Freshly Made Sketches 250!

Day two of digging into my stash for the kind of supplies that many years ago I used all the time.  Yesterday I mentioned feeling a bit nostalgic about designing cards with layers, patterned paper, flowers, leaves, and texture - things I don't use very often any more.  So my card this week for Freshly Made Sketches features a few of those things.  Our sketch this week is brought to you by Cécile and it's got this fantastic angled layer that you are going to love!

The colors from the inspiration photo at Just Add Ink gave me the colors for my card (that wooden fence looked a lot more gray when I printed the graphic out, which is why my card has a gray background)!  I used up some really old DSP with a subtle print on it and layered a die cut flower using a new die I recently got.  The leaves are from a new-to-me company located in France called Simply Graphic.  Cécile uses dies from them all the time and she inspired me to do some shopping!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a chance to play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Be sure to pop on over there and check out the inspiration from our amazing design team!

Supplies
Stamps:  Thank You Kindly (SU)
Paper:  Fog (Simon Says Stamp); Old Olive, Pretty in Pink, Sweet Pea DSP (SU)
Ink:  Cement Gray (Simon Says Stamp)
Accessories:  Plentiful Petals die (My Favorite Things); petit assortment d'automne die (Simply Graphic)

colourQ 355!

Every once in a while an old card of mine will get a new like or pin on Pinterest and since I've got email notifications turned on, I'll get an email to let me know that someone has expressed a liking, in some fashion, for a card of mine.  Often I'll look at the card and think "oh I remember that one" or "I made THAT?  I forgot about it but I really like it!"  Quite often these old cards feature layers, patterned paper, a flower or two, or texture from something like burlap.  My cards tend to be a bit more austere nowadays, but when I run across one of these oldies-but-goodies I really like how they look and I get a bit nostalgic for yesteryear!

So this week, starting with my colourQ card today, I've dug deep into my card-making soul and made some throwback cards using things like patterned paper, die cut flowers and leaves, and maybe a layer or two.  I'm a bit rusty with these things but I had a lot of fun digging through my stash to see how I could use some long-forgotten supplies.

First up, a layered concoction using these new colors from colourQ and a sketch from Mojo Monday.  I used to play along with the Mojo sketches all the time.  They are fabulous and are easily adaptable to a CAS card-maker like me.  My card-making schedule usually means I miss the Mojo sketch deadline so this week I was happy that I could play along.

I used ribbon (ribbon!) for the horizontal layer.  Originally I had a much wider piece of ribbon on here but while I was editing the picture realized that the ribbon was TOO wide and went back to my stamping desk to carefully pry apart the layers.  I brushed off the dust from a more narrow kind of ribbon and went with that instead.

Thanks for stopping by and for sticking with me for my long narrative!  I hope you get the chance to play along with us at colourQ.  And if you need inspiration with these colors, look no further than our own colourQ design team!  They will wow you for sure!

Supplies
Stamps:  Take Note (Verve)
Paper:  Black (Simon Says Stamp); Poppy Parade, Basic Gray, Whisper White (SU); The Sorbet Collection (Avery Elle)
Ink:  Jet Black (Altenew)
Accessories:  Blueprints 21 die, Pierced Circle STAX, Pierced Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); Petite Scallop Circles Small die (Spellbinders); Basic Gray ribbon (SU)

CAS(E) This Sketch 185!

Happy Thursday everyone!  Today there's a new sketch over at CAS(E) This Sketch designed by Leigh.  Initially, this was stumper for me and then I remembered the "light up my life" challenge at The Paper Players and new this sunburst stencil would be just the thing.

I wanted my focal image to have a defined point on the center-right, like the sketch.  The rays of my sunshine fan out and fade to the left, which is a wee bit farther than the image on the sketch, but you get the idea!  A bold sentiment later and I was done!  Easy peasy!

If you haven't come here from the CAS(E) This Sketch blog then run, don't walk, over there to see the amazing inspiration from the design team for this sketch.  You will not be disappointed and I am sure that you will be inspired to join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Awesome (Neat & Tangled)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Black (Simon Says Stamp); Whisper White (SU)
Ink:  Daffodil Delight (SU); Jet Black (Altenew)
Accessories:  Texture Shine stencil (Memory Box)

Freshly Made Sketches 249!

Welcome to Wednesday and another challenge from your friends at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is the always-amazing Kim.

I've got to admit that this may be one of the oddest Christmas cards I've ever made.  It's not very Christmas-y I'm afraid and I'm not all that happy with the arrangement of the colors, but it is what it is!  I had been thinking a lot about the design for my card this week and initially a Christmas card wasn't even on my radar.  Then I saw the "CASE the designer" challenge at Global Design Project and for some reason the colors put me in mind of a Christmas card.  I happened to have some ribbon in pink and green and since I don't use ribbon all that much nowadays I decided that I would shake things up by using some.  What a rebel I am!

I recently got some new Christmas supplies for my stash and I really wanted to use this "joy" die.  I wanted to cut it out with some felt but I didn't have the right blue so I cut it three times (for dimension) out of my beloved Baja Breeze.  The top layer I ran across the the edge of my desk a few times to break down the fibers of the paper, then carefully peeled it in half.  This gives the cardstock a wonderful texture very reminiscent of suede - in fact I think this is actually some "sueded paper technique" that I learned many years ago!

Well that's it for me today!  I hope you've got time to play along with Kim's awesome sketch this week.  And you need look no further for inspiration than the Freshly Made Sketches design team.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze, Whisper White (SU)
Accessories:  Joy die (Concord & 9th); Blueprints 13 die (My Favorite Things); Falling Snow stencil (Simon Says Stamp); Diamond Sparkle Medium (Imagination Crafts); Regal Rose and Old Olive grosgrain ribbon (SU)

colourQ 354!

Here we are at Tuesday again and it's time for a new colourQ challenge.  I love the simple colors this week and I made a simple card with them!

The layout for my card comes from the fabbo sketch at Fab Friday.  As soon as I saw it I thought of a flourish die that has been languishing in my stash, unused, for a long time.  

I inlaid the flourish die into the white background then popped up the sentiment layer on some foam to give it a little dimension.  The diagonal stripes down the left side were created using a stencil and some clear embossing paste.  I love how the embossing paste gives some subtle color and real dimension!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to check out the inspiration at colourQ. We'd love to see you in the gallery!

Supplies

Stamps:  Many Thanks (Simon Says Stamp)

Paper:  Cool Caribbean, Basic Black, Basic Gray (SU); Solar White (Neenah)

Ink:  Jet Black (Altenew)

Accessories:  Fancy Flourish die (My Favorite Things); Diagonal Strip stencil (Simon Says Stamp); Scallop Border die (The Stamps of Life); translucent embossing powder (Dreamweaver)

CAS(E) This Sketch 184!

Happy Thursday!  Only one more wake up day before the weekend!  But before we get to that we get to see a new challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch.  This week our sketch is designed by Sam Simpson.

I usually shy away from sketches that have a repetitive image like this one, but for some reason when the repeating image is a snowflake I am totally ok with that.  Weird, I know.  But we all have our foibles!

I've been slowly but surely adding to my Christmas card stash and when I saw the tactile challenge at Less is More and the Anything Goes challenge at Christmas Card Challenges I could see some felt snowflakes in my future!

The blue layer and the blue on the sentiment is Baja Breeze (the best blue ever) and I will continue to say that until Stampin' Up! brings it out of retirement once and for all.  It also happens to be my go-to blue when I'm thinking of Christmas cards - or cards with snowflakes...

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you've got some time to check out our latest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch.  We'd love to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Joy (Concord & 9th)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Baja Breeze (SU)
Ink:  Baja Breeze, Cherry Cobbler (SU)
Accessories:  Blueprints 20 die (My Favorite Things); Maryanne snowflake die (Simon Says Stamp); felt

Freshly Made Sketches 248!

Time for our first challenge of August over at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week Linda is our hostess and she's cooked up a classic sketch that you will get a lot of mileage out of.  And don't be worried if you have no feathers in your stash - you can use whatever shape you'd like!

The color combo at Can You Case It is a favorite of mine:  gray, yellow, and black so I really wanted to play along with them.  Plus the tic tac toe challenge at The Paper Players was looking for masculine in the top row so I figured these colors would be perfect for that.  I got a kick out of the enamel dots being on the same line but I can see how those can be manly too!

I did layer my little stem with gray and vellum but I accidentally put too much glue on the vellum layer and the whole thing stuck to the card base making it really hard to see.  I tried to carefully pry it up so that there was some dimension to this card but it still is hard to see in the picture.  For the horizontal layer I stamped the sentiment then drew a box around it with a black marker to create the illusion of a separate layer.  I even cut the stem so that it seems like it is behind my faux layer!

The inspiration at Freshly Made Sketches is amazing this week so you'll definitely want to check it out if you haven't already.  I hope you can join us in the gallery this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Grateful (Concord & 9th)
Paper:  Soft Stone (Papertrey Ink); Black (Simon Says Stamp); Basic Gray, Vellum (SU)
Ink:  Jet Black (Altenew);  Basic Black marker (SU)
Accessories:  Blueprints 13 die (My Favorite Things); Chloe Stem die (Memory Box); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

colourQ 353!

Hello!  This week at colourQ there is a color combo that gave me a little case of the hiccups!  But never one to back down from a color challenge I persevered through a couple of iterations until I ended up with, of all things, a baby card!

Ha!  And now that I've posted this here I see that I completely forgot to use green!  Believe me, I had every intention to but I think I must have been so obsessed with explaining why I would use these colors for a baby card that I forgot that I had one more color to explain!

I should also mention that I am also playing along with the Sketch Saturday challenge, which is to pick a past sketch.  I chose #225.  And I'm also playing along with Addicted to CAS where the cue word is "welcome."

I was going to make a floral card using these colors but I kept coming back to the "welcome" challenge and couldn't get a baby card out of my head.  I really don't know why because these are some pretty strange colors for a baby card!  I didn't want it to be too pink or too blue, rendering it useless in those instances where the gender of the baby is unknown, so I thought the coral would draw some of the attention away from those colors and make it a little more neutral.  Too bad it drew the attention away from the green too! Yikes!

Despite my faux pas I hope you won't hold it against me and that you can join us in the colourQ gallery this week. We love to see you there!

Supplies
Stamps:  Grunge Cirque (Tim Holtz); Onesie Twosie (Taylored Expressions); Onesie Two-sie (Wplus9)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Night of Navy, Calypso Coral (SU)
Ink:  Blushing Bride, Night of Navy (SU)
Accessories:  Pierced Square STAX (My Favorite Things); Baby die (Simon Says Stamp); Decorative Dots embossing folder (SU)