Freshly Made Sketches 482

It's time for a new challenge from your friends at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week Karren has given us a long and skinny sketch which I flipped counter-clockwise (or anti-clockwise as I suspect Karren would say)!

I loved the mood board at Challenge Up Your Life and was inspired to use the mint and bright pink on my card.  I fully intended to add a poppy or a similar flower but I think I got a little distracted by that horizontal layer with diagonal stripes.  I thought it was fun but it ended up dictating the rest of my card!  I happened upon the "thanks" letters that I had previously cut for a different project (and never used) which I thought provided a great level of contrast.  So then I tried to figure out how I could add those flowers that I wanted but nothing looked right with my bold pink and mint horizontal layer.  So I ended up stamping some circular images in the corners, to mimic the bike wheel from the inspo photo, in the same color as the sponged mint background.  I suspect they are hard to see in the picture but in real life they break up the background nicely.

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches have all made fantastic cards with this sketch (but I'm sure you knew that already)!  I hope you'll join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Sunburst (Clearly Besotted); Hand Lettered Thanks (WPlus9)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Bristol Smooth; Mint Julep, Raspberry Fizz (Papertrey Ink); Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Cracked Pistachio (Distress Oxide); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Slim Diagonal Stitched Rectangle (Pink Fresh Studio); Bold Alpha Lower cut file (The Ton)

CAS(E) This Sketch 395

I took the opportunity of the great new sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch to make another Christmas card.  I went quite literal with the sketch and incorporated a wreath with my fave - a poinsettia (!) and a few holly leaves.

I dug into my stash for some pretty Christmas patterned paper and found this oldie-but-goodie striped one.  I think it matches perfectly with the poinsettia and leaves.  I managed to find a sentiment that was small enough to fit in the center of the wreath - I love how it tucks in there!

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

Supplies
Stamps:   Modern Christmas (Clearly Besotted0
Paper:   Solar White  (Neenah); Ruby Red, Garden Green, Old Olive (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:   Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Whirl Wreath  (Penny Black);  Poinsettia die  (Paper Smooches)

CAS(E) This Sketch 376 Meets Fusion

I'm a bit late but today I've actually did get my DT card made for my combination of CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion!  Work is crazy and sometimes causes what I like to call Pandemic Pandemonium - so every so often it causes me to post my projects a bit late.  I'm so lucky that my fellow DT members put up with my shenanigans!

For this card I went with a circle die that I haven't used in ages - it punches wee circles so I adhered some colored cardstock behind the circles so the color would show through.  Then I added a pretty butterfly and a slim layer on which I stamped my sentiment.  Oops!  The sentiment was supposed to go above that layer.  I need to pay better attention to the sketch :( 

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow teammies at CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion have made some fantastic cards so I hope you check them out!

Supplies

Stamps:  A Better You (Clearly Besotted); Simple Sentiments (Avery Elle)

Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight (Stampin' Up!)

Ink:  Night of Navy, Crumb Cake (Stampin' Up!)

Accessories:  Circles die (Little B)

CAS(E) This Sketch 373

I love the layout of our latest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch.  It's a classic design and for some reason put me in mind of some clouds...and a butterfly.

On the background I sponged some clouds using a stencil and I really wanted a pop of color for that circle focal point.  I opted for a butterfly in a bold orange.  I used vellum for the horizontal layer.  The frosty, see-through layer of the vellum didn't detract from the background and gave my good place to stamp my sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you have a chance to join us at CAS(E) This Sketch.  

Supplies

Stamps:  A Better You (Clearly Besotted); Tiny Words (Simon Says Stamp)

Paper:   Soft Stone (Papertrey Ink); Whisper White, Vellum (Stampin' Up!); Bristol Smooth

Ink:  Broken China (Distress Oxide); Autumn Blaze (Altenew); Nocture (Versafine Clair)

Accessoris:  Mini Cloud Edges (My Favorite Things)

CAS(E) This Sketch 227

Hello, hello!  It's time for a new sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch.  It's a classic one for sure designed by N@ Ali.

It's been a while since I used this grid image stamp to take the place of a rectangular "layer" on a card and figured it was high time I took it out and showed it some love.  It's actually one of my favorite images to use for that purpose.  Then I inked up this butterfly image that I've had for ages and never used.  And I am pleased as punch that my wee sentiment fit exactly between the lines of the grid.  And I mean exactly!  Serendipity, that is.  The colors I used come from The Challenge.

The first day of summer here was glorious!  The sun was shining, the temperatures were warm and I enjoyed both of those things when I went for a walk on my lunch hour.  Hopefully there's a lot more where that came from in the days ahead!

Well, that's it for me today.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a chance to check out the inspiration from the design team at CAS(E) This Sketch.  Join us in the gallery too!

Supplies
Stamps:  Off the Grid (Stampin' Up!); A Better You (Clearly Besotted); Hello Hello (The Stamp Market)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah)
Ink:  Hawaiin Shores (Papertrey Ink); Crisp Cantaloupe, Melon Mambo (Stampin' Up!); Jet Black (Altenew)
Accessories:  enamel dots (Doodlebug Designs)

You Tickle My Fancy

I really loved the colors this week at Color Throwdown and the sketch at Fab Friday so I wanted to be sure to play along with both.  I think they are a match made in heaven!

I used my favorite feathers for this card and embossed them with some SU embossing powder.  I also used an old favorite - a scallop circle die!  I remember when your stamping stash was not complete without a plethora of Nestabilities in it.  The scallop circles were especially useful and then in accordance with the fickle nature of crafting supplies they sort of fell out of fashion.  But I've noticed them popping up now and again.   What's old is new again!

The forecasters are predicting another blizzard for tonight and tomorrow.  There's a good chance that the storm will be just far enough north of me that I'll only get another half a foot of snow.  But the winds are expected to be very bad and I am praying I don't lose power.  There's nothing worse than being in a cold, dark house!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies

Stamps:  Feather Finery (Papertrey Ink); Fancy Feathers (Clearly Besotted)

Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Black (Simon Says Stamp); Tempting Turquoise, Vellum (Stampin' Up!)

Ink:  Versamark; Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Petite Scallop Circle die, Standard Circles die (Spellbinders); Washi Tape die (My Favorite Things); Tangerine Tango embossing powder (Stampin' Up!); enamel dots (Freckled Fawn); washi tape

Freshly Made Sketches 246!

I'm very excited that it's Wednesday and time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  Our  beautiful sketch, designed by Rita, has a tag on it which put me in mind of Christmas.

The colors for my card were inspired by the latest Christmas Card Challenge, although I took a little artistic liberty and added some silver sparkle!  Originally I was going to use patterned paper in these colors for the different layers on the tag but then came across an old tag I made that had a sparkly circle on it.  I used that idea for the circle and then added the two triangular trees in green and red to make it extra festive!

The Freshly Made Sketches design team has some great cards to inspire you to play along with us this week, so be sure to check them out.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Modern Christmas (Clearly Besotted); Jingle All the Way (Technique Tuesday)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink); Baja Breeze, Silver Glimmer (SU)
Ink:  Mossy Meadow (SU); Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink); Ruby Red (Altenew)
Accessories:  Femme Frames (Mama Elephant); Small Stitched Rectangle die (Lawn Fawn); Pierced Traditional Tags STAX, Washi Tape die (My Favorite Things); Baja Breeze seam binding ribbon (SU); crochet thread

CAS(E) This Sketch 178!

This week at CAS(E) This Sketch we've got a perfectly clean and simple layout for you.  I went one layer with this one using the colors from Can You Case It and the CAS celebration challenge at the Paper Players.

Over at the Paper Players they are celebrating their 300th challenge!  Can you believe it?  That's an amazing milestone to achieve and I couldn't be happier for them. My celebration card features some dandelions that are doing double-duty as fireworks and the coolest celebration sentiment there is!

Many, many years ago Lesley, who created the Paper Players, asked me to be a guest designer over there for a month.  Once I got over the shock that someone who wasn't related to me actually liked some of the cards I created, I replied with a resounding YES!  That was the first time I got to share some of my projects with a new audience and the experience gave me confidence to realize that what I was creating was pleasing to people.  What a cool thing that was.  Well fast forward a few years and here I am celebrating with them again.  Some of the faces have changed over there, but the inspiration and craftiness prevails!  So ladies, congratulations on this wonderful achievement and here's to 300 more!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope I'll get to see you in the CAS(E) This Sketch gallery this week!

Supplies
Stamps:  Dandelion Dreams (Clearly Besotted); Exclamations (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Smoky Slate, Basic Gray, Real Red (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  sequins

colourQ 334!

Spring has finally sprung!  And we welcomed it here in New England with a bit of a snow storm! It turned out to be nothing, after all the hype of inches upon inches falling on us, and I am totally ok with that.  I'd much rather have warm sunshine on my face than wet snowflakes any day of the week!

Today, we welcome a new challenge at colourQ.  Definitely some spring-time colors here!

I actually made this card a week ago when I thought this was the color palette for March 15th.  Oops!  I don't think I've never been so ahead of myself in my whole life!  But I've got to admit that when I went in to my stamp room this past Sunday to make my DT cards for the week I was quite thankful that their number was reduced by one!

The layout for this card comes from the latest sketch challenge at Sunday Stamps.  I was quite literal with the sketch and let the colors and a big sentiment do the talking here.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have time to check out our latest challenge at colourQ.  The design team has made some beautiful cards to inspire you.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Sunburst (Clearly Besotted); The Big the Bold and You (Winnie & Walter)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Crumb Cake, Coastal Cabana, Melon Mambo, Poppy Parade (SU)

Freshly Made Sketches 217

I think I am officially over Christmas cards.  I feel like I've been doing nothing but churning them out even though I'm pretty sure that last week I made two cards that had nothing to do with Christmas!  I'm glad the season is winding down but I've got another one to show you for this week's Freshly Made Sketches card.  And I might have another one tomorrow :)  This week our hostess is the fabulous Linda Callahan and she's given us a classic sketch!

As tempting as it was to put a big ol' snowflake on my card and call it a day, I chose to use some favorite modern Christmas tree images in the colors of the Just Add Ink challenge.  My horizontal banner became this "merry" die cut that I cut three times and glued together to give it some dimension.  I glued it to the card crooked, but we won't talk about that.

This our last challenge of 2015 at Freshly Made Sketches.  We're taking a little break and the linky for this challenge will stay open until January 4th so you've got plenty of time to play along with us.  We'll be back live with a new challenge on January 6th.  Hopefully you can squeeze us in during the next couple of weeks and then we'll see you all bright eyed and bushy tailed for the new year!

Thanks to everyone who played along with us this year at Freshly Made Sketches.  We're looking forward to a very crafty 2016 with you!

Supplies
Stamps:  Modern Christmas (Clearly Besotted)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Sea Glass (Avery Elle); Bermuda Bay (SU)
Ink:  Silvery Shimmer Delicata; Aquamarine (Avery Elle)
Accessories:  Hand Lettered Holiday die (WPlus9); Pierced Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things)

Freshly Made Sketches 212

Welcome to Wednesday.  Today is Veteran's Day in the United States where we honor the veterans, both past and present, of the United States military.  My own father served in the Marines in the Korean War and I couldn't be more proud of him and his service so I wanted to post a picture of him in his dress blues.  He passed away in 2013 and I miss him every day.  Not so ironically, my parents were married on this day in 1956.  November 11th was a special day for my parents in more ways than one.

Now for what you really came here to see.  Today we reveal a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  The sketch is designed by my friend from down under, Narelle.  I spent a lot of time thinking about this card before I sat down to make it.

