Freshly Made Sketches 294

Apparently I am in a Christmas mood because I've made two Christmas cards this week!  The first one is for the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  (You'll have to wait for Thursday to see the other one)!  Our hostess and sketch designer is Amy and she's cooked up an instant classic you are going to love.

I was channeling my inner Narelle with this one because I had it all made with the topmost layers sitting on a vanilla card base but I felt like it needed something.  So I added the Chocolate Chip layer topped with some more Very Vanilla.  Just what the doctor ordered!

I changed my card to a square instead of rectangle so that I could play along with The Challenge this week.  And my wreath theme was inspired by the inspiration at Christmas Card Challenges.

It's a bit chilly here and I've got a sweatshirt on as I sit to type this post.  I was positive that summer had arrived but apparently I spoke too soon.  I am assured that the hot weather is coming back at the end of the week and all will be right in my world!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the inspiration from the Freshly Made Sketches design team.  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Wreath for All Seasons (Papertrey Ink); Peace on Earth (Verve)
Paper:  Very Vanilla, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Old Olive, Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!)

CAS(E) This Sketch 207!

We have whizzed around to Thursday and a brand new challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch designed by Michele Ferguson.  It has been a while (a full month, I think) since I've made a Christmas card so I took the opportunity of this sketch plus the "snow" challenge at Christmas Card Challenges and the "winter chill" challenge at AAA Cards to add to my 2017 Christmas card stash.

I dug deep into my stash for these snowflake stamps.  I've had them for years and once...once I contemplated selling them on eBay.  But then I came to my senses and kept them.  I love the patterns and I embellished them a bit on this card with some rhinestones.

Thanks for stopping by.  Don't forget to check out our latest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch.  We love to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Snowflakes (Stampin' Up!); Jingle All the Way (Technique Tuesday)
Paper:  Pure White (Gina K); Baja Breeze, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Baja Breeze (Stampin' Up!); Jet Black (Altenew)
Accessories:  Blueprints 21 die (My Favorite Things); Basic Rhinestones (Stampin' Up!)

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)

Jingle All the Way

Christmas is in the air, I think!  Now that thanksgiving is behind us the focus to Christmas has begun in earnest.  I've made some good progress this year making my Christmas cards but, as I discovered Monday night when I went looking for a particular card I made a few months ago, I seem to have misplaced some of them!  I'm sure they are around here somewhere!

But today I've got a card that I made for a few challenges:  the sketch at Mojo, the masculine Christmas challenge at Merry Monday, and the anything goes theme at Christmas Card Challenges.

I did add some enamel dots to my card but I still think this is still pretty masculine.  I mean, who's more manly than Santa Claus? Ho Ho Ho!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Jingle All the Way (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Blue Bayou, Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!); Snow Village (Pink Paislee); Heidi Swapp patterned paper
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!); Jet Black (Altenew); Prismacolor Pencils
Accessories:  Jingle All the Way die (My Favorite Things)

Freshly Made Sketches 263!

It's Wednesday so you know that means it's time for a new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches!  We had a bit of a glitch on Monday with the linky tool expiring, but we've got it all sorted now and we are good to go for our new challenge!  Thanks for your patience and thanks to those who "linked" up their cards in the comment section!  Our newest challenge is brought to you by Cécile.  The sketch has circles, but feel free to use whatever shape you'd like.

Now there's a little explanation about why the top of my card is separated from the bottom by a diagonal line when the sketch clearly shows a horizontal line.  I had seen this card from Jane Knudsen and I really liked how she used a die to cut a line of circles then added some colorful patterned paper behind those circles.  I hunted around in my stash and found a similar style die, lined it up carefully on my cardstock horizontally and ran it through my Big Shot.  But the die shifted as it passed through and came out cut on a perfect diagonal.  I'm pretty sure that if I attempted to do that on purpose it would be way off center!  In any event, I liked how it looked and figured this was some sign that I should embrace this "mistake" so I didn't re-do it.  

There's a gray, red, and white challenge going on at Merry Monday and Christmas Card Challenges is looking for glitter.  The red glitter that I used is some paper I've had in my stash for a long time.  I don't know where I got it (or why I got it for that matter) or who makes it but it is VERY thick.  It's useless for dies but I was able to cut it and used it as my layer under those small circles.  The snowflakes were cut from Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper and you can just imagine how sparkly this is in real life!

Thanks for stopping by and please don't forget to pop on over to Freshly Made Sketches and check out the inspiration from our design team.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies

Stamps:  Joy (Concord & 9th)

Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Smoky Slate, Dazzling Diamonds glimmer (Stampin' Up!)

Ink:  Ruby Red (Altenew)

Accessories:  Blueprints 20, Blueprints 21 (My Favorite Things); Maryanne Snowflake die (Simon Says Stamp); Make a Snowflake die (Taylored Expressions)

CAS(E) This Sketch 197!

I'm on a little bit of a Christmas kick this week.  The challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch gave me another opportunity to add to my stash!

I went digging deep into my stash for this card.  I was rooting around for some patterned paper when I happened upon some specialty paper that was in shades of kraft and brown.  The brown in particular was special because it was a nice heavy weight and had subtle speckles all through it.  The kraft had subtle stripes that gave the illusion of texture.  I opted to use the kraft paper for a solid background and to accommodate the  sketch I created some angled "layers" using some burlap twine.  The Christmas tree was die cut from the brown speckled layer and it's really hard to see in the pic but that paper is absolutely gorgeous....which explains why I've barely cut into it.  #paperhoarder

You'll find me at Christmas Card Challenges with this one too.  Along with the other 200+ entries.  I suppose that means everyone is starting to get worried that Christmas card mailing deadlines are not that far away!

Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to check out our latest CAS(E) This Sketch challenge for lots of inspiration.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Christmas Carols (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps)
Paper:  Cocoa Bean (Papertrey Ink); Taste of Textiles (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Sketch Tree die (Memory Box); burlap twine

Freshly Made Sketches 261!

I don't think I have as yet recovered from the shock that it is actually November 2nd.  In a few days we'll turn the clocks back an hour and it will officially be dark when I leave work in the afternoon.  Yuck!  Anyone know how many days until spring?!  But on the bright side it's time for a new challenge from Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is the supremely creative Cindy Hall.

A long, long time ago I pinned this card from the uber talented Debby Hughes with the intention of just CASE-ing it.  I have the snowflake dies and everything!  Well I never got around to it....until now.   That card came into my head when I sat down at my desk to make my card this week.

For some reason (no idea why) I used a totally different snowflake die cut than she did.  I cut it out of glimmer paper and colored it with Copics.  Debby used Distress Inks and her color is a little more obvious so I think I might try this again and use those instead.  This is very pretty in real life...but I like her snowflake better so next time I'm using that one!

There's an "anything goes" challenge at Christmas Card Challenges so I'll be adding this over there as well.

And as usual, thanks for stopping by.  There's a whole lot of pretty going on at Freshly Made Sketches so I hope you check out the inspiration from the design team then join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper, Soft Sky (Stampin' Up!); Vellum (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Copic
Accessories:  Snowflake Trio die (a.muse studio); Make a Snowflake die (Taylored Expressions); Merry Christmas die, Falling Snow stencil (Simon Says Stamp); white embossing paste (Wendy Vecchi); Clear Droplets (Pretty Pink Posh)

Freshly Made Sketches 256!

I'm back with a Christmas card for the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week Jen Timko is our hostess and she gave us a big ol' banner that was just screaming for me to use some patterned paper!  That lead me to this really old Christmas DSP I have in my stash and I found an interesting corner of one piece to use as my banner.

I die cut the sentiment out of some champagne glimmer paper and twirled some gold cord behind the poinsettia.  Unfortunately all that sparkle doesn't really show up, despite my stellar photography skills!  There's an "anything goes" challenge this week at Christmas Card Challenges and at Retro Rubber we are to use lace, ribbon, or twine.  The gold cord is my twine and I have had it for years.  It's the first metallic cord that Stampin' Up! introduced many years ago and, lucky me, I have it in gold, silver, and copper.  They are the kinds of supplies in my stash that I'll never get rid of!

Our Freshly Made Sketches design team has really made some beautiful cards this week so be sure to check them out.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Champagne Glimmer, Deck the Halls DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Jumbo Fishtail Banner STAX (My Favorite Things); Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box); Hand Lettered Holiday die (WPlus9); gold cord (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 252!

I hope you are not getting tired of seeing me create a Christmas card each week for the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  I know I don't make one every week but I seem to be on a roll because this is two weeks in a row I have made one!  Our hostess this week is Karren and when I saw that cluster of circles on her sketch I immediately thought of triangles (the crafty mind works in mysterious ways), which made me think of triangular Christmas tree dies.  And thus my card was born.

I am thrilled to pieces with how this card came out.  Firstly, because I finally used some glitter tape that I bought ages ago and secondly, because I had a vague idea in my head on how I wanted this card to turn out and it actually happened!  I am loving these new triangular-tree dies that I recently got and they were actually the impetus behind my Christmas theme this week.

This is an "anything goes" week at Christmas Card Challenges so I'll be linking this up over there as well.

My teamies at Freshly Made Sketches have got some gorgeous cards to show you this week so be sure to check them out.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Sketchy Christmas (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Old Olive, Real Red (SU); Heidi Swapp patterned paper
Ink:  Early Espresso (SU)
Accessories:  Sapins die (Simply Graphic); glitter washi tape (Scotch)

Freshly Made Sketches 251!

I am happy to report that I think I have made quite a dent in my Christmas card stash this year.  I'm afraid to count how many I actually have in case it's a lot less than I think it is - I don't want any bad news to spoil my good mood!  The sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches, brought to you by the lovely and very talented Cindy Hall, gave me the opportunity to add another one.  Although, this one is a tag.

The color palette at Christmas Card Challenges inspired the colors of my little elf's suit  and it was easy to create a background with some of the neutral colors.  I actually cut into some very old patterned paper to make one of the background shapes.  Normally I gaze fondly at that paper as I lament that it is just too pretty to cut, but I decided that there's no use staring at that paper anymore when I can put it to good use.  So here it is!  I tried to fit an oval shape on here but I just wasn't loving any of them - the sizes were all wrong.  So out came my Bam Bubble die and I got a cool background for my elf!

I hope you can play along with us this week at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our amazing design team has cooked up some beautiful cards to inspire you!

Supplies
Stamps:  Toy Land (The Alley Way Stamps); Sketchy Christmas (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Bashful Blue, Holiday Thyme DSP (SU); X-Press It Blending Card
Ink:  Early Espresso (SU); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Copics
Accessories:  Traditional Tags STAX, Pierced Traditional Tags STAX (My Favorite Things); Labels Nine die (Spellbinders); Bam Bubbles die (Paper Smooches); Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon, Early Espresso grosgrain ribbon (SU); Winter Wonderland sequins (Neat & Tangled); burlap twine

CAS(E) This Sketch 184!

Happy Thursday!  Only one more wake up day before the weekend!  But before we get to that we get to see a new challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch.  This week our sketch is designed by Sam Simpson.

I usually shy away from sketches that have a repetitive image like this one, but for some reason when the repeating image is a snowflake I am totally ok with that.  Weird, I know.  But we all have our foibles!

I've been slowly but surely adding to my Christmas card stash and when I saw the tactile challenge at Less is More and the Anything Goes challenge at Christmas Card Challenges I could see some felt snowflakes in my future!

The blue layer and the blue on the sentiment is Baja Breeze (the best blue ever) and I will continue to say that until Stampin' Up! brings it out of retirement once and for all.  It also happens to be my go-to blue when I'm thinking of Christmas cards - or cards with snowflakes...

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you've got some time to check out our latest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch.  We'd love to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Joy (Concord & 9th)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Baja Breeze (SU)
Ink:  Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler (SU)
Accessories:  Blueprints 20 die (My Favorite Things); Maryanne snowflake die (Simon Says Stamp); felt

Freshly Made Sketches 246!

I'm very excited that it's Wednesday and time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  Our  beautiful sketch, designed by Rita, has a tag on it which put me in mind of Christmas.

The colors for my card were inspired by the latest Christmas Card Challenge, although I took a little artistic liberty and added some silver sparkle!  Originally I was going to use patterned paper in these colors for the different layers on the tag but then came across an old tag I made that had a sparkly circle on it.  I used that idea for the circle and then added the two triangular trees in green and red to make it extra festive!

The Freshly Made Sketches design team has some great cards to inspire you to play along with us this week, so be sure to check them out.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Modern Christmas (Clearly Besotted); Jingle All the Way (Technique Tuesday)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink); Baja Breeze, Silver Glimmer (SU)
Ink:  Mossy Meadow (SU); Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink); Ruby Red (Altenew)
Accessories:  Femme Frames (Mama Elephant); Small Stitched Rectangle die (Lawn Fawn); Pierced Traditional Tags STAX, Washi Tape die (My Favorite Things); Baja Breeze seam binding ribbon (SU); crochet thread

Tag You're It 46

TGIF!  It's always good when Friday comes around.  First, it's the end of my work-week and second it's the start of a new challenge at Tag You're It!  This week our inspiration comes from Susan.

I didn't have any garden gnomes to play around with but I did have a Santa that had a similar fun and festive look to it.  I embossed the background with sparkle medium that I first learned about from Hazel.  Every time she used it I was smitten with how it dazzled the eyes!  She told me where to get it and I proceeded to order a whole bunch of colors.  This is the first time I used it and the look in real life is as dazzling as it gets!  I wish you could see it!

The challenge this week at Christmas Card Challenges is Anything Goes so I think this fits!  Another Christmas project to knock off my list!  Yay me!!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can join us at Tag You're It!  Tags aren't just for gifts - they look great on cards too!  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Jingle All the Way (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  Cherry Cobbler (SU); Neenah Solar White
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); White (WPlus9); Copics
Accessories:  Tag Die, Tag Die Layers (My Creative Time); A Birdie Told Me die (Lawn Fawn); Starry Nights stencil (Memory Box); Diamond Sparkle Medium (Imagination Crafts); baker's twine; embroidery floss

Freshly Made Sketches 171

It occurred to me that January was nearly over and that I hadn't made a Christmas card yet.  Well, Freshly Made Sketches to the rescue!  Rita is our hostess this week and that big ol' circle made me think of a poinsettia die that I had.

The challenge at Sunday Stamps provided the colors and at the Christmas Card Challenge anything goes so I thought I'd link up over there as well.

Well I survived the #blizzardof2015 #juno in one piece!  It snowed where I live for nearly 24 hours and left me with a couple of feet of snow.  I can just barely see the top of the bird bath and sundial in my yard so I'm pretty sure there is at least a couple of feet out there.  The snow was light and fluffy (better to shovel) and drifted quite a bit.  When I first went out to shovel I had a drift in my driveway that was almost to top of my car! Fortunately, I didn't lose power which was a real concern with the gusty winds.  But today it's back to business as usual.   Thanks to everyone who sent a prayer and kind word my way!

The Freshly Made Sketches design team have made some amazing cards for you to see so be sure to check them out.  I hope to see you in the gallery this week!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Think Big Favorites #8 (Papertrey Ink); Java Spills (Stamping Bella)

Paper:  Kraft, Vellum (Papertrey Ink); Cherry Cobbler, Red Glimmer (SU)

Ink:  Crumb Cake (SU)

Accessories:  Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box); Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX (My Favorite Things)