Freshly Made Sketches: Keep on Flying

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!

I have a couple of new hanging wreath sets and they seemed like a great choice for this sketch.  A lovely hanging wreath, a beautiful Christmas sentiment, a sprinkle of sequins - my type of card!  Have you ever had one of those days where the simplest of things don't work?  There shouldn't have been anything hard about this card but I just wasn't happy with anything that I did.  And then when I was happy with something, I would invariably smudge it.  I finally swept it all off my desk and decided to go as far away from Christmas and Christmas colors as I could get.  I checked out my never-been-used stash and came up with this charming airplane, found some bold paper - and it all came together in less than 10 minutes!

I hope to see you playing along.  Maybe some of you can make the wreath idea work!!

• Stamps: The Cat's Pajamas Flying By
• Paper: Simon Says Soft Navy, Fancy Pants As You Wish 6x6
• Ink: Simon Says Soft Navy, Goldenlocks, Memento Black and Copics
• Accessories: Misc clear sequins

Curtain Call Reminder: Burlap Banner

Just a reminder that there is still time to play along at the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Burlap Banner.

The sponsor for this challenge is The Twinery and they have donated a prize package for one randomly selected participant.  Plus, if you are selected as the LEAD for your Burlap Banner inspired card, you will be invited to be a guest for an upcoming challenge.  You do not have to use twine on your card - just be inspired by the Burlap Banner!

When this post first went live, I made this card using striped twine which I think is a very fun look.  For this card, I wanted to highlight the solid twine - in particular the gorgeous Marigold and Caribbean with a little Cappuccino thrown in.

I used the Blanket Stitch button die from Papertrey Ink.  I didn't actually do the blanket stitch around them, because I would have had to slow down and learn how to do it - but just wrapping this beautiful twine through the holes is a marvelous look.  (FYI - if you try this at home - I did split the twine in half and used only two-ply.)  
I look forward to seeing what you create!

• Stamps: none
• Paper: Simon Says Dark Chocolate, Audrey Blue, Sunshine, Papertrey Ink Kraft
• Ink: None
• Accessories: The Twinery Solid Twine in Marigold, Caribbean and Cappuccino, Penny Black Words of Gratitude Die, Papertrey Ink Blanket Stitch Button die and Woodgrain embossing, My Favorite Things Fishtail die, Doodlebug Brown Enamel Dots, The Paper Studio Burlap Blossoms (Hobby Lobby)

Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Burlap Banner

This is my second post today.

Freshly Made Sketches is just a post away!

It's time for a new challenge at the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Burlap Banner!

We have a new sponsor, The Twinery, for the Curtain Call Inspiration: Burlap Banner!  A randomly selected participant in the Burlap Banner challenge will receive a fabulous bundle from The Twinery, while the LEAD will be invited as a Guest Designer in a future challenge!

I definitely love twine - it is such a light look for a clean and simple card.  There is solid twine and striped twine - I tend toward the solid, but there are just some cards that cry out for the fun of the stripe!

I have used three colors of twine from The Twinery: Cappucino, Caribbean and Mandarin. They are perfect matches for the Stampin' Up colors that I used on my card: Soft Suede, Bermuda Bay and Tangerine Tango! I am a math geek at heart, and an organization freak and I love spreadsheets - so it shouldn't surprise you that every twine that I own is in a spreadsheet listed with an ink color that matches.  I also have spreadsheets for ribbons and Stampin' Up designer paper and buttons and more.  I'd say that even I worry about myself sometimes, but it really does speed up the card making process when you can do a quick look up and find matching embellies (at least if you are as matchy-matchy as I am!)

• Stamps: My Favorite Things Bitty Banners and Birthday Greetings
• Paper: Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay, Crumb Cake
• Ink: Stampin' Up Tangerine Tango, Crumb Cake, Bermuda Bay, Soft Suede, Versamark
• Accessories: The Twinery Striped Twine in Cappucino, Caribbean and Mandarin, My Favorite Things Bitty Banners dies, Hero Arts white embossing powder

The Twinery Designers, our Guest Designer and the Curtain Call Crew have lots of additional inspiration for you today!  Make sure you visit each of the designers' blogs!

Burlap Banner Designers

The Twinery Designers
Guest Designer, Kelly Latevola
Amy Kolling
Amy Sheffer
Gayatri Murali
Kim Singdahlsen
Laurie Willison
Lisa Henke
Marisa Ritzen
Maureen Plut
Monika Davis
Stacey Schafer
Tenia Nelson
Tracey McNeely

Follow us!

Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge Facebook Page

Curtain Call Pinterest Boards

Stop by the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Burlap Banner for the challenge details and to play along with us!

Freshly Made Sketches: Giving Thanks

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!

I have a fun new die from Simon Says Stamp that called out to me specifically for this sketch!  I love all of the dies coming out with words integrated as part of the die.

Everything came together quickly for me on this card, except for the khaki background.  Plain Khaki looked stark.  I tried embossing folders and even embossed with stencils, I used a stencil and embossing paste, I did the stitching around the outside.  Nothing worked.  Then I remembered this background die by Lil' Inkers called Quilted Stitched Pattern Die.  It's such a nice, warm and comfortable look - I'm going to keep it in a prominent place on my craft desk during the fall and winter holidays!
I hope to see you play along at Freshly Made Sketches.  There are many, many, MANY options with this sketch and I look forward to seeing what you do with it!

• Stamps: Simon Says Stamp Thanksgiving Table
• Paper: Simon Says Stamp Audrey Blue, Khaki
• Ink: Memento Black, Copics, Simon Says Stamp Khaki
• Accessories: Simon Says Stamp Thanksgiving Feast dies, Giving Thanks die, Lil' Inkers Quilted Stitched Pattern die, My Favorite Things Blueprints 13 (the stitching around edge), Simon Says Stamp Fall Festival Sequins

Tag You're It: Halloween Wishes

I love the new inspiration card at Tag You're It. That pop of autumn color on the gray is fabulous!

I'd love to totally CASE it but I decided to change it up and make it Halloween.  I also just got an order from Pretty Pink Posh which included a set of three tag dies and a bright Halloween sequin mix, so I made a little tag shaker!  

This witch is from one of my favorite Halloween sets - Bootastic   It's absolutely charming but still clearly Halloween.  I didn't leave enough room for one of the sweet sentiments from the same set - so this is an older Hero Arts set full of Halloween sentiments.

• Stamps: Mama Elephant Bootastic, Hero Arts Happy Halloween
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Soft Stone CS and dsp, vellum
• Ink: Memento Black, Copics, Versamark
• Accessories: Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Tags die, Pretty Pink Posh 4mm Trick or Treat Mix Sequins, Stampin' Up Pumpkin Grosgrain, Hemptique 10-lb Lime Green

Merry and Retro: Joy

The Neon challenge at Merry Monday caught my eye.  I definitely do not tend to bright colors, but neon paper on kraft can be a great look!  Then the mailman brought my new WPlus9 this week.  Even though I needed more snowflake dies like a hole in the head, I got them - but in my defense they matched the snowflake background stamps which I had to have (but I've only used the dies on this card).  Finally I was thrilled to see that retrosketches announced a totally up-to-date archive.  I love archives - I keep them as a direct icon on my iPad so with one touch, I can see all of the challenges in one place.  I picked sketch #47 for my snowflakes.

• Stamps: none
• Paper: Astrobrights Glow Cardstock, Papertrey Kraft and Vellum
• Ink: Versamark
• Accessories: WPlus9 Snowflake Trio die, Hand Lettered Holiday die, Stampin' Up Heat 'n Stick Powder, Martha Stewart Fine Crystal glitter, Pretty Pink Posh 6mm Sparkling Clear Sequins

Freshly Made Sketches: Make a Wish

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!

I purged ruthlessly over the summer.  One of the things that I decreased by easily 90% was my ribbon collection.  It was massive and, sadly, I never used any of it.  I've been in a twine mood lately. (If I ever go back to a ribbon mood, I'm in trouble because it is all gone!)  But I did hang on to five colored rolls of ribbon that I bought ages ago from A Muse.  I knew as soon as I saw this sketch that I would use three colors of the ribbon, then it was a simple matter to see the soft look of this card and pull out an Avery Elle set that is full of gentle creatures.

I hope to see you playing along at Freshly Made Sketches.  It's a sketch that allows for a lot of options and I look forward to seeing what everyone does with it.

• Stamps: Avery Elle More Stories (the rabbit), To the Point (sentiment)
• Paper: Kraft and various colors from an old pad of Glitz and Glam Core'dinations
• Ink: Memento Black and Copics
• Accessories: Avery Elle Finished Frames die (the stars), Stampin' Up embossing folder (the stripes),