Freshly Made Sketches 252!

I hope you are not getting tired of seeing me create a Christmas card each week for the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  I know I don't make one every week but I seem to be on a roll because this is two weeks in a row I have made one!  Our hostess this week is Karren and when I saw that cluster of circles on her sketch I immediately thought of triangles (the crafty mind works in mysterious ways), which made me think of triangular Christmas tree dies.  And thus my card was born.

I am thrilled to pieces with how this card came out.  Firstly, because I finally used some glitter tape that I bought ages ago and secondly, because I had a vague idea in my head on how I wanted this card to turn out and it actually happened!  I am loving these new triangular-tree dies that I recently got and they were actually the impetus behind my Christmas theme this week.

This is an "anything goes" week at Christmas Card Challenges so I'll be linking this up over there as well.

My teamies at Freshly Made Sketches have got some gorgeous cards to show you this week so be sure to check them out.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Sketchy Christmas (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Old Olive, Real Red (SU); Heidi Swapp patterned paper
Ink:  Early Espresso (SU)
Accessories:  Sapins die (Simply Graphic); glitter washi tape (Scotch)

colourQ 357!

I love the color palette this week at colourQ.  It's so vibrant and makes me think of tropical things.  Of course, I may have been thinking of a tropical theme because I was going through some old cards recently and I came across one I made a long time ago using a toucan.  It was such a fun, colorful card so I really wanted to use that image again.  Then lo and behold our latest colourQ challenge happened!

The Melon Mambo polka dotted background proved to be too over-powering for my little toucan so I cut out a stitched flower petal in white to layer behind him.  Although I was successful in creating a break between the two colors I can't help feeling that this is really an out-take from my favorite Looney Tunes cartoon Duck Amuck - with the part of the duck being played by a toucan!  LOL!  If you've ever seen that cartoon you may remember there is a scene in it where Daffy Duck is walking along and some giant flower petals frame his face.  Every time I look at my little toucan that's all I can think of!

I got my layout from the latest challenge at The Paper Players.  It was perfect for using up some of that old Melon Mambo patterned paper.

Be sure to check out the inspiration from my fellow teamies at colourQ!  I hope to see you in the gallery!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Tropical Hideaway (The Alley Way Stamps)
Paper:  White (Papertrey Ink); Black (Simon Says Stamp); Melon Mambo, Melon Mambo DSP (SU); X-Press It Blending Card
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Jet Black (Altenew); Copics
Accessories:  Stitched Sentiment Flag die (Lil' Inker Designs); Flower Petal die (My Creative Time)

Freshly Made Sketches 251!

I am happy to report that I think I have made quite a dent in my Christmas card stash this year.  I'm afraid to count how many I actually have in case it's a lot less than I think it is - I don't want any bad news to spoil my good mood!  The sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches, brought to you by the lovely and very talented Cindy Hall, gave me the opportunity to add another one.  Although, this one is a tag.

The color palette at Christmas Card Challenges inspired the colors of my little elf's suit  and it was easy to create a background with some of the neutral colors.  I actually cut into some very old patterned paper to make one of the background shapes.  Normally I gaze fondly at that paper as I lament that it is just too pretty to cut, but I decided that there's no use staring at that paper anymore when I can put it to good use.  So here it is!  I tried to fit an oval shape on here but I just wasn't loving any of them - the sizes were all wrong.  So out came my Bam Bubble die and I got a cool background for my elf!

I hope you can play along with us this week at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our amazing design team has cooked up some beautiful cards to inspire you!

Supplies
Stamps:  Toy Land (The Alley Way Stamps); Sketchy Christmas (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Bashful Blue, Holiday Thyme DSP (SU); X-Press It Blending Card
Ink:  Early Espresso (SU); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Copics
Accessories:  Traditional Tags STAX, Pierced Traditional Tags STAX (My Favorite Things); Labels Nine die (Spellbinders); Bam Bubbles die (Paper Smooches); Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon, Early Espresso grosgrain ribbon (SU); Winter Wonderland sequins (Neat & Tangled); burlap twine

colourQ 356!

There are some beautiful colors this week for newest challenge at colourQ.  But in the interest of full disclosure I had a hard time putting them together.  I had several different cards started using some current sketch challenges but I just couldn't make the colors work.  Then I started looking through some old cards of mine and found one that I could CASE.

Most of the time when we think of CASE-ing a card it is someone ELSE'S card.  But when I'm stumped I often go through my own library and find a card that I particular like and use it as my launching point for a new card.  Sometimes it's the colors and, more often than not, it's the layout I'm after!

In today's example the element I copied from myself was the square layer with the corresponding little DSP squares which provided the color commentary.  Then I used some leafy die cuts to create a CAS focal point.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to play along with us at colourQ this week!

Supplies
Stamps:  Summer Garden (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Soft Sky, Old Olive, Melon Mambo, Blackberry Bliss (SU)
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss (SU)
Accessories:  Physalis die, Feuilles Tropicales die (Simply Graphic); Wonky Stitched Square STAX (My Favorite Things)

Tag You're It 54!

So I've been feeling a wee bit French this week.  Or should I say un peu French!  I recently got some new dies from a French company and I've used a couple of of them on some projects that I posted earlier this week.  So I decided to continue the theme by using some stamps from a set called French Foliage on my tag for Tag You're It.  This week our guest designer Michelle Short gave us the inspiration.

I stamped the leaves in red and yellow using a (heavy-handed) rock and roll technique.  I used some masking fluid on the leaves and sponged a blue background.  I flicked a little water on it to replicate the background on Michelle's tag.  My sentiment, of course, is French.

I used the colors from The Paper Players and was totally going to add this at Less is More where the challenge is one layer with "something French" then I remembered that my sentiment was an additional layer.  Rats!  By the way, once I had this all put together I realized that I did this with the tag upside down!  Double rats!

The Tag You're It design team has got some beautiful cards to show you this week so be sure to pop on over to check them out.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  French Foliage (SU)
Paper:  Distress Watecolor (Tim Holtz); Basic Black (SU)
Ink:  Salty Ocean (Distress); Real Red, Daffodil Delight (SU)
Accessories:  Basic Bookmark 3 die (Papertrey Ink); baker's twine

CAS(E) This Sketch 186!

Hello, hello!  We've got a new sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch and this one put me in mind of Christmas!  I recently got some new triangular Christmas tree dies and knew they would be perfect for this sketch.

There's a "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" challenge at Jingle Belles and by that they mean your card should be predominately red.  I dug deep in my stash and found this Ruby Red patterned paper so I used that for the majority of my background then added the trees in green.  I briefly thought about adding a sentiment to this but decided I liked the clean and uncluttered look better.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a chance to stop on by CAS(E) This Sketch to see the inspiration from our awesome design team.  We'd love to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Old Olive, Holiday Treasures DSP (SU)
Accessories:  Sapins die (Simply Graphic)

Freshly Made Sketches 250!

Day two of digging into my stash for the kind of supplies that many years ago I used all the time.  Yesterday I mentioned feeling a bit nostalgic about designing cards with layers, patterned paper, flowers, leaves, and texture - things I don't use very often any more.  So my card this week for Freshly Made Sketches features a few of those things.  Our sketch this week is brought to you by Cécile and it's got this fantastic angled layer that you are going to love!

The colors from the inspiration photo at Just Add Ink gave me the colors for my card (that wooden fence looked a lot more gray when I printed the graphic out, which is why my card has a gray background)!  I used up some really old DSP with a subtle print on it and layered a die cut flower using a new die I recently got.  The leaves are from a new-to-me company located in France called Simply Graphic.  Cécile uses dies from them all the time and she inspired me to do some shopping!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a chance to play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Be sure to pop on over there and check out the inspiration from our amazing design team!

Supplies
Stamps:  Thank You Kindly (SU)
Paper:  Fog (Simon Says Stamp); Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, Sweet Pea DSP (SU)
Ink:  Cement Gray (Simon Says Stamp)
Accessories:  Plentiful Petals die (My Favorite Things); petit assortment d'automne die (Simply Graphic)

colourQ 355!

Every once in a while an old card of mine will get a new like or pin on Pinterest and since I've got email notifications turned on, I'll get an email to let me know that someone has expressed a liking, in some fashion, for a card of mine.  Often I'll look at the card and think "oh I remember that one" or "I made THAT?  I forgot about it but I really like it!"  Quite often these old cards feature layers, patterned paper, a flower or two, or texture from something like burlap.  My cards tend to be a bit more austere nowadays, but when I run across one of these oldies-but-goodies I really like how they look and I get a bit nostalgic for yesteryear!

So this week, starting with my colourQ card today, I've dug deep into my card-making soul and made some throwback cards using things like patterned paper, die cut flowers and leaves, and maybe a layer or two.  I'm a bit rusty with these things but I had a lot of fun digging through my stash to see how I could use some long-forgotten supplies.

