Freshly Made Sketches 589

I had some logistical and technical difficulties this week but I finally got my card for the latest Freshly Made Sketches challenge posted!

Late work meetings this week prevented me from having my card ready on time and then...my phone died.  Ordinarily that wouldn't have any effect on my card-making (and posting), but lately I've been taking pics of my cards on my phone.  No worries, I say to myself, I'll just use my camera to take the picture of the card.  But it's been so long since I've used the camera the battery was dead!  So after some all-day charging of the camera battery I was able to take the picture, edit it, and post it!  

I'm on a full day without a phone, and I've got to say it's a little weird.  I don't have a landline so I am completely unavailable to anyone who needs to "call" me.  I told my sisters if they need to contact me they'll need to use Facebook Messenger or call me during the day while I'm at work.  How weird is that!  I grew up in the generation where if you needed to talk to someone you called them or rode your bike over to their house!  

But on to my card.  Linda is our hostess and her fun sketch got my thinking about long, thin stamps that might fit the verical layer on the sketch.  That lead to this floral image.  Perfect!  The rest of the card came together quickly and the colors were inspired by the challenge at The Color Throwdown.

Thanks for stopping by!  

Supplies
Stamps:  Poppy Field (Rubbernecker Stamps); Scripty Greetings (The Ton)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Smoky Slate (Stampin' Up!); Baby Pink (Altenew); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Circles die (Little B); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

Fusion - Poppy Door

I knew instantly when I saw the challenge at Fusion what stamp set I wanted to use.  I was sure I had a poppy stamp in my stash but when I went looking for it with my other floral stamps I couldn't find it.  Oh no!  So then I started going through past blog posts to make sure I wasn't hallucinating about actually owning that stamp.  Once I confirmed that I had used it in the past I started going through all of my stash hoping that I had misfiled it.  Luckily that is just what happened!  Whew!

I created some Fusion this week because I combined the sketch with the inspiration photo.  I stamped the flowers in an aptly named poppy ink and their placement gave me a spot to add this lovely sentiment.  In a nod to the bricks in the inspiration photo I added a brick embossed background.

Thanks for stopping by!  Check out our Fusion challenge this week.  You can choose the sketch or the inspiration photo or make some fusion and combine the two!

Supplies
Stamps:  Poppy Field (Rubbernecker Stamps); Hope Blooms (Verve)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Whisper White, Garden Green (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Poppy Parade (Stampin' Up!); Nocturne (Versafine Clair); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Bricked embossing folder (Tim Holtz)

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

Thank You So Much

I found myself with some extra time today so I put that time to good use and holed up in my craft room!  Who needs clean laundry, I say to myself!!  The first thing I did was make a card for the Color Throwdown challenge.

I loved the inspiration photo and I imagined myself making a card with shades of cream and plum offset with a bit of black for dramatic flair.  What I ended up with was a card that was really hard to photograph.  I love the stamp I used - I actually had completely forgotten about it and stumbled on it a few days ago.  But trying to get the colors right in my picture was really difficult.  Gah!  Some day I'll get it right!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Abstract Poppies (Rubbernecker Stamps); Tons of Type (The Stamp Market)
Paper:  Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Perfect Plum (Stampin' Up!); Nocturne (Versafine Clair); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Quick Strips die (The Stamp Market)

CAS(E) This Sketch 222

I'm on vacation from work next week but apparently my brain decided to start early because I completely forgot to write my blog post for the newest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch!  So better late than never:

If you look closely at the sketch you'll see a small vertical strip on the left hand side.  I totally missed that on my card - I am clearly in need of this vacation!  Other than that I think I kept to the spirit of the sketch and using the colors from The Paper Players I made a rather eclectic floral card.

Short and sweet tonight.  I've got another blog post to schedule tonight - my name would be mud if I missed two in a row!  Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you in the CAS(E) This Sketch gallery this week.  And don't forget to check out the inspiration from our always amazing design team!

Supplies
Stamps:  Abstract Poppies (Rubbernecker); Label Love (Altenew)
Paper:  Pure Luxury White (Gina K)
Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Real Red, Tempting Turquoise (Stampin' Up); Jet Black (Altenew)
Accessories:  Autumn Harvest sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)

CAS(E) This Sketch 211!

Boy we have rolled around to another Thursday awful quickly!  One day closer to the weekend, yay!  But first we've got a brand new challenge for you at CAS(E) This Sketch and our design this week comes to you from Michelle Ferguson.

I went a bit literal with the sketch because the flowers on it put me in mind of these pretty poppies.  Plus I had the colors from the inspiration photo at Just Us Girls in my head so the two just went together perfectly.  There's also a one layer challenge at CAS-ual Fridays so I put that in the mix too!

I love it when you can take an idea and translate it to paper and it actually comes out how you envisioned it!  That's exactly what happened here.  And the bonus thing with a one-layer card is that it usually comes together fairly quickly!

There are some fabulous interpretations of this sketch from the CAS(E) This Sketch design team that you don't want to miss.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Poppy Field (Rubbernecker Stamps); Take Note (Verve)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah)
Ink:  Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink); Wild Wasabi (Stampin' Up!); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Freshly Made Sketches 273!

Halfway through the workweek - yay!  February 1st already - say what!?!?!  And it's also time for a new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our friend from the southern hemisphere, Karren Johnson, is our hostess.  I tried to be clever with the three rectangles on the sketch...

I stamped the sketchy floral image of this card twice.  Once on the card base and once on another piece of cardstock that I intended to cut into three rectangles.  The images needed to line up perfectly on each piece in order for this card to work as intended so, of course, after I had the first two layers of images stamped I dropped an ink pad onto one of the pieces and made a big mess.  Back to step one I went {insert angry words here}.

In case you can't see it in the photo there is a popped up layer made from three rectangles of the floral image that I stamped on the card base.  I briefly toyed with the idea of running a black marker around the edge of each of the rectangles so that they would show up better but I was afraid that it wouldn't look good and I'd have to go back to step one AGAIN so I left it as is.  I also managed to find a sentiment that fit PERFECTLY between the stems of those flowers!

The colors for my card come from the inspiration photo at Sunday Stamps.  The darkest color in the challenge looked like a a taupey-gray to me so for the outline images and stem plus the dark matted layer I used Smokey Shadow which is (to my eye anyway) a taupey-gray .  It looks black here - but it's not!

Thanks for stopping by!  And be sure to check out our challenge at Freshly Made Sketches plus all the inspiration from our amazing design team.  We love to see you in the gallery!

Supplies

Stamps:  Abstract Poppies (Rubbernecker Stamps); Lace Leaf (Concord & 9th)

Pape:  Solar White (Neenah); Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink)

Ink:  Sweet Blush, Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink); Calypso Coral (Stampin' Up!)

Accessories:  Blueprints 21 die (My Favorite Things); enamel dots (Studio Calico)

CAS(E) This Sketch 190!

There's a new sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch today!  For some reason I completely forgot to write my blog post ahead of time like I usually do so I'm squeaking this one in before I head off to work this morning!

There's a one layer challenge to use our favorite flower at Less is More so I went to an oldie but goodie stamp set and colored just the poppies and not the stems.  I stamped the sentiment around them and voilà!

Short and sweet today.  Gotta run!  But thanks for stopping by and I hope you check out the beautiful cards made by my CAS(E) This Sketch teamies.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Poppy Field (Rubbernecker Stamps); Hand Lettered Thanks (WPlus9)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Forsty Pink, Grapevine (Altenew); Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink)

colourQ 343!

After a shaky start spring around these parts has turned out to be pretty nice.  Almost every day the sun is shining, the breeze is gentle and warm, and the flowers are beginning to show their pretty faces!  And speaking of flowers, some of those inspired my colourQ card this week.

Oh, what a fabulous color combo this is!  I love the gold and used a bit of washi to take care of that.  The layout for my card comes from the Sketch Saturday challenge.

The colourQ design team has put together some beautiful cards this week with these colors so be sure to check them out.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Poppy Field (Rubbernecker Stamps); Thanks (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  White Linen (Ellen Hutson); Basic Black, Cameo  Coral, Whisper White (SU)
Ink:  Cameo Coral (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Pierced Square STAX (My Favorite Things); Bitty Butterfly punch, Basic Pearls (SU); washi tape

CAS(E) This Sketch 154!

And we're back with a new sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch!  The end of the year is a great time to take a little break from card-making and blogging and a lot of my favorite challenges go on a little holiday hiatus as well.  And once everyone starts up again in the new year it's so exciting isn't it?  A new year, new crafty resolutions, new crafty supplies to try out and a whole lot of new challenges to play along with!  Life is good!  Our first sketch for 2016 is designed by N@Ali.....

