CAS(E) This Sketch 249

We're back from our extended challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch to bring you a new challenge.  Our latest sketch is actually a retro one, designed by Leigh, and it originally appeared as #104 on December 18, 2014.  It's a classic design and worthy of a redux!

I used some die cut greens as my horizontal layer and added a simple sentiment in dark brown.  Super easy - just what I want at this busy time of year!  There's a Christmas Joy theme going on at Global Design Project so I'm going to add this there as well.

Thanks for stopping by!  The CAS(E) This Sketch design team has got some great cards to inspire you so be sure to check them out.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Travelers Journal - December Typed Words (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler, Pear Pizzazz (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Pear Pizzazz (Stampin' Up!); Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Holiday Greens Mini die (Tim Holtz); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

Freshly Made Sketches 315

Here we are at Wednesday again and I've got another Christmas card to share.  You're shocked right?  We've got a new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches and our hostess this week is Amy.  I took a few liberties with her sketch....

Instead of an oval I die cut a big "joy" sentiment to use in its place.  Then I stamped a super thin sentiment on a super thin piece of cardstock to layer across my "oval."  I added some snowflake sequins and easy-peasy I was done!

My kind, funny, and generous friend Linda recently gave me a wonderful gift:  a Shotbox.  It's a portable lighting studio that I've had my eye on.  I experimented a bit and took many photos of this card.  The one I chose for this post I took with my phone and I am beyond pleased with how it came out.  For one thing the colors of the card are much more representative of the actual colors in real life, but more importantly, you can actually tell that I used sparkly cardstock for the joy die cut.  I think that's the first time that something shiny has showed up in a photo that I took!

Thanks for stopping by!  And don't forget to pop on over to Freshly Made Sketches to check out the cards from our amazing design team.  I'm sure you'll be inspired to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Stained Glass Greetings (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Sea Glass (Avery Elle); Solor White (Neenah); silver glitter (Recollections)
Ink:  Silvery Shimmer Delicata (Tsukineko)
Accessories:  Joy die (Concord & 9th); Winter Wonderland sequins (Neat & Tangled)

Ombre Christmas

Much to my dismay every time I see a card challenge I can only think of making a Christmas card!  Today is no different having spied the colors at Merry Monday, which lead to the sketch at Match the Sketch, which lead to the ombre challeng at TGIF.  Whew!

Love this color combo!  And I love the graphic shapes on the sketch at Match this Sketch.  I thought the two would look good together and I think I was right! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Ombre Sentiments: Christmas (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Tempting Turquoise, Lemon Lime Twist (Stampin' Up!); silver glitter (Recollections)
Ink:  Tempting Turquoise (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Circle STAX (My Favorite Things)

Happy Anniversary

Saturday I went to a party to celebrate the 50th anniversary of my aunt and uncle.  Sometime during the afteroon I decided that the card I was going to give them was not good enough so I sat at my desk to make a new one - with the help of the "cheer" challenge at CASology and the "shine" challenge at Less is More.

This card was sort of reverse engineered from the envelope!  I had a card all picked to give them and made a festive envelope to go with it with gold embossed accents and the word "cheers" featured right in the middle.  I chose gold because traditionally, that is the color of the "golden" 50th anniversary.  The envelope looked fantastic, but the card I was going to use had no gold on it so the two looked terrible together.  Luckily I had some time in the afternoon before I needed to leave so I made this shaker card.  Much better!  Here's the envelope that inspired my card:

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Bokeh Bursts Round (The Ton); The Big the Bold and the Happy (Winnie & Walter)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); glitter cardstock (Recollections)
Ink:  Golden Glitz Delicata (Tsukineko)
Accessories:  The Big the Bold and the Happy die (Winnie & Walter); gold embossing powder

Tag You're It 78

Thanksgiving 2017 is in the books in the US for this year so it's time to get SERIOUS about Christmas!  Today there's a new challenge at Tag You're It and our inspiration comes from Jessica Frost-Ballas.  Jess has created a tag that inspired me to add to my Christmas stash.

Instead a pink and gold theme I went with blue and silver, but I was inspired by the shading of the background, the snowflakes, and the deer.  I created some falling snow on the background with embossing paste and a stencil and the deer was die cut with some foil paper from Michaels that has a subtle texture to it - sort of like wrinkles.  I find myself reaching for "peace" themed sentiments a lot this year.  With everything that has been going on in the world lately wishing for a little peace seems to be a good thing.

