Christmas Cheer

My vacation is winding down and I have been strangely absent from my stamp room for the last few days.  I thought I'd have lots of time to get inky while off from work, but other things seem  to have taken up a lot of my time this past week, Thanksgiving included.  But I did manage to get some crafting time in last night making a card for the Color Throwdown and Sketch Saturday challenges (I chose sketch #223).

I recently picked up some patterned paper at TJMaxx for a ridiculously cheap price.  Lord knows I didn't need any more but it was a bargain and I was weak!  I've been dying to use it ever since so I took the opportunity presented by the layers in the sketch to use some of it.  The color challenge called for some silver to I die cut this deer from Silver Glimmer paper because in the fantasy land that is my stamp room deer are also silver (as well as being the boring light brown ones I find eating the plants in my garden).

I wanted to share one more photo with you about this card.  I was setting up to photograph it and as I was adjusting the settings on my camera, someone wandered into the shot.

Talk about nosy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Jingle All the Way (Technique Tuesday); Distressed Grid (Creative Embellishments)

Paper:  Kraft, Ocean Tides (Papertrey Ink); Dove Gray (WPlus9); Basic Black, Silver Glimmer (SU); Snow Village (Pink Paislee)

Ink:  Soft Stone (Papertrey Ink); Silver Metallic (Encore)

Accessories:  Pierced Circle STAX (My Favorite Things); Banner Trio die (WPlus9); Deer Trio die (Impression Obsession)

Freshly Made Sketches 164

My Christmas card odyssey continues this week courtesy of the latest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our hostess is Jen Brum and the sketch is so full of possibilities I had a hard time narrowing down the ideas I had for the sketch!

In the end I went with a color combo I turn to frequently at this time of year:  kraft, with just about anything else!  This time around I paired it with some blue cardstock and some silver glimmer paper.

The stitched layers add such a nice detail and the horizontal one provides an excellent space for a sentiment and some glimmery snowflakes.  And as if there wasn't enough glimmer, I added a big ol' rhinestone to the center of the biggest snowflake.  It looks fanatastic in real life!

As usual, the Freshly Made Sketches design team have created some fantastic cards for you this week, so be sure to check them out!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Think Big Favorites #8 (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Buckaroo Blue, Silver Glimmer (SU)

Ink:  Buckaroo Blue (SU)

Accessories:  Blueprints #13, Horizontal Stitched Strips (My Favorite Things); Maryanne Snowflake die (Simon Says Stamp); Make a Snowflake die (Taylored Expressions); Sparkle  Silver baker's twine (Maya Road); Basic Rhinestone (SU)

colourQ 269

This week the color palette at colourQ might make you think of fall.  Or it might make you think of Christmas.  It might make you think of hand-crafted felt items.  It made me think of all those things but in the end it inspired me to make a thank you card with an abstract background and a very on-trend social media statement.

The colors are inspired by this Leaf Embroidery Hoop Art and the layout from The Paper Players.  Although I was tempted to add a leaf to my card I used a layered star instead.  The colors initially made me think of fall but I really didn't want to do the whole autumn leaves thing so I grabbed a new stamp set I got from Ellen Hutson and layered a bunch of the scribbly circle images.  Then I overstamped it with the hashtag sentiment from Mama Elephant.

The colourQ design team have knocked it out of the park with the colors this week so be sure to head on over there to check them out!  And thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Bokeh Dots (Essentials by Ellen); Big Words (Mama Elephant)

Paper:  Bashful Blue, Hello Honey, Tangerine Tango, Holiday Thyme DSP (SU); White (Spectrum Noir)

Ink:  Always Artichoke, Hello Honey, Tangerine Tango (SU)

Accessories:  Button Stacks die (Papertrey Ink); Stitched Stars (Lil' Inker Designs); First Place Ribbon die (My Favorite Things); crochet thread

Merry

I recently came across another Christmas Card Challenge and since the inspiration was trees it gave me a good excuse to ink up my favorite triangular trees.  And I liked the layout at Wanna Sketch because it gave me an excuse to use three of them!

I added some falling snow behind the trees with embossing paste.  It looks much better in person that it shows in this picture (of course).  I love how this came out.  It's simple but has some nice texture and detail.

Well I'm off to the grocery store.  I'm in charge of the sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving and I want to get all my ingredients early before it gets too crazy at the supermarket!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamp:  Modern Christmas (Clearly Besotted

Paper:   White (Spectrum Noir); Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink)

Ink:  Pure Poppy, Ripe Avocado (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories:  Modern Christmas die (Clearly Besotted); Hand Lettered Holiday die (WPlus9); Falling Snow stencil (Simon Says Stamp); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver)

Thank You CTD319 TYIC11

I've discovered that vacations tend to be busy times.  Since I'm off from work I thought I'd have tons of time to spend in my stamp room creating to my heart's content.  Not so.  I've been busy the last couple of days getting things done that don't normally get done while I'm working so last night was the first chance I had to break out the stamps and ink.

