Freshly Made Sketches 265!

This is officially Christmas card week on my blog.  I love to make Christmas cards but I hope I snap out of this soon because I'm pretty sure I'll be tired of doing the same theme day after day before long.  But today indulge me as we unveil a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, designed by the lovely and talented Narelle.  This one made me think of making a shaker card.

I recently got a sequin mix that was full of bits and bobs in Christmas colors and that is what I thought of when I started working on my card for this sketch.  I added a festive sentiment and I was done!  It sounds like I just whipped this thing up but it actually took a while to do - partly because I backed the shaker window with some teeny-tiny thick foam sticky squares that took forever to peel off to reveal the actual sticky stuff.  Note to self:  burn those.

I'm joining a few Christmas challenges around blogland too:  CAS on Sunday and Christmas Card Challenges.

I don't know about you, but I can hardly believe that today is the last day of November.  Nothing like the year whizzing by!  Thanks for stopping by and please pop on over to Freshly Made Sketches to check out the inspiration from the design team.  We hope you've got some time to join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Wonderful Words - Holiday (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  White (Gina K Pure Luxury); Baja Breeze (Stampin' Up!); Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink); Cryogen White
Ink:  Baja Breeze (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Merry Christmas die (Simon Says Stamp); Circles die (Little B); Blueprints 20 die (My Favorite Things); Christmas Couture Mix (The Ton)

Jingle All the Way

Christmas is in the air, I think!  Now that thanksgiving is behind us the focus to Christmas has begun in earnest.  I've made some good progress this year making my Christmas cards but, as I discovered Monday night when I went looking for a particular card I made a few months ago, I seem to have misplaced some of them!  I'm sure they are around here somewhere!

But today I've got a card that I made for a few challenges:  the sketch at Mojo, the masculine Christmas challenge at Merry Monday, and the anything goes theme at Christmas Card Challenges.

I did add some enamel dots to my card but I still think this is still pretty masculine.  I mean, who's more manly than Santa Claus? Ho Ho Ho!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Jingle All the Way (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  Sahara Sand, Blue Bayou, Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!); Snow Village (Pink Paislee); Heidi Swapp patterned paper
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!); Jet Black (Altenew); Prismacolor Pencils
Accessories:  Jingle All the Way die (My Favorite Things)

Happy Thanksgiving 2016!

Happy thanksgiving to all my American friends!

I had every intention of making a new and fun thanksgiving card to share with you but I just didn't have time the last few days.  So I thought I'd (again) share a card I made last year.

Now that's a sentiment every turkey can get behind.

May your turkey and stuffing be savory, may your potatoes be sweet, and may all the blessings of the season come to you and yours!

Freshly Made Sketches 264!

It's Thanksgiving Eve here in the US.  Visions of turkey are dancing in my head.  How about you?  Thanksgiving is probably my most favorite of holidays primarily because as the dinner is cooking the house is filled with the most delicious scents.  I do love turkey, gravy, stuffing, and mashed potato!  That's a pretty weird reason to love a holiday but there you have it!

Anyway on to our latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our hostess is the talented Karren who has given us one of those classic sketches that will be right up your creative alley, I'm sure.

The inspiration photo at Fusion gave me the idea for the colors for this card and the CAS Christmas challenge at The Paper Players gave me the idea to do another Christmas card.  This is the fourth week in a row that I've made a Christmas card for Freshly Made Sketches and I sincerely hope you're not sick of seeing them!  It's getting to be crunch time in the Christmas card department so every card counts!

By the way I used Liquid Pearls for the little dots on my wreath.  Liquid Pearls!  Talk about digging up some old stuff in the stash!  I stamped the little berry trios in white first but white ink usually fades as it dries and I really wanted those berries to look good so I went over them with the Liquid Pearls.  I also went over the die cut sentiment with Wink of Stella so this has got some sparkle in real life!

To all my American friends I send a heartfelt "happy thanksgiving" to you and your family.  Rest up after your dinner because the Christmas craziness is only just beginning!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have some time to hop on over to Freshly Made Sketches to check out our challenge for this week as well as the inspiration from the design team.  We hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Wreath For All Seasons (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Basic Gray, Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!); White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!); White (WPlus9)
Accessories:  Hand Lettered Holiday die (WPlus9); Liquid Pearls; Wink of Stella

colourQ 368 redux

Colors that keep on giving.  That's our motto this week at colourQ.  Due to some personal issues the challenge at colourQ is open for another week.  Since we're only a few days away from Thanksgiving I decided to use these fall-inspired colors to make a thank you card.

I went back to my patterned paper, layering roots for this one!  I love to dig into my old patterned paper stash (with some exceptions) and I got a double whammy with this one thanks to the Mojo sketch.  These colors are all about autumn and once we get past Thanksgiving in the US these colors take a backseat to Christmas so I really wanted to use them at least one more time in 2016.  

There's still plenty of time to join us at colourQ so I hope you can before the craziness of Black Friday and holiday shopping in general starts.  See you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Simple Sunflower (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Vellum (Stampin' Up!); Classic Ivory (Flourishes)
Ink:  Hello Honey, Chocolate Chip, Old Olive (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Thanks Script die (Mama Elephant); Fishtail Flags die (My Favorite Things)

CAS(E) This Sketch 199!

Being on vacation is a wonderful thing!  However, it's really easy to forget what day of the week it is.  Which is why I am late getting my card for the latest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch posted!  Better late than never!

This card went together amazingly quickly.  I was sitting at my desk making an entirely different card when I was suddenly struck by an idea (helped by the ombre challenge at Addicted to CAS) to layer the word "merry" in varying shades of pink.  I added the Christmas sentiment and I was done.  So easy!

My CAS(E) This Sketch teamies have got some great cards to show you using this sketch so be sure to check them out.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Tis the Season (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink, Rose Red (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Rose Red (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Wonderful Words Holiday die (Papertrey Ink)

Freshly Made Sketches 263!

It's Wednesday so you know that means it's time for a new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches!  We had a bit of a glitch on Monday with the linky tool expiring, but we've got it all sorted now and we are good to go for our new challenge!  Thanks for your patience and thanks to those who "linked" up their cards in the comment section!  Our newest challenge is brought to you by Cécile.  The sketch has circles, but feel free to use whatever shape you'd like.

Now there's a little explanation about why the top of my card is separated from the bottom by a diagonal line when the sketch clearly shows a horizontal line.  I had seen this card from Jane Knudsen and I really liked how she used a die to cut a line of circles then added some colorful patterned paper behind those circles.  I hunted around in my stash and found a similar style die, lined it up carefully on my cardstock horizontally and ran it through my Big Shot.  But the die shifted as it passed through and came out cut on a perfect diagonal.  I'm pretty sure that if I attempted to do that on purpose it would be way off center!  In any event, I liked how it looked and figured this was some sign that I should embrace this "mistake" so I didn't re-do it.  

There's a gray, red, and white challenge going on at Merry Monday and Christmas Card Challenges is looking for glitter.  The red glitter that I used is some paper I've had in my stash for a long time.  I don't know where I got it (or why I got it for that matter) or who makes it but it is VERY thick.  It's useless for dies but I was able to cut it and used it as my layer under those small circles.  The snowflakes were cut from Dazzling Diamonds glimmer paper and you can just imagine how sparkly this is in real life!

Thanks for stopping by and please don't forget to pop on over to Freshly Made Sketches and check out the inspiration from our design team.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies

Stamps:  Joy (Concord & 9th)

Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Smoky Slate, Dazzling Diamonds glimmer (Stampin' Up!)

Ink:  Ruby Red (Altenew)

Accessories:  Blueprints 20, Blueprints 21 (My Favorite Things); Maryanne Snowflake die (Simon Says Stamp); Make a Snowflake die (Taylored Expressions)

colourQ 368!

I am happy to say that I am on vacation for the next couple of weeks and I am really looking forward to some rest and relaxation.  This has been a busy year for me work-wise so it's nice to sort of round out the year with some down-time.  I spent some leisurely time in my craft room Sunday and created this card for the latest challenge at colourQ.

I was in a color-block frame of mind, thanks in no small part to the Match the Sketch challenge.  I jazzed this up by adding a die cut sentiment that I cut from some glimmer paper that is called "champagne" but does not look like any champagne I'd ever drink.  It's coppery in color and I went over it with a dark brown Copic marker so as to keep to the colors of the challenge.  It looks kind of muddy here but in real life it has a lot of sparkle!

I've got lunch dates with long-lost relatives, a driver's license renewal, a new passport photo, and cleaning on my vacation schedule - what an exciting life I lead!  I even started a bit of organizing in my craft room {gasp}.  I don't know where that will lead but hopefully I can do a bit of a purge!

Thanks for stopping by and please head on over to colourQ to check out the inspiration from our design team.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Paper:  Pure Ivory (Gina K); Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Hello Honey, Champagne Glimmer (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Copic E49
Accessories:  Stitched Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); Thank You die (Heidi Swapp)

Tag You're It 60!

Thanks abound at a lot of challenges lately.  It's that time of year and I decided to combine my newest project, for Tag You're It, with a few thanks challenges.  Our featured artist at Tag You're It is Diane Jaquay and she has given us this beautiful tag with warm colors and lots of leaves to CASE.

I tried to keep true to the colors and the overall leafy design and added a few touches of gold in the die cut sentiment, the ribbon, and the cord (none of which look gold in this pic - a photographer I am not).

There's a "thankful" challenge at The Paper Players and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge so I'm going to add my tag there.  And incidentally, this tag is not just a tag.  I can easily stick it to a card front and I've got an easy peasy card.

Thanks for stopping by.  And stop by the Tag You're It challenge to check out the tags  from our design team.  I hope you'll be inspired to join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:   Leaf Prints (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Bravo Burgundy, Chocolate Chip, Brushed Gold (Stampin' Up!); Pure Ivory (Gina K)
Ink:  Hello Honey, Pumpkin Pie, Bravo Burgundy (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Traditional Tags STAX, Pierced Traditional Tags STAX (My Favorite Things); Fall Foliage die (Tim Holtz); Leaf Prints die (Papertrey Ink); Thanks Script die (Mama Elephant); gold ribbon, gold cord (Stampin' Up)

CAS(E) This Sketch 198!

Thursdays around here are for CAS(E) This Sketch challenges and a new card is what I've got to show you today.

This sketch was initially a stumper for me until I spied a stencil in my stash that I thought would be good for those two upper and lower images on the the sketch.  Once I decided on that I used the colors at Sunday Stamps to color that stencil in.  The sentiment was die cut in a dark gray and stuck down in the middle.  Easy peasy!

Thanks for stopping by.  And I hope you have some time to join us in the gallery at CAS(E) This Sketch.  We love to see you there!

Supplies
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Wild Honey, Rusty Hinge, Milled Lavender, Seedless Preserves (Distress)
Accessories:  Basket stencil (Stencil Girl Products); Thanks Word die (Lil' Inker Designs)

Freshly Made Sketches 262!

Another presidential election is in the bag here in the US.  I have no idea who won because I wrote this post Tuesday night when it was "too close to call."  And in other news there's a new sketch challenge up at Freshly Made Sketches brought to us by Jen Brum!

I had Christmas on my mind when I made this card.  There is a "purple and gold" challenge at Less is More and the "flower" challenge at Jingle Belles got me thinking that maybe I could combine those with my FMS card this week.  Yes, that horizontal image really is purple!  I die cut the poinsettia out of vellum then added a couple touches of gold and voilà!  And can I just say that this is very cool looking in real life!

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

Supplies
Stamps:  Many Merry Messages (Stampin' Up!); Rugged Edge (Indigo Blu)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Vellum, Gold Foil (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Concord Crush (Stampin' Up!); Gold Ultimate Metallic (Encore)
Accessories:  Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box)

colourQ 367!

Finally it is election day here in the US.  Hopefully everyone's Facebook feed can return to normal!  It's also time for a new palette from your friends at colourQ.  The colors may say fall to you, but I chose to use flowers.

Everything old is new again.  I found some old SU specialty paper with a bunch of white on white designs so I used a piece of that as my background layer, then I used my scallop Nesties to create the circular layers.  It's been a dog's age since I used a scallop circle!

The layout that inspired those circles is from Just Add Ink and I'm also joining the flower challenge at CAS on Sunday.

Well that's it for me.  I'm typing this in the morning quickly just before I head off to work.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can join us at colourQ this week!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fonds Grunge (4enscrap)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Cool Caribbean, Old Olive, Really Rust, Presto Patterns (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Cool Caribbean (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Classic Scallop Small die, Standard Circles Small die, Standard Circles Large die (Spellbinders); Wild Gardenia die (Essentials by Ellen); Metallic Metal dots (My Mind's Eye)

CAS(E) This Sketch 197!

I'm on a little bit of a Christmas kick this week.  The challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch gave me another opportunity to add to my stash!

I went digging deep into my stash for this card.  I was rooting around for some patterned paper when I happened upon some specialty paper that was in shades of kraft and brown.  The brown in particular was special because it was a nice heavy weight and had subtle speckles all through it.  The kraft had subtle stripes that gave the illusion of texture.  I opted to use the kraft paper for a solid background and to accommodate the  sketch I created some angled "layers" using some burlap twine.  The Christmas tree was die cut from the brown speckled layer and it's really hard to see in the pic but that paper is absolutely gorgeous....which explains why I've barely cut into it.  #paperhoarder

You'll find me at Christmas Card Challenges with this one too.  Along with the other 200+ entries.  I suppose that means everyone is starting to get worried that Christmas card mailing deadlines are not that far away!

Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to check out our latest CAS(E) This Sketch challenge for lots of inspiration.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Christmas Carols (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps)
Paper:  Cocoa Bean (Papertrey Ink); Taste of Textiles (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Sketch Tree die (Memory Box); burlap twine

Freshly Made Sketches 261!

I don't think I have as yet recovered from the shock that it is actually November 2nd.  In a few days we'll turn the clocks back an hour and it will officially be dark when I leave work in the afternoon.  Yuck!  Anyone know how many days until spring?!  But on the bright side it's time for a new challenge from Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is the supremely creative Cindy Hall.

A long, long time ago I pinned this card from the uber talented Debby Hughes with the intention of just CASE-ing it.  I have the snowflake dies and everything!  Well I never got around to it....until now.   That card came into my head when I sat down at my desk to make my card this week.

For some reason (no idea why) I used a totally different snowflake die cut than she did.  I cut it out of glimmer paper and colored it with Copics.  Debby used Distress Inks and her color is a little more obvious so I think I might try this again and use those instead.  This is very pretty in real life...but I like her snowflake better so next time I'm using that one!

There's an "anything goes" challenge at Christmas Card Challenges so I'll be adding this over there as well.

And as usual, thanks for stopping by.  There's a whole lot of pretty going on at Freshly Made Sketches so I hope you check out the inspiration from the design team then join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper, Soft Sky (Stampin' Up!); Vellum (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Copic
Accessories:  Snowflake Trio die (a.muse studio); Make a Snowflake die (Taylored Expressions); Merry Christmas die, Falling Snow stencil (Simon Says Stamp); white embossing paste (Wendy Vecchi); Clear Droplets (Pretty Pink Posh)

colourQ 366!

Hello, hello.  We've got a new palette for you at colourQ and the colors are beautiful.  I was sadly in need of a sympathy card so I used the colors to create a card that, I think, is subtly masculine.

I used some leafy dies with a speckled background for my focal point and I arranged them to leave a nice spot for the sentiment.  I've got to tell you though it was quite a pain to leave all the little bits inside those die cut leaves!  I used micro-pore tape on the back to make sure they didn't fall out!  My layout comes from Sunday Sketch.

Short and sweet today.  I'm writing this quickly before I head off to work this morning.  I hope everyone had a fun Halloween and that your trick or treat basket is full of goodies!  Please head over to colourQ to check out what the design team has to inspire you this week.  I hope to see you in the gallery!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Forever in Our Hearts (Verve)
Paper:  Island Indigo, Hello Honey, Really Rust (Stampin' Up!); Solar White (Neenah)
Ink:  Hello Honey, Dusty Durango (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Branchages & Feuilles die (4enscrap); Speckles stencil (Tim Holtz)