Fusion - At the Movies

Hi all!  I'm a bit late to share my Fusion card with you but here we go!  The theme is at the movies, but it was the sketch and the colors from the photo that caught my eye.  The red couch prompted me to incorporate red in my card and the movie theme got me digging around in my stash for this film strip stamp.

I stamped the flowers on this card first then stamped the film strip over them.  I was not happy with how it looked so I stamped the flowers again on some vellum, added some clear embossing powder over those images (a trick I learned because ink and vellum = wet) and then fussy cut the flowers.  I placed them over the original stamped images and I liked this so much better! 

Thanks for stopping by!  Our Fusion challenge is going on now.  You can play with the sketch, the inspiration photo, or combine the two.  It's your choice!

Supplies
Stamps:  Film Strip I (Creative Embellishments); Zig Zag Floral (Altenew); Celebration of Thanks (Verve)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Vellum (Graphix)
Ink:  Crimson (Altenew); Nocturne (Versafine Clair); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  clear embossing powder

Fusion - Poppies

We've got a great new challenge for you at Fusion!  The inspiration photo is full of beautiful poppies but, alas, I didn't have any of those in my stash so I took my cues from the colors and from flowers in general and combined them, along with the sketch, to make this card.

The filmstrip is inspired by the vertical element on the sketch and was the first stamp I thought of using when I saw the sketch.  I stamped it in gray, so that it would be a little muted behind the brightly colored flowers.  I colored the flowers by scribbling some colors with Copic markers then stamping the flowers over my scribbles and fussy cutting them out.  I made this a slimline card to add to the TGIF Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!  My Fusion teammates have made some fabulous cards so be sure to check them out!  I hope you'll join us!

Supplies

Stamps:  Pocket  Full of Posies, Petite Posies (Technique Tuesday); Film Strip I (Creative Embellishments)

Paper:  Whisper White, Smoky Slate (Stampin' Up!)

CAS(E) This Sketch 276

It's time for a brand new sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch!  That background of floating stars really had me thinking a lot about how to interpret them.  First I thought I'd go literal and use some stars (not very original), then I thought about flowers along a vine.  I ended up going with something completely different!

There is a geometric challenge at AAA Cards and a rainbow challenge at Addicted to CAS so I thought I'd combine those two with our CAS(E) This Sketch challenge.  The grid image provided the perfect background for some rainbow colored squares.  I chose a random pattern to color the little squares to mimic the random pattern of the stars on the sketch.  And finally I topped it all off with this bold sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!  My friends at CAS(E) This Sketch have made some fantastic cards to inspire you this week so I hope you will play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  All About You (My Favorite Things); Distressed Grid (Creative Embellishments)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); White (Catherine Pooler); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Copics
Accessories:  You Trio die (My Favorite Things)

Freshly Made Sketches 229!

This week at Freshly Made Sketches we've got a fantastic sketch designed by Cindy Hall.  As soon as I saw it I had a vague idea to use a film strip stamp that I've had for ages and never used.  I wasn't really sure how it was going to come together but I was determined to use that stamp!

I used some washi for the vertical layer then arranged the film strip images like the diamonds in the sketch.  I am following the color challenge at Cupcake Inspirations so I added an orange flower and some greenery.  I love this color combo!

The Freshly Made Sketches design team has put together some beautiful cards to amaze and delight you - not to mention that they will get your creative juices flowing.  So be sure to check them out and join us in the gallery this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes (SU); Film Strip I (Creative Embellishments)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); Garden Green, Certainly Celery (SU)
Ink:  Pumpkin Pie (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Leafy Greenery die (My Favorite Things); SU washi tape

Freshly Made Sketches 223!

Hello! We've got a fantastic new sketch for you this week at Freshly Made Sketches brought to you by our intrepid color mix-master Amy!

 

I thought a tag would be a good substitute for the circle and a butterfly on that tag would be lovely.  What I didn't count on was card-makers block when it came down to those criss-cross layers.  I thought of washi tape and several different stamped images before I remembered that my fellow teammate Jen Timko's card featured some scrunched up thread instead.  So borrowing her idea I arranged some gold cord behind the tag.  The whole thing looked a little plain to me so I stamped a distressed grid on the background to give this some faux texture.

The colors this week at Color Throwdown are too pretty to pass up - I love the bit of gold!

Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to stop by Freshly Made Sketches and check out the sketch and the inspiration from the design team.  I hope you'll be inspired to join us in the gallery!

Supplies

Stamps:  Painted Butterflies (Altenew); Distressed Grid (Creative Embellishments)

Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Whisper White, Blushing Bride (SU)

Ink:  Regal Rose, Rich Razzleberry(SU); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Golden Glitz Delicata

Accessories:  Anytime Tags 2 die (Lil' Inker Designs); gold cord (SU)

Tag You're It 38!

TGIF!  This is the first Friday I've had to go to work in a couple of weeks and I've got to say that I'm not loving it.  I could get used to getting off early on Thursday then having a three day weekend every week!  But alas reality sets in and I'm back to my regular Monday to Friday thing.  But the good news is that we're back at Tag You're It for a new challenge!

Isn't Tracey's tag adorable?  I didn't have any elephants but I did have this cute polar bear and thought he'd be an ok balloon holding substitute.  Tracey's watercolored background made me a little nervous, since me and my watercolors are barely on speaking terms, but my friend Karren recently turned me onto a watercoloring technique from SonjaK that I thought even I could do so I decided to give it a try for this tag.

I'm pretty pleased with how this came out. I smooshed some pretty colors around until I was happy with the look then popped up my bear and gave him some heart shaped balloons to hold!  Easy peasy.  And since Seize the Birthday and Stampin' Royalty are looking for birthday projects I'm going to add this to those challenges as well!

Well that's it for me today.  Thanks so much for stopping by.  Be sure to check out the other tags from the Tag You're It Design team.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Birthday Bears (My Favorite Things); Wish Big (The Alley Way Stamps); Distressed Grid (Creative Embellishments)
Paper:  Night of Navy, Real Red, Pretty in Pink (SU); Distress Watercolor Cardstock
Ink:  Weathered Wood, Stormy Sky,  Chipped Sapphire (Distress); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Copics
Accessories:  Birthday Bears die (My Favorite Things); Tag die, Tag Layers die (My Creative Time); black seam binding ribbon; black crochet thread; white embossing powder

Christmas Cheer

My vacation is winding down and I have been strangely absent from my stamp room for the last few days.  I thought I'd have lots of time to get inky while off from work, but other things seem  to have taken up a lot of my time this past week, Thanksgiving included.  But I did manage to get some crafting time in last night making a card for the Color Throwdown and Sketch Saturday challenges (I chose sketch #223).

I recently picked up some patterned paper at TJMaxx for a ridiculously cheap price.  Lord knows I didn't need any more but it was a bargain and I was weak!  I've been dying to use it ever since so I took the opportunity presented by the layers in the sketch to use some of it.  The color challenge called for some silver to I die cut this deer from Silver Glimmer paper because in the fantasy land that is my stamp room deer are also silver (as well as being the boring light brown ones I find eating the plants in my garden).

I wanted to share one more photo with you about this card.  I was setting up to photograph it and as I was adjusting the settings on my camera, someone wandered into the shot.

Talk about nosy!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Jingle All the Way (Technique Tuesday); Distressed Grid (Creative Embellishments)

Paper:  Kraft, Ocean Tides (Papertrey Ink); Dove Gray (WPlus9); Basic Black, Silver Glimmer (SU); Snow Village (Pink Paislee)

Ink:  Soft Stone (Papertrey Ink); Silver Metallic (Encore)

Accessories:  Pierced Circle STAX (My Favorite Things); Banner Trio die (WPlus9); Deer Trio die (Impression Obsession)

Autumn Wishes

I was so productive yesterday.  I managed to make three cards, try a different take on some shepard's pie, go to the supermarket, watch some football and all of that in plenty of time to watch the season premier of The Walking Dead.  That's a good day I say to myself!

The first card I made was for the color challenge at The Paper Players, uses the layout at Deconstructed Sketch, the Autumn theme at As You See It and a button and sentiment for Sentimental Sundays.  Whew!

I wish the three leaves showed up a little better, but they all seem to blend together a bit.  I rock and rolled the colors on them but was having a hard time adding a little definition between them with my extra juicy Mossy Meadow ink pad.  It kept adding much more color than I wanted so I stopped trying to do it before I ruined them.  They look better in real life!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  French Foliage (SU); Distressed Grid (Creative Embellishments); Fall Colors (Precious Remembrance)

Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Hello Honey, Mossy Meadow, Tangelo Twist, Very Vanilla (SU)

Ink:  Hello Honey, Tangerine Tango, Mossy Meadow (SU)

Accessories:  Candy Cane button, Always Artichoke seam binding ribbon, Decorative Dots embossing folder (SU); Pierced Square STAX (My Favorite Things)

colourQ 254

So I signed up recently for the Watercolor For Card Makers online card class and finally got a chance to watch some of the videos on Sunday.  Of course, now I want to watercolor everything that isn't nailed down and, no surprise, my card today for colourQ features one of the techniques I learned.

I embossed a background stamp first then splashed some colors around using lots of water to create the background layer in a watercolor technique meets emboss resist sort of way.  It was fun to do and fun to just splash some color around without regard to how it landed.  I tend towards clean and simple cards so to give up control of the color is very liberating indeed!

I'm also giving credit to the sketch at Fusion for this card as well as the butterfly challenge at CAS on Sunday.  Nothing like a butterfly to make everything pretty!

