BUGS!

It's no secret that I have a particular fondness for bugs - always have had. So when it was my turn to be the Addicted to CAS Challenge #197 host this week, I couldn't resist sharing my fascination with all of you! I'm really looking forward to seeing what you guys, with all of your creativity, come up with. Just remember to have fun and keep it CAS!

A couple of months ago I got this rubber stamp set from Katzelkraft (#KT234 "Les Nounounes") with the most wonderfully whimsical creatures and I've been playing around with them. I used the praying mantis on my Valentines cards and couldn't really decide which one(s) I wanted to use for our ATCAS Challenge, so I made two. This is the one I decided on:

I started by stamping both bug images with black ink on white card stock and coloring them with my COPID markers. Then to ground the images I made a stencil with a PTI heart die, masked off the bugs, and blended some pink ink into the heart stencil. The image was finished off with little hearts and the "Bugs & Kisses" sentiment. I punched double slots  on the heart and wove a rose-colored paper strip that I had heat embossed "Sending You" onto. The white cardstock was mounted to a printed cardstock mat and both layers were mounted to a white side-folding card base. The rose strip wraps around to the inside of the card.

While I was playing with these little guys, I also made this card:

 Again, I stamped this little lady in black on a white die-cut rectangle and colored her with my COPID markers. It's not really very noticeable, but I added sun glasses from a Lawn Fawn stamp set ("Simply Celebrate Summer"). I masked her off and stamped the greeting (Lawn Fawn "Scriptly Sayings") and the pink background (Stampers Anonymous "Haunted House" # CMS308 by Tim Holtz) and then over-stamped the small sentiment (Hero Arts #CM351). Before mounting this to a white top-folding card base, I extended the greeting onto the card base and added the printed stripe strip from my stash. I liked these stripes because they already had dark pink stipples. I finished the card with three tiny teal gems. I know exactly who's going to receive this card!

Well, now it's your turn! 

Be sure to visit our other designers' blogs to let them know how much you love their creations.