Freshly Made Sketches 642

Well it sure has been a while since I've posted here.  I won't go into the gory details, but suffice it to say that life gets in the way.....of so many things!  But it's my week to be the hostess at Freshly Made Sketches and hostess I will.  My sketch is square and it's got a wavy layer, but as you all know by now, neither is necessary in Freshly Made Sketches Land.  It's all about how YOU interpret the sketch!

I decided to use the gorgeous colors at the Just Us Girls challenge to make a square birthday card.  Blue flowers are hard to come by in my neck of the woods, but they are easy to find when you are the architect!  I love these pops of color!

Thanks for stopping by!  As usual my Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some amazing cards with this sketch!

Supplies
Stamps:  Birthday Messages (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Midnight Muse, More Mustard, Bermuda Bay (Stampin' Up!); vellum (Papertrey Ink); Watercolor Wash (My Favorite Things)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Upsy Daisy die (My Favorite Things); Curvy Leaves die (Elizabeth Craft Designs)

Freshly Made Sketches 567

Welcome back to a new year of challenges from Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our favorite Texan, Amy, is our hostess and she's cooked up a beauty for us!

This card was a topsy-turvy journey for me!  My first card idea involved layers and flowers.  But the colors were wrong, the flowers were wrong, the layers were wrong, so I scrapped it.  Then I remembered these bow images and thought I could stamp them and draw vertical lines to each one so that they seemed to be dangling.  To accommodate the rest of the sketch I drew in a rectangle design and tucked in a sentiment on the vertical side.

I do love a one-layer design and some go together for me easier than others.  Despite my early troubles, this one ended up being perfect to my eyes!

Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to check out the amazing cards that our Freshly Made Sketches design team has made to inspire you to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps: Holiday Bows (The Ton); Holiday Message (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Rubellite, Teal Cave, Starlight (Altenew); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)

Freshly Made Sketches 543

Hi all!  It's Wednesday so there's a brand new challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches!  Cécile is our hostess this week and, once again, her superb CAS instincts shine through on this sketch.  I humbly just try to play along and mimic her style!

I've been wanting to use mesh (drywall) tape on a card for ages.  Every time I see it used on a card, it gets elevated on my to-do list and then, invariably, I forget about it until I see it again.  (I blame menopause for my forgetfulness)!  Since I live in an older home, which occasionally crumbles, drywall tape is something useful to have on hand and I've got quite a bunch.  Well, the other day I saw this card made by my friend Judy and my love of drywall tape started all over again.  

The small square in Cecile's card was perfect for the mesh tape.  I added a silver-glimmer snowflake and a slim sentiment in a bright blue and this card was done.  Easy peasy.

Thanks for stopping by!  Our Freshly Made Sketches design team will surely inspire you to play along with us. Join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Holiday Messages (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); silver glimmer (Recollections)
Ink:  Dusk (Altenew)
Accessories:  Lindemon Snowflake die (Memory Box)

Freshly Made Sketches 514

I'm late again for a blog post!  😢 I was up bright and early this morning so that I could get some work done (I'm on vacation from said work, but still find myself working from time to time) and get this blog post ready.  I was doing some dishes when I turned the faucet to the left a bit and out it popped and practically fell into the sink!  Uh oh!  Turns out the lock nut that secures the faucet to the counter had completely rotted away and today was the day that it decided to fall over.  So I spent the majority of the day trying to fix it.  (I didn't by the way and I'm picking up a new faucet tomorrow).  Good times...

But the show must go on so here I am a few hours late with my card for Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is Cécile and as always her sketch has me dreaming that I can design cards the same way she does!

Those silver blobs in the center are pinecones, by the way.  I thought for sure that I had a pinecone stamp in my stash somewhere but apparently not, so I had to use this pinecone die cut, which is too small for what I wanted, but did the trick anyway.

The inspiration for this design came from a catalog that I got at work which has bulk Christmas cards with custom printing for companies to send to their customers.  The catalog is chock full of inspiration, which I knew would come in handy, so I brought it home and it now resides in my craft room.  I found an eye-catching card done in silver and black with green leaves and a pinecone and modified the design a bit to fit the sketch.  

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammies have some fabulous cards to inspire you to play along with us so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Holiday Messages (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Wild Wasabi (Stampin' Up!); Pinefeather (Papertrey Ink); foil paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Festive Greenery Sizzlit (Tim Holtz); Pine Sprig Cluster die (Impression Obsession); Subtle Dynamic embossing folder (Stampin' Up!); silver cord (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 510

Hi everyone!  We've got a new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches and I am the hostess!  Woo Hoo!  I went with a traditional design with lots of room for layers.  Sometimes I like to make a card with layers - there's something about the weight and heft of a card with layers that pleases me. 😊

I went with a Christmas design, using up some old Stampin' Up! designer paper that's been in my stash forever plus a layered snowflake and a simple slim sentiment.  I made this card on Sunday so I was pleased to see that, quite by coincidence, the colors, the poinsettia elements, and the Christmas theme are also on tap for the challenge at Global Design Project (which doesn't go live until Monday).  Somehow I was channelling their challenge before I even knew about it!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope that you will play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches!  And special thanks to my FMS teamies who have totally rocked this sketch and who will certainly inspire you to play along!

Supplies
Stamps:  Holiday Messages (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, vellum, Deck the Halls DSP (Stampin' Up!); glitter paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Stitched Mini Scallop Rectangle die (My Favorite Things); Snowflake Trio die (amuse.studio); Lindemon Snowflake die (Memory Box)

Freshly Made Sketches 457

Once again I have decided to add another Christmas card to my stash using our latest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.   Our hostess this week is Linda and her sketch immediately put me in mind of my favorite poinsettia die.

That long panel as well as the slim vertical layer practically screamed at me to add the poinsettia and a Christmas sentiment.  And the color combo at Christmas Card Throwdown is a favorite of mine when it comes to Christmas cards  so I jumped at the chance to use it for this card.   I chose to add some texture to the white background as well as the long blue vertical layer and finished it all off with a vellum poinsettia.  It's quite pretty in real life!

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have, of course, made some amazing cards this week so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Holiday Messages  (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze (Stampin' Up!); vellum  (Graphix)
Ink:  Onyx Black (VersaFine)
Accessories:  Pierced Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); Subtle Dynamic embossing folder (Stampin' Up!); Snowflake/Speckles embossing folder (Tim Holtz); Layered Poinsettia die (Penny Black)

Freshly Made Sketches 445

Hello everyone!  We've got a new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches and I am the hostess!  I went with a design that, I hope, gives you some room for interpretation.

I chose to use the colors from the Just Us Girls challenge and stamped a grungy circle in gray that I accented with leaves in teal and frosty vellum along with a slim scalloped layer in a mustard color.  A slim birthday sentiment and I was done!  Incidentally the teal I used is the Stampin' Up! version of it which looks quite blue, especially when I photograph it.  Apologies to the Just Us Girls crew if it seems I was circumventing the color. :) 

Thanks for stopping by!  Our Freshly Made Sketches design team has made some amazing cards to inspire you to play along with us.  I hope you'll join us!

Supplies

Stamps:  Ink Splats (Indigo Blu); Birthday Messages (Mama Elephant)

Paper:  Whisper White, Taken With Teal, More Than Mustard, Vellum (Stampin' Up!)

Ink:  Going Gray (Stampin' Up!); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Curvy Leaves die (Elizabeth Craft Designs); Scallop Border Set (A.Muse Studio); Blueprints 21 die (My Favorite Things); enamel dots (Doodlebug Designs)

CAS(E) This Sketch 380 Meets Fusion

Every couple of weeks I get to stretch my creative arms, as it were, and combine a sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch with an inspiration challenge at Fusion.  This time around a curvy sketch met some flowers.

I spent a long time on that curved layer.  I really didn't have a die in my stash that could do it for me.  I tried free-hand cutting the shape - not a good idea 😳but ended up using a combination of a landscape die and some free-hand cutting.  To add a bit of interest I poked holes along the uppermost curve.  It looked too plain without some kind of embellishment.  Then I added a line of wee flowers along the gentle bottom slope.  The inspiration photo had a pale gray background for those little pink and yellow cupcake flowers so I tried to recreate some of those colors here.  The sentiment was gently curved to follow the same track as the curved layer.

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow teammates at CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion have made some super fantastic cards for you to see.  I hope you are inspired to join us in the gallery!

Supplies

Stamps:  Birthday Messages (Mama Elephant)

Paper:  Soft Stone, Lemon Tart (Papertrey Ink); Pink Pirouette (Stampin' Up!)

Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Basic Pearls (Stampin' Up!)

CAS(E) This Sketch 363

We've got a great new challenge for you at CAS(E) This Sketch this week!  The sketch has some adorable paw prints on it and I really wanted to make a card with a few paw prints of my own (my kitties would be so proud) but alas, flowers called my name instead.

The color challenge at The Paper Players were just too good to pass up and lent themselves well to my wee flowers and chevron stripe.  And speaking of flowers the AAA Birthday challenge gave me the inspiration for the flowers and the sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!  My CAS(E) This Sketch teammates have made some great cards with our sketch to inspire you to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Birthday Messages (Mama Elephant); Best Blossoms (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah)
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana (Stampin' Up!); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  washi tape

CAS(E) This Sketch 320 Meets Fusion

Late again!  These last couple of weeks have been pretty crazy and I am once again late sharing my card that I made for the CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion challenges.  But here I go!

Every couple of weeks I stretch my creative brain a bit as I work to design a card that melds the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch with elements of the inspiration at Fusion.  Some weeks (like this one) are harder than others.  For this card I started by putting some fancy flourish-y scrolls in the corners and then the big plaid butterfly in the center.  But it all looked wrong!  I'm not a fancy-flourish kind of gal!  So then an old-school idea came to me:  paper piercing!  The kraft background mimics the color of the door (sort of) and the colorful plaid butterfly is meant to take the place of the myriad of colors in the butterfly wreath.  Then I added my genius idea of paper pierced corners.  Luckily I still had my paper piercing template still in my stash!

Thanks for stopping by and being patient with me and my tardy posts!  My teammates at CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion have totally rocked these challenges so I hope you are inspired by them to join us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Birthday Message (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Desert Storm, Solar White (Neenah); vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Paulina Butterfly die, Devonshire Butterfly die (Simon Says Stamp)

CAS(E) This Sketch 268

It's time for another sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch!  I'm not afraid to tell you that this sketch had me stumped at first.  I tried a couple of different versions before I settled on this one.

I wish that I had angled my little watercolored panel a bit to mimic the sketch but that didn't occur to me until after I cut it!  And if you could see the previous versions I came up with you would understand that I just wanted to make a card that was pleasing to the eye and basically followed the sketch.  In my eye this one did the trick so I went with it!  And I know that the sentiment is in the wrong direction BUT I wanted to keep it within the layer on the side (a-la the sketch) and the only way I could do that was to turn it so that is was vertical.  At Creative With Stamps they are celebrating 2 years with a challenge that is CAS with a sentiment.  I think this fits the bill!

Thanks for stopping by!  Our amazing CAS(E) This Sketch design team has created some fantastic cards using this sketch so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Say What (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Cool Carribbean (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Broken China, Mustard Seed (Distress); Onyx Black (Versafine)

CAS(E) This Sketch 218

This week sure is whizzing by!  It's Thursday already and that means it's time for a new challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch.  I went a bit literal and a bit colorful with my card this week.

There was a pretty color challenge at Fab Friday this week with five - count 'em - five colors in it.  Normally that kind of challenge would send me running for the hills but since I'd seen this particular stamp set used a few times this past week by some of my stamping friends, and this particular stamp set happened to be languishing un-inked in my stamp room I thought I'd give the challenge a go using it.  The stamp set lends itself perfectly to a colorful abstract design like this, I think.

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out the cards the design team has made at CAS(E) This Sketch.  As usual you will be wowed by their creativity!

Supplies
Stamps:  Halftone Circles (Altenew); Big Words (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Pool Party (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Pool Party, Peach Parfait, Night of Navy, Perfect Plum, Old Olive (Stampin' Up!); Jet Black (Altenew)

colourQ 348!

It feels like summer is in full swing here where I live and what better way to celebrate than a new challenge at colourQ  where the colors are inspired by a pretty bathing suit!

Despite the obviously feminine inspiration, the colors put me in mind of a more masculine design so that's the direction I took.  I actually think this card is gender neutral, but since I left off flowers and butterflies I call it a man-card!

I based my card on the sketch at CAS Colours & Sketches.  Instead of separate rectangular layer, I created a frame with some post it tape then colored in some stencils right up to the edge of the mask to create the impression that a rectangle is there.  I had no idea how it was going to look when I started but I think it came out pretty good.  (The sentiment was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed, which resisted the ink I used on the stencil).  And I did another little substitution when I used a couple of enamel dots to take the place of the two little squares on the sketch.  The challenge this week at Less is More is to use a stencil so that's what I did!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can join us at colourQ this week.  Be sure to pop on by there to check out the inspiration from our design team!

Supplies
Stamps:  Big Words (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White (SU)
Ink:  Cool Caribbean, Certainly Celery, Night of Navy, Pumpkin Pie (SU); Versamark
Accessories:  Blueprints 20 die (My Favorite Things); Splatters stencil (Tim Holtz); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye); clear embossing powder

CAS(E) This Sketch 174!

Oops!  Totally forgot to post this Thursday morning!  Must be from lack of sleep!  Read on....

Here we are at  Thursday again.  I may have had a sleepless night last night because the night crews were out paving my street (I don't really know for sure because I'm typing this Wednesday night so I don't know if I slept good or not! LOL)!  But it's all good because Thursday means a new sketch from your friends at CAS(E) This Sketch!

I had a bunch of different ideas about how I wanted my card to go for this sketch, but then I saw the masculine theme at The Challenge and decided that using some of the colors in the inspiration photo would be perfect.  I don't have nearly enough masculine cards in my stash so any excuse to add one...

I made a card very similar to this a couple of years ago and for some reason it came to mind when I saw this sketch.  From there it was easy to pick out some of the colors from The Challenge and CASE myself with a thank you inspired card.  The sentiment was embossed first and the ink sponged around it using a stencil.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you've got some time to join us in the CAS(E) This Sketch gallery this week!

Supplies
Stamps:  Big Words (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things)
Ink:  Kraft, Smoky Shadow (Papertrey Ink); Ruby Red (SU); Versamark
Accessories:  Splatters stencil (Tim Holtz); clear embossing powder

Freshly Made Sketches 206!

Hello!  Today we've got a new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches brought to you by the incomparably funny Linda!  I went a bit literal with the sketch as you will see.

All those circles were perfect for the inlaid die technique, so that's what I did. I took my color cues from the Just Us Girls challenge.  There were some circles there in the inspiration photo which fit in with this sketch perfectly!

Our always amazing Freshly Made Sketches design team has cooked up some really fabulous cards to wow you this week, so be sure to pop on by to check them out!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Say What (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes); Daffodil Delight, Garden Green, Basic Black (SU)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Blueprints 13 die, Stitched Circle STAX (My Favorite Things)

HB2U

I had some extra time last night so I sat down at my desk to get crafty and managed a rare four-fer.  That's right.  I made a card combing four challenges!  That doesn't happen very often around here!

This is a pretty simple card, but also colorful.  The challenge this week at Less Is More is one layer with splatters.  Easy peasy with a stencil by the exact same name!  And speaking of stencils, that just happens to be the challenge at Happy Little Stampers.  Next I chose my colors from the Color Throwdown and finished it up with the layout at CAS(E) This Sketch!

Whew!  That was exhausting!  Actually this was a pretty simple card to put together.  Splash down some color, add a bold sentiment and DONE!  I wish all my cards came together so easily!

Yesterday the weather was absolutely glorious!  The sun was shining, the temperatures were warm and I'm convinced that spring is here to stay!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Big Words (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Bashful Blue, Crumb Cake (SU); Canyon Clay, Simply Chartreuse (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Splatters stencil (Tim Holtz)

Hashtag THX

This weekend I discovered that it really hard to try and be crafty while also watching football.  Mostly this is because I need my glasses to see the TV but not to see anything on my desk.  So I'm constantly tilting my head up so that I can see through my glasses and what's happening on the TV and then down and under the frames to see my desk!  And no way am I breaking down to get bi-focals!

But anyway on to my card.  This one uses the monochromatic color palette at Pals Paper Arts and the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch.  It's not very artsy but it's today's Mona Lisa* so I'm going with it!

The hashtag is a very cool die and on my card it takes the place of the little floral image on the sketch.  I was having some trouble deciding what image to use when I remembered that I recently got that die.  It was like a light bulb moment for me.  It's modern, fresh and a little bit fun!

*The whole Mona Lisa thing is advice I got from my friend Linda who got it from her friend Mary Fish.  I'm paraphrasing but the advice is basically no matter whether you like what you've created or not post it anyway as if it was the Mona Lisa and move on to the next card.  That's good advice, don't you think?

Thanks so much for stopping by!  And for all you football fans out there GO PATS!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Bokeh Dots (Essentials by Ellen); Big Words (Mama Elephant)

Paper:  Soft  Sky, Island Indigo, Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Soft Sky, Pool Party, Island Indigo (SU)

Accessories:  Social Media die (My Creative Time); Pierced Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things)

colourQ 269

This week the color palette at colourQ might make you think of fall.  Or it might make you think of Christmas.  It might make you think of hand-crafted felt items.  It made me think of all those things but in the end it inspired me to make a thank you card with an abstract background and a very on-trend social media statement.

The colors are inspired by this Leaf Embroidery Hoop Art and the layout from The Paper Players.  Although I was tempted to add a leaf to my card I used a layered star instead.  The colors initially made me think of fall but I really didn't want to do the whole autumn leaves thing so I grabbed a new stamp set I got from Ellen Hutson and layered a bunch of the scribbly circle images.  Then I overstamped it with the hashtag sentiment from Mama Elephant.

The colourQ design team have knocked it out of the park with the colors this week so be sure to head on over there to check them out!  And thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Bokeh Dots (Essentials by Ellen); Big Words (Mama Elephant)

Paper:  Bashful Blue, Hello Honey, Tangerine Tango, Holiday Thyme DSP (SU); White (Spectrum Noir)

Ink:  Always Artichoke, Hello Honey, Tangerine Tango (SU)

Accessories:  Button Stacks die (Papertrey Ink); Stitched Stars (Lil' Inker Designs); First Place Ribbon die (My Favorite Things); crochet thread