The Muse: ChristmasVisions challenge has teamed up with Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags challenge and are looking for snow on a tag!  Well here you go!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you are inspired to join us at Tag You're It.  Our design team has created some fantastic tags to get you in the mood so hop on over to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Pure Florals:  Poinsettia (Uniko)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Taken With Teal, Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer (Stampin' Up!); silver foil (Recollections)
Ink:  Broken China (Distress Oxide)
Accessories:  Tag Sale: Quilted die (Papertrey Ink); Deer Trio die (Impression Obsession); Falling Snow stencil (Simon Says Stamp); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver)

Freshly Made Sketches 314

Hello!  And happy Thanksgiving Eve to all my American friends!  I don't think that's really a thing, but having hosted thanksgiving dinner for many years I am aware of how important the day before the actual holiday is and how much work it can be putting together a big dinner for an extended family.  So to everyone out there who is busy slicing, dicing, chopping, baking, and otherwise occupied in the kitchen kudos to you!  Be sure to relax a bit too and actually enjoy the holiday!

Now to switch gears a bit!  Today we debut a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our design comes to us from Narelle.  I love how she manages to subdue her love of layers when it's her turn to design the sketch and keep it to just three or four.  I actually took one of her layers and inlaid it into my cardbase so I don't even think that counts as a layer!

I made a slight change on my card by not adding the sentiment over the circle layer.  The poinsettia was just too pretty to cover up, so I made sure to stamp my sentiment enough to the left so that the poinsettia would stand alone.

That's it for me today.  I've got some shopping to do to get ready for the big day and I need to get a move on!  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll have a chance to play along with our sketch and join us in the gallery at Freshly Made Sketches!

Supplies
Stamps:  Keep It Simple:  Joyeux Noel (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Hello Honey (Stampin' Up!); Pinefeather, Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink); Naturals White (Neenah)
Ink:  Pinefeather (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Layered Poinsettia die (Penny Black); Circles die (Little B)

Cheers to You

I've been cleaning and  organizing my craft room over the last few days and I stumbled upon a stamp set that was out of its packaging and I have no idea who makes it or what its name is.  (If you know what it is please leave a comment with the name and who makes it).  But it was perfect to play along with the sketch at Sunday Stamps. I used the colors from Just Us Girls.

The Y-O-U takes the place of those three squares, of course.  This card is 4 1/4 inches square which was a perfect size to fit those letters.  This card is going to my niece who has just moved into a new house.  

Thanks for stopping by 

Supplies

Stamps:  ???

Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes)

Ink:  Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink); Tempting Turquoise (Stampin' Up!)

Accessories:  enamel dots (Freckled Fawn)

'Tis the Season

I feel like this is the all-Christmas all-the-time channel!  But I just googled it and there's only 37 days until Christmas {gasp} and my cards need to be in the mail well before that so I'm not-so-fast and furiously creating them.

My card today was inspired by the colors at Color Throwdown and the sketch at Fusion.  I had one version of this card nearly complete before I realized that it was total junk and scrapped it to create this one instead.  This one is so much better!

I do love making a shaker card because they are so fun!  Hopefully the recipient will love it too!  In addition to the sequins I layered on some die cut snowflakes - and discovered in the process of making this card that one of my snowflake die sets has gone missing.  Oh no!!!  I'm sure it will turn up mis-filed somewhere....

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fa La La (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Pacific Point, Vellum (Stampin' Up!); glitter cardstock (Recollections)
Ink:  Silvery Shimmer Delicata (Tsukineko)
Accessories:  Stitched Mini Scallop Square die (My Favorite Things); Lindemon Snowflake die (Memory Box); Funky Flakes die (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps); silver cord (Stampin' Up!)

CAS(E) This Sketch 248

It's only week until Thanksgiving day here in the US!  I can hardly believe it!  Time is marching on...to Christmas that is.  I've got another  Christmas card today for our latest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch.  This challenge is good for two weeks so you can enjoy the turkey and all the fixin's and join us at your leisure!

The old white on white card.  That's the challenge at The Paper Players this week.  I love the look of this card in real life but it's so hard to photograph.  This didn't come out half bad.  You can see the white die cut sentiment and there's a little sliver of white glimmer paper too.  And bonus - this was super easy to put together!

How are you doing on your Christmas cards?  I'm afraid to count mine in case I'm woefully short.  I don't want to stress out about it!

Thanks for stopping by.  And don't forget our latest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch is on for two weeks.  Plenty of time to play along.  Hop on over to the blog to check out all the details.

Supplies
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Stitched Basic Edges die (My Favorite Things); Merry Christmas die (Impression Obsession)

Freshly Made Sketches 313

It just so happens that I'm on vacation this week.  One of the things I had planned to do was a little organizing in my craft room.  It's been ages since I've done any sort of clear out in there and it shows!  I've taken a "before" picture and although I'm not done, I sincerely hope that the "after" picture shows some improvement!

But on to our newest sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our hostess is Karren and as soon as I saw the sketch I knew EXACTLY what card I wanted to make!

This is so pretty and sparkly in real life.  I have some glimmer paper from Michael's that is a dead ringer for SU's Pool Party.  I cut the die cut "peace" from it, then added the confetti corners and sentiment in Pool Party ink.  Easy peasy!  It's always a good thing when an idea in my head translates so easily to paper!

Thanks for stopping by!  The sketch at Freshly Made Sketches is a great one so I hope you can join us in the gallery with your interpretation of it!

