Freshly Made Sketches 626

I went a bit literal with the Freshly Made Sketches challenge this week.  Our design is by Cécile and her designs always inspire me to dig deep into my CAS roots.  

The colors of my card were inspired by the bright colors of The Color Hues challenge.  I used turquoise and green to create the two half circles and then stamped some leaves and a slim sentiment over them.

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches design team members have made some creative cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Brushed Off (Papertrey Ink); Natures Treasures II (Uniko); Tons of Type (The Stamp Market)
Paper:  White (Gina K)
Ink:  Parrot, Turquoise (Altenew); Nocturne (Versafine Clair); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Freshly Made Sketches 598

When I saw our latest Freshly Made Sketch challenge I was pretty sure that I wanted to use flowers to be the design elements in the corners.  Since it's summertime I thought sunflowers would be a good choice.  Jen Timko is our challenge hostess this week and her sketch inspired some fabulous cards from our design team!

I'm not at all sure that I like the placement of the images on this card, but it's my "Mona Lisa" this week so I'm going with it.  That's the great thing about creativity - it's fluid and sometimes you get it right, sometimes you get it sort-of-right, and sometimes things go horribly wrong.  This one is in the sort-of-right category!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you can join us in the Freshly Made Sketches gallery this week!

Supplies
Stamps:  Painted Harvest (Stampin' Up!); Words of Wisdom (Verve)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!); Fallen Leaves (Versafine Clair)

Freshly Made Sketches 592

A busy work schedule last week caused me to miss last week's challenge at Freshly Made Sketches, so I was determined to not miss this weeks sketch.  Our hostess is Cécile and her sketch is so fun!

The sketch has got some sailboat vibes but I really wanted to make a card to add to my Christmas stash.  At first I though the triangles might work as Christmas trees, but as I was browsing my stamps I found one that had some wise men with angular shapes that sort of mimicked the sketch so I decided to go with those.  

I sponged the circle and added the star, in keeping with the Christmas theme, and stamped the "wise men" in silhouette.  (Although I think the one on the right is a female (Mary) accepting a gift from the magi).  The sentiment, tucked in perfectly.

As this is a one layer card and pretty simple in nature I'm going to add it to Less is More!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope we'll see you in the Freshly Made Sketches gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Three Kings (Penny Black); Star of Light (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Bristol Smooth
Ink:  Fossilized Amber, Wild Honey (Distress Oxide); Onyx Black (Versafine); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)

Freshly Made Sketches 590

We've got a fun new sketch challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Our hostess is Kim and I thought the three horizontal layers on it would be perfect for a few stacked sentiments.  

Once I stamped the sentiments I needed something to take up the rest of the space so I stamped this leafy image in a pale purple.  I got some additional inspiration from the color challenge at Less is More and the one layer challenge at Addicted to CAS. 

Thanks for stopping by!  There's some great inspiration at Freshly Made Sketches so be sure to check us out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Botanical Print (The Stamp Market)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Wisteria (Altenew); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Freshly Made Sketches 570

We've got a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess and sketch designer this week is Jen Timko.  I loved the sketch when I first saw it, but oddly it gave me trouble when I tried translating it to an actual card.  But I eventually prevailed!

I had many ideas floating around in my head when I contemplated the sketch, but none of them panned out!  I wanted to use some of my patterned paper stash, but nothing looked quite right to me.  Then I stumbled on this old Stampin' Up! set and decided to use the big sentiment in it and draw lines around it, which would take the place of that narrow layer at the top of the sketch.  

I colored the stamp with four different SU markers then "huffed" on the stamp to keep the ink wet.  Remember huffing?!?!?!  It worked and I was pleased to see the stamp inked in the colors I intended!

My fellow Freshly Made Sketches design team members have made some absolutely fabulous cards with this sketch, so you just have to check them out.  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Love You Much (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Real Red, Garden Green, Regal Rose, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 567

Welcome back to a new year of challenges from Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our favorite Texan, Amy, is our hostess and she's cooked up a beauty for us!

This card was a topsy-turvy journey for me!  My first card idea involved layers and flowers.  But the colors were wrong, the flowers were wrong, the layers were wrong, so I scrapped it.  Then I remembered these bow images and thought I could stamp them and draw vertical lines to each one so that they seemed to be dangling.  To accommodate the rest of the sketch I drew in a rectangle design and tucked in a sentiment on the vertical side.

I do love a one-layer design and some go together for me easier than others.  Despite my early troubles, this one ended up being perfect to my eyes!

Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to check out the amazing cards that our Freshly Made Sketches design team has made to inspire you to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps: Holiday Bows (The Ton); Holiday Message (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Rubellite, Teal Cave, Starlight (Altenew); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)

Stencil Thanks

So, I think I am in love with layering stencils.  I've only got a couple but I made a card today using the colors from CAS Colours & Sketches and a stencil from The Ton and I love how it came out!

Layering the stencils was so easy to do and the end result is so pretty!  💕

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Thank You Builder (Altenew)
Paper:  Whisper White, Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Stormy Sea (Papertrey Ink); Early Espresso, Old Olive (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Climbing Cosmos Layering Stencil (The Ton); Blueprints 15 die (My Favorite Things)

Freshly Made Sketches 555

Hi all!  This week at Freshly Made Sketches our hostess Narelle has given us a terrific sketch.  I chose to make a Halloween card with it.  Take a look.

I made a little night scene with a big harvest moon against a dark background.  Then I added these cute birds on a wire across the moon.  Now, what I don't want you to question is why my little bandit birds are sitting on a wire that is floating in mid-air!  When I was putting this card together I was so focused on the sketch that I apparently forgot the laws of gravity!  I still think it's cute (but I think I'll draw in the wire on the left and right to make it a little more plausible).

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches teammates have some fabulous cards to show you to inspire you to play along with our sketch.  I hope you'll check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Ghouls & Goblins (Inkadinkado)
Paper:  Bristol Smooth
Ink:  Peacock Feathers, Chipped Sapphire, Fossilized Amber, Spiced Amber, Wild Honey, Black Soot (Tim Holtz Distress Oxide); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)

Freshly Made Sketches 554

We've got a great new challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Our design this week is brought to you by Karren.  I decided to go with a monochrome one-layer card.  

I thought combining the black and white challenge at Less is More with our Freshly Made Sketches challenge would be a good idea.  I think I was right!  The flower on my card becomes the vertical layer and I drew a rectangle around the sentiment to create the horizontal layer.  The result was a simple, one layer card.

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches have some fabulous cards for you to see so I hope you check them out!

Supplies
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!
Stamps:  Foral Art (Altenew); Deepest Sympathy (My Favorite Things)
Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine)

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)

Freshly Made Sketches 524

We've got a great new challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is Cécile and she's given us one of those sketches that makes me want to think outside the box!

I got the idea to make this a one layer card and opted to use the colors at Sunday Stamps.  For the square shape I stamped a background in a watercolor style then overlaid it with the leafy image in a dark brown.  To mimic the chevrons in the sketch I used wee staples.  They are a bit crooked and not well spaced -- but that's what you get with a handmade card!  It adds to the charm, right?

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some gorgeous cards to inspire you to play along with us, so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Distress Patterns (My Favorite Things); Faith in Nature (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Whisper White
Ink:  Baja Breeze, Marina Mist (Stampin' Up!); Fallen Leaves (VersaFine Clair)

Fusion - Crayons

Our new challenge at Fusion is so colorful.  How can it not be with crayons as the design inspiration!  I didn't have any crayons in my stash but I did have some swooshes that I inked up in primary colors.

I changed the orientation of my cardstock but I followed the sketch otherwise.  Instead of crayons I used some linear swooshes that I colored in primary colors.  Super easy!

Thanks for stopping by!  My Fusion teammates have made some fabulous cards for this challenge so be sure to check them out.  Remember, you can play with the sketch, the inspiration, or combine them.  The choice is yours!

Supplies
Stamps:  True Colors (The Alley Way Stamps)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Fresh Lemon, Crimson, Carribbean Sky, Persian Blue (Altenew); Onyx Black (Versafine)  

Addicted to CAS - Beach

I'm super excited about my post today because I am a guest designer at Addicted to CAS this week!  They liked one of my cards a few weeks ago and invited me to play along with this challenge.  Since CAS cards and I get along really well, I jumped at the chance!  And then Kylie sent me the challenge graphic and I had a mini panic attack!  The cue word was "beach."

Don't get me wrong, I love the beach.  I grew up close enough to Cape Cod in Massachusetts that I spent many happy summers frolicking in the ocean.  The problem is that I don't own a single stamp about the beach.  So for inspiration I turned to Splitcoast Stampers and searched the gallery for the word beach.  What I found was that Stampin' Up! had a stamp set with an abstract images that, if stamped in the right colors, mimicked beach, ocean, and land and while I didn't have that stamp set I had some abstract images of my own that just might work for a similar look.

So I took that abstract image and stamped it multiple times in colors that would call to mind land, sand, and sea.  I couldn't believe how well it turned out!  I know it's an abstract design but I hope you can see the beach there!  And since I find the beach to be a place of calm - there's nothing like feeling the hot sun on my face while the sea breeze is blowing and the sounds of the ocean are around me - that I added this particular sentiment.  To me the beach is a place to just be.

This is a one-layer card, another favorite of mine, so I'm going to join in with the Less is More challenge too.  They are looking for a favorite technique.  I'm not sure a one-layer card is a "technique" but it is in my book!

Thanks for stopping by!  And thanks again to Kylie and everyone at Addicted to CAS for inviting me to be a guest for this challenge.  I loved thinking a bit outside the box with this one!

Supplies
Stamps:  Celebrate Artsy (Stamplorations); Words of Wisdom (Verve)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades, Sand Dunes, Rocky Shores, Sea Glass, Ocean Waves, Dusk (Altenew); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Fusion - Laugh Decor

Hi friends!  We've got a great new challenge for you at Fusion.  As always there's a sketch and an inspiration photo - this one about laughter - and I chose to make a card for the sketch this time.

Despite that the vertical panel and the three circles strongly suggested layers I decided to challenge myself and do a one layer card.  Sometimes drawing lines to mimic a layer is just what the doctor ordered!  I stamped three dotted circles in a {somewhat} approximation of the colors at Global Design Project and then drew the lines around them.  I added some squiggles just for fun!

As always at Fusion you have the option of following the sketch, the inspiration photo, or to combine them both.  It's totally up to you!  

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Dot Spot (Papertrey Ink); Tons of Type (The Stamp Market)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Volcano Lake, Evergreen (Altenew); Crisp Cantaloupe (Stampin' Up!); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Freshly Made Sketches #478

Alright folks - we've got a great new CAS sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week is our hostess is my favorite pilot - and by that I mean CAPTAIN - Jennifer Timko!  👏👏👏

I went with a one-layer card and using the colors from the Sunday Stamps challenge inked up some leafy images along the bottom.  This in turn, was good to play along with the AAA challenge of Along the Edge.  

I added the butterfly at the last minute because I think the card needed a little something to finish it off.  I'm pleased at how it turned out!

Thanks for stopping by!  Please check out our challenge at Freshly Made Sketches and play along with us if you can!

Supplies
Stamps:  Pocket Silhouettes (Stampin' Up!); Beautiful Butterflies (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Bamboo, Parrot (Altenew); Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!)

Fusion - Green

March seems to always be about green right?  The snow starts to fade, spring (hopefully) is on it's way, and, of course, St. Patrick's Day is only a couple of weeks away.  So it's only fitting that our latest challenge at Fusion is all about green!

 

I think I went a little bit over the top with my green!  I sponged a couple of shades to create the background and then added some leafy stamps in a couple of darker shades.  This is a great stamp set and I just love the little dots.  I love how they add dimension to a flat surface.  

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Fusion teammates have made some great cards for our challenge so be sure to check them out.  You can play with the sketch, the inspiration photo, or both!

Supplies
Stamps:  Dot Botanicals (Altenew); Forever in Our Hearts (Verve)
Paper:  Bristol Smooth
Ink:  Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint (Distress Oxide); Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades, Evergreen (Altenew); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Freshly Made Sketches 475

We've got a great new sketch challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our challenge hostess is Jacquie and her sketch inspired me to do it in one layer.

Whenever I see three shapes like this I tend to go into panic mode. I don't know why I do, but I do!  So I have evolved a response and that means I dig deep and try to accomplish the sketch in one layer.  Lucky for me the challenge at Less is More is one layer with flowers and I took inspiration from the colors at Sunday Stamps.

I stamped the flowers first onto my card base then cut a small rectangle from scrap cardstock to use as a template and traced around it three times to create those three "layers" on the sketch.  And ta-da I was done!

Thanks for stopping by! Check out our challenge at Freshly Made Sketches and play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Abstract Poppies (Rubbernecker)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Lemon Tart (Papertrey Ink); Poppy Parade, Tangerine Tango (Stampin' Up!); Copic Multiliner

Addicted to CAS Guest Designer

I am pleased as punch to be invited as a guest designer this week at Addicted to CAS!  I do love my clean cards!  The cue word is animal so, of course, I had to use a kitty on my card!

Now, I've got three cats but one of them in particular inspired this card because he is forever peeking at me from behind something.  Just look!

LOL!  He's my handsome boy!

Thanks for stopping by!  And huge thanks to the ladies at Addicted to CAS for inviting me along for this challenge.  It's a privilege to be designing alongside you!

Supplies
Stamps:  Kit 'N Caboodle (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair); Onyx Black (Versafine)