Freshly Made Sketches 361

This week at Freshly Made Sketches yours truly is the sketch designer. I humbly submit this sketch, which on a second (or third) look has an awful lot of rectangles on it.  Good thing at Freshly Made Sketches we aren't too concerned about shapes and you can use whatever shapes take your fancy!  Case in point, I used a circle and some twine to take the place of some of those pesky rectangles.

Happy Halloween!  Since today's the day I thought it would be fun to make a card to celebrate the occasion,  along with challenges  at Creative With Stamps and Stamp Ink Paper.

I hope you have a chance to join us at Freshly Made Sketches this week. The design team has made some terrific cards to inspire you so check them out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Best Fiends, Bite Me (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Solar White (Neenah); Pumpkin Pie (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Wild Honey (Distress Oxide); Nocturne (Versafine Claire)
Accessories:  Starburst Framelit (Stampin' Up!); Circle STAX (My Favorite Things); Harvest Corn twine (Maya Road)

CAS(E) This Sketch 295 Meets Fusion

It's that Thursday on the calendar when I get to mix two of my favorite challenges.  Sometimes it's not easy to combine the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch (this week designed by Chrissy) with the inspiration at Fusion but I somehow manage to do it!  This time around the combination was a bit of a stumper for me but I persevered until I made someting  I liked!

What I really wanted to do with those three stripes on the sketch was stamp them with a wood grain patterned image to echo the wood grain pieces in the inspiration photo.  But I didn't have a wood grain stamp in my stash!  So I opted for some simple slashed lines then stamped the wreath overlapping them.  The berries on the wreath were stamped in yellow, orange, and rust colors to capture the feel of that photo.  Clean and Simple on Friday is looking for fall cards so I'll be adding this over there too!

Thanks for stopping by!  We've got a great sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch for you and at Fusion you've got your choice of a sketch or some inspiration or both if you've got a mind to it!  Whatever you choose I hope to see you in those galleries!

Supplies
Stamps:  Wreath For All Seasons (Papertrey Ink); Fall Colors (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes)
Ink:  Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Sahara Sand (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 360

Happy Wednesday!  Today we've got a brand new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches designed by Amy.  I used her inspiration to make another Christmas card.  (I'm trying to stock up on my stash)!

These "grumpling" images are adorable and they are perfect to make fun Christmas cards.  The classic design of the sketch inspired me to make a dent in my prolific stash of patterned paper and I'm so glad I did.  The polka dotted background is fun!  I'm also joining the challenge at Jingle Belles which is to use an animal on a Christmas card.  I actually have no idea what kind of animal this grumpy fellow is, but he's got fur and paws and, oddly enough, antlers so I'm going with it!

Thanks for stopping by!  Once again our Freshly Made Sketches design team have created some beautiful cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out.  And then join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Holiday Grumplings (Taylored Expressions)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Jolly Holiday DSP (Stampin' Up!); X-Press It Blending Card
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Nocturne (Versafine Clair); Copics
Accessories:  Classic Scallop Ovals dies, Classic Ovals dies (Spellbinders)

CAS(E) This Sketch 294

Our new sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch is a retro one!  We are re-imagining Sketch #112 into new and amazing things.  I made a Christmas card!

I had this "rejoice" die cut in my stash since last year and hadn't used it yet.  I thought it would look good with this sketch.  So from there I envisioned a sponged blue background and a silhouette of a nativity scene.  The trouble was that I had no nativity scenes in my stash.  Etsy to the rescue!  I found a cutting file I liked, bought it, and ta-da my card was born!  There's nothing quite like an immediate download and a Brother Scan N Cut to solve all my card making problems!

As per usual our CAS(E) This Sketch design team has re-imagined this sketch into some pretty amazing cards so I hope you check them out and join us!  

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies

Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Marker Paper (Strathmore); glitter paper (Recollections); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things)

Ink:  Chipped Sapphire, Stormy Sky, Weathered Wood (Distress)

Accessories:  Rejoice die (Simon Says Stamp); Wise Men cutting file (We Design Shirts on Etsy)

Freshly Made Sketches 359

I'm a wee bit late with my post today...forgot to click "Publish!"  But I'm here with a new card and I am continuing my fall theme again with a card made using the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and a couple of other challenges -- more on that later.  Our FMS hostess this week is Narelle and her sketch is clean and simple with lots of possibilities.

I chose to use the colors from the Paper Players challenge on my card and although it seems like a lot of challenges are jumping on the fall themed bandwagon I'm adding this to the foliage cue word challenge at Addicted to CAS because this is a pretty CAS card!

I had seen a couple of cards lately featuring leaves that had some lovely "dew" on them so I dug out my old Crystal Effects to add some droplets on my leaves.  Emphasis on "old" here because when the Crystal Effects dried my drops looked a little wrinkled.  Not sure if that stuff goes bad or not!

Well that's it for me!  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a chance to join us at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Our lovely design team has made some beauties for you to see!

Supplies
Stamps:  Bokeh Dots (Essentials by Ellen); With Gratitude (Altenew)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Mossy Meadow, Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Mossy Meadow (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Leaves die (Impression Obsession); Crystal Effects (Stampin' Up!)

CAS(E) This Sketch 293 Meets Fusion

Halloween is fast approaching and I love to make Halloween cards so this week's challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch and the inspiration at Fusion were fun to mix together.  Donna is our sketch designer and she has given us this fun sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch and at Fusion we are given a pastel color Halloween theme.

I've done a pink Halloween card before before because it's a little unexpected and a whole lot of fun!  This card has pink bits that are a little hard to see because the pink I chose is very light in color.  But trust me all those layers are there!  My scary skull became one of the circles on the CAS(E) This Sketch and the bat became the other circle.  There's a things that go bump in the night challenge at Cupcake Inspiration Challenge and I think a skull definitely fits that bill!

                                                                                     

           
Well that's it for me.  We've got some great challenges for you at CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion so I hope you can play along with one (or both) of them!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge, From the Crypt, Autumn Apparitions (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Pixie (Avery Elle)
Ink:  Pixie (Avery Elle); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)

Freshly Made Sketches 358

If you like circles you will love our new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our designer this week is Karren and she assures me that if circles aren't your thing then by all means use the sketch as a jumping point and show us what you've got with whatever shapes you've got up your sleeve!

My fellow design team member Jen Brum unwittingly helped me with my card this week.  Often when I'm challenged by a sketch I'll peek at what the design team has put together to see if I can find some inspiration there.  In this case I was pretty sure I wanted to use a wreath as my big circle but the stamp set that I had intended to use was much too small for my card (even after deciding to do a 4 1/4 inch square card).  Then I spied Jen's card with her die cut wreath and I remembered that I had something similar in my stash.  So I cut my wreath in a dark brown then added some wee stitched leaves in fall colors to take the place of the three other circles and I was done! 

There are a couple of other challenges that are getting into the autumn mood so I'm playing along with Muse this week as well as Global Design Project.

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches design team members have created some beautiful cards with this weeks sketch so be sure to check them out.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fall Colors (Precious Remembrance Shop)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Truffle, Jungle (Avery Elle); Cajun Craze (Stampin' Up!); Honey Nut (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Truffle (Avery Elle)
Accessories:  Whirl Wreath die (Penny Black); Stitched Leaves die (Lawn Fawn)

CAS(E) This Sketch 292

I'm pretty sure that I'm woefully behind on Christmas cards this year so I took the opportunity to take our latest CAS(E) This Sketch designed by Brian and transform it into a Christmas card.

As you can see I flipped the sketch on its side and transformed the points of the banner into the points of two trendy Christmas trees.  I added some silver sparkle splatters behind them because the space was too white without them and made a wide border of silver glimmer paper around the edge just because glimmer paper makes me smile!  As luck would have it there's a Let's Get Ready for Christmas challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge so this fits perfectly there!

Thanks for stopping by!  Our CAS(E) This Sketch design team has made some pretty amazing cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out.  I hope you'll join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Triangle Trees (Reverse Confetti); Mini 71 (PaperArtsy)
Paper:  Baja Breeze, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Silver Glimmer (Recollections)
Ink:  Baja Breeze (Stampin' Up!); Silvery Shimmer (Delicata)
Accessories:  silver embossing powder

Freshly Made Sketches 357

It's hard to believe it's October already but the calendar doesn't lie!  So to start off October I've got a new card to show you for our latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  Cécile is our hostess this week and her sketch, at first glance, made me go hmmmm.

I think it was that vertical sentiment that initially gave me pause but once I got going on my card I loved that design element.  I chose the colors from the As You See It Challenge and combined the Diamond cue word at Addicted to CAS to create this.  Rather than add an additional layer for the sentiment I stamped these thoughtful words then drew lines around them with a Copic Multiliner pen to give the illusion of another layer.  For the diamonds I sponged colors through a stencil.

My Freshly Made Sketches teamies have created some beautiful cards with this sketch and I am sure they will inspire you to play along with us.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies

Stamps:  Many Thanks (Simon Says Stamp)

Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); White (Spectrum Noir); Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink); Lemon Lime Twist (Stampin' Up!)

Ink:  Lemon Lime Twist, Bermuda Bay (Stampin' Up!); Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)

Accessories:  Texture Diamond stencil (Memory Box)