CAS(E) This Sketch 239

Christmas continues here!  My card for the latest CAS(E) This Sketch is another Christmas themed one - that's two this week!  The holiday mailing season will be here before we know it and I want to be ready.  Luckily I saw a Christmas card within that sketch.

I have a mantra:  when in doubt use vellum.  That long horizontal layer had me stymied for a bit.  I had already decided on the striped patterned paper and the wreath image layered on top of it, but I wasn't sure about that thin layer with the sentiment.  Vellum proved to be the answer.  It didn't cover up my wreath or the patterned paper and provided a nice spot to heat emboss a sentiment.

At Muse this week Tracey McNeely gave us a Christmas card with a wreath and it's "anything goes" at the Merry Christmas Challenge.  Since Christmas is much closer than I care to admit, I'm throwing my hat in the ring at these challenges in the hope that it will spur me to make more of the same very soon!

Thanks for stopping by!  And please join us at CAS(E) This Sketch.  Our design team has got some great cards to inspire you!

Supplies
Stamps:  Wreath For All Seasons (Papertrey Ink); Handy Christmas Greetings (Amy R Stamps)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Real Red, Vellum, Merry Moments DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Old Olive, Real Red (Stampin' Up!); Versamark
Accessories:  black embossing powder; rhinestones (KaiserCraft)

colourQ 319

I've got Christmas on the brain so even though the colors this week at colourQ are anything but Christmas-y I wanted to use them for another Christmas card anyway!

And in a strange twist of fate The Challenge wants us to make "non-traditional" Christmas card.  Yay!  A little help from the sketch at Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge and I was off.  I didn't actually have any real wood in my stash so I used the next best thing - woodgrain patterned paper!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to play along with us at colourQ!  The design team has made some amazing cards so be sure to check them out!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Holiday Greetings (Amy R Stamps)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); Chocolate Chip, Summer Starfruit, Blushing Bride, Melon Mambo, Woodland Walk DSP (SU)
Ink:  White (WPlus9)
Accessories:  Blueprints 15 die Favorite Things); Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box); white embossing powder; enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

CAS(E) This Sketch 149

This is my second week posting as a card-carrying member of the CAS(E) This Sketch design team.  Annnnd I almost didn't make it.  Monday night one of my cats knocked over a glass and all the contents spilled onto my laptop.  Within a few minutes the laptop started making a sound like the backup signal on a big truck.  Not good.  A quick look confirmed the worst.  The computer was giving me a message that it was shutting down for my own good.  (Actually it said a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo but I can read between the lines.).

After waiting a bit I rebooted.  Sorry, it said, I can't find the hard drive.  That's crazy I replied.  I know the hard drive is there.  Look again.  So it looked again with the same result.  So out came the hair dryer.  And the battery.  Finally all that heat paid off because the computer booted up but wouldn't recognize the keyboard.  Fearing the worst I went to bed.

I left it alone while I was at work on Tuesday thinking it needed some time to dry out and think about its actions.  I've been very nice to this laptop over the last few years.  There's no reason it should treat me this way.  Long story short, the keyboard is most likely fried.  I ordered a new one but in the meantime I'm using an old USB keyboard that was attached to a desktop computer that I had a millions years ago.  Seriously, the keyboard is bigger than the laptop but it works and that's good.  At least it helped me put together my card for CAS(E) This Sketch which is really the reason that you're here.  Thanks for sticking with me for my little saga.  And without further ado.....

Truth be told I wish that poinsettia was a teeny bit smaller, at least for this card. I think it's over-powering my background stamp just a bit.  I got the color inspiration from The Challenge where the inspiration photo also had a big poinsettia on it so I was powerless to resist and used one on my card!

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you can play along with us at CAS(E) This Sketch.  And special thanks if you stayed with me during this wordy post and made it this far!

