February Sketch @ The Sketch File

I am a day late with this post. I have been fighting a fever and cough and have had little energy. This card was inspired by our current sketch at The Sketch File. It's one of those cards that looked totally different from what I had initially intended. In the end it came out okay, but I still feel it needs a bit of something. I will probably re-work it later. However, if you are looking for inspiration that totally ROCKS, take a peek at Kathy's clever take on the sketch. It's one of those designs that I will have to "borrow".   Below are two versions of the current sketch for our February sketch challenge....please join us at THE SKETCH FILE!:

                                        

WASHI-ing with Polka Dots & Stripes

This morning I decided to create yet another card for the Here We Come a WASHI-ing Challenge @ Jingle Belles. I love this challenge! I only wish I had other colors and patterns of washi to create with...a drawer full just isn't enough! I decided to use the washi to create a background for a snowflake. I attached the washi to black cardstock at an angle, alternating the two colors & patterns to create stripes and to add more visual interest. I also repeated the polka dot pattern by dry embossing dots on the white background cardstock. Because the top of the card needed just a little something, I added three small red gems.

Two for Tuesday @ the Sketch File

I'm sharing two cards today! I hope you will find inspiration in them and head on over to the The Sketch File and link up a card or two. These two cards were both inspired by our current sketch challenge. We'll keep the sketch up until the end of February, so you have plenty of time to play along with us.

One More for WASHI-ing Challenge

The current "Here We Come a-WASHI-ing" challenge at Jingle Belles (a theme suggested by Lela Meinke) has my creative wheels spinning at high speed. I've already created three other cards with washi and here's one more!  This one was pretty simple to create. I  punched snowflakes from squares of  washi covered cardstock and layered the squares over black cardstock. I added a white gel pen border and that was it!  Pretty simple and ever so quick to create!

WASHI'ing for Jingle Belles

In my previous post, I mentioned that  I punched a snowflake from green and white washi covered cardstock, but didn't use it on that card. I just couldn't leave my craft room until I did something with that snowflake. So I created card 3 for the Jingle Belles "Here We Come a WASHI-ing" challenge, suggested by Lela Meinke. For this card, I used a cream colored cardbase and added the green and white polka dot border. Next I covered cardstock with red and white polka dot washi and used a snowflake punch to create snowflakes. I adhered them randomly over the cardbase and also included the green snowflake that I punched from washi covered cardstock for the previous card. I love that I could put that green snowflake to use right away and didn't have to put it away for a later date.

Washi-ing Again

This is card 2 for the Jingle Belles "Here We Come a WASHI-ing" challenge. The challenge was suggested by Lela Meinke. In case you can't tell where I've used washi on this card I'll point it out. The polka dot multi-colored horizontal strips are washi strips and so is the green and white polka dot background behind the snowflakes. I punched a snowflake from the green washi covered cardstock (I'll use that on another project). In the snowflake shaped hole I layered three punched snowflakes on top of one another. I also folded the points of the snowflake towards the center of the snowflake (just a bit) to add dimension. I printed the sentiment with my computer and added narrow strips of the green polka dot washi above and below the sentiment.

Washi Fun @ Jingle Belles

This morning I learned that Steph & Lauren from Jingle Belles are having a super fun challenge suggested by Lela Meinke. "Here we come a -WASHI-ing" is the theme for the challenge. Since I have a drawer full of washi and I love creating Christmas cards, I'm all in for this challenge.  This first card was pretty simple to put together. I already had the image of the trees stamped because I had intended to use the image for another project but didn't. So, I simply added a washi border and ta-dah...I had a focal point for the card. I layered the tree image over a brown and white polka dot patterned cardstock and created a washi frame behind it.   Fun challenge! A big thanks to Lela Meinke for suggesting it.

Thinking of You

I put this card together this morning. It will be sent off to a relative. I kept it pretty simple using punched flowers and hand cut leaves and stems. I used a computer generated sentiment and attached it to the card with brads.

52CCT Feb Sketch Challenge: Snowflakes on Red

It's time for the February sketch challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. The sketch inspired many ideas, but I finally settled on this snowflake card. I used layered snowflakes as the focal point and also used an embossed snowflake background. I loved how the sketch had a center focal point with the holly just off to the bottom left. I position my snowflakes in a similar style.  To break up all that red, I added vertical white strips.

Tuesday Sketch

It has been a terribly busy Tuesday, so I am going to make this a quick post. This card was created based on our current sketch at The Sketch File. As always Kathy is sharing a few versions of the sketch to provide even more inspiration. We are using the sketch(es) all month long. This time around I also used Valentine's Day for inspiration because it is at the end of the week. I hope you will find some time to come play along with us. I'm looking forward to it, so please post your creation at The Sketch File.

Still Shaping Up

I've been tearing things up here to create a card that is not rectangle or square. This card is for the "Shaping Up" challenge at Jingle Belles.  I cut the penguins from white cardstock, added black detail and then cut out scarves and hats to fit. I layered the penguins on a torn paper snow field, added some glitter snow and then tore the edges of the card to create the current shape.

52 CCT: Pick a Previous Sketch

I am so glad I had time to create a second card for the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown "Pick a Previous Sketch" challenge. This time I have chosen to use the May 2012 sketch for inspiration. I decide to use red, white and green cardstock and layered them on the striped patterned paper.  I also used one of my favorite dies to create the bells. I'm not sure you can tell from the photo, but I added a little glitter over the top of each bell. I think it helped to make the bells pop.  The May 2012 52 Christmas Card Throwdown sketch is below:

It's a blustery day here with lots of snowfall! I've just finished shoveling the drive and sidewalks and it looks like I'll be doing it again later, as the snow is still falling quite heavily. In the meantime, I thought I would share this card and hopefully inspired you to play along with us over at The Sketch File. I'm determined to share at least one Christmas card each month using Kathy's sketch so that I'll have plenty of cards to mail to friends and family and still have some to donate next Christmas.  However, you don't have to create a card for the holidays. You can create whatever project you'd like based on the sketch, but if you are looking for inspiration for Valentine's Day, hop on over to The Sketch File and take a peek at Kathy's Valentine's Day card. It's simply fabulous!

52CCT Previous Sketch Chellenge

This card was inspired by a sketch at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown. The current challenge is to "pick a previous sketch" and create a Christmas card. I choose a sketch from August 20, 2013.

I wanted to keep the card simple so I dry embossed red cardstock with a snowflake pattern, cut it into rectangles and adhered it to the cardbase, then added punched snowflakes and a sentiment.

Shaping Up

After a busy and tiring week, things are shaping up, in more ways than one! I've had a chance to catch up on some much needed sleep and to accomplish a few things on my "To Do" list, including creating this card for the "Shape-up for the New Year" challenge at Jingle Belles. I started by hand cutting two pine trees from a piece of green cardstock. I inked them with dark green ink to add a bit of dimension/texture and then layered them on a card base. I added snow beneath them by tearing some white cardstock and adding glitter glue over the top. I carefully fussy cut around the trees to "shape-up" the card. I also played around with adding small snowflakes and couldn't decide whether they should stay or go. I let my husband decide...so they stayed.
Here's the version without the snowflakes: