Freshly Made Sketches 107

Hello and welcome to Wednesday and a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.  This week Jen Timko has created an uber CAS design for you and I can hardly wait to see all the gallery submissions.

I had a thousand ideas running around my head for this sketch, but then the mailman delivered a new sunflower die to me and I knew with certainty that this would make a perfect image for my card.

I didn't really have any stamps that properly duplicated the leaves from a sunflower so I used the images from Gently Falling.  I think they look ok.  And if you are wondering what the yellow cardstock is I'm happy to say that it is Marigold Morning, one of the colors from the first In Color groups at Stampin' Up!  I've got quite a bit of it in my stash so it is now my go-to color for sunflowers!

Thanks so much for stopping by and please make sure you head on over to Freshly Made Sketches to check out the fantastic DT creations PLUS all week long the most amazing cards find their way into our gallery.  You do not want to miss it!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Gently Falling (SU); Sweet Treats (Verve)

Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Marigold Morning, Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Ripe Avocado (Papertrey Ink); Versamark

Accessories:  Maize embossing powder (SU); Sunflower Die-namics, Pierced Square STAX (My Favorite Things)

To the North Pole!

When I was a kid I loved watching claymation Christmas movies like Santa Claus is Coming to Town and The Year Without a Santa Claus.  I own the DVDs of these special movies so you can be sure that these were (and still are) an important part of the Christmas season for me.

I bring this up because the card I've got for you today shows off an image from Toy Land that is tailor made for one of those movies:  Santa Claus is Coming to Town.  If you are unfamiliar with the story, it's basically an account of how a toymaker named Kris Kringle came to known today as that fellow we call Santa Claus.  And the first time I laid eyes on this stamp set, I knew it would be perfect to pay homage to this sacred (at least to me) movie!

The challenge at Seize the Sketch provided a great layout with some nice space to show off the arrow pointing the way to the North Pole and Kris Kringle.  I added some snowflakes from Toy Land and Chill Out to further set the blustery scene.  Then I added some wide washi and a bit of ribbon as the flags.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Toyland, Chill Out (The Alley Way Stamps)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White

Ink:  Real Red, Soft Sky (SU); Tuxedo Black (Memento); Copics

Accessories:  washi tape; Marina Mist grosgrain ribbon (SU); Real Red button (SU); crochet thread

colourQ 210

I decided to use the colourQ colors this week to create a little grungy card.  It has been a while I'd broken out these Papertrey Ink images but as I contemplated what I wanted to use for this card I remembered them and thought they'd be perfect for the eclectic colors of this challenge.

Now, it may be a little hard to see but I was inspired by the Sunday Stamps sketch this week.  A little poetic license gets me these images layered in a way that mimics the sketch.  

Be sure to head on over to colourQ to see what my fellow design team members have created for you this week.  You won't be disappointed!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Watercolor Wonder, Grunge Me (Papertrey Ink)

Ink:  Tempting Turquoise, Daffodil Delight, Dusty Durango, Onyx Black (Versafine)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White

A Study in White

I really wanted to play along with the All is White challenge at Keep It Simple.  I'll confess it was a little intimidating, but the design cards were so inspiring I thought I'd give it a try.  I used the layout from Cardabilities.  

I'm disappointed that the fabulous snowman image from Chill Out doesn't show up all that well in the photo.  I clear embossed it so that the card would be as white as possible, but I think a pale gray would have worked too.  I also clear embossed one of the images from Cover Ups before cutting all those flags to create a bit of texture.  I added a few accents in silver glimmer paper just to jazz things up a bit!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches 106

Welcome to a gorgeous day in New England and another fabulous sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  The sun is shining, the air is warm and I can almost forget that winter is just around the corner!  But better than all that is a new sketch from Amy, our hostess, who has created a fantastic sketch for you!

There was quite a discussion about the use of doilies for this sketch among the design team, but since I don't own any doilies I had to come up with something else.  After some deliberation I got the bright idea to paper pierce some circles but after I had done it I had second thoughts.  They're kind of  hard to see in the photo, but if you look closely I think you'll see them.  I used some of the super fantastic silver glimmer paper for the "merry" die cut as well as the stars and then I heat embossed the sentiment in silver.  It's quite sparkly in real life which does not show up well here.  The Festive Friday challenge was to use a star so I think this fits the bill there too!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to check out the design team inspiration at Freshly Made Sketches!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Wonderful Words:  Holiday (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  Nightshift Blue (My Favorite Things), Silver Glimmer (SU)

Ink:  Versamark

Accessories:  Stars #2 die (Sizzix), Wonderful Words: Holiday die (Papertrey Ink), silver embossing powder, Dimensionals (SU)

Now That's Cool!

If you've been looking for the perfect fan for your stamping collection then look no further!  The brand new set Bacon Bits from The Alley Way Stamps has not only got a fun fan and accompanying sentiments, but lots of other great stamps as well (including, you guessed it, some bacon and eggs)!  Today I made a card using the sketch from Less is More because it was perfect for this image!  I added a punny sentiment from Chatterbox.

If you visited my blog yesterday you know that I was describing the wonderful fall days we've been having here in New England.  Well today summer has decided to pay a little visit because it's supposed to be in the 80's again!  Yay!  Definitely fan weather, I say to myself!  My sister is supposed to meet me at work so that we can take a little walk on my lunch hour.  I could really use the exercise!  LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!

colourQ 209

Fall is definitely in the air around here!  It's typical New England weather, though, where the days are warm and sunny but as soon as the sun goes down, brrrrrr.  I refuse to turn the heat on in the house even though in the morning when I get up it's usually a few degrees below 60.  I don't know about you but turning the heat on in September is just wrong!  Now that it's October I'll feel a little more justified about relieving the chill but I'm going to hold out as long as I can!

But enough about that, you've come by today to see the new color palette brought to you by the very popular colourQ!  This week the colors are fun and a bit eclectic and are inspired by this funky chicken apron!

I was inspired by the latest Sketchbook Saturday sketch and as per my usual, wasn't paying close enough attention to the sketch and put the sentiment in the wrong place.  But as I was pondering how I could fix it I was struck with a little inspiration in the form of rhinestone baubles.  A little line of them on the banner where the sentiment was supposed to go is a pretty good compromise!

Come on over to colourQ and check out the lovely inspiration from the design team.  I hope you can join us in the gallery this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Meadow Greens (Papertrey Ink); Let it Be (Verve)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White; Real Red, Cool Caribbean, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Flag Tags die (Papersmooches); Basic Rhinestones (SU)

TAWS October Release Blog Hop

It's Blog Hop time at The Alley Way Stamps and the design team has put together some fabulous cards showcasing the brand new stamps sets that will be released on October 1st!  And to make things extra fun, one lucky person will win all three of the brand new stamps sets!  If you've landed here from Christine's blog you're hopping along just fine.  But if you'd like to start at the beginning, just click HERE.

Christmas is definitely in the air! (Can't you just feel it?  And no, the feeling is not panic that Christmas is only 86 days away!) For my project today I've made a gift tag with the cutest elf there is from the brand new Toyland.  I've also added a sentiment from Chill Out.

If you'd like to be the lucky winner of the new stamps sets, here's what you have to do.  And remember the more you do, the better your chances of winning!

1. Comment on The Alley Way Stamps blog;
2. Comment on the DT blogs (you'll find handy links are below);
3. Post about the new release on Facebook or your blog;
4. Like us on Facebook.

Be sure to let us know which you've done by leaving a comment on THIS POST on The Alley Way Stamps blog.  You have until 9:00 TAWS time.

And that's not all.  During the month of October, you'll get the Christmas Express stamp set for FREE if you spend $40 or more in the TAWS store!

Next up on the hop is Kasia, but if you're lost, here are links to all of the DT!  Good luck!