Supplies:
Stamps:  So 80's (WPlus9); Handy Christmas Greeting (Amy R Stamps)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Cherry Cobbler, Silver Glimmer (SU)
Ink:  Classic Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Blooming Poinsettias die (Memory Box)

Freshly Made Sketches 186

It's time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  This week Jen Brum is our hostess and in a strange twist she put a circle on her sketch!  If you play along with us regularly at Freshly Made Sketches you know that Jen does not like circles on her cards, so imagine our surprise when we saw this sketch!  But rest assured, if you have a fear of circles too you can substitute something else in its place!

I don't have a fear of circles but I still substituted a poinsettia!  I'm woefully behind in making Christmas cards this year so I've resolved to try and make at least one a week and for some reason this sketch put me in mind of this poinsettia die.  This, of course, lead to kraft card stock and a splash of color which seem to be my go-to choices for Christmas cards.

Our Freshly Made Sketches design team has made some real beauties this week with this sketch.  Be sure you check them out!  I hope we'll see you in the gallery this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Handy Christmas Greetings (Amy R Stamps)
Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Real Red, Vellum, Red Glimmer (SU)
Ink:  Real Red (SU)
Accessories:  Blooming Poinsettias die (Memory Box); Blueprints 20 die (My Favorite Things)

Merry Monday 122

This is my third week designing over at Merry Monday and I'm now three cards closer to Christmas!  What a relief it is to have these cards already made so that I'm not scrambling around after Thanksgiving trying to make all the cards I'm going to need.  If you're getting nervous about your Christmas card stash, then I encourage you to play along!

The challenge this week is brought to you by Sue and I predict it will encourage a lot of elegant cards in the gallery.  Just check out the design team cards to see what I mean.  Sue wants us to use black, silver and gold on our Christmas card this week.

This is actually the second card I made for this challenge.  The first one wasn't grabbing my attention until I realized that it was missing a bit of sparkle.  So I re-worked it using the Sweet Sunday Sketch and ended up with this.  I stamped the same pine boughs I used last week in gold Delicata ink (surely the prettiest gold ink out there) then die cut a little sprig in silver glimmer paper.  Trust me when I say that this is way better looking in person.  It's tough to photograph all that shimmer and shine!

The ladies over at Merry Monday have all got some fantastic cards to share with you this week, so be sure to pop on over and check them out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Watercolor Winter (SU); Handy Christmas Greetings (Amy R Stamps)

Paper:  Basic Black, Very Vanilla, Silver Glimmer, Gold Foil (SU)

Ink:  Delicata Golden Glitz; Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Chloe Stem die (Memory Box; Onyx button (a.muse studio); gold cord (SU)

Merry Monday 121

It's my second week being the featured designer at Merry Monday and this week Wendy is challenging us to use greens, pinecones and plaid ribbon on our Christmas card.  Well, that was a challenge for me because I don't have any plaid ribbon!  Never one to back down from a challenge I set about sponging some plaid stripes onto cardstock and improvising!

That kinda looks like ribbon doesn't it?  The latest layout at Sketch Saturday actually played right into my hands with the idea I had kicking around my head for this card.  Since I knew I had to create my own version of cardstock ribbon, I thought it would look better just peeking out from behind another layer of cardstock.  Then when I saw the Sketch Saturday challenge I knew fate was telling me I was on the right track!

The design team at Merry Monday have got some great cards for you to see, so head on over there to check them out.  We hope to see you in the gallery this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Watercolor Winter (SU); Holiday Greetings (Amy R Stamps)

Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Early Espresso, Garden Green, Very Vanilla (SU)

Ink:  Garden Green, Pear Pizzazz, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso (SU)

Accessories:  Pierced Fishtail Flag STAX (My Favorite Things); baker's twine

Freshly Made Sketches 145

This week at Freshly Made Sketches Narelle is our hostess.  She's been recovering from a broken elbow but even wounded she still manages to create amazing fussy cut cards.  She's truly a stamping hero!  This week she's given us a sketch that has got her signature layers!

For my part I spent way too much time fussing over this card.  I started out with a circle, but wasn't happy with it so I changed it to this awesome new tag that I recently got.  I turned the tag into a shaker and stuffed it with sequins.  And since I was using sequins, I made sure to use papers and a sentiment that would make this a Christmas card that fits the sequin challenge at Merry Monday. 

Our amazing Freshly Made Sketches design team have got some great cards to show you so be sure to check them out.  We hope to see you in the gallery this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamp:  Happy Christmas Greetings (Amy R Stamps)

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, Very Vanilla, Deck the Halls DSP (SU)

Ink:  Chocolate Chip (SU)

Accessories:  Anytime Tag die (Lil' Inker Designs); Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX (My Favorite Things); Cherry Cobbler seam binding (SU); Berry Blend, Winter Blend and Gold sequins (Avery Elle); Rustic Twine (Papertrey Ink); burlap

colourQ Meets Seize the Sketch!

Today is an exciting day here!  A while back Lesley asked me to join the design team at Seize the Sketch and today is my first card for the challenge!  {Insert happy dance here!}  Since today is also the reveal of the new color palette at colourQ I combined the two!

The colors are inspired by this gorgeous bag and the sketch is designed by Stacey.  The colors put me in mind of Christmas so I turned to these awesome modern Christmas trees.  I used them quite a bit last season and I suspect that I'll be using them a lot this year too!

I still can't quite believe that I am a part of the team at Seize the Sketch.  I am among an extremely talented group of ladies and I am so fortunate to be joining them.  I suspect that I'll learn a lot from them as time goes by.

So be sure to check out both colourQ and Seize the Sketch because there is a lot of amazing inspiration to be found in both places!  Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:

Stamps:  Modern Christmas (Clearly Besotted); Handy Christmas Greetings, Holiday Greetings (Amy R Stamps)

Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Cameo Coral, Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip (SU)

Accessories:  Banner Bundle Die Set (Verve); Embossing Paste (Dreamweaver); Bubble Stencil (Tim Holtz)

colourQ 219

This week the color palette at colourQ is inspired by these great owl ornaments.  I love these rustic and earthy colors!

I was inspired by Chupa's newest Sketchbook Saturday sketch and all the beautiful images she layered together on her card so I tried the same look on a Christmas card.  I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out!

These gorgeous colors have inspired the marvelous colourQ design team to create some pretty fantastic cards this week so don't forget to check them out.  We'd love to see you in the gallery so I hope you can set aside some time to join us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Modern Christmas (Clearly Besotted Stamps); Gorgeous Grunge, Off the Grid (SU)

Paper:  Kraft (Avery Elle); Chocolate Chip, Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Always Artichoke, Real Red, Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip (SU)

Accessories:  Circle STAX 1, Pierced Circle STAX (My Favorite Things); Dot Fade Stencil (Tim Holtz)

Peace, Love and Joy

I was hunkered down in my stamp room working on some projects when I was suddenly struck by an idea for a card using the latest CAS(E) This Sketch.  So I did what any good paper-crafter would do - I dropped everything and worked on that card before I forgot what I wanted to do!

I used a bunch of new stuff on this card.  It had been quite a while since I had any new Christmas stamps so this year I kind of went overboard and bought a whole bunch.  I'm not even sure that I'll get a chance to use them all this season, but I've got a new resolution to not be so far behind on my Christmas cards next year so I'm hopeful all my new stuff will see ink over the coming months!

I hope everyone was safe in the crazy Black Friday crowds and got lots of bargains this past weekend!  Don't forget that today is Cyber Monday so there's still lots more to buy!

Thanks for stopping by:

Supplies:

Stamps:  Playful Christmas 2 (Kitchen Sink Stamps); Handy Christmas Greetings (Amy R Stamps)

Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Wintergreen DSP, Ski Slope DSP (SU)

Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Dot Fade stencil (Tim Holtz); embossing paste (Dreamweaver Stencil)