Paper Players 70 Fall Themed Challenge

Last week, I started to make a card and for some reason I never got around to finishing it.  I saw it yesterday when I was poking around my stamp room and realized that it was perfect for the challenge this week at The Paper Players so I set to work finishing it up.

The card was a Trifold Pocket Card.  It was something that I hadn't made in a long time and wanted to try again.  You can find the instructions for it here.

I used some retired designer paper called Apple Cider, which uses Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Wild Wasabi and River Rock.  I stamped the leaves with the small leaves from my new Gently Falling stamp set and the sentiment is from Tiny Tags.  As you can see from the pictures, the inside slides out of the sleeve and has a blank spot to write a note.

Thanks for stopping by today!

FTL164 and CCMC173

Just a quick post today to show you a card I made for the sketch challenge at Clean & Simple combined with the color challenge at Create with Connie and Mary.

For some reason I almost never remember to use Island Indigo even though I really love its deep and rich color.  And these challenge colors look great together.

I used a square scallop nestie to cut the Island Indigo square then layered some Baja Breeze and a small scrap of designer paper from Urban Garden on it.  The sentiment is stamped inside a Framed With Love stamp.  The sentiment itself and the big bold flower is from a Verve set called Great Friend.

Thanks for popping by.  I'm off to Borderland State Park to be a judge in our Canine Howl-o-Ween Costume Parade.  We got some snow last night (ugh!) so I hope it's not too muddy over there.  I only got about an inch of snow, but just an hour or two west of here got almost two feet!  I hope this doesn't set the stage for another bad winter!

ColourQ 108 and MOJO 212

The ColourQ color challenge this week seemed to suggest Halloween, but I wanted to go into a different direction.

I actually wanted to break out some of my Halloween stamps, but I resisted because I thought it would be a little more interesting to try something different.  And this week the MOJO sketch was perfect for what I had in mind.

I envisioned something with a lot of white space so that the So Saffron, Daffodil Delight and Peach Parfait would stand out.  And I always think that a bit of Basic Black adds a perfect contrast, so I added that with the brads, the twine and the scalloped layer.  I used only a touch of designer paper from Beyond the Garden.  The rest are layers of the other colors in the challenge.  (The yellows look awfully similar in the photo, but I did use both of them here)!  The sentiment is from Pretty Postage and the flowers are from a Verve set called Kind Words.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Paper Players 69

This week at The Paper Players is a sketch designed by Nance.

I was intimidated by this sketch at first.  I wasn't at all sure what I wanted to do for that vertical layer, or for that matter what I was going to do for those flowers.  So I poked around with the supplies that I had and ended up letting the colors of the Well Worn designer paper be my guide.

Once again I found myself turning to an old favorite, French Foliage, for this card.  I inked up the leaves in a combination of Cajun Craze, Not Quite Navy and Early Espresso.  In my wildest dreams I never thought I would use a color combo like that to ink up leaves, but I have to say it looks really good.  A little twine, a button, and this card is good to go!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Freshly Made Sketches 8

I don't mind saying that I had a bit of a tough time this week with our Freshly Made Sketch.

I was indecisive about a theme, and a color combo.  I started out with a base of Crumb Cake then waffled about what other colors I wanted to use.  Then I stumbled on the Inkspirations color challenge and liked the colors enough that I wanted to use them for this sketch.

Then I waffled some more before I decided to use my brand new Stripes embossing folder and ink up Triple Treat Flower for the first time.

I've seen some people ink up the embossing folder with a brayer before embossing the cardstock, which creates a nice effect, but I was too afraid to try it.  I had already waffled enough with this card and I didn't want to attempt something I'd never done before in case it came out horrible and I had to start again!

But on the plus side, I love this flower!  How awesome is it that there is a punch for each segment so you can easily create a flower made from multiple colors!

Now don't forget to pay a visit to our awesome design team and our special featured designer Holly Endress.  Then head on over to Freshly Made Sketches and link up your creation!

Lesley Croghan
Linda Callahan
Cindy Hall
Tui Nathan
Jennifer Timko
Rita Wright

Color Throwdown 164 and Pals Paper Arts 116

Well, apparently I had another Halloween card in me.  The color challenge at Color Throwdown told me so!

Then I saw the sketch challenge at Pals Paper Arts was perfect to show off my favorite skull!

I used up some Halloween designer paper from a couple of years ago called Cast-A-Spell.  I love that paper and I don't have very much left, so I use it sparingly to try and make it last!  And of course, that gorgeous skull (saying that seems a little weird!) is from the stamp set From the Crypt.  I heat embossed the image in black because it always shows up best that way.  It is layered on some Rich Razzleberry and an Old Olive scallop square.

