October Sketch File

It's the final week for the October sketch inspiration at The Sketch File. I hope you have been stopping by to take a peek and have been inspired to create a card or two with Kathy's sketch. We would love to see what you've created so be sure to link up with us at The Sketch File. Here's another look at the sketch. As you can see, I decided to turn it to create my Halloween card.  I hand made bats (added a layer of paint to them)and cut ghosts to represent the circles then used strips of decorative paper and decorative tape for the other elements.

Supplies: Cardbase: DCWV, Cardstock: scraps from my stash, Darice Decorative tape, Duncan acrylic paint, Scotch ATG

Meeting in the Meadow

Here's another card for the Creature challenge at Jingle Belles. This time I used a Tim Holtz die to create two doe, then added detail with colored pencils and markers. Next I  stamped and painted a sunrise scene, created two wreaths from punched holly leaves and glitter and hung them around each neck.To finish, I punched holes around three of the outer edges using a needle.

Supplies: Recollections Cardbase, Core'dinations Cardstock, Tim Holtz Die, Ek Success Holly Punch, Studio G Glitter Glue, Crayola Colored Pencils, Studio G Ink, Paint Masters Acrylic paint, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, Needle, MS Word, Inkadinkado tree stamp, Memento Ink

Santa Owls

I put this card together for the Creature challenge over at Jingle Belles. I cut the owls with a die and then handcut some Santa hats and a matching vest. The tree is torn paper with puff paint snow with a bit of sheer shimmer spritz over the top.

Supplies: Cardbase: Recollections, Cardstock: Bazzill (green), Core'dinations (brown), Puff Paint: Duncan,Tsukineko Sheer Shimmer Spritz, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, Scotch ATG

Santa's Suit

If you follow my blog, you probably noticed that I participating in fewer challenges and am posting less often lately. My NEW job is the culprit. It is so totally different than any job I've ever done and there is a huge learning curve for me. I think it will be a fun job once I learn all the intricacies and have an opportunity to practice what I'm learning, but the truth is, I come home exhausted and just don't have the energy to craft. I am currently traveling a few hours a day for training and it takes its tole. So, I am hoping that I can get into my studio on the weekends and play catch up. After spending 5 days a week in an office setting, I am also eager to be on the move.  There is a lot of sitting behind a desk in the new job, which I am not used to. So in addition to crafting, I am also eager to be on the move on the weekends and really need to take advantage of the pleasant fall weather while I can. We've already had four snow storms since the beginning of October and I am eager to be on the move and spend time outside hiking, biking etc. So before the sun had a chance to rise this morning, I spent a few moments putting together another Christmas card. I've already made enough Christmas cards to send out this year, so I guess this one will be for NEXT YEAR!

I used a recycled Santa image from an old Christmas card to represent the buckle on the belt. I cut the image into an oval shape, stitched around it with embroidery thread then matted it on black than silver cardstock. 

Supplies:
Cardstock: Recollections, Brads, Recycled Santa image, Polyfil, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive and Scotch ATG, DMC Embroidery thread

October Inspiration

It's Tuesday and that means that Kathy, over at The Sketch File has posted more inspiration from our design team. I hope you'll hop on over and take a peek. If you feel inspired by the current sketch, we'd love for you to link up your creation. As you can see from my card, there is plenty of room for interpretation.

Another one for Pink...for the Cure

This is my second card for the Pink holiday card challenge at Jingle Belles. Why are Lauren and Steph prompting us to use Pink?  It's their way of honoring all the brave men and women who have battled breast cancer. This is the third anniversary of their PINK challenge and there it's a create way help a good cause. For each card that we create, Steph and Lauren will each donate $2 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation which means the foundation will receive $4 for each card we link up. 

For this card, I used a piece of white cardstock and stamped a snowflake background with pink ink. Next I ran it through the crimper, then made the center medallion with layers of pink patterned paper and a spell binders die.  I also wrapped green embroidery thread around the medallion and layered snowflakes over the top of this. I finished by spritzing the snowflakes with Tsukineko Shrimmer Spritz.


Supplies: Cardbase: Recollections, Cardstock: Recollections, Snowflake Stamp: Stacey's Stamp: Triangle of Snowflakes, Studio G Ink, Marvy Uchida Crimper, Emagination & EK Success Snowflake punches, EMC Embroidery thread, Spellbinders Die, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, Scotch ATG. Pink Cardstock: DCWV, Patterned Paper: Echo Park: Happy Days

Pink ....for the Cure

The ladies at Jingle Belles are thinking PINK this month. It's their way of honoring all the brave men and women who have battled breast cancer. This is the third anniversary of their PINK challenge and there is an added incentive for all of us to create "PINK" holiday cards. For each card that we create, Steph and Lauren will each donate $2 to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. WOW! This means that the foundation will receive $4 for each card we link up AND we can link up as often as we wish. So, this is my first card. It has a pink checkered patterned paper for the background and it is matted on a darker pink cardstock. To break up the pink, I added a white wreath with green gems. The sentiment is matted with a foil paper (hard to see that in my photo).  I'm off to create another card!

                         

October at The Sketch File

I hope you'll join us over at The Sketch File.  Kathy's current sketch is fabulous and we'd love to see what you create with it. We will use the same sketch all month long so you have plenty of time to play along.  As you can see, I've created a Christmas themed card. To create the pine cones, I used a pine cone punch then layered lots and lots of tiny circles onto each pine cone.  I added a bit of ink on each pine cone. I cut a strip of pattern and a strip of embossed paper into banners and used the words NOEL to represent the circles in Kathy's sketch.
            

One More!

This is my second card for the sketch challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. I inked four white squares with blue ink, creating a sky then added stamped trees. I mounted each square on black cardstock and adhered them to a cardbase. For the center piece, I decided to keep the "tree" theme going and created a wreath with punched boughs. I layered the wreath onto a white circle and mounted the white circle and wreath onto a blue circle, then a larger black circle. On the inside edge of the blue circle, I punched small squares and then threaded a piece of embroidery thread though the squares. I added gems and a bow to the wreath and printed the sentiment onto an inked banner.

Supplies: Cardbase: Recollections, Stamp: Inkadinkado, Gems: Queen & Co., DMC Embroidery Thread, Studio G Ink, Recollections Cardstock, Memento Ink, Scotch ATG, EK Success Punch

Santa

A few scraps, a great sketch and a wee bit of time was all that I needed to pull this Christmas card together. The sketch is from 52 Christmas Card Throwdown.  I began by punching a green circle and then used a holly punch to punch around the inside edge. I adhered this to a white circle.  I printed and colored in a Santa image and layered it over the green and white circles. I adhered Santa over green scrap pieces of patterned paper that I cut into squares and added a quick stitch line with a marker.

Supplies: Cardbase: Recollections, Patterned Paper Scraps: ? from my stash, , Crayola Colored Pencils, Santa Image: Stamp-n-doodle.com, Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Punches: Ek Success

Two for the October Sketch

Please join us over at The Sketch File, Kathy has the new sketch up and ready and we'd love to see how you are inspired by it. There's also ongoing inspiration throughout the month. Each week we'll share new creations based on the sketch. For now, I am sharing these two cards...look for others as the month progresses.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stitching Away

When I created this cover for a mini baby album, I found myself
stitching away at my sewing machine. I love to play around with all the various stitches on my machine. I used the September sketch from the The Sketch File for inspiration and handcut all the tiny embellishments from bits of scrap paper and cardstocks.

Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill, Recollections, Scraps from my stash,  Janome Sewing Machine, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive

Stamping on Washi

Today I was determined to use Washi Tape on a card. I have a growing collection of tape and was just itching to use some of it. I began by dry embossing a piece of white cardstock with a striped diagonal pattern. I layered Washi tape diagonally, along the embossed stripes and stamped flowers onto the tape.  I used orange cardstock for a mat and adhered it to a brown cardbase.  I cut a narrow strip of the brown cardstock, attached three brads and adhered it to the bottom of the card.  I'm not sure you can tell from the photo, but the texture that resulted from the dry embossing and layers of Washi is a great combination.

Supplies:  Cardbase: Core'dinations, Washi: Darice, Embossing Folder: Darice, Stamp: Stampin' Up, Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Ink: Memento

Accordion Snowmen

There's a "Shape Up for the Holidays" challenge over at Jingle Belles. It's a fun challenge which gets us thinking about making Christmas cards that are not square or rectangular. I decided to cut my card into the shapely form of snowmen. I had fun creating them, probably too much fun!  I just couldn't stop adding detail. I started by folding a piece of white cardstock (accordion style) then cut the cardstock into the shape of a snowman. I used up bits and pieces of patterned papers and cardstocks to create little vests, small bow ties and hats. To ground the snowman, I added a torn white cardstock snowbank, adding a bit of highlight to it with chalk. Next I cut letters for the sentiment and tucked them into the snowbank. Finally, I made two brooms and stuck one on each side. They really helped to "pull" the card together.

Supplies:
Cardbase: Recollections, Scrap pieces of cardstock,  chalk,  EK Success punches, Studio G Glitter Glue, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, Scotch ATG