Freshly Made Sketches 160

Happy Wednesday!  It's time for a brand new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our sketch is designed by Rita and I'm pretty sure you're going to love it!  It's got a big ol' banner on it and I love banners!  This is also my last week guesting over at Colour Me...!  They really put together some gorgeous color combos and this week there are two palettes to choose from.

I chose to use the second color combo.  It's got Chocolate Chip in it and I really love that color.  It's been ages since I've used it so I dove right in to my supply of cardstock and even used a little ink too.  I love how it looks with Lost Lagoon and although pink isn't really my thing, I think both colors look pretty with the Blushing Bride.

The little butterfly seems a little weird on my card considering it's fall and butterflies seem better suited for spring and summer.  But I love using them on my cards and these colors reminded me of spring so there you go.  They're kind of timeless, don't you think?

Thanks for stopping by here and don't forget to check out the challenges at Freshly Made Sketches and Colour Me...!  Both design teams have totally rocked their cards!

Supplies:

Stamps:  So 80s (WPlus9); Many Thanks (Simon Says Stamp)

Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes); Chocolate Chip, Lost Lagoon, Blushing Bride, Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Blushing Bride, Chocolate Chip (SU)

Accessories:  Horizontal Stitched Strips, Pierced Fishtail Flag STAX, Pierced Circle STAX (My Favorite Things); Chrissy Butterfly die, Leanna Butterfly die (Simon Says Stamp)

Freshly Made Sketches 159 and Colour Me...! 43

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Today we've got a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and this week the sketch is brought to you by little ol' me!  I hope you find lots of inspiration in it!

My card incorporates the palette at Colour Me...! where I am the guest designer this month.  I've never been a big fan of Crisp Cantaloupe but I've got to say that I've got a new appreciation for it now.  It seems to go with just about everything!

I recently got this new stamp set and I've been dying to ink it up.  The big square layer on the sketch was perfect for showing off the flowers stamped in these beautiful colors.   It was a little tricky at first figuring out how the layers of these stamps went together but I have to admit it was fun figuring it out and seeing how the flowers gained depth each time I added a layer.

The ladies at Freshly Made Sketches and Colour Me...! have created some beautiful cards for you to see so be sure to check them out.  We'd love to have you join us this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Painted Flowers (Altenew); Celebration of Thanks (Verve)

Paper:  Crisp Cantaloupe, Blackberry Bliss, Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Soft Cantaloupe (Hero Arts); Calypso Coral, Elegant Eggplant (SU); True Black (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories:  Pierced Square STAX (My Favorite Things); Banner Trio die (Wplus9); Antique Brad (SU); white seam binding ribbon

Freshly Made Sketches 157 and Colour Me...! 41

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches and it's my second week guest designing at Colour Me...! so I get to show you some cool colors too!  This week Amy is our sketch hostess and we're going striking with the colors!

Isn't this sketch fantastic?  It's wide open to interpretation and the star can be substituted for any shape.  I started with a little textured layer and since the colors made me think of fall I added some leaves inked up with a little rock and roll technique.

Be sure to head on over to Freshly Made Sketches and Colour Me...! to check out the beautiful cards the respective design teams have made.  They will knock your socks off!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Fall Colors (Precious Remembrance)

Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Naturals White (Neenah); Hello Honey (SU)

Ink:  Hello Honey, Cherry Cobbler (SU)

Accessories:  Bricked embossing folder (Tim Holtz); Cherry Cobbler button (SU); baker's twine

Freshly Made Sketches Meets Colour Me!

Wednesday is when I get to show off the latest new sketch challenge from Freshly Made Sketches.  Well today is an extra special Wednesday because I also get to show off the new color challenge at Colour Me!  That's right I'm joining the very talented ladies over there for the month of October!  

Sketch challenges and color challenges are two of my favorite things so when I get to combine them I'm in stamping heaven!  Before I get to my card and these new challenges I want to thank the ladies at Colour Me for inviting me to join them on their stamping adventures.  

This week our FMS sketch is designed by Narelle and the sketch is full of the layers she is so famous for!  I used stamped images to replicate those layers incorporating the monochromatic colors at Colour Me.

The design team cards for both Freshly Made Sketches and Colour Me are beautiful this week so be sure to check them out.  I hope that you can join us in the gallery for each (or both ) of the challenges this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Textures (Dina Wakeley Media); Mini Stamp Thank You (Heidi Swapp); Jumbo Abstract Art (My Favorite Things); Mini Mixed Media Backgrounds (Stamplorations)

Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Calypso Coral, Vellum (SU)

Ink:  Soft Cantoloupe (Hero Arts); Calypso Coral (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Chrissy Butterfly die, Leanna Butterfly die (Simon Says Stamp); Basic Pearl (SU); Notable Cute Enamel Dots (My Mind's Eye)

Colour Me.....Hello!

It's been a dog's age since I posted anything here so I figured I'd better pop in with a little tag I made so you all didn't think I ran away!  I started making this last night and then put it aside while I waited for some embossing paste to dry.  I finished it up this afternoon and am just now getting around to posting it.

The colors of my tag are from the very cool palette at the Colour Me challenge.  Just eyeballing the design team cards and the gallery I was so impressed with how pretty these colors looked together that I wanted to make sure I played along.  The layout is my somewhat liberal interpretation of the Deconstructed Sketch.  I followed the layout of the sketch, but instead of a square base I used a tag!

Well that's it for me.  Back to the old craft cave I go to get a head start on this week's projects.  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Paper:  Soft Stone (Papertrey Ink); Coastal Cabana, Hello Honey, Basic Black (SU); watercolor paper

Ink:  Hello  Honey

Accessories:  Traditional Tags STAX, Pierced Traditional Tags STAX (My Favorite Things); Hand Lettered Hello die (WPlus9); Chevron stencil (Heidi Swapp); Speckles stencil (Tim Holtz); Make it Merry button, Springs Sprinklers (October Afternoon); white embossing paste, black seam binding ribbon, crochet thread

A Note of Thanks

This past week I had one of those weeks at work that was totally draining.  By the time I got home at night I had no energy to cook, clean or even {gasp} make a card!  The last time I set foot in my stamp room was last Sunday and I was feeling very guilty about that.  Not to mention nervous because I had no crafty ideas running around my head that were bursting to get out.  But Saturday night I soldiered on and checked out some color and sketch challenges then settled in for some crafting.

The first card I made I will refer to as "practice."  It was one of those cards that looked way better in my head than it did in the execution.  Too embarrassed to post it, I scrapped it and created something completely different.  Here is version two using the colors at Colour Me and the As You See It sketch.

Admittedly, the sketch had a layer with a fringe that seemed to extend beyond the edge of the card, but as I had nothing in my stamping repertoire that even remotely looked like a fringe I just went with a little piece of textured cardstock.

Well, I'm exhausted after all this creative thinking and am going to call it a night. (Yes, I'm typing this Saturday night with the post scheduled to go live on Sunday morning.  What would we do without the wonders of modern technology)?  

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Thank You Kindly (SU); Textures (Dina Wakely Media)

Paper:  Pure Luxury (Gina K); Basic Black, Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Daffodil Delight (SU); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things)

Accessories:  Sprightly Sprigs die (Verve); Sentiment Strips die (My Favorite Things); Unforgettable Firsts enamel dots (My Mind's Eye); gold cord (SU)

Thank You for CTS85 and CMCC29

Just popping in with a quick card that I made last night.  I was too tired once I was done to get my post scheduled and I nearly forgot to do it this morning.  I've got loads of errands to do today so this will be short and sweet.

I really liked the nearly monochromatic colors at Colour Me and I thought they'd be perfect with this flower and leaf combo from Altenew.  I added in the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch and this is what I came up with.

Once again I added some Crystal Effects to the center of the flower (so glad I remembered that I had this stuff).  I'm sure you can't really see it in the picture but it really adds a fun little spot of shine.

That's it for me.  I'm off to do some running around, then I hope to spend some quality time in a lounge chair on the patio!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Off the Grid (SU); Hennah Elements (Altenew); Botanical Silhouettes (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes); Express-It Blending Card

Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Island Indigo (SU); Copics

Accessories:  Collectible enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

Thanks a Bunch

Sometimes I find it hard to participate in color challenges when there are just two colors, but I liked the combo at Colour Me too much to not give it a try.  I never in a million years would have thought to put Soft Sky with Elegant Eggplant but once I saw the cards from the design team I realized how pretty the colors looked together.  I added in the latest Sketch Saturday and went to work.

I'm actually re-thinking my decision to use vellum for one of the flags.  Originally I was going stamp a sentiment on it but then changed my mind and used one of these label sentiments because I love that stamp set so much and want to use it all the time!  The placement of it deviates from the sketch but I think you can still see the sketch in there.

It's too nice a day to spend cooped up in the house so I'm headed outside to try and dig up a stubborn patch of grass that has taken root in my garden.  I've sprayed it with weed killer thinking that it would help to pull it out but the roots on this grass are shooting all over the place and I'm having a tough time liberating it from the soil.  But I will prevail.  No stupid grass will get the best of me!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Label Love (Altenew)

Paper:  Soft Sky, Elegant Eggplant, Whisper White, Vellum (SU)

Ink:  Elegant Eggplant (SU)

Accessories:  Gerbera Daisy die, Fishtail Flags STAX (My Favorite Things); Honeycomb stencil (Heidi Swapp); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver)

Be Yourself on the 4th of July

Happy 4th of July to all my American friends!  Where I live we'll be celebrating the 5th of July because Hurricane Arthur is going to dump lots of rain on the area so all the parades and fireworks have been pushed off a day.  No worries here, though because I'm going to take the opportunity to do some housework, sell some stuff on eBay then get down and dirty in my stamp room.

