Fusion - Coffee Chalkboard

Our newest challenge at Fusion will have you thinking of standing in line for a lovely cup of coffee!  I don't have a lot of coffee stamps so I decided I would be better off using the sketch this week.  I did incorporate some of the brown shades from the inspiration photo which, happily, coincided with the color challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown.

One thing going on my stamping shopping list is a decent stag head die.  The one I have is so inadequate.  I remember seeing several on cards leading up to the holiday season but I don't know where I saw them or who might make them so I have to start searching.  If you have a fave, drop me a line or leave a comment!

Thanks for stopping by!  Stop on by Fusion to check out our newest challenge and play along.  Our design team has made some terrific cards to inspire you to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Sketchy Christmas (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Taste of Textiles Specialty Paper (Stampin' Up!); glitter paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Lindemon Snowflake die (Memory Box); Hampton Art stag die; Burlap ribbon (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 505

The funny thing about Blogger is that you have to actually click "Publish" in order for your blog post to be seen by others!  Sorry folks.  I'm late for my Freshly Made Sketches post because I forgot to do just that.  But I'm here now with my card designed by the very talented Narelle.

The air has cooled quite a bit where I live and that has got my digging around in my stash for autumn themed stamps.  The challenge code word at Addicted to CAS is "autumn" so I took that as a sign that I was on the right path.  I made three versions of this card because I kept messing something up and I'm still not entirely happy with it, but as my friend Linda advises, call it a Mona Lisa, post it anyway, and move along to the next card.  Good advice.  The card I'll share tomorrow is much better looking, I promise!

Thanks for stopping by!  My teammates at Freshly Made Sketches have some fabbo cards to share so check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fall Colors (Precious Remembrance); Confetti Shapes Circle (The Ton)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Cocoa Bean (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Autumn Blaze, Firebrick, Espresso (Altenew); Versamark
Accessories:  Confetti Shapes Circle die (The Ton) copper embossing powder (Ranger)

Freshly Made Sketches #480

Ok, full disclosure here.  Today we've got a new sketch challenge debuting at Freshly Made Sketches and Jen Brum is our hostess.  She designed a beautiful sketch with a beautiful curvy layer and I thought I'd try to get a little creative with that curve.  But I veered off...

First I decided that flipping the sketch would be the thing to do, then I decided a slimline card would be fun, then I decided that this skyline somehow mimicked the curvy line on the sketch.  By the time I was done my card bore little resemblance to the sketch but I was too far in to the project to change it.  For the background I sponged on some shades of yellow and orange and thought they might be a sunrise.  And the sentiment fit my emerging new-day theme.  

I wanted to scrap my project because I thought it was too far off from the sketch but my awesome teammates at Freshly Made Sketches encouraged me to post this card and Jen Brum, our hostess, told me to be a rebel and post it.  So here it is!

And at AAA card the challenge is "two quarters" which according to my math is the same as one-half.  I think that my skyline only takes up half of this card so I'm going to throw this up over there as well.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope that my non-traditional take on the sketch will inspire you to see the sketch in new ways and that you'll play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches!

Supplies
Stamps:  New Day (Precious Remembrance Shop)
Paper:  Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie (Stampin' Up!); Bristol Smooth
Ink:  Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade (Distress Oxide); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Slim Film City die (Mama Elephant)

Freshly Made Sketches 371

It's my turn to be the hostess at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  And you might have guessed already that I designed a square sketch!  But don't worry if squares aren't your thing - you can use whatever shape you are comfortable with.

The colors I chose for my card were inspired by a couple of other challenges.  Inkspirational is looking for kraft and at the The Card Concept they had a photo with the prettiest pink flowers.  On my card I watercolored two pretty flowers in shades of pink and decided to add a bit of yellow and black.  Well I got a bit carried away with the yellow in my zeal to use up some very old patterned paper and sort of forgot about all that white space!  But I love how this turned out - even though I think I botched the intent of The Card Concept challenge!

Thanks for stopping by and please stop by Freshly Made Sketches to check out our design team creations.  I got a sneak peek of them 😉and am swooning in delight over their clever interpretations of this sketch!  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Blossom (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); So Saffron, Always Artichoke, Old Olive, Vellum, Spring Flowers DSP (Stampin' Up!); watercolor (Strathmore)
Ink:  Versamark
Accessories:  Leafy die (Reverse Confetti); black embossing powder

CAS(E) This Sketch 295 Meets Fusion

It's that Thursday on the calendar when I get to mix two of my favorite challenges.  Sometimes it's not easy to combine the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch (this week designed by Chrissy) with the inspiration at Fusion but I somehow manage to do it!  This time around the combination was a bit of a stumper for me but I persevered until I made someting  I liked!