Tonight I'm off to volunteer at an art exhibition that the Friends of Borderland is hosting at the mansion at Borderland State Park.  It's a great event that we put on every year.  So if you live in southeastern Massachusetts and looking for something to do tonight, come on by.  We'd love to see you!

ColourQ 107 and Viva La Verve

It was only a matter of time before I stumbled on a color challenge that would give me an excuse to ink up my new Gently Falling stamp set.  This week's challenge at the ColourQ was just the thing.

Isn't that a great bunch of colors?  Since there's a big "boo" in the image graphic, my first thought was to make a Halloween card, but then I thought it would be more fun to transform these colors into something different.  And of course, I needed an interesting sketch to turn my idea into a reality.  I chose one of the October Viva La Verve challenges.

The other day, I confessed to having a fascination for leaf stamps.  I didn't even know that I had one until I realized that I owned two sets of leafy stamps:  French Foliage and Autumn Splendor.  Then to my surprise the Holiday Mini came out and it had another leaf stamp Gently Falling and I found myself captivated by it and all the cards I'd seen made with it.  It was a given that I would need that stamp set!

I really like how this turned out.  Quite often when I sit down to make a card, I have a vague idea what I want it to look like, but my process is somewhat fluid in that I decide a lot of the elements as I progress.  I started this card out as nothing more than an Early Espresso base and a bit of designer paper from the Berry Blossoms set.   Where I ended up with the Pumpkin Pie circles I originally wanted to use the Curly Label punch but it was too big.  Then I had grand ideas of circles, but realized my fussy-cut leaves would substitute just as well for one of them.  I even changed my mind about the sentiment a couple of times before ending up with this one from Posy Punch.

The whole process is one of the things I love about creating cards.  I can start with a simple idea and let the whole thing evolve.  I guess the creative process is part of the reason why we all do what we do when we sit down (or stand, as is often the case) to create.  I love what I do and I hope you do too!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and for reading my ramblings!

Freshly Made Sketches 7

It's Wednesday so I hope you'll join the Freshly Made Sketches crew and take a look at the fantastic sketch we've got for you this week.

For me, there's nothing like a clean sketch as a great jumping off point for a project.  Of course, at Freshly Made Sketches we like clean cards, but not necessarily clean and simple, so you can add embellishments to your card to suit your taste.  This week, I decided to do another Christmas card in my never-ending quest to find one that I really like this holiday season!

I have a confession to make.  A while back I said that my stash of holiday designer paper had grown to such massive proportions that I wasn't going to buy any new ones this year and instead concentrate on using up what I had.  So far so good, but I did have a moment of weakness and bought the red and silver glimmer paper.  I couldn't resist it and I'm not ashamed to say that this stuff is completely awesome!  It has just the right amount of shimmery goodness and I don't regret caving at all!  You can see that I used it here for my scallop circle.

My card base is a bit of textured Soft Sky cardstock that I found in my stash.  I followed that up with some designer paper in Always Artichoke from the retired Wintergreen paper pack.  The image is from the new Snow Much Fun stamp set.  I don't usually go for that kind of stamp set, but these guys are so cute and I saw lots of cards made with them that really got my creative juices flowing that I decided to buy it.  I colored it with my blender pens and markers.  I finished it off with an Always Artichoke button and a couple of flowers punched from the retired Trio Flower punch with an added pearl in the center.

Now for loads of inspiration you should definitely pay a visit to our wonderful design team, which this week includes Sandra Azzopardi as our featured designer.  Then make sure you go back to Freshly Made Sketches and use the linky tool to show us what you've made!

Lesley Croghan
Linda Callahan
Cindy Hall
Tui Nathan
Jennifer Timko
Rita Wright

Paper Players 68

This week the challenge at The Paper Players is to make a clean and simple Christmas card using the colors red and green.

I think I can do that.  I've been trying to make Christmas cards lately in the hopes that I'll stumble upon the one design that I think I can easily replicate for this Christmas card season.  It has not happened yet, but I'll keep plugging along!  As is my usual, I like to combine a couple of challenges, so I chose one of the October Viva La Verve challenges for my sketch.

I love square cards, and I love circles on cards because it gives me an excuse to use my scallop nesties, so I jumped on this sketch challenge right away!

The designer paper I used comes from the retired Merry Moments set which gave me a chance to use Garden Green, a color I like but don't use very often.  The stamped swirl is from Snow Buddies and the sentiment is from Christmas Greeting.  I cut a couple of the snowflakes from the Northern Frost decorative strip die and finished them off with a glimmer brad.  Oh, I almost forgot that I used a bit of the velvet ribbon from the holiday mini.

