Freshly Made Sketches 197

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Today we reveal a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is Jen Brum and I think you'll agree she's given us a winner!

As soon as I saw the sketch I knew that I wanted to use this vertical die.  It works so well with these long and skinny sentiments.  And since the challenge this week at Just Add Ink is to add butterflies I opted for one of those in place of the square on the sketch.

Don't forget that the countdown is on to our 200th sketch celebration at Freshly Made Sketches!  On August 19th we are celebrating in style with tons of sponsors, giveaways, and some guest designers too!  So mark your calendar and get ready to play along!

In the meantime I hope you can join us this week for this fabulous sketch challenge!  Our Freshly Made Sketches design team has rocked this as usual and you should pop on over there to check their cards out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Words of Wisdom (Verve)
Paper:  Soft Stone (Papertrey Ink); Basic Gray, Blue Bayou, Whisper White (SU)
Ink:  Blue Bayou (SU)
Accessories:  Blueprints 13 die, Vertical Greetings II die (My Favorite Things); Linen Impression plate (Papertrey Ink); Delaney Butterfly die, Cheviot Butterfly die (Poppystamps); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

colourQ 301!

Hello, hello!!  I hope you had a chance to join us this past week at colourQ as we celebrated our 300th color challenge!  The colour Queen from that challenge will be joining us on the design team.  Woot woot!  Good luck to everyone who participated!

This week our colors are inspired by this clutch.  Usually when I see a challenge with a navy blue I want to make a masculine card but not this time!

I'm no stranger to white space but this has got some WHITE space!  I almost went back to the drawing board and added some sprinkles of color, or some enamel dots, sequins anything really to break up that big ol' empty spot.  But in the end I left it the way it is.  Sometimes simpler is better.

The sketch this week at As You See It provided the inspiration for my layout and was the primary reason why I chose not to embellish my card.  The sketch is crisp and clean and shows off all that white space perfectly!

My colourQ design teamies have created some beautiful cards this week with these colors.  I hope you have time to check them out and join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Group Hugs (Paper Smooches)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Apricot Appeal, Cameo Coral, Night of Navy, More Mustard (SU); Neenah Solar White
Ink:  Cameo Coral (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Dizzy Doily Duo die, Jumbo Fishtail Flags STAX, First  Place Ribbon die (My Favorite Things)

Seriously

I popped into my stamp room Saturday night to make a card using the fabbo color combo at Color Throwdown and the layout at CAS(E) This Sketch.  I love the bokeh images on the sketch and dug out a favorite dotted stamp set from PTI set to use for my images, plus I got some new goodies from Lil' Inker that I wanted to try out.

The card was done, and I was just getting ready to get it set up to take a pic of it when I decided to stamp the back of it with a fun sentiment.  The card was laying face up on my desk and I lost my handle on the ink pad and I'm sure you can guess what happened.  This.

Yep.  I dropped the ink pad on it and left a big old smudge.  But all things happen for a reason and I actually like my redux better.  I stamped the dots in a bit of a tighter circle, which I like better than the first.  I think karma was doing me a favor in this case!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Dot Spot (Papertrey Ink); Seriously Awesome (Lil' Inker Designs)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Basic Black (SU)
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Going Gray, Basic Gray (SU); Simply Chartreuse (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Seriously Word die (Lil' Inker Designs)

Freshly Made Sketches 196!

Hello!  Today is a new sketch reveal at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week Cindy Hall is our hostess and I love her sketch!  As soon as I saw it I envisioned using some embossing paste and so that's exactly what I did!

I flipped the sketch because I'm much more comfortable in the portrait world than the landscape one!  And I went with a simple black, white and pink color palette.  The bottom portion of my card was embossed with some matte black embossing paste - I just love that stuff!  I randomly stamped some fun circular images, added a bold black sentiment and I was done.  Easy peasy!  And speaking of easy peasy, the CAS challenge this month at Happy Little Stampers is stamping so I'm pretty sure this qualifies over there as well!

Now you may have noticed that this sketch from Freshly Made Sketches is number 196.  That means we've got a pretty big milestone coming up!  That's right on August 19th we will be celebrating our 200th sketch!  Can you believe it?  And we are celebrating in style.  We've got some sponsors lined up (you'll definitely recognize the names) and with that we've got prizes.  Lots and lots of prizes.  So stay tuned and get ready to join us!

Thanks for stopping by and please pop on over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog to see what my fabulous teamies have been up to!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Sunburst (Clearly Besotted)
Paper:  Basic Black, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White (SU)
Ink:  Pink Pirouette (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories: Pierced Rectangle STAX, Equalizer stencil (My Favorite Things); black embossing paste (Wendy Vecchi); black rhinestones (Kaiser Craft)

colourQ 300!

Are you ready for an incredible milestone?  Well, this week at colourQ we are celebrating our 300th color palette!  Can you believe it?  It all started here on October 4, 2009.  And here we are now nearly six years later!

Our colors this week are inspired by these ice cream cups!  Love the fun, summertime colors of these!  And here's my card:

It took me forever to make this card.  I kept changing my mind about what kind of flowers I wanted on the front.  I actually stamped and fussy cut two different kinds of flowers before I settled on this one.  Nothing looked right and then I remembered these images from Papertrey Ink.  They are a bit whimsical and went nicely with that die cut sentiment.  The sketch from Happy Little Stampers gave me my layout.

Our amazing colourQ design team has got some beautiful cards for you to see!  Come celebrate 300 color palettes with us, won you?   Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:  Stamps:  Off the Grid (SU); Funky Florals (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Coastal Cabana, Whisper White (SU)
Ink:  Cameo Coral, Ruby Red (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  smile die (Taylored Expressions); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

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 195

Happy Wednesday!  Today at Freshly Made Sketches we've got a new sketch brought to you by Kim.  And while the sketch has got some circles you can, of course, use whatever shape takes your fancy!

I actually did use some circles, in the form of a round splatter and some coffee rings.  The challenge at Can You Case It is to use black, white and one other color so as I was designing this card in my head it I realized I could easily use those images in black then add a pop of something with a bright color.  I was going to use a flower, but came across these stars that hadn't seen any ink in a while so I used them instead.  I love how this came out!

Head on over to Freshly Made Sketches to check out the amazing design team cards.  It's not just about circles over there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Java Spills (Stamping Bella); Seeing Stars (Verve)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine); Mellon Mambo (SU)

colourQ 299

Happy Tuesday!  It's time for a new palette from colourQ!  This week our colors are inspired by this rug.  An eclectic batch of colors if I've ever seen any!  But I see a challenge and I embrace it with both arms, all of my stamps, ink and whatever else I can scrounge up, then I get to work!

The background of my card is a bit of card stock embossed with translucent embossing paste and another bit stamped with an old SU background stamp with a canvas "texture."  I remember the days when background stamps were all the rage and I was convinced that I couldn't live without them.  Well fast forward a "few" years, I don't use them much and my life still has meaning! Even still I wouldn't want to part with them.  They give such great texture without adding any bulk.

 I was a teensy bit late making my card this week, but luckily the Mojo sketch came to my rescue.  It's been a dog's age since I've played along over there and truthfully my card-making style has evolved away from the layers that are a hallmark of the Mojo sketch.  But every once in a while I like to do something a bit different than my norm.  This sketch was perfect for showing off the colors and a bit of my old DSP that I can't seem to get rid of!

The colourQ design team has really rocked the colors this week so be sure to check them out.  And I hope you have time to join us in the gallery this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Papillon Potpourri, Canas (SU); Mesh (Darkroom Door)
Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes); Cameo Coral, Blushing Bride, Rich Razzleberry, Summer Starfruit, Whisper White (SU)
Ink:  Summer Starfruit (SU)
Accessories:  Thanks Script die (Mama Elephant); Diagonal Strip stencil (Simon Says Stamp); Basic Rhinestone (SU); translucent embossing paste (Dreamweaver)

Freshly Made Sketches 194

Happy Wednesday everyone!  It's time for a new sketch from your friends at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is Linda and her sketch made me think of a shaker card.  It seems like every time I see a square on a sketch, I think of shakers!  I've been lucky enough to meet Linda in person twice - the last time was just a couple of weeks ago.  More on that later.

I paper pieced this little party girl's dress and then fussy cut her out.  It's a delicate job cutting this image out because she is so skinny - some of the parts are so small I worry that I'm going to chop off a body part!  But she looks good when it's all done.

At Challenge Up Your Life they are looking for sequins so I filled my shaker up with some colorful ones.

The Freshly Made Sketches design team has made some beauties this week so make sure you head on over there to check them out.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!

I forgot to mention last week that I made a little field trip to Albany New York a couple of Saturday's ago.  My FMS teamie Jen Timko had a layover in Albany and it just so happens that Linda lives about an hour away and I live about 3 1/2 hours away so we all got to see each other for a bit.  It was the second time that I met Linda and the first time that I met Jen.  We had a lot of laughs.  Here we are trying to figure out my new selfie stick!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Cheers (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Sea Glass (Avery Elle)
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Onyx Black (Versafine); Copics
Accessories:  Birthday Bash sequins (Neat & Tangled)

colourQ 298

Whew!  After a busy week I finally made it into my craft room so that I could make a card for this week's colourQ challenge.  Our colors are inspired by this cooler bag and I love how they look together!

I decided to also play along with the Cardabilities challenge and used the sketch over there. My cards are a bit different than what you usually see from their design team but I love to play along with them when I can.  And the challenge this month at Happy Little Stampers is "stamping" which I think I can do!

Don't forget to check out the cards from the colourQ design team. They won't disappoint you!  And thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:  
Stamps:  Dream Big (Verve); Slight Alterations (Tim Holtz)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Concord Crush, Cool Caribbean, Whisper White, Velllum (SU); Grapsicle (My Favorite Things)
Ink:  Summer Starfruit (SU)
Accessories:  Curvy Leaves die (Elizabeth Craft Designs); Dotted Borders die (Avery Elle); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye); Witch Hazel button (October Afternoon)

Freshly Made Sketches 193

Hello!  Wednesday is, of course, Freshly Made Sketches day around here and this week our hostess is Rita.  Her sketch is both a great way to use up some patterned paper scraps and also a great way to think outside the box when contemplating those rectangles!  Here's my card:

I had been thinking about making a 4th of July card for a while and last week attempted one for this very same challenge but failed miserably.  So this week I tried it again and I love how it came out.  I stamped all the images onto a rectangular piece of card stock then cut it vertically and took out a small sliver to make a little void between the pieces.  I love that look but don't ask me to explain why!

Coincidentally the challenge at Retro Rubber is 4th of July too so I'll be adding this over there.  The stamps I used have been in my stash for a while, but maybe not a year as they like to see, so I dug out my crimper for one of the layers.  Nothing says early 21st century like a crimper I like to say!

Once again the design team at Freshly Made Sketches will knock your socks off with their interpretations of this sketch.  I hope you check them out and join us in the gallery!  We love to see you there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  USA 1776 (Waltzingmouse Stamps)
Paper:  Pure Luxury White (Gina K); Night of Navy, Whisper White (SU)
Ink:  Night of Navy, Real Red (SU); Silvery Shimmer (Delicata)
Accessories:  Real Red button (SU); baker's twine; enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)