Freshly Made Sketches 538

I know the calendar says June, but the weather says April.  😕 After some spectacular weather lately a cold front has moved in and the temperatures are now back into the sixties and it's raining today.  Blah.  But luckily it's Wednesday so there's a brand new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches which cheers me up immensely!  Our hostess this week is Jacquie and in between cooking up fabulous meals she manages to cook up some fabulous cards too!

I decided immediately that washi tape would be perfect for the vertical layers.  My washi collection has been sitting idle for a while now so it was good to dig through it and find something to use here.  The inspiration photo at Just Us Girls gave me some color cues so the baskets became the washi and the different shades of pink flowers became my arrangement of funky flowers.

Thanks for stopping by!  Of course my Freshly Made Sketches design team members have made some gorgeous cards for you to see.  

Supplies
Funky Flowers (Papetrey Ink); Simple Sentiments (Avery Elle)
Paper:  Sea Glass (Avery Elle); Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Frosty Pink, Coral Berry, Ruby Red, Pink Diamond, Pinkalicious, Rubelite (Altenew); Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  washi tape

Freshly Made Sketches 508

Hi friends!  We've got a fabulous new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Our hostess is Jacquie and there's so much you can do with her design!

The background on this card is wide washi tape.  It's a bit hard to work with but super pretty in real life.  After I added it to the background I stuck a piece of it to a scrap piece of cardstock and fussy cut a couple of the flowers and leaves to add some interest to the top layer of the card.

I'm late posting my card for the challenge because I completely messed it up!  Usually I make my card on Sunday so that I have a couple of days to tweak, photograph, and edit before I do my blog post.  This week I was under a time crunch because I had a work meeting on Tuesday that meant I wasn't going to get home until very late so I wanted to have the card done and posted on my blog by Monday.  

So, the card was done on Sunday and I start composing my blog post on Monday when I realized that I forgot one layer on the card.  I had no time to make a revision so I thought I'd be out for the week.  But it bugged me that I had made such a stupid mistake so on Wednesday night I peeled off the flowers and sentiment from the "wrong" card, added the missing layer, and added the flowers and sentiment back again so that the card followed the sketch.  Whew!

I am 100% sure that my Freshly Made Sketches teammates didn't have trouble like this with their own cards!  I hope you can check out our challenge and join us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Mix & Match Everyday Sentiments (Concord & 9th)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Raspberry (Avery Elle); Smoky Shadow (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Smoky Shadow (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Calming Bouquet washi tape (Altenew); Subtle Dynamic embossing folder (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 491

Hi all!  Today is the sketch reveal at Freshly Made Sketches and this week our hostess is Kim.  Her sketch has some fun vertical panels that I thought would be perfect for some wide washi that I've had in my stash for a while.

I've been dying for an excuse to use this gorgeous wide washi and this sketch was just the inspiration I needed.  I adhered it to a piece of white cardstock then cut it into strips so that I could then frame the strips with some dark colored cardstock.  I agonized over the color of the die-cut sentiment and cut many versions in many different colors before deciding on a mediocre black.  I don't love it but at least you can see it (not something I can attribute to some of the other colors I tried!).

Thanks for stopping by!  I'm sure our Freshly Made Sketches gallery will be full of great interpretations of this sketch - just like our design team cards!  Join us!

Supplies
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink); Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)

Accessories:  Hand Lettered Thanks die (WPlus9); Calming Bouquet washi tape (Altenew)

Freshly Made Sketches 146

It seems like lately I've been running across more and more monochromatic color challenges.  This week I found one at The Paper Players that fit neatly into my idea for the latest layout at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week at Freshly Made Sketches our hostess is Amy O'Neill (who has got a great eye for design and is not afraid to mix bold colors for maximum impact)!  I suspect that you are going to love her sketch.

As soon as I saw the sketch I thought of my somewhat neglected stash of washi tape and I knew that I wanted to combine a strip of it with some of the images from SU's Gorgeous Grunge.  Luckily the color the washi tape matched the color of my ink perfectly!  I debated briefly about whether to add a flower or a butterfly as a focal image, and as you can see the butterfly won!

There are quite a few butterflies to be found on the cards from the Freshly Made Sketches design team this week as well as some floral images too.  Dare I say we might find a super hero or two among the cards in the gallery soon?

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge (SU); Botanical Silhouettes (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  Pure Luxury White (Gina K); Berry Sorbet, Sweet Blush (Papertrey Ink)

Ink:  Regal Rose (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Chrissy Butterfly die, Leanna Butterfly die (Simon Says Stamp); Basic Rhinestones (SU); washi tape

Fly! and CTS 33

I had lots of ideas churning around in my head for the latest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch.  Those three elements on the sketch kept calling to me and I changed my mind several times before I settled on the beautiful butterfly from Awesome Blossom and some enamel dots.

The sentiment is one that I made myself using Alphabet Soup.  How awesome is it that I can make any sentiment I want!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Awesome Blossom, Alphabet Soup (The Alley Way Stamps)

Accessories:  Enamel Dew Drop Stickers (Freckled Fawn); washi tape; Basic Pearls (SU)

Freshly Made Sketches 80

Ahhh!  Wednesday brings a brand new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  This week the incomparable and devilishly witty Linda Callahan has designed a sketch that is wide open to interpretation.  Take a peek:

I don't mind saying that I fretted a bit about the horizontal ribbon across the top.  Nothing I tried seemed to go the way I wanted to so I ended up sticking down some washi tape.  Then I thought that looked a bit plain so I stitched a zig-zag across it which, of course, you can't see because the thread is white, and that barely shows up against a white background, and what was I thinking!!!

But I do like the colors which are courtesy of the Dynamic Duos challenge which gave us some poetic license this week to make a project using Primrose Petals and another color of our choice.  I chose Pear Pizzazz which made some lovely leaves.

Thanks so much for stopping by and don't forget to pop on over to Freshly Made Sketches to check out what the design team has created this week.  Lots of inspiration there, I tell you!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Dream Big, Hope Blooms (Verve)

Accessories:  Lorelai Leaf die, Lorelia Outline Leaf die (Poppystamps); washi tape; Certainly Celery button (SU)

Happy Valentine's Day!

I just love it when a card comes together fairly quickly with a minimum of fuss!  Such was my experience when I decided that the Unscripted Sketch and the RED challenge at CASology were a match made in heaven!

I had a vague idea of how I wanted this card to look and when sat down to make it and was pleasantly surprised when my combination of red washi tape and a heart punched from red glimmer paper looked as good in person as it did in my head.  (That doesn't always happen for me)!  And although the sketch doesn't specifically call for a sentiment, I added the valentine one because today, of all days, it's appropriate!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Teeny Tiny Wishes (SU)

Accessories:  Heart to Heart punch (SU), washi tape, dimensionals

Freshly Made Sketches 73

It's Wednesday and, of course, that means Freshly Made Sketches in my house!  This week, the sweet Jen B has provided our sketch and as soon as I saw it I was in love!

This card is too late for the Color Throwdown challenge, but I really loved these colors and wanted to make a card with them so that's what I did!  I used some ancient Basic Gray DSP called Urban Oasis which I then layered with a Pink Pirouette circle that I stitched around the edge.  The horizontal layer is nothing but a bit of Very Vanilla that I embellished with some zig zag stitching and a bit of black washi tape.  The layered flowers are stamped in Riding Hood Red and finished off with a big ol' pearl in the center.

I hope you have time to join us this week at Freshly Made Sketches.  As always our amazing design team has got some great cards to jump start your creativity so be sure to pop on by and check them out.  And I hope you can join us in the gallery.  We love to see you there!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Secret Garden (SU), Hope Blooms (Verve)

Accessories:  Secret Garden die (SU), Basic Pearl Large (SU), washi tape

Less is More and Unscripted Sketches 196

Less is More is celebrating their 2nd anniversary!  That's quite an accomplishment so I wanted to carve out some time to participate.  The theme this week is Kraft & Kreme so I got right to it with some help from Unscripted Sketches.  

I had some washi tape in my stash that I think is supposed to be sort of coppery in color, but it looks an awful lot like Kraft to me so I stuck it on my cardstock and happily found out that I was right!  Then I cut some beautiful butterflies using the Beautiful Wings embosslit out of Very Vanilla and I was done.....almost.  I thought it looked a bit naked so I added a birthday sentiment stamped in Crumb Cake.

As I'm typing this the Superbowl has resumed after the weird power outage, so I'm off to my comfy sofa to finish watching the game.  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  WTF (CAS-ual Fridays)

Accessories:  Beautiful Wings Embosslit (SU), washi tape

Unscripted Sketches 193

It should be no surprise to anyone that the sketch this week at Unscripted Sketches made me think of washi tape.  But I didn't want to just throw some decorative tape on my card and call it a day.  I wanted to make something that was a little bit interesting.

I started by stamping the splotch from Extreme Elements in Soft Suede.  Then I added some washi tape strips that have a sort of old-world appeal.  They are a little bit newsprint and a little bit mathematical numbering.  The sentiment is from a set called Favorite Thoughts and it's a favorite of mine.  It's got some great sentiments that are particularly empowering for women.

On a side note, I've come to the realization that blogging is dangerous business, indeed.  The other day I saw a post over at the blog of the very talented Kim who mentioned that she had seen a button treatment that she liked.  This lead to me checking another blog, which led me to Etsy and something called "flair buttons." References to the movie Office Space notwithstanding, I sincerely hope that "flair" is not some new paper-crafting necessity that I'll be unable to resist in the not-too-distant future.  But I fear those chevron designs are calling to me.  {Sigh}.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Unscripted Sketches Redux

I just love the sketch this week at Unscripted Sketches.  I posted a card yesterday that I made for that challenge and I've got another one today.  I came across a color challenge at Cards Blog Challenge that I really liked and every time I thought about how I wanted to use those colors I kept coming back to the Unscripted Sketch.

For my colors, I chose a bit of Going Gray, Soft Sky, and some limey-green washi tape.  The flower was cut with a pretty flower die, layered together and highlighted with a Basic Rhinestone.  The sentiment is particularly appropriate because I'm sending this card to my sister who is having surgery this week.  Understandably, she's a bit nervous and as the surgery is focused on her neck and chin I thought this sentiment was appropriate.  And unless you think I'm completely heartless for sending this to her, she has quite a quirky sense of humor and she'll appreciate this, I'm sure!

Thanks for stopping by!

Less is More 101, Unscripted Sketches 192 and CAS-ual Fridays 84

The challenge this week at Less is More is BLACK and WHITE, with a splash of COLOR.  So I used the wonderful sketch at Unscripted Sketches, which was calling washi tape to me, and put this together surprisingly quickly.

I splashed a couple of strips of washi tape against the polka dotted background then added my favorite butterfly from Papillon Potpourri inked in Crushed Curry.  (I really like that color and wish it had not retired).    Usually I like to add some pearls or rhinestones down the center of the butterfly but neither of those are white, so I got a brainstorm to wrap some white baker's twine around a few times.  I've got to say that I really like the look.  

The challenge this week at CAS-ual Fridays is Thank You (so appropriate at this time of year), so I'm going to enter this there as well.

I've still got lots for sale on my For Sale page.  Take a peek if you're looking for some oldie-but-goodie stamp sets!  Thanks for stopping by!

retro sketches 45 - YAY!

Today is a very special day for me.  Arielle, from retro sketches, has asked me to be a guest designer over there for the month of January!  Woo Hoo!  I am seriously in awe of the retro sketches DT and I'm not sure I'm worthy, but I'll give it my best shot!

This weeks sketch is based on Kasia's card here.  And since it seems that now Christmas is over and everyone has dug out their Valentine stamps I figured I better jump on the band-wagon rather than being the odd-man out.  The color challenge at Pals Paper Arts is high up there as one of my faves and I wanted to try and make a Valentine with it.

I used some washi tape to create a graphic background then layered on some hearts from I {Heart} Hearts and P.S. I Love You.  A simple sentiment finishes it all off!

So now I'll just send a big thank you cyber-hug to the amazing ladies of retro sketches for letting me join them this month.  Then I'll invite everyone else to join us this week to create some super-fantastic-ness with this great sketch!

Oh, and I've still got lots for sale here.  I added some alphabet stamp sets and a few Copic Original markers.  Check it out, if you're interested.

A Calendar for SRC156 and PDCC162

I've got another desk calendar to share today that I made using the sketch at Stampin' Royalty (that I turned on its side) and the colors from The Play Date Cafe.

I interpreted The Play Date Cafe colors as More Mustard, Island Indigo, Sage Shadow and Wisteria Wonder.  I used a polka dotted embossing folder, some Nouveau Chic DSP, added some newsprint washi tape, a bit of Wisteria Wonder ribbon accented with an Antique Brad, and my little calendar was done!  

Thanks for stopping by!

colourQ 169

Happy Christmas everyone!  Thanks to the wonders of Blogger, today I am able to post a gift tag that I made using the latest colors at colourQ.  I actually made the tag over a week ago, and wrote this post on Sunday so don't think I'm spending my Christmas holiday holed up in the craft cave!  For my project today, I just couldn't resist one more gift tag before I call Christmas 2012 quits!

By the time you read this I will know if Santa has brought me some of the crafting goodies that I had on my Christmas list this year.  I think I've been awfully good so I've got my fingers crossed that I get a chance to play around with some new stuff soon!

Hopefully once the holiday craziness slows down and life returns to normal you have some time to join us for our last challenge this year!  Despite the busy season the colourQ design team has put together some great projects to inspire you.  Go check them out!  And thanks for stopping by!

A Mad Dash For a Christmas Tag

The challenge this week at CAS-ual Fridays is DASHING THROUGH THE HOLIDAYS and they've teamed up with the 10 Minute Craft Dash for some fun.  The idea behind the 10 Minute Craft Dash is to create a project in less than 10 minutes.  I was intrigued and wanted to see if I could do it.  For my first time around I kept things pretty simple and made a Christmas tag.  And I spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to do before I started the stopwatch.  But I'm pleased to say that I created this (using the retro sketch) in 5 minutes 47 seconds!

I found it quite chaotic trying to create in a hurry.  I was literally running around my stamp room gathering supplies, cutting snowflakes and rounding corners in a bit of a frenzy.  I'm shocked that I managed to do it so fast, and actually made something nice.  I think I'll need a break before I try that again!

This tag measures 3 x 3 and features some Deck the Halls DSP, some gold striped washi tape, and some pretty layered snowflakes.  The sentiment is from the quickly becoming indispensible Warm Words.  I really like how it came out and it's already been attached to a gift for my brother-in-law who will surely not appreciate how adorable this is.  Maybe I can sneak it back when he's not looking!

I've got one more tag to share before I put away my Christmas stamps for the year.  But you'll have to wait until Christmas day to see it!