CAS(E) This Sketch 181!

Our new challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch, designed by Leigh Penner, is beautiful in its simplicity and I had a few ideas in my head for my card when I happened upon the inspiration challenge at Global Design Project.  The use of gold was eye-poppingly delicious so I decided right then and there to use some gold on my card.

I own a couple of gold ink pads and they are quite different from each other.  The one I chose to use on this card is a kind of a subtle sparkly gold and I actually wish I had used the other, which is much more vibrant.  But, on the other hand, the subtleness of this one makes the gold butterfly really stand out which was really my goal anyway!  The inspiration photo had some wee rhinestones scattered around the card so I added a few to mine too.  Perfect for The Mixed Media Card Challenge!

Thanks for stopping by and checking out my card.  Our design team at CAS(E) This Sketch has got some fabulous card to show you using this sketch so you don't want to miss them.  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies

Stamps:  Distressed Background Blocks (My Favorite Things); Mixed Media Elements (Stamplorations); Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Gold Foil (SU); White (Spectrum Noir)

Ink:  Gold (Encore); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Floral & Fllutter dies (Concord & 9th); Basic Rhinestones (SU)

Freshly Made Sketches 162

Happy Wednesday everyone!  Today is the new sketch reveal at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess and sketch designer is Kim and her fun sketch is an homage to her love of creating scenes in the corner of a card.  I can't wait to see the gallery this week and how you interpret the sketch.  For my part, I seem to be single mindedly focused on Christmas cards lately so I've continued that trend today.

I've used a few different things on my card so that I could play along with the Christmas challenge at Mixed Media Card Challenge using the colors from The Paper Players.  I started with some embossing paste that I colored with a Mossy Meadow reinker and after having tried a few different stencils settled on this chevron design.  I used patterned paper to add some "texture" wrapped some baker's twine around the main layer and threw in a button for good measure!

This work week is going by awfully slowly.  Probably because I'm on vacation next week and I'm impatient for it to start!  I plan on catching up on all the online card class videos that I haven't watched (which will probably inspire a shopping trip or two), getting my Christmas shopping done, finishing up my Christmas cards and just generally relaxing before the craziness of the holiday season sets in!

Thanks for stopping by today and be sure to head on over to Freshly Made Sketches to see the beautiful inspiration from the design team!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Joyous Noel (Verve)

Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow (SU); Holiday Cheer (Papertrey Ink)

Ink:  Mossy Meadow reinker (SU); Versamark

Accessories:  Blueprints 13 die (My Favorite Things); Chevron stencil (Heidi Swapp); Christmas Tree die (Impression Obsession); Make it Merry button (October Afternoon); Cherry Cobbler baker's twine (SU); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver); white embossing powder

Be Yourself on the 4th of July

Happy 4th of July to all my American friends!  Where I live we'll be celebrating the 5th of July because Hurricane Arthur is going to dump lots of rain on the area so all the parades and fireworks have been pushed off a day.  No worries here, though because I'm going to take the opportunity to do some housework, sell some stuff on eBay then get down and dirty in my stamp room.

Today I've got a tag to show you that I made for the new Mixed Media Card Challenge using the colors from Colour Me.  This is my first foray into the world of mixed media other than adding the occasional scrap of ribbon or embossing paste on a card.  I thought long and hard about this challenge before I decided to jump in with both feet and I even searched mixed media on Pinterest to get a feel for what it's all about.

The theme for the first challenge was nature with the option of making a tag, so that's exactly what I did.  I stamped a scripted background on to the kraft card stock then after a bit I smeared on some embossing paste (that I dyed with a re-inker).  Unfortunately the ink bled through the paste and I'm not sure if I should have waited overnight to do that to give the ink a longer drying time of if that would have even made a difference.  I considered re-doing it but decided to proceed.  I cut a floral shape from some burlap then layered some inked leaves and a little butterfly on it.

So that's it then.  I will say that some of the mixed media tags I saw on Pinterest were absolutely gorgeous.  People obviously have an eye for layering and color and adding just the right amount of texture.  I don't see myself turning into a Tim Holtz-style stamper anytime soon (although I do love that style), but it was fun to see if I could incorporate some of those elements into the stamping style I've already got.  After all, I do love a bit of texture on my cards.

Well that's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Kinda Eclectic (SU); Be (Simon Says Stamp)

Paper:  Blackberry Bliss (SU); Kraft (Avery Elle)

Ink:  Blackberry Bliss, Crumb Cake (SU)

Accessories:  Traditional Tag STAX, Pierced Traditional Tag STAX (My Favorite Things); Beautiful Blooms #1 die (Papertrey Ink); Burlap stencil, Splatters stencil (Tim Holtz); embossing paste (Dreamweaver); Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon, linen thread, pewter jumbo grommet (SU); burlap