First up, a layered concoction using these new colors from colourQ and a sketch from Mojo Monday.  I used to play along with the Mojo sketches all the time.  They are fabulous and are easily adaptable to a CAS card-maker like me.  My card-making schedule usually means I miss the Mojo sketch deadline so this week I was happy that I could play along.

I used ribbon (ribbon!) for the horizontal layer.  Originally I had a much wider piece of ribbon on here but while I was editing the picture realized that the ribbon was TOO wide and went back to my stamping desk to carefully pry apart the layers.  I brushed off the dust from a more narrow kind of ribbon and went with that instead.

Thanks for stopping by and for sticking with me for my long narrative!  I hope you get the chance to play along with us at colourQ.  And if you need inspiration with these colors, look no further than our own colourQ design team!  They will wow you for sure!

Supplies
Stamps:  Take Note (Verve)
Paper:  Black (Simon Says Stamp); Poppy Parade, Basic Gray, Whisper White (SU); The Sorbet Collection (Avery Elle)
Ink:  Jet Black (Altenew)
Accessories:  Blueprints 21 die, Pierced Circle STAX, Pierced Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); Petite Scallop Circles Small die (Spellbinders); Basic Gray ribbon (SU)

CAS(E) This Sketch 185!

Happy Thursday everyone!  Today there's a new sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch designed by Leigh.  Initially, this was stumper for me and then I remembered the "light up my life" challenge at The Paper Players and new this sunburst stencil would be just the thing.

I wanted my focal image to have a defined point on the center-right, like the sketch.  The rays of my sunshine fan out and fade to the left, which is a wee bit farther than the image on the sketch, but you get the idea!  A bold sentiment later and I was done!  Easy peasy!

If you haven't come here from the CAS(E) This Sketch blog then run, don't walk, over there to see the amazing inspiration from the design team for this sketch.  You will not be disappointed and I am sure that you will be inspired to join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Awesome (Neat & Tangled)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Black (Simon Says Stamp); Whisper White (SU)
Ink:  Daffodil Delight (SU); Jet Black (Altenew)
Accessories:  Texture Shine stencil (Memory Box)

Freshly Made Sketches 249!

Welcome to Wednesday and another challenge from your friends at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is the always-amazing Kim.

I've got to admit that this may be one of the oddest Christmas cards I've ever made.  It's not very Christmas-y I'm afraid and I'm not all that happy with the arrangement of the colors, but it is what it is!  I had been thinking a lot about the design for my card this week and initially a Christmas card wasn't even on my radar.  Then I saw the "CASE the designer" challenge at Global Design Project and for some reason the colors put me in mind of a Christmas card.  I happened to have some ribbon in pink and green and since I don't use ribbon all that much nowadays I decided that I would shake things up by using some.  What a rebel I am!

I recently got some new Christmas supplies for my stash and I really wanted to use this "joy" die.  I wanted to cut it out with some felt but I didn't have the right blue so I cut it three times (for dimension) out of my beloved Baja Breeze.  The top layer I ran across the the edge of my desk a few times to break down the fibers of the paper, then carefully peeled it in half.  This gives the cardstock a wonderful texture very reminiscent of suede - in fact I think this is actually some "sueded paper technique" that I learned many years ago!

Well that's it for me today!  I hope you've got time to play along with Kim's awesome sketch this week.  And you need look no further for inspiration than the Freshly Made Sketches design team.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze, Whisper White (SU)
Accessories:  Joy die (Concord & 9th); Blueprints 13 die (My Favorite Things); Falling Snow stencil (Simon Says Stamp); Diamond Sparkle Medium (Imagination Crafts); Regal Rose and Old Olive grosgrain ribbon (SU)

colourQ 354!

Here we are at Tuesday again and it's time for a new colourQ challenge.  I love the simple colors this week and I made a simple card with them!

The layout for my card comes from the fabbo sketch at Fab Friday.  As soon as I saw it I thought of a flourish die that has been languishing in my stash, unused, for a long time.  

I inlaid the flourish die into the white background then popped up the sentiment layer on some foam to give it a little dimension.  The diagonal stripes down the left side were created using a stencil and some clear embossing paste.  I love how the embossing paste gives some subtle color and real dimension!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to check out the inspiration at colourQ. We'd love to see you in the gallery!