In the interest of full disclosure I would like to point out that I intended to follow the flow of the sketch and use images from largest on the bottom to getting smaller on top....but I stamped my image upside down.  In the first place I had a heck of a time lining up these layered images and deciding what colors went where and once I got them the way I liked them I realized they were upside down.  But I was too tired to try and fix it so here it is!

The colors are from Color Throwdown and what cool colors they are!  I never would have thought to pair these together but I really like them.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you've got some time to play along with our new challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch!

Supplies
Stamps: Abstract Poppies (Rubbernecker); Hand Lettered Thanks (WPlus9)
Paper:  White (Pure Luxury Gina K)
Ink:  Baja Breeze, Smoky Slate, More Mustard (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

CAS(E) This Sketch 148

Hello, hello!  Today I've got some EXCITING news to share!  I am now a card-carrying member of the CAS(E) This Sketch design team!  Woo Hoo!  Can you believe it?  I was floored when Chrissy asked me to join them and, of course, said yes.  A resounding YES!  For my inaugural week we've got this fabulous sketch from Leigh Penner.

I decided to go one-layer with my card so I could play along with the Just Us Girls challenge and I was inspired by the poppy design and colors at Fusion.  At first I thought I wanted to add a sentiment off center to the left of the poppies but couldn't find something that looked right.  After I had hunted through my stash for a while I realized that I didn't need a sentiment after all and let the images stand on their own.

I'm still pinching myself that I'm part of the amazing group of talented stampers at CASE(E) This Sketch and I'm looking forward to designing alongside them for as long as they'll have me!!  Woo Hoo!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Brushed Off (Papertrey Ink); Poppy Field (Rubbernecker Stamps)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Harvest Gold (Papertrey Ink); Poppy Parade (SU)

colourQ 294

Happy Tuesday everyone!  Today there's a new palette up at colourQ and this week we are inspired by these adorable flip flops that have been embellished a bit!  How cute is that?

I use white so often as a card base that I like to shake things up a bit every so often and use something different.  Today's card starts with a Soft Suede base so that I could have some contrast between it and the Pool Party and the two shades of yellow.  I love how it looks!

This is two days in a row that I've used a doodled flower image from Rubbernecker Stamps.  I love the abstract look of these images and how you can use them to layer colors together.  And speaking of layers the sketch at the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge was a great way to use some paper layers to show off the colors of the challenge.  The top layer was wide open and perfect for this flower image and a little sentiment.

It's no surprise to you, I'm sure, that the colourQ design team has some beauties to inspire you this week to join us in the gallery!  I hope you do!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  3 Flowers (Rubbernecker Stamps); Bright Days (Avery Elle)
Paper:  Soft Suede, Pool Party, So Saffron, Whisper White, Comfort Cafe DSP (SU)
Ink:  So Saffron, Hello Honey, Soft Suede (SU)
Accessories:  Small Stitched Rectangle die (Lawn Fawn); Pierced Fishtail Flags (My Favorite Things); Festive Fall Mix sequins (Neat & Tangled)

Thank You for CTS126 CTD345 AYSIC090

The weather here the last couple of days has been gorgeous so I've been spending a lot of time outside.  But I did manage to sneak in my craft room and mass produce some graduation cards for a friend (and thanks to my MISTI for making it so easy to do!) and to make a one layer card for the latest As You See It challenge using the colors from Color Throwdown and the layout from CAS(E) This Sketch.

I had a little bit of a happy accident while making this card.  I wanted to remain strictly true to the color challenge and just use one shade of red.  But the stamp I wanted to use needed a little contrast between the image layers so I inked the largest image first, stamped off onto a piece of scrap paper then stamped it onto my card stock.  The end result was rather splotchy and I considered trashing it but the more I looked at it the more I liked it.   So I went ahead and added the other layers as usual.  The flowers are sort of abstract and I think they look pretty good all splotched up!

I didn't have any leaves that looked right with these abstract flowers which meant no green leaves.  So I stamped the sentiment in green instead!  It looks quite dark in the photo and could be mistaken for black, but trust me it's green!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Abstract Poppies (Rubbernecker Stamps); Signature Greetings (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Real Red, Garden Green (SU); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things)

Freshly Made Sketches 181

Hello all!  It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week I am the hostess with the mostess and I hope there aren't too many groans out there when you see the sketch because it's got a tilted layer!

