Tag You're It 84

We've got a great new challenge at Tag You're It inspired by coffee!  I do enjoy my morning cup of coffee....or two.

I don't have a lot of coffee themed stamps but I do have this to-go cup that has a great sketchy look.  I went digging through my stash of patterned paper to find something that would be good to go along with the sketch challenge at Global Design Project and stumbled upon this ancient SU paper pack.  The design is supposed to be abstract, I think, but those brown ovals looked a lot like coffee beans so I thought it would be perfect for this tag.

I flipped the sketch one turn counter-clockwise but I cheated a bit with the sentiment layer.  After flipping the sketch the sentiment layer should have been vertical but it looked weird to my eye so I placed it horizontally.  Sorry Global Design Project! 😊

Thanks for stopping by!  My teammates at Tag You're It have created some great tags to inspire you to play along with us.  Hopefully we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Latte Love (Stamplorations); Tiny Words (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Woodland Walk DSP (Stampin' Up!); Naturals White (Neenah)
Ink:  Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!); Copics
Accessories:  Tag die (Paper Smooches)

CAS(E) This Sketch 315

Today we've got a great new challenge for you at CAS(E) This Sketch designed by our friend Nathalie.  I was SO tempted to use a butterfly on my card (you'll understand what I mean when you scroll down and see the sketch).  But I resisted! 

I resisted the butterfly because I saw the beautiful colors at the latest Cupcake Inspiration Challenge and thought I had a hydrangea stamp in my stash that I could use for that big focal image.  Turns out the stamp I was thinking of was a dahlia but it worked just as well!  It's a three-step stamp so I used two shades of blue and one shade of purple to create dimension on the image.

I used vellum for the die cut leaves so that I didn't introduce another color into my card and I love how they look.  The vellum gives this a delicate look, I think.

Thanks for stopping by.  It's no surprise that my CAS(E) This Sketch teammates have made some spectacular cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out.  I hope you are inspired to join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Delightful Dahlia Additions (Papertrey Ink); Gorgeous Grunge (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Whisper White, Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Soft Sky (Stampin' Up!); Blueberry Sky, Amethyst Allure (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Stitched Leaves die (My Creative Time)

Freshly Made Sketches 381

I'm getting very impatient for spring.  Anyone else?  I have a hard time with March because I'm impatient for the temperatures to warm up to what I think spring temperatures should be and March just doesn't cooperate!  Hopefully things will change soon!

In the meantime while I wait for spring, we've got a great new challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is Lee Ann and she's got a great sketch for us!

The springy color challenge at Sunday Stamps was just the thing to lift me from my doldrums so I took the opportunity of all that white space on the sketch to show off an outline leaf image that I filled in with some patterned paper in those colors and some white pieces.  I also dug deep into my stash and found some washi tape that I used to dress up the vertical layer on the edge of my card.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Our Freshly Made Sketches design team has got some great cards to inspire you so I hope you'll join us this week!.

Supplies
Stamps:  Simple Sentiments (Avery Elle)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Pretty Amethys (Fun Stampers Journey); Mint Julep (Papertrey Ink); Comfort Cafe DSP, Brights Collection DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Botanical Beauty die (The Stamp Market); washi tape

CAS(E) This Sketch 314 Meets Fusion

We've got some great new challenges at CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion and as per my usual I combined them this week.  I ended up with a masculine birthday card...always a tough category for me!

I was inspired by the colors and patterns of the Fusion inspiration and I approximated the shapes of the CAS(E) This Sketch challenge.  I've got triangles!

This is the second iteration of this card because the first one was horrible with a capital H!  I made it over the weekend, uploaded it to the respective design team blogs and then had second and, if I'm being honest, third thoughts.  So I rushed home from work on Monday and went straight into my craft cave to make some modifications.  I hope my fellow design team members didn't see the original!  LOL! 

At Seize the Birthday they are always looking for birthday cards and each week they've got an optional "topping."  This week the topping is dots and stripes.  I'm not sure this qualifies for the topping because my dots are square!  Is there a rule that dots have to be circles?  I'm not sure!

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow design team members at CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion have made some GREAT cards to inspire you to play along with us.  I hope to see you one (or both!) of those galleries!

Supplies
Stamps:  Artsy (KaiserCraft); Simple Sentiments (Avery Elle); Sohcahtoa (Altenew)
Paper:  Desert Storm, Solar White (Neenah); Peach Parfait (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Modern Christmas die (Clearly Besotted Stamps)

Freshly Made Sketches 380

It's time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is Jacquie and she has given us a great graphic design.  There are so many possibilities with this sketch!

Call me Kermit because I was feeling a bit green when I made this card!  Actually there's a green challenge at Addicted to CAS and at Less is More they are looking for three.....of something.  So here I've got three green rows and three green patterns on paper.  I took a bit of creative liberty with the placement of the sentiment but I think Jacquie might forgive me - at least I hope so!

Thanks for stopping by!  Our Freshly Made Sketches design team has created some amazing cards with this sketch so check them out.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Hand Lettered Hello (WPlus9)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Lemon Grass (Avery Elle); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Happy Hellos die (My Favorite Things)

CAS(E) This Sketch 313

This week at CAS(E) This Sketch we've got a retro design using the sketch from challenge #155.  It was a challenge then and it is a challenge now!

I spent a lot of time working on my card for this challenge.  I tried several different backgrounds, each worse than the one before!  Then I got the simple idea that I could cover up the wonky shapes with a layered poinsettia.  I get the spirit of the sketch without the stress of figuring out what to do with those shapes!

The gold & white challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown inspired this simple design.  I layered the die cut poinsettia with both white cardstock and shimmery white vellum.  And I must say that it looks fabulous in real life!  At Happy Little Stampers it's Anything Goes with Dies so I've joined in the fun over there too.

Thanks for stopping by!  My CAS(E) This Sketch teamies knocked it out of the park with this sketch so be sure to check out their cards.  Soooo inspiring!

Supplies
Stamps:  Tiny Words Christmas (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); vellum (Grafix); gold glitter (Recollections)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Layered Poinsettia die (Penny Black); gold cord (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 379

It's time for a new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our hostess is Judy and she's given us a classic sketch!

I was inspired by the colors at Fab Friday as well as the flower challenge at Crazy 4 Challenges to dig out this oldie but goodie floral image from Stampin' Up!  I stamped one flower on the card base then another that I cut out to layer on top.  I added the green horizontal layer in between the two flowers but thought it looked too plain so I die cut a scribble to add on top of it to jazz things up!

The wee sentiment ended up popped up on a layer of cardstock because my first attempt smudged when I tried to stamp it directly on the card base. 😜There are no mistakes in stamping so I knew right away that the fix was to do it all over again as a layer!

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you've got time to join us in the gallery at Freshly Made Sketches!

Supplies
Stamps:  Reason to Smile (Stampin' Up!); Tiny Words (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Mossy Meadow (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Crisp Cantaloupe, Calypso Coral (Stampin' Up!); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Scribbles & Splat Thinlet (Sizzix); Royal Garden sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)

CAS(E) This Sketch 312

I've had a lot of circles in my sketch challenge life recently!  I'm not necessarily against circles, per se, but they are tough to deal with when you have so many to deal with!!  This card features the latest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch which had a LOT of random circles on it.  I went with a simple design and followed the sketch almost to the letter - allowing fo some different sized circles and a big ol' sentiment.

I used the colors at Sunday Stamps, which I think are perfect for a masculine card, and randomly stamped circles all over the bottom third of my card.  The big sentiment stands out layered over those circles and it allowed me to play along with Just Us Girls "birthday" challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you can join us at CAS(E) This Sketch this week.  The design team has made some great cards to inspire you!

Supplies
Stamps:  Dot Spot (Papertrey Ink); Celebrate Big (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Pacific Point, Lost Lagoon, So Saffron (Stampin' Up!); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)

Freshly Made Sketches 378

It's time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our challenge hostess is Amy and her sketch inspired me to bring a little spring-time into my world!

As is well documented here when I see three of something on a sketch I go into full-on panic mode.  I spent many an hour thinking, thinking about what to do with this sketch.  I made a card that was a VERY liberal interpretation of it and after spending a day thinking about it decided it no way was representative of the sketch so I scrapped it in favor of three daisies.  With the plaid background this screamed spring to me, which was fortunate because the challenge this week at The Paper Players is all about spring and at Stamps Ink Paper they want plaid!

Thanks for stopping by!  Our Freshly Made Sketches design team has made some fabulous cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out.  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Sentimental Birthday (Winnie & Walter)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Amethyst Allure (Papertrey Ink); Daffodil Delight (Stampin' Up!); Perfectly Plaid Rainbow (Lawn Fawn)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Gerbera Daisy die (My Favorite Things)

Tag You're It 82

We've crossed the bridge into March so that means it's time to start thinking about St. Patrick's day!  Well, at Tag You're It we've got you covered!  Our latest challenge has got a lucky Irish theme!

I was bitten by the gnome craze when I was making Christmas cards last year so I was so happy to find this little Irish gnome that I could use on this tag!  I backed him up with some shamrock digital paper that I found on Etsy.  I used the sketch at Global Design Project for my layout.

Thanks for stopping by!  Our Tag You're It design team has made some great tags for this challenge so be sure to check them out.  I hope you'll join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Beer Gnome (Katy's Card Emporium); Teenky Tiny Wishes (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Kraft, Pinefeather (Papertrey Ink); Solar White (Neenah); X-Press It Blending Card
Ink:  Pinefeather (Papertrey Ink); Copics
Accessories:  Traditional Tags STAX (My Favorite Things); Festive Mix (Studio Katia)