Tuesday Morning Sketches #693

 Hello!  The latest revisited sketch is up at Tuesday Morning Sketches and this week was my pick.  I absolutely loved this sketch by Patti.  As you might recall, I used it for one of my Christmas cards. 

This card is a birthday card for one of my card traders group ladies.  I'm not sure how I feel about it.  I think is nice, but I do wish my birds were a little bigger.  I am happy with the photo of it!  LOL

My card features scraps from the paper pad I've been using lately.  The pink panel is embossed with a classic Cuttlebug embossing folder (birds & vines).  The sentiment, I stamped before embossing, is from Spellbinders as well as the birds which were designed by Vicky P.  I do feel like it's a fun and cheerful birthday card!

I hope to see you over at the TMS blog to join us!

Just Playin' Around

 Hey there.  So I've been adjusting to being an empty nester.  I think it's helped that I've been super busy at work, but I've hit a few moments here and there where I've really missed my daughter being here.  So I've been filling my time with what I can.  I am working really hard on finishing a blanket for my guest room.  I am on the last round so it should be on the bed soon!

I mentioned recently that I want to start playing with more challenges.  I haven't fit it into my evenings yet because I'm working so late - but I'm getting there!  This card is following the sketch from Just Add Ink.  This was a good sketch for a couple of easy notecards.

This card was easy.  I took a piece of paper from the Garden something matstack and cut it down to 4x5 1/4 and then cut diagonally corner to corner.  I then took a panel of white 4x5 1/4 cardstock, embossed it with an embossing folder from Spellbinders and then adhered the triangle pieces.  I did make 2 cards from this.  I colored another piece of white cardstock with Seafoam ink from Simon Says Stamp and then die cut the flower and leaves.  I did color the flower center and leaves with a darker seafoam color, can't remember the actual name of the color at the moment.

As I said, this is an easy notecard.  I got 2 done in less than hour and that includes photographing and writing notes inside and getting them in the mail.

Tuesday Morning Sketches #692

 Hello!  Thank you for stopping by.  I do appreciate your visit.  The latest re-visited sketch is up and this week is Donna's pick. 

I have to admit I was really lacking mojo this past weekend.  My head really wanted to craft but I just couldn't get my heart into it.  My card features paper from Tonic Studio and a stamp from CTMH.

I also used a wonky stitch rectangle die from Kat Scrappiness.

This was a pretty quick notecard to put together after hours of trying to figure out what I really wanted to do.  

I hope you join us this week. Please head on over to the TMS blog and remember to leave some love for the team.

Color My Heart Color Dare #532

 Hello!  Thank you for stopping by!  I am so excited about today, I have joined the amazing Color My Heart Color Dare challenge blog design team.  I feel very honored to been selected for their team and I hope I do them very proud.

My first challenge was supposed to be a couple of weeks ago but with holidays and kids and cold, I just couldn't get into my craft room.  This week's challenge is shades of Blues, Purples and 1 other color.

My card features light blue, dark blue, a light purple and a mid-purple and then my 1 other color is actually 2 shades of green.

The base is heavy weight card stock from Tonic Studios that I embossed using the fans embossing folder from Spellbinders.  I used the Essential Arches dies to cut a window in the card and then using the Nov22 Small Die of the Month I cut out the base twice to give it some stability because not only is this my focal point but "closes" up that window.  Then I embellished with the detail dies in the set.  I finished this off with Nuvo Drops.  This was a super easy card to make and I absolutely love the results.

Please join us at Color My Heart Color Dare.  We'd love to see what you make with these colors.

Tuesday Morning Sketches #691

 Hello!  The latest revisited sketch is up at Tuesday Morning Sketches and Debi picked one of my sketches.  This one is one of the more challenging ones, but not hard to do.

I made 2 quick notecards featuring some really pretty from Echo Park called New Day.  More on the paper in a minute.

This first card is in shades of green matted on black.  It's nothing but paper from this paper stack.

This card is one piece of the paper and I brought in some pink card stock that I embossed using an embossing folder from Spellbinders.  The sentiment is also from the paper pack.

Okay - so the paper pad.  I bought it from Simon Says Stamp and believe me, I didn't need it.  I have plenty of paper.  But most are 4x6 paper stacks and the ones that are actually 6x6 I've dug into.  A YouTube video came up in my feed recently for Kendra's Sketch Challenge.  This is a huge challenge with huge prizes!  The idea is to use 6 sheets of 6x6 paper and make 15 cards with no scraps.  I decided to take this on.  You need to use 6 sheets of coordinating paper and that's why I bought the paper, none of mine would match.  Although I may challenge myself further and try to use up some more by mixing them up.  But anyway, I got the paper cut according to Kendra's instructions and I'll actually be making 2 of each so I end up with 30 cards.  It's going to be a process for me because I want to make up kits. So far I have 15 plastic envelopes with the cut pieces of the paper, I printed the sketches and cut those up and put them into the envelopes.  Next I want to work on the mats and other elements and then get card bases into the envelopes.  Then I'll make the cards.  The challenge closes at the end of March.  I think I'll be done by then!

Anyway, this is about Tuesday Morning Sketches and I'd really love to see you over there to join us!

Tuesday Morning Sketches #690

 Hello!  Thank your for stopping by.  If you've been a follower of Tuesday Morning Sketches for awhile then you know it is our tradition to revisit our favorite sketches of 2022.  The first revisited sketch is up on the TMS blog.  This week is Debbie's pick and she picked a wonderful sketch from former DT member Andrea.

My card features the Clocks and Cogs die set from Tonic Studios.  It was perfect for the New Year's card I wanted to send to the ladies I send weekly cards to.

My card also features papers and ephemera from the Spellbinders Aug'22 card kit.  I still have so much of this left.  These kits are really a good value.  The sentiment is from Nov'22 Stamp/Die of the Month, it actually says "hello friend" but I only wanted the hello part.  This was a really easy to put together.

Please head on over to the TMS blog to join us.

Just playin' around

 It has been a long time since I've posted a "just playin' around" post.  I have decided that I want to participate more in challenges.   I've let that part of my crafting life go and how can I expect those to participate in my challenge if I don't participate in others.  Maybe that's a silly thought, but that's me!

I made this card for my the two ladies I write to weekly.  The colors are from this week's Just Us Girls challenge.  My card features Nov 22 Stamp/Die of the Month from Spellbinders as well as the Essential Arches dies.  I am obsessed with these dies!

This was such a quick and easy notecard.  I used Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide ink which is why the saturation isn't as strong on the floral image.  I used a blender to dab on the two colors, the other being Broken China.  I did ink and stamp it about 3 times, I just couldn't get bolder color.  It worked well on the background stamp. 

I challenged myself to use an old stamp (background) and a new stamp.  I had yet to use the Nov stamp/die of month, so it was a perfect opportunity for me.

I think this turned out well for it essentially being a single layer card.  There are no bells and whistles which makes this a single postage stamp card.  If you have read my blog before, you know how much of a fan I am of those!

Well, thanks for the visit and I hope your New Year is off to a great start.

Birthstone Challenge

Hello!  Thank you for your visit and Happy New Year!  My great-grandmother in all her wisdom said that how you spend the first day of the new year is how the rest of the year will go.  So I always choose to spend this day doing what I love.  Crafting!

I am really excited to share that I am part of the design team for a new challenge blog - Birthstone Challenges.  This is a really cool idea! The challenges will run for 6 weeks, this one starts today and ends February 15th at 4pm MT.  The colors - January is Garnet is my Grandma's birthstone and February is Amethyst.  Challenges are always Anything Goes but you need to feature one or both of these colors.

I have always wanted to art journaling.  I've been watching Vicky Papaioannou's videos for years now.  This challenge made me finally take that plunge.

As I said, my Grandma's birthstone is Garnet and our heritage is Spanish so this page was so fitting!  I started with die cutting a tag using the Crafty Kit from Tonic Studios.  These dies are big.  The base is about 7 inches long.  The layering piece is from multi-media paper I got from Michaels.  I first used crackling mousse in black with a stencil I got from Simon Says Stamp.  I applied only a thin layer because I didn't want a lot of crackling.  Once that dried I added some ink.  I even inked a couple of edges with purple to pull in a little of the Amethyst color.  Then I decorated the page using Desire emphemera from Stamperia. 

I hope my page inspires you to try something different and that you'll join us in the challenge!