Freshly Made Sketches #211 Card for a #sharehandmadekindness card

Hello everyone!! It is a dreary Saturday today-the perfect day to stay inside!!

I was quite busy in the craft room yesterday. I made SEVEN cards-which is a total record for me. I am a SLOOOOWWW card maker and sometimes it takes me a couple hours to create one! I think the secret was that over the last few weeks while lying around I have done quite a bit of coloring. I left these bits and pieces all over my desk and now I am using them in some cards. I think I should do this more often because I am so much more productive.

Anyway, today I am sharing a card I created using Freshly Made Sketches #211. I have to admit that it is NOT my favorite card that I have made in a while BUT I had fun putting it all together. That is what counts in this craft, right?

I created this card around the flower. I had these pieces stamped on my desk and it was either throw them away or make a card. I am going to send this to a friend filled with a little surprise this week. Who doesn't like a surprise?

This card is also for Jennifer McGuire's "Share Handmade Kindness" initiative that she has on her blog. I will be doing a lot of cards/card sets in the future toward this. My goal for the next year is to send random acts of kindness to friend, whether it be a friend I know in person or from online. I know plenty of people in need in my real life right now and a card is a wonderful pick me up. I know I LOVE getting a note in the mail saying someone is thinking of me.

Anyway, here is the inspiration sketch:

The pink and purple circle I created by blending Picked Raspberry, Spun Sugar and Wild Violet Distress Ink. I am in LOVE with this new purple ink!!

I added a piece of purple Washi tape under the sentiment strip and decided that my accents would be gold.

I used this new product from Tonic called "Nuvo Crystal Drops" in Carnation Pink for the large dot in the middle of the flower. It actually resembles and feels like an enamel dot when it dries. I have a few other colors and ordered a few more so I will be playing around with it in the future.

That is all for today. I will be showing some other cards on the blog that I made at a later date. I cannot post them all at once as I hardly ever am this productive!!

Thank you for stopping by today. Enjoy the rest of the day!!

InLinkz.com

CAS(E) This Sketch #128

I cannot believe it is Friday already. The first week of November has flown by so fast.

This is my last week off before I start work. I go back next Wednesday. It has been okay being home but I am glad to go back. I am feeling so much better and think I can work a whole day again. I will miss having time to myself but right now I am craving adult company and I really miss the kids that I work with.

I want to give a shout out to my incredible daughter during this recovery. Charlotte has been AWESOME. Every day she asks if I need something or what she can do to help. It has been her and I a lot of the time as Chris has had to travel, so she has had to shoulder a lot.

I could not ask for a better helper. Isn't she cute in her Halloween costume? It was Spirit week last week and on the last day they were able to wear them to school. Thank goodness it was not too warm because this is like wearing a cozy set of winter pajamas. 

Today I am sharing a card that I created using CAS(E) this Sketch #128.

I have slowly been making cards for my friend's birthday so I have been using a lot of sunflower images. (She ADORES them!!) I used sunflowers from Lawn Fawn's "Happy Harvest" set and "Our Friendship Grows" stamp sets. All of them were colored with Copic Markers. 

Card Directions:

1. I started the card by cutting a piece of patterned paper from American Crafts "Heartland Farm" 6" by 6" paper pad into 5 1/2" by 4 1/4." I inked the edges with Vintage Photo Distress ink and then adhered it to a white card base. 
2. I then adhered a doily from Doodlebug design onto the middle of the card.
3. I embossed a piece of Kraft card stock with a honey comb embossing folder and then die cut it into a tag shape using Papertrey Ink's "Tag Sale #6" die. 
4. I then used some yellow twine from Lawn Fawn to wrap around the top of the tag and tied a small bow.
5. Next I adhered the tag to the card front using foam adhesive
6. I layered my leaves and sunflowers that I had colored and cut ahead of time over the front of the tag. 
7. Using foam adhesive, I adhered the sentiment that I stamped using Simon Says Stamps "Talk Bubble" set. 
8. The last step was to adhere sequins around the sunflowers using Ranger Multi Matte adhesive.

Here is the Sketch that was my inspiration:

Isn't this a great sketch? I could see using this for so many more cards!!

To end this post, I thought I would post a photo of Zack in his Halloween costume. I know I should have posted this last weekend but as I have been terrible at blogging as of late, I missed the boat.

Doesn't he look so mad? Char made him wear it the whole day and he kept rubbing against the furniture trying to get it off.

Have a fabulous night!! Thank you for stopping by.

