Good Monday to each and everyone of you and I hope that you had a great weekend! We did and I was able to be quite crafty over the weekend, which made me feel super good, and John and I also went to see the new Mamma Mia movie. There is just something about seeing a musical that makes you skip a beat – it was a cute movie!

Now how about some inspiration? I admit, I was super happy with the end result of this card and I can see myself making many more cards using this same basic “formula” and simply change up the stamp set and DSP.

Before we get into the “nuts and bolts “ of this card I need to share and give credit where this AMAZING card idea came from today. I “jump started” today’s card from fellow demonstrator Sandy Carlson from Minnesota. I can’t even remember how we began our connection with one another but wow; Sandy is so darn sweet and also so darn talented.

Sandy sent me this card after we returned home from the Alaskan Cruise. Now you know me and my style….fun folds and lots going on usually stress me about but when I opened this card from Sandy, I beamed from ear to ear as I just loved the colors and also the “mechanics” of this card! I thought….WOW, I could even make this!

So as we say in the good old Stampin’ world…here is my version of CASE-ing ….and I hope that you find it fun and give it a try! As I always share with you….when I give you a “formula” with all of the measurements etc…I strongly encourage you to try it…even if you do not have the stamp and DSP that I am using….

WHY??? Easy, by trying it (physically) with following the measurements etc….it is the BEST way to give the formula a “test drive” and see how you like it, see if it is a style of card that you would make again.

I would also encourage you to write down (or print off) the measurements and also jot down the date of this post. WHY? Easy (again) as this way you will be able to pop back to my blog and refer to it in the future!

OK…you can see clearly that Sandy’s card is just fabulous…and the changes that I did were not huge and after you see my dimensions you will clearly be able to figure out how to make it just like Sandy did….all I did was add some “Susan touches” to mix it up a bit….so a HUGE thank you to Sandy for not only inspiring me with today’s card but also for always being that ray of sunshine!

Now to the “formula” and a bunch of pictures for you. I hope that you enjoy and I also hope that you will go and make one…and as the sentiment says…kindness changes everything!

• Piece of Thick Whisper White 4 ¼” X 5 ½” – this will be the back of the card. I chose to do this, as I love to hide the mechanics of a card as much as I possibly can.
• You will need a Blueberry Bushel Card Base….go ahead and make it an A-2 card size but then take it to the trimmer and cut off 1/8” from both sides making it a card that measures 4 1/8” X 5 3/*’…..later this will make sense to you…..hang tight!
• Cut a piece of Whisper White (I use the regular weight for the insides of my cards) to 4” X 5 ¼”
• The DSP for the card from is from the Garden Expressions 6 X 6 paper stack (love this paper) and trim it to 3 ¾” X 5”
• Cut a mat of Whisper White to go behind the DSP 3 7/8” X 5 1/8”, (you could skip this but I think matting the DSP really adds a special touch…)
• The dimensions of the banner part is in Blueberry Bushel at 1” X 6” and then I scored it twice starting at 4” and then one notch over (4 1/8”)….score and burnish the score lines. (the why I did this will be later…hang tight!!!)

• For the envelope…same drill as Simple Susan loves to do, 1 /4” of a solid card stock and then a 2” piece of DSP….this way you can do 3 envelopes from a sheet of 6” X 6”.

Now let’s chat about stamping this card! I used the Stamparatus as this is the single BEST WAY to make sure that you have not only a good clean and crisp stamped image but it makes it a breeze to make up multiples of cards at one time.

Another amazing thing that is super helpful about the Stamparatus is…you can go ahead and cut multiples of shapes (like I used the stitched Ovals to stamp on) and just crank them out without having to line up the stamped image.

In the below picture the light will shine for you…..and let me guess what you are thinking…..a great idea…right!?!? Yep it is, this is a template for you to use over and over. (I keep all of the ones that I make up in a stamp case)

I stamped the sentiment on the white stitched over and then matter it with an oval that it a bit bigger from the Ovals Collection Die Set. I want you to think about this….as once again, what am I using……THE BASICS!!!

The other thing that I stamped was a super sweet sentiment on the inside of the card from the Varied Vases Bundle. This is one of those Bundles that are a MUST HAVE for every stamper. It is just so unique and classic!

I think that it is pretty straight forward in how this card all came together but I want to shed some light on you as to why I made the changes. Again, the card was perfect from the start that Sandy did but I wanted to bump it up some and make it my own as after all, that is what CASEing is all about…..

Copy And Share Everything while giving the credit to the creator and then possibly making small changes to make it reflect your work and style. I know that these are more steps than I usually do but heck, I adore it and I thought it totally reflected my style of card making!

My main objective was hiding the folds on the banner and also having a solid front panel. The reason that I scored the banner lines in 2 measurements (just one notch over) was to allow for the thickness of all of the paper.

I used fun foam to pop up the DSP Element of the card. You know that I blog often about using fun foam. I like it for a solid mass like this as it gives the card such stability when you hold it in your hands.I know that this is just a personal preference of mine but it is one of those things that I do just about all of the time when I have a larger area to pop up…..I am not a fan of sagging and I also do not want to peel off a ca-zillion release papers from the dimensionals.

I just buy fun foam in white from Amazon and you will be shocked with how long it will last you. For this I cut the fun foam to 3 ½ X 4 ¾”. I keep a container for all of my scraps of fun foam as you can use even the teeniest of pieces! For smaller areas and odd shapes, I would use the Stampin’ Dimensions” as well as the Mini Stampin’ Dimensioals.

You adhere the finished “blueberry card part” to the piece of Thick Whisper White and presto….you have a beautiful card that you cannot see the seams of the ovals/strip of Blueberry and also you cannot see the adhered back part of the strip as you have the white back to hide the back fold of the banner strip.

Call me “type A” and yep, I admit it and agree but this is how I roll. I am just like you…I love to create and when I create I simply get “lost” in the process. I know you agree with me, it’s a fun journey to be on!

Little finishing touches of the white gel pen on both the card and the envelope made the whole thing come together! Remember, it’s the little touches that add up to be biggies!

There you go….a bit of inspiration to jump start your week! Thoughts..comments…..ideas & suggestions? Please feel free to leave a comment as we all love to read them and I truly think that this is how we learn and grow.

I feel blessed to have a strong community of old faithful blog followers and trust me; your comments really do make a difference. On Wednesday I have another cutie that will make you smile….I look forward to seeing you then!

On Friday I shared the Product Share offerings that I will be having with the new upcoming Holiday Catalog. I have NOT emailed confirmations out yet so if you emailed me….no worries – I will be sending confirmations out starting Wednesday.

With the way that the upcoming months will go…just ZOOMING BY….I would try to get in the first wave of the product shares….then you will be getting out of the gate in style and hopefully less likely to experience any delays with backorders…..SHAME on me….I should not even think of that…..we know….things like this can happen!

See you in just 2 short days….and do not forget – this is the time to stock up on the basics….for every $50,00 you spend, Stampin’ Up! will give you a $5.00 code (via email) that you can use next month to get off your September purchase…..WOOT-WOOT….as the NEW Catalog will be live!!!!

Thanks for spending some time with me today and remember, Kindness DOES changes everything! Yesterday I was on my way home from Yoga and on the back country roads there was a car stopped…..I thought that perhaps his car broke down and I was going to offer to see if he was ok….and YEP – he was ok…..he stopped to pick up a Turtle and put him on the side of the road so he didn’t get hit…..

I smiled….and thought…..YES, this simple act of kindness warms my heart! Now go and make someone else smile!