Thanks a Bunch

My mojo deserted me this week.  Every night I'd get home from work and had no desire to set foot in my stamp room.  I still checked out my favorite challenges but I had no ideas and couldn't rustle any up.  By Saturday I knew I had to get in there because I felt like my card-making skills were getting rusty.  While I was in there I realized what the problem was.  Today is Father's Day and this is the first one since my Dad passed away last year.  I've been thinking about that a lot this week and didn't realize that my sadness had spilled over into my card making.  I don't mean to dampen the mood, but it feels good to "say" that out loud.  Thanks for listening. :)

Anyway, although the first card I made yesterday did not turn out right at all, the second one looks pretty good.  I used the colors from Color Throwdown (although I substituted Lucky Limeade and Pool Party) and the June Viva La Verve sketch.

I stamped the sentiment on the vellum using pigment ink because it stays wet long enough to zap it with clear embossing powder.  Dye ink seems to smudge while it dries and I heard about this little trick somewhere or other.  I also stamped the flowers, created a mask, then stamped the leaves so that they would appear as if they were behind the flowers.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Dream Big, Sunny Days, Bloom & Grow (Verve)

Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes), Whisper White, Pool Party, Vellum, Everyday Enchantment DSP (SU)

Ink:  Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose, Pool Party (SU); Onyx Black (Versamark)

Accessories:  Pierced Square STAX (My Favorite Things); Tag Me die (Reverse Confetti); Cakewalk button (October Afternoon); clear embossing powder, thread

Freshly Made Sketches 140

A funny thing happened on the way to making my card this week for Freshly Made Sketches.  The instant, and I do mean the instant, that I saw Linda's sketch I thought of this slightly raunchy stamp set.  Now, this in no way should be a reflection on Linda.  She's one of the most quiet and introverted stampers I know and would never endorse the use of a stamp like this.  Ha ha.  Fooled you!  She's actually one of the funniest, hippest and coolest people I know and I'm pretty sure she won't mind that I used this set for her sketch.

One of my sisters is turning the big 5-0 on the 19th of this month and I'm certain that she's not too happy about that.  Todays 50 is a lot different than when my own parents were 50 (gosh, did they seem old), so my sister really doesn't have much to be afraid of.  She tends to be a little on the serious side so I enjoy giving her a little shock now and then and this little stamp set fits the bill!  I think I might actually re-do it and stamp the "who's turning fifty" part on the inside of the card to not give away the punch line too soon.  She also favors fun, bright colors that are reminiscent of summer and, lucky for me, the challenge at Cupcake Inspirations was perfect for that.

So you know the drill.  The Freshly Made Sketches design team has got some fantastic cards to inspire you so on the off chance that you arrived here before there then I highly encourage you to take a moment to check out the inspiration from the design team and then, appropriately challenged, get ready to ink up some stamps and join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:

Stamps:  WTF (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps)

Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes); Lemon Tart (Papertrey Ink); Pool Party, Calypso Coral (SU)

Ink:  Calypso Coral (SU)

colourQ 245 and Seize the Sketch 22

Every other Tuesday I get to show off some extra fun stuff here.  That's because this Tuesday is the debut of a new color palette from colourQ and a new sketch from Seize the Sketch.  This week at colourQ Arielle has found some great colors inspired by these fabric lanterns and over at Seize the Sketch our hostess is the super talented Lori Tecler whose cards range from cute and whimsical to classic CAS!

I thought I was in serious trouble with this eclectic color palette and procrastinated quite a long time about making this card but once I got going with my design the whole thing just sort of flowed together.  I love when that happens!  The sketch has a wonderful layout that is perfect for showing off pretty patterned paper and the shapes can be easily interpreted to show off your own design.  I tend to be quite literal when I follow a sketch (that's the left-brain banker talking) so I followed the layout to a "T" but our amazing STS design team has quite a collection of interpretations of this sketch to inspire you so be sure to head on over there to check them out.

And not to be outdone, my friends on the colourQ design team have created some cards and scrapbook layouts that will make you heart go pitter-patter!  Don't forget to pop on over there too!  And in the meantime, I hope you have time to join either or both of these challenges.  We always love to see your designs in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes, Off the Grid (SU); Take Note (Verve)

Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes); Solar White (Neenah); Whisper White, Coastal Cabana, Pacific Point (SU)

Ink:  Summer Starfruit, Calypso Coral (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Pierced Square STAX (My Favorite Things)

Simplicity for Sketchbook Saturday and Fusion Challenges

After struggling with making a card the other day I was anxious to return to my stamp room and make sure that I still knew what I was doing in there.  I had a slow start but I'm pretty happy with my card.  Yay me (!).

The sketch from Sketchbook Saturday gave me my layout and the Fusion inspiration photo gave me the colors for my card.  I struggled a bit finding just the right shades of orange but I made do with what I had.  Maybe I need to go ink shopping!

Finally after weeks of waiting, summer-like weather has found me!  Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous and after running some errands I parked myself on the patio with a book and relaxed for a couple of hours.  Today is going to be just as wonderful so I'll finish planting flowers and then I'll be getting down and dirty with some weeds!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Distressed Background Blocks, Jumbo Abstract Art (My Favorite Things); Esther's Garden (Art Gone Wild); New Day (Precious Remembrance)

Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes); Solar White (Neenah); Tangerine Tango (SU)

Accessories:  Lemon Drop Sprinklers (October Afternoon); Notable Cute Enamel Dots (My Mind's Eye)

Kick Some A$$

Did you ever start to make a card and nothing goes right.  The way you use the colors is wrong, the images are wrong, pretty much everything is wrong.  But you keep on trying and before long you realize that what you've got is total crap and you don't know why you even bothered.  Well this is one of those cards.  But I tried for so long to get a card I was happy with that I figured I'd show you what I ended up with anyway.

I thought the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch was so interesting and I really wanted to play along.  Plus the colors at Color Throwdown were a perfect monochromatic blend.  I thought for sure these were a match made in heaven.  Alas, for me it wasn't to be and I will unashamedly admit that I made at least five versions of my card before I settled on this one.  I don't hate this card, but it's definitely not what I had in mind when I started!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Abstract Art (My Favorite Things); Slash Border (Impression Obsession); So 80's (WPlus9)

Paper:  Solar White (Neenah)

Ink:  Pretty in Pink, Melon Mambo, Bravo Burgundy (SU)

Freshly Made Sketches 139

Half-way through the work week and time for another new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  This week Rita is our hostess and she's one fabulous crafter.  She's got an irreverent sense of humor and a fabulous sense of design and you should totally check out her blog, if you haven't already!  Her sketch incorporates the ever-popular flags and a tag (one of my favorite things).

I found some great colors on the CAS on Sunday challenge blog and really hoped that I could do something special with them along with the sketch.  I knew I wanted to focus on some flowers and leaves and after lamenting that I don't own enough floral stamps I dug out an old favorite SU set and went to work.  In the end, I don't love this card because I think the arrangement of images and colors is just too bland.  But here it is in all it's glory!

The Freshly Made Sketches design team has not suffered from any blandness this week so do hop over there to check out their beautiful cards.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Best Blossoms (SU); Group Hugs (Paper Smooches)

Paper:  Sahara Sand, Wisteria Wonder, Perfect Plum, Whisper White (SU); Vellum (Papertrey Ink)

Ink:  Perfect Plum

Accessories:  Tag Sale #5 die (Papertrey Ink); Little Leaves Sizzlet, Elegant Eggplant ribbon, (SU); clear embossing powder, sequins; baker's twine

colourQ 244

I seriously love the color palette this week at colourQ (which is inspired by this very cool clock).  There's just something about these colors that grabbed my attention right away.  Then I saw the sketch at Fusion and knew that they would look awesome combined!

These colors would be fantastic for that oh-so-hard-to-make masculine card.  I guess mine could qualify as that, although I didn't intentionally make it that way.  I was really going for a graphic, colorful look which would really show off these bold colors.

My teamies at colourQ have really rocked this challenge with some great cards and scrapbook pages.  You will really be wowed so be sure to hop over there and check them out.  I can't wait to see the gallery lit up with these colors this week, so I hope you can find time to join us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Paper:  Old Olive, Night of Navy, Tangerine Tango, Bashful Blue

Accessories:  Happy Hellos die, Pierced Circle STAX (My Favorite Things)

Happy For You

I was surprised to see that after 259 sketches the Unscripted Sketches challenge was calling it quits.  Although now that I think of it 259 sketches is quite an accomplishment and I'd probably be pretty tired after all that too!  Well, I wanted to play along with their last challenge so I made a card and combined it with the colors at Color Throwdown.

I think it's tough to see in the photo but one of my "layers" is a line of some translucent embossing paste done in a concentric circle pattern.  I wish it showed up better but I've hung my photography hat up and have decided to quit obsessing about getting the perfect picture.  I'm a banker, not a photographer, so I have conceded defeat to the lens.

Oh and incidentally, if you are wondering why my Sahara Sand (as suggested in the Color Throwdown challenge) looks suspiciously like kraft, that's because it is.  I started making the card after looking at the challenge graphic once and was sure it said Crumb Cake and not Sahara Sand.  By the time I realized my mistake it was too late to turn back so I kept going.  (Apologies to the Color Throwdown ladies).

Thanks for stopping by and "so long" to Unscripted Sketches!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Doodlie-Do (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  Kraft (Avery Elle); Coastal Cabana, Watercolor Paper (SU)

Ink:  Jet Black (Stazon); Crumb Cake, Strawberry Slush, Coastal Cabana (SU)

Accessories:  Jute Button Twine (Papertrey Ink); Modern Radio Waves stencil (Memory Box); Translucent embossing paste (Dreamweaver)