Supplies

Stamps:  Wet Paint Holiday (Papertrey Ink); Holiday Confetti (The Ton)

Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); White (Catherin Pooler); Pool Party (Stampin' Up!); glitter cardstock (Recollections)

Ink:  Pool Party

Accessories:  Wonderful Words Holiday die (Papertrey Ink)

CAS(E) This Sketch 247

Hello!  It's time for a new sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch.  The sketch calls to mind lots of layers so I made my card with lots of layers of leaves!

Those leaves are holiday pines (and some other stuff).  I chose them so I could play along with the current challenge at The Paper Players.  And the holiday theme fits perfectly with the challenge at House of Cards.

I've tried to get some new holiday stamp sets this year because I've been getting a bit bored with the ones I've had in my stash forever.  The sentiment I've used here is one of those new sets.  It's fun to see the new designs so hopefully my cards this year will be a little more fun!  We'll see.....

Thanks for stopping by!  Our CAS(E) This Sketch design team has got some fabulous cards to show you this week to inspire you so be sure to check them out.  We hope you'll join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Stained Glass Greetings (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Cherry Cobbler, Naturals Ivory (Stampin' Up!); Pinefeather (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Golden Glitz Delicata (Tsukineko); White (WPlus9)
Accessories:  Holiday Greens Mini die (Tim Holtz/Sizzix); gold embossing powder

Freshly Made Sketches 312

I would say that I'm definitely starting to feel the Christmas crunch.  I had a look at my stash of Christmas cards and cringed.  I actually cringed.  So you'll have to forgive me if you see a Christmas card every time you visit here!  This week there's a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, brought to you by Cécile, and it didn't take much for me to see that square as being perfect for a shaker.

After trying out a few pieces of patterned paper for that triangle layer in the corner I opted to emboss it instead with a striped embossing folder - reminiscent of candy cane stripes.  The square was cut using a snowflake die and behind it are some Christmas colored sequins.  I watched a video the other day (which, incidentally, is how I came to buy that square snowflake die set) and the greatest tip I got from it was, when making a shaker card, to rub the acetate with anti-static powder (this is what I use) so that the sequins move freely around.  Genius!

There's an "anything goes" Christmas challenge at Happy Little Stampers this month so you'll find me linked over there as well.

Well, that's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and please check out all the amazing inspiration from the design team at Freshly Made Sketches.  I hope you'll join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fa La La (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Garden Green, Real Red (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Real Red (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Snowflake Snippets die (Spellbinders); Class Christmas sequins (Neat & Tangled)

CAS(E) This Sketch 242

When I first saw the latest CAS(E) This Sketch I said to myself "uh-oh."  The background seemed (to me, anyway) perfect for some splashly watercolors - just the thing I am horrible at doing.  But since I'm a good card-maker who likes to prepare for all eventualities I had some stamps in my stash that mimiced a watercolor background and I was good to go!

My faux watercolor background in shades of blue plus the leaves done in the colors of autumn fit perfectly with the latest Fusion challenge and Addicted to CAS challenge.  I've been experimenting with some alcohol inks to create interesting backgrounds and the colors of the leaves here were made with some classic colors of autumn plus a bit of gold to liven things up.  The sentiment was created by stacking several layers of a die cut.  This looks pretty good to my eye!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you can check out the CAS(E) This Sketches design team for some inspiration this week.

Supplies
Stamps:  Jumbo Abstract Art (My Favorite Things); Fonds Grunge (4enscrap)
Paper:  Naturals White (Neenah); Midnight Muse, Bashful Blue (Stampin' Up!); glossy white (Ranger)
Ink:  Bashful Blue, Not Quite Navy, Marina Mist, Midnight Muse (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Thanks Script die (Mama Elephant); Stitched Leaves die (Lawn Fawn)

Freshly Made Sketches 311

November 1st seems like a good day to be nervous that I don't have enough Christmas cards made for the year!  It also happens to be the day we reveal a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  This one, designed by Jen Brum, seemed perfect for a Christmas card.

I'm not sure I'm loving this color combo, but I die cut the tree out of this glimmer paper that has very neutral tones and I wanted to keep the overall look of the card neutral to match.  I selected kraft for my background then proceeded to layer on some differing shades of brown.  I added some additional sparkle and shine with gold sparkly embossing paste in the form of falling snow. 

There's a tic-tac-toe challenge going on at The Paper Players and I chose one of the diagonals:  tree, die-cut/punch, and shine.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you can join us at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  We love seeing you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fa La La (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Kraft, Cocoa Bean (Papertrey Ink); Early Espresso, Naturals Ivory (Stampin' Up!); glitter cardstock (Recollections)
Ink:  Cocoa Bean (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Sketch Tree die (Memory Box); Weathered embossing folder (Taylored Expressions); Falling Snow stencil (Simon Says Stamp); Champagne Sparkle Medium (Imagination Crafts)