Silent Night

I've been quietly trying to add to my Christmas card stash this year in an attempt to avoid the mad rush that usually ensues when November rolls around and I realize I don't have enough cards made.  To that end I used a brand new die that allowed me to play along with the Silent Night challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown and the Just Add Something New challenge at Just Add Ink.

I've been obsessed with Nativity scene dies lately and have purchased a few recently.   This one I got after the 2018 season but I think it's a great addition to my stash and am looking forward to using it this year.  I love how it makes a great silhouette when cut in black.  I layered it onto this fabulous watercolor wash patterned paper and with the gold glimmer star I think I've got a great Christmas card!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Black Licorice, Watercolor Wash Brights (My Favorite Things); gold glimmer (Recollections)
Accessories:  Wise Men die (Tim Holtz/Sizzix); Holy Stars die (Simon Says Stamp)

Joyous Noel

I had some extra time Saturday so I went into my craft room and made a card with a new poinsettia die that I got recently.  I wanted to do a white on white design but I liked the challenge at Color Throwdown so I did a hybrid!  They are looking for glitter at Just Add Ink so I used gold glimmer paper for the center of the flower I sprayed the petals with glitter dust.  Hard to see in the picture, but very pretty in real life.

I did a little splatter behind the flower in pewter embossing powder.  This card really has some nice shimmer and shine to it.

Well that's it for me today.  Gotta get ready for some football!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Joyous Noel (Verve); Mini72 (PaperArtsy)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); gold foil paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Jet Black (Altenew); Versamark
Accessories:  Layered Poinsettia die (Spellbinders); Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box); Glitter Dust (Therm-o-web); pewter embossing powder

colourQ 367!

Finally it is election day here in the US.  Hopefully everyone's Facebook feed can return to normal!  It's also time for a new palette from your friends at colourQ.  The colors may say fall to you, but I chose to use flowers.

Everything old is new again.  I found some old SU specialty paper with a bunch of white on white designs so I used a piece of that as my background layer, then I used my scallop Nesties to create the circular layers.  It's been a dog's age since I used a scallop circle!

The layout that inspired those circles is from Just Add Ink and I'm also joining the flower challenge at CAS on Sunday.

Well that's it for me.  I'm typing this in the morning quickly just before I head off to work.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can join us at colourQ this week!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fonds Grunge (4enscrap)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Cool Caribbean, Old Olive, Really Rust, Presto Patterns (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Cool Caribbean (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Classic Scallop Small die, Standard Circles Small die, Standard Circles Large die (Spellbinders); Wild Gardenia die (Essentials by Ellen); Metallic Metal dots (My Mind's Eye)

Freshly Made Sketches 250!

Day two of digging into my stash for the kind of supplies that many years ago I used all the time.  Yesterday I mentioned feeling a bit nostalgic about designing cards with layers, patterned paper, flowers, leaves, and texture - things I don't use very often any more.  So my card this week for Freshly Made Sketches features a few of those things.  Our sketch this week is brought to you by Cécile and it's got this fantastic angled layer that you are going to love!

The colors from the inspiration photo at Just Add Ink gave me the colors for my card (that wooden fence looked a lot more gray when I printed the graphic out, which is why my card has a gray background)!  I used up some really old DSP with a subtle print on it and layered a die cut flower using a new die I recently got.  The leaves are from a new-to-me company located in France called Simply Graphic.  Cécile uses dies from them all the time and she inspired me to do some shopping!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a chance to play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Be sure to pop on over there and check out the inspiration from our amazing design team!

Supplies
Stamps:  Thank You Kindly (SU)
Paper:  Fog (Simon Says Stamp); Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, Sweet Pea DSP (SU)
Ink:  Cement Gray (Simon Says Stamp)
Accessories:  Plentiful Petals die (My Favorite Things); petit assortment d'automne die (Simply Graphic)

The Challenge #60

Happy Monday!  Today is a holiday for me so I'm home from work.  The weather has been uncharacteristically frigid so I haven't really enjoyed my long weekend with any special outdoor activities, but it's nice to be home relaxing all the same.

A few weeks ago one of my cards was chosen as a top pick at The Challenge so today I'm joining the ladies there as a guest designer!  The color challenge inspired a Valentine - a day late and a dollar short!

I actually had no intention of doing another Valentine, but I saw the sketch at CAS Colours & Sketches and thought the word "love" would look pretty good scrawled across the front of my card.  Then the challenge at Just Add Ink was to add a "V" so I had that covered too.  I'm pretty sure that this is the last Valentine that I'll make this year!  Finally it's one layer week at Less is More, where I haven't played along in a while so I'm adding this over there as well.

Thanks so much for stopping by and a big thanks to Lesley and the rest of the Design Team at The Challenge for inviting me along this week!

