O Holy Night

Recently I was inspired by a card I saw on Instagram to buy a nativity die.  That card was a sponged night-time background and the nativity scene was done in black so it would be a silhouette and I had every intention of CASEing that card for my own personal stash.  But then I saw the "mostly white" challenge at AAA Cards and thought that might be an interesting look with that die.  So I got to work!

My bad photography aside this card is really pretty in real life.  The white on white design is a great look and the the star shining in the east was die cut in glitter paper so it has some great shine.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies

Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer (Stampin' Up!)

Accessories:  NativityScape die (SugarPea Designs)

CAS(E) This Sketch 299

It's the "all Christmas" channel around here!  Yes, instead of preparing for Christmas throughout the year I have waited until almost the last minute to finish up the cards I need.  I'm happy that the latest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch helped me along the way.

I used some old Stampin' Up! designer to create my colorful background.  The paper was geometric in its design and has a fun mod vibe.  At first glance it's not obvious it's a Christmas design but that sentiment leaves no room for anything but!

Thanks for stopping by!  Our CAS(E) This Sketch design team has created some amazing cards to inspire you for this challenge. I hope you join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Triangle Trees (Reverse Confetti)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Holiday Lounge DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Skinny Mini Banners die (Papertrey Ink)

Freshly Made Sketches 365

This week our new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches immediately put me in mind of some patterned paper.  Jen Brum is our hostess this week and she had Christmas on her mind when she designed the sketch so I was more than happy to oblige - and add to my stash!

I had decided early on that I wanted the focal point of this card to be a poinsettia so I dug through my extensive stash of patterned paper to find something complementary to one.  I ended up with these two patterns - some gold stripes and a vintage looking music sheet.  I love how this turned out!  This particular die is one of my favorite poinsettia ones (yes, I own more than one)!

My Freshly Made Sketches teamies have made some fantastic cards with this sketch so check them out!  And then join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps: Tis the Season (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Cherry, Jungle (Avery Elle); Brushed Gold (Stampin' Up!); Snow Village (Pink Paislee); glitter paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Blooming Poinsettias die (Memory Box)

Happy Christmas

I've been on vacation for the last week and have been busy cleaning closets and my craft room.  I'm amazed at the things that I've been storing that I don't use or need!  I'm happy that I managed to throw away several bags of things that I don't need and I also have a big pile of things in good condition that I'm going to donate.  It feels good to purge!

After Thanksgiving and some cyber shopping I had some free time to play around in my newly clean craft room so I made a card for a threesome of challenges.  At CAS-ual Fridays they are looking for shades of gold, Just Us Girls wants bows, and at Less is More it's one layer week.

This bow stamp set is a two layer image so I stamped the first image in a dark honey color then stamped the second layer in gold and then heat embossed it.  It's quite pretty in real life.  I wanted to preserve that white space so I used a small sentiment.

I'm very sad that I'm back to work today but happy that I got so much accomplished while off work - including putting up the Christmas tree.  Once I did that a happy kitty took his place underneath. 😊

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Holiday Bows (The Ton); Tiny Words Christmas (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Very Vanilla (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Honey Nut (Papertrey Ink); Golden Glitz (Delicata); Nocturne (Versfine Clair)
Accessories:  gold embossing powder

Fusion - Christmas Chair

Happy thanksgiving to all my American friends. 😊 I hope you will celebrate the holiday with your family or friends or whoever makes you thankful.

But before we get to all that turkey it's time for a new Fusion challenge.  This week I actually did make some fusion by combining the colors of the inspiration with the sketch.

My cluster of greenery is supposed to be the circles and square on the sketch but I think I might have got a bit carried away! I did manage to incorporate some green, red, off white, and even some stripes so it's all good!

My Fusion teammies have once again made some fabulous cards to inspire you to play along with us.  So be sure to check them out.  See you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Spruce & Sprigs, Ways to Sa Merry Christmas (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Classic Natural White (Neenah); Real Red, Merry Moments DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Ripe Avocado, Simply Chartreuse, Pure Poppy, Cocoa Bean (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Spruce & Sprigs die (Papertrey Ink)

Freshly Made Sketches 364

My Christmas card countdown continues.  This time I am inspired by the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches designed by Kim.

I decided to make my card square to be in sync with the square layer in the corner.  It's hard to make out in the photo but the pink square is actually some very pretty glitter paper and the trees are embossed in silver.  This is so pretty in real life!  The Less is More challenge is looking for metallics so since I embossed this and it looked pretty clean to me so I'm adding this over there. 

Thanks for stopping by! And don't forget to check out our Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  Our design team has made some fabulous cards to inspire you!

Stamps:  Triangle Trees (Reverse Confetti); Tiny Word Christmas (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Purely Pomegranate (Stampin' Up!); glitter paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair)

CAS(E) This Sketch 298

I am totally committed to the gnome craze this year and the new challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch, designed by Donna, fit right into my gnome-plan! 

These gnomes are just so dang cute!  Every time I go into Marshalls or TJ Maxx I can't help but roam around the Christmas decorations smiling at all the gnomes that I see.  And they're a great winter decoration with their warm hats and beard too!  So when I saw my friend Jen Timko using this fun stamp set I knew right away that I needed to have it.  I used a silver shimmer vellum to die cut a couple of snowflakes which I layered behind my little guy.  After I glued them to my card I thought they might look a tad like I gave him antlers but the glue was stuck fast so they had to stay! 

I made this card on Sunday and just before I sat down to write this blog post (on Wednesday) I decided to have a look at the newest Color Throwdown challenge.  Well what to my wondering eyes should appear --- but the colors (or a reasonable facsimile) that I used on my card!  What a happy coincidence!  That's one of my favorite challenges and I don't play along with them nearly as much as I used to so it's nice to join in this week.

How will our CAS(E) This Sketch challenge inspire you this week?  Join us in the gallery!  And thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  A Gnome Winter (Picket Fence Studios)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Baja Breeze, Ski Slope DSP (Stampin' Up!); vellum (Grafix)
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!); Polychromos
Accessories:  Snowfall Backdrop Portrait die (Lawn Fawn); Snowflake Trio die (amuse.studio)

Freshly Made Sketches 363

I'm officially in Christmas card mode.  Especially since it's the middle of November and I'm pretty sure that I don't have enough Christmas cards made for this season.  I'm afraid to count how many I have because I don't want to panic if I have way less than I need!  But Freshly Made Sketches to the rescue.  This week our sketch is brought to us by Jen Timko.

As you can see I flipped the sketch on its side and took advantage of all that white space to use up some ancient Stampin' Up! designer paper that I had in my stash.  By the time I put this together I wasn't happy with all that blank space so I cut out a star in some shimmery paper and stuck it to the middle of that space.  The designer paper used colors like old olive, chocolate chip, and real red so that was my inspiration for this color combo.  A little eclectic, but I like it.

There's an anything goes challenge going on at Retro Rubber and this card qualifies on so many levels.  I know they are only interested in aged stamp sets but I've got to share that while the stamp set I used is over a year old as well as the die cut peace sentiment, that designer paper is the real story here.  It's so old I don't remember how long I've had it.  I'm going to guess eighth or nine years at least!  Can you say hoarder?

As usual our Freshly Made Sketches design team has cooked up some wonderful cards to inspire you.  I hope you have some time this week to join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Stained Glass Greetings (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Real Red, Old Olive, Ski Slope DSP, Merry Moments DSP (Stampin' Up!); glitter paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Wonderful Words Holiday die (Papertrey Ink); Holy Stars die (Simon Says Stamp); Blueprints 21 die (My Favorite Things)