Ode to Coffee --- Perk Up! Featured Artisan pick at the Paper Craft Crew Challenge.

(So thrilled to be picked as Featured Artisan at the Paper Craft Crew)

I love coffee!  In the morning it is the friend that wakes me up and makes opening my eyes tolerable.  During the day it gives my energy a little boost.  With dessert---well, what is dessert without coffee?  C'mon!

When I saw that there was actually a challenge with the theme "Java", my cup virtually runneth over and I knew this was a card I would make.  No question!  I would meet the Java challenge.

Of course when I saw the sketch offered by the Paper Craft Crew, I could see the card already, taking shape in my head.

My colours?  Well, Early Espresso for the base, of course.  I like my coffee black and this colour simply looks like what I have in my cup.  Baked Brown Sugar---the colour of my husband's coffee.  The rest I would leave up to the colours in my image.  

I had bought a stamp a couple of years ago for no other reason than I fell in love with the silly monkey carrying two coffee cups.  I mean, really, what's not to love?  This was the image that I would use for my card.  I also decided to use the coffee cup from Perfect Blend to stamp all over a layer of Baked Brown Sugar as some background interest.  I also love the sentiment and that would be part of the card.

This is a card that I had so much fun creating it simply makes me smile to look at it.  The stamp sets that I used from Stampin' Up! were Gorgeous Grunge, Perfect Blend and Morning Cup (retired).  The main star of the card is unnamed.  Sorry, I can't find the wrapper and so the poor monkey is anonymous.  The beautiful Washi tape across the lower portion of the card is from the Watercolour Wonder collection.  All the colouring was done with my Blendabilities.

The card measures 5 1/2" x 5 1/2", has a base of Early Espresso, next a layer of Crushed Curry, then a layer of Early Espresso, then a stamped layer of Baked Brown Sugar and then the two matted panels.  This is no lightweight!

But that really wouldn't do for the CASology challenge, even though the card is clearly all about Java.  It really isn't about the CAS, however, and so I proceeded to wander along another path.  Clean and simple---java---well, why not have fun with the tech side of the Java term.  We all have Java on our computers, right?  Without it, where would we be?  Many of our apps wouldn't even run without javascript.

And so, without further ado, I introduce the much simpler and very clean Java (tech) card.  My image is from There She Goes clear stamps.  My base is Naturals White, then a layer of Cherry Cobbler, another layer of Whisper White and then the grey-matted Whisper White rectangle with the image.  I used my Blendabilities again but left an image of "Java" white on the screen.

For more cards using the Java theme, check out CASology.

For more cards using this sketch, check out the Paper Craft Crew Challenges.

For more cards with the "anything goes" theme, check out the Simon Says Monday Challenge.