What I really wanted to do with those three stripes on the sketch was stamp them with a wood grain patterned image to echo the wood grain pieces in the inspiration photo.  But I didn't have a wood grain stamp in my stash!  So I opted for some simple slashed lines then stamped the wreath overlapping them.  The berries on the wreath were stamped in yellow, orange, and rust colors to capture the feel of that photo.  Clean and Simple on Friday is looking for fall cards so I'll be adding this over there too!

Thanks for stopping by!  We've got a great sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch for you and at Fusion you've got your choice of a sketch or some inspiration or both if you've got a mind to it!  Whatever you choose I hope to see you in those galleries!

Supplies
Stamps:  Wreath For All Seasons (Papertrey Ink); Fall Colors (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes)
Ink:  Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry, Pumpkin Pie, Sahara Sand (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 358

If you like circles you will love our new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our designer this week is Karren and she assures me that if circles aren't your thing then by all means use the sketch as a jumping point and show us what you've got with whatever shapes you've got up your sleeve!

My fellow design team member Jen Brum unwittingly helped me with my card this week.  Often when I'm challenged by a sketch I'll peek at what the design team has put together to see if I can find some inspiration there.  In this case I was pretty sure I wanted to use a wreath as my big circle but the stamp set that I had intended to use was much too small for my card (even after deciding to do a 4 1/4 inch square card).  Then I spied Jen's card with her die cut wreath and I remembered that I had something similar in my stash.  So I cut my wreath in a dark brown then added some wee stitched leaves in fall colors to take the place of the three other circles and I was done! 

There are a couple of other challenges that are getting into the autumn mood so I'm playing along with Muse this week as well as Global Design Project.

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches design team members have created some beautiful cards with this weeks sketch so be sure to check them out.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fall Colors (Precious Remembrance Shop)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Truffle, Jungle (Avery Elle); Cajun Craze (Stampin' Up!); Honey Nut (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Truffle (Avery Elle)
Accessories:  Whirl Wreath die (Penny Black); Stitched Leaves die (Lawn Fawn)

Freshly Made Sketches 353

This week at Freshly Made Sketches I am the hostess.  I'll be honest, I think it's tough being the hostess because I never know if you will love or hate my sketch!  This week I've given you a square sketch (just because I love doing those despite the fact that square cards cost more to mail here in the US)!!  But don't worry if you want to do a different shape...we're good with that at Freshly Made Sketches. 

And I'm also pleased to announce that the superbly talented Hannelie Bester is joining us this month as our guest designer.  She, of course, needs no introduction...but I will gush that I love how she uses her Silhouette AND designs the most fabulous sentiments and provides them as free digis on her blog!  If you don't know Hannelie I encourage you to pop on over to her blog and be prepared to be wowed!  Now, onto my card and the sketch!

I didn't exactly follow my own sketch because I forgot that I had created a couple of layers, but the spirit of the sketch is there!  I actually never exactly know what kind of card I'm going to create when I design my sketch but I had a vague idea here of filling the bottom of the card with colorful shapes and overlaying that with a bold sentiment.  Then when it came time to sit at my desk and actually make a card I came across the Less is More challenge of black + white + another color.  Yellow is my go to pick for that kind of challenge so I grabbed this pretty outline flower stamp and stamped away.  (It's an oldy but goody I've had in my stash for a few years so that qualifies me for the Anything Goes challenge at Retro Rubber too).  Rather than a bold sentiment, I opted for a small single line that I stamped on a strip of cardstock and adhered with foam tape.

I'm sure you've already checked out the creations from the design team at Freshly Made Sketches but just in case you haven't I encourage you to drop everything and do it now!  They have really created some wonders!  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Blossom (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Daisy (Avery Elle); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)

CAS(E) This Sketch 224

The calendar says June 1st but the weather doesn't!  Spring has been very slow to make an appearance around here.  It's been cold and rainy a lot lately and I really would like to see the sun and go outside without a jacket!

Luckily, being Thursday, there's a new challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch that will make me forget all about the un-May-like weather!

I took a liberal interpretation of Hannelie's sketch this week.  Instead of squares I used some sprigs of greenery.  I chose these warm colors and a burlap impression plate to make this a bit rustic looking for the Merry Monday Christmas challenge.

Be sure to pop on over to CAS(E) This Sketch and check out the amazing cards from the design team.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Sketchy Christmas (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Early Espresso, Mossy Meadow, Cherry Cobbler, Pear Pizzazz (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Mossy Meadow, Pear Pizzazz, Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Holiday Greens Mini die (Tim Holtz); Rustic Burlap impression plate (Papertrey Ink)

Tag You're It 67

I have been a busy beaver in my stamp room this week.  I don't know when I've had so much time to get my fingers inky but I won't question it!  Today I've got a tag to show you that is based on the inspiration at Tag You're It and the holiday foliage challenge at Jingle Belles.

