CAS(E) This Sketch 267 Meets Fusion

Babies, babies are everywhere!  I've got three nieces who are all having baby boys this year so I need some shower cards as well as congratulations-you'll-never-sleep-again cards!  The sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch and the inspiration challenge at Fusion combined together to make this card:

I immediately zoned into the elephant and the soft shades of gray in the Fusion challenge.  I love using gray on my cards because the color is relatively neutral and gray is such an awesome color.  A softly polka dotted background and this card was done!  Easy peasy. 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can join us at CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion!

Supplies
Stamps:  Baby Edwn (Pink Gem Designs); Baby Face (Momenta)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Mint Julep (Papertry Ink); Smoky Slate, Vellum (Stampin' Up!); X-Press It Blending Card; Navy Blue Digital Papers (CharmePapeteria)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine); Copics

Freshly Made Sketches 303

Well hello friends.  It's Wednesday so it must be Freshly Made Sketches day!  This week our sketch comes from down under*.  Karren is our hostess and all that "down under" must have been on my brain because I completely flipped the sketch!

I have a great nephew (in the sense that he is the son of my nephew) and he is turning one in a couple of weeks.  He (and his parents) live quite a distance from me so I had to make a card in plenty of time to give it to my sister who is travelling this Friday to celebrate the happy birthday celebration.  This sketch fit perfectly for the idea I had in my head for his card - except it was upside down.  So I flipped it and all of a sudden my card was born.

I colored the image with Prismacolor pencils and usually when I do that I blend the colors with gamsol.  I went back and forth whether I should do that here.  On the one hand I liked how the unblended coloring on the teddy bears seemed to give them some texture - always a plus with a plush toy.  And on the other I considered just using the gamsol on the number one.  In the end I decided to leave the number untouched and reasoned that it had a juvenile quality to it - which sort of fit with the first birthday theme.  I just hope that the adults at the party don't think this is a horribly colored image!

Now about that "down under."  I am aware that this term is used frequently in reference to Australia, but Karren is from New Zealand.  I googled the term and found that according to the Oxford English Dictionary "down under" is a term that is used to refer to "Oceania" which includes New Zealand.  So I think I am ok using it here.  In any event I've wanted to visit Australia since the 1980's when I first saw Mad Max and I've wanted to visit New Zealand since 2014 when Karren joined the design team at Freshly Made Sketches!

I hope you'll join us at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Our design team has got some beautiful cards to inspire you so be sure to take a look!  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Teddy's First Birthday (Pink gem Designs)
Paper:  Bashful Blue, Real Red, Night of Navy (Stampin' Up!); Solar White (Neenah)
Ink:  Prismacolor Pencils
Accessories:  Diagonal Stripe Stencil (Simon Says Stamp); translucent embossing paste (Dreamweaver)