Control Freaks - CAS

The Freaky theme this month is CAS, meaning Clean and Simple. If you landed here from Melissa's blog, welcome! There are five of us showing our take on the CAS look, so there's sure to be a lot of different wonderful ideas.

CAS is usually defined as one focal point with lots of "white" space (meaning open area), minimal or no layers, and minimal or no embellishments. This is something that is a challenge to me because my motto is "More is more." More layers, more bling...you get the idea. It doesn't quite cross into the heavily ornate vintage Victorian style, but sometimes I come close.

So, for my first card, I went totally CAS. Only one layer (card base doesn't count in my book); a deckle edge rectangle showcasing the glimmer die cut and a simple greeting from Inspired Thoughts. All done in my current fave new In Color - Starry Sky!

My next card is two layers, if you count the greeting, and I did add some Natural Finish Ribbon under the greeting, so there is some embellishment. The large floral image from Blessings of Home was inked lightly with a sponge dauber in Tahitian Tide. I think I should have stamped it off once so it isn't quite so obvious. Made the white space disappear, heh.

And, because I struggle with CAS, my next card has three layers if you count the butterfly and stamped greeting. But it does have lots of white space, so I can take credit for that, right? Maybe knock off a few points for adding bling, though. I used the die and greeting from Sending Smiles, and borrowed the butterfly from the fabulous Designer Tags dies. The Rose Gold Specialty Paper made up the die cuts, and the rest of the greeting was stamped in Blushing Bride. Champagne Rhinestone Basic Jewels added the bling I thought it needed.

My last card is my favorite of this group. I knew as soon as I saw the background grid die in Chic Dies that I had to have it to showcase whatever image I wanted to use. And it doesn't disappoint! I stamped the image in Basic Gray and colored with Blends, the fussy cut it. (I could have used my ScanNCut but didn't want to drag it out for one image.) It was then popped up on dimensionals over the die cut grid, which was adhered to the clear embossed background. The embossed leaves are from the Sending Smiles set.

So, while there are a few layers and some heat embossing, from a distance it still looks like a lot of white space is left. Aaaand, I didn't use any embellishments!

Up next is Bree, at Craft-somnia Momma. I can't wait to see her CAS style!