After weighing the pros and cons of actual square/rectangular images I decided to go with some of my favorite Christmas images - those triangle trees.  And on my drive home from work on Monday it occurred to me that falling snow would make a pretty cool background for those trees.

The colors this week at the Paper Players the colors were a bit elegant so I wanted to see if I could use them successfully.  My card may not be described as elegant but I like how it turned out just the same!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out my teamies designs at Freshly Made Sketches.  I hope you will be inspired to join us!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Modern Christmas (Clearly Besotted)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); Basic Black, Real Red (SU)
Ink:  Silvery Shimmer Delicata
Accessories:  Blueprints 13 and Blueprints 20 dies (My Favorite Things); Hand Lettered Holiday die (WPlus9); Falling Snow Stencil (Simon Says Stamp); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver)

Freshly Made Sketches 204

Hello, hello!  It's time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our intrepid pilot Jen Timko is our hostess and I am pretty sure that you are going to love her sketch!

At first I intended to make a card with some lovely leaves and some lovely fall colors, but then I saw that Jingle Belles and Shop Our Stash teamed up to encourage Christmas cards made with supplies we already have and I changed my mind.  Plus I'm way behind on my Christmas cards this year so any excuse to add to my Christmas card stash is a good excuse!

You won't be surprised to see that the Freshly Made Sketches design team has made some pretty fabbo cards this week so, if you haven't already, be sure to pop on over there and check them out.  You won't be disappointed!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Modern Christmas (Clearly Besotted); Joyous Noel (Verve)
Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Early Espresso, Blue Bayou, Whispher White (SU)
Ink:  Blue Bayou (SU); Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Pierced Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); Falling Snow stencil (Simon Says Stamp); Transparent Matte Texture Paste (Ranger); Winter Wonderland sequins (Neat & Tangled)

Freshly Made Sketches 199

Hello!  It's Wednesday so that, of course, means it's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is our friend from down under, Karren.  And what a sketch she's given us.  Lots of white space to fulfill all of your CAS dreams!

I was actually oddly out of sorts with the big blank space on this sketch. Odd, for sure, if you know me. But then I got to poking around my stash and found these circular images and got to work randomly stamping them onto all that white space.  One thing I knew for sure I wanted to do was use a big sentiment stamp so I left some room towards the right to accommodate that.  These awesome colors are courtesy of the Can You Case It challenge.

Last Friday my niece got engaged to be married. I, as well as many other family members, knew the proposal was going to happen ahead of time so I made a card last week that I was going to send the happy couple once the deed was done.  It was a very nice card.  But once I got to making this card I realized it would be a much better choice for them .  The other one had flowers and some other boring stuff.  This one has lots of graphic images and one fantastic sentiment - and my niece will definitely appreciate it.

Don't forget that in one short week we will be celebrating 200 sketches at Freshly Made Sketches!  We've got some sponsors and prizes lined up to help us celebrate this milestone so you don't want to miss it.  Wondering who those sponsors might be?  Well, check back on the Freshly Made Sketches blog on Friday to see a little sneaky peeky!

In the meantime, thanks for stopping by here!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Sunburst (Clearly Besotted); Friggin Fabulous (The Ton); Awesome Blossom (The Alley Way Stamps)
Paper:  Pure White Luxury (Gina K); Simply Chartreuse (Papertrey Ink); Whisper White, Basic Black (SU)
Ink:  Simply Chartreuse, Ocean Tides (Papertey Ink); Perfect Plum (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Stitched Sentiment Flag die (Lil' Inker Designs) 

Freshly Made Sketches 196!

Hello!  Today is a new sketch reveal at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week Cindy Hall is our hostess and I love her sketch!  As soon as I saw it I envisioned using some embossing paste and so that's exactly what I did!

I flipped the sketch because I'm much more comfortable in the portrait world than the landscape one!  And I went with a simple black, white and pink color palette.  The bottom portion of my card was embossed with some matte black embossing paste - I just love that stuff!  I randomly stamped some fun circular images, added a bold black sentiment and I was done.  Easy peasy!  And speaking of easy peasy, the CAS challenge this month at Happy Little Stampers is stamping so I'm pretty sure this qualifies over there as well!

Now you may have noticed that this sketch from Freshly Made Sketches is number 196.  That means we've got a pretty big milestone coming up!  That's right on August 19th we will be celebrating our 200th sketch!  Can you believe it?  And we are celebrating in style.  We've got some sponsors lined up (you'll definitely recognize the names) and with that we've got prizes.  Lots and lots of prizes.  So stay tuned and get ready to join us!

Thanks for stopping by and please pop on over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog to see what my fabulous teamies have been up to!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Sunburst (Clearly Besotted)
Paper:  Basic Black, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White (SU)
Ink:  Pink Pirouette (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories: Pierced Rectangle STAX, Equalizer stencil (My Favorite Things); black embossing paste (Wendy Vecchi); black rhinestones (Kaiser Craft)

Happy Birthday and Some Cat Hair

When you have pets crafting can be somewhat challenging.  I have two cats who like to be in my stamp room when I am in there (and sometimes when I'm not).  One of them is not happy unless he is laying down on my desk in the exact spot where I work.  The other one is not happy unless she is sitting on my lap and occasionally pawing at my chin.  Neither is happy unless they leave a trail of fur wherever they go.  Today that trail of fur lead to one of the stamps on my card, which lead to a little squiggly line because, of course, that fur picked up ink.

I'm hoping that you can't see the squiggly line, but in case you are looking it is on the right side of the "a" in "happy."  :(

I made my card using the colors at Color Throwdown and the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch.  When I first saw that sketch I was stumped but the more I looked at it the more I wanted to try it.  At first I was going to use some floral images but then I spied this set of random circles in my stash (that had yet to see ink) so I switched gears and used that instead.  And the sentiment is an oldy-but-goody from Stampin' Up!  I had forgotten all about it and stumbled across it the other day when I was organizing and resolved to use it soon.  And soon is now upon us!

I've been trying to get my vegetable garden going over the last couple of weeks and last weekend I finally got just about everything planted.  I hadn't been down to check on things for a few days and when I went down there today to water discovered that the woodchuck, who has been the bane of my existence since last year, got in there and ate everything except the peppers.  I reinforced the fencing around the garden last fall so now I'm not sure how he's getting in there, but I'm now ready to call the pest control guy to get rid of this little son-of-a-gun.  Grrrrr.

But enough of that!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Happy Everything (SU); Sunburst (Clearly Besotted)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  So Saffron, Cameo Coral, Old Olive (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

As You See It Guest Designer

I'm so excited to tell you that I'm the guest designer over at the As You See It challenge this week!  I love playing along with their challenges so I was very excited when Amanda asked me to join them.  This week the challenge is shades of purple and it's also a speed stamping challenge!

The idea behind a speed stamping challenge is to try to make your project in 10 minutes or less.  I've done a few of these before so I know that I need to carefully plot out my design and have all the supplies I'll need handy so I don't waste time trying to find things in my stamp room.  So with my stamps and dies at the ready, the sketch from Hand Stamped Sentiments as my layout and a little washi tape inspiration from City Crafter Challenge I set to work.  I thought for sure that I would go over 10 minutes but I'm pleased to say that I had this all put together in 8 minutes, 3 seconds!  Woo hoo!

I want to extend a bit thank you to Amanda and all the ladies at As You See It for liking my work and asking me to join them this week!  I'm grateful beyond words!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge (SU); Celebrate Artsy (Stamplorations); Dandelion Dreams (Clearly Besotted

Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Concord Crush, Vellum (SU)

Ink:  Concord Crush, Wisteria Wonder (SU); Dusty Concord (Distress Inks)

Accessories:  Traditional Tags STAX, Pierced Traditional Tags STAX (My Favorite Things); Cheviot Butterfly die, Delaney Butterfly die (Poppystamps); Basic Rhinestone (SU); washi tape, white crochet thread, white seam binding ribbon