CAS(E) This Sketch 166!

I don't know about you, but for me this week is dragging by!  I could have sworn that yesterday was Thursday but if that was true then I would be really late getting my card for CAS(E) This Sketch posted!  Luckily, it was just wishful thinking that my work-week was whizzing on by and I am right on time with this post!

Chrissy has cooked up a great sketch for us this week and as you can see I was influenced by that airplane!  This is actually the second card I made for this challenge.  Continuing with my recent mojo-gone-missing-project I boarded the struggle bus and tried to find it.  My first attempt was an embarrassing mess and I can't believe that I even tried to pass it off as a decent card when I made it.  Luckily I had some time for a total redux and since I couldn't get that plane out of my mind I opted to use this cute digi with my favorite bunny piloting a prop plane.  And as luck would have it, this week the challenge at Cupcake Inspirations is "bunnies" so I'll be popping this in over there as well!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to pop on over to CAS(E) This Sketch to see what my teamies have been up to.  I can guarantee you that there is a ton of inspiration over there!  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Rabbit Traveler (Zlatoena Designs); Live, Love, Laugh & Be Happy (My Creative Time)
Paper:  Bashful Blue, Night of Navy (SU); Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); X-Press It Blending Card
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Copics
Accessories:  Blueprints 13 die (My Favorite Things); Puffy Clouds die (Memory Box)

Freshly Made Sketches 230!

I can hardly believe that March is just about over! And yet here we are with only one more day to go and all those April showers to look forward to!  But before all that starts we've got a brand new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches and this week Jen Brum is our hostess and she's got a classic sketch for us.

I was having a wee bit of trouble deciding what to do with that little rectangle.  I tried a couple of things involving snowflakes and embossing folders and just wasn't feeling the love.  So I relied on a tried and true recipe for me:  a big die cut sentiment!

This one was cut three times in Melon Mambo and once in Night of Navy then all were glued together with the Navy one slightly offset for a bit of contrast.  I threw in a few enamel dots for fun on my giant banner and that was it!

Be sure to check out the beautiful cards my teamies have made at Freshly Made Sketches.  I hope you can join us in the gallery this week!

Supplies
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Night of Navy, Melon Mambo, Ice Cream Parlor DSP (SU)
Accessories:  Jumbo Fishtail Banner die (My Favorite Things); Hello Word die (Lil' Inker Designs); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

colourQ 335!

Hello and welcome to Tuesday which also happens to be the day of a new palette at colourQ!  This week the colors are eclectic for sure!

I shamelessly used the sketch at CAS Colours & Sketches to create a little rainbow of rectangles using the colors, sticking a sentiment on the bottom one stamped on white.  Easy peasy!

The colourQ design team had no trouble at all using these colors as you will see when you pop on over there.  I hope you have some time to join us in the gallery this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Celebrate Artsy (Stamplorations)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Bermuda Bay, Calypso Coral, Cool Carribbean, Pumpkin Pie (SU)
Ink:  Bermuda Bay (SU)
Accessories:  Pierced Rectangle STAX (MFT)

CAS(E) This Sketch 165!

There's a classic clean and simple sketch for you this week at CAS(E) This Sketch.  There's lots of white space that you can use, or not use, depending on your imagination!

I decided to let all that white space alone, to add some texture with an embossed layer, and to add a pretty butterfly using a couple of new dies that I recently got.  My sentiment is in the wrong place but I think that's ok.  I couldn't find any that fit in the space on top of that horizontal layer!  The colors are from the latest challenge at Just Us Girls and they are perfect for spring!

On my way to making this card I discovered that I don't have any decent light purple ink or card stock, which I will obviously have to remedy!  The purple that I used is a little bit darker than I wanted for this color combo but I made do!

I hope you have time to join us at CAS(E) This Sketch for our latest challenge.  I'd love to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Chit Chat (Paper Smooches)
Paper:  Perfect Plum, So Saffron, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White (SU)
Ink:  Perfect Plum (SU)
Accessories:  Blueprints 20 die (My Favorite Things); Burlap embossing folder (Taylored Expressions); Devyn Butterfly Trio die, Emelia Butterfly Trio die (Poppystamps); Basic Pearls (SU)

Freshly Made Sketches 229!

This week at Freshly Made Sketches we've got a fantastic sketch designed by Cindy Hall.  As soon as I saw it I had a vague idea to use a film strip stamp that I've had for ages and never used.  I wasn't really sure how it was going to come together but I was determined to use that stamp!

I used some washi for the vertical layer then arranged the film strip images like the diamonds in the sketch.  I am following the color challenge at Cupcake Inspirations so I added an orange flower and some greenery.  I love this color combo!

The Freshly Made Sketches design team has put together some beautiful cards to amaze and delight you - not to mention that they will get your creative juices flowing.  So be sure to check them out and join us in the gallery this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes (SU); Film Strip I (Creative Embellishments)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); Garden Green, Certainly Celery (SU)
Ink:  Pumpkin Pie (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Leafy Greenery die (My Favorite Things); SU washi tape

colourQ 334!

Spring has finally sprung!  And we welcomed it here in New England with a bit of a snow storm! It turned out to be nothing, after all the hype of inches upon inches falling on us, and I am totally ok with that.  I'd much rather have warm sunshine on my face than wet snowflakes any day of the week!

Today, we welcome a new challenge at colourQ.  Definitely some spring-time colors here!

I actually made this card a week ago when I thought this was the color palette for March 15th.  Oops!  I don't think I've never been so ahead of myself in my whole life!  But I've got to admit that when I went in to my stamp room this past Sunday to make my DT cards for the week I was quite thankful that their number was reduced by one!

The layout for this card comes from the latest sketch challenge at Sunday Stamps.  I was quite literal with the sketch and let the colors and a big sentiment do the talking here.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have time to check out our latest challenge at colourQ.  The design team has made some beautiful cards to inspire you.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Sunburst (Clearly Besotted); The Big the Bold and You (Winnie & Walter)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Coastal Cabana, Melon Mambo, Poppy Parade (SU)

CAS(E) This Sketch 164!

This week at CAS(E) This Sketch we've got another great sketch for you!  I think I changed my mind a million times about how I wanted to tackle this sketch and I ended up using some images that I had forgotten that I had but stumbled upon when I was hunting for the stamps I thought I wanted to use.  That makes sense, right?

I went back and forth about what images I wanted to use for those horizontal lines on the sketch and finally decided to use some chevron shapes that I had.  Then I remembered I had some fun, kinda grungy edge images that I hadn't used in ages so I forgot about the chevrons altogether! I stamped the edge stamps in a couple of different gray inks.  Then I added the flowers in shades of blue and a few dots in lime green.  The colors for this, by the way, come from the latest colors at The Challenge.  They are kind of masculine but I used them for flowers instead!  And the challenge at CASology this week is "doodle" so I used these flowers which have a doodle-y look to them!

My fellow teamies at CAS(E) This Sketch had some whopping good ideas for this sketch so be sure to head on over there to check them out.  I hope I'll get to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Rugged Edge (Indigo Blu); Blossom (Precious Remembrance); Many Thanks (Simon Says Stamp); Circles Circles Circles (Whimsy Stamps)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); Fog (Simon Says Stamp)
Ink:  Fog (Simon Says Stamp); Smoky Shadow, Night of Navy, Baja Breeze, Lucky Limeade (SU)

Freshly Made Sketches 228!

Halfway through the work-week!  Yay!  And I get to celebrate with a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week the sketch is brought to you by Kim and it's pretty awesome!

I was determined to use the gorgeous colors from the latest challenge at The Paper Players and chose this card for them.  I love the contrast and thought the white space from the sketch would really show them off.  The big circle made me think of this stamp set from Papertrey Ink and I'm not the only one on the design team who thought the same thing!

The Freshly Made Sketches design team has cooked up some fantastic cards to delight you and tease you into joining us in the gallery.  We'd love to see you there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Dot Spot, Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); Basic Black, Bermuda Bay (SU)
Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Calypso Coral (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

colourQ 333!

Top o' the morning to you!  There's a whole lotta green this week at colourQ.  Just in time for St. Patrick's day!  A funny thing happened to me on my way to making my card for this weeks colourQ challenge.  More on that later.

I made a cursory check around my stamp room for some leprechauns or four leaf clovers or some other image that conjured up St. Patrick's day but came up empty.  So I opted for the next best thing:  a bit of grunge and a butterfly!

The sketch at CAS Colours & Sketches provided my layout, although it's a bit of a stretch and I'll understand completely if the design team over there kick me out of the gallery.  The dripping paint background stamp is meant to be the square on the sketch and the butterfly is, well, a super awesome focal point on any card!

I sat down at my desk on Sunday to make my card for this week's colourQ challenge and I had a fantastic idea in mind using a certain sketch and another challenge where the focus was supposed to be the sentiment.  My card came together quickly and I was so happy.  Then I started to write up the cheat sheet that I use when I write my blog post that lists the supplies, challenges, and other details about the card.  That's when I realized that the colors I used were for NEXT week's colourQ challenge!  Duh!  So back to the drawing board I went to whip up something made entirely of green!  The good news is that I'm a week ahead.  That never happens to me!

There are some very lovely monochromatic green cards from the colourQ design team this week so be sure to check them out.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Splatdrip (Tim Holtz); Take Note (Verve)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); Old Olive, Wintergreen DSP (SU)
Ink:  Kiwi Kiss (SU); Jungle (Avery Elle)
Accessories:  Cheviot Butterfly die, Delaney Butterfly die (Poppystamps); Blueprints 13 die (My Favorite Things); Clear Droplets (Pretty Pink Posh)

CAS(E) This Sketch 163!

Hello, hello!  Time for a new sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch.  Hold onto your hats folks because I'm not sure you've seen anything like this before!

When I first saw this sketch my first reaction was pretty much what you see here as my sentiment! But then I got a look at some of the design team cards and seeing their creative interpretations of the sketch I managed to talk myself off the ledge and I realized how awesome this sketch really is!

I used three shades of green a-la the Fusion challenge, but the differences among them are pretty subtle.  I hope you can see the difference.  The sentiment was added in black so that it would really stand out.

I cannot stress enough how amazing the design team cards are at CAS(E) This Sketch so run, don't walk, over there to check them out.  Chrissy has given us an amazing sketch and I hope you will be inspired by it and join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Brushed Off (Papertrey Ink); WTF (CAS-ual Fridays)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Certainly Celery (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Freshly Made Sketches 227!

I can't believe it's Wednesday!  And today at Freshly Made Sketches we welcome a new sketch designed by the talented and witty Linda Callahan.

The code word this week at Addicted to CAS is "gift" and I was pretty sure I wanted to play along over there using this bunny image.  It wasn't too long before I realized that image would look great with Linda's sketch.  I dug out some old DSP in bright, fun colors and used it to add a vertical strip to the side and a little square background for my big-eared bunny.  I colored the gifts with Copics in colors that matched the DSP.

Thanks for stopping by and please stop by Freshly Made Sketches to see the inspiration from the design team.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Birthday Bunny (The Cat's Pajamas)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Melon Mambo, Ice Cream Parlor DSP (SU); X-Press It Blending Card
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Onyx Black (Versafine); Copics

colourQ 332!

Did you know that there are only 11 more days until spring?  Yep, that's right.  The days are getting visibly longer, the birds are chirping more often, and I'm just about ready to put the ice-scraper I use on the car windows back in the garage for its long summer nap!  Ahhh, life is good!

Today we've got a new color palette for you at colourQ and don't be alarmed when you see it.  When I first took a gander at it, I stared at the picture for a really long time trying to figure out how I was going to use all those colors in one place!  But as usually happens, eventually an idea came to me.

I had it in my head to use the sketch at Can You Case It with these colors and to throw some washi tape on there in place of the two banners.  So my task was to figure out which colors to use for which element of the sketch.  Luckily I had some washi in at least one of the colors, the two blues went together for the flowers, and my background splotch (the circle on the sketch) by default was the yellow.  Done and done!  And also lucky for me the challenge word this week at Just Us Girls is flower.

I stamped the sentiment directly onto the washi and it's a bit difficult to see in the picture, but in real life it looks pretty good!  My fellow colourQ teamies have done some amazing things with these colors so be sure to head on over there and check them out!  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Extreme Elements (SU); Funky Florals (Papertrey Ink); Everyday Mini Sentiments (Whimsy Stamps)
Paper: White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Summer Starfruit, Coastal Cabana, Pacific Point (SU); Jet Black (Stazon)
Accessories:  washi tape

Tag You're It 42

TGIF!  I can't believe I did it but I managed to use patterned paper on each project that I made this week!  I've got oodles and oodles of patterned paper and it's probably a pipe dream to think that I'll use it all one day, but I challenged myself to use it more often and somehow managed to use it for the last four projects. I'm pretty sure that I won't use it EVERY day in the future - insert sheepish grin here - but I'll tell you it sure felt good to cut into some of that paper!

Today there's a new challenge at Tag You're It with a tag designed by Marybeth Lopez and it's going to make you think of spring!

I had the same tag die that Marybeth used so I embarked on a CASE of her tag.  I switched up some of the colors and added some texture behind the flowers with embossing paste and a stencil.  There's a "touchy feely" challenge going on at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and they are looking for texture so I'm going to add this over there as well.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a chance to check out the inspiration from the design team at Tag You're It.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Birthday Bears (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  Early Espresso, Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, Old Olive (SU); Neenah Solar White
Ink:  Early Espresso (SU)
Accessories:  Tag Sale Quilted die, Button Stacks die, Button Stacks II die (Papertrey Ink); Stitched Square STAX (My Favorite Things); Leafy die (Reverse Confetti); Basket stencil (Stencil Girl); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver); seam binding ribbon; crochet thread

CAS(E) This Sketch 162

Here we are at Thursday again, and March 3rd to boot!  It's so corny to say, but I can hardly believe how fast the time is flying.  Did you know that spring is only 16 days away?  I'm cautiously optimistic that I managed to escape this winter with only a tiny bit of snow and that there are no giant snow storms in my future!

Snow storms aside today there is a new sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch and I managed to use some more of my patterned paper on it and sneak in a tag!

The pink/brown/white color scheme is from the latest color palette at Sunday Stamps and I LOVE how those colors look together.  The butterfly is stamped in pink and has a nice pattern to it, but it's really tough to see in the photo.  I couldn't decide what kind of sentiment to put on this so I left it blank which will give me the option to use this for just about anything in the future.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the design team cards at CAS(E) This Sketch for some amazing inspiration!  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Kinda Eclectic (SU)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); Chocolate Chip, Pretty in Pink (SU)
Ink:  Pretty in Pink (SU)
Accessories:  Gift Card Holder tag (Reverse Confetti); seam binding ribbon; crochet thread

Freshly Made Sketches 226!

Halfway through the work-week!  Yay!  And being Wednesday, it's time for a new sketch from your friends at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our sketch comes to you from Rita!

This is the second day in a row that I managed to use some of my DSP stash on my card.  I made a little pledge to myself the other day to use some of my supplies a bit more often and here I am using it again!  I tend to gravitate to the more subtle patterns and I particularly like this one because it is allows me to stamp the sentiment on it and still be able to see it.  The colors for my card come from the latest challenge at Can You Case It.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Be sure to stop on by and check our the amazing cards from the design team as well.  Loads of inspiration there!

Supplies
Stamps:  Modern Blooms (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); Daffodil Delight (SU)
Ink:  Tempting Turquoise, Basic Black (SU)
Accessories:  Blueprints 15, Pierced Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); Leaves die (Penny Black); crochet thread

colourQ 331!

It's Tuesday so that means it's time for a brand new palette at colourQ!  This week we've got the blues so I took that as a sign that I should make a more masculine card than I normally do.

Last week I mentioned that I wanted to use more of my patterned paper stash so I'm happy to report that every card I've made for posting this week has some on it!  Yay me!  It felt good to cut some of that paper, I'll tell you.  One small step for me, one giant leap for the crushing weight of the shelves holding all that paper!


I got some help with my card from the sketch at Fusion and also from Friday Mashup where I chose to use a stencil on my card and create a big horizontal layer with embossing paste.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you've got some time to join us at colourQ this week.  Hop on over there to check out the beautiful cards from my fellow teamies!

Supplies
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Pacific Point, Island Indigo, Bermuda Bay, Smoky Slate, Beyond the Garden DSP, Island Indigo DSP (SU)
Accessories:  Pierced Rectangle STAX, Pierced Square STAX, Happy Hellos die (My Favorite Things); A Birdie Told Me die (Lawn Fawn); Chevron stencil (Heidi Swapp); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver)