CAS(E) This Sketch 149

This is my second week posting as a card-carrying member of the CAS(E) This Sketch design team.  Annnnd I almost didn't make it.  Monday night one of my cats knocked over a glass and all the contents spilled onto my laptop.  Within a few minutes the laptop started making a sound like the backup signal on a big truck.  Not good.  A quick look confirmed the worst.  The computer was giving me a message that it was shutting down for my own good.  (Actually it said a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo but I can read between the lines.).

After waiting a bit I rebooted.  Sorry, it said, I can't find the hard drive.  That's crazy I replied.  I know the hard drive is there.  Look again.  So it looked again with the same result.  So out came the hair dryer.  And the battery.  Finally all that heat paid off because the computer booted up but wouldn't recognize the keyboard.  Fearing the worst I went to bed.

I left it alone while I was at work on Tuesday thinking it needed some time to dry out and think about its actions.  I've been very nice to this laptop over the last few years.  There's no reason it should treat me this way.  Long story short, the keyboard is most likely fried.  I ordered a new one but in the meantime I'm using an old USB keyboard that was attached to a desktop computer that I had a millions years ago.  Seriously, the keyboard is bigger than the laptop but it works and that's good.  At least it helped me put together my card for CAS(E) This Sketch which is really the reason that you're here.  Thanks for sticking with me for my little saga.  And without further ado.....

Truth be told I wish that poinsettia was a teeny bit smaller, at least for this card. I think it's over-powering my background stamp just a bit.  I got the color inspiration from The Challenge where the inspiration photo also had a big poinsettia on it so I was powerless to resist and used one on my card!

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you can play along with us at CAS(E) This Sketch.  And special thanks if you stayed with me during this wordy post and made it this far!

Supplies:
Stamps:  So 80's (WPlus9); Handy Christmas Greeting (Amy R Stamps)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Cherry Cobbler, Silver Glimmer (SU)
Ink:  Classic Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Blooming Poinsettias die (Memory Box)

Time Out Challenge #44

Good morning!  A few weeks ago I played along in a Time Out Challenge and you'll never guess what happened.  The ladies over there liked my card so much they chose it as their Top Card and asked me to play along with their current challenge which is starting today!

The challenge is to CASE the card you see below which was designed by Design Team member Karen.

That's my card on top, in case you didn't know. :)  As soon as I saw Karen's card I recognized the stencil that she used.  As luck would have it I also own that stencil so I thought it would be a good idea to use it.  I didn't want to create a card that was a near copy of Karen's so I embossed the stencil with my new pearlescent embossing paste instead of sponging it like Karen did then die cut the sentiment in black and green to carry on the colors.  I think it's hard to see in the photo but the black die cuts are slightly off from the green one so that you can just see a hint of color.

Here's a bit of a close up of the pearlescent embossing paste.  It's really pretty in real life!  I think is a better pic of the sentiment too.  And you can probably see that I went over the black die cut with my clear Wink of Stella to give it a little shimmer.

Thanks for stopping by today and special thanks to the ladies at Time Out Challenges for inviting me to play along with them!

Freshly Made Sketches 212

Welcome to Wednesday.  Today is Veteran's Day in the United States where we honor the veterans, both past and present, of the United States military.  My own father served in the Marines in the Korean War and I couldn't be more proud of him and his service so I wanted to post a picture of him in his dress blues.  He passed away in 2013 and I miss him every day.  Not so ironically, my parents were married on this day in 1956.  November 11th was a special day for my parents in more ways than one.

Now for what you really came here to see.  Today we reveal a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  The sketch is designed by my friend from down under, Narelle.  I spent a lot of time thinking about this card before I sat down to make it.

After weighing the pros and cons of actual square/rectangular images I decided to go with some of my favorite Christmas images - those triangle trees.  And on my drive home from work on Monday it occurred to me that falling snow would make a pretty cool background for those trees.

The colors this week at the Paper Players the colors were a bit elegant so I wanted to see if I could use them successfully.  My card may not be described as elegant but I like how it turned out just the same!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out my teamies designs at Freshly Made Sketches.  I hope you will be inspired to join us!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Modern Christmas (Clearly Besotted)
Paper:  Sweet Tooth (My Favorite Things); Basic Black, Real Red (SU)
Ink:  Silvery Shimmer Delicata
Accessories:  Blueprints 13 and Blueprints 20 dies (My Favorite Things); Hand Lettered Holiday die (WPlus9); Falling Snow Stencil (Simon Says Stamp); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver)

colourQ 316

Hello!  Today there's a new color palette for you at colourQ and the inspiration for it comes from these placemats.  The colors are so rich and perfect for an autumn-themed card.

I don't usually make Thanksgiving cards but I wanted a single line, simple sentiment to put to the left of those leaves and this one fit the bill perfectly!  My layout comes from the sketch at As You See It.

Be sure to stop on by colourQ and check out the cards made by my fellow design teamies.  They are gorgeous, I can tell you!  Thanks for stopping by here!

Supplies:
Stamps:  French Foliage (SU); Fall Colors (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Not Quite Navy, Hello Honey, Dusty Durango, Old Olive, Whisper White (SU)
Ink:  Dusty Durango, Hello Honey, Old Olive, Not Quite Navy (SU)
Accessories:  Horizontal Stitched Strips die (My Favorite Things); Dotted Borders die (Avery Elle)

Tag You're It 34

Hello!  It's Friday and that means it's time for a new challenge at Tag You're It!  This week our tag inspiration comes from Susan.

I didn't have any birdhouse images but I did have this cool die which features a stitched branch and a sweet little birdie.  I took some of the colors from Susan's tag like the brown, yellow, and green and voila!  I was done!

My teamies at Tag You're It have created some wonderful tags for this challenge so be sure to check them out!  I hope we get to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Doodlie-Doo (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Daffodil Delight, Garden Green, Whisper White (SU)
Ink:  Truffle (Avery Elle)
Accessories:  Songbirds die (Papertrey Ink); Traditional Tags STAX, Pierced Traditional Tags STAX (My Favorite Things)

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)

Freshly Made Sketches 211

Welcome to Wednesday and another new sketch from your friends at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our designer comes from halfway around the world from me!  It's Karren from New Zealand of course!  She's designed a great sketch for you this week and when you stop by her blog be prepared - she's an enabler of the first order.  Her techniques make you want to sign up for tutorials and her supplies might make you want to bust your crafting budget!  But don't be afraid there's lots of inspiration there too!

I pretty much followed the sketch exactly. My only regret is that I wish I had stamped the sentiment in a dark ink so that it showed up better.  It looks better in real life but it's really difficult to see here.  In case you're wondering it says "thank you!"

The challenge this week at The Paper Players is all about autumn and thanks so I'll be adding this over there as well.

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to pop on over to Freshly Made Sketches for loads of inspiration from our design team.  I hope we get to see you in the gallery this week!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Label Love (Altenew)
Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, So Saffron, Whisper White (SU)
Ink:  So Saffron
Accessories:  Starburst Framelits (SU); Pierced Circle STAX, Blueprints 15 (My Favorite Things); Stitched Leaves die (Lawn Fawn);Curvy Leaves die (Elizabeth Craft Designs)

colourQ 315

Hello, hello!  It's time for another challenge from colourQ!  The colors this week are bold and (eventually) made me think of fall!  They are inspired by this napkin.

The colors had me a bit stymied at first.  Then I decided to just start layering them and see how they all looked together.  I followed the sketch from As You See It (with the leaves taking the place of the round doily shape) and added an autumn themed sentiment so that I could play along with Can You Case It too.  In the end, I am pretty pleased at how this turned out!

My fellow colourQ teamies have got some gorgeous cards to show you this week, so be sure to stop on by check them out.  I hope that we'll see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Fall Colors (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  Lost Lagoon, Raspberry Ripple, Cajun Craze, Always Artichoke, Vellum (SU)
Ink:  Cajun Craze
Accessories:  Pierced Fishtail Flag STAX, Sentiment Strips die (My Favorite Things); Labels Four die (Spellbinders); Leaves die (Penny Black); Stripes stencil (Tim Holtz); translucent embossing paste (Dreamweaver)