In a Row

The challenge at Less is More is "in a row" and I wondered how I could play along.  I stumbled on a die-cut in my stash that I thought might be an interesting take on the challenge.

How about a bunch of tall buildings in a row!  I think I like it!  The right sentiment was a bit of a challenge too.  I settled on this one and thought it might be fun for someone who recently moved and wanted to tell their friends and family.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Mini Stamp Remember (Heidi Swap)
Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Cityscape Nightline due (Memory Box)

Freshly Made Sketches 238!

My card for this week's challenge at Freshly Made Sketches has a few stamps on it that I haven't used in a while.  Our sketch is designed by Kim and I love all the layered shapes on it.  I replicated those layers with stamps and a few flowers  popped up on foam tape.

When I sat down to make this card I went through my stamps and came across SU's Off the Grid.  I love that stamp and for some reason I had forgotten all about it.  I decided it would make a great little base layer image.  Then I dug out another SU set that I've had for ages and hadn't used lately and added the flowers and stem.  A little sentiment in a hand-written style plus a few enamel dots and I was done!  Easy peasy.

The colors for my card come from the latest challenge at Sunday Stamps.  The inspiration photo is so beautiful with these vibrant colors.

Only a few more days until the long weekend!  Yay!  I hope to do some puttering in the garden this weekend because the weeds have already come a-calling!   Thanks for stopping by and be sure to head on over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog to see the inpsiration from the rest of the design team.  I hope you've got some time to join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes, Off the Grid (SU); Mini Stamp Thank You (Heidi Swapp)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); Mossy Meadow, Whisper White (SU)
Ink:  Certainly Celery, Mossy Meadow, Pacific Point, Night of Navy (SU)
Accessories:  Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); enamel dots (Studio Calico)

colourQ 308!

Hello, hello!  Time for a brand new challenge at colourQ!  I adore the colors this week because it's got an old favorite of mine - Kiwi Kiss!  The palette this week is inspired by this shopping tote.

I think this is the fastest card I've ever made!  I had seen the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch the other day and knew right away that I wanted to use it with these colors.  I didn't get a chance to put my card together until I got home from work last night but I had plenty of time to put it together in my head.  So when I got home I grabbed the supplies I needed and put this together in no time flat.  That hardly ever happens to me but I love it when it does!

As you can imagine our amazingly talented colourQ design team has knocked it out of the park with these colors so be sure to pop on by and check their cards out if you haven't already!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Papillon Potpourri, Gorgeous Grunge (SU); Abstract Art (My Favorite Things); Mini Thank You (Heidi Swapp)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Sahara Sand, Kiwi Kiss, Not Quite Navy Soft Sky (SU)
Accessories:  Basic Rhinestones (SU)

Hello!

I love the moody colors in the Color Throwdown challenge this week.  And when I saw the layout at CAS(E) This Sketch an idea popped into my head.

I envisioned a beautiful sponged background in shades of pink and purple then an image in silhouette stamped over it.  I forgot to take into account that I don't sponge card stock all that well.  For all my years of stamping there a few techniques that I can't quite get the hang of.  Sponging is one of them.  I imagine it's because I don't use those techniques often enough to be good at them but in this case I did discover that those little sponge daubers that come on the hollow, black thingy that you can stick your finger in gives me better control than the Tim Holtz sponging pads.  Those sponging pads look streaky every time I use them.  Live and learn!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Nature's Gifts (Penny Black); Together (Heidi Swapp)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Victorian Velvet, Dusty Concord (Distress); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Basic Rhinestones (SU)

Tag You're It 26

Happy Friday!  Today I've got a tag to show you for the newest inspiration from Tag You're It!  Our hostess is Marybeth and I love her inspiration tag.  I love the double layers and the simple butterfly embellishment.

It's no surprise that I love to use butterflies on my projects so when I saw this tag I knew I didn't want to substitute another image.  I dug out some old SU patterned paper to make the tag underneath the white tag and I used a companion design to die cut the solid layer of the butterfly.  The top butterfly layer is die cut in vellum just because I love that look and I wanted the pattern of the layer underneath to show through.

