Birthday for RS37 and CTD217

I fell in love with the color challenge at The Color Throwdown this week as soon as I saw it.  There's just something about Lucky Limeade and Night of Navy together that say "wow" to me.  I finally had some time to make a card for the challenge and I paired it with the sketch at retro sketches.

This is actually the second iteration of this card.  The first one had monsters on it and I just wasn't happy with it.  So I took a little break and stepped away from my desk.  Usually this helps me figure out what I really want to do and sometimes that means scrapping what I've made altogether.  In this case I managed to salvage most of what I had done.  I just needed to carefully pry apart a few layers then recreate the main layer by stamping some new images onto it.  Not too much additional work!

Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Starburst for DD#28 & ISCC41

It's time to get serious about my Christmas cards I think.  After all, Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away and after that Christmas will come rushing at us like a freight train!  The color challenge at Dynamic Duos fit right into my plans and the sketch this week at iSpy is to do a starburst, which I thought would look kind of neat with these colors.

I used some retired Christmas DSP called Deck the Halls and some Sahara Sand DSP for my starburst.  And I'm going to pretend that I didn't put a couple of the scripty papers on with the writing upside down!  Hopefully whoever gets this will be so bowled-over by my fussy-cut pine bough they won't notice!

The pine bough and poinsettia are from Watercolor Winter.  I just saw a card the other day where this pine bough was stamped repeatedly in a circle to create a wreath, so I suspect that you may see something like that here soon enough!

I am officially on vacation from work for the next two weeks!  I can't wait to relax a little, get some leisurely Christmas shopping done and enjoy spending Thanksgiving with my zany family!  Thanks for stopping by!

CASology 18

The cue card this week at CASology is ORANGE.  At this time of year that conjures all sorts of ideas like the turning leaves, pumpkins, maybe even a squash or two.  But lately I've been on this bender where I take a color challenge that may evoke certain images and turn it into something a little unexpected.  So instead of grabbing a leaf to make my card I grabbed a butterfly.  That's an image that I love to use and have been neglecting since the colder weather has come around.

I did the one-layer CAS thing here with a fun circle border and a butterfly popped up on dimensionals.  I chose this rather understated sentiment because I wanted the circles and the butterfly to be the real showpiece of this card.  Everything was stamped in Tangerine Tango.  And of course, I stamped the sentiment crooked because that's what I do!  Grrrrr!

Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches 60

This week Tui has designed a clean and simple sketch for Freshly Made Sketches that can be interpreted so many different ways I can hardly wait to check out our always-amazing gallery to see what everyone has made.

I waffled a bit about my card this week.  I was pretty sure that I wanted to do something for Christmas and I kicked around some snowflake ideas in the old brain-box but couldn't really make up my mind about what to do.  I tried a few cards - even cutting into some beloved retired DSP - before I had to admit that I didn't really like what I what I was making.  So I put it aside and went back to the drawing board the next day - my stamping equivalent of control-alt-delete.

Lucky for me the mailman delivered some ready-made-inspiration new stamps to my door so I inked up this polaroid stamp and stuck an old-world Santa in the frame.  I embossed a Real Red strip with the Snow Burst embossing folder then added a small banner of Always Artichoke.  I think this card needs some glimmer so if it makes it to the final Christmas cut, I'll add some of the amazing Champagne Glimmer paper that is in the mini.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to head on over to Freshly Made Sketches and check out the super-duper cards your design team has made to delight and inspire you!  There's a little bit of everything over there so I don't think you want to miss it!

colourQ 162

Hello and welcome to another addition of the colourQ color challenge!  This week Arielle has found some great colors inspired by this beautiful wreath.  The first thought I had when I saw this challenge was to reach for one of my many leafy sets.  But I ended up going in a different direction.

I got some wonderful texture on this card from the Argyle embossing folder, rustic burlap ribbon, and Cherry Cobbler baker's twine.  I just added a layered sunflower to complete the look I was going for.  I think it's got a nice homespun feel to it.  The layout is courtesy of retro sketches.

Thanks for stopping by today!  And to all my US friends, don't forget to vote!

A Birthday for US183, CTD216, CFC77

As far as I'm concerned all the stamping stars have aligned because I was in need of a card for my nephew's 20th birthday when along comes this fantastic color challenge from The Color Throwdown, a great sketch from Unscripted Sketches and a masculine challenge at CAS-ual Fridays.  All I can say is "Yahoo!"

I really have trouble with masculine cards and add in the fact that this card was for a 20 year old man and I was in full-blown panic mode.  I couldn't destroy my reputation as being the cool aunt by making a card that was too sappy!  And I have no idea what is in the mind of a 20 year old man.  Ok, I have some idea but I have limited stamping supplies!  So I played it safe with some blotchy stamps from Clockworks and a sentiment that is very non-girly.

In any event, the jury is still out because his birthday isn't until next week.  He's very polite so I probably wouldn't know if he hated it anyway!

Thanks for stopping by!

CASology 17

The theme this week at CASology is SUGAR, which made visions of sugar plums dance in my head when I saw it!  I didn't think I had any stamps that were even remotely related to sugar until I stumbled across this cute cupcake (with it's adorable bunny).

How cute is this little guy?  Those big ears get me every time.  I kept this pretty simple because, after all, the challenge is about clean and simple.  But I did add a layer of Sahara Sand behind the image layer to make things a little more interesting.

Thanks for stopping by!

CAS(E) this Sketch 4 and The Play Date Cafe 156

I've been at sixes and sevens this week and I'm not sure why.  The hurricane on Monday surely threw me for a loop but what I experienced in regards to that storm pales in regard to what others are suffering so I don't think that's it.  I really needed some stamping therapy and after several false starts this week I managed to put a card together last night.  My inspiration comes from the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch and the colors at The Play Date Cafe.

I'm pretty sure I messed up one of the colors.  One of the little squares at the bottom looked an awful lot like Soft Suede so I used that color as well as More Mustard, Very Vanilla and Always Artichoke.  But then I went back and read the challenge interpretation of my "soft suede" as something they call "cinnamon."  I probably should have used something like Cajun Craze or Dusty Durango but Soft Suede is a lovely color all on it's own and has certainly got some cinnamon roots so I'm sticking to it!

It feels good to get back in my stamp room and stretch my creative fingers, as it were.  Hopefully I'll be inspired to return there tonight!  In the meantime thanks for stopping by!