Supplies

Stamps:  Many Thanks (Simon Says Stamp)

Paper:  Cool Caribbean, Basic Black, Basic Gray (SU); Solar White (Neenah)

Ink:  Jet Black (Altenew)

Accessories:  Fancy Flourish die (My Favorite Things); Diagonal Strip stencil (Simon Says Stamp); Scallop Border die (The Stamps of Life); translucent embossing powder (Dreamweaver)

CAS(E) This Sketch 184!

Happy Thursday!  Only one more wake up day before the weekend!  But before we get to that we get to see a new challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch.  This week our sketch is designed by Sam Simpson.

I usually shy away from sketches that have a repetitive image like this one, but for some reason when the repeating image is a snowflake I am totally ok with that.  Weird, I know.  But we all have our foibles!

I've been slowly but surely adding to my Christmas card stash and when I saw the tactile challenge at Less is More and the Anything Goes challenge at Christmas Card Challenges I could see some felt snowflakes in my future!

The blue layer and the blue on the sentiment is Baja Breeze (the best blue ever) and I will continue to say that until Stampin' Up! brings it out of retirement once and for all.  It also happens to be my go-to blue when I'm thinking of Christmas cards - or cards with snowflakes...

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you've got some time to check out our latest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch.  We'd love to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Joy (Concord & 9th)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Baja Breeze (SU)
Ink:  Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler (SU)
Accessories:  Blueprints 20 die (My Favorite Things); Maryanne snowflake die (Simon Says Stamp); felt

Freshly Made Sketches 248!

Time for our first challenge of August over at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week Linda is our hostess and she's cooked up a classic sketch that you will get a lot of mileage out of.  And don't be worried if you have no feathers in your stash - you can use whatever shape you'd like!

The color combo at Can You Case It is a favorite of mine:  gray, yellow, and black so I really wanted to play along with them.  Plus the tic tac toe challenge at The Paper Players was looking for masculine in the top row so I figured these colors would be perfect for that.  I got a kick out of the enamel dots being on the same line but I can see how those can be manly too!

I did layer my little stem with gray and vellum but I accidentally put too much glue on the vellum layer and the whole thing stuck to the card base making it really hard to see.  I tried to carefully pry it up so that there was some dimension to this card but it still is hard to see in the picture.  For the horizontal layer I stamped the sentiment then drew a box around it with a black marker to create the illusion of a separate layer.  I even cut the stem so that it seems like it is behind my faux layer!

The inspiration at Freshly Made Sketches is amazing this week so you'll definitely want to check it out if you haven't already.  I hope you can join us in the gallery this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Grateful (Concord & 9th)
Paper:  Soft Stone (Papertrey Ink); Black (Simon Says Stamp); Basic Gray, Vellum (SU)
Ink:  Jet Black (Altenew);  Basic Black marker (SU)
Accessories:  Blueprints 13 die (My Favorite Things); Chloe Stem die (Memory Box); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

colourQ 353!

Hello!  This week at colourQ there is a color combo that gave me a little case of the hiccups!  But never one to back down from a color challenge I persevered through a couple of iterations until I ended up with, of all things, a baby card!

Ha!  And now that I've posted this here I see that I completely forgot to use green!  Believe me, I had every intention to but I think I must have been so obsessed with explaining why I would use these colors for a baby card that I forgot that I had one more color to explain!

I should also mention that I am also playing along with the Sketch Saturday challenge, which is to pick a past sketch.  I chose #225.  And I'm also playing along with Addicted to CAS where the cue word is "welcome."

I was going to make a floral card using these colors but I kept coming back to the "welcome" challenge and couldn't get a baby card out of my head.  I really don't know why because these are some pretty strange colors for a baby card!  I didn't want it to be too pink or too blue, rendering it useless in those instances where the gender of the baby is unknown, so I thought the coral would draw some of the attention away from those colors and make it a little more neutral.  Too bad it drew the attention away from the green too! Yikes!

Despite my faux pas I hope you won't hold it against me and that you can join us in the colourQ gallery this week. We love to see you there!

Supplies
Stamps:  Grunge Cirque (Tim Holtz); Onesie Twosie (Taylored Expressions); Onesie Two-sie (Wplus9)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Night of Navy, Calypso Coral (SU)
Ink:  Blushing Bride, Night of Navy (SU)
Accessories:  Pierced Square STAX (My Favorite Things); Baby die (Simon Says Stamp); Decorative Dots embossing folder (SU)