Thursday, April 30, 2015

April "SKETCH FILE" Sketch

As April winds down, I wanted to share one more card for the sketch challenge we are having at The Sketch File. Kathy created a sketch that has challenged us to use concentric circles. I've had a blast playing with the sketch. You still have time to play along. Just create your project and link it up here.

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Jingle Belles Sketch Challenge

It has been an amazingly busy day here (more about this later). I began the day by creating this card for the Jingle Belles April sketch challenge.  It's the perfect sketch for those bits of scrap paper that I have been saving. I used four different patterns of cardstock and attached them to a mat by using my sewing machine to create the stitched snowflakes. I used a tree die-cut to create the tree for the focal point and backed it with white cardstock to give the impression of a snow covered tree. I have to say that creating this card was the absolute best part of the day. Afterwards I spent the entire day sorting through my craft studio tools and supplies. I weeded out a bunch of materials that I will no longer be using and set them aside to sell at a moving sale. My family will be moving across the country at the beginning of June! To prepare for the move, I packed up most of my craft studio today. I have accumulated a lot of supplies over the past eleven years and now the craft room is full of packed and taped boxes. It was necessary to pack up everything because we are selling some of the bookshelves and storage units that I have been using for storage of craft materials. The moving sale will be this coming weekend so rather than handle everything several times...I packed and packed and packed!  I will miss playing along with challenges, especially the Jingle Belles challenges (boo hoo),but it is probably for the best because I have SO much to do to prepare for the move. Hopefully, following blogs and seeing what all those talented crafters out there are creating will be enough to get me through the next month or so.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Jingle Belles RECYCLE Challenge

I'm playing along with another Jingle Belles challenge. This time the challenge is all about using a recycled item on our cards in honor of Earth Day. For my card, I used a large cork stopper with a 1.5" diameter. The cork arrived in my craft studio many years ago when my husband brought a bag of them home from his lab. He knew that I would eventually find a purpose for them so he brought them home rather than throwing them out. I've used them for several projects over the years and when I saw the recycling challenge at Jingle Belles I  knew that it was time to use one on a card. So, I  used a band saw to slice three thin layers from from the cork stopper. I punched the tree, Santa and snowflakes from cardstock and adhered them to each cork slice. The most challenging image to use was that Santa. It started out as just the shape of a Santa which I found way too boring. So I cut the tiny details out to make it look more realistic and added outer rings to each cork slice repeating the colors of the punched pieces. I also added a border to the left and used a corner punch to create round edges on the right hand side of the cardbase. In the end,  I like the contrast of the cork on the clean white background and the rustic feel of the cork.

HAPPY EARTH DAY!

April Sketch: Decreasing Circles

It's time to share another card for our sketch challenge at The Sketch File . Kathy has us creating with concentric circles this month. I used dragonflies and limited the color scheme to creams and browns. I love any type of paper with print and found this background paper in my stash. To be honest, I have a hard time actually using papers that I really like...isn't that just ridiculous! Anyway,  I inked around the outer edges with brown ink and adhered it to a cream colored cardbase. I layered the circles on the top left and added a few dragonflies to the right.
So, what do you think? Are you ready to create with the sketch. If so, please share your creation with us at The Sketch File and remember, you can rotate the sketch and use it to inspire any time of craft.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Ever Decreasing Circles Revisited

We're still playing with the April sketch at The Sketch File. This week I've decided to create a Christmas card. I started by printing "Think Snow" on the outside of two circles of different sizes. A computer is really handy for this type of printing. I layered red with punched snowflakes between the layers of "Think Snow" and kept the decreasing circle theme going by creating a snowman to the right. I torn cardstock to create a small snow field and adhered everything to a snowflake embossed background.  The inspirational sketch is above. You'll notice I rotated my elements. Hope you feel inspired and will link up a card or two with us.


Sunday, April 12, 2015

"Tree-mendous Christmas" with Coffee & Cream

In addition to drinking my morning coffee, I've had the opportunity to put together this card with "coffee and cream" colors. It's for the April Color Challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. I used a Kraft cardbase and mat for this card as it reminds me of coffee color (at least the color of the cups of coffee I drink). I began by tearing white cardstock to adhere to the bottom to represent snow. Next I adhered a row of wooden trees but I  left the trees the natural wood color to keep the color scheme the same. Then I inked around the outer edges of the mat with some walnut colored ink and wrapped the mat with coffee colored embossing thread.  Now, I think it might be time for another cup of coffee!

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Patchwork Card for 52 Christmas Card Throwdown Sketch Challenge

I couldn't resist playing along with the current sketch challenge
52 Christmas Card Throwdown Sketch
at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. The sketch just begs us to reach into our stash of small scrap pieces and put them to use. For this card, I used eight different pieces of patterned Christmas paper and separated them with a stitched border of white snowflakes. (I love my Janome sewing machine's many stitching designs, especially the snowflakes!) I wanted to let the patterned paper be the focus so I resisted adding any embellishments and simply added a sentiment with red brads.  Thanks for the fun challenge Louise!





Decreasing Circles


It's time for another sketch at The Sketch File. Well, actually we're a few days late. This time Kathy's sketch has us playing with circles. I decided to highlight my concentric circles with a bit of dark blue and white twine. I wasn't exactly thrilled with my end product, so I'll have to think of other card designs based on the sketch. I hope you will be inspired by the sketch and share your design with us at The Sketch File. Please feel free to rotate the design or change the shape of the card base.


Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Oh, Christmas Tree

Here's a second card for the Jingel Belles "Fa La La La La La" musical theme challenge. This card has glittery musical notes hanging on the tree and was inspired by the song "Oh, Christmas Tree or O'Tannenbaum". This is one of those cards where I wish I had stopped while I was ahead. I wish now that I hadn't added the white snowflakes to the red background.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Blue Glittery Flowers

I was organizing some materials in my craft studio and came across the background paper that I used on this card. It was one of those moments when I just had to sit down and create something with this beautiful paper. I simply layered punched flowers over it and adhered a few horizontal strips of white cardstock and added an embossing thread bow....now, back to organizing!

Sunday, April 5, 2015

The Holly & the Ivy

The theme for this card is music and it was inspired by the current challenge at Jingle Belles. Steph and Lauren are challenging us to use music in our holiday creations. I started with a piece of Paper Studio's Old World Winter musical background paper . It has the music for Christmas Chimes in one corner and a poem called A Carol of the Holly, by A. Pembury on the left. The poem reminded of the beautiful Christmas song called "The Holly and the Ivy". So, I decided to used holly. I punched the holly from green cardstock and used a colored pencil to add highlight and detail. For the holly berries, I used a circle punch and added detail with a colored pencil and white gel pen. I also added a bit of sheer red ribbon. Now I find myself singing and humming "The Holly and the Ivy". My son and husband look at me like I'm nuts and remind me that today is Easter.