Freshly Made Sketches #533 and NBUS #38

I have a card today for the challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.

I recently purchased Make a Wish from Concord and 9th and used the dies to cut the candles in primary colors, layering them three deep and adding alcohol markers to the flames.  I chopped off the bottom of the candles and stamped the sentiment from the same set, based on the sketch below.

I'm also sending this to NBUS #38.  I was a guest designer last month and there is so much great inspiration on that blog.  I hope you'll check it out and share your cards whenever you use "Never Before Used Schtuff".

Thanks for dropping by.

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Christmas Kickstart #61

I am way behind in making Christmas cards so when I saw the Christmas Kickstart challenge - From my gnome to yours - I had to enter.  I have a number of gnome stamps and dies but chose a die from GinaK for my card.

He's pretty self explanatory.  I decided to give him a plaid hat but everything else was cut from regular cardstock.  The homes from Reverse Confetti Christmas Gnome were added to the background and the panel matted in red and black using A2 rectangles from Waffle Flower.  I must have inadvertently put another cardstock in my PTI folder and didn't realize the color was different until I went to add the panel to my base.  I really like them to match but I was too far gone to change anything. 

I'm so glad you dropped by.  I do hope you'll leave a comment.

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Inspired By #198, Mod Squad December and The Paper Players #570

When I made  a card for Inspired By I had no idea I would find several other challenges that fit.  My friend Judy is hosting Mod Squad and chose Just Snowflakes for the challenge and The Paper Players have a winter wonderland mood board so my card will go to all three.

You know how difficult it is to photograph shiny features so this looks so much better IRL.  It started with TH Resist Spray through a Lawn Fawn snowflake stencil and then TH Mica Spray after the stencil was removed.  The resist didn't work as well as I would have liked so I added some other snowflakes cut from white sparkle paper.  The sentiment from Penny Black was heat embossed with Sparkling Snow.  It doesn't show up much better in this close-up.

Thanks for dropping by.  I know it's a busy time but I hope you'll check out these challenges.

 

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Just Us Girls #551 - Wild Card Week

 Five Saturdays means we have a Wild Card Week at Just Us Girls.  Carol has picked this as her wild card.

I know you all have some kind of butterfly stamp or die so I expect a lot of entries into the challenge.  As for me, this is what I did.

The butterfly was cut from a Memory Box die and lightly colored with Distress Ink.  I traced around the die on vellum, cut it out and glued to the die cut  The flower is from PinkFresh Studio and was dabbed with Distress Ink too.  Both were placed on a gray panel after the Altenew sentiment was heat embossed.  

I can't wait to see what our guest Lisa Elton and the rest of the Design Team made. Won't you go take a look too.  I'm sure you will be inspired.

Thanks for dropping by.

The Flower Challenge #36 - Reminder

There's still time to make a card 

for our September challenge at The Flower Challenge.

"Anything Goes" means anything goes as long as stamped or die cut flowers are the focal point of your card and you've followed the rest of the rules posted on the blog. 

My Favorite Things is our sponsor this month and each member of the Design Team is using stamps that were gifted by them.  They have also generously offered two prizes of $25 to their store for our winning cards.

For my card I used their Flower Silhouettes.

Not silhouettes you say?  I wanted to show there is another way to use the stamp set.  I colored the flowers with Distress Inks, spritzed them and stamped using my MISTI.  That gave the the opportunity to stamp more than once to get some extra color.  I placed my bouquet on an MFT die cut from Altenew Spicy Yogurt and put that on some Desert Storm. 

We hope to see your flower card in our gallery.

Time Out #132

Yes that's right.  I'm a guest designer at Time Out for their Home Sweet Home challenge after winning the Retro challenge with this card.  Here is the photo for challenge #132 sponsored by Altenew.

For my card I focused in on the floral pillow and used the sponsor's stamp, Peony Bouquet.

The flowers are die cut and placed on Slate cardstock edged with a stripe as a nod to the second pillow.  The sentiment from MFT is embossed in white.

What do your eyes see in the photo that inspires you to make a card for the challenge?  Here's a closer look at the picture.

The Design Team has made some wonderful cards for you to see.  Get inspired.  Make a card. The winner of the challenge will receive a gift certificate to the Altenew store.

I hope to see you in the gallery.

CAS(E) This Sketch #309

That was some sketch they gave us at CAS(E) This Sketch

and what I originally saw is not what happened when I made my card. 

You could almost call this a 'gift' card since the DSP was from a pack given to me by Nancy last Fall when I visited her, the black roses are from a die that Darnell gave me for my birthday last year and the embossing folder (barely visible in the photo) was a Christmas gift from my sister.  The only thing that I bought are the label sentiments from Neat and Tangled - another long neglected stamp set.

Thanks for dropping by. I love it when you do.

CAS Mix-Up - February

I have another card for the CAS Mix-Up.  The first one I posted was a mix of several CAS challenges but this one was made especially for the Mix-Up challenge - dimensional die cuts.

I have a stack of stamped images ready to color and these Altenew flowers and birds were in that stack, heat embossed in gold but not colored.  I colored them with Zigs (the colors are purple and teal IRL) and then used a stylus to curl the petals and the body of the bird.  I not it's not very apparent in this photo so here's a close-up.

Of course it helps to have lots of foam tape. ;)  Keeping with the CAS theme I added a white trellis die from CP to place them on.  So I have stamping and heat embossing along with another die cut and my dimensional flowers.

Thanks for dropping by.  Have a great weekend.

Time Out #128

All of the 'love' challenges have given me the opportunity to get my valentines made.  Today's card is for Time Out who gave us this lovely photo to inspire us.

I was drawn to the decorations on the cake and made this:

I have had that garland die from PTI forever and it looks just like the bands wrapped around the cake.  I couldn't find my stamps that go with it so I cut some pieces of PP to cover a few of the hearts.  After I stamped the sentiment in gray I wasn't happy.  I decided to add the extra heart with the gray background to tie it together. 

Thanks for dropping by today. 

Happy Little Stampers Christmas - February

Are you continuing to work on your Christmas cards so you won't be behind come December?  Happy Little Stampers has a challenge that will nudge you in that direction.  Come take a look at what the Design Team has made using this code word and optional twist at Happy Little Stampers Christmas.

I always try to use the option and I did on this card.

I just got the star trail dies from EbyE and saw that the SSS "Believe" die fit that curve beautifully.  Gold cardstock and gold embossing look wonderful with navy blue.

We'd love to see your Christmas card in our gallery this month.

Just Us Girls #455 - Photo Week

It's back to school time for many (or has been for a while) and our host Vicki has a school inspired photo for Just Us Girls Photo Week.

I pondered over this for a long time because I don't usually make cards that I couldn't or wouldn't send to someone.  Then I remembered that my great-grandson is starting kindergarten this year and would enjoy a card from Gramby wishing him a fun school year.

The school bus is clip art that I printed on mixed media paper and colored with my PolyChromos pencils.  That's my little nutmeg headed Noah sitting in the driver's seat. ;)  He doesn't ride a bus but the image was so cute I had to use it.  He'll probably say that's sister Hannah with the brown hair but she's not quite three and too young to be going to school.  The banners are from Sizzix and the letters from Memory Box.

Where does the photo take you?  We'd love to see your work in our gallery.  If you are chosen Chic of the Week, you could be a guest designer like our current one, Ros Crawford.  It's been great having Ros join us this month.  Be sure to check out her card and those from the rest of the team.

Addicted to Stamps and More #295

This is the photo inspiration for our challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More.  I knew just what stamp set I was going to use but it took a while to decide how to lay out my card. 

After I had everything colored with Zigs and the SSS succulents planted, I played around with how to arrange the pots on my card.  PPP to the rescue.  I layered the film strip die three times and glued the pots in.  The vertical birthday die is also layered.

The Design Team has some wonderful cards based on the photo for you to see as inspiration for your own card.  We'd love to see yours in our gallery.

CAS(E) This Sketch #274

I needed a masculine birthday card for Ken's brother's 80th birthday.  CAS(E) This Sketch provided the perfect format.

I had the embossed metallic piece in my WTDWT drawer and began with that.  The main panel is stamped with Waffle Flower's marble, heat embossing the second layer in platinum.  I had two white circles on my desk that were the perfect size so I glued them together and cut one in another color from my metallic pack to place on top.  The MFT numbers from the same paper as the embossed layer.  I wasn't sure how to include an additional sentiment so I left it off.  The inside says it all. ;)

There's a surprise party for the birthday boy tonight so we'll be spending time with family and friends and catching up since they don't all live close by.

Thanks for dropping by.

Inspired By . . #16

I pulled out an old die set to make a card for Inspired By after thinking about this photo for quite a while.

I concentrated on the 'hung' part and came up with this.

I cut the banners with what I thought looked like vintage linens, stapled them onto a clothesline and popped them up. The sentiment is computer generated making this card handy for someone going through a rough time.  Unfortunately I know too many people who could use a card like this.

Thanks for dropping by.  I hope your day goes well.

CASology #295

A number of the design team at CASology used the same stamp set that I wanted to use for their 'believe' challenge so I tried to do something a little different with it.

I tried partial die cutting and although it was a little difficult getting the small pieces out I think it worked fine.  Then I had to find a panel to place it on.  I found this one in my WTDWT drawer.  It's smooshed DOX but I thought it looked a little dreamy and that meant I could add that stamped sentiment to my card.  I also added a vellum outline under the silver glitter die cut word. 

For the first time in as long as I can remember, and in 16 years for the pastor, church was canceled this morning.  That's how bad the roads are here with the freezing rain and snow.  The forecast for the end of the week is mid to high 50s.  That's Michigan for you.

Thanks for dropping by and have a wonderful day.