Freshly Made Sketches 626

I went a bit literal with the Freshly Made Sketches challenge this week.  Our design is by Cécile and her designs always inspire me to dig deep into my CAS roots.  

The colors of my card were inspired by the bright colors of The Color Hues challenge.  I used turquoise and green to create the two half circles and then stamped some leaves and a slim sentiment over them.

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches design team members have made some creative cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Brushed Off (Papertrey Ink); Natures Treasures II (Uniko); Tons of Type (The Stamp Market)
Paper:  White (Gina K)
Ink:  Parrot, Turquoise (Altenew); Nocturne (Versafine Clair); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Freshly Made Sketches 512

I'm excited to share our newest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches with you!  Our hostess this week is Kim and her design gave me the perfect opportunity to challenge myself with an unusual color combo for a Christmas card.

The color challenge at The Paper Players is so pretty so I challenged myself to create a Christmas card with it.  It would have been easy to incorporate the black with the sentiment but I wanted to see if I could pull it off using some sparkly black paper.  So I used said sparkly paper for the stripes, stamped a tiny sentiment in between them, and added a layered snowflake which I die cut in silver sparkly paper and white.  To finish off the snowflakes I put a little bit of white Nuvo drops in the center.  I love how it turned out!

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some fabulous card with this sketch so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Pure Florals Poinsettia (Uniko)
Paper:  Soft Stone (Papertrey Ink); Solar White (Neenah); black glimmer, silver glimmer (Recollections)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Rylynn Snowflake die (Simon Says Stamp); Let it Snowflake Too die (My Favorite Things); Gloss White Nuvo Drops

Freshly Made Sketches 400 - Week Two

We are at Week 2 of our 400th challenge celebration at Freshly Made Sketches.  And we are still walking down memory lane because this week we have reprised sketch #200 for our challenge.  Take a look:

A CAS classic sketch, don't you think?  I went with some comic book inspired paper for a background and a ka-boom image as a focal point.  I added a "wow" sentiment because it's a bit of a "wow" that we are here at 400 challenges!  I was also inspired by the color challenge at the Paper Players - black, white, and one other color.  As per my usual when I see this color challenge I choose yellow! 

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you can join us for our 400th anniversary challenge at Freshly Made Sketches!

Supplies
Stamps:  Explosion! (Uniko)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things)
Ink:  Summer Sunrise (Papertrey Ink); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)

Freshly Made Sketches 384

It's hard to believe we are half way through April but the calendar doesn't lie!  And the calendar tells me it's Wednesday so that means we welcome a new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week Linda is our hostess.

I feel like I've made variations of this card a lot lately, but I am in love with this Penny Black poinsettia die so I tend to reach for it a lot!  This time around I used a simple color palette of gold and white which allowed me to play along with the Christmas Card Throwdown challenge.  That beautiful poinsettia die fits right in with the "anything goes with dies" challenge at Happy Little Stampers.

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some fantastic cards to inspire you to play along with us.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Pure Florals Poinsettia (Uniko)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); gold foil (Recollections)
Ink:  Golden Glitz Delicata (Tsukineko)
Accessories:  Layered Poinsettia die (Penny Black); gold cord (Stampin' Up!); gold glitter washi tape

Happy Birthday

I LOVE the color combo at Color Throwdown so I set aside some time to play along.  I always seem to be drawn to these challenges when there is black and a couple of other bright colors thrown in.  In this case the yellow was calling to me to make a floral card.

I used a turnabout stamp to create the dotted background.  I really love those stamps.  I have a few now in my stash and I like how easy it is to create a fun background with them.  Then I simply cut a few leafy sprigs and stamped a couple of layered flowers in a few shades of yellow and I was done.  Easy peasy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Bitty Burst Turnabout (Concord & 9th); Beautiful Blooms III (Uniko)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Simply Chartreuse (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair); Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Sprightly Sprig die (Verve)

CAS(E) This Sketch 283 Meets Fusion

Every other Thursday I combine the latest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch with the latest challenge at Fusion.  This time around it was the flowers that inspired me and the sketch was perfect to show some off!

I was intrigued, also, by some of the design elements at the Just Us Girls challenge like the script background and the floral accents.  So I used a script stamp to create one of the "layers" on my card and followed it up with leaves, a branch, and some flowers.  Easy peasy!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you can join us at CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion, or both!

Supplies
Stamps:  Script (IndigoBlu); Beautiful Blooms III (Uniko)
Paper:  Soft Stone (Papertrey Ink); Fog (Simon Says Stamp); Certainly Celery, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Crisp Cantaloupe, Groovy Guava, Calypso Coral (Stampin' Up!); Soft Stone (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Grove Branch die, Fresh Foliage die (Memory Box)

Tag You're It 78

Thanksgiving 2017 is in the books in the US for this year so it's time to get SERIOUS about Christmas!  Today there's a new challenge at Tag You're It and our inspiration comes from Jessica Frost-Ballas.  Jess has created a tag that inspired me to add to my Christmas stash.

Instead a pink and gold theme I went with blue and silver, but I was inspired by the shading of the background, the snowflakes, and the deer.  I created some falling snow on the background with embossing paste and a stencil and the deer was die cut with some foil paper from Michaels that has a subtle texture to it - sort of like wrinkles.  I find myself reaching for "peace" themed sentiments a lot this year.  With everything that has been going on in the world lately wishing for a little peace seems to be a good thing.

The Muse: ChristmasVisions challenge has teamed up with Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags challenge and are looking for snow on a tag!  Well here you go!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you are inspired to join us at Tag You're It.  Our design team has created some fantastic tags to get you in the mood so hop on over to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Pure Florals:  Poinsettia (Uniko)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Taken With Teal, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer (Stampin' Up!); silver foil (Recollections)
Ink:  Broken China (Distress Oxide)
Accessories:  Tag Sale: Quilted die (Papertrey Ink); Deer Trio die (Impression Obsession); Falling Snow stencil (Simon Says Stamp); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver)

You're the Star

These days posting on a Monday is a rarity for me!  I don't seem to have as much time for stamping as I used to (or as I'd like) but I had some extra time yesterday so I put myself to good use in my stamp room.  The combination of a couple of cool challenges plus some new stamping goodies that I recently got provided sufficient inspiration!

I took a few liberties with the sketch at Fusion but you get the basic idea!  I combined the layout with the very cool colors at Color Throwdown.  This is my first time inking up the new Lemon Lime Twist from SU.  It's bright!  I love how the super hero style starburst looks inked up in it and the black sentiment provides awesome contrast.

I think we're in for a spot of rain today which means no walking for me on my lunch hour.  We've had plenty of rain this summer so enough already!  Maybe since we've had such a wet summer we'll get no snow this winter...A girl can dream!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Explosion! Additions (Uniko); Shiny Happy Sentiments (Lil' Inker Designs)
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Lemon Lime Twist (Stampin' Up!); White (Catherine Pooler)
Ink:  Lemon Lime Twist (Stampin' Up!); Jet Black (Altenew)
Accessories:  Stitched Basic Edges die (My Favorite Things); Enamel Dew Drops (Freckled Fawn)