Freshly Made Sketches 326

It's hard to believe that today is the last day of February, but the calendar doesn't lie!  And it's no lie that we've got a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches designed by the super talented Jen Timko.  It's got a beautiful wide-open space that will surely get your creative juices flowing!

I spied the green color challenge at Sunday Stamps the other day and got to thinking about these wispy leaves of grass from an old stamp set I've got in my stash.  I knew that image would be perfect for this sketch.  So I went digging through my newly organized paper stash (done ROYGBIV style) and found some colors that seemed about right and went to work.  And as an aside can I just gush that re-organizing my paper by color has been a game changer for me - especially when playing along with a color challenge.  It's so easy to see what colors I've got, it makes matching a lot easier, and I think I'm using more variety on my cards.  I should have done that ages ago!

One thing about having my paper organized by color is that I realized that I didn't have anything even close to the color that is second to the right on this graphic.  It's a beautiful color, and to my eye looks like a warm taupe, so now I'm on the hunt to see if I can find something similar!

Thanks for stopping by!  And do pop over to Freshly Made Sketches to check out the inspiration from the design team.  You're going to love it!

Supplies
Stamps:  Inspired by Nature (Stampin' Up!); Scripty Sayings (Gina K)
Paper:  Fog (Simon Says Stamp); Solar White (Neenah); Always Artichoke, Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Lemon Grass (Avery Elle); Lemon Lime Twist (Stampin' Up!); Jet Black (Altlenew)
Accessories:  Papillon die (4enscrap)

CAS(E) This Sketch 260

Hello hello!  It's time for a new challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch!  I was intrigued by this challenge. I'm sure you will be too!

I loved the idea of using a big die cut sentiment on my card but opted to give it a bit of a background too.  Since my "pow" sentiment was a superhero sentiment I continued that theme with some "bam" bubbles behind it. It's like I'm speaking another language!

The color challenge at Just Us Girls intrigued me so I played along there as well.  My enamel dots are the "kraft" element of the challenge even though they look quite green in the picture!  And at AAA cards they are looking for die cuts only!  Pow!  Done!

Thanks for stopping by!  Don't forget to check out the inspiration from my CAS(E) This Sketch teamies.  We'd love to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Hawaiian Shores (Papertrey Ink); Purely Pomegranate (Stampin' Up!); Perfectly Plaid Rainbow (Lawn Fawn)
Accessories:  Bam Bubbles die (Paper Smooches); Pow Zap Bam die (Frantic Stamper); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

Freshly Made Sketches 325

Hello!  It's time for a new challenge from your friends at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our sketch is brought to you Amy.  It's got some great layers - and as you'll see I took some creative license with those!

My lion is the star and my sentiment ended up being a long thin strip instead of a circle.  But I can still see the sketch so it's all good!

My card is actually a CASE of THIS card by Debbie Olson.  I knew right away when I saw the sketkch that I wanted to use this particular stamp set so I went looking for some inspiration on how to color it.  Mr. Google led me to Debbie's card so I not only borrowed the colors but I especially loved how she added some leafy greenery behind the lion to make the scene more jungle-like.  (I had originally intended to use patterned paper for that smaller layer, but think the die cut greenery looks much better)! 

I'm also joining the challenge at Addicted to CAS where they are looking for CATS!  As the proud mama of two kitties myself I just had to play along.  I'm pretty sure that my card breaks all of their CAS rules but since the style of this card is a bit clean they will hopefully overlook that my white space isn't white and I've got a bit more layers and embellishments than they want.  And if that fails then I'll just say "my kitties made me do it!"

Thanks for stopping by!  Our fabulous Freshly Made Sketches design team has got their usual fabulous creativity going on so stop by and check this challenge out.  I hope we'll see you in the gallery this week!

Supplies
Stamps:  Wild About You (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  Soft Suede, Crumb Cake (Stampin' Up!); Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Bristol Smooth (Strathmore)
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!); Copics
Accessories:  Burlap Impression Plate (Papertrey Ink); Stitched Rounded Rectangle die, Leafy Greenery die (My Favorite Things); Feuilles Tropicales die (Simply Graphic)

CAS(E) This Sketch 259 Meets Fusion

Hey all!  It's time for a couple of new challenges.  We've got a great sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch and at Fusion there is a great spring time inspiration challenge.

I love how this card turned out.  At first I was a little stumped by that long vertical layer on the sketch until I went searching through my stash and found this grungy banner-type image.  I also knew that I wanted to add some floral images in shades of pink to mimic the inpiration photo and a day or so before I sat down to make this card I saw that someone on the Splitcoast Stampers buy/sell/trade forum was looking for the Funky Floral stamp set from Papertrey Ink.  I was pretty sure that I had that stamp set but wasn't sure what it looked like so I took a look at it.  Turns out it is one of my faves and it's on my "never get rid of" list.  But more importantly, seeing it put it forefront in my mind when it came time to make this card.  Who needs new stuff when I've got plenty of old stuff I can use!

The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is looking for a die cut.  I've got that with my little leafy sprig so I've got that covered too!

Thanks for stopping by!  My teamies at both CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion have got some fabulous cards to show you for these challenges so I hope you are inspired to play along!

Supplies
Stamps:  Funky Florals (Papertrey Ink); Hello Hello (The Stamp Market)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Wild Wasabi (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose (Stampin' Up!); Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink)

Freshly Made Sketches 324

Happy Valentines Day!  The calendar may say valentine, but here it's Christmas!  The newest sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, designed by Narelle, put me in mind of snowflakes!

And I'm sure that the color challenge at The Paper Players was supposed to inspire a valentine but it's a favorite color combo of mine for Christmas.  So I put aside the hearts and dug out the snowflakes instead.  I layered a white one and a very pretty platinum vellum one that is hard to see in the picture, but very pretty in real life.  And in keeping with my resolution to not wait until I'm mailing my Christmas cards this year to stamp the inside sentiment, this one says something on the inside.  I'm pleased to say that I'm 2 for 2 this year!  Yahoo!

Thanks for stopping by!  And I hope you can join us at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  My fellow DT teamies have got some fabulous cards to inspire you!

Supplies
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Real Red, Vellum (Stampin' Up!); Solar White (Neenah); Platinum Vellum (Graphix)
Accessories:  Snowflake Trio die (amuse studio); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

CAS(E) This Sketch 258

How time flies!  Here we are at Thursday again and it's time for a new challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch.  This week the sketch made me think of a particular stamp that I've had for a while but never used.

The sketch has those vertical candles sticking up from the sentiment.  Well, in my mind, I saw a bunch of cute animals sticking up from their perch inside of an umbrella.  It's all about perspective!

The hardest part about making this card was finding a sentiment!  None of the baby sets I have in my stash had the exact combination of words and complementary fonts that worked well together so I went deep into my archives and found this oldy but goody from Stampin' Up!  There are a few babies in my future - none of them mine(!) - so this card is heading into my ready-made baby card stash!

Thanks for stopping by!  Head on over to CAS(E) This Sketch to see the inspiration from the design team.  Smashing as always!

Supplies
Stamps:  Baby Zoo Umbrella (Whipper Snapper Designs); Teeny Tiny Wishes (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Bristol Smooth (Strathmore); Wisteria Wonder (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Jet Black (Altenew); Copics
Accessories:  Banner Trio die (WPlus9)

Freshly Made Sketches 323

Hello there!  Today is, of course, Wednesday and we've got a new sketch debuting at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is Karren, and her sketch is awesome.  There are so many things you can do with it.  My card was inspired by her card in that I sponged a background.

There was another challenge last week that wanted to see ombre so that gave me inspiration to sponge ink from light to dark on my background.  It's well documented here that sponging and me don't get along all that well but I'm happy to say that I've found some paper that I find easy to work with and I try not to use such a heavy hand when applying the ink and the results aren't half bad.  When my background was said and done I spritzed a few drops of water on it to jazz it up a bit.  Then I added that big ol' "you" in black which I like very much.  The contrast between the background and the sentiment is just the look I was going for.  The code word at Addicted to CAS is teal, so that's why I chose that color! :)

I sure hope you check out the cards from our always-amazing Freshly Made Sketches design team.  They will surely inspire you to play along with us this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  You Matter (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Marker Paper (Strathmore); Hawaiin Shores (Papertrey Ink); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things)
Ink:  Peacock Feathers (Distress Oxide); Jet Black (Altenew)
Accessories:  You die (Simon Says Stamp)

CAS(E) This Sketch 257 Meets Fusion

Hello!  I've been making a lot of Valentines lately.  And I think I've got one more - sort of!  The sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch met with the Fusion challenge and magic ensued.

I stamped a bunch of colorful hearts a-la the Fusion inspiration and gave them stems to mimic the sketch.  The hearts, obviously, called to mind a Valentine but I decided to give this card a birthday sentiment instead.

Thanks for stopping by.  You can check out the inspiration at CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion and play along with us too!  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies

Stamps:  Birthday Wishes & Balloons (My Favorite Things); Keep It Simple Birthday III (Papertrey Ink);

Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Daisy (Avery Elle)

Accessories:  Slanted Sentiment Strips die (My Favorite Things)