The colors at Color Throwdown were too pretty to resist, especially since colors celebrating autumn and Christmas are what we normally see this time of year, and the challenge at Tag You're It was a good fit for what I had in mind for those colors.  So a tag on a card is what I made.

I got some new stamps from Waltzingmouse because I never seem to have the "right" floral stamps.  I used them on this card and the two-step nature of the stamps ensure that you get just the right amount of depth with the flowers and leaves.  I added some embossing paste in a chevron pattern to the tag which was inspired by the chevron embossing on the inspiration card.  Then I added some splatters to my card base just to break up all that white.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge (SU); Two Step Floral Sprig (Waltzingmouse Stamps); Celebration of Thanks (Verve)

Paper:  Midnight Muse (SU); White (Spectrum Noir)

Ink:  Certainly Celery, Old Olive, Midnight Muse (SU); Sweet Blush, Berry Sorbet, True Black (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories:  Tag Sale #5 die (Papertrey Ink); Chevron stencil (Heidi Swapp); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver); Midnight Muse ribbon (SU); crochet thread

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)

Freshly Made Sketches 163

I'm in full scale panic crafting mode as regards my Christmas card stash.  I've been making Christmas cards on a semi-irregular basis all year long and I'm still short the number that I need.  Enter the newest sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, brought to you by the sublimely talented and sometimes rhinestone covered, Cindy Hall.  The sketch was perfect for a little hapless elf that I've got in my stash so I started coloring him up on Sunday in between football and making some other cards that I would need for the week.

By the time I was ready to assemble my card I thought this guy needed a little snarky sentiment to go along with the tangled mess he's got himself in so I grabbed the only snarky Christmas set I've got.  And it's pretty snarky!

I dug deep in my stash and used some old card stock and DSP for the background and threaded some festive baker's twine around to take the place of one of the layers on the sketch.  At least I've got one more card for the old stash, but this one is definitely a one-off.  It takes me too long to do all that coloring!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you check out the design team cards at Freshly Made Sketches.  There is quite a variety to see!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Deck the Halls (Kraftin' Kimmie Stamps); Christmas Words (Dylusions)

Paper:  Cranberry Crisp, Old Olive, Holiday Thyme DSP (SU); White (Papertrey Ink); X-Press It Blending Card

Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Cranberry Crisp (SU)

Accessories:  Pierced Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); baker's twine (Maya Road)

colourQ 268

The new palette at colourQ at first made me think of autumn and falling leaves.  Then I had a better look at the duffel bag in the inpiration photo and thought that for my card I would use flowers.  I had recently got a new stamp set that fit what I had in mind perfectly.

I stamped a few flowers so that I could create a little collage and used the layout from Sketch Saturday to show it off.  I wish I had taken a better photo so the biggest flower showed up better because it's really pretty :)  but I love how this turned out otherwise.  This color combo seemed a little daunting to me at first, but after getting myself into it, I really love it.  The pop from Cool Caribbean is just what the doctor ordered I think!  

The colourQ design team have created some beautiful cards with these colors so be sure to head on over there and check them out.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Friendly Flowers (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  Early Espresso, Dusty Durango, Cool Caribbean, Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Dusty Durango, Old Olive, Early Espresso, Cool Caribbean (SU); Ripe Avocado (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories:  Blueprints 13 (My Favorite Things); Friendly Flower die, Friendly Flower Extras die (Papertrey Ink)

Poinsettia Christmas

Day one of my vacation finds me toiling away at my Christmas cards.  I like this one a lot and it wasn't overly complicated so it may make my mass produce list!

The colors are inspired by the Festive Friday challenge as well as the poinsettia.  The photo has a wreath but to me poinsettias are a quintessential Christmas image too.  The layout is from Cardabilities and the circle on the sketch was a great excuse to use this Patio Stone stamp which I bought ages ago and have never inked up.

Well that's it for me today.  It's raining outside which gives me the perfect excuse to say instead getting crafty!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Peace on Earth (Verve); Patio Stone (Designs by Ryn); Grunge Me (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Chocolate Chip, Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, Champagne Glimmer (SU)

Ink:  Hot Fudge (My Favorite Things); Crumb Cake (SU)

Accessories:  Small Stitched Rectangle Stackables (Lawn Fawn); Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box); Banner Trio Die (WPlus9)

Thanks on an Angle

This may be the smallest card I ever created.  The back story is that I really wanted to make a card for the CAS(E) This Sketch 100th challenge.  A milestone like that doesn't come around every day so I wanted to be a part of it.  I literally spent a couple of days mentally going over things in my stash that I could use on my card and was coming up empty.  Then the mailman delivered some new things for my stash and one of the new things was a stencil that I thought would be perfect.

