Freshly Made Sketches 286

I think the sun is supposed to come out today!  It's been rather dreary around here lately and everyone I know is anxious to see the sun.  A harbinger of great things to come, I'm sure!  We'll start with today's great thing:  a brand new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess is Narelle and she surprised us with a sketch that only has three layers!  But I suppose you could sneak one or two more on there if you wanted!

I took a little liberty with that circle and used a dragonfly instead.  I hope you can see it on there!  I used a few grungy stamps to make the background so I could play along with Addicted to CAS, used yellow, a die cut, and sequins so I could play along with The Paper Players and coincidentally there's a sequin challenge at CAS on Sunday.  Whew!  That's my challenge limit!

My Freshly Made Sketches teamies have cooked up some amazing cards this week so be sure to check them out and play along with us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Mixed Media Elements (Stamplorations); Family is Everything (My Creative Time)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Basic Black, Vellum, Beyond the Garden DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Daffodil Delight (Stampin' Up!); Jet Black (Altenew)
Accessories:  Libellules die (4enscrap); Winter Blend sequins (Avery Elle)

Freshly Made Sketches 277!

I've been a very lazy stamper!  I haven't spent a lot of time in the old craft cave lately but I did manage to get my act together for the newest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our hostess and sketch designer is Jen Timko.  Check out the beautiful blank canvas she's given us:

I found myself a bit undecided about that blank space - should I fill it with stamped images, use patterned paper, or something else?  As I searched through my supplies for the answer I stumbed on this patterned paper with wee stars and, inspired by the "cats" challenge at Cupcake Inspirations, I grabbed this fun kitty cat die.  After that the sentiment was a no-brainer!  There's a "critter" challenge at CAS on Sunday, and although my own kitties probably wouldn't like it if I referred to them as critters, I'm going to enter this card over there as well.

Thanks for stopping by.  Pop on over to Freshly Made Sketches to check out the beautiful cards made by the design team.  There are so many great interpretations of the sketch, you will surely be inspired.  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  You  Crazy Cat (Concord & 9th)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Sea Glass, The Everyday Collection (Avery Elle); Black (Simon Says Stamp)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  feLINE die (Penny Black)

CAS(E) This Sketch 209!

There's a brand new sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch brought to you this week by Chrissy .  When I saw it I knew instantly what stamp I wanted to use for that big focal image!

I loved the colors at CAS on Sunday so I used those on my card, although my Bermuda Bay looks a little washed out.  I love this awesome die, especially how it looks layered with the solid background.  And the accompanying sentiments that go with it give lots of choices for a "go get 'em" type card!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the inspiration from the CAS(E) This Sketch design team.  We'd love to have you play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fonds Grunge (4enscrap); Awesome (Neat & Tangled)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Bermuda Bay (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Pool Party, Night of Navy (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Awesome die (Neat & Tangled)

Hugs & Kisses

I consider it very fortunate that my at-home schedule has recently given me some extra time to venture into my crafty space and make some cards just for fun.  I'm sure no one will blame me if that "extra time" comes at the expense of not doing a little dusting!  So let's get to my card for today.

The sketch at As You See It, along with the "heart" challenge at CAS on Sunday, and the "plaid" challenge at Cupcake Inspirations collide with my card.

And can I just say how much I love the inspiration photo for the Cupcake Inspirations challenge.  When I was a teenager I had a skirt and jacket outfit that was the exact plaid of the cupcake wrapper in that photo and it was one of my favorite things to wear!  And it just so happens that I recently got a pack of patterned paper that has a couple of plaid patterns in it so I just knew that it was a sign that I had to play along in that challenge!  The plaids may be different but the "sentiment" is the same!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  I {Heart} Hearts (Stampin' Up!); Fancy Word Coordinates (Reverse Confetti)
Paper:  Cloud White, True Love (Reverse Confetti)
Ink:  Sweet Blush, Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Heart to Heart Extra Large punch (Stampin' Up!); crochet thread

CAS(E) This Sketch 204!

Excuse my tardiness!  I have no idea where my brain has got to, but it suddenly occurred to me today that I never posted the card I made for the latest CAS(E) This Sketch challenge!  Oops!  So here it is!

I wanted to make a valentine without using reds or pinks so I took my cues from a couple of current color challenges.  There's one at Cupcake Inspirations that is looking for black, white, and silver and CAS on Sunday is looking for black, white, plus one other color.  The silver paper that I used to cut one of the sketchy hearts is very shiny in real life but it looks a little gray here.  And you'll have to trust me when I say that this looks better in person!

So I guess I'm better late than never with my CAS(E) This Sketch card (she said rather sheepishly).  I hope you have a chance to join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Label Love (Altenew)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Basic Black (Stampin' Up!); Silver Kraft Core (Tim Holtz)
Ink:  Jet Black (Altnew)
Accessories:  Scribble Heart die (Simon Says Stamp); Midnight Blend sequins (Avery Elle)

CAS(E) This Sketch 200!

We are 200 sketches strong at CAS(E) This Sketch!  Boy how time flies.  I've been on the design team since sketch #148 so I'm super excited to reach this milestone alongside our fearless leader Chrissy and all the other supremely talented members of the design team.

Chrissy has got a prize to give away to a lucky someone who plays along with our challenge this week so be sure to check out the details here.  Now on to my card and the sketch.

I have mentioned a time or two (or three) that my photography skills are much lacking so it will come as no surprise to you that is card is actually a silvery-shiny-shimmery feast for the eyes.  Those two vertical stripes are a shiny silver washi tape.  I've got a couple of die cut snowflakes layered together and one of them is a gorgeous silver glimmer paper while the other is an iridescent shimmer.  You'll just have to take my word for it that this looks much better in real life!

Here's a pic from another angle that, I think, shows off the silver a little bit better.  There's a pretty inspiration challenge going on at Just Us Girls this week.  The picture is primarily silver and purple so I added some strategically placed purple sequins on my card to give it a splash of color.  I'll also be adding this to the Christmas challenges at CAS on Sunday and Christmas Card Challenges too.

I sure hope you can celebrate our 200th sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch by playing along with us.  We'd love to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Joyous Noel (Verve)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Silver Foil (Recollections); Dazzling Diamonds (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Silvery Shimmer (Delicata)
Accessories:  Eliza snowflake die, Kate Snowflake die (Simon Says Stamp); Blueprints 13 die (My Favorite Things); Burnished Foil Tape - Silver (The Ton); Love and Sparkles Mix sequins (Neat & Tangled)

Freshly Made Sketches 265!

This is officially Christmas card week on my blog.  I love to make Christmas cards but I hope I snap out of this soon because I'm pretty sure I'll be tired of doing the same theme day after day before long.  But today indulge me as we unveil a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, designed by the lovely and talented Narelle.  This one made me think of making a shaker card.

I recently got a sequin mix that was full of bits and bobs in Christmas colors and that is what I thought of when I started working on my card for this sketch.  I added a festive sentiment and I was done!  It sounds like I just whipped this thing up but it actually took a while to do - partly because I backed the shaker window with some teeny-tiny thick foam sticky squares that took forever to peel off to reveal the actual sticky stuff.  Note to self:  burn those.

I'm joining a few Christmas challenges around blogland too:  CAS on Sunday and Christmas Card Challenges.

I don't know about you, but I can hardly believe that today is the last day of November.  Nothing like the year whizzing by!  Thanks for stopping by and please pop on over to Freshly Made Sketches to check out the inspiration from the design team.  We hope you've got some time to join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Wonderful Words - Holiday (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  White (Gina K Pure Luxury); Baja Breeze (Stampin' Up!); Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink); Cryogen White
Ink:  Baja Breeze (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Merry Christmas die (Simon Says Stamp); Circles die (Little B); Blueprints 20 die (My Favorite Things); Christmas Couture Mix (The Ton)

colourQ 367!

Finally it is election day here in the US.  Hopefully everyone's Facebook feed can return to normal!  It's also time for a new palette from your friends at colourQ.  The colors may say fall to you, but I chose to use flowers.

Everything old is new again.  I found some old SU specialty paper with a bunch of white on white designs so I used a piece of that as my background layer, then I used my scallop Nesties to create the circular layers.  It's been a dog's age since I used a scallop circle!

The layout that inspired those circles is from Just Add Ink and I'm also joining the flower challenge at CAS on Sunday.

Well that's it for me.  I'm typing this in the morning quickly just before I head off to work.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can join us at colourQ this week!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fonds Grunge (4enscrap)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Cool Caribbean, Old Olive, Really Rust, Presto Patterns (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Cool Caribbean (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Classic Scallop Small die, Standard Circles Small die, Standard Circles Large die (Spellbinders); Wild Gardenia die (Essentials by Ellen); Metallic Metal dots (My Mind's Eye)

colourQ 254

So I signed up recently for the Watercolor For Card Makers online card class and finally got a chance to watch some of the videos on Sunday.  Of course, now I want to watercolor everything that isn't nailed down and, no surprise, my card today for colourQ features one of the techniques I learned.

I embossed a background stamp first then splashed some colors around using lots of water to create the background layer in a watercolor technique meets emboss resist sort of way.  It was fun to do and fun to just splash some color around without regard to how it landed.  I tend towards clean and simple cards so to give up control of the color is very liberating indeed!

I'm also giving credit to the sketch at Fusion for this card as well as the butterfly challenge at CAS on Sunday.  Nothing like a butterfly to make everything pretty!

It's no surprise that the colourQ design team has made some amazing cards using these colors so make sure you check them out.  We'd love to see you in the gallery this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Kinda Eclectic (SU); Say What (Mama Elephant); Distressed Grid (Creative Embellishments)

Paper:  Strathmore Watercolor Paper; Early Espresso (SU); Vellum (Papertrey Ink)

Ink:  Kiwi Kiss, Coastal Cabana, Pumpkin Pie (SU); Versamark; White (WPlus9)

Accessories:  Basic Pearls (SU)

Freshly Made Sketches 139

Half-way through the work week and time for another new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  This week Rita is our hostess and she's one fabulous crafter.  She's got an irreverent sense of humor and a fabulous sense of design and you should totally check out her blog, if you haven't already!  Her sketch incorporates the ever-popular flags and a tag (one of my favorite things).

I found some great colors on the CAS on Sunday challenge blog and really hoped that I could do something special with them along with the sketch.  I knew I wanted to focus on some flowers and leaves and after lamenting that I don't own enough floral stamps I dug out an old favorite SU set and went to work.  In the end, I don't love this card because I think the arrangement of images and colors is just too bland.  But here it is in all it's glory!

The Freshly Made Sketches design team has not suffered from any blandness this week so do hop over there to check out their beautiful cards.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Best Blossoms (SU); Group Hugs (Paper Smooches)

Paper:  Sahara Sand, Wisteria Wonder, Perfect Plum, Whisper White (SU); Vellum (Papertrey Ink)

Ink:  Perfect Plum

Accessories:  Tag Sale #5 die (Papertrey Ink); Little Leaves Sizzlet, Elegant Eggplant ribbon, (SU); clear embossing powder, sequins; baker's twine

colourQ 214

It's Tuesday and that means it's time for a new palette from colourQ!  This week the colours are inspired by these napkins.  For my card I didn't use a single stamp and instead decided to play with my sunflower die.

This week at Less is More the challenge happens to be a Dark Background With a Splash of Color so I thought these colors would be a good fit for that if I used Early Espresso as my card base.  Then I spied the sketch at CAS on Sunday and figured my sunflower die long with this thanks die would fit that too!  I love it when all these challenge worlds collide!

Before I go I'll confess that I had this card all put together before I realized that I forgot the white!  Never one to panic, I reached for some white sequins and added a few near the sentiment!  Sequins are awesome!

The colourQ design team have some great cards to inspire you so be sure to check them out.  I hope you can join us in the gallery this week!

Supplies:

Paper:  Early Espresso So Saffron, Dusty Durango, Bashful Blue

Accessories:  Sunflower die (My Favorite Things), Thanks Word die (Paper Smooches), Winter Blend sequins (Avery Elle)