Freshly Made Sketches 455

Hello everyone!  I'm the hostess at Freshly Made Sketches for our latest challenge and I made something I love!  A SQUARE card!  Now, of course, anyone who has played along with us before knows that you can use whatever shape you want.   But square cards are so fun - because they are unusual and unexpected - that I think you should try one if you haven't before.  So here is my card and the sketch:

I'm getting to the time of year when I start to panic about the number of Christmas cards I've got made, or more importantly, not made.  So I take every opportunity to squeeze one in when I can.  This time around the "dashing through the snow" challenge at Jingle Belles inspired this little snowflake card.  Well documented here, I only like snow when it is a feature on a card.  I have no use for it on the ground!  But I do love my snowflake dies!  I layered a couple here and paired it with some pretty washi tape.  The big sentiment was embossed in silver.

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have some amazing cards to share with you so be sure to check them out.

Supplies
Stamps:  Peace Love Joy (Right At Home)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Versamark
Accessories:  Snowflake Trio die (amuse studio); Lindemon Snowflake die (Memory Box); silver cord (Stampin' Up!); washi tape

CAS(E) This Sketch 391

I know a lot of my fellow stampers have a little basket or somesuch that has little cast off pieces of stamped images or die cuts that they have saved for future use.  Well I never had one of those, preferring instead to have my cast offs strewn about my craft desk, buried under blotters, stuck to other pieces, with no sense of organization whatsoever.  It's always been an adventure to discover what I might find!  Well, I've  been on vacation these last few days and decided that my craft cave needed some cleaning and organization.  And that decision paid off because buried under some other stuff I found a small piece that I had embossed a leafy image on and decided it was perfect for this week's CAS(E) This Sketch challenge.

I cut the embossed image in two per the sketch the added a wee butterfly - a favorite image of mine.  It's been a while since I added a butterfly to one of my cards and I've missed them!  I have a ton of them and I love this one because the stamp has an accompanying punch (so much easier than fussing with an image and a steel die) and the center of the butterfly is perfect for adding a row of little pearls (which is probably hard to see).

My fellow CAS(E) This Sketch teammates have made some gorgeous cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out!  

Supplies
Stamps:  Papillon Potpourri (Stampin' Up!); Simple Sentiments  (Avery Elle)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah)
Ink:  Calypso Coral (Stampin' Up!); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Leaves stencil (Simon Says Stamp); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver); Basic Pearls (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 454

Apparently I forgot to hit the "Publish" button for my Freshly Made Sketches post.  Not surprising, really, since I'm on vacation from work and I've got vacation brain.  But better late than never:

I started cleaning my craft room a few days ago and have found some interesting cast-offs that were all but forgotten.  One of those things was this dotted background.  I had a vague idea to use snowflakes on this sketch and then I came across this ready-made background of falling snow and figured it would  be a good compromise for snowflakes.  I added a silver glimmer die cut sentiment and heat embossed a complementary sentiment on vellum.

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches design team members have made some fabulous cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out!  We hope you'll join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Joy (The Stamp Market)
Paper:  Solar White  (Neenah); Pool Party, Vellum (Stampin' Up!); glimmer paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Joy die (The Stamp Market); Snowfall Backdrop Portrait die (Lawn Fawn)

CAS(E) This Sketch 390

I am super late with my CAS(E) This Sketch post this week, but better late than never.  I had a very busy week with lots of late nights and more often than not I fell asleep way before I had a chance to compose a post. 😴 But I wanted to share this card before the challenge closes.

I opted to create a background with these leafy images in these beautiful colors then overlay them with vellum.  The big sentiment was heat-embossed in black so that it would really stand out.  I made this card for a particular color challenge and then realized after it was all put together that I was supposed to add some glitter or foil.  Oops!  I  should pay better attention!

Thanks for stopping by!  Don't be late to the CAS(E) This Sketch party like I was!  Play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Leaf Clusters (Altenew); Hand Lettered Thanks (WPlus9)
Paper:  Whisper White, Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Cajun Craze (Stampin' Up!); Teal Cave (Altenew); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  black embossing powder

Fusion Challenge

This week we've got a challenge for you at Fusion that has got some pretty cacti on it.  They surround a delicious looking cake frosted in a pink ombre design.  I've got supplies that can handle ombre stripes - a la the sketch - but I didn't own any cactus images so I went to Etsy to find some!  Etsy always to the rescue!

It was actually a little bit hard to find shades of pink that can be layered together and also be in the same color family to make a convincing ombre design.  But after some searching through my stash I managed to find some cardstock that fit the bill and created a design with these vertical strips.  The potted plant was colored with Copics and popped up to create a little dimension.  Lucky for me they are looking for  stripes at Crazy 4 Challenges!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps:  Crasus y Cactus (La Scrapista); Wallpaper Art (Altenew)

Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Primrose Petals, Pretty in Pink, Pink Pirouette (Stampin' Up!); X-Press It Blending Card

Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine); Copics

Freshly Made Sketches 453

Hey all! We've got a great new challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is Judy and her big circle got me thinking about a snowflake!

I opted to go for a square card because it fit my snowflake better.  😊This snowflake stamp set has a great splatter halo effect and after I stamped it I die cut the solid part of the snowflake out of some pretty glitter paper and popped it up on top.  After I put all that together, I then pondered what to do about the smaller circle.  I'll confess that I don't love what I chose, but it's a small circular sentiment from an old stamp set that I've had in my stash forever.  I stamped everything in purple so that I could play along with the challenge at Less is More.

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.  We hope you'll join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Blizzard Hugs (The Ton); Perfect Presentation (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); glitter paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Ultraviolet (Altenew)

CAS(E) This Sketch 389

We've got a retro sketch for you this week at CAS(E) This Sketch.  We are going back to sketch #306 and looking for a redux.  The original sketch debuted on January 24, 2019 and you can check it out here.

I had it in my mind to use the same colors as my card last week, but this time around the gray and yellow took the form of some patterned paper.  That bit of yellow gingham is my favorite part of this card - it's sunny and happy and I just love gingham!  The big sentiment, cut from black cardstock, adds some great contrast.

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow CAS(E) This Sketch design team members have made some great cards with this sketch so be  sure to check them out!  I hope you'll play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  All About You (My Favorite  Things)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Gingham Linen Rainbow Petite Prints (Doodlebug)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  You Trio die (My Favorite Things)

Freshly Made Sketches 452

Hey all!  It's time for a brand new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is Amy and her sketch design had me reaching for my favorite leaf images!

My color choices were inspired by the latest challenge at Sunday Stamps and I do want to clarify that the darker leaves are actually brown - not black as they appear in the photo.  Once again my stellar photography skills in action. 😉 I actually stamped two versions of this card so that I could die cut the label from the center and capture the little bit of leaf that appears on the corner.  Then I popped up the  label with some foam tape for a bit of dimension.  I love how this turned out!

Thanks for stopping by!  As you would expect from our fabulous Freshly Made Sketches design team the cards are AMAZING, so I'm sure you will want to play along!

Supplies
Stamps:  Leaf Clusters (Altenew); Celebration of Thanks (Verve)
Paper:  Desert Storm (Neenah)
Ink:  Dusty Durango, Chocolate Chip  (Stampin' Up!); Versamark
Accessories:  Labels Four die (Spellbinders); gold embossing powder

CAS(E) This Sketch 388 Meets Fusion

Hi all!  It's that time again when I get to combine the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch with the inspiration at Fusion.

The colors in the Fusion challenge happen to be all-time favorites of mine:  yellow and gray with a bit of black thrown in for good measure.  So I used those colors and cut some wispy die-cut leafy elements and arranged them in the style of the sketch.  This is one of those cards that looked way better in my head than it does in real life!  LOL!

I took a little trip down the retro lane here too.  The challenge at the Paper Players was a tic-tac-toe one and one of the squares was stitching!  Well, I'm up for that so I took out my little Janome mini and sewed a few lines across that horizontal layer on my card.  I haven't sewed on a card in ages!  But I love the bit of texture it adds.  So then I needed to add some ribbon (per the tic-tac-toe) so I added some seam binding ribbon, which fit perfectly between my stitched lines.  The last was die-cuts - easy peasy!  And last but not least, the challenge at As You See It is to name a favorite color duo.  What a coincidence!  

Thanks for stopping by!  My friends at CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion have made some fabulous cards so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Great Friend (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Lemon Tart (Papertrey Ink); Smoky Slate  (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Flutter Vine die (Memory Box); Epis de blé die (4enscrap)

Freshly Made Sketches 451

Hi all!  We've got a brand new challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our hostess is Narelle and she's given us this fantastic sketch!

The weather is turning cool here in New England and when that happens I tend to gravitate toward warm colors on my cards -- fall is coming!  My card today features a die-cut daisy that I colored in some warm yellow tones reminiscent of a sunflower and layered it against some gingham patterned paper.  I was inspired by the tic-tac-toe challenge at the Paper Players and followed one of the diagonals - die cut, embossing, and patterned paper.  The embossing may be a bit hard to see but the entire background of this card is embossed with a diagonal pattern.

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches design team members have made some amazing cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Tiny Words (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Naturals White  (Neenah);  More Mustard, Orchard Harvest DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!); Copics
Accessories:  Upsy Daisy die (My Favorite Things); Grid Lines impression plate (Papertrey Ink)