CAS(E) This Sketch 302

The countdown to Christmas is on!  Are you ready?  For some reason Christmas seems to have crept up on me this year.  And while I'm done with my shopping I've got a bit more wrapping to do and gift tags to make.  And I've only got a few days to do that as well as the limited amount of baking I need to do.  And let's not forget the Christmas cocktails I need to whip up!

Today we've got a new challenge for you at CAS(E) This Sketch and we are being joined for this challenge by our guest Cindy Beach, who makes fabulous cards!  I was a little stumped by the two vertical layers until I had some to think of a different way I could interpret them.  Sometimes I spend a lot of time mentally composing a card before I actually sit at my desk with the paper, stamps, and ink.  This one took longer than most!

I'm continuing my post-Christmas card needs with another thank you theme.  I think the bright yellow is attention grabbing, especially with that bold sentiment in black stamped right in the middle!

Thanks for stopping by!  Our challenge this week at CAS(E) This Sketch is a two-week one so be sure to check out all the details on the CAS(E) This Sketch blog.  I hope you can find some time to join us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Halftone Circles (Altenew)
Paper:  White (Catherine Pooler)
Ink:  Daffodil Delight (Stampin' Up!); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)

Freshly Made Sketches 368

I'm back after a bit of a card-making/blogging break!  I had a sick kitty in the house and between the guilt I was feeling for not calling the vet sooner and the time spent giving her warm compresses I was not in a very creative mood.  But I'm happy to say she's on the mend!

Today, of course, is the day when we reveal a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess is Narelle and I love those tilty layers she's given us.  This is our last challenge for 2018 and we'll be back on January 2nd with a brand new sketch.  In the meantime....

After weeks and weeks of making Christmas cards I took a much needed break and made a thank you card.  After all, the gifts we receive at Christmas need a thank you card sent to the giver, right?  At Challenge Up Your Life they are looking for thank you themes so that was a big part of the inspiration for my card! 

I went bold with my colors using Melon Mambo as my background and added some contrast with Basic Gray and an old favorite Kiwi Kiss.  Maybe someday Stampin' Up! will make my dreams come true and bring that color (and Baja Breeze) back!  I'd buy reams of those colors if they did, lol!

Our Freshly Made Sketches challenge will stay open until December 31st so if you need a little inspiration after the Christmas craziness winds down then come on over and join us!  There's plenty of inspiration to be had with our amazing design team creations!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Best Blossoms (Stampin' Up!); Tiny Words (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Melon Mambo, Basic Gray, Kiwi Kiss, Walk in the Park DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Melon Mambo (Stampin' Up!); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)

CAS(E) This Sketch 300 Meets Fusion

Well hello there and welcome to my Christmas channel! Don't be shocked but today I've got a Christmas card to show you which is combination of the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch and the inspiration photo at Fusion.

I really wanted to do a Santa flying his sleigh across the sky on my card but I didn't have one stamp or die in my stash that fit the bill.  Etsy to the rescue!  I bought a cut file then cut it with my Scan N Cut and layered it on a sponged night sky.  Santa is coming my friends! 

There are a lot of Christmas themed challenges out there so I'm playing along with the Anything Christmas challenge at Inkspirational as well as the Holiday Free For All at Muse Christmas Visions.

Thanks for stopping by!  We've got some great challenges going on at CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion and our design teams will really knock your socks off with their fantastic cards!  I hope you can join us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fa La La (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Bristol Smooth (Strathmore)
Ink:  Broken China, Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire (Distress Oxide); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Christmas Sleigh cut file (MagicSVGArt)

Freshly Made Sketches 366 and a DT Call

It's an exciting day at Freshly Made Sketches!  Not only do we have a fantastic new sketch designed by Cécile but we are also looking to add some designers to our merry band of card makers!

You'll find all the details over at Freshly Made Sketches but I'll give you a little teaser.  If you want to join us on the design team just play along with this challenge and/or next week's challenge and when you enter your project in our gallery simply put DT Call after your name!  Simple, right?  I'm so excited to see who wants to join our fun group!

Now let's get on to that fabulous challenge I mentioned earlier.  Cécile's sketch is so clever and I love how each member of the design team interpreted it.  I suspect the gallery is going to be full of eye candy this week!  Here's my card...

I wanted to do something a little unexpected with that striped background and luckily I just had gotten this new diagonal cover up die so I put two die cuts (layered in opposing ways) together and got this cool background.  Then I added a glittery tree and a tiny sentiment.  This went together so quickly - it is literally as easy as it sounds!  Over at Global Design Project they've got a 'Tis the Season challenge going on so I think my little sparkly tree fits in nicely there.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope to see you in our Freshly Made Sketches gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Tiny Words Christmas (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Champagne Glimmer (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Celestial Copper (Delicata)
Accessories:  Cover Up Die Diagonal ('Lil Inker Designs); Sketch Tree die (Memory Box); Skinny Mini Banners die (Papertrey Ink)

O Holy Night

Recently I was inspired by a card I saw on Instagram to buy a nativity die.  That card was a sponged night-time background and the nativity scene was done in black so it would be a silhouette and I had every intention of CASEing that card for my own personal stash.  But then I saw the "mostly white" challenge at AAA Cards and thought that might be an interesting look with that die.  So I got to work!

My bad photography aside this card is really pretty in real life.  The white on white design is a great look and the the star shining in the east was die cut in glitter paper so it has some great shine.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies

Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer (Stampin' Up!)

Accessories:  NativityScape die (SugarPea Designs)

CAS(E) This Sketch 299

It's the "all Christmas" channel around here!  Yes, instead of preparing for Christmas throughout the year I have waited until almost the last minute to finish up the cards I need.  I'm happy that the latest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch helped me along the way.

I used some old Stampin' Up! designer to create my colorful background.  The paper was geometric in its design and has a fun mod vibe.  At first glance it's not obvious it's a Christmas design but that sentiment leaves no room for anything but!

Thanks for stopping by!  Our CAS(E) This Sketch design team has created some amazing cards to inspire you for this challenge. I hope you join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Triangle Trees (Reverse Confetti)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Holiday Lounge DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Skinny Mini Banners die (Papertrey Ink)

Freshly Made Sketches 365

This week our new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches immediately put me in mind of some patterned paper.  Jen Brum is our hostess this week and she had Christmas on her mind when she designed the sketch so I was more than happy to oblige - and add to my stash!

I had decided early on that I wanted the focal point of this card to be a poinsettia so I dug through my extensive stash of patterned paper to find something complementary to one.  I ended up with these two patterns - some gold stripes and a vintage looking music sheet.  I love how this turned out!  This particular die is one of my favorite poinsettia ones (yes, I own more than one)!

My Freshly Made Sketches teamies have made some fantastic cards with this sketch so check them out!  And then join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps: Tis the Season (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Cherry, Jungle (Avery Elle); Brushed Gold (Stampin' Up!); Snow Village (Pink Paislee); glitter paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Blooming Poinsettias die (Memory Box)

Happy Christmas

I've been on vacation for the last week and have been busy cleaning closets and my craft room.  I'm amazed at the things that I've been storing that I don't use or need!  I'm happy that I managed to throw away several bags of things that I don't need and I also have a big pile of things in good condition that I'm going to donate.  It feels good to purge!

After Thanksgiving and some cyber shopping I had some free time to play around in my newly clean craft room so I made a card for a threesome of challenges.  At CAS-ual Fridays they are looking for shades of gold, Just Us Girls wants bows, and at Less is More it's one layer week.

This bow stamp set is a two layer image so I stamped the first image in a dark honey color then stamped the second layer in gold and then heat embossed it.  It's quite pretty in real life.  I wanted to preserve that white space so I used a small sentiment.

I'm very sad that I'm back to work today but happy that I got so much accomplished while off work - including putting up the Christmas tree.  Once I did that a happy kitty took his place underneath. 😊

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Holiday Bows (The Ton); Tiny Words Christmas (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Honey Nut (Papertrey Ink); Golden Glitz (Delicata); Nocturne (Versfine Clair)
Accessories:  gold embossing powder

Fusion - Christmas Chair

Happy thanksgiving to all my American friends. 😊 I hope you will celebrate the holiday with your family or friends or whoever makes you thankful.

But before we get to all that turkey it's time for a new Fusion challenge.  This week I actually did make some fusion by combining the colors of the inspiration with the sketch.

