Inspired By #52 & Deconstructed Sketch #79

Well how 'bout that?  Two Inspired By cards in two days!  I new immediately what papers I would use when I saw Laurel's inspiration photo... and decided to use the Deconstructed Sketch flipped up on it's end:

 

Patterned papers are Dear Mr. Claus, Cosmo Cricket; Cardstock is Colonial White, CTMH; Martha Stewart twine; Ink is Desert Sand, CTMH. 

Sketchbook Saturday & Inspired By

I've been trying to play along with both of these challenges for the last few weeks, and finally got a chance to make something!  I went with the red/white black colour story from Laurel's Inspired By photo this week, and used Chupa's Sketchbook Saturday sketch - and instead of a tilted tag, I made it a tilted ornament:

Here was our inspiration photo:

And our sketch:

Patterned papers are Mistletoe, Making Memories; Cardstock is Kraft & Colonial White, CTMH; Burlap ribbon, hemp & buttons, CTMH; Spellbinders Vintage Ornament die, Let it Snowflake dies, My Favorite Things.

Snowman tea light ornaments

The store where my daughter works decided to raise money for cancer research by selling homemade ornaments over the next few weeks... so we found this idea on Pinterest using battery operated tea lights to make them into little snowmen.  I hand drew the hat, but otherwise used my Coluzzle to cut the circles, sponged the edges with a little heavenly blue ink and glued down all the bits and pieces.  Oh, and we coloured the 'nose' with an orange Copic marker for the carrot effect.

Cardstock is White Daisy, Black & Cranberry; Ink is Heavenly Blue; Cranberry waxy flax; Snowflake die (arms), My Favorite Things; Copic marker; 1/8" hole punch.

Dynamic Duos #30

I made something sparkly for this week's Dynamic Duos challenge!  Our colours are Midnight Muse & Silver, and this didn't turn out anything like what I started to make...  I initially thought that they'd make a great guy card, but what I ended up with is anything but!  I love this lacy little die cut, and am glad to have an excuse to use it:

Be sure to check out all the inspiration from our Dynamos... you can see all their work on the Dynamic Duos blog - or click on the list of links on my sidebar.  We hope you'll join us - and if you don't have the exact colours, just use something similar, and you can add neutrals to your creation as well.

Patterned paper is Magnifique; Cardstock is Grey Flannel, Grey Wool, Pacifica & White Daisy; Stamp set is You're Invited; Ink is black; Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge - all CTMH.  Tilda Swirl die.

Frame 'em up!

Here are the last two cards that we did at my Christmas card workshop.  We used the wood panelling papers from the Dakota paper pack, and cut them into frame pieces that they sponged softly with slate ink.  The ornament & mitts were stamped in the base colour, then again on scrap paper in contrasting colours that we glued on for the cuffs and the stripe on the ornament.  A little glitter, a few snowflakes and some baker's twine, and voila:

 

Patterned paper is Dakota, Stamp sets are A Very Merry Christmas and Glad Tidings (Verve); Inks are Slate, Sky, Gypsy, Cotton Candy, Black & Pear; - all CTMH; Martha Stewart glitter & snowflake punch; Baker's Twine, the Twinery.

A little burlap

I have another card from my Christmas card workshop to share with you today.  This card is a case of similar ones done by Vicki Wizniuk & Allisa Chilton (you can see their blogs linked on my sidebar).  It's fairly small, the base measures just 4" x 4 1/4", and the circle is glued down only on it's bottom half.  It fits perfectly into a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" envelope.  I added tiny sparkles to the flowers on the wreath, and used CTMH's amazing burlap ribbon on the bottom.  This week at Heart2heart Challenges, the theme is Christmas - so I'm sharing it there, too!

Patterned paper is Pear & Partridge; Cardstock is Cranberry, Cashmere & Colonial White; Stamp set is Merry & Bright; Inks are Cranberry & Olive; Cranberry Waxy Flax; Clear button & burlap - all CTMH.

Merry Monday Guest Designer!

I was pretty excited to be asked to be the guest designer this week for Lesley's Merry Monday Challenge after winning last week with this card!  This was a great sketch to work with, so I paired it with CTMH's Pear & Partridge papers and the Merry & Bright stamp set.  It's a large card: 6 1/2" x 5".  *If you're needing to get a few more Christmas cards made up - play along!  It's a great way to add to your Christmas card stash all year:

 

 

Patterned papers are Pear & Partridge; Cardstock is Cranberry, Cashmere & Champagne; Stamp set is Merry & Bright; Inks are Olive, Cranberry & Chocolate.  Red Sparkles - all CTMH

 

 

 

 

 

Deconstructed Sketch #78

My oldest turned 17 today :o)  so I made him a square birthday card using the Deconstructed Sketch for this week.

Patterned papers are All Boy, My Mind's Eye; Cardstock is Brown Bag, Indian Corn Blue & Colonial White; Inks are Cashmere & Indian Corn Blue; Stamp set is CTMH.

 

City Snowflake & Country Snowflake

I taught a Christmas card class today to a lovely group of ladies, and wanted to share two of the cards that we made.  I wrote out instructions for each of them, and named these two City & Country Snowflake cards since that seemed to fit the bill?  I wanted to show them the negative die cut concept, and used the remaining circle to make a second card with a bit of bling.

This one would fit this week's Dynamic Duos challenge of Marina Mist & Basic Black!  Check out the challenge here  :o)

And here are the two together:

Cardstock is Kraft, Crystal Blue & White Daisy; Stamp sets are Merry & Bright and Pear & Partridge card Workshop on the Go; Inks are Black & Desert Sand; Organdy ribbon; Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge - all CTMH; Martha Stewart Twine.

 

Dynamic Duos #29

It's time for another Dynamic Duos challenge!  Get ready for a frosty one - this week's colours are Marina Mist & Basic Black... with a "Dessert Option" of a snowman theme.  If you don't have the exact colours, just use something similar (I've used Close To My Heart's Crystal Blue & Black), and you can include neutral tones like grey, brown, flesh tones, kraft etc. - but otherwise just stick to our two colours.
     I love this little snowman stamp set - even though it's been retired for a couple of years, I knew that it would make a great snowglobe card, so that's what I came up with for this week's challenge.  He's little, just 3 1/2" x 4 1/2" as that's the scale that fit the image, but it'll work great as a little gift enclosure card, or I may even use it as a tag?  He was a bit awkward to photograph, as he doesn't stand up on his own, you just lift up the globe to see the message underneath.  I added lots of chunky glitter to make him all sparkly, and shaded the edges with Copic markers.

The inside:

Cardstock is Crystal Blue, Black & White; Stamp set is Snow Friends; both CTMH; Martha Stewart coarse glitter; Copic Markers; Ink is Tuxedo Black, Memento.

Be sure to visit the Dynamic Duos blog to see what all designers have come up with this week (lots of snow and bling!), and we hope you'll join us and play along.

 

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

This sentiment just doesn't get old... so when I saw this stamp in the Pear & Partridge Workshop on the Go, I knew I needed it!  This is a 5 1/2" square card that we're doing at a card workshop this weekend... fairly simple, with a little rose ribbon trim:

Patterned papers and stamp are Pear & Partridge Workshop on the Go card kit; Inks are New England Ivy & Cranberry; Rose ribbon; Cardstock is Colonial White & Cranberry - all CTMH.

Sketchbook Saturday #83

Chupa has a very different sketch this week for Sketchbook Saturday!  I wasn't going to do a Christmas card, but these cute Cosmo Cricket papers caught my eye, and I thought they'd work nicely.  I have a real thing for retro papers, especially Christmas ones - and CC does it so well!  Here's what I put together:

Patterned papers are Jolly Days, Cosmo Cricket; Cardstock is Vanilla Cream, CTMH; Sentiment is A Very Merry Christmas, CTMH; Ink is Black, CTMH; Buttons CTMH.

A couple of Challenges

It's not often that I have several cards to post in one day!  But I'm in major Christmas card mode, as well as finishing up prototypes for a card class... so I'm being quite productive.  My first card is using the Deconstructed Sketch along with the Pear & Partridge papers from Close To My Heart:

Patterned papers are Pear & Partridge; Cardstock is Olive, Cashmere & Colonial White; Stamp set is Holiday Melodies; Inks are Olive & Cranberry - all Close To My Heart;

Second up is my November Sketch For You To Try card using the Merry & Bright papers from Carta Bella.  I used the Cricut Artiste cartridge to cut the pinwheel, since it cuts 1/2 at a time - which worked perfectly for the sketch:

 

 

Patterned papers and sticker are Merry & Bright, Carta Bella; Cardstock is Topiary, Heavenly Blue & White Daisy, CTMH; Stamp set is Perfect Fit - Holiday, CTMH; Ink is Heavenly Blue; Martha Stewart punch; Cricut Artiste cartridge, CTMH.

Dynamic Duos

I'm a little late with my post - my internet has been acting up!  We have a lovely colour combo this week at Dynamic Duos: Sahara Sand and Cherry Cobbler.  Each week we post a new colour combo on the Dynamic Duos blog, and we'd like you to use just those two colours plus neutrals if you like (black/greys/kraft/skin tones etc).  If you don't have the exact colours, just use something similar to play along.  I used a little Dakota paper and cut out a snowflake border with the Art Philosophy cartridge:

Be sure to check out what the rest of the Dynamos have come up with - you can visit the Dynamic Duos blog, or see the list of blogs on my sidebar.  Get busy creating!  We'd love to see what you come up with :o)

Patterned paper is Dakota, CTMH; Ink is Tuxedo Black, Memento; Stamp sets are Hot Cocoa, My Favourite Things and Winter Wonderland, CTMH; Copic markers; Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, CTMH; Martha Stewart's coarse glitter.

October Humble Artist's Swap

Our Humble Artist's Swap this past October was (once again!) a doozy... here were the requirements:
Here are the guidelines:

-Use at least 1 newink colour

-Use at least 2 newribbons

-Use at least 3 newpatterned papers

-Use at least 4 newcardstock

-Use at least 5 embellishments (including 2 new ribbons)

-Use at least 6 stamped images

-Use at least a 7 word sentiment

-Use at least 8 layers
I chose to use the Avonlea papers along with the Avonlea Card Workshop on the Go.  The hardest requirements for me were fitting in the 6 stamped images (one border stamp, 4 on the slate background mat, and one medallion stamped on the green patterned paper!) and trying to get a 4th colour of new cardstock in there.  I ended up adding a tiny little heart in Avonlea green to the sentiment as my 4th colour (you don't see it in the main image, just in my close up shot after I added it).  Here's what I came up with:

 

 Patterned papers are Avonlea; Cardstock is Slate, Avonlea teal, Avonlea Green and Avonlea Off-White; Ink is Slate; Burlap, Hemp, Rosette ribbon, Avonlea ribbon, Avonlea bubbles - all CTMH.

Merry Monday #40

While I still had my Carta Bella papers on my desk, I kept going with the Christmas theme and made a fun card for the Merry Monday challenge:

Patterned papers and sticker are Merry & Bright by Carta Bella; Cardstock is Tulip, CTMH; Baker's Twine, The Twinery; CTMH button.

 

Mojo Monday #266

I picked up these fun Carta Bella papers last week, so I made a non-traditional coloured Christmas card with this week's Mojo Monday sketch.  I added some chunky glitter to all the snowflakes, so it's very sparkly in person:

 

Patterned papers are Merry & Bright, Carta Bella; Cardstock is Heavenly Blue, Black and Colonial White, CTMH; Stamp sets are Glad Tidings, Verve and A Very Merry Christmas, CTMH; Inks are Heavenly Blue, CTMH & Tuxedo Black, Memento; Mocha Opaque pearls, CMTH; Martha Stewart's Course Glitter.

Dakota Christmas

I'm a little sleepy, so forgive me if my post is brief... I had the most amazing Copic colouring class today with Suzanne Dean (I will share more about it later!), but wanted to post a card that we'll be making at my upcoming Card class.  This is using the western themed Dakota papers - which work amazingly well for Christmas.  I used the Artiste cartridge to cut the poinsetta, and shaped it to give it a little dimension:

Patterned papers are Dakota; Cardstock is Vineyard Berry, Topiary & White Daisy; Stamp set is the Oct SOTM; Inks are Slate & Vineyard Berry; Cricut Artiste cartridge - all CTMH. Pearls, Michaels.

Freshly Made Sketches #59

I've been madly finishing up a knitting class project this week, so haven't had as much time in my craft room as I would like... So now that my class (and my lovely shawl!) are finished, I finally had a chance to work on this week's Freshly Made Sketch.  As soon as I saw it, I knew that I would use a sweet little Christmas stamp set that I won from There She Goes stamps last year:

Patterned papers are Believe; Cardstock is Desert Sand, Black & White Daisy - all CTMH; Stamp set is No Peeking, There She Goes Stamps; Ink is Tuxedo Black, Memento; Copic markers;  Spellbinders die.

Dynamic Duos #27!

I'm very excited to announce that I am on the design team for the Dynamic Duos colour challenge blog!  If you're new to Dynamic Duos, there is a new challenge on the blog every Saturday, featuring two colours that you can use on their own, or pair them up with neutrals (cream, white, kraft, black, greys etc.).  This week we have a classic Christmas combo of Raspberry Ripple & Gumball Green, and I chose to do a 5 1/2" square card with a bit of sponging to give it a bit of a homespun look:

*Remember that if you don't have the exact colours shown, use something similar!

Be sure to visit the Dynamic Duos blog to check out what the rest of the design team has come up with (list of blogs is on my sidebar).

Patterned papers are Handmade Holiday by Simple Stories; Cardstock is Kraft, New England Ivy & Colonial White, CTMH; Stamp sets are Glad Tidings by Verve & Holiday by CTMH; Inks are Olive, Cranberry, Cashmere & Desert Sand, CTMH; Mocha Opaque pearls, CTMH; Snowflake dies, Verve.

Artiste Boxes

A few weeks ago I met a lovely group of ladies who were particularly interested in seeing some of the many boxes that can be made with the Cricut Artiste cartridge.  I had a blast putting a bunch of them together, and seeing as these were my first efforts, I was pretty pleased with how they turned out - and learned a lot about using my Cricut.  So here are a few of my fall-themed mini boxes: