Thanks So Much

The color challenge this week at Color Throwdown is one of my all-time favorite combos so I wanted to make sure that I played along.

To my great disappointment I didn't make a card with cats on it as is suggested by the challenge prompt.  I have three cats and I love them dearly, but none of them are black, gray, or yellow so  I had to resort to ........ flowers!  

Thanks for stopping by!  The strange weather here continues.  Wednesday was 90-degrees, Thursday was 80-degrees and today I've got a sweater on because it's only about 55-degrees.  I wish warm weather would arrive already!

Supplies
Stamps:  Best Blossoms (Stampin' Up!); Simple Sentiments (Avery Elle)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Whisper White, Basic Black, Vellum, Night & Day DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Maple Yellow (Altenew); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories: Little Leaves Sizzlet (Stampin' Up!); Binding Edge punch (EK Tools)

Fusion - Laugh Decor

Hi friends!  We've got a great new challenge for you at Fusion.  As always there's a sketch and an inspiration photo - this one about laughter - and I chose to make a card for the sketch this time.

Despite that the vertical panel and the three circles strongly suggested layers I decided to challenge myself and do a one layer card.  Sometimes drawing lines to mimic a layer is just what the doctor ordered!  I stamped three dotted circles in a {somewhat} approximation of the colors at Global Design Project and then drew the lines around them.  I added some squiggles just for fun!

As always at Fusion you have the option of following the sketch, the inspiration photo, or to combine them both.  It's totally up to you!  

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Dot Spot (Papertrey Ink); Tons of Type (The Stamp Market)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Volcano Lake, Evergreen (Altenew); Crisp Cantaloupe (Stampin' Up!); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Freshly Made Sketches 487

It's been a busy week around here but at the last minute I managed to squeak in my card for our newest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is Jen Timko and she's given us my new favorite kind of design - a slimline!

I will say that I don't love photographing these cards!  But I do love that big blank canvas on the sketch.  I decided to keep it really clean and simple and just added some white daisies and a simple script sentiment.  I colored the leaves with a Copic marker that just happens to be a nearly exact match for the green layer.  Serendipity!  BTW, the daisy idea came from the challenge at Just Us Girls.

Thanks for stopping by!  The weather is crazy around here - 90 degrees one day and 60 the next and no rain in sight.  Today we're on tap for another 90-degree day, which I'm totally okay with!  Bring on summer, I say!

As you would expect my fellow Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some beauties with this sketch so check them out.

Supplies
Stamps:  Scripty Sayings (Gina K Designs)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Call Me Clover (Stampin' Up!); Xpress It Blending Card
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine); Copics
Accessories:  Upsy Daisy die (My Favorite Things)

Freshly Made Sketches 486

Hi there!  Today we've got a great clean and simple sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess is Jacquie and she put a big ol' white space on the sketch which will surely spark your imagination!

As I was pondering what I was going to do with that curved element I came across a stencil that was tailor made for this sketch.  How awesome is that!  I masked off the bigger portion of the card base with a curved piece of scrap paper and applied white embossing paste through the stencil to create a raised design.  It came out perfectly!  Then I stamped a little splatter and topped it with this beautiful die cut butterfly.  I also stamped some script onto the orange layer of the butterfly because it just made it a tiny bit more interesting.

I was also inspired by the "bug" challenge at Addicted to CAS and the colors at Sunday Stamps.  I suppose a butterfly is technically a bug, but they are too delicate and beautiful to be a bad bug!

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow teammates at Freshly Made Sketches have made some great cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  French Script (Stamin' Up!); Always There (Altenew); Mini 72 (PaperArtsy)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Calypso Coral (Stampin' Up!); Raspberry Fizz, Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Calypso Coral (Stampin' Up!); Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Modern Radio Waves stencil, Vivienne Butterfly die, Darla Butterfly die (Memory Box); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver)

follow.it

Hi friends.

I'm just popping in to let you know that I have switched the service that delivers my blog posts directly to your email inbox.  As many of you Blogger users probably know, Google will be discontinuing their "Feedburner" service, which is how readers subscribed to receive an email whenever I posted to my blog.

I've officially made the switch to follow.it and for a short time you might receive two emails from me when I post because I haven't deleted the Feedburner version just yet.  I want to make sure that I've worked out all the kinks before I cut the Feedburner cord forever!

Thank you for your patience and for your continued support!

Happy stamping!

Jen Mitchell

Fusion - Thank You

One thing I love about the Fusion challenge is the option to choose either the sketch or the inspiration.  And if you're feeling especially adventurous you can combine the two and create...wait for it...FUSION!  But sometimes my brain is not firing on all cylinders and all I can come up with is just one of them.  This week it's the sketch!

I love this gingham paper and don't use it nearly enough as I should.  So the color challenge at The Paper Players gave me the perfect opportunity to use it layered with a red slim layer a-la the sketch.  The flower was cut out of some ancient DSP in my stash and I used an equally ancient corduroy button for the center of the flower.  (It gives me great joy to use up old supplies that are languishing in my craft room)!  I took a risk stamping the sentiment on that gingham layer.  I stamped on my stamp-a-ma-jig first and it looked like it would show up ok against the pattern but in reality it looks a little lost.  But it's still pretty!

Thanks for stopping by!  We've got a lot of great inspiration for you at Fusion so be sure to check it out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Easy Expressions Thanks (The Ton)
Paper:  Smoky Slate, Real Red, Prints Pack DSP (Stampin' Up!); True Black Gingham (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Plentiful Petals die (My Favorite Things): corduroy button (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 485

I'm very happy that I made another Christmas card for my stash this year!  And the design for my card was inspired by our latest sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week Judy is our hostess and I couldn't resist flipping her sketch. 😉

I was looking through my stash of cards the other day and came across a couple of "slimline" cards that I made many years ago.  I'm sure I made them for a sketch challenge or something and at the time I made them I remember thinking that they were extra special because of their unexpected size and they are still in my stash today because they fit the category of "too pretty to give away!"  And here we are years later and all of a sudden slimline cards are all the rage and I find myself making them often.  It's funny how trends come and go isn't it?  

Anyway, for this card I filled up the background with a cover die in a mistletoe design and die cut the "holiday" sentiment out of red glitter paper - that's the banner on the sketch, mind you.  At the last minute I added a few red berries cut out of the same glitter paper and scattered them around the mistletoe.

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some gorgeous cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Tiny Words Christmas (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Green Parakeet (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Mistletoe die (Honeybee Stamps); Wonderful Words Holiday die (Papertrey Ink)

Freshly Made Sketches 484

We've got a great new challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is Amy and her sketch got me thinking about negative space.  Take a look!

Using the colors from Crazy 4 Challenges I stamped the leaves on  two pieces of cardstock then cut out a square from one of those with the intention of layering it over the other.  The negative space it created became the square on the sketch.  I added a slim sentiment I was done!

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

Supplies
Stamps:  Dot Botanicals (Altenew); Tons of Type (The  Stamp Market)
Paper:  Night of Navy, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Bamboo (Altenew); Tempting Turquoise, Night of Navy (Stampin' Up!)