Freshly Made Sketches 532

Hi all!  It's Wednesday so that means we have a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is Kim and I know her sketch will inspire so many designs!

I love to take a sketch that looks like it has layers and make a card that has none.  So I stamped a sentiment, masked it off, then stamped the floral design over it.  I drew a box around the whole thing and voila!  I made a card using the sketch!  My colors were inspired by the Just Us Girls challenge and the one layer design was inspired by Addicted to CAS.

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches design team members have made some great cards to inspire you to play along with us so be sure to check them out.

Supplies

Stamps:  Botanical Silhouettes (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair); Crimson (Altenew)

Dynamic Duos 11 and Less is More 76

Today is the last day of my vacation before I have to return to work.  I'm rather sad about this because I love being home in the summer when the weather is hot, I can smell the flowers in my garden from my kitchen window, and I can laze around and do nothing if I want.  Of course, vacations at my house are usually quite busy as I try to accomplish all the odd jobs that I never seem to do when I'm working, but I still managed to find time to stamp just about every day!

My card today features the Dynamic Duo colors of Pink Pirouette and Baja Breeze.  And since it's been a while since I participated in a challenge at Less is More, I tried my hand at their One Layer challenge incorporating the number three in one way or another.  (I used three stamped images).

I did a little masking again.  I stamped the flower from Everything Eleanor first, then created a mask for it.  Then I stamped the Baja Breeze image and got the unfortunate "halo effect" around the flower.  I created a mask for that image and stamped the flourish in Pink Pirouette.  To take care of the halo effect, I took a Baja Breeze marker and carefully pounced it around the white space.  A close inspection will reveal this, but from a distance it looks pretty good.  And since whoever the recipient of this card is, I'm sure he (or more likely she) will not be so critical of the images as I am and won't notice this little goof!

It seems every time I visit someone's blog lately, all talk is about the heat.  My neck of the woods has not been immune and the upcoming week is predicted to be hotter still.  As I write this (Saturday night) the temperatures are hot and sticky and the only air moving is from my ceiling fans!  I hope everyone stays safe until the weather cools down! 

Create With Connie and Mary 208

The challenge this week at Create With Connie and Mary is to use the fantastic color combo of Basic Gray, Real Red, and Pumkin Pie.  While I was pondering my card, I came across a technique I'd not heard of before called the "bordered sentiment."  It's a fantastic way to show off a fabulous sentiment.   Take a look:

I stamped the sentiment from Word Play in Basic Gray then drew lines at the top and bottom of it to create a border.  I used a scrap of paper as a mask and stamped the flowers from Reason to Smile (available for a VERY special price in July).  This stamp set is perfect for a little two-step stamping and these colors are to die for!  I really love how this turned out.  The eye is drawn to the sentiment and the masked flowers frame it so well. 

Don't forget to head on over to Create With Connie and Mary and check out the challenge and the design team creations.  Then use the linky tool to show us your creation.  I can't wait to see what you do!