The stencil is only 3 1/2 inches across at its widest angle so I sized my card to fit.  I carefully masked off parts of the stencil as I sponged Baja Breeze, Island Indigo and Pumpkin Pie over it (so that I could play along with the Color Throwdown challenge.  Then I began a search for a small sentiment.  I chose this "thanks" die cut but it's a bit bigger than I would like.  To balance it out I threw on a few sequins.  Voila!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Paper:  Pumpkin Pie (SU); Soft Stone (Papertrey Ink)

Ink:  Baja Breeze, Island Indigo, Pumpkin Pie (SU)

Accessories:  Urban Insiders Square stencil (Stencil Girl); Thanks die (Simon Says Stamp), sequins

Hashtag Grateful

I took a break from some Christmas themed projects I've been making lately to make one with some warm, fall colors courtesy of the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge.  Sometimes you just have to mix things up right?  The layout for my card today comes from the sketch at Cardabilities.

This card looks a little messy to me.  I was trying to create some trailing leaves while incorporating some color but I think I went overboard.  Plus I wish I had layered the little flag with the sentiment on some Baked Brown Sugar so that it showed up a little more.  Am I the only one who sees things that should be different after the whole card is put together??

Thanks for stopping by and special thanks for leaving a comment!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge, French Fusion, Off the Grid (SU); Hashtags (Tim Holtz)

Paper:  Dove Gray (WPlus9); Chocolate Chip, Baked Brown Sugar (SU); Vellum (Papertrey Ink)

Ink:  Hot Fudge (My Favorite Things); Baked Brown Sugar, Pumpkin Pie (SU)

Accessories:  Leaves die (Penny Black); Chloe Stem die (Memory Box)

Freshly Made Sketches 162

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Today is the new sketch reveal at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess and sketch designer is Kim and her fun sketch is an homage to her love of creating scenes in the corner of a card.  I can't wait to see the gallery this week and how you interpret the sketch.  For my part, I seem to be single mindedly focused on Christmas cards lately so I've continued that trend today.

I've used a few different things on my card so that I could play along with the Christmas challenge at Mixed Media Card Challenge using the colors from The Paper Players.  I started with some embossing paste that I colored with a Mossy Meadow reinker and after having tried a few different stencils settled on this chevron design.  I used patterned paper to add some "texture" wrapped some baker's twine around the main layer and threw in a button for good measure!

This work week is going by awfully slowly.  Probably because I'm on vacation next week and I'm impatient for it to start!  I plan on catching up on all the online card class videos that I haven't watched (which will probably inspire a shopping trip or two), getting my Christmas shopping done, finishing up my Christmas cards and just generally relaxing before the craziness of the holiday season sets in!

Thanks for stopping by today and be sure to head on over to Freshly Made Sketches to see the beautiful inspiration from the design team!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Joyous Noel (Verve)

Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow (SU); Holiday Cheer (Papertrey Ink)

Ink:  Mossy Meadow reinker (SU); Versamark

Accessories:  Blueprints 13 die (My Favorite Things); Chevron stencil (Heidi Swapp); Christmas Tree die (Impression Obsession); Make it Merry button (October Afternoon); Cherry Cobbler baker's twine (SU); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver); white embossing powder

colourQ 267

Boy did I ever fuss over my card for colourQ this week!  The colors are inspired by these lovely napkin rings and I used the layout at CAS(E) This Sketch as my design inspiration.

First I fussed over how to create the clustered look on my card that is suggested by the sketch.  I decided on a leafy flourish and some flowers.  Then I fussed over how to make some small flowers similar to the ones in the color palette inspiration photo.  Then I fussed over the sentiment.  I wanted something small so that the sentiment didn't overpower the main image.  So I put the whole thing together and added a few home-made enamel dots to take up some white space was just about to photograph it when I decided it was a little too blah.

So I carefully peeled it all apart and since I destroyed the card base in the process I started fresh and stamped the big sunburst to go under the leafy design.  I put it all back together took the photo and I was finally done!  Except I forgot to put the enamel dots back on.  Pooh.

From the looks of things my teamies over at colourQ didn't have nearly as much trouble as I did because their cards totally rock!  Be sure to check them out before you join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Kindness Matters (SU); Say What (Mama Elephant)

Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes); Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Dusty Durango, Pumpkin Pie, Urban Oasis DSP (SU)

Ink:  Chocolate Chip (SU);

Accessories:  Leaf Filled Flourish die (My Favorite Things); Boho Blossom punch, Trio Flower punch (SU); Opal White Stickles (Ranger)