Color Throwdown: Stemmed Rose

I have been a fan of Paper Smooches' Kim Hughes since the Cornish Heritage Farms days.  (Do any of you go back that far?)  So it was a sad day when I got the email saying the business was closing down. There will be no more of their fun, creative and completely unique products.

Although I already have a decent-sized collection of Paper Smooches products, I went right to their website and picked up everything I had ever even thought I wanted.  This Stemmed Rose was one of those.


I love the color combo at The Color Throwdown. It's not a combination I would have come up with on my own. I see it as very rich, but also very cheerful which is an unusual combination. It seemed perfect given I had colors for the rose and colors for the vase!

SUPPLY LIST
Dies: Paper Smooches Stemmed Rose, Hello Words, Simon Says Stamp Frames, Lil' Inker Designs Quilted Stitch Pattern
Paper: Taylored Expressions Plum Punch and Toffee, Stampin' Up Lemon Lime Twist and Seaside Spray, My Favorite Things Blueberry

Freshly Made Sketches: Don't Lose Faith

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Narelle and here’s what I did with it!

I'm not 100% with the sketch but I'm close.  When I saw these two dies in my not-yet-used stash, I thought they would be a unique way to do the squares on the sketch.  I lined them up just slightly offset and loved it - then just couldn't bring myself to angle them like the sketch.  I think you can still see that I was inspired!!

I wanted something simple in the background so I trimmed the leaves out of the square and added them white-on-white. I had tried a number of other options including embossing folders, stencils with embossing paste, some splattered ink - but they all seemed to take away from the detail of the leaf and the butterfly.


I hope to see you playing along with us this week at Freshly Made Sketches!

SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: Simon Says Stamp You Got This
Dies: Simon Says Stamp Butterfly Square and Leafy Square
Other: Pretty Pink Posh Gems - Marigold and Sea Glass

Perfectly CAS: I Can't Adult Today

My oldest son recently got elected as president of a club on his college campus.  Sadly, he's managed to go through his entire life without being aware of how hard it can be to work with people, especially volunteers!  It's killing him that he has big goals, everybody agrees, and then nothing happens. I knew someday he'd face situations like this. I have funny "adulting" sentiments, so I recently got this sleepy fox who I think has a look of resignation - you can almost see the heavy sigh.  Then I looked through challenges and was inspired by the Perfectly CAS (using only one third) challenge to use animals.

Also, the current challenge at Poppystamps is Clean & Simple.  Last month I won the random drawing for a gift card and I have new Poppystamps products on their way to me!!  Today's card doesn't use newer products, but it is definitely clean & simple.  I have some fun dies coming so probably more from me later for this challenge!

SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: Poppystamps Whittle Everyday
Dies: Poppystamps Whittle Sleep Fox and Whittle Mounds, cloud dies are unknown although clearly I'm going to have to add the Whittle Clouds to my collection!
Paper: Honey Bee Stamps Over the Rainbow (the grass), Taylored Expressions Peapod and Honey, Simon Says Fog and Smoke
Other: Stampin' Up Glitter and Clear Epoxy Shapes

Color Throwdown: Hey Bouquet

I love the bright and cheerful colors at the Color Throwdown plus the graphic looks amazing - I want those fruit-filled popsicles!! I didn't use popsicles on my card probably because it was a very stormy and windy day yesterday when I was crafting - not a popsicle kind of day - more a day of crossed fingers that my big trees didn't topple onto my house. So I pulled out a cheerful bouquet but I wasn't in the mood for coloring; I wanted quick and easy!

I realized that I had a number of those letters cut in the appropriate colors for the challenge. When I made the letters for this card and already had embossing powder everywhere, I just kept embossing and did a rainbow of pre-made letters. They are coming in handy. Since they are a Stamp Market product, I pulled out their bouquet and the sentiment. Then a few glitter sprinkles and this card was done in minutes!  
BTW - I was lucky - no trees on my house. But not all of my friends and neighbors were so lucky. One friend caught a video of his sons frantically moving cars while the big tree in their front yard slowly toppled all the way across the road. It's a great family - they did it all with a sense of humor!

Thanks to the group at The Color Throwdown for this summery inspiration on my dark and stormy day.

SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: The Stamp Market Alpha Cuts, Picked for You, Dear Friend (Sentiment)
Dies: The Stamp Market Alpha Cuts
Cardstock: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade, Granny Apple Green, Pumpkin Pie

Freshly Made Sketches: Birthday Bouquet

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Karren and here’s what I did with it!

I just picked up some retiring dies from Honey Bee Stamps - love them all!  I'm never sure how companies decide to retire items because I can't tell you the number of times I find something as it is retiring and I absolutely have to have it!  I got the Banner Builder half price. I didn't get it for banners - I got it to make the neatly cut strips on my card. There are six widths of strips in the set plus quite a variety of decorative edges.  The Bunch of Bouquets is also half price.  It's a great deal, eight vases and about a dozen flowers and leaves. FYI - everything I used on my card was still available as I was writing this post.

The frame was a recent Honey Bee Stamps purchase.  FMS had another recent sketch with a unique shaped frame and I realized I didn't have any.  I'm glad I got this; it's a simple touch that gives the card a different look. The sentiment and die are from one of my favorite sentiment series from The Greetery.  They have a unique set of sentiment dies and then a variety of themed sentiment sets to fit them. 

I hope to see you playing along with us this week!

SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: The Greetery Sentiment Suite: Birthday
Dies: Honey Bee Stamps Banner Builder and Bunch of Bouquets (both retiring), Polygon Thin Frames, The Greetery Sentiment Suite: Basics Die
Paper: Honey Bee Stamps Spring Lullaby

CAS(E) this Sketch: Happy Birthday Blend

I was flipping through my unused stamps looking for an idea for a gentlemen at work.  I saw this bold happy birthday and remembered the current sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch. It inspired me to add this bold sentiment along the bottom with one little image - although I did not totally follow the sketch because I did not put it off the edge.


This is an older stamp set from My Favorite Things that is new-to-me. I got it specifically for easy cards especially for guys.  It is super quick to use, especially in just two colors, and it adds interest without being frilly.  Thank goodness for easy stamps and for sketch inspiration because I needed this card really quickly. Working from home has me totally off-kilter; I hadn't even realized it was June and there's a gentlemen at the office with a June 1 birthday.  Oops!
I went an entirely different direction the first time this sketch was around - and I even went off the edge!  Here's my autumn card with a big golden leaf.

SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: My Favorite Things Happy Birthday Blends
Dies: Taylored Expressions Little Bits Present
Other: Pretty Pink Posh Silver Stars

Christmas Kickstart: Wreathed in Christmas Smiles

I have an over-supply of wreath dies so when I saw the Christmas Kickstart Challenge was wreaths, I definitely wanted to play along.  However, I didn't end up using any of my wreath dies.  I was flipping through my Christmas sets and saw this older set from the original Clearly Besotted Stamps. I also recently got a few slimline dies - so I went an entirely different direction with a trio of wreaths on a slimline card!


It was very enjoyable to do a Christmas card over the weekend.  It was a nice reminder of peace and joy and hope while the news was running in the background. 2020 has been tough.  My oldest son told me about a meme he saw with a person from the future showing up this year, asking what year it was and when he was told "2020", he asked "During the pandemic? Or the riots? Or the zombie apocalypse?!"  That's kind of what it's feeling like. And that's also why the promise of peace and joy and hope is so important right now.


Thank you to the Christmas Kickstart Challenge for the inspiration.

SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: Clearly Besotted Signature Christmas and dies
Dies: Pinkfresh Slim Stitched Rectangles
Cardstock: Taylored Expression Cherry Pop and Cilantro
Ink: Taylored Expressions Cilantro, Lime Zest, Granny Smith, Cherry Pop, Watermelon and Simon Says Schoolhouse Red
Other: Little Things from Lucy Glossy Berry Mixed Pearls