Lately I've had to find some creative ways to get to do some stamping.  A couple of months ago, I adopted a couple of kittens from a local shelter and I have found that they like to be wherever I am.  For one thing, they like to climb up my legs when I'm standing at the kitchen counter trying to make dinner.  And when it comes time to get some stamping done, they see this as an opportunity to take a nap on my laptop, or right in the middle of the work area on my desk, or on my lap!  They're really quite adorable and I've put a cuddly pet bed in my stamp room, so that they can nap there when I'm working, but that doesn't always work and sometimes I have to just give up for the night!

This is a picture I took of them watching Top Gear shortly after they adopted me(!)  They're a bit bigger now, but just as adorable!

FTL106 and Creative Sketches 52

I was unfortunately in need of a sympathy card, and although the color challenge at Creative Sketches would make a fabulous autumn card, I thought it would suit my purpose as well.

Then I poked around blogland and found that the FTL sketch gave me some ideas.

Here's what I came up with.

I think it's sort of soft and serene and although I think the button adds a little bit of fun, I decided to go with it because it finishes off the center of the flower quite nicely. It seems like it's been a while since I made a card using Crumb Cake, which is odd since it's one of my favorite colors to use.  So it's nice to look at this one and see all that Crumb Cake space!

Well, I'm off to the grocery store before the Patriots game starts, then I'll hole myself up in my stamp room and try to create something while watching the very handsome Tom Brady run around the field!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Color Lab Challenge 55

This month at the ColorLab we've got an interesting color combo for you!

And we've also got a terrific guest designer joining us!  Paula Stewart of Sweet Shoppe Cards is joining us this month and she's got this great clean stamping style that I just know you're going to love.

I mixed a little bit of the old and the new with my card.  The designer paper I used is from the Beyond the Garden pack, the sentiment is from Just Believe, and the flower is stamped in my brand new Creative Elements stamp set.  I can see a lot of potential with that stamp!  May layout is the sketch challenge courtesy of Cards & Things.

Now it's your turn to visit the ColorLab design team and load up on the inspiration you will find there.  Then hop on over to the ColorLab and use the linky tool to show us your creation!

Juanita Golson
Jennifer Weide
Paula Stewart - our guest designer this month

Thanks for stopping by!

MOJO 210 and Color Throwdown 163

There was something about the latest MOJO and Color Throwdown challenges this week that made it impossible for me to resist.

It could be the multiple layers, or the scallop border, or the Early Espresso.  In the end, I'm not sure that it matters at all, because the sketch is great and the colors are perfect for it so I combined them and created this card.

My niece, who was feeling a bit under the weather when I made this, will be the recipient of this card. The card base is Early Espresso as well as those circles at the top.  They are simply one-inch circles that have been sponged on the edges with Early Espresso to give them some definition.  The Baja Breeze designer paper is from Greenhouse Gala.  The flower is from the Greenhouse Garden stamp set.  

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Freshly Made Sketches 6

It's Wednesday so that means it's time for another great sketch challenge from Freshly Made Sketches!

Who wouldn't love a card that has many layers, circles, scallops and ribbon?  I know I do!

I went with a Christmas theme this week and used scraps from some retired designer paper called Dashing and Ski Slope.  I paired that with a retired set of snowflakes called (appropriately) Snowflakes and the tree full of sentiments is from the Perfect Presentation set.

This week Lauri Ingram is joining as our special featured designer and, of course, our own Clean Team of Freshly Made Sketches designers have got some great cards for you to see.  Be sure to check out the cards the design team has made and then go on over to Freshly Made Sketches and use the linky tool to show us what you've got!

Here's our fabulous design team:

Lesley Croghan
Linda Callahan
Cindy Hall
Tui Nathan
Jennifer Timko
Rita Wright
Lauri Ingram (our featured designer this week)

Paper Players 67 and Sketchbook Saturday 32

After a VERY busy long weekend, I finally got a chance to sit down in my stamp room and get my fingers all inky.  I chose Jaydee's very awesome color challenge at The Paper Players and the Sketchbook Saturday sketch as my inspiration.

Since these colors are obviously all about autumn, I bet you thought I was going to make a card using my French Foliage stamp set.  Well, surprise!

I actually own another leafy stamp set, Autumn Splendor, and I thought it would be a nice change to ink it up for these challenges.  I did a little rock-and-rolling with these leaves, but I wasn't entirely happy with the results so I ended up sponging the edges of the leaves as well.  I think they look better all inked up this way.

I seem to have a fascination with leaf stamps and I don't know why.  In fact, the big brown truck paid me a visit today and delivered the new stamp set Gently Falling, so I hope to give that one a go really soon! I've seen lots of wonderful cards made with that set, so I've got lots of inspiration rolling around my head!

Thanks for stopping by today!

