Valentines

 Getting some Valentines made for my children.  I usually do cute & fun ones for them, but this year I went more classy & dreamy!  I was inspired by the sketch on the Fusion Card Challenge blog (so happy to be playing along - it's been a while!).

This first one is my favourite - love this mix of colours.

Both patterned papers are from Pink Paislee (happy sigh...)

On both cards, I layered the word die with several layers of cardstock to make it a bit more substantial, and the hint of a shadow makes it stand out a little better against my busy backgrounds.

Here was our inspiration:

Fusion Christmas card

I'm on a bit of a Christmas card kick lately, so I'm going with it - and have added another couple to my pile tonight.  I've used the pretty City Sidewalks collection from Close To My Heart, and am using the sketch portion of the Fusion Card Challenge:

Hmm... the colours are a bit neon-ish in the photo, they're a little more subtle in real life.  Here was our sketch:

Patterned papers are City Sidewalks; Glitter tape, sparkles & sentiment - all Close To My Heart.  My Favorite Things Stitched Circle and Jumbo Stitched Fishtail dies.

Fusion Card Challenge

I pulled out my Art Impressions watercolour stamps today to play along with the current Fusion Card Challenge.  Funny, but it seems that everyone saw the photo and thought "cacti"... but I saw the photo and thought "door!".  I knew that I had this fabulous door image from Ai that I have been dying to use, so I went with a more faded version of the blues & turquoises in the photo and put a couple of cards together:

Stamp sets are WC Door Set, WC Wall Texture Set, Foliage & Flower sets - all Art Impressions.  Marvy & Tombow markers; Patterned papers are Pebbles & Carta Bella.  May Arts twine, Gumdrops and Your Next Stamp.

Fusion Card Challenge

I'm just posting this under the wire tonight... playing along with the Fusion Card Challenge, using both their sketch and inspiration photo.  I new that I had this old CTMH stamp set with the vintage phones, so I dug it out along with another CTMH set for the sentiment.  I used Lawn Fawn's Polka in the Meadow papers and a few YNS gumdrops to finish it off:

Fusion & Inspired By

I am using my new favourite Verve set to play along with a few challenges today.  I started off being inspired by the Fusion sketch & photo, as well as Laurel Seabrook's Inspired By photo with all the graphic shapes/muted colours... and this week's Cas-ual Fridays inspiration is "More Coffee Please!":

 I just tweaked the colours a little and made a second one:

I really adore this taupey/grey with the chocolate... I can see why it's such a popular home decor colour combo. *It's a little warmer in real life!

Stamp set is Happiness Is by Verve; Patterned paper is Knit Picky by Lawn Fawn; Ink is Chocolate by CTMH; Cardstock is Whisper, Cocoa, White Daisy & Glacier by CTMH.

Masculine cards

I've got a couple of masculine cards to share today, for several challenges that have closed!  Just couldn't quite get them photographed in time.  Oh well, I'm sharing them anyway :o)  Both are using the older Marjolaine papers from Basic Grey, and the Happy Thoughts stamp set from Verve.  *I am in time for The Paper Players colour challenge, though!  Scroll down to see the combo at the bottom of my post.  Here is one that was for the Fusion Sketch Challenge:

 And another shot to show how lovely the metallic silver strip is!

And this one was from last week's Freshly Made Sketch:

I used the colours from The Paper Players challenge this week:

Fusion Card Challenge

I have another masculine birthday card to share today, and I used the Fusion Card Challenge sketch for this one - not the inspiration, which is soft & subtle!!  But the sketch was perfect for what I wanted to do:

Patterned papers are Times & Seasons by Echo Park; Stamp set is Simply Amazing by Verve; Ink is Onyx Black by Versafine; Dies are Banner Set and Amazing Adjectives by Verve; Gumdrops are Your Next Stamp.

Fusion Card Challenge

When I saw the current Fusion Challenge sketch... I knew that I had the perfect papers & polaroid die to create a card.  So I picked one of the new High Hopes images, and made a card very similar to one that I did a few weeks ago:

I used the sketch, and pretty much follwed the colour palette in the photo (but my light blue turned into aqua!)

Patterned papers are Perfect Vacation by Imaginesce; Cardstock is Outdoor Denim, Pear, Ruby & White Daisy, Close To My Heart; Inks are Memento Tuxedo Black & Sapphire by Close To My Heart; Stamp is Shake Your Booty by High Hopes; Verve Mini Bookplate die; Instagram die by We R Memory Keepers; Copic Markers.

Fusion & Inspired By challenges

I am combining a couple of challenges today with a quick card that I've made to send to my sister.  I used the sketch on the Fusion challenge, and the inspiration photo from Inspired By All the Little Things on Lesley Croghan's blog:

I was inspired by the dots & stars, as well as the colour combo in the inspiration photo - it started out being as crisp and cool as the photo, but I added some warmer tones, and softly distressed the edges of my papers.

Patterned papers are Odds & Ends Mini Deck by Cosmo Cricket; Cardstock is Colonial White & Flaxen, CTMH; Stamp set is Hello, Life - CTMH;  Inks are Bamboo & Cocoa, CTMH; Stitched Square STAX die by MFT; Seeing Stars die, Taylored Expressions.

Funky Valentine

Yes, this is my version of a funky valentine.  I've been quiet on my blog - I've been busy trying to work ahead on my commitments, so I took time out tonight to start making valentines for my family.  I loved the inspiration photo at the Fusion Challenge, so I used both it and their sketch to come up with a valentine for my son.  This was fairly quickly coloured - so excuse the less than stellar colouring job, but my 19yr old son is not going to notice how well blended my shades of red are (smile).  I love how this turned out - especially the non typical valentine colour combo:

Patterned papers are Head Over Heels collection, Bo Bunny; Stamp set is Wings of Love, Verve; Pennant banner die, Verve; Copic Markers; Cardstock is Ruby, White Daisy, Pear & Black, CTMH.

Fusion & Merry Monday

Just a quick & fun Christmas card today... using up some older papers that I've had sitting around.  They worked perfectly for this week's Merry Monday challenge (dots & stripes) and I used the current Fusion sketch as my design:

Patterned papers are American Crafts; Stamp set is Merry & Bright, Verve; Let it Snowflake dies, MFT; Ink is Tuxedo Black, Memento; Enamel dots, Your Next Embellie.

Little Man

I really love the Art Impressions Babies!  So when I needed to get a couple of baby cards made, I pulled out Little Man (Sku#UM4321) and used the CTMH Babycakes papers for the first time.  I've used the fabulous sketch on the Fusion Card Challenge:

Here's a closeup of my Little Man:

Patterned papers are Babycakes; Cardstock is Chocolate, Sunset & Colonial White - all CTMH; Inks are Chocolate, CTMH and Tuxedo Black, Memento; Stamp set is Little Man, Art Impressions, Copic Markers, American Crafts twine.

 

Fusion Challenge #4

I was inspired by both the sketch & the inspiration photo for this week's Fusion Challenge... even the colours of the butterflies made me want to stick with pink & pretty colours.  Here's my card:

Patterned papers are Woodland Park, October Afternoon; Mini Monarch Border Die, My Favorite Things; Pippi Butterfly Die, Memory Box; Cardstock is Twilight, Heavenly Blue, Colonial White & Hollyhock; Ink is Grey Flannel; Stamp set is Card Word Puzzle - all CTMH.