My cluster of greenery is supposed to be the circles and square on the sketch but I think I might have got a bit carried away! I did manage to incorporate some green, red, off white, and even some stripes so it's all good!

My Fusion teammies have once again made some fabulous cards to inspire you to play along with us.  So be sure to check them out.  See you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Spruce & Sprigs, Ways to Sa Merry Christmas (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Classic Natural White (Neenah); Real Red, Merry Moments DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Ripe Avocado, Simply Chartreuse, Pure Poppy, Cocoa Bean (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Spruce & Sprigs die (Papertrey Ink)

Freshly Made Sketches 364

My Christmas card countdown continues.  This time I am inspired by the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches designed by Kim.

I decided to make my card square to be in sync with the square layer in the corner.  It's hard to make out in the photo but the pink square is actually some very pretty glitter paper and the trees are embossed in silver.  This is so pretty in real life!  The Less is More challenge is looking for metallics so since I embossed this and it looked pretty clean to me so I'm adding this over there. 

Thanks for stopping by! And don't forget to check out our Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  Our design team has made some fabulous cards to inspire you!

Stamps:  Triangle Trees (Reverse Confetti); Tiny Word Christmas (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Purely Pomegranate (Stampin' Up!); glitter paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair)

CAS(E) This Sketch 298

I am totally committed to the gnome craze this year and the new challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch, designed by Donna, fit right into my gnome-plan! 

These gnomes are just so dang cute!  Every time I go into Marshalls or TJ Maxx I can't help but roam around the Christmas decorations smiling at all the gnomes that I see.  And they're a great winter decoration with their warm hats and beard too!  So when I saw my friend Jen Timko using this fun stamp set I knew right away that I needed to have it.  I used a silver shimmer vellum to die cut a couple of snowflakes which I layered behind my little guy.  After I glued them to my card I thought they might look a tad like I gave him antlers but the glue was stuck fast so they had to stay! 

I made this card on Sunday and just before I sat down to write this blog post (on Wednesday) I decided to have a look at the newest Color Throwdown challenge.  Well what to my wondering eyes should appear --- but the colors (or a reasonable facsimile) that I used on my card!  What a happy coincidence!  That's one of my favorite challenges and I don't play along with them nearly as much as I used to so it's nice to join in this week.

How will our CAS(E) This Sketch challenge inspire you this week?  Join us in the gallery!  And thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  A Gnome Winter (Picket Fence Studios)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Baja Breeze, Ski Slope DSP (Stampin' Up!); vellum (Grafix)
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!); Polychromos
Accessories:  Snowfall Backdrop Portrait die (Lawn Fawn); Snowflake Trio die (amuse.studio)

Freshly Made Sketches 363

I'm officially in Christmas card mode.  Especially since it's the middle of November and I'm pretty sure that I don't have enough Christmas cards made for this season.  I'm afraid to count how many I have because I don't want to panic if I have way less than I need!  But Freshly Made Sketches to the rescue.  This week our sketch is brought to us by Jen Timko.

As you can see I flipped the sketch on its side and took advantage of all that white space to use up some ancient Stampin' Up! designer paper that I had in my stash.  By the time I put this together I wasn't happy with all that blank space so I cut out a star in some shimmery paper and stuck it to the middle of that space.  The designer paper used colors like old olive, chocolate chip, and real red so that was my inspiration for this color combo.  A little eclectic, but I like it.

There's an anything goes challenge going on at Retro Rubber and this card qualifies on so many levels.  I know they are only interested in aged stamp sets but I've got to share that while the stamp set I used is over a year old as well as the die cut peace sentiment, that designer paper is the real story here.  It's so old I don't remember how long I've had it.  I'm going to guess eighth or nine years at least!  Can you say hoarder?

As usual our Freshly Made Sketches design team has cooked up some wonderful cards to inspire you.  I hope you have some time this week to join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Stained Glass Greetings (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Real Red, Old Olive, Ski Slope DSP, Merry Moments DSP (Stampin' Up!); glitter paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Wonderful Words Holiday die (Papertrey Ink); Holy Stars die (Simon Says Stamp); Blueprints 21 die (My Favorite Things)

CAS(E) This Sketch 297 Meets Fusion

I've got another meld of challenges for you today.  It's the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch as well as some inspiration from Fusion.

Being a wine lover I thought it would be fun to incorporate a wine theme into my card.  Alas I don't have any wine stamps and a search through Etsy for a digital one proved non-fruitful (pun intended)!  So I did the next best thing - a wine ring as the background.  Similar to a coffee ring only purple!

The leaves are fun and the multi-step stamping allows them to be quite colorful.  I chose to keep mine in the yellow/orange range in keeping with the inspiration photo and introduced the wine color in the form of my rings in the background.  Even still I thought something was missing so I threw on a few green sequins.  I spy a spot of green in that photo too!

My new MacBook came on Wednesday and I'm using it to type this post.  So far so good with the PC to Mac learning curve!  I love how cute it is and bonus...I was texting my sister while I was typing this post...so much easier to to with a full, grown-up sized keyboard!

So we've got a great new sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch and at Fusion you can do the sketch or be inspired by the photo or {gasp} both...and create some fusion!  Whatever you decide, I hope to see you in one or both of those galleries!

Supplies
Stamps:  With Gratitude (Altenew); Java Spills (Stamping Bella)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes)
Ink:  Autumn Blaze, Orange Cream, Firebrick, Sunkissed (Altenew); Rich Razzleberry (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Blueprints 13 die (My Favorite Things); Royal Garden sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)

Freshly Made Sketches 362

Well here we are at another sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our sketch is designed by Linda and I've got a story to tell about that!

Linda and I were lucky enough to go to an all-day stamping workshop (Creative Journey hosted by Jenn Shurkus) last Sunday in Hyannis, Massachusetts where we made about a dozen cards.  Now, I normally make my FMS challenge card on Sunday and knew that I most likely would not feel like getting crafty once I got home.  We wondered if one of the cards we made at the workshop might, by some strange miracle, match the current sketch.  Well lo and behold one of them did!  Linda's sketch this week was a dead ringer for one of the cards we made!

This card was made by creating our own colorful background with alcohol inks onto Yupo paper.  Once it dried we inked up the wreath stamp with an Alcohol Lift pad and pressed it onto our background.  Then we stamped the wreath onto white cardstock and it gave us this colorful effect.  It's very cool looking in real life!

Well that's it for me!  As usual our Freshly Made Sketches design team has made some beauties this week so be sure to check them out!  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps: Yultide, Festive Overlay, Music & Advert (Tim Holtz)
Paper:  Noble Fir (Lawn Fawn); Solar White (Neenah); Yupo (Ranger)
Ink:  Lettuce, Meadow, Bottle (Distress Alcohol Ink); Onyx Black (Versfine); Alcohol Life Ink (Ranger)
Accessories:  Cross Stitched Rectangles die (Lawn Fawn); Rock Candy Glitter (Distress)

CAS(E) This Sketch 296

May laptop has passed on to that great technology heaven in the sky so I'm using my trusty old Chromebook to post this.  I actually love this Chromebook and I should probably use it more but there are some things that it can't do that my laptop can so I'll be shopping soon for a replacement.  I think I'm going to bite the bullet and get a Mac this time around so that should be fun learning a whole new operating system!

But enough about my technology woes.  It's Thursday and it's time for a new challenge from CAS(E) This Sketch.  This week I'm pleased as punch to say that our guest designer is my old friend Kim who is my fellow design team member over at Freshly Made Sketches!  Now onto that challenge!

It was a short leap from that sketch to this card.  The sketch elements were tailor-made to a repeating word image.  So I stamped the word "merry" three times then die cut the same out of some red cardstock a bunch of times, glued those pieces together for some dimension, and stuck it on top of the stamped image in the middle.  I did add a glittery border around the card and some Wink of Stella to the red die cut layer but I'm quite sure neither shows up in the photo!  The colors for my card were inspired by the inspiration challenge at Just Us Girls and at the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge it's an anything goes week!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you'll join us at CAS(E) This Sketch.  My fellow design team members have created some fabulous cards to get your creative juices flowing!

Supplies
Stamps:  In a Word Merry (Winnie & Walter)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!); glitter paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  In a Word Merry die (Winnie & Walter); Wink of Stella

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!)