Supplies
Stamps:  Circles Circles Circles (Whimsy Stamps); The Big the Bold and the Happy (Winnie & Walter)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Real Red, Pink Pirouette, Basic Gray (SU)

colourQ 326!

Happy Tuesday!  I hope all of you who were hit with Snowmageddon on the east coast made it through ok!  And if you are cooped up in the house because your street is covered in snow then feel free to join us at colourQ where we have some new colors to tempt you into a crafting mood!

I wanted to make a pretty floral card, especially since everything is covered in snow, but I got distracted by this big butterfly die that I haven't used yet.  It's been a while since I stuck a butterfly on a card!

I took some inspiration from the Just Add Ink sketch and took a little poetic license from it as well but I think you can still see the sketch in there!

Thanks so much for stopping by and don't forget to check out the beautiful inspiration from my colourQ teamies!  These gorgeous colors have inspired a plethora of gorgeous cards from them!

Supplies
Stamps:  Bokeh Dots (Essentials by Ellen); Hand Lettered Thanks (WPlus9)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Daffodil Delight, Vellum (SU)
Ink:  Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink); Wisteria Wonder, Old Olive (SU)
Accessories:  Vivienne Butterfly die, Darla Butterfly die (Simon Says Stamp); Basic Pearl (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)

colourQ317

We've got some pretty colors  for you this week at colourQ!  The inspiration photo made me think of a long forgotten wreath stamp set that I had in my stash.

I found one lonely sheet of Lovely Lilac cardstock in my stash so I used that for my card base. It looks blue in the photo but I promise that it's not.  Unfortunately I didn't have the same ink so I had to substitute another ink for the berries on the wreath and it's not even remotely the same color purple. I hope it doesn't look too weird!

The sketch challenge at Just Add Ink was perfect for this wreath.  My wreath doesn't hang over the edge but I like it all the same!  I hope the ladies there will forgive me!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a chance to check out our challenge at colourQ!  My lovely teamies have created some beautiful cards for you to see this week.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Wreath For All Seasons (Papertrey Ink); Artful Flowers (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Lovely Lilac (SU); White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Rich Razzleberry, Soft Sky (SU); Lavender Moon (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Diagonal Stripes stencil (Simon Says Stamp); translucent embossing paste (Dreamweave); Clear Droplets (Pretty Pink Posh)

Freshly Made Sketches 197

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Today we reveal a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is Jen Brum and I think you'll agree she's given us a winner!

As soon as I saw the sketch I knew that I wanted to use this vertical die.  It works so well with these long and skinny sentiments.  And since the challenge this week at Just Add Ink is to add butterflies I opted for one of those in place of the square on the sketch.

Don't forget that the countdown is on to our 200th sketch celebration at Freshly Made Sketches!  On August 19th we are celebrating in style with tons of sponsors, giveaways, and some guest designers too!  So mark your calendar and get ready to play along!

In the meantime I hope you can join us this week for this fabulous sketch challenge!  Our Freshly Made Sketches design team has rocked this as usual and you should pop on over there to check their cards out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Words of Wisdom (Verve)
Paper:  Soft Stone (Papertrey Ink); Basic Gray, Blue Bayou, Whisper White (SU)
Ink:  Blue Bayou (SU)
Accessories:  Blueprints 13 die, Vertical Greetings II die (My Favorite Things); Linen Impression plate (Papertrey Ink); Delaney Butterfly die, Cheviot Butterfly die (Poppystamps); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

Thank You

I had a grand plan to combine the color challenge at Just Add Ink with the sketch challenge at Cardabilities.  But by the time I got through with my card I had lost sight of the sketch and I couldn't, in good conscience, claim that I was following along with it.

I had several pro-types of this card going at once and it actually took me a while before I settled on this version (which, I suppose, is why I abandoned the sketch at some point).  I had a bunch of different flowers that I considered using and laid them all out in a dry run before I settled on these flowers.  The centers are made with a Viva Decor Pearl Pen, which takes some time to dry, so I actually made this Saturday night but waited until Sunday to assemble all the pieces.

Well that's it for me.  I'm typing this while watching Sunday Night Football and I'm just about ready to settle down with a big bowl of popcorn and the last half of the game!  It's too hard to stamp and watch TV at the same time!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Label Love (Altenew); Slight Alterations, Urban Chic, Going  Somewhere (Tim Holtz)

Paper:  Dove Gray (WPlus9); Wild Wasabi, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red, Strawberry Slush (SU)

Ink:  Soft Stone, True Black (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories:  Lavish Branch die, Petal Party die (Memory Box); Viva Decor Pearl Pen

Freshly Made Sketches 151

Whew, another week has whisked by and it's time for a brand new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  All month long we've been joined by Kim Singdahlsen as our guest designer and we somehow managed to rope her into designing a sketch for us this week!  It's got her flair for layers while also keeping a clean and simple design.  You're going to love it!

