CAS(E) This Sketch 157!

Happy Thursday! It seems like this week has been going on forever.  Not sure why, but since we've finally made it around to Thursday it's time for a new challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch!

I've had these outline flower dies for a while and hadn't used them yet.  As I was driving home from work one day contemplating this sketch it occurred to me that these dies might make a good choice for this layout.  I had a little trouble adding the leaves in a way that I liked so I settled on the one.  I think it looks a little lonely :) but it left a nice space for my sentiment.  The colors here are inspired by the latest challenge at Color Throwdown.

Well, I'm very glad that the work-week is nearly over and I'm looking forward to doing a whole lot of nothing this weekend!  I want to thank you for stopping by to check out my card and invite you to play along with us at CAS(E) This Sketch. The inspiration from the design team is incredible so you definitely want to check it out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Painted Sayings (Whimsy Stamps)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); So Saffron, Basic Gray, Crumb Cake (SU)
Ink:  Basic Gray (SU)
Accessories:  Wild Garden die (Essentials by Ellen)

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 326!

Happy Tuesday!  I hope all of you who were hit with Snowmageddon on the east coast made it through ok!  And if you are cooped up in the house because your street is covered in snow then feel free to join us at colourQ where we have some new colors to tempt you into a crafting mood!

I wanted to make a pretty floral card, especially since everything is covered in snow, but I got distracted by this big butterfly die that I haven't used yet.  It's been a while since I stuck a butterfly on a card!

I took some inspiration from the Just Add Ink sketch and took a little poetic license from it as well but I think you can still see the sketch in there!

Thanks so much for stopping by and don't forget to check out the beautiful inspiration from my colourQ teamies!  These gorgeous colors have inspired a plethora of gorgeous cards from them!

Supplies
Stamps:  Bokeh Dots (Essentials by Ellen); Hand Lettered Thanks (WPlus9)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Daffodil Delight, Vellum (SU)
Ink:  Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink); Wisteria Wonder, Old Olive (SU)
Accessories:  Vivienne Butterfly die, Darla Butterfly die (Simon Says Stamp); Basic Pearl (SU)

CAS(E) This Sketch 156!

Happy Thursday!  Today we've got a new sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch and it's a great one that is open to lots of interpretation!

I haven't used this particular stamp set in a dog's age so it was nice to ink it up.  The challenge at Can You Case It gave me the idea to do this in silhouette style - just black and white - and I stamped the sentiment on vellum to keep it simple.  I put a bit of brushed gold cardstock behind the vellum to make sure the sentiment was visible.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to check out the inspiration at CAS(E) This Sketch and join us in the gallery this week!

Supplies
Stamps:  Going to Seed (Woodware); Oh Happy Day (Avery Elle)
Paper:  Pure Luxury (Gina K); Brushed Gold, Vellum (SU)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)

Freshly Made Sketches 220

I can't believe it's only been a few weeks and I'm back to making Christmas cards.  I was so tired of making them and seeing them at the end of last year that I was pretty sure that it would be a looonnng time before I made another one.  Well take a new stamp set that I got for Christmas and the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches and my first Christmas card of 2016 was born!

Our hostess this week is the sweet Jennifer Brum and I've got to admit that I gave her sketch a bit of a double-take when I first saw it because she's not a big fan of circles!  But what better way to conquer your fears than to meet them head on, so it's only fitting that her sketch is loaded up with something she doesn't like.  I adapted those circles into these awesome bows using the color challenge from Just Us Girls.  I love the retro look of those bows and once I figured out how to layer them together it was easy peasy to put this card together!

My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some beautiful cards this week so I hope you have time to stop by and check them out.  We'd love to see you in the gallery this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Holiday Bows (The Ton); Tis the Season (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  White Pure Luxury (Gina K)
Ink:  Baja Breeze, Night of Navy (SU)

colourQ 325!

Hello and happy Tuesday!  I'm back with a new card for colourQ.  This week the colors put me in mind of a Valentine so along with the Valentine challenge at The Paper Players and the sketch at retro sketches my card was born!

I was actually having a bit of trouble working the So Saffron in to my Valentine then I got the bright idea to layer it with some white using my new scribble heart die.  I wasn't sure how it would end up looking since these things invariably look better in my head than they do on paper, but I really like how it turned out!  Then instead of using sequins to float around the big hearts I used tiny little hearts.

Be sure to check out the cards from my colourQ teamies.  They are beauties, but you already knew that didn't you?  I hope we get to see you in the gallery this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps: Fancy Word Coordinates (Reverse Confetti)
Paper:  Crumb Cake, So Saffron, Raspberry Ripple, Primrose Petals (SU); Solar White (Neenah)
Ink:  Scarlet Jewel (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Scalloped Heart of Hearts embosslit (SU); Blueprints 13 die (My Favorite Things); Scribble Heart die (Simon Says Stamp)

CAS(E) This Sketch 155!

I'm always the first one to admit when a sketch scares me.  I believe that honesty is the best policy. So when I first saw this week's sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch I wanted to run and hide!  I had no ideas floating around my head, other than a vague idea to use embossing paste, and no amount of puttering around my craft room checking out my supplies was helping.

I had checked out some of the cards my fellow teamies made and was absolutely blown away by their creativity.  You can see them on the CAS(E) This Sketch blog yourself and see what I mean.  I despaired of ever coming up with an idea.  But as sometimes happens to me my panic recedes and an idea somehow manages to take shape.  In this case I happened to look at a new stencil that I recently bought and my embossing paste idea didn't seem so far-fetched anymore.  Here's my card and Chrissy's sketch:

I can't tell you how many times I have had absolutely no idea how I'm going to put a card together when all of a sudden inspiration strikes and I find myself with a good idea in my pocket!  This is one of those times.  I think it's a little hard to see in the picture but I left a big curvy spot between the swirly embossing paste to mimic the sketch.  And as luck would have it the challenge at The Card Concept is a warm heart where the colors and the heart lent themselves quite well to my card.

So thank you for stopping by! And don't forget to join us in the CAS(E) This Sketch gallery this week.  I am on pins and needles waiting to see all the creativity I know will be there!

Supplies
Stamps: Fancy Word Coordinates (Reverse Confetti)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); Solar White (Neenah); Real Red, Vellum (SU)
Ink:  Frost White (Colorbox)
Accessories:  Waves Stencil, Scribble Heart die (Simon Says Stamp); Banner Trio die (WPlus9); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver); white embossing powder

Freshly Made Sketches 219!

Hello there!  Wednesday is, of course, new sketch day at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our hostess is Cindy Hall and despite her awesome sketch, I managed to mess up the layout on my card a bit!

I have a bad tendency to not pay close attention to a sketch I'm supposed to be following.  In this case I was all set to use a star shape with a sentiment stamped in it in the spot where the star "any shape" is but changed my mind at the last minute.  I decided to put the sentiment on the lower right corner of the horizontal layer then proceeded to forget all about that star.  It wasn't until the card was photographed and edited that I realized my mistake.  So I polled my fellow FMS teamies and we decided by majority vote that the superhero's head was a good substitute for that shape!  LOL!

I got lucky this week with the superhero challenge at The Friday Mashup because the color block layout of this sketch was perfect for this little superhero guy.  And bonus points for me because I've had this stamp for a while and had never inked it up.

I hope you've got a chance to check out our sketch and all the wonderful inspiration from the Freshly Made Sketches design team.  I hope to see you in the gallery!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Super Boy (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); Real Red, Daffodil Delight, Night of Navy, Whisper White (SU); X-Press It Blending Card
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Night of Navy (SU); Copics
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangle STAX, Blueprints 13 die (My Favorite Things)

colourQ 324

Hello, hello!  It's Tuesday again and I'm back with a card for the new palette of colors at colourQ.  This week there's a lot of green in the air!

I've been trying out some of my watercoloring techniques, of which there are few, but after seeing this beauty from Monika recently I was inspired to try something similar.  Then along came this challenge from As You See It and I figured it was a sign that should definitely try something similar!  And finally the challenge at Just Us Girls uses metallics and once I saw that I knew I had to get busy putting all of these things together!

My watercoloring still needs work but I'm happy to report that this card looks way better in person.  Really it does!  I need to work on some soft edges for my watercolors because this sort of looks like an amoeba to my eye but that's ok.  I consider this a work in progress!

My colourQ teamies have all made some gorgeous cards this week so be sure to check them out.  I hope we get to see you in the gallery this week!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fab Flakes (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); Distress Watercolor Cardstock
Ink:  Mowed Lawn, Shabby Shutters, Evergreen Boughs (Distress); Silvery Shimmer Delicata
Accessories:  Blueprints 13 die  (My Favorite Things); Banner Bundle die (Verve); silver cord (SU); silver embossing powder

Tag You're It 38!

TGIF!  This is the first Friday I've had to go to work in a couple of weeks and I've got to say that I'm not loving it.  I could get used to getting off early on Thursday then having a three day weekend every week!  But alas reality sets in and I'm back to my regular Monday to Friday thing.  But the good news is that we're back at Tag You're It for a new challenge!

Isn't Tracey's tag adorable?  I didn't have any elephants but I did have this cute polar bear and thought he'd be an ok balloon holding substitute.  Tracey's watercolored background made me a little nervous, since me and my watercolors are barely on speaking terms, but my friend Karren recently turned me onto a watercoloring technique from SonjaK that I thought even I could do so I decided to give it a try for this tag.

I'm pretty pleased with how this came out. I smooshed some pretty colors around until I was happy with the look then popped up my bear and gave him some heart shaped balloons to hold!  Easy peasy.  And since Seize the Birthday and Stampin' Royalty are looking for birthday projects I'm going to add this to those challenges as well!

Well that's it for me today.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  Be sure to check out the other tags from the Tag You're It Design team.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Birthday Bears (My Favorite Things); Wish Big (The Alley Way Stamps); Distressed Grid (Creative Embellishments)
Paper:  Night of Navy, Real Red, Pretty in Pink (SU); Distress Watercolor Cardstock
Ink:  Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky,  Chipped Sapphire (Distress); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Copics
Accessories:  Birthday Bears die (My Favorite Things); Tag die, Tag Layers die (My Creative Time); black seam binding ribbon; black crochet thread; white embossing powder

CAS(E) This Sketch 154!

And we're back with a new sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch!  The end of the year is a great time to take a little break from card-making and blogging and a lot of my favorite challenges go on a little holiday hiatus as well.  And once everyone starts up again in the new year it's so exciting isn't it?  A new year, new crafty resolutions, new crafty supplies to try out and a whole lot of new challenges to play along with!  Life is good!  Our first sketch for 2016 is designed by N@Ali.....

In the interest of full disclosure I would like to point out that I intended to follow the flow of the sketch and use images from largest on the bottom to getting smaller on top....but I stamped my image upside down.  In the first place I had a heck of a time lining up these layered images and deciding what colors went where and once I got them the way I liked them I realized they were upside down.  But I was too tired to try and fix it so here it is!

The colors are from Color Throwdown and what cool colors they are!  I never would have thought to pair these together but I really like them.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you've got some time to play along with our new challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch!

Supplies
Stamps: Abstract Poppies (Rubbernecker); Hand Lettered Thanks (WPlus9)
Paper:  White (Pure Luxury Gina K)
Ink:  Baja Breeze, Smoky Slate, More Mustard (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

Freshly Made Sketches 218!

It's the first Wednesday of January and that means it's a return to our regularly scheduled programming.  We're back at Freshly Made Sketches with our very first challenge of 2016!  We've been on a bit of a stamping vacation over there for the last few weeks and we are now raring to go.  I hope you are too!  We had a whopping 218 entrants in our last challenge!  Wow!  I guess you guys like us.  You really do!  This week our sketch comes to you from the very talented Kim Singdahlsen.

This sketch allowed me stretch my CAS muscles a bit.  I wanted lots of white space with a couple of colors to go with it.  Along came the color challenge at Can You Case It and this card was born!  I chose to make Perfect Plum be the main color with accents from Soft Sky.  I was pretty sure that I had some old Perfect Plum patterned paper hanging around and sure enough found it as part of an old Halloween set of papers.  I love to re-purpose and re-use!  There is a sentiment stamped above the purple layers but it's pretty light and doesn't show well in the photo.  In case you can't see it it says "make today ridiculously" and, of course, the sentiment ends with that amazing die cut!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have time to check out our newest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  We'd love to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Amazing (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); Perfect Plum, Soft Sky, Cast-A-Spell DSP (SU)
Ink:  Soft Sky
Accessories:  Blueprints 13 die, Doubly Amazing die (My Favorite Things)

colourQ323

Happy new year!  It may be January 5th already but I haven't been around much to wish you all a happy, healthy, and crafty new year so I'm doing it now!   I've been quite an absent blogger lately but with all my favorite challenges coming back online from their holiday hibernation I suspect I'll be back in the swing of things very soon.

At colourQ we've got these great new colors inspired by these adorable baby clothes for your crafting pleasure.  I almost made a baby card in keeping with the theme of the inspiration photo but it was easy to talk myself out of that because I really have no need of a baby card right now!

Thank you cards are always high on my list of cards to make, especially since at the end of the year I supply the thank you cards that we need at my office for gifts that customers give us.  That pretty much wipes out my stash so the new year means I have to start building my inventory again.

I hemmed and hawed quite a bit while I was making this card.  I had settled on following the sketch at Sketch Saturday and the "thank you" challenge at Just Us Girls was a given but I was having a hard time making this all come together in a way that pleased me.  But then I chose this "thanks" die (which is brand new to me) and the rest of the card sort of fell into place.  I love when that happens!

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit!  And please pop on over to colourQ to check out the cards from my fellow teamies.  They never disappoint!  I hope you've got time to join us this week!

Supplies
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Blushing Bride, Melon Mambo, Pool Party
Accessories:  Blueprints 15 die, Stitched Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); Foliage 3 die (Paper Smooches); Button Stacks die, Button Stacks II die (Papertrey Ink); Thanks Tag die (Reverse Confetti); white thread