Freshly Made Sketches 600 Sketch Celebration!

 Happy Wednesday everyone!  Today Freshly Made Sketches is celebrating their 600th sketch and they asked me and other past "Queen of Clean" winners to participate in the celebration!   Take a look at the sketch and then the card I made. 

Isn't that a great sketch?  Of course it is because all the FMS sketches are great, lol!  Here is how I interpreted the sketch:

For the circular element in the sketch I used the super pretty Thanks for Being There stamp and die set from Pinkfresh Studio.  I stamped the image with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink on watercolor paper and then colored it with my Jane Davenport watercolors.  Once it was dry I die cut it with the matching die.  I'm also going to add this card to the August Pinkfresh Studio challenge (sparkle & shine) so I added some sparkle to my card with leaves die cut from gold glitter cardstock using the Leafy Branch die.  For the background and the strip element I used the Pinkfresh Studio Sparkling Diamonds cover plate die.  I used the gold glitter cardstock for the strip element, as well.  I finished off the card with the sentiment and lots of sparkling gems in the centers of the flowers.   Adding this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge, as well. 

I hope you will play along with the FMS challenge this week.  They have some fun things in store for you.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

thankful to know you...

 Hello!  Hope everyone survived the heat.  We didn't have it too bad here in the south Puget Sound region of Washington state, but it was still a little too warm for my liking.    With things being too hot for me I did a lot of cross stitching and a little bit of card making.  Put together this card for Freshly Made Sketches and Color Hues.

I still seem to be in a bit of a creative slump when it comes to making cards.  I think I need to take a little time off to clean up my crafty space and do some long overdue purging.   I have a couple of things to share over the next two weeks so I may try to just limit myself to that.  We shall see, though, lol!   I used a cute little sunflower die set that I got as freebie in my most recent Scrapbook.com order.  Thought it was perfect to use for the Color Hues combo and the FMS layout.   After diecutting all the elements I needed I tried to figure out how I was going to put things together.  At first I had a cardbase in the same red I used for the flower centers that I was going to layer a white panel onto.  Didn't like that so I tried embossing the white cardstock.  Still didn't like it.  Tried the embossed panel on a white cardstock base and that was a big NOPE, too!  Finally decided to find some patterned paper and pulled out this red polka dot.  Trimmed it down to size and then placed it on my white cardbase with all the other elements.  Yep, that was going to work.  Adhered everything in place and then added the sentiment and a yellow twine bow.  My card is pretty clean and simple so I will also add it to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

two cards...

 Hello!  I'm popping in to share two cards that I created using my stash of Concord & 9th products.  One card is for Color Throwdown and the other card is for Freshly Made Sketches and Color Hues.   First up is the card for CTD.

I love this pineapple stamp and die set from C9, but often forget that I have it.   I have never been to Hawaii and probably will never get the chance to go, but with the wildfires that have been raging on Maui this set came to mind.  My sister-in-law is Hawaiian and so I checked in with my brother to make sure that her extended family on the island was okay.  Thankfully none of her family or friends appear to have been touched by the fires.   I stamped the pineapple in black ink and then used Pinkfresh Studio inks to stamp all of the images.  I die cut the image and then several blanks of the pineapple to layer behind.  I had a scrap of white cardstock that I had embossed with an embossing folder so I trimmed that down, added a little strip of gold glitter cardstock and adhered it to my card base.  I added the pineapple and the sentiment banner.  You can just barely see it, but I also added a little strip of gold glitter cardstock to the banner.  

I went really simple for the card for FMS and Color Hues.  I used the C9 Eclectic Garden stamp and die set.  I stamped the grid image in both corners using a teal ink from MFT called Tropical Teal on a white cardstock panel.  I die cut the main floral image from white and the flower from orange.  The flowers were adhered and I added the diecut to my panel.  I tried stamping the sentiment on a banner, but it didn't look right so I stamped the sentiment directly on the panel.  Thankfully it stamped perfectly the first time!  I finished off the card with some little clear gems in the center of each flower. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

Birch Press Design post

 Hello!  Hope your week is going well.  I have a post up on the Birch Press Design blog today and here is a little peek:

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you will head over to the Birch Press Design blog to see the full project.  

thanks for everything...

 Hello!  Popping in with a card for a challenge that I don't often get a chance to participate in... JUGs!  But, my friend, Greta, is the guest designer for this month so I was determined to get at least one of their challenges completed!   It helped that it is a color challenge and I love me a good color challenge, lol!  Take a look. 

A few months ago I got a free Sizzix die set when I made a purchase at Scrapbook.com.  I used the die set not long after I received which is rare for me.  I put it away, but it was in a spot where I saw it all the time.  So I decided to use it to make my card.  I was rummaging around and found a Spellbinders honeycomb stencil and decided to use the two products for my card.  I used Pinkfresh Studio Lemon Whip ink to do some partial stenciling and then die cut the panel down using a rectangle die.  I cut the flower and leaves from Spellbinders cardstock in shades of blue and green and then adhered all the pieces.  I determined where I wanted the sentiment (from Simon Says Stamp) and stamped it using VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne ink.  I then adhered the leaves and flower using a combination of foam squares and liquid adhesive.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

magnolia birthday...

 Hello!  Hope that your August is off to a great start.  Honestly, I really can't believe that it is August already.   Things are moving way too fast if you ask me, lol!  Anyway, I'm popping in to share a card that I made for Freshly Made Sketches and Color Throwdown.  Take a look at what I made.

I have been in a bit of a creative slump lately.  Sometimes things come together and sometimes the just don't.   Last week I made a card using the CTD color combo and the FMS sketch that I absolutely hated!  To the point where I didn't even post it because I hated it just that much!  That doesn't often happen, but it was just indicative of where my creatively was at last week... no where, lol!   So when I saw the new sketch and color combo I had to try, again.  I'm happy to say that I do really like the card that I created.  This one uses the Magnolia Blooming Bud die from Memory Box that I purchased several months ago.  It has been sitting on my desk waiting patiently to be put to use.   I used Memory Box white and kraft woodgrain cardstock for parts of the bloom and then created custom colored cardstock for the leaves.  I die cut all the pieces and assembled them using liquid adhesive.  The whole MB magnolia line is gorgeous and so someday I would like to get the other dies.   After the fact I realized that I could have used white woodgrain cardstock to make my custom colored cardstock, but I like the contrast of the smooth leaves with the woodgrain stem and flowers.  I did custom color a piece of the woodgrain cardstock so I could cut a strip from it for the sketch.  I used a Hero Arts ink that was a nice sage green for the custom coloring.   The sentiment is from the Simon Says Stamp Happy Hello stamp set.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!