The challenge all month long at Curtain Call is "celebrate" so it was easy to add that sentiment to my tag.  Now this is ready as a stand-alone tag or it can easily be added to a card front later.  Easy peasy and one of the reasons that I love to make tags!

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to head on over to Tag You're It and check out the amazing inspiration from the design team.  You won't be disappointed.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Right Now (Heidi Swapp); The Big, the Bold and the Happy (Winnie & Walter)
Ink:  Taken With Teal (SU)
Paper:  Taken With Teal, Sweet Pea DSP (SU); Neenah Solar White; Vellum (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Basic Bookmark I die (Papertrey Ink); Darla Butterfly die, Vivienne Butterfly die (Memory Box); enamel dots (Freckled Fawn); jumbo eyelet (We R Memory Keepers); seam binding ribbon; crochet thread

Freshly Made Sketches 174

Hello!  It's Wednesday so it's time to bring you a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our sketch is brought to you all the way from Germany from our hostess Cindy Lovell.  It's a classic sketch that can be interpreted a bunch of different ways.

I'm pretty sure I've made a card very similar to this before.  It's a formula I like.  I see a diagonal layer and it makes me want to break out a bunch of colors and put them all together rainbow style.  I had been kicking around the idea of playing along with the Fusion challenge because I really loved the colors in the inspiration photo.  I had an aborted attempt at following along last weekend and though that card didn't pan out I was determined to use those colors somehow.  My little rainbow was perfect for them!

My friend Sylvia mentioned a daisy die from Sizzix recently and since I had forgotten that I even owned it decided it was high time it saw the light of day.  For the center I used the old build-a-brad from SU.  At least I think that's what it is called.  The glare from the light is obscuring the center of it, but it's actually a button image.  

Speaking of glare from the light, my new bulb has arrived so lighting my cards should be MUCH easier now.  I had no idea how much I relied on the white light from my photography bulbs until one of them bit the dust.  I can't even describe all the gyrations I went through this past week trying to get decent light.  I'll make sure I've always got an extra on hand now.

My friends at Freshly Made Sketches have made some beauties this week so I hope you check them out and join us in the gallery with your own take on the sketch!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Thank You (Heidi Swapp); Sunny Days (Verve)

Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Dark Chocolate, Hawaiian Shores, Terracotta Tile (Papertrey Ink)

Ink:  Dark Chocolate, Hawaiin Shores (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories:  Daisies #2 die (Sizzix); Build A Brad (SU)

Dragonfly Thanks

Hard to believe it's new year's eve isn't it?  It's funny how time seems to fly (unless it's winter which always seems to drag on) and suddenly you are staring a new year in the face.  I've got some crafty goals that I hope to meet in 2015 - I think I'll be brave and post them here soon because I think it will help me be accountable!

Wednesday's are usually the day where I debut a card that I made using the new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, but we're on a holiday hiatus so I'm free to indulge myself in other crafty challenges today.  This card is for the Mojo sketch and a recent color challenge at Splitcoast Stampers.

The SCS color challenge was actually to use Hello Honey, but I used Crushed Curry because I had some DSP in that color and I really wanted to use it on my card.  This is also tall and skinny week at Mojo so my card is a slim 3 1/2 by 5 1/2 inches.  I kinda like that size!

I hope that you all enjoy a safe new year's celebration, whatever it is you are doing.  Thanks to everyone who stopped by here and left an encouraging comment over the past year.  I really appreciate your feedback and cherish all the friends that I've made during my crafting journey!  And here's to a super crafty 2015!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Distressed Background Blocks (My Favorite Things); Mini Stamp Thank You (Heidi Swapp)

Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes); Basic Black, Crushed Curry, Welcome Neighbor DSP (SU)

Ink:  Crushed Curry (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX, Pierced Circle STAX (My Favorite Things); Pretty Butterflies & Dragonfly die (My Creative Time); black crochet thread

colourQ 270

I'm interrupting my regularly scheduled Christmas card program to bring you a little something different, courtesy of the newest challenge at colourQ.  This week our palette is inspired by these wooden ornaments.

I'm also playing along with The Cutting Edge Challenge, which also happens to be their last.  They've decided to close the challenge, which makes me a little sad.  The challenge there happens to use some bold colors and a diagonal design so I based my card on that.  But instead of snowflakes, I used some die cut flowers and added a fun hand-written sentiment.

My colourQ teamies have some wonderful cards to inspire you this week.  I hope you'll have time to join us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Mini Stamp Thank You (Heidi Swapp)

Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes); Island Indigo, Blush Blossom, Calypso Coral, Pistachio Pudding (SU)

Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  On the Diagonal die (Lil' Inker Designs); Stitched Leaves die (My Creative Time); Pretty Petals die (Top Dog Dies); enamel dots (Freckled Fawn)

colourQ 264

Hello there!  Today is the reveal of a new color palette at colourQ and it just so happens that the colors, inspired by this table runner, are perfect if you are in the mood for a Halloween card or, as in my case, you would like to try something new.

The challenge this week at Friday Mashup is to try something that I'd never heard of called the Galaxy Technique.  You basically create a card where the background looks like some of the views you've probably seen from the Hubble space telescope.  They've got a couple of links to video tutorials on the challenge post - one using watercolors and one using Distress Paints.  And both are very cool.

This is actually the second version I attempted using this technique.  The first one I made was using watercolor paints and since me and watercoloring are barely on speaking terms you can only imagine the hot mess that followed.  For my second attempt I wanted to try something more like the Distress Paint version even though I didn't have any paint, Distress or otherwise.

I started out by tapping some Distress Ink on my craft sheet in the orange, green and purple colors.  I misted them with water then smooshed my cardstock in the mess I created.  Then I took some black dye ink and tried the same thing.  The black didn't look so good.  (Note to self, put black Distress Ink on my wish list).  Not to be deterred I dried the cardstock with my heat tool then set about sponging black ink all over it.  The darker areas you see are actually the smudgy effect of using the black dye ink misted with water so even though I thought it looked terrible when I first did it, I ended up liking how it gave my little corner of the universe some depth.

I added some little splatter stars by dipping a brush in some shimmer paint and tapping it against my finger so that it would leave splatters all over the place.  I heat embossed, in white, some bigger stars and something I like to think of as a comet tail to finish off the look.

I'm quite pleased with how it came out except for the part where I messed up and used Wisteria Wonder ink and Vintage Violet cardstock.  You've already stuck with me this long so I won't bore you with THAT story, I'll just thank you for stopping by.

ETA:  I'm also submitting this card over at City Crafter Challenge Blog where the challenge is to add a piece of sky.  Thank's LeAnne for letting me know about that!

The colourQ gang have again made some outstanding cards using these colors so please pop on over there to check them out.  We always love to see you in the gallery!

Supplies:

Stamps:  So 80s (WPlus 9); Mini Stamp Brilliant, Mini Stamp Right Now (Heidi Swapp)

Paper:  Vintage Violet, Whisper White (SU); White (Spectrum Noir)

Ink:  Crushed Olive, Spiced Marmalade, Dusty Concord (Distress Ink); Wisteria Wonder, Basic Black (SU); Versamark

Accessories:  white embossing powder

Brilliant!

Day one of the long weekend here found me with some extra time stamping-wise.  Usually my weekends are pretty busy with cleaning, running errands and trying to get design team cards made for the coming week.  But the prospect of an extra day off from work gave me some time to do a little leisurely stamping for no particular reason.

Not surprisingly I made another card to play along with the splatter challenge at CASology and combined it with the one layer challenge at Less is More.

I played no part in adding the splatters on this card - they came with the floral stamp.  I briefly toyed with the idea to add a few more but figured there was a good chance that I'd ruin it so I left it alone.  The flowers are stamped with Distress Ink and after I inked up the stamp I sprayed it with water to smoosh the colors around.  This isn't watercolor paper so the effect is subtle but in real life I can see some depth of color amid the flower petals.

Today I've not nothing planned but some grocery shopping, football watching and card making!  Fall is definitely in the air here and I actually turned on the heat yesterday because it was getting a bit chilly in the house.  Apparently the cats thought I should have done it sooner because as soon as the radiators got warm they were draped all over them!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Poppy Field (Rubbernecker Stamps); Mini Stamp Brilliant (Heidi Swapp)

Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)

Ink:  Jet Black (Archival); Worn Lipstick (Distress Ink); Onyx Black (Versafine)

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)