Freshly Made Sketches 564

Christmas is in full swing here at my house.  At least for my cards, that is!  And I'm having fun experimenting with my new hot foil machine, as well.  The two things came together for my card for Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Cécile is our hostess and her card inspired a lot of Christmas possibilities for me.

It was hard to capture a decent picture of this card, but the background is a lovely rose-gold foil and I topped it with a scallop circle also cut in rose-gold followed by a vellum poinsettia.  Unfortunately the color of the rose-gold and the poinsettia itself didn't lend well to my not-so-great photography skills.  But the card is very pretty in real life!

I hope you have time to play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  As usual my fellow design team members have cooked up some fabulous cards to inspire you!

Supplies
Stamps:  Tiny Words Christmas (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Rose Gold Specialty (Stampin' Up!); vellum (Graphix)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Plaid Tidings Background hot foil plate, Petite Scallop Circles die, Layered Poinsettia die, Rose Gold Shimmer Foil (Spellbinders); Stitched Circles STAX (My Favorite Things); Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box); Love Glitter Sprinkles (Doodlebug Designs)

Fusion - Christmas Chalkboard

Due to some technical difficulties I am ages late in posting my card for our last Fusion challenge.  But at least I made it.  After 9 1/2 years Fusion is ending.  Started by Lesley Croghan and Jackie Rockwell,  and for the last (nearly) six years helmed by the amazing Karren Johnson, Fusion was a great way to mix and match a sketch or an inspiration photo, or both!  It's always sad to see an old favorite challenge end, but the inspiration provided by Fusion is invaluable and I think that sticks with us in our card-making journey well into the future. 

Our last challenge features a chalkboard design and a sketch with a big half-circle on it.  I did a little combination of both on my card.

I opted to go with the sketch and incorporated some of the elements of the inspiration photo.  I had some patterned paper in my stash that was chalkboard-y like so I used that for my background.  The circle ended up being a complete disaster!  I initially wanted to do a shaker with the circle but that involved lining up several circle dies precisely in order to create a blank circle in the center to feature the acetate window and my dancing sequins.  After four, and I do mean four, attempts at lining up the dies and having them shift at the last minute as they were feeding through my die cut machine I gave up and went with a boring white circle with a sentiment stamped on it.  I jazzed it up a bit by stamping some of the words in different colors and popping them up with some foam tape.  Fun!

Thanks for stopping by!  And thanks to everyone who played along with our Fusion challenge over the years.  And a special thanks to Karren who invited me on to the design team and then had to put up with me!

Supplies
Stamps:  Christmas Feeling (Kaiser Craft)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Real Red (Stampin' Up); Heidi Swapp
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair); Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Baja Breeze (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Circles die (Little B); Festive Mix (Studio Katia)

Freshly Made Sketches 563

We've got a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Jen Brum is our hostess and in honor of the snow she's already seen fall at her house this season, I made a card with snowflakes!

I did something on this card that I haven't done in a very long time - spritz some color with a color mist.  It gave the background a little splash of color and makes the snowflakes stand out a bit more.  I'm also joining the snowflake challenge at Perfectly CAS.

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches have got some fabulous cards to show you and I know you'll be inspired to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Ways to Say Merry Christmas (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); glimmer paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Lindemon Snowflake die (Memory Box); Let it Snowflake Too die (My Favorite Things); Bazinga Color Mist (Mister Huey's)

Stencil Thanks

So, I think I am in love with layering stencils.  I've only got a couple but I made a card today using the colors from CAS Colours & Sketches and a stencil from The Ton and I love how it came out!

Layering the stencils was so easy to do and the end result is so pretty!  💕

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Thank You Builder (Altenew)
Paper:  Whisper White, Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Stormy Sea (Papertrey Ink); Early Espresso, Old Olive (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Climbing Cosmos Layering Stencil (The Ton); Blueprints 15 die (My Favorite Things)

Freshly Made Sketches 562

Hi all!  It's time for a new sketch from your friends at Freshly Made Sketches! This week our hostess is Kim and I love the building block style of her sketch.

I used a combination of stamps, washi tape, and cardstock to create those building blocks.  The sentiment is a fun one, and new to me, the horizontal washi has got some wonderful shimmer and the vertical cardstock layer is backed with some shiny silver washi.  Blue and silver is a great color combination for a Christmas card and this one was inspired by the color challenge at The Paper Players.

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some amazing and inventive cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out!  I'm sure you'll be inspired to join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Bold Fill in Holiday (The Ton)
Paper:  Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink); Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Bold Fill in Holiday die (The Ton); washi tape

Fusion - Gingerbread

I'm super behind this week in my posting, but I'm finally here with my card for the latest Fusion challenge.  I decided to go with the sketch and incorporated some of the colors from the inspiration photo.

I love the combination of a kraft background with red and black on a Christmas card.  And the plaid makes me smile too! 😊.  And I added another favorite element, the poinsettia.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to check out the amazing creations from the Fusion design team too!

Supplies
Stamps:  Joy (Concord & 9th); Sending Joy (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Desert Storm (Neenah); Real Red (Stampin' Up!); vellum (Graphix)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Poinsettia die (Paper Smooches)

Freshly Made Sketches 561

I'm really, really late posting my card for the newest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches!  But better late than never.  Our hostess this week is Linda and her sketch inspired some snowflakes, of all things!

I do love cards with sparkly snowflakes!  And I added some clear droplets around the white space because it looked quite plain to me otherwise.

Be sure to check out all the inspiration at Freshly Made Sketches and join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Blizzard Hugs (The Ton)
Paper:  Just Jade (Stampin' Up!); Solar White (Neenah); glimmer paper (Recollecltions)
Ink:  Lagoon (Altenew)
Accessories:  Alexis Snowflake die (Simon Says Stamp); Let it Snowflake Too die (My Favorite Things); Clear Droplets (Pretty Pink Posh)

Freshly Made Sketches 560

I'm the hostess at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  And no surprise my sketch is a square one!  But don't worry.  If squares aren't your thing then feel free to substitute a different shape.

Autumn colors are faves of mine and I love sunflowers too!  I put a big ol' one on this card and added a simple birthday sentiment.  Easy peasy!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you check out our Freshly Made Sketches challenge!

Supplies
Stamps: Splendid Sunflower (My Favorite Things); Easy Expressions Birthday (The Ton)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Chocolate Chip, Afternoon (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Espresso, Mocha, Forest Glades, Honey Drizzle (Stampin' Up!); Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Easy Expressions Birthday die (The Ton)