Supplies:
Stamps-Lawn Fawn "Our Friendship Grows" and "Happy Harvest," Simon Says Stamp "Talk Bubbles"
Dies-Papertrey Ink-"Tag Sale #6," Lawn Fawn "Our Friendship Grows" and "Happy Harvest"
Paper-white Card stock, kraft Card stock, American Crafts "Heartland Farm" 6" by 6" paper pad, green card stock
Other-Lawn Fawn twine, Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Vintage Photo Distress Ink, Ranger Ink Blending tool, Big Shot, foam adhesive, Copic Markers, White Gel Pen, Doodlebug doily, Honey comb embossing folder

Stamping Smiles Designs "Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge," MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge #252 and a "Top-Mow-it-All" winner!!

Happy Halloween everyone!! For those of us in the states, many are getting ready for parties and others for trick or treating. Charlotte is going to a party this year and forgoing trick or treating. Time flies so enjoy it when your children are small!!

Today I am sharing a card that I created using Stamping Smiles Designs "Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge" and My Favorite Things Wednesday Sketch Challenge #252. Stamping Smiling Designs is having a Design Team call and I decided to throw my hat into the ring. 

Here is the card I created:

Isn't he cute? I love the way that mouse for My Favorite Things "Harvest Mouse" set came out!!

Here is the Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge that inspired all the main elements on this card:

I chose to go diagonal from the top left corner to the bottom right corner. I used "Forest Friends" (the mouse), "Embossing" and "Woodgrain" (kraft background) as the main elements for my design on this card. 

I then used the sketch below for the placement of the elements.

I have been using a lot of sketches as of late, as well as challenges, for my card design. It challenges my brain to think outside of the box and use my supplies that I have hoarded. For example, the woodgrain embossing folder that I used for the background. I have had that for YEARS and I think this is one of the first times I have used it. How sad is that? The "Tic-Tac-Toe" challenge is something I have NEVER even seen and it was so much fun!!

I used Copic markers to color in the mouse and accented him with colored pencils and a white gel pen. I added a bit of Stickles to the pumpkins to make them a bit more festive. I chose to leave a sentiment off the card so I could use this whenever.

I created the background in the circle by first stamping and coloring some leaves from the "Harvest Mouse" set. I then used an ink blender and blended Simon Says Stamp "Burnt Orange" ink, and Distress Ink in "Scattered Straw" and "Squeezed Lemonade. "After blending, I used a mister to mist some water onto the top. I die cut the gate die from My Favorite Thing's "Sunflower Sweetheart"out of Kraft card stock and ran it through the woodgrain embossing folder. I then inked it up with Distress Ink in "Vintage Photo" to try to bring out the texture a bit. This card was just so much fun to make!!

A bit of news for me today. I was a "Top-Mow-it All" winner on the Lawnscaping Challenge blog for this card. 

I am going to link it below as well.

It was not the top spot but I will take any recognition I can get these days!!

I thank you for stopping by today. I hope you have a fabulous Halloween. Stay Safe!!

Supplies:

InLinkz.com

Playing with Muse Card Challenge #139

Just a quick post today. I have not made a ton of cards this week but have been coloring and die cutting images to create some Christmas cards and tags. I will be revealing these in the next couple weeks.

Today I am posting a card that I created for the Muse Card Challenge #139. The talented Tracey McNeely created a card as inspiration. Here is my take on her card:

I could have copied Tracey's card exactly as I have the beautiful stamp set she used but instead I chose to use Altenew's "Vintage Roses" stamp set to create my card. I always have such a difficult time with multiple step stamping. It is not only stamping on top of each image precisely (though I have a MISTI now, which makes it easier) but choosing what colors to use. 

I was inspired by Tracey's use of gold on her card. I copied her use of gold on the sentiment but chose to make mine into a strip and not stamp it directly onto the background. I also added some gold mist onto the card base, as well as three gold sequins. I thought it went well with the yellow that I used.

Here is the inspiration piece:

I thank you for taking the time to stop by today. Have a wonderful evening!!

Supplies:
Stamps-Altenew "Vintage Roses," Paper Trey Ink "Words of Comfort"
Inks-Versamark, Paper Trey Ink "Harvest Gold," My Favorite Things "Lemon Chiffon" and "Daffodil,"Altenew-"Frayed Leaf,""Forest Glades," and "Evergreen."
Paper-Paper Trey Ink
Other-Heat Gun, Prima "Gold Leaf" spray, Ranger "Liquid Platinum" embossing powder, gold sequins and foam adhesive