CAS(E) This Sketch 291 Meets Fusion

I'm back with a new card for my combination of CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion.  The sketch met with the baby theme and this is what came out!

Every other week I am fortunate enough to be able to combine the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch with the inspiration challenge at Fusion.  And I've been lucky that each time the two have melded together perfectly.  Well this week I took a look at both challenges and figured there was no way I could combine the two.  I resigned myself to making two different cards for each challenge.  And then this past Monday I went for a walk and the crisp air must have cleared my brain because suddenly I had an idea for a baby card using "I'm not sure the sex of the baby colors," a shaker as the main accent, and a couple of other circles to round out the sketch.  In the end it was easy peasy.  Always a bonus!

We've got a great sketch for you at CAS(E) This Sketch and at Fusion you've got a choice:  a sketch or some inspiration - or combine both of them!  Whichever you choose I hope you can join us in either (or both) of those galleries!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Labeler Alphabet (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Certainly Celery (Stampin' Up!); Lemon Tart (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Certainly Celery (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Blueprints 20 die (My Favorite Things); Pastel Sequins (Verve)

Freshly Made Sketches 356

Well hello!  If it is Wednesday it must be time for a new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is the lovely Jen Brum.

As is well documented here when I see a sketch with three of something like those long tall panels I tend to go straight into panic mode.  But I usually recover by stamping a wide image and cutting it up into three distinct layers.  So that's what I did here inspired by the colors of Michelle's card for Muse Card Club.  And I actually dug deep into my stash here for some grosgrain ribbon - which I used for that black horizontal layer.  It feels good to use some of that old stuff in my stash!

I hope that you are inspired to join us at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our design team has made some great cards to get your creative juices flowing so I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Botanical Silhouettes (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things)
Ink:  Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Blueprints 20 die (My Favorite Things)

CAS(E) This Sketch 290

It's Thursday so we've got a brand new sketch for you at CAS(E) This Sketch!  Those horizontal layers stumped me for a while but eventually I figured something out.

That something was also inspired by the code word at Addicted to CAS.  The word is "tweet" and I immediately thought of the hashtags that are used on Twitter for people to tweet their thoughts!  So for those stripes on the sketch I chose a blue that is kind of close to the blue that Twitter uses as its logo, then added a fun emoji for the circle.  I deviated from the sketch a bit for the hashtag sentiment because it was a little bigger than I wanted and didn't fit in the place on the sketch exactly.

Thanks for stopping by!  We love to see you playing along with us at CAS(E) This Sketch so I hope you'll join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Hashtag Everything (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Blueberry Sky (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Daisy (Avery Elle); Blueberry Sky (Papertrey Ink); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)

Freshly Made Sketches 355

Well hello!  It's time for a new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our sketch is brought to you from Kim.  I went back to basics for this one!

I've been feeling very much like I'm in a card-making slump lately.  Compared to the artistic creations I see from my fellow cardmakers my cards are sorely lacking.  So I decided to go back through some past cards of mine to see if I could dig up some inspiration.  What I found was that back in the old days I cleverly combined layers with patterned paper and texture.  That may not be as interesting as a watercolor background or some expertly colored images, but those cards made me smile.  So I tried to invoke those roots with this card while simultaneously playing along the "back to basics" challenge at As You See It and using the colors from Just Us Girls.

I used Kim's excellent sketch to use some old patterned paper and an embossing folder as my background for the flower.  I cut one of the die cut flowers and used the dainty outline then cut it again and kept the insides of the flower petals.  I layered the two together, embossed the sentiment on a slim black layer, and I was done.

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teamies have got some great cards to inspire you to play along with us this week.  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Thank You Kindly (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Basic Gray, Calypso Coral, Urban Garden DSP (Stampin' Up!); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Solar White (Neenah)
Ink:  White (WPlus9)
Accessories:  Tilth Floral die (Memory Box); Cracked embossing folder (Tim Holtz); enamel dots (Freckled Fawn); crochet thread

CAS(E) This Sketch 289 Meets Fusion

Hey there!  It's time for my CAS(E) This Sketch - Fusion combo card!  It's a retro sketch this week all the way back to #55!

I played along with that sketch in December 2013 and my card then had a Christmas theme.  What a difference five years makes!  This time around I chose to use the colors of the Fusion challenge and created a card with a trio of flowers.  You'd think I was expecting spring or something!

My teamies at CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion have created some fantastic cards to inspire you so I hope you'll play along with us.  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Mesh (Darkroom Door); Thank You Kindly (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Lemon Tart (Papertrey Ink); Groovy Guava, Tangerine Tango (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Green Parakeet, Pinefeathers (Papertrey Ink); Jet Black (Altenew)
Accessories:  Petal Party die (Memory Box); enamel dots (My Minds Eye; Doodlebug Designs)

Freshly Made Sketches 354

Hello, hello!  It's Wednesday so that means we've got a new sketch challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our sketch is brought to you by Linda.

I had a bit of trouble with this sketch.  Those vertical panels threw me for a loop!  The first card that I made for this sketch didn't make the cut so I went back to the drawing board and made this one.  I used a stamp that is actually the rays of the sun to make the three thin trees.  I was inspired by the colors at Sunday Stamps so I stamped my "trees" in those colors then added some falling snow around them. 

Thanks for stopping by!  My amazing Freshly Made Sketches teamies had no trouble with this sketch so be sure to check out their cards.  I'm sure they will inspire you to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Bright Days (Avery Elle); Ways to Say Merry Christmas (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Hawaiin Shores (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Sea Glass, Raspberry, Aquamarine (Avery Elle)
Accessories: Falling Snow stencil (Simon Says Stamp); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver)

CAS(E) This Sketch 288

As a kitty-mama I'm always on the lookout for cute kitty stamps.  I recently got a new one and was happy to see that one of the images in the set was absolutely perfect for the circle on this week's CAS(E) This Sketch, which was designed by Donna.

Kitties are experts in resting up!  And I figure this little sleeping beauty will cheer up someone who's feeling a bit under the weather.  I chose colors based on the challenge at CAS-ual Fridays and they've got a simple Stamp On It prompt at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge so I think I'll add this over there too!

Thanks for stopping by!  My friends at CAS(E) This Sketch have got some beautiful cards to inspire you to play along with us this week.  So check them out and join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Kit 'n Kaboodle (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Mint Julep (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Silverstone, Jet Black (Altenew)

Freshly Made Sketches 353

This week at Freshly Made Sketches I am the hostess.  I'll be honest, I think it's tough being the hostess because I never know if you will love or hate my sketch!  This week I've given you a square sketch (just because I love doing those despite the fact that square cards cost more to mail here in the US)!!  But don't worry if you want to do a different shape...we're good with that at Freshly Made Sketches. 

And I'm also pleased to announce that the superbly talented Hannelie Bester is joining us this month as our guest designer.  She, of course, needs no introduction...but I will gush that I love how she uses her Silhouette AND designs the most fabulous sentiments and provides them as free digis on her blog!  If you don't know Hannelie I encourage you to pop on over to her blog and be prepared to be wowed!  Now, onto my card and the sketch!

I didn't exactly follow my own sketch because I forgot that I had created a couple of layers, but the spirit of the sketch is there!  I actually never exactly know what kind of card I'm going to create when I design my sketch but I had a vague idea here of filling the bottom of the card with colorful shapes and overlaying that with a bold sentiment.  Then when it came time to sit at my desk and actually make a card I came across the Less is More challenge of black + white + another color.  Yellow is my go to pick for that kind of challenge so I grabbed this pretty outline flower stamp and stamped away.  (It's an oldy but goody I've had in my stash for a few years so that qualifies me for the Anything Goes challenge at Retro Rubber too).  Rather than a bold sentiment, I opted for a small single line that I stamped on a strip of cardstock and adhered with foam tape.

I'm sure you've already checked out the creations from the design team at Freshly Made Sketches but just in case you haven't I encourage you to drop everything and do it now!  They have really created some wonders!  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Blossom (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Daisy (Avery Elle); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)