Fusion - Gingerbread

I'm super behind this week in my posting, but I'm finally here with my card for the latest Fusion challenge.  I decided to go with the sketch and incorporated some of the colors from the inspiration photo.

I love the combination of a kraft background with red and black on a Christmas card.  And the plaid makes me smile too! 😊.  And I added another favorite element, the poinsettia.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to check out the amazing creations from the Fusion design team too!

Supplies
Stamps:  Joy (Concord & 9th); Sending Joy (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Desert Storm (Neenah); Real Red (Stampin' Up!); vellum (Graphix)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Poinsettia die (Paper Smooches)

Thank You So Much

I loved the color challenge at The Color Throwdown as soon as I saw it.  And I thought a turnabout stamp would be perfect for showing off those beautiful colors.  I do love me my turnabout stamps!

I'm on a bit of a turnabout stamp kick lately.  I love how they give opportunities to use different colors in a fun and easy way.  No heavy lifting here - just a pretty card that went together very easily!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Wreath Turnabout (Concorn & 9th); Tons of Type (The Stamp Market)
Paper:  Blue Bayou, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Blue Bayou, Night of Navy, More Mustard (Stampin' Up!); Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink)

Fusion - Kitchen

I love the colors of the Fusion challenge this week.  The pops of color against the all-white background got me thinking about a clean and simple card!  I chose a favorite turnabout stamp and stamped it against an all-white background in those colors.

I ended up layering the white focal point layer against a couple of green background layers just because.  It looked a bit plain to me otherwise!  And that turnabout wreath needed a bold sentiment so I picked a nice script word and stamped it in black smack-dab in the center.  

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Fusion teammates have made some great cards so be sure to check them out.  Remember you can play with the sketch, the inspiration photo, or create some Fusion and combine the two!

Supplies
Stamps:  Harvest Wreath (Concord & 9th); Scripted Bold Sentiments 2 (PinkFresh Studio)
Paper:  Certainly Celery, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Pinefeather (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Apricot Appeal (Stampin' Up!); Orange Cream, Frayed Leaf, Evergreen (Altenew); Nocturne (Versfine Clair)

Freshly Made Sketches 547

We've got a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is Judy and I love her sketch!  Those vertical layers leave much to the imagination!

There were a lot of butterfly challenges around blogland this week so I combined my Freshly Made Sketches card with the tic-tac-toe challenge at The Paper Players (center horizontal) and the butterfly challenge at Allsorts.  I used some ancient DSP in a simple pattern then added an outline butterfly as my "circle"on the sketch.  The butterfly was a bit boring so I jazzed it up with some Wink of Stella.

Thanks for stopping by!  Our Freshly Made Sketches team has created some fabulous cards to inspire you to play along with us, so I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps: Simple Sentiments 02 (Simon Says Stamps)
Paper: White Linen (Essentials by Ellen); Midnight Muse, Sweet Pea DSP (Stampin' Up!); Dark Indigo (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Floral & Flutter dies (Concord & 9th); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye); Wink of Stella 

Fusion - Color Palette Flowers

We've got great new challenge at Fusion featuring some lovely shades of blue, a pop of red, and a fun sketch.  I decided to go with the colors and design a square Christmas card.  When I was choosing the blues I thought they looked pretty good vis-a-vis the challenge graphic, but now I'm not so sure!  😳

I ❤️ these turnabout stamps from Concord & 9th.  And this wreath one is on my fave list.  I wanted the wreath to be the focal point of the card so I stamped it right smack dab in the middle then put a slim sentiment across the middle.  To break up the white space around it, and give the card some additional color, I layered a couple of shades of blue cardstock under the main panel.  

Thanks for stopping by!  Remember at Fusion you can play along with the colors, the sketch, or create some Fusion of your own by combining the two.  It's up to you!

Supplies
Stamps:  Wreath Turnabout (Concord & 9th); Fa La La (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Blueberry Sky, Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Polar Bear, Icy Water, Arctic Mountain, Crimson (Altenew); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Fusion - Bookshelf (or Cats)

For some reason daylight savings time really messed me up this year.  Before I knew it, Sunday was coming to an end and I hadn't accomplished much besides vacuuming up cat fur.  Not for nothing, but sometimes I manage to vacuum up enough fur to make my own cat. 😹  So when it came time to make my card for the latest Fusion challenge, there wasn't a whole lot of gas in the tank, so to speak.

