boy, I do love my embellishments. It was difficult for me not to add some Sparkles or Aqua Dots but I resisted my urges and kept this card masculine!! It was tough, believe me!!

Thanks for stopping by and I would love to hear what you think of this masculine card!!

-Kelly