A La Card Monkey 77

Today I have the distinct pleasure of being the guest designer at A La Card Monkey!  This week the designers have created a sketch for you that is all about autumn leaves!

And of course, when I see autumn leaves I immediately think of one of my all-time favorite stamp sets French Foliage.

What a great layout!  I used the colors from the Stampin' Royalty color challenge to create this card, along with the First Edition designer paper.  And of course I used the fabulous French Foliage stamps for the focal point.

Don't forget to stop on by A La Card Monkey and join us with this awesome challenge!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

MOJO 209

The saga of me trying to use as much of my Christmas designer paper as I can continues today with the MOJO sketch.

This card features some paper from Holiday Treasures and Merry Moments.  As I was assembling this card and trying to figure out what I was going to do for the circle in the sketch, I stumbled upon the Sizzix die for this bird.  I cut out two:  one in Chocolate Chip and one in Riding Hood Red, which you can see peeking out from behind the Chocolate Chip one.  I thought it was a fun deviation from the circle.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Freshly Made Sketches 5

Wednesday is, of course, challenge day at Freshly Made Sketches and today I'm pleased to introduce you to two new members of our design team, Cindy Hall and Jennifer Timko.  I'm so happy to welcome them to our Freshly Made Sketches team.  I know that you are going to love their cards just as much as I do.  And this week we've also got a new guest designer Anne Marie Hile helping us out.

Now, on to the sketch this week.  It's got some great lines and a circle, which I always find hard to resist.

My card base is River Rock and is layered with Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Not Quite Navy and some of the patterns from the Well Worn designer paper pack.  I love stitching my cards, so I dragged out my mini sewing machine and quickly sewed around the edges.  The leaves from French Foliage are stamped in Early Espresso and the smaller one is rock-and-rolled with Cajun Craze and Early Espresso.  I decided at the last minute to add the small leaf in the center which I colored in Always Artichoke.  A Cajun Craze button finishes it off.  The sentiment is from the hostess set Posy Punch.  I inked it up in Versarmark and heat embossed it so that it would show up nicely.

I was greatly inspired by this stunner by Erna Logtenberg when I made this.  It's a fabulous card and I put it straight away into my faves.  Thanks for the inspiration Erna!

Our Freshly Made Sketches design team has made some fantastic cards for you this week.  I hope you'll stop by their blogs for a little lot of inspiration.  Then pop back on over to Freshly Made Sketches and use the linky tool to show us what you've created.  I can't wait to see what you do with this sketch!

Lesley Croghan
Linda Callahan
Cindy Hall
Tui Nathan
Jennifer Timko
Rita Wright
Anne Marie Hile (Guest Designer)

Two Challenges for My Friend

Create With Connie and Mary has a great color challenge this week.

I mentioned the other day that I love color combos that add a little black, so it was a no-brainer for me to pick this challenge to participate in.  I thought the sketch at Stamping 411 had great possibilities, so I chose it for my layout.

I ended up not embellishing the sketch all that much.  I think I still haven't quite found my mojo after my creative hiatus this week.  I'm having a hard time deciding what to do, but I will keep plugging along.

Yup, this one's pretty simple.  A few layers of Sahara Sand, Basic Black and Pool Party.  The stamped images are from Pocket Silhouettes and My Friend.  I finished it up with some Basic Black grosgrain ribbon layered with the Pool Party ribbon with the curly edges.  A Basic Black button tied with some crochet thread and I was done!  I like it, though.  Simple and pretty!

Thanks for stopping by today!

MOJO 208 and Picture Perfect Creations 73

Boy, have I been MIA this week.  Long story short, my Dad has been in the hospital since last Saturday.  I just picked him up today and brought him home, and this is just about the first time I've sat down in my stamp room and tried to be productive.  Since the hospital is quite a distance from my house, this week has been nothing but a series of late nights.

I'm so behind on everything, including commenting on blogs that I love to visit.  And to top it all off blogger is having issues again with commenting.  It seems like blogs where the comments are embedded as part of the post are unable to receive comments from me (and I suspect others).  So I apologize for my silence this week!

Now, on to a card that I actually started on Monday and have finally gotten around to finishing.  I made it for the latest MOJO sketch and the color challenge at Picture Perfect Creations.

I wanted to make a card using these colors primarily because I love adding a little bit of black to a card.  Especially when it has a bright color like Calypso Coral and a complementary color like Old Olive.

I used the Berry Blossoms designer paper layered on some Calypso Coral for my squares and rectangles.  The flowers are from the gorgeous Raining Flowers stamp set and the sentiment (which does show up better in person) say "happiness always" and is from a retired Sale-A-Bration set called Whimsical Words.

Thanks so much for stopping by.