Birthday Wreath

Just felt like doing a fairly quick & simple card for a couple of challenges tonight, so I'm playing along with Freshly Made Sketches #259, and am using the palette from The Color Throwdown #415 :

I've had these little twig wreath die cuts (Memory Box?) sitting in my craft room for longer than I can remember... my friend Tania gave them to me, so she'll laugh if she sees them here :o)  Not my favourite card, it's a little busy with the die cuts, but I loved getting the chance to play with a couple of challenges!

Patterned paper is Pathfinding, Cardstock is Chocolate, Glacier & Cashmere; Stamp set is Happy Birthday, ink is Chocolate - all Close To My Heart; Wreath die, Memory Box, Happy die, Avery Elle; Gumdrops are Your Next Stamp.

Fall Coffee Lover's Blog Hop

Well, the Fall Coffee Lover's Blog Hop started up a few days ago... and I've barely had a chance to glance at the entries!  I'm about to change that, as I took a few minutes to make a very simple card to link up.  I haven't missed participating in a hop yet, so here's my simple little coffee card to help share the love:

Now off to visit a few blogs & see what everyone else has come up with!

Patterned papers are Pathfinding, CTMH; Ink and Cardstock are Chocolate, CTMH; Cups of Cheer die, Memory Box, Hello die, Avery Elle; Your Next Stamp Gumdrops in Kiwi & Chocolate.

Chair Spinner

*This is my second blog post today!  Please scroll down to see the High Hopes/OCS blog hop! 
Have you tried the fabulous Ai Spinners??  They're such fun to assemble - I have a fairly simple one to share today, but one of my favourite things is to figure out new & interesting ways to put these together.  They make fabulous easel cards, and there are all kinds of options with windows & fancy folds.  **You should definitely check out the Art Impressions Pinterest board - there is a link on the blog sidebar - you'll find all kinds of ideas for the spinners and the entire collection of Ai products.  Enough chatter... here is Chair Spinner (Sku #4574):

I find this the quickest way to put a spinner together.  After colouring and fussy cutting each image, I sandwich a piece of thread between them when gluing them back to back (make sure to glue the thread down well so that the spinner is strong enough).  I find thread spins well and works well, but string or twine can work, too.  As long as you have at least one additional layer of paper or cardstock, you can hide the ends of the thread between them so that the inside of your card remains clean as well.  Here's a back view of her spinning:

Happy stamping!

Copics used: Skin - E11, E00, E000, R20

Blues - B02, B01, B00, B000

Greens - G46, G43, G41

Browns - E55, E53, E51

Greys - W5, W3, W1

Hair - Y26, Y23, E50

InLinkz.com

Tuscan Try-fold

I am sharing a couple of cards made with one of the Art Impressions 2015 Try-fold sets: Tuscan TF Set (Sku #4580):

I remember the first time that I was making a Try-fold card, thinking how difficult it was going to be (NOT!) and now they're one of my favourite cards to make.  The cutting & stamping instructions are all included with the packaging.

 I often give wine as a gift, so was thrilled when Ai came out with this set!  The inside sentiment says "Wishing you everything under the Tuscan sun"

Try-fold stamps are so versatile, in that each of the three image stamps can be used individually.  I stamped and die cut just the villa image to make an all occasion card below:

 Have you entered our Card Set challenge yet?  You've still got plenty of time - we'd love to see what you come up with!  Happy stamping!
Copics: Sky - B23, B21
Villa - E35, E33, E31, E51, E15, E08, E02
Greens - YG03, YG01, YG99, YG97, YG95, YG93, YG91
Browns - E57, E55, E53, E51
Grapes - BV08, BV04. BV02, BV01
Greys - W5, W3, W1, W00
Reds - R59, R24, R22, R20

InLinkz.com

Front & Back Challenge

Hello!  We have a new challenge on the Art Impressions blog today which is a "Front & Back Challenge" - we want to see something on both the outside and inside of your cards.  If you have some of the wonderful Ai Front & Back images, even better!  AND - the design team is launching the first of the brand new 2015 Art Impressions images today - we have four brand new F & B sets for you.  I am sharing Any Cake Set (Sku #4569):

Aren't they cute??  Their little grins really make me smile... here's what their back view looks like on the inside:

And here are the sweet kitties in Purrr-thday Set (Sku#4568):

In order to be as accurate as possible, I actually looked up both cat and raccoon images online so that I could make them look realistic.  The fun part was making sure that I matched up the backsides of them when colouring.  Here's the inside:

These cute sets come with both the front & back images, as well as one sentiment.  And even though mine are cut out manually - Ai has DIES for them!!  To make my openings, I cut out die cut shapes with my Cricut, and then used an old Coluzzle template to cut the openings for them to peer through:

Head on over to the Art Impressions blog to see what the rest of the Design Team are sharing today, and be sure to enter our challenge!  I'll be back on Tuesday with another F&B card to show you.

Harvest Tryfold card

 I have one of the fabulous Art Impressions 'Try'folds to share today... I'm using Harvest TF (Sku#4205):

 The Tryfolds make such lovely cards, and people are just amazed at how clever you are when they receive them!!  All of the details on cutting, stamping and folding are included with your stamp set, which makes it easy peasy to put one of these together.

The sentiment is "Sow kindness harvest friendship"

I used Copics to colour the images, but used more of a typical marker colouring style with brush strokes and a fairly loose hand - rather than a doing a lot of blending. 

You can find all of the Ai Tryfolds here.  And to make it even easier for you, you can also purchase a package of 8 precut & folded cards and envelopes all ready to make your own Tryfolds.

 Happy Stamping everyone!

Copics used: W7, W5, W3, W1, B23, B21, YG97, YG95, YG93, YG91, E57, E55, E53, E51, YR18, YR16, YR15, YR12, E09, BV08, BV04, BV02.



Sweet Sunday Sketch #235

I haven't played with the Sweet Sunday Sketch in a little while, but I just received some new Close To My Heart goodies, so I pulled them out to play along:

Patterned papers are Pathfinding; Cardstock is Chocolate, Glacier & Colonial White; Stamