Freshly Made Sketches #496 and NBUS#28

 Hello again.  -  This week I'm actually "on-time" for the newest sketch challenge on Freshly Made Sketches #496!

Here is the sketch:

 

Below is my card that I made using it. 

Since I'm entering this for NBUS#28 I am listing the new items that I used for this card.

New Die - Carta Bella (Thankful Autumn Word Die Set)

Crisp Leaves Paper - Carta Bella, Orange and Mint Paper-Carta Bella.

 

I love, love, love this entire collection but for my budget's sake I only bought a couple of pieces of the paper.

 

Other:  SU - Cajun Craze, Early Espresso card stock.

SU Early Espresso Ink Pad

Leaf Die - Cuttlebug (I believe these are no longer available).

Foam Mounting Tape.

That's it,  Simple & Easy but very pretty.

Inside of card: Sentiment is an old (2005) Woodblock stamp from,

Serendipity. 

Now be sure to stop by the challenge blog and check out all the Design Teams cards & the other participants cards.  You won't be disappointed.

Strawberry Birthday

 

Hello & Welcome.

 

Today I'm sharing a card that was based of Freshly Made Sketches#495. - Sadly I wasn't able to complete the card in time to post it for the challenge.  

 

That's okay though because I really liked the sketch and how my card turned out so you get to see it anyway! 

 

Here is the sketch:

 

Below is the card that I created using it as my inspiration.  This card is going to my Mother-in-law who just turned 95 yesterday.  Yes it's going to be late but she will still be thrilled to get it and it's the thought that counts anyway.

 

I had started working on a card with that awesome Strawberry patterned paper ages ago but when I went to stamp the strawberries my ink pad had dried up so bad that I ended up having to get a new one so the project got put in the container where I keep things that I have started or cut out and just haven't found a use for them yet.

 

I got it out this morning and decided to try this sketch even though it was past the date to post it for the challenge.

 

Card Details:

Card Stock:  Shaded Spruce, Pretty in Pink*-retired color, Blushing Bride and Whisper White*-retired.

Ink: Real Red, Granny Apple Green, Shaded Spruce and Blushing Bride-SU and Memento Tuxedo Black.

Designer Paper-Berry Delightful*-retired.

 

Other: Strawberry Builder Punch,

Crystal Glitter - Which I used on the strawberries and the flowers, it's hard to see in the photo but it's sparkly and pretty in real life.

Foam Mounting Tape.

 

On a personal note:

I love Strawberries and picked them for 8 summers as a kid.  We had a bad year here for the berry season due to hail storms & then excessive heat but we did manage to enjoy a few half-flats of berries and boy were they good.

This was the first dessert I made with them this summer:

Strawberry/Rhubarb Cheesecake bars.  They were so yummy.  Yesterday I made a no-bake pie with some and later this week I'm going to make a Strawberry/Rhubarb Crumble. 

 

Paper Players Challenge #550 - Bees

 Hello everyone.  My card today is being entered for this weeks Paper Players Challenge #550

At first I wasn't sure that I would be able to participate since I could only find 1 stamp set with a (Bee) in it in my stash.

 

Then I thought why not check in the stuff my mom had and "bingo" I found several that fit the challenge.

 

Below is what I picked out and created with:

 

The little Bee trio is a very old (2007 - Stampendous) stamp called, Bee Trio.  My mom loved things that she considered to be cute and these little bees certainly fit that.  The sentiment stamp is even older as the date is 1997 on it.  Also a Stampendous stamp and was one of mine that she borrowed and never returned.

 

So once I had the 2 stamps I then decided what I wanted to do with them.  I knew I wanted some sore of a "beehive" type pattern somewhere on the card but alas I had no beehive stamps or embossing folders.  

 

My brain got creative when I spotted a piece of bubble wrap laying on my desk.  Yes, that hive was created by stamping an ink pad down on the bubble wrap and then pressing the inked side onto some white card stock and voila~ the beehive was accomplished.

 

I colored the bee image with various Prismacolor pencils blended with Gamsol, masked them and added a faint blue shadow around them.  

 

For my CAS design I only layered just the bees with foam mounting tape and put them at an angle to add some extra pizzazz to the card.

 

The wings have glitter added to them and the red antenna has a slight sparkle from a Spica Glitter pen.  

 

Card Stock: Basic Black, Whisper White

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black and Daffodil Delight (SU)

 

I was super happy with how this turned out.  - Have a great day and as the card says,  Bee Happy!

Freshly Made Sketches #494

 Welcome. 

Today's card is based (although somewhat loosely in my case) on the current Freshly Made Sketch challenge #494

For my card I started out with 2 things in mind...

 

#1 - I wanted to use my new stamp set,

(Measure of Love) from Stampin'Up!

which also qualifies this card for the NBUS #28 challenge. 

 

#2 - I also wanted to use a strip of designer paper that I had in my stash.  A friend of mine was down in June and gave me a bunch of little borders and one of them was perfect for the stamp set I wanted to use.  

 

So now without further ado here is my card: 

 

 As you can see I "fudged" a little on the sketch because my border piece goes all the way to the bottom of the card.  

 

Anyhow here are the details:

Stamp Set: Measure of Love - SU

Card Stock: Bermuda Bay, Real Red, Granny Apple Green, and Whisper White.

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Bermuda Bay, Real Red, Granny Apple Green and Pool Party (I watered colored the scale with that color)

Other: Border Strip - Unknown source

Foam Mounting Tape, Scallop Punch (SU), Swiss Dot embossing folder (Cuttlebug) and Crystal glitter (Art Institute).  I used that on the hearts that are on the bowl.  It's sparkly in real life. 

 

That's my interpretation of this weeks sketch.  I hope you like it.

Color Throwdown 650

 Welcome and thanks for stopping by.  

Today I am joining the Color Throwdown #650

This card features a very old stamp that I've had since 2007 at least.

 

I started off with looking for some patterned paper that I though would work well with the colors (Yellow, Gray, Black & White).  -  I happened upon a piece in my stash that I just loved so that became the basis for my card.

 

The yellow is much more subtle then the inspiration photo but I liked the leafy pattern that the paper had.  Next I decided to use a piece of Barely Banana (old SU retired color) card stock and a border punch (EK Success).  - I search high & low for stamps that I though would go with this paper and ended up picking out this Geisha by JudiKins that I've had forever.  Next up I wanted a sentiment that reflected, peace, tranquility or harmony.  

 

Wouldn't you know it I did not have a single stamp in my stash that was what I was looking for.  I went to a couple of local stores to see if they had anything and finally decided that I would have to go with something else. - So I will say upfront the sentiment is not stamped.  I typed it out on the computer and printed it off on card stock.  

 

Card Base, Basic Black, Punched border, Barely Banana, Circles are Whisper White and Basic Black.

 

I edged the white circle with a Barely Banana ink pad that surprisingly still has decent ink in it. 

 

The Geisha was colored with Prisma Color Pencils and blended with Gamsol.  I fussy cut her out and mounted her on top the circle with foam tape. - To finish off the card I added 3 small black pearls.

Paper Players #548 - Stars and Stripes

 Welcome - Today's card is for the current Paper Players Challenge,

#548 - Stars and Stripes

I'm also going to link to NBUS#28  Here is what I created for this challenge.

This card sort of evolved after I got started on it.  I first picked out a piece of striped designer paper I've had in my stash for forever and have no clue where it came from.  - I wanted something that wasn't patriotic.  Next I decided on using some Star Dies that I purchased from JoAnn's several years ago.  I've never used them before so this qualifies it to be entered into the NBUS challenge.

 

Next up I decided to use a Star embossing folder (Cuttlebug) that I've had for a long time as well.

 

I also used a new sentiment from SU - Through it Together stamp set.

 

I also sprayed on some Distress Mica Spray (Tarnished Brass - Tim Holtz) onto the white circle panel and the sentiment panel.

 

That's it for this card. - If you have questions about how it was made feel free to email me and ask.  

 

Colors used: Early Espresso cs, Pacific Point, Cajun Craze, Whisper White cs, and a piece of old card stock that has speckles in it.  Again I can't identify where it came from.