I loved the embossed clockwork on featured artist Marion's tag and imagine my surprise when I discovered a clockwork stencil in my stash!  That was the first feature I decided to copy on my tag but since there was a big snowstorm in the forecast that made me think of winter and not summer flowers, I used a poinsettia and made a Christmas tag instead.

Incidentally the snowstorm ended up being a dud around here.  First impressions had a forecast of 12 to 18 inches of the white fluffy stuff but, fortunately for me, the storm tracked further west than originally thought and I ended up with about 6 inches of snow followed by a lot of rain.  And the reason why I had so much extra time in my stamp room is because my boss cancelled work in an anticipation of all that snow so I had all day on Tuesday to putter around the house!!!  I didn't do so much puttering as creating, but who cares!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Sketchy Christmas (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Cherry Cobbler, Old Olilve, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive (Stampin' Up!); Jet Black (Altenew)
Accessories:  Traditional Tags STAX (My Favorite Things); Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box); Spruce & Sprigs die (Papertrey Ink); Clockwork stencil (Tim Holtz); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver); Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon, silver cord (Stampin' Up!)

Tag You're It 62!

Friday!  Yay!  The end to a long work-week and the start to a (hopefully) relaxing, yet oddly productive, weekend.  There's a new inspiration challenge at Tag You're It designed by our Guest Featured Artist Laurie Willison.

I've always been a fan of Laurie's clean designs so for sure I love her beautiful Christmas tag.  On my tag I used green and red, and went with a Christmas tree theme too.

The colors at Sunday Stamps were perfect for what I wanted to do with my tag and at Creative With Stamps they are looking for Christmas stamps so I'll enter this over there as well.

Check out all the details about this great Tag You're It challenge where my teamies have made some fantastic tags to inspire you.  I hope we'll get to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Sketchy Christmas (Precious Remembrance); Many Merry Messages (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Real Red (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Certainly Celery, Garden Green (Stampin' Up!); White (WPlus9)
Accessories:  Tag Sale Quilted die (Papertrey Ink); Real Red grosgrain ribbon, Basic Pearls (Stampin' Up!); baker's twine

CAS(E) This Sketch 195!

At this time of year when the leaves start turning color I always want to make some cards with those warm colors.  Today I've got one to show for the latest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch.

I thought a cluster of something would be just the thing for this sketch and since it is fall, leaves are what that something is!  I sponged some cardstock with the appropriate colors then die cut the leaves.  They looked a little sparse so I added the grid background to take up some of the empty space.  I think I should have added another leaf or two!

The challenge this week at The Paper Players is a CAS challenge called "leaf."  I'm pretty sure this qualifies!

Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to check out the inspiration from my teamies at CAS(E) This Sketch.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Leaf Prints (Papertrey Ink); Off the Grid (Stampin' Up!); Fall Colors (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Natural White (Neenah)
Ink:  Dusy Durango, Always Artichoke, More Mustard, Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Leaf Prints die (Papertrey Ink); Autumn Harvest sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)

Freshly Made Sketches 252!

I hope you are not getting tired of seeing me create a Christmas card each week for the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  I know I don't make one every week but I seem to be on a roll because this is two weeks in a row I have made one!  Our hostess this week is Karren and when I saw that cluster of circles on her sketch I immediately thought of triangles (the crafty mind works in mysterious ways), which made me think of triangular Christmas tree dies.  And thus my card was born.

I am thrilled to pieces with how this card came out.  Firstly, because I finally used some glitter tape that I bought ages ago and secondly, because I had a vague idea in my head on how I wanted this card to turn out and it actually happened!  I am loving these new triangular-tree dies that I recently got and they were actually the impetus behind my Christmas theme this week.

This is an "anything goes" week at Christmas Card Challenges so I'll be linking this up over there as well.

My teamies at Freshly Made Sketches have got some gorgeous cards to show you this week so be sure to check them out.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Sketchy Christmas (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Old Olive, Real Red (SU); Heidi Swapp patterned paper
Ink:  Early Espresso (SU)
Accessories:  Sapins die (Simply Graphic); glitter washi tape (Scotch)

Freshly Made Sketches 251!

I am happy to report that I think I have made quite a dent in my Christmas card stash this year.  I'm afraid to count how many I actually have in case it's a lot less than I think it is - I don't want any bad news to spoil my good mood!  The sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches, brought to you by the lovely and very talented Cindy Hall, gave me the opportunity to add another one.  Although, this one is a tag.