It's no surprise that the colourQ design team has made some amazing cards using these colors so make sure you check them out.  We'd love to see you in the gallery this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Kinda Eclectic (SU); Say What (Mama Elephant); Distressed Grid (Creative Embellishments)

Paper:  Strathmore Watercolor Paper; Early Espresso (SU); Vellum (Papertrey Ink)

Ink:  Kiwi Kiss, Coastal Cabana, Pumpkin Pie (SU); Versamark; White (WPlus9)

Accessories:  Basic Pearls (SU)

Freshly Made Sketches 141

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our hostess is Cindy Hall and she has come up with a super-fantastic sketch!  Cindy has got an amazing eye for design and it shows in her sketch this week.  Take a look!

I chose the colors for my card for no other reason that I happened to turn my eye onto my Marina Mist ink pad and realized that I hadn't used in in a while.  That's as good a reason as any, I think!  I stamped a distressed background first then stamped the floral images, coloring them with blender pens so that the color would look a little water-colory.  It actually came out better than I thought it would.

As you can imagine, the Freshly Made Sketches have cooked up some fantastic cards for you this week so make sure you check them out.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Distressed Grid (Creative Embellishments); Charming Gardners (a.muse studio); Be (Simon Says Stamp)

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Crumb Cake, Marina Mist (SU); Black Licorice Hybrid (My Favorite Things); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Freshly Made Sketches 134

Halfway through the week - YAY!  This week at Freshly Made Sketches Karren is our hostess and her sketch is a real treat to work with.  Karren ranks up there as one of my card making heroes.  Not only is she a very funny lady, but she creates the most amazing cards!

I had a million ideas running around my head when I saw the sketch.  I knew that I wanted to start with some patterned paper for the background layer, so I started this card-making journey by perusing my monster stash of DSP.  I've always loved the colors in Urban Oasis (still mad about SU retiring Kiwi Kiss), so I started my card there.  I quickly chose Basic Gray and Kiwi Kiss added a pop of color from Regal Rose and I was done!  Easy Peasy!

I hope you can join us this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  The design team have got some great cards to inspire you to be sure to check them out!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Distressed Grid (Creative Embellishments); Thanks (Simon Says Stamp)

Paper:  Basic Gray, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White, Urban Oasis DSP (SU)

Ink:  Kiwi Kiss, Basic Gray, Regal Rose

Accessories:  Pierced Circle STAX, Fancy Flourish die (My Favorite Things); Enamel Dew Drops (Freckled Fawn); baker's twine (American Crafts)

Freshly Made Sketches 130

Hello everyone!  We are halfway through the work-week and thank goodness for that!  Work has been crazy and I'm especially grateful when I can come home and escape to my stamp room.  Nothing like playing around with paper and ink to soothe the soul.  Today, of course, is the sketch reveal at Freshly Made Sketches and this week our sketch is designed by the incomparable Linda Callahan.

t occurred to me that it had been a while since I made a Christmas card.  And since one of  my resolutions for the new year was to make Christmas cards regularly throughout the year I figured I better hop to.  The inspiration at Festive Friday was right up my alley for this resolution.  There's lots of white, a bit of brown and green, and some beautiful natural twine.  These colors inspired my card where I used a die cut pine bough and some burlap and jute twine.

As always, the Freshly Made Sketches design team has created some awesome cards this week so make sure you head on over there to check them out.  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Christmas Quotes (KaiserCraft); Distressed Grid (Creative Embellishments)

Ink:  Crumb Cake, Early Espresso (SU)

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

Accessories:  Pine Branch die (Impression Obsession); Kraft vintage button (PTI); Chocolate Iridescent sequins (Ellen Hutson); jute twine, burlap

colourQ 231 and Seize the Sketch 15

Happy Tuesday!  Today there's a new color palette at colourQ and a new sketch from Seize the Sketch designed by Cathy.  Since St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner it's appropriate that Arielle chose the colors from this tea set.

I found this shamrock stamp in my stash.  I'm pretty sure that I got it in the dollar bin at Michael's a million years ago.  I don't own a lot of St. Patrick's Day stamps (my Irish grandfather would be so sad), but this one happens to be my favorite.  And in an effort to use my stencils and embossing paste, I created the vertical layer in the sketch with these hexagons.  I thought they looked a little plain so I dusted them with some green Perfect Pearls.  Big mistake.  Although they are kind of sparkly in real life, here they looked smudged, like they got run over by the car in the driveway.

Go check out the colourQ and Seize the Sketch challenges and see all the amazing card the design teams have created.  Hopefully you'll have time to join us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Distressed Grid (Creative Embellishments)

Paper:  White Linen (Ellen Hutson); Basic Gray, Glorious Green, Urban Oasis DSP (SU); Neenah Solar White

Ink:  Gumball Green

Accessories:  Chevron stencil (Heidi Swapp); Starburst Framelit (SU); embossing paste (Dreamweaver); baker's twine (American Crafts); Cakewalk button (October Afternoon); Perfect Pearls (Ranger)