I was pretty sure that I didn't own any book stamps but I rooted around in my stash to see if I could find something book-related just in case.  I stumbled on this cat-on-a-line die and thought that it would mimic the horizontal layer on the sketch.  Well, I guess it does but once I put it together I was very under-whelmed.  However, by now it was Monday night and I had no time to go back to square one so this had to do!  And wouldn't you know, the challenge at Addicted to CAS is feline.  That's serendipity!

Thanks for sticking around this long to make it to the end of the post.  I appreciate it!  And head on over to the Fusion challenge to see the beautiful cards cooked up by our design team.  

Supplies
Stamps:  You Crazy Cat (Concord & 9th)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  FeLine die (Penny Black)

Freshly Made Sketches 511

Hi friends.  I'm back with a card for our newest sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is Linda and I love her classic sketch.

The space on the smaller layer was perfect for this turnabout wreath stamp that I inked up in traditional Christmas colors.  The stamp creates this awesome circular design that was just the thing for the "circle" challenge at Addicted to CAS.  I love it when challenges collide into a beautiful card!

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have some beautiful cards to show you so hop on over to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Wreath Turnabout (Concord & 9th); Fa La La (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Whisper White, Mossy Meadow (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, Real Red (Stampin' Up!); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Freshly Made Sketches 508

Hi friends!  We've got a fabulous new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Our hostess is Jacquie and there's so much you can do with her design!

The background on this card is wide washi tape.  It's a bit hard to work with but super pretty in real life.  After I added it to the background I stuck a piece of it to a scrap piece of cardstock and fussy cut a couple of the flowers and leaves to add some interest to the top layer of the card.

I'm late posting my card for the challenge because I completely messed it up!  Usually I make my card on Sunday so that I have a couple of days to tweak, photograph, and edit before I do my blog post.  This week I was under a time crunch because I had a work meeting on Tuesday that meant I wasn't going to get home until very late so I wanted to have the card done and posted on my blog by Monday.  

So, the card was done on Sunday and I start composing my blog post on Monday when I realized that I forgot one layer on the card.  I had no time to make a revision so I thought I'd be out for the week.  But it bugged me that I had made such a stupid mistake so on Wednesday night I peeled off the flowers and sentiment from the "wrong" card, added the missing layer, and added the flowers and sentiment back again so that the card followed the sketch.  Whew!

I am 100% sure that my Freshly Made Sketches teammates didn't have trouble like this with their own cards!  I hope you can check out our challenge and join us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Mix & Match Everyday Sentiments (Concord & 9th)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Raspberry (Avery Elle); Smoky Shadow (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Smoky Shadow (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Calming Bouquet washi tape (Altenew); Subtle Dynamic embossing folder (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 502

Hi everyone!  I took a little stamping hiatus from Freshly Made Sketches last week because I was embarked on an Extreme Makeover - Home Edition.  I had two weeks to paint three rooms, swap out two pendant light fixtures, and throw in a few oddball jobs-around-the house.   My stamping mojo was completely non-existent.  But I'm happy to say the paint is done, the lights are on, and I'm eager to get inky again.

To that end, our latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches comes to you from Jen Brum.  It's got fun layers and a banner, which I love, and I went pretty CAS on it.

I recently got a new turnabout stamp from Concord & 9th (and I'll take a moment of your time to gush about how much I love those)!  So I inked it up in the colors of the Sunday Stamps challenge.  I stamped the design twice then cut one layer to pop up over the other.  Then I went all bold and dramatic and added a slim black banner.  I love how that black banner looks against the colorful leaves!  I stamped a slim sentiment on top of the banner and *poof* I was done!

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have got some fabulous cards to inspire you to play along with us.  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Harvest Wreath Turnabout (Concord & 9th); Tons of Type (The Stamp Market)
Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Sage Shadow (Stampin' Up!); Honey Drizzle, Orange Cream, Autumn Blaze (Altenew); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Fishtail Flags STAX (My Favorite Things)

Freshly Made Sketches 477

We've got a new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches....and I'm the hostess!  I feel a little bit like a broken record because, once again, my sketch is square (I love those).  But if squares aren't your thing feel free to use a different shape.

The lovely colors at The Paper Players inspired me to use this turnabout stamp from Concord & 9th.  It's gorgeous and gigantic!  Once I've stamped it I can't bring myself to cut off those glorious edges so that it fits into an A2 envelope so I just make proportionately giant cards.  This one is 5 1/2 inches square.  I even dug out my envelope punch board to make an envelope for it! I didn't want to detract from the background too much so the center square on the sketch became a shimmery vellum rectangle on my card to which I added some shimmery letters.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  As you probably already know my Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some beautiful cards with my sketch so I hope you are inspired to play along with us!

Supplies

Stamps:  Botanical Turnabout (The Stamp Market); All About You (My Favorite Things)

Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!); Vellum (Grafix); foil paper (Recollections)

Ink:  Baja Breeze, Wisteria Wonder, Old Olive (Stampin' Up!); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  You Trio die (My Favorite Things)

CAS(E) This Sketch 404

My card for the latest CAS(E) This Sketch challenge did not quite end up as I envisioned but I love it all the same!

I started out wanting to make a one layer card.  I intended that the dotted circle be split in the middle by some white space.  I used some frisket film to mask off that white space then happily inked up the stamp in the colors of the Color Throwdown challenge.  But when I went to peel off the frisket film it was a bit too sticky and it peeled off layers from my card base. 😡So to cover up the mistake I added a layer and stamped the sentiment on it.

Thanks for stopping by!  CAS(E) This Sketch is ending soon 😢 so we'd love to see you play along with us.

Supplies
Stamps:  Bitty Burst Turnabout (Concord & 9th); Scripty Sayings (Gina K Designs)
Ink:  Parrot, Magenta (Altenew); Pacific Point (Stampin' Up!); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Freshly Made Sketches 468

Hi all!  It's Wednesday so that means we've got a new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is Linda and her great sketch got my card growing and growing!

So I got it in my head that I wanted to use a particular stamp on that small horizontal layer.  But I couldn't get it to fit it onto a layer that fit a regular A2 card.   So I had to keep increasing the size of the card so that I could accommodate a bigger layer that fit the stamp.  I finally found the sweet spot- yay - but I think the final card is something north of 5 inches square!  

The colors of my card come from the challenge at The Paper Players.  Originally I wasn't sure that I could make those colors work together but eventually I figured out that the stamp I used made it easy to combine them.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Wreath Turnabout (Concord & 9th); Keep It  Simple Sympathy (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Premium White (Catherine Pooler); Blueberry Sky (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  So Saffron, Blackberry Bliss (Stampi' Up!); Bluberry Sky (Papertrey Ink); Only Black (Versafine)

Freshly Made Sketches 431

Hi all!  It's time for a brand new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our sketch is brought to you by Lee Ann.  The sketch is a rectangle but I decided to do a square instead. 😊

I had this stamped image floating around on my desk for weeks.  It was a leftover from another project and too pretty to throw away.  So I was happy to finally put it to good use.  At Just Us Girls they are looking for square projects so I adapted this image by trimming it just so, then backing it with a purple layer.  I did the slim horizontal layer in vellum and embossed a Christmas sentiment in black on it.  This may have been the quickest card I have ever made!  LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!  My friends at Freshly Made Sketches have got some great cards to inspire you this week so be sure to check them out.  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Wreath Turnabout (Concord & 9th); Joy Stamp (The Stamp Market)
Paper:   Solar White (Neenah); Royal Velvet, Vellum (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Persian Blue, Ultravioletl (Altenew); Tropical Teal (Stampin' Up!); Silvery Shimmer (Delicata)' Onyx Black (Versafine)

CAS(E) This Sketch 362 Meets Fusion

Hello!  It's been a while since I've added a Christmas card to my 2020 stash so I decided to combine the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch with the inspiration at Fusion.

I love the colors of the Fusion challenge - they are so beautiful.  So I grabbed a turnabout stamp from Concord & 9th and used purple, blue, green, and silver to ink it up.  The colors are unusual for a Christmas card and I didn't start out intending to make one but something about the wreath that turnabout stamp creates put me in mind of a holiday card.  I added a bold sentiment and hand-drew some lines around it to mimic the CAS(E) This Sketch. 

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you'll join us at CAS(E) This Sketch or Fusion!  Our design teams have some great cards to inspire you!

Supplies
Stamps:  Wreath Turnabout (Concord & 9h); The Big The Bold and Merry (Winnie & Walter)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Persian Blue, Ultraviolet (Altenew); Tropical Teal (Papertrey Ink); Silvery Shimmer (Delicata)

Tag You're It 98

It's fall y'all!  And our latest challenge at Tag You're It celebrates those special colors and leaves that we only see this time of year! I decided to simplify those leaves from the inspiration photo into one big one.

It's been a while since I've used this stamp set from Concord & 9th and I thought it might be good for this tag.  So armed with colors inspired by The Color Throwdown I stamped the base of this leaf with red and yellow and topped the lace overlay with a brown.

I added a few enamel dots for a bit of dimension and twill ribbon tied with some brown crochet thread completed the look of this card.

Thanks for stopping by!  My teammates at Tag You're It have made some fantastic tags this week so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Lace Leaf (Concord & 9th); Great Friend (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Truffle (Avery Elle); Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Traditional Tags STAX, Pierced Traditional Tags STAX (My Favorite Things); Antique Brass Jumbo Eyelets, Natural Twill Ribbon (Stampin' Up!); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye); crochet thread

CAS(E) This Sketch 336 Meets Fusion

Today I've got a card that blends the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch with the inspiration photo at Fusion.

The photo shows some roses climbing up the side of a house (at least I think that's the side of a house).  So I made my card base the same color as the house and added some tone-on-tone horizontal stripes to mimic those clapboards - which you can't see in my pic- but trust me they are there!  Then I selected a peony as a flower, chiefly because all the rose images I had in my stash were too small.  And in the end I like this image very much and a peony makes a nice substitute for a rose! 

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow design team members at CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion have each created some fantastic cards to inspire you to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Peony Bouquet (Altenew); Scripty Sayings (Gina K); Sketched Stripes Background (Concord & 9th)
Paper:  Sea Glass (Avery Elle); Basic Gray, Basic Black, Garden Green, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Jet Black, Frosty Pink, Coral Berry, Grapevine (Altenew); Sea Glass (Avery Elle)
Accessories:  Leafy Greenery die (My Favorite Things); Scallop Border Set die (a.muse studio)

CAS(E) This Sketch 330 Meets Fusion

Well here I go combining the latest challenges at CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion!  Since it's July I decided to go with a Christmas theme! LOL!  I don't know how "Christmas in July" became a thing but I'm happy to jump on the bandwagon - especially if it helps me with my Christmas card stash. 😉

The Fusion inspiration is "ombre" so I started with this big "JOY" stamp and carefully sponged on some colors in shades of pink and red in ombre fashion.  Then to make sure I was following the CAS(E) This Sketch challenge I added a slim sentiment strip. Easy peasy!

There are a couple of other challenges that I played along with too.  AAA Cards is looking for "maxi" white space and Christmas and Watercooler Wednesday is an "all about occasions" challenge.  This was obviously a sign to dig out those Christmas stamps!

Thanks for stopping by!  My teammates at CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion have made some amazing cards to inspire you to play along with our challenge!

Supplies
Stamps:  Joy (Concord & 9th); Stained Glass Greetings (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah)
Ink:  Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Strawberry Slush, Rose Red (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 393

Hello!  Today we've got a brand new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches to play along with!  Our hostess this week is Lee Ann and I love her sketch!  It's got classic lines that are perfect for many different designs.

After I made this card I realized that I put the sentiment in the wrong place!  The worst part about this is that I print out the graphic for the sketch so that I can follow it when I'm actually making the card.  I think I was so focused on the horizontal layers that I assumed the sentiment was to go on one of them.  It wasn't until I had this done that I realized I made a major miscalculation!  Forgive me Lee Ann!

I chose blues to color these blooms so that I could join the Color My Heart Color Dare challenge then I picked light, medium, dark tones to play along with Just Us Girls.  Whew!

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some fantastic cards with this sketch so I hope you check them out and are inspired to join us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fine Line Florals (Concord & 9th); Painted Sayings (Whimsy Stamps)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Marina Mist, Bashful Blue (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Soft Sky, Bashful Blue, Marina Mist (Stampin' Up!); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)