CASEing Genius: Vera Yates

Hello Crafters! 

Are you ready? yes? 

I can't hear you . . .

YES?!

Today's CASEing Genius is . . .

Vera Yates!!

I have known Vera for a few years and have admired her work much longer than that. She is such a sweet talented soul. She is always there with an encouraging word to help pick up others. A wonderful example of this is the Caring Hearts Card Drive that Vera started a few years ago. She and Jennifer collect Christmas cards for the elderly and mail them out to nursing homes. How cool is that?! I have participated every year. I have a soft spot for the elderly :) The card drive is actually going on right now. If you'd like to get in on the fun and spread some love! You have until November 28th. There is also a TON of prizes you could win. All the information is here.  Okay, let's get back to Vera shall we? Her blog is called Ling's Design Studio and do I hope you'll go check out all her incredible creations. There is endless inspiration over there!

Interview:

1. Who are you and where do you live?

My name is Vera Yates, but I also answer to Lingling (it's my Chinese nickname). I am a girl who loves her family and her dogs like crazy. My dogs are my kids. I was born and raised in Indonesia, but been calling Texas home for the past 2 decades. I love pretty papers, colors, cute stuff and pugs. I mean, I reaaaallllyyyy love pugs and yes, as you can guess one of my kid is a pug. The other one is rescue mutt. Both, spoil rotten. :) 

2. How would you describe your style?

CAS, cute, bright and cheerful. I love designing projects with lots of white space.

3. Name one product you're completely crushing on right now?

Enamel dots. I want them all in every color and size. They  make me happy.

4. What is was your first crafty purchase? Would you still buy it now?

My first crafty purchase was Creative Memories album ,  trimmer and ZIG markers. And,  yes, I'd still buy them now. They have such good quality products. I mean, my trimmer still works like a champ and except for a few colors that I used a lot, my ZIG markers all still works well. Back then and now, I can still go ga-ga over markers.

Fun stuff:

5. What is your current favorite song?

Taylor Swift's Shake It Off. I love the message and the light tune. 

6. Who would play you in a movie?

Hm... First one that come to mind is Sandra Bullock. Hah... Maybe because she's one of my favorite actress. She has that down to earth vibe, private, but very fun & loving to those in her inner circle. When I meet new people, I tend to be very quiet, guarded, but once I get comfortable, my fun, silly side come out. And, I am fiercely  loyal to my love ones. The only thing, she's tall. I am 5 foot even, so I guess, I have to pick someone shorter. Hah...

7. One random thing about you that people would never guess?

That I can be very silly. Only those close to me see this side of me. I am a shy person by nature, so I tend to be quiet, but around the people I am close and comfortable with, I can be a total silly goose. ;) 

Pugs, Sandra Bullock and silliness. My kinda girl :)

Here are some of Vera's awesome projects

How cute is this?! I love how the one duck was spotlighted.

Um. What kind of magic is this?! Those bright colored butterflies and white on white texture . . .SWOON. 

Gold and navy?! So gorgeous. I love her flower arrangement. 

The CASE:

First I have to tell you I have all the geniuses pick the cards they feel are most like them. I don't pick because the cards would reflect my style and not theirs. Many years ago Vera and I were both mojoless and decided to do a month long mojo challenge. We used the same products or inspiration photo to make a project. It was tons of fun but we learned very quickly we had different tastes in stamps. Vera said she was afraid of flowers. ha! Did you see that card up there?! Afraid of flowers. pfft. Crazy. I giggled pretty hard when I saw which cards she had picked :)

Clearly I was pretty heavily influenced by Vera's last card. I loved those wide stripes. I don't have a wide stripe stamp (must.get.one.) so I just used black cardstock strips. I wanted to tone it down a bit so it didn't overwhelm my card. I created a die cut panel to partial cover the stripes. I opted for the Hero Arts solid poppy stamp as a nod to the solid silhouette from Vera's second card. I stamped in tattered rose and then colored with copics on top of it. Once it was colored I trimmed it out so I could pop it up peaking out of the circle frame. The sentiment was stamped in Punch Chalk ink from Hero Arts and black. This was my way of doing some spotlighting like Vera did in her first card. What better to spotlight than Christ :) 

I felt like I needed another red element so I added a small strip on the left hand side. Since it is a Christmas card I'll be able to add it to my growing pile for the Caring Hearts Card Drive :) 

Thank you so much to Vera for participating and to you for stopping by!

XoXo