Today I've got a tag to show you that I made for the new Mixed Media Card Challenge using the colors from Colour Me.  This is my first foray into the world of mixed media other than adding the occasional scrap of ribbon or embossing paste on a card.  I thought long and hard about this challenge before I decided to jump in with both feet and I even searched mixed media on Pinterest to get a feel for what it's all about.

The theme for the first challenge was nature with the option of making a tag, so that's exactly what I did.  I stamped a scripted background on to the kraft card stock then after a bit I smeared on some embossing paste (that I dyed with a re-inker).  Unfortunately the ink bled through the paste and I'm not sure if I should have waited overnight to do that to give the ink a longer drying time of if that would have even made a difference.  I considered re-doing it but decided to proceed.  I cut a floral shape from some burlap then layered some inked leaves and a little butterfly on it.

So that's it then.  I will say that some of the mixed media tags I saw on Pinterest were absolutely gorgeous.  People obviously have an eye for layering and color and adding just the right amount of texture.  I don't see myself turning into a Tim Holtz-style stamper anytime soon (although I do love that style), but it was fun to see if I could incorporate some of those elements into the stamping style I've already got.  After all, I do love a bit of texture on my cards.

Well that's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Kinda Eclectic (SU); Be (Simon Says Stamp)

Paper:  Blackberry Bliss (SU); Kraft (Avery Elle)

Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Crumb Cake (SU)

Accessories:  Traditional Tag STAX, Pierced Traditional Tag STAX (My Favorite Things); Beautiful Blooms #1 die (Papertrey Ink); Burlap stencil, Splatters stencil (Tim Holtz); embossing paste (Dreamweaver); Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon, linen thread, pewter jumbo grommet (SU); burlap

Sweet Baby

A while back a co-worker asked me to make some baby themed cards for her.  She wanted about six of them to send to a friend who was expecting a baby.  I told her that I'd be happy to make some for her but I was secretly scared.  If you've been here before then you know that baby cards are not really my thing and I was a little afraid that anything I made would be kinda lousy.  But I'm nothing if not adventurous in my craft cave so for the last few weeks I've been busy doing baby card searches and pinning a few that caught my eye.

We don't know whether the baby is a boy or a girl so I've been trying to stick to neutral colors.  The card I've got here was inspired by THIS adorable card and features the colors from Colour Me (kind of unconventional for a baby card), the sketch from Pals Paper Arts, and conveniently, the baby theme at The Card Concept.  And I got to use a brand new stamp set so I'm linking up to Darnelle's NBUS challenge too (just under the wire)!

I'm not sure mine looks as quite like a bib as my inspiration card (I think it might those in-your-face colors), but it does look better in real life.  It's a cute concept and I'm pretty sure the recipient will like it!

My vacation is winding down (insert heavy sigh here) and it's back to work on Monday for me.  I've had some fantastic weather this week and got a lot accomplished outside in the garden digging up weeds and flowers that had gone rogue.  I love that feeling of a job well done!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Onesie Two-sie (WPlus9)

Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Natural White (Neenah); Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight, Tempting Turquoise, Old Olive (SU)

Ink:  Early Espresso (SU)

Accessories:  Houndstooth embossing folder, Daffodil Delight seam binding ribbon (SU) 

Hash Tag Life is Good

I really loved the simplicity of the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch and thought it would look especially good when paired with the monochromatic challenge at Colour Me.  But in order to create what I was envisioning in my head, I had to turn the sketch upside down, something I don't normally do!

I actually tried another image first before going with this billowy outlined flower.  But the first image was too chunky and after I popped it up on foam it looked like a giant pimple on the front of my card.  Definitely not the look I was going for.  

Monochromatic often means simple to me and I wanted to do justice to all the white space on the sketch so I kept the design rather minimal.  But to prevent the washi tape from looking lost amid all that space I added a bit of texture with some grungy images stamped behind it.  I love how adding random images like that seems to give a card texture.

It's a beautiful day here just in time for Mother's Day.  I hope you mothers out there have a wonderful, relaxing day!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge (SU); Truth Is (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps); #Hashtags (Tim Holtz)

Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes); Solar White (Neenah); Basic Black (SU)

Ink:  Black Licorice Hybrid (My Favorite Things)

Accessories:  washi tape