Freshly Made Sketches 121

I really wanted to put some of the things I learned at my stencil class to good use for Linda's sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches.  I wanted to gently spritz some color on the background of my card and then layer some embossing paste over it with a fun stencil.  But I don't own any spritzers in the color that I wanted and I was too chicken to make my own so I used a well-loved splatter stamp instead.  It wasn't quite the look I was going for, but it's close.

Don't you just love this sketch?  I predict that the gallery will be chock full of fun and interesting cards this week!  For my card I stuck with the colors over at Dynamic Duos because I loves me some hot pink and black together!  Throw in a butterfly and I am ALL SET!

So now it's your turn to wow us with your creations in the Freshly Made Sketches gallery.  For some fantastic inspiration check out the beautiful cards from the design team first, then link up!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Gorgeous Grunge, Papillon Potpourri (SU)

Paper:  White Linen (Ellen Hutson); Neenah Solar White; Basic Black (SU)

Ink:  Melon Mambo

Accessories:  Chevron stencil (Heidi Swapp); embossing paste (Dreamweaver); black rhinestones (KaiserCraft); enamel dew drops (Freckled Fawn)

colourQ 226

I've been taking an online class for the last few days on how to use stencils on cards and I've learned a lot of new techniques.  I've been a little slow to incorporate some of these new details for my "homework" but I'll get there eventually.  For my colourQ card this week I used a stencil and some embossing paste.

Pink Pirouette and Blushing Bride never looked so similar as they do here!  But I promise you that the sentiment is stamped (and die cut) from Pink Pirouette while the little flowers are accented with Blushing Bride.  The layout is from Unscripted Sketches which I thought was perfect for using some of the new things I learned about stencils and embossing paste in my class.

As always my teamies at colourQ have created some beautiful cards to inspire you with these colors.  I sure hope that you'll pop on over there to check them out!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Happy (Simon Says Stamp)

Paper:  Kraft (Avery Elle); Primrose Petals, Pink Pirouette, Blushing Bride (SU)

Ink:  Primrose Petals

Accessories:  Happy die, Diagonal Stripe stencil (Simon Says Stamps); Boho Blossoms punch (SU); embossing  paste (Dreamweaver); Basic Pearls (SU)

Stenciled Online Card Class Day One

I recently signed up for the Stenciled Online Card Class because I'm determined to learn and try new things this year.  Yesterday was the first class which focused on sponging and spraying colors using stencils.  For my "homework" I did a little sponging while also incorporating the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch and the colors from Color Throwdown.

I really did use Riding Hood Red ink on my card.  I just forgot that when I sponged it over Daffodil Delight I would get orange!  Silly me!  I didn't really deviate from the example in the class for this card in terms of sponging over the stencil and adding a vellum tag.  I just got lucky that I could adapt the same techniques to these two challenges.

The class is four days long and I'm excited to see what else I'll learn.  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  DIY (Precious Remembrance)

Paper:  Neenah Solar White; Vellum (SU)

Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Riding Hood Red, Basic Gray (SU); Versamark

Accessories:  Tag Me die (Reverse  Confetti); Honeycomb stencil (Heidi Swapp); Pewter embossing powder (American Crafts); burlap twine 

Let's Be Merry!

Just as I was getting ready to post this card I realized that I made a tactical error.  I have a long tradition of making a card for a specific challenge only to find out once the card was made that I either forgot a crucial element, put the sentiment in the wrong spot, left off a color or otherwise botched the challenge.  Well today's card fits the "forgot a crucial element" category.

I think I did ok with the Cardabilities sketch but I totally forgot the ribbon for the Merry Monday challenge.  I had a look at my card  once I realized my mistake and couldn't figure out how I could add some ribbon without it looking ridiculous so I left it off.  I'm going to enter it over there anyway with a shame face and hope they don't delete me from the gallery!

I should get some points for effort because it took me three days to make this card in between watching episodes of The Walking Dead.  I'm trying to catch up because the new season starts on February 9th and I'd like to be ready for it.  So far I'm only part way through Season 2 so I've got a ways to go.  I suppose I could blame my little ribbon fiasco on being distracted by scary zombies but I don't think that's too believable!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Jingle All the Way (Technique Tuesday); Christmas Carols (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps); Slash Border (Impression Obsession)

Paper:  Kraft (Avery Elle); Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Very Vanilla (SU)

Ink:  Crumb Cake, Real Red (SU); Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories:  First Place Ribbon die (My Favorite Things); Falling Snow Stencil (Simon Says Stamp); 4 Petal Set die (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps); Basic Pearl (SU); Peace Joy Love sequins (Lawn Fawn); washi tape

Freshly Made Sketches 120

Mother Nature has once again reared her ugly head here in New England and dumped a foot of snow in my yard.  This is the second time she's pulled this stunt this winter and I've just about had enough.  The only saving grace for both storms is that the frigid temperatures accompanying the storms ensure that the snow is light and fluffy which equates to easy to shovel.  That doesn't always happen around here so I'm thankful of that at least.  One of the weathermen on TV joked that he was going to use his leaf blower to rid his driveway of snow and I think that's a pretty nifty idea!

Since it's Wednesday you know that there's a new sketch up at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week Rita is the designer and she's incorporated the ever-popular flags in the sketch.  I've got a zillion flag dies but none of them allowed me to layer in quite the way I wanted, so I cut mine by hand.

The colors for this card were inspired by the inspiration photo at Fusion.  I love that color combo and have interpreted the colors to be Daffodil Delight, Basic Gray, Basic Black and Whisper White.

Once again the Freshly Made Sketches design team has created some great cards to help you get your craft on!  Hope to see you in the gallery this week!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Grand Peaceful Wildflowers (My Favorite Things)

Paper:  Basic Gray, Basic Black, Daffodil Delight, Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Daffodil Delight, Basic Gray (SU)

Accessories:  Stitched Circle STAX, Circle STAX (My Favorite Things)

colourQ Meets Seize the Sketch!

Today is an exciting day here!  A while back Lesley asked me to join the design team at Seize the Sketch and today is my first card for the challenge!  {Insert happy dance here!}  Since today is also the reveal of the new color palette at colourQ I combined the two!

The colors are inspired by this gorgeous bag and the sketch is designed by Stacey.  The colors put me in mind of Christmas so I turned to these awesome modern Christmas trees.  I used them quite a bit last season and I suspect that I'll be using them a lot this year too!

I still can't quite believe that I am a part of the team at Seize the Sketch.  I am among an extremely talented group of ladies and I am so fortunate to be joining them.  I suspect that I'll learn a lot from them as time goes by.

So be sure to check out both colourQ and Seize the Sketch because there is a lot of amazing inspiration to be found in both places!  Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:

Stamps:  Modern Christmas (Clearly Besotted); Handy Christmas Greetings, Holiday Greetings (Amy R Stamps)

Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Cameo Coral, Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip (SU)

Accessories:  Banner Bundle Die Set (Verve); Embossing Paste (Dreamweaver); Bubble Stencil (Tim Holtz)

Oh Happy Day!

It has been forever since I played along with the CASology challenge.  Every week I check out the challenge and think I'm going to play along but inevitably I get busy with something else and before I know it the challenge is done, a new one begins, and the cycle starts all over again.  This week I made sure that I sat down in my stamp room and got busy.

The "dot" challenge pretty much ensured that I used the best dot stamps that I've got (which have been sitting neglected in my stash for a while).  And since it's the middle of winter and we've been seeing a lot of dreary, wet weather here in New England I used the brightest, cheeriest yellow I could find which happens to look fabulous with Crumb Cake and a tiny bit of black.  Spring is coming, I say to myself!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Dot Spot (Papertrey Ink); Oh Happy Day (Avery Elle)

Paper:  Crumb Cake, Basic Black, Whisper White (SU)

Ink:  Daffodil Delight (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Freshly Made Sketches 119

I think the recent Freshly Made Sketches break has wreaked havoc on my mojo because it took me FOREVER to make my card this week.  I seem to be a bit rusty because I actually started two other cards before I stumbled across this thank you die and thought it would make a fun take on the sketch.  So I scrapped the other two cards and went with this one.  This week Cindy Lovell is our hostess and I really wanted to do her fun design justice.  Not sure if I did.

Of course using this die on my card means my sentiment is in the wrong place (again)!  I don't seem to follow directions very well :(  My little "oops" aside I can hardly wait to see all the fun interpretations of this sketch that I know will fill up the gallery at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our super design team has made some pretty fantastic cards this week so make sure you pop on over to check them out.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Beautiful Blooms II (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  Soft Suede, Bermuda Bay, Sahara Sand, Whisper White, Thoroughly Modern DSP (SU)

Ink:  Bermuda Bay (SU)

Accessories:  Thanks on a Line die (Simon Says Stamp); Beautiful Blooms #3 die (Papertrey Ink); Basic Pearls (SU)