I really don't know what came over me when I designed this sketch because I'm not usually a tilted layer kind of person.  I guess I just wanted to mix things up a bit.  And, of course, I used a little poetic license for the horizontal layer on my own card by using this big die cut sentiment in its place.  I put two layers of black together then layered a pink layer on top slightly askew so that the black was visible behind it.

Once again our Freshly Made Sketches design team has done wonders with my little sketch and I know that everyone who joins us this week will too.  I love to see the many different designs in the gallery so I hope you'll make some time to join us.  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Abstract Poppies (Rubbernecker Stamps)

Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Basic Black, Regal Rose, Very Vanilla (SU)

Ink:  Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  The Big the Bold and You die (Winnie & Walter); Pierced Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things)

colourQ 286

Hello everybody!  What a busy time I've been having the last few days.  Who knew that Easter would throw me for such a loop and severely curtail my crafty time!  But I'm back today with a brand new palette from colourQ.  This week our palette is inspired by this insulated tote bag.

Am I the only one who loves seeing bold, rich colors at this time of year?  Usually spring time cards are full of soft, pastel colors but those aren't the colors I normally reach for.  So whenever I see a challenge with colors like these I'm in heaven!

For this card I used a brand new stamp set (new to me anyway).  I love the artsy feel of these images and I thought they would be perfect to show off these colors.  I think I was right!

The challenge this week at Just Us Girls is "spring" and since flowers are such a powerful spring time image for me I'm entering this card over there as well.  After the long, snow-filled winter we've had I'm really looking forward to seeing the first buds of spring.  Here's to their imminent arrival!

As usual, our colourQ design team has got some beautiful cards for you this week using our beautiful palette.  So please head on over there to check them out and I hope that you can join us in the gallery this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  3 Flowers (Rubbernecker Stamps); Much Appreciated (SU); Textures 1 (Florileges Design)

Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)

Ink:  Hello Honey, Dusty Durango, Bermuda Bay, Crumb Cake (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Freshly Made Sketches 175

I don't usually keep sympathy cards on hand but every once in a while I unfortunately need one and as I was creating my card for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge it occurred to me that it made a nice one.  Our sketch this week is brought to you by Jen Brum who is currently freezing her you-know-what off in eastern Canada.  But that didn't stop her from creating this great sketch!

Look at all that space to unleash your creativity!  I used the space to show off this beautiful poppy stamp.  First I inked it up in Tangerine Tango then splashed some Pure Poppy on with a marker in random spots.  I love how it came out.  And the sentiment fit perfectly tucked down next to the stem.

Ok, you know the drill.  Being Wednesday your first order of business is to go to Freshly Made Sketches and check out the inspiration from our amazing design team.  Then you need to play along with us!  Simple!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Poppy Field (Rubbernecker Stamps); Fancy Feathers (Clearly Besotted)

Paper:  Dove Grey (WPlus9); Basic Black, Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Tangerine Tango, Pure Poppy (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Stitched Rounded Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); crochet thread  

Brilliant!

Day one of the long weekend here found me with some extra time stamping-wise.  Usually my weekends are pretty busy with cleaning, running errands and trying to get design team cards made for the coming week.  But the prospect of an extra day off from work gave me some time to do a little leisurely stamping for no particular reason.

Not surprisingly I made another card to play along with the splatter challenge at CASology and combined it with the one layer challenge at Less is More.

I played no part in adding the splatters on this card - they came with the floral stamp.  I briefly toyed with the idea to add a few more but figured there was a good chance that I'd ruin it so I left it alone.  The flowers are stamped with Distress Ink and after I inked up the stamp I sprayed it with water to smoosh the colors around.  This isn't watercolor paper so the effect is subtle but in real life I can see some depth of color amid the flower petals.

Today I've not nothing planned but some grocery shopping, football watching and card making!  Fall is definitely in the air here and I actually turned on the heat yesterday because it was getting a bit chilly in the house.  Apparently the cats thought I should have done it sooner because as soon as the radiators got warm they were draped all over them!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Poppy Field (Rubbernecker Stamps); Mini Stamp Brilliant (Heidi Swapp)

Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)

Ink:  Jet Black (Archival); Worn Lipstick (Distress Ink); Onyx Black (Versafine)