The color palette at Christmas Card Challenges inspired the colors of my little elf's suit  and it was easy to create a background with some of the neutral colors.  I actually cut into some very old patterned paper to make one of the background shapes.  Normally I gaze fondly at that paper as I lament that it is just too pretty to cut, but I decided that there's no use staring at that paper anymore when I can put it to good use.  So here it is!  I tried to fit an oval shape on here but I just wasn't loving any of them - the sizes were all wrong.  So out came my Bam Bubble die and I got a cool background for my elf!

I hope you can play along with us this week at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our amazing design team has cooked up some beautiful cards to inspire you!

Supplies
Stamps:  Toy Land (The Alley Way Stamps); Sketchy Christmas (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Bashful Blue, Holiday Thyme DSP (SU); X-Press It Blending Card
Ink:  Early Espresso (SU); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Copics
Accessories:  Traditional Tags STAX, Pierced Traditional Tags STAX (My Favorite Things); Labels Nine die (Spellbinders); Bam Bubbles die (Paper Smooches); Crumb Cake seam binding ribbon, Early Espresso grosgrain ribbon (SU); Winter Wonderland sequins (Neat & Tangled); burlap twine

Freshly Made Sketches 233

Somehow it is Wednesday already which means that my vacation is half over.  Boo.  But on the bright side it also means there is a new challenge starting at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is Amy, our resident fearless color mixologist.

It will come as no shock to find a butterfly on my card.  But in my defense the challenge this week at the Paper Players was to make a clean and simple card with a butterfly.  That's right up my alley so I had to play along!  I also used the colors from Cupcake Inspirations.

I got some new stamps the other day and the scribble image fit nicely into this sketch (that's my circle in case you couldn't tell), a bit of long-unused washi for the horizontal layer, and a butterfly in place of the rectangle.  Easy peasy!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the cards that my amazing Freshly Made Sketches teamies have made.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Happy Art, Blossom (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Pretty in Pink, Vellum (SU)
Ink:  Pretty in Pink (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Cheviot Butterfly die, Delaney Butterfly die (Poppystamps); Lucky Blend sequins (Avery Elle); Basic Pearls (SU); washi tape

CAS(E) This Sketch 164!

This week at CAS(E) This Sketch we've got another great sketch for you!  I think I changed my mind a million times about how I wanted to tackle this sketch and I ended up using some images that I had forgotten that I had but stumbled upon when I was hunting for the stamps I thought I wanted to use.  That makes sense, right?

I went back and forth about what images I wanted to use for those horizontal lines on the sketch and finally decided to use some chevron shapes that I had.  Then I remembered I had some fun, kinda grungy edge images that I hadn't used in ages so I forgot about the chevrons altogether! I stamped the edge stamps in a couple of different gray inks.  Then I added the flowers in shades of blue and a few dots in lime green.  The colors for this, by the way, come from the latest colors at The Challenge.  They are kind of masculine but I used them for flowers instead!  And the challenge at CASology this week is "doodle" so I used these flowers which have a doodle-y look to them!

My fellow teamies at CAS(E) This Sketch had some whopping good ideas for this sketch so be sure to head on over there to check them out.  I hope I'll get to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Rugged Edge (Indigo Blu); Blossom (Precious Remembrance); Many Thanks (Simon Says Stamp); Circles Circles Circles (Whimsy Stamps)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); Fog (Simon Says Stamp)
Ink:  Fog (Simon Says Stamp); Smoky Shadow, Night of Navy, Baja Breeze, Lucky Limeade (SU)

Freshly Made Sketches 224

I don't know about where you live, but this winter has been really strange around here weather-wise.  Over the weekend we were hit with some sort of polar vortex (don't you just love the names the weathermen come up with!) and it was 10 below zero then yesterday it was 55 degrees! Talk about crazy!

But crazy we are not over at Freshly Made Sketches where our resident pilot, Jen Timko, has cooked up a fabulous sketch for you this week.  All you fans of white space are going to love it!

I really like the colors this week at The Paper Players and the cue word at Addicted to CAS is "bloom" so I combined the two and clustered some flowers on one corner of my card.  To jazz things up I put a bit of some grungy images behind the flowers and used some washi for that teeny little layer on the right.  I like how this is all sun-shiny and bright.  Spring is only 31 days away after all so that's cause for celebration!

It's no surprise that our Freshly Made Sketches design team has created some beautiful cards with our sketch this week, so be sure to hop on over there to check them out.  We'd love for you to join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Blossom (Precious Remembrance); All Kinds of Happy (Unity Stamp Company); Mini 72 (PaperArtsy)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Pool Party, Daffodil Delight, Tangerine Tango (SU); Onyx  Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  enamel dots (Doodlebug Designs); washi tape