As I was contemplating my card I ran across these colors at Just Add Ink and although they seemed a little scary at first I really wanted to see if I could combine them.  I started to think about backgrounds and what colors should go where.  Then I saw that Kim used a tag on her card which made me think about the current Tag You're It challenge.  Somehow it all came together and this is the result.  The inspiration at Tag You're It had embedded die cuts which I duplicated with this small and relatively detailed die cut.  I learned at one of my Online Card Classes to save all the little bits and pieces when doing this inlaid technique and I can honestly say that this is very good advice.  Very good advice.

You might guess that the Freshly Made Sketches design team has knocked this sketch out of the park and you'd be right!  We've really enjoyed having Kim join us this month and we are truly thrilled that she designed our sketch this week.  Please join us by playing along!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Off the Grid (SU); Label Love (Altenew)

Paper:  Pure Luxury (Gina K); Calypso Coral, Mossy Meadow, Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Always Artichoke (SU)

Accessories:  Tag Me die (Reverse Confetti); Leafy Branch die (Impression Obsession); white seam binding ribbon; crochet thread

Freshly Made Sketches 148

Hey there!  This week I get to be the challenge hostess at Freshly Made Sketches and I designed an easy sketch that is full of simple squares and rectangles.  There's lots of room for interpretation in this one!  For my card I added in the colors at Just Add Ink because they are some of my favorites.  Take a look.

I love this label stamp set so much that I bought one of the Dymo labelers that puts out these plastic labels.  The reviews on Amazon were wishy-washy with several people complaining that after a few tries the labeler stopped working.   But I really loved the idea of creating my own labels in whatever sentiment I wanted so I dropped the $12 and bought it.  Well, guess what.  I made a few experimental labels that were perfect.  Then I went to make some labels for this card and the stupid thing won't work!  I think I'll  take it apart and see if anything looks amiss (cuz really, something IS amiss) but I'm really disappointed that the dumb thing won't work.

Now in case you haven't heard (and if you haven't it's because you haven't "liked" Freshly Made Sketches on Facebook or you haven't subscribed to the blog via email or reader - and why haven't you now that I think on it?) but this month we are thrilled to have Kim Singdahlsen join us as a Guest Designer!  She's a regular player and we are tickled pink that she'll be creating right along side us.  

Of course, the rest of the Freshly Made Sketches design team have got some great cards to show you so make sure you head on over there to check them out.  I'd love it if you took my sketch, created something fabbo as you always do, and joined us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Dot Spot (Papertrey Ink); Label Love (Altenew)

Paper:  Stampers Select White, True Black, Harvest Gold (Papertrey Ink); Smoky Slate (SU)

Ink:  Harvest Gold (Papertrey Ink); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Dot Fade stencil (Tim Holtz); Translucent Embossing Paste (Dreamweaver)

Yay!

Whenever I take a little stamping break it seems to take me forever to get my mojo going again.  It took me about two days to make the card here because I found myself wandering around my stamp room without a clear purpose!

In the end I combined the color challenge at CAS-ual Fridays with the sketch from Just Add Ink.  It's been ages since I've participated in either challenge so it feels good to join in the fun.  I'm pretty sure I over-did the orange splatters and I seriously considered doing scrapping this and starting again, but decided to leave it as is.  I wish I had listened to my first instinct!!

The weather here promises to be picture perfect this weekend so I hope to get outside and enjoy a little sunshine on my face.  Summer is winding down and it won't be long before we're all wearing sweaters again so I think I'll try and enjoy these warm t-shirt days while I can!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge (SU); Scribble and Spill (Stamping Bella); Good Point (The Alley Way Stamps); Exclamations (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps)

Accessories:  washi tape

TAWS August Release Blog Hop!

It' Blog Hop time at The Alley Way Stamps as we celebrate the new release!  One lucky person has a chance to win the entire release, so keep reading to find out how!

I've got some co-workers that are so into zombies that I immediately fell in love with Bump In the Night and especially this fun guy!

Now, how about those stamp sets you can win!  Here are the ways that you can so it.  You can pick and choose the ones you want to do, but the more you comment, the more chances you have to win!

1. Comment on The Alley Way Stamps blog
2. Comment on the Design Team blogs (you'll find links below)
3. Post about the release on Facebook or your own blog
4. Like us on Facebook

Be sure to leave a comment for each that you do.  You have until 9:30 TAWS time to leave them.

And that's not all!  For the month of August this fun mini set, Funky Feet is FREE when you spend $40 or more!  It will be automatically added to your order.  You don't have to do anything but shop!

Here are the links to the rest of the DT.  Be sure to leave some comments as you hop around for your chance to win some free stamps!

Good luck!