Freshly Made Sketches #609 -- Guest Designer

 

I was invited to join Freshly Made Sketches 609 after my card, along with other winners,

 was chosen for their celebratory Freshly Made Sketches 600.

 

Here's the fantastic sketch--just look at all of the elements!

 

 

I was a little overwhelmed, so I simplified the sketch to more my style.

I used a rounded arch for the central element and substituted branches for the fishtail

strips which helped to perch the bird. A strip of kraft was embossed with a wood plank 

folder, then distressed with white pigment ink. I embossed the sentiment and adhered 

all of the elements to the card base. The finishing touch was a spattering of snow with

some white paint.

 

You have until Monday, October 30th at 3:00 PM EST to enter. Come and join the fun!

Huge thanks to Karren and the rest of the FMS team for inviting me to join you this week.

 

 

Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge #22 -- GNOMES

I'm squeezing in a card for Caffeinated Christmas Card Challenge #22 with

the challenge theme of GNOMES. 

 

 My card uses gnomes from a Gnome for the Holidays Kit by Gina K Designs in collaboration 

with Thermo Web that was sold (and sold out) about 3 years ago. I'm glad that I bought a kit

and was able to finally use it for the challenge.

I assembled three gnomes in different colored hats and let each one hold a coffee

mug. I added some snowflakes and stamped the sentiment. Oh, and I gave them some

hands although the kit didn't include any because, how are they supposed to

hold their mugs? Aren't they the cutest?

Ok, I'd better finish and link this up since I have about a day left to do so.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

 

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Edited to add: My card was chosen as the Top Pick which means I'll be guesting

with them in December! See you then, and thank you, CCCC!

 

The Flower Challenge #85 -- Anything Goes and TFC's 7th Birthday

I couldn't miss the celebration over at The Flower Challenge. It's their 7th Birthday

with the theme of Anything Goes. But sadly, two of the team members, Aileen and Viv,

are stepping down.  

 

 

I've had the honor of guesting at TFC and worked with both ladies via email. They are

both kind and helpful and PATIENT and will surely be missed. Thankfully, Karren 

and the rest of the creative design team will continue with TFC's challenges so we 

won't go through "floral withdrawal".

 

Here's my card assembled with "unfinished" pieces that came together for the

finished project.

 

  I swiped white pigment ink over an embossed panel and topped it with Altenew's

Impressionist Bouquet. I added the sentiment and finished off with some clear

sequins. 

Happy 7th Birthday, The Flower Challenge! And much love and thanks to Aileen and

Viv for your years of dedication and inspiration! Hopefully you'll now have more time 

to "stop and smell the roses". 

Color Throwdown #762

I'm entering Color Throwdown #762 because my PTI order arrived and I thought the 

color palette matched perfectly with the dies.

 

Here's my card using Into the Blooms: Christmas Sprigs Dies.

 

 After embossing a kraft card with SSS Vine Canopy I adhered the foliage and berries

to the corner. The sentiment was triple stacked and adhered to the card.

Off to link this up--thanks for stopping by!

Inspired by Challenge #253 -- SUNFLOWERS

Squeezing in a card for Inspired by Challenge #253 -- Sunflowers.

Here's the challenge graphic and sketch.

 

 

Here's my card. I was inspired by the sketch, and of course, the sunflowers.

 

I cut a strip of Craft Consortium patterned paper and ran it through a wood plank 

embossing folder. To add to the weathered look, I distressed the edges with a scissors.

 

After adhering it to a card base, I added the sunflower and a sentiment that was

in my scrap bowl. It's so old, I don't know which stamp company it's from, but I like 

that it was cut and ink distressed and fit perfectly on the card.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Featured Stamper for Color Throwdown #758

I was so surprised when I found out that my entry was chosen as the random winner for

 Color Throwdown Challenge #756 and that meant an invitation to be the Featured Stamper 

for CTD #758. And I graciously accepted.

The colors are pink, green, magenta, and white. 

 

Here's how I was inspired.

I chose The Greetery's Spring Meadow set paired with some new Concord & 9th inks.

Dragonfruit and Carnation were the best choices for my project although CTD

allows for some leeway with the color palette. 

I was trying to create an OLC but stenciling the image on an angle was a bit too 

challenging so I decided to stencil, then cut out the bouquet. I adhered it to a panel, 

stamped the sentiment, and finished off with some clear sequins

You have until Monday, September 4, 2023 at 6PM EST to link up your projects.

Thanks to the CTD team for the invitation to join you for this week's challenge

and we hope to see you n the gallery!

Freshly Made Sketches #600

With twelve years and 600 sketches under their belt, Freshly Made Sketches is

 celebrating a milestone! I couldn't resist joining in with a card using this fun and

simple sketch.

 

 

Here's my take on it since I had some extra leaves floating around.

I ran a piece of patterned paper through an Altenew embossing folder and adhered

a maple leaf over it. The two part sentiment was added, then finished off with some

tiny gold sequins.

I'm still a newbie at Freshly Made Sketches after being on the CAS(E) this Sketch!

team for many years, and I'm happy to play along whenever I can. I love a good

sketch as a starting point for a card design and being able to use "bits and bobs"

from my scrap bowl is a bonus!

Congrats on the 600th sketch, FMS, and here's to many more years of sketches

and inspiration!

Color Throwdown #756

I love leaves. I must own a zillion leaf dies and stamps. So when I saw that the

color palette for Color Throwdown Challenge #756 was green, orange, and brown,

it was a no brainer to enter.

 

I chose a large oak leaf and smooshed, blended, and spattered three of them. 

A woodgrain piece was distressed on the edges and adhered to a card base.

The leaves were adhered and finished off with the sentiment.

Off to link up my card. Thanks for stopping by!

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Edited to add: My card was chosen as the winner for CTD756 and I'll be the

Featured Stamper for a future challenge! Thank you, CTD!

Color Throwdown #753

I'm entering a card to Color Throwdown #753 just under the wire, as always. 

Here's the challenge colors: pink, aqua, yellow and lime.

 

 The colors made me think about flowers and I pulled out The Greetery's

Spring Meadow Stencil which fit the bill.

I used inks from The Stamp Market and Altenew. I'm not really sure of the names

because I was just grabbing colors and stenciling as I went along.

I stamped the sentiment and used a set of matting dies to cut out the panel.

I adhered it to a light gray card base and finished off with some clear enamel dots.

I'd better link this before I miss another deadline. 

Thanks for stopping by!

The Flower Challenge #82 -- Clean and Simple

It's a new month--I can't believe we're into JULY!--and a new challenge over at

The Flower Challenge. This month the challenge theme is CAS, Clean and Simple,

one of my favorite card styles.

 

I chose Honeybee Stamps' Lovely Layer Coneflower Honey Cuts as my flower of choice.

The background was made using Altenew's Organic Linen 3D Embossing Folder.

The coneflower petals were colored and assembled and I DIY'd a stem. The bloom was

adhered to the card and finished off with a gold embossed sentiment. I wish you could

see the shiny sentiment. I always struggle with capturing metallic embossing.

 

While the overall design is CAS, I'm wondering if all those layers make this a

"clean and layered" project? Well, either way, I'm off to link this up.

 

Thanks for stopping by!