Freshly Made Sketches 375

I took a little unexpected blog break this last week so I'm excited to be kick off a new card design with a brand new challenge from Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is Cécile and I love her sketch!

I have some fun triangle-tree dies and that was the first thing I thought of when I saw this sketch.  But then I decided to do one subtle triangle with some embossing paste and a stencil then add some flowers.  I used the colors from The Paper Players challenge and had a tough time deciding what kind of flower to use.  I went with this modern take on a flower then had a tough time deciding on which die cut leaves to use!  So many tough decisions with this card!

I love how this turned out, though!  I love all that white space with a pop of color and I love that the embossing paste gives this subtle texture.

Wait until you see how the Freshly Made Sketches design team has interpreted this sketch.  So many great ideas!  I hope we'll see you in the gallery this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Funky Florals (Papertrey Ink); Sentimental Birthday (Winnie & Walter)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Smoky Slate, Basic Gray (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Melon Mambo, Basic Gray (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Foliage 3 die (Paper Smooches); Diamond stencil (Memory Box); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver)

Freshly Made Sketches 374

I learned a new word just in time for this week's Freshly Made Sketch challenge.  It's trypophobia and it is the fear of shapes!  This is relevant because our sketch hostess this week is the very talented Jen Brum and, as is well documented, she does not like circles.  So what does she do?  She faces those fears head on and designs a sketch with about a billion circles on it!  Way to go Jen!

For my part, I thought bokeh dots were the way to go...

There are love themed challenges all around blogland this week so I was able to play along with a few of them such as The Paper Players, AAA Cards, and Just Us Girls.  I'm not that confidant in my ability to do a decent watercolor background so I used some patterned paper that did the work for me.  I added my bokeh dots with some stencils and stamped a big old sentiment in the middle.  The idea for this card came to me when I was out walking on my lunch hour on Monday.  The temperatures were near 60-degrees which is a nice bonus in what are normally the coldest winter days around here.  I'm pretty sure the warm temperatures and the sunshine inspired my creativity!

Our Freshly Made Sketches design team have made some fantastic cards this week with this sketch.  I'm always amazed at where these sketches take us!  I hope you can play along with us this week!

Supplies
Stamps:  Love (Hero Arts)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Watercolor Wash Brights (My Favorite Things)
Ink:  Frost White (Colorbox); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Bokeh Lights stencil (Simon Says Stamp)

Tag You're It 80

A little over a year ago at Tag You're It Challenge we said goodbye....but not for good!  I'm so happy to say that with challenge #80 WE ARE BACK!

Tags are such fun projects to make.  You can use them as tags on gifts or you can add them to a card front to make a great card.  For our comeback challenge we've got a valentine - love is in the air - theme!

For sure I wanted to incorporate some hearts onto my tag.  I found an old stamp set that had a few heart images with various patterns so I stamped a couple of them in red and pink.  To my tag I added a die cut "love" sentiment and a couple of those stamped hearts along with a sentiment on an angle.  At Time Out Challenges their inspiration photo had a lot of hearts so I wanted to play along with them as well!

It's so great to be back at Tag You're It Challenge!  Our design team has got some great tags to inspire you to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  I {Heart} Hearts ( Stampin' Up!); Love (Hero Arts)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Real Red (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Real Red, Pretty in Pink (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Love die (Hero Arts)

CAS(E) This Sketch 307

It's time to bring January to a close and to debut a new challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch.  It's a classic design!

I saw the color challenge at the Color Throwdown and wanted to play along.  I stepped into my stamp room, spied this beautiful butterfly stamp and knew I could make those colors work with this butterfly as my focal point.  I added some patterned paper and a strip of dark brown and easy peasy I was done.

The white space needed some jazzing up so I added a few enamel dots.  Then I added a wee sentiment on that dotted patterned paper. Then I stopped myself from doing anything else.  Sometimes you just have to leave well enough alone!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you can join us at CAS(E) This Sketch this week!

Supplies
Stamps:  Papillon (The Stamp Market); Tiny Words (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!); The Sorbet Collection (Avery Elle)
Ink:  Daffodil Delight, More Mustard (Stampin' Up!); Fallen Leaves (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Papillon die (The Stamp Market); enamel dew drops (Freckled Fawn)

Freshly Made Sketches 373

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our sketch this week is designed by Kim and I thought it would make a nice valentine.

Inspired by the colors at Sunday Stamps I created an ombre design with the angled stripes and then dug out a very ancient Stampin' Up! set and stamped the big heart.  And an obvious choice was this valentine sentiment that followed the diagonal perfectly.

The battery died on my camera just as I was about to take the pic of this card.  Not wanting to delay I took the pic on my mobile phone instead.  It is so dark!  I'm embarrassed to show it but didn't have enough time to wait for the battery to charge and take a better one.  So there you have it!

The Freshly Made Sketches design team has created some great cards for this challenge so be sure to check them out for inspiration.  I hope you'll join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Love You Much (Stampin' Up); Love (Hero Arts)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Rose Red (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Rose Red, Regal Rose (Stampin' Up!)

CAS(E) This Sketch Meets Fusion

It's that day when I get to combine the sketch challenge from CAS(E) This Sketch with the inspiration at Fusion.  This week love is in the air!

I love penguins (especially the Macaroni ones) but I didn't have one single penguin in my stamping stash.  So Etsy to the rescue!  I found this adorable digital stamp and since that little guy (girl?) was surrounded by hearts I knew it was the perfect image for the Fusion inspiration.  I added some cute patterned paper in layers a-la the sketch and my little valentine was born!  Lucky for me valentines abound because the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is Have a Heart so this fits well over there too!

Thanks for stopping by!  We've got a great sketch for you at CAS(E) This Sketch and at Fusion you can follow the sketch or the inspiration or both!  I hope you'll join us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Penguin Bundle of Love (Conie Fong); Love (Hero Arts)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); X-Press It Blending Card; Cherry (Avery Elle)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair); Copics
Accessories:  Love die (Hero Arts)

Freshly Made Sketches 372

Hello!  It's Wednesday so it must be Freshly Made Sketches day!  This week our hostess is Linda and since she recently lived through the first snowmageddon of 2019 my card is an homage to her and all those adorable snowflakes she had to shovel. 😂

I have a little trick of adding vellum to a card when I'm stuck on a design element.  In this case that horizontal layer needed to be subtle so as not to take away from my sparkly snowflakes.  Vellum to the rescue once again!  The snowflakes were cut in shimmery white cardstock and some glimmer paper and with the silver cord behind them and the shiny washi tape we've got one super spectacular snowflake card.  The sentiment, although usually associated with Christmas, is a nod to the winter storms that tend to plague us through the first quarter of the new year here in the northeastern US.

At The Paper Players the challenge is a clean and simple snowy day - and what better than a snowflake or two for that?

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you can join us in the gallery at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  We love to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Ways to Say Merry Christmas (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Shimmery White, Vellum (Stampin' Up!); glitter paper (Recollections)
Accessories:  RyLynn Snowflake die (Simon Says Stamp); silver cord (Stampin' Up!); black embossing powder; washi tape

Silent Night

I've been quietly trying to add to my Christmas card stash this year in an attempt to avoid the mad rush that usually ensues when November rolls around and I realize I don't have enough cards made.  To that end I used a brand new die that allowed me to play along with the Silent Night challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown and the Just Add Something New challenge at Just Add Ink.

I've been obsessed with Nativity scene dies lately and have purchased a few recently.   This one I got after the 2018 season but I think it's a great addition to my stash and am looking forward to using it this year.  I love how it makes a great silhouette when cut in black.  I layered it onto this fabulous watercolor wash patterned paper and with the gold glimmer star I think I've got a great Christmas card!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Black Licorice, Watercolor Wash Brights (My Favorite Things); gold glimmer (Recollections)
Accessories:  Wise Men die (Tim Holtz/Sizzix); Holy Stars die (Simon Says Stamp)