CAS(E) This Sketch 252

It's our last challenge of 2017 at CAS(E) This Sketch.  And hang on to your hats folks because this one will really get your creative juices flowing!

I figured that using patterned paper for all those rectangles would be a good idea.  So I went into my stash and grabbed the first pack of Stampin' Up! DSP I could find and started cutting.  I knew that the patterns in it would be complementary but different enough to give this an eclectic design.  Fun!

My teammates at CAS(E) This Sketch have created some super creative cards so be sure to check them out.  This is a two week challenge so there's lots of time to play along!

Supplies
Stamps:  Keep it Simple:  Just a Note (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Twitterpated (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Jet Black (Altenew)

Freshly Made Sketches 318

Hello hello!  It's Wednesday so that means there's a new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches!  This is our last challenge of 2017 but don't be sad - there's lots of time to play along.  We're leaving the challenge open until January 8th and our first challenge of 2018 will debut on January 10th.  To finish out the year we've got a classic sketch designed by Linda.

I decided to do a kinda-sorta one layer card.  There's a feather challenge going on at Less Is More so I thought it would be fun to stamp a feather and sentiment then draw a box around it a la the sketch.  For that vertical layer I used some embossing paste and a stencil of small circles to create a line above and below the box.  I'm pretty sure it's hard to see in the pic but trust me it's there!  The philosophical question here is if I use embossing paste (plus I heat embossed some gold accents on top of the feather) does this meet the technical definition of one layer?  Does bumpy stuff negate the one layer aspects of a design?  Cue the stamping police for a definitive ruling!

Thanks for stopping by.  Don't forget there's plenty of time to play along with our sketch.  Check out the Freshly Made Sketches blog for all the details about our current challenge.  I hope you can round out your year by joining us for our last challenge of 2017.  And I'm sure we'll see you in 2018 too!

Supplies
Stamps:  Feather Finery (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  White (Catherine Pooler)
Ink:  Dusk, Desert Night, Jet Black (Altenew); Golden Glitz Delicata (Tsukineko)
Accessories:  Bokeh Lights stencil (Simon Says Stamp); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver); gold embossing powder

CAS(E) This Sketch 251

We've got a new challenge for you at CAS(E) This Sketch and I managed to pull it off by making a card that has nothing to do with Christmas!

I've had my eye on this stamp set for quite a while and I actually pushed the button recently and bought it.  Little did I know that it would be perfect for this sketch!  Look how perfectly that happy little bomb mimics the circle on the sketch!  I used some colors that I think are good for a man-card because those always seem to be lacking in my stash.

Thanks for stopping by!  And don't forget to check out our challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch.  I hope you'll join us in the gallery!'

Supplies

Stamps: Boom! (Your Next Stamp)

Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Lemon Lime Twist, Pacific Point (Stampin' Up!)

Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Copics

Accessories: Boom! die (Your Next Stamp); Wink of Stella

Freshly Made Sketches 317

Well it seems I did, in fact, have another Christmas card in me this year!  It's not really my fault though.  There's a bunch of challenges going on right now with Christmas themes and they really got me in the mood!

Today, of course, is time for a new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  And it's a nail biter because I am the hostess!  I created a square sketch (of course) but feel free to use another shape if squares give you the heebie jeebies!

I used some oldie-but-goodie colors from Stampin' Up! on this card.  I think some of these are the very first "in colors" that they came out with many moons ago - and they are still my faves.  I especially love using them on Christmas cards.

As I mentioned there are a bunch of Christmas challenges out there but I didn't want to go crazy!  So I'm adding this to Cupcake Inspirations and Fab Friday.  They are both Christmas-paloozas!

Thanks for stopping by.  And go check out the amazing creations from our super-creative design team.  They will inspire you to play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches, I'm sure!

Supplies
Stamps:  Jingle All the Way (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  True Thyme, Cranberry Crisp, Sahara Sand (Stampin' Up!); Cloud White (Reverse Confetti); Bristol Smooth (Strathmore)
Ink:  Cranberry Crisp (Stampin' Up!); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Copics
Accessories:  Jingle All the Way die (My Favorite Things); Sprinkles enamel dots (Doodlebug Designs)

CAS(E) This Sketch 250

As reported yesterday I think I am done with Christmas cards for 2017.  So to celebrate I made a thank you card for the newest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch.  After all, when the Christmas is said and done, I've got some thank you cards to send out!

Our sketch is designed by Leigh and although I was originally leaning toward using floral images for my card I thought it would be fun to use geometric shapes instead.  I settled on using these dotted circle images stamped in colors inspired by the challenge at Sunday Stamps.  I used a dark gray to stamp that sentiment but it's a REALLY dark gray so it looks quite black - even in real life!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a chance to check out the amazing cards that my CAS(E) This Sketch teamies have made for this challenge.  They are going to knock your socks off!  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Dot Spot (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  White (Catherine Pooler)
Ink:  Coral Berry, Ruby Red (Altenew); Blackberry Bliss (Stampin' Up!); Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink)

Freshly Made Sketches 316

I'm pretty sure that I've been making Christmas cards non-stop for the last gazillion weeks!  I've actually had enough and this is the last Christmas card that [I think] I'm going to share in 2017.  Never say never, but I think I've got enough cards to cover my entire mailing list so I hope to turn to to other themes now.  BUT, I've got this one last Christmas card to share inspired by the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our design was created by Jen Timko and I am sure that you are going to love it.  It's got a wide open panel that is up for anything that your creative juices can think of.

My creative juices came up with this big sentiment that stretches across that wide open panel.  The edges of my card are full of glitter (paper) and I added a few sequins to make sure that this card was super sparkly in real life. 

The colors for my card were inspired by the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge and they are looking for Christmas at AAA Cards so I'll be adding this over there as well.

Thanks for stopping by.  And I hope our Freshly Made Sketches design team will inspire you to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fa La La (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Pool Party (Stampin' Up!); glitter cardstock (Recollections)
Ink:  Pool Party (Stampin' Up)!
Accessories:  Fa La La die (Simon Says Stamp); Christmas Couture Mix sequins (The Ton)

Joyous Noel

I had some extra time Saturday so I went into my craft room and made a card with a new poinsettia die that I got recently.  I wanted to do a white on white design but I liked the challenge at Color Throwdown so I did a hybrid!  They are looking for glitter at Just Add Ink so I used gold glimmer paper for the center of the flower I sprayed the petals with glitter dust.  Hard to see in the picture, but very pretty in real life.

I did a little splatter behind the flower in pewter embossing powder.  This card really has some nice shimmer and shine to it.

Well that's it for me today.  Gotta get ready for some football!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Joyous Noel (Verve); Mini72 (PaperArtsy)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); gold foil paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Jet Black (Altenew); Versamark
Accessories:  Layered Poinsettia die (Spellbinders); Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box); Glitter Dust (Therm-o-web); pewter embossing powder

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)