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 227

Hello, hello!  It's time for a new sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch.  It's a classic one for sure designed by N@ Ali.

It's been a while since I used this grid image stamp to take the place of a rectangular "layer" on a card and figured it was high time I took it out and showed it some love.  It's actually one of my favorite images to use for that purpose.  Then I inked up this butterfly image that I've had for ages and never used.  And I am pleased as punch that my wee sentiment fit exactly between the lines of the grid.  And I mean exactly!  Serendipity, that is.  The colors I used come from The Challenge.

The first day of summer here was glorious!  The sun was shining, the temperatures were warm and I enjoyed both of those things when I went for a walk on my lunch hour.  Hopefully there's a lot more where that came from in the days ahead!

Well, that's it for me today.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a chance to check out the inspiration from the design team at CAS(E) This Sketch.  Join us in the gallery too!

Supplies
Stamps:  Off the Grid (Stampin' Up!); A Better You (Clearly Besotted); Hello Hello (The Stamp Market)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah)
Ink:  Hawaiin Shores (Papertrey Ink); Crisp Cantaloupe, Melon Mambo (Stampin' Up!); Jet Black (Altenew)
Accessories:  enamel dots (Doodlebug Designs)

CAS(E) This Sketch 174!

Oops!  Totally forgot to post this Thursday morning!  Must be from lack of sleep!  Read on....

Here we are at  Thursday again.  I may have had a sleepless night last night because the night crews were out paving my street (I don't really know for sure because I'm typing this Wednesday night so I don't know if I slept good or not! LOL)!  But it's all good because Thursday means a new sketch from your friends at CAS(E) This Sketch!

I had a bunch of different ideas about how I wanted my card to go for this sketch, but then I saw the masculine theme at The Challenge and decided that using some of the colors in the inspiration photo would be perfect.  I don't have nearly enough masculine cards in my stash so any excuse to add one...

I made a card very similar to this a couple of years ago and for some reason it came to mind when I saw this sketch.  From there it was easy to pick out some of the colors from The Challenge and CASE myself with a thank you inspired card.  The sentiment was embossed first and the ink sponged around it using a stencil.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you've got some time to join us in the CAS(E) This Sketch gallery this week!

Supplies
Stamps:  Big Words (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things)
Ink:  Kraft, Smoky Shadow (Papertrey Ink); Ruby Red (SU); Versamark
Accessories:  Splatters stencil (Tim Holtz); clear embossing powder

CAS(E) This Sketch 164!

This week at CAS(E) This Sketch we've got another great sketch for you!  I think I changed my mind a million times about how I wanted to tackle this sketch and I ended up using some images that I had forgotten that I had but stumbled upon when I was hunting for the stamps I thought I wanted to use.  That makes sense, right?

I went back and forth about what images I wanted to use for those horizontal lines on the sketch and finally decided to use some chevron shapes that I had.  Then I remembered I had some fun, kinda grungy edge images that I hadn't used in ages so I forgot about the chevrons altogether! I stamped the edge stamps in a couple of different gray inks.  Then I added the flowers in shades of blue and a few dots in lime green.  The colors for this, by the way, come from the latest colors at The Challenge.  They are kind of masculine but I used them for flowers instead!  And the challenge at CASology this week is "doodle" so I used these flowers which have a doodle-y look to them!

My fellow teamies at CAS(E) This Sketch had some whopping good ideas for this sketch so be sure to head on over there to check them out.  I hope I'll get to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Rugged Edge (Indigo Blu); Blossom (Precious Remembrance); Many Thanks (Simon Says Stamp); Circles Circles Circles (Whimsy Stamps)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); Fog (Simon Says Stamp)
Ink:  Fog (Simon Says Stamp); Smoky Shadow, Night of Navy, Baja Breeze, Lucky Limeade (SU)

The Challenge #60

Happy Monday!  Today is a holiday for me so I'm home from work.  The weather has been uncharacteristically frigid so I haven't really enjoyed my long weekend with any special outdoor activities, but it's nice to be home relaxing all the same.

A few weeks ago one of my cards was chosen as a top pick at The Challenge so today I'm joining the ladies there as a guest designer!  The color challenge inspired a Valentine - a day late and a dollar short!

I actually had no intention of doing another Valentine, but I saw the sketch at CAS Colours & Sketches and thought the word "love" would look pretty good scrawled across the front of my card.  Then the challenge at Just Add Ink was to add a "V" so I had that covered too.  I'm pretty sure that this is the last Valentine that I'll make this year!  Finally it's one layer week at Less is More, where I haven't played along in a while so I'm adding this over there as well.

Thanks so much for stopping by and a big thanks to Lesley and the rest of the Design Team at The Challenge for inviting me along this week!

Supplies
Stamps:  Circles Circles Circles (Whimsy Stamps); The Big the Bold and the Happy (Winnie & Walter)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Real Red, Pink Pirouette, Basic Gray (SU)

Freshly Made Sketches 221!

Well we're halfway through the week and it's time for a new challenge from Freshly Made Sketches!  This week Karren is our hostess and just wait until you see the possibilities with her sketch!

I had a vague idea floating in my head of how I wanted my card to look then I happened on the inspiration photo for a masculine card at The Challenge and I knew I was headed in the right direction.  I stamped the bold colors with some ink splatter stamps, die cut the sentiment out of the center of those splats, stacked it up with a few layers then stuck it back in place.  It looks much better in person, trust me!

My Freshly Made Sketches teamies have got some beautiful cards to show you this week so be sure to stop on by and check them out.  I hope we get to see you in the gallery this week!

Supplies
Stamps:  Ink Splats (WPlus9); Distressed Patterns (My Favorite Things); Happy (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things)
Ink:  Pacific Point, Bermuda Bay, Pumpkin Pie (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Wonderful Words Birthday die (Papertrey Ink)

colourQ 319

I've got Christmas on the brain so even though the colors this week at colourQ are anything but Christmas-y I wanted to use them for another Christmas card anyway!

And in a strange twist of fate The Challenge wants us to make "non-traditional" Christmas card.  Yay!  A little help from the sketch at Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge and I was off.  I didn't actually have any real wood in my stash so I used the next best thing - woodgrain patterned paper!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to play along with us at colourQ!  The design team has made some amazing cards so be sure to check them out!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Holiday Greetings (Amy R Stamps)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); Chocolate Chip, Summer Starfruit, Blushing Bride, Melon Mambo, Woodland Walk DSP (SU)
Ink:  White (WPlus9)
Accessories:  Blueprints 15 die Favorite Things); Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box); white embossing powder; enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

CAS(E) This Sketch 149

This is my second week posting as a card-carrying member of the CAS(E) This Sketch design team.  Annnnd I almost didn't make it.  Monday night one of my cats knocked over a glass and all the contents spilled onto my laptop.  Within a few minutes the laptop started making a sound like the backup signal on a big truck.  Not good.  A quick look confirmed the worst.  The computer was giving me a message that it was shutting down for my own good.  (Actually it said a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo but I can read between the lines.).

After waiting a bit I rebooted.  Sorry, it said, I can't find the hard drive.  That's crazy I replied.  I know the hard drive is there.  Look again.  So it looked again with the same result.  So out came the hair dryer.  And the battery.  Finally all that heat paid off because the computer booted up but wouldn't recognize the keyboard.  Fearing the worst I went to bed.

I left it alone while I was at work on Tuesday thinking it needed some time to dry out and think about its actions.  I've been very nice to this laptop over the last few years.  There's no reason it should treat me this way.  Long story short, the keyboard is most likely fried.  I ordered a new one but in the meantime I'm using an old USB keyboard that was attached to a desktop computer that I had a millions years ago.  Seriously, the keyboard is bigger than the laptop but it works and that's good.  At least it helped me put together my card for CAS(E) This Sketch which is really the reason that you're here.  Thanks for sticking with me for my little saga.  And without further ado.....

Truth be told I wish that poinsettia was a teeny bit smaller, at least for this card. I think it's over-powering my background stamp just a bit.  I got the color inspiration from The Challenge where the inspiration photo also had a big poinsettia on it so I was powerless to resist and used one on my card!

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you can play along with us at CAS(E) This Sketch.  And special thanks if you stayed with me during this wordy post and made it this far!

Supplies:
Stamps:  So 80's (WPlus9); Handy Christmas Greeting (Amy R Stamps)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Cherry Cobbler, Silver Glimmer (SU)
Ink:  Classic Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Blooming Poinsettias die (Memory Box)

Bird Crazy

One of my crafty goals for 2015 was to try some things that were new to me.  One of those was coloring with pencils.  I had some cheap pencils in my stash, but they were pretty awful at coloring (which is odd since that's what their #1 job was) so I bought some quality pencils to replace them.  I watched some videos on how to use them and then tried them myself.  What you are about to see is my first attempt!

Not great, but not horrible I say to myself.  The layout comes from the latest sketch at The Challenge. You will notice that I stamped the bird too low and had to move the sentiment "banner" to the top of my card instead of where it should be on the sketch.

Incidentally, what you see here is only half of the sentiment.  On the inside of the card it continues "and the possibilities are endless."  I couldn't get the whole thing to fit on the front of the card without it looking too ridiculous so I had to settle for an "inside and out" card!

The sun hasn't been shining here in what feels like forever and the forecast is for a warm, sunny weekend so I am really looking forward to having the sun shine on my face!  Hopefully I can sneak in some crafting too while I'm enjoying the good weather!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Bird Crazy (Tim Holtz); Say It How It Is (Dyan Reaveley)
Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes); Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Sweet  Pea DSP (SU); Solar White (Neenah)
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things)
Accessories:  Prismacolor Pencils; Pierced Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things)

colourQ 285

This week at colourQ we've got some great spring time colors inspired by these Easter baskets to play with.  Despite these colors telling me I should make a card with pretty flowers my crafting mojo fell asleep and I couldn't come up with a single idea so I went in a bit of an abstract route instead.

The scribble-y circles are fun and a pretty popular image right now.  I stamped mine in the colors of the challenge then added some solid ones too.  I went over those with a Wink of Stella pen and they have a pretty shimmer to them in real life.

There's a one year anniversary "anything goes" linky party going on at The Challenge this week, so to celebrate the milestone I'm playing along there as well!

My colourQ teamies have some beautiful cards to show you this week so hop on over there to check them out.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Bokeh Dots (Essentials by Ellen); Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes); Cool Caribbean (SU)

Ink:  Cool Caribbean, Daffodil Delight, Melon Mambo, Kiwi Kiss (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Blueprints 13 die (My Favorite Things); Wink of Stella

Thank You

Today I'm playing along with three challenges that are new for me.  The Challenge had a nifty sketch with some layers that are askew (and who can resist an askew layer), City Crafter is looking for burlap and Retro Rubber is looking for the crimping tool that I'm sure hasn't seen the light of day in a long time.  So I put all this together and this is what I came up with.

I love to use burlap and since the color is so close to kraft I used that as my card base and then accented it with some bright yellow and black.  I stamped a simple zig zag pattern on white which I hoped wouldn't detract from the die cut sentiment that I layered over it.  All this is layered over a crimped layer and as I was busy crimping my card stock I remembered why I don't use that tool:  it's really difficult to get that card stock to stay straight as it's passing through.  The longer the paper is the worse the effect gets.  It's a cool tool, but better equipped for small pieces I think.

It's very cold here.  And I mean really cold.  There's no snow, which is a good thing in my book, and I'll take a cold day over a snowy day any time.  But I'm dreaming of spring.  I keep telling myself that it will be here soon!  Stay safe if you live in a cold place too!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Borders and Backgrounds 4 (WPlus9)

Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Daffodil Delight (SU)

Accessories:  Pierced Square STAX (My Favorite Things); Thanks Script die (Mama Elephant); Small Circle Burst die (Simon Says Stamp); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye); burlap

U Rock

I got some new goodies yesterday and wanted to ink them up right away.  I started with a vague idea to combine the sketch and colors at The Challenge with the timed one layer challenge at Mod Squad.

It's a simple enough card but it still took me 7 minutes and 36 seconds to put together mainly because I was fussing over getting the chevrons lined up right.  I love this color combo but I'm having a hard time getting the pink to show up properly.

I've got a busy day today.   I've got to pop into work for a meeting then take the cats to the vet.  I'm not looking forward to that.  They hate the car ride and I don't like listening to them meow the whole drive there.  Then, of course, they are quite nervous when they get there.  Not a fun experience for any of us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Dot Spot, Live Love Life (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)

Ink:  Rich Razzeberry, Basic Gray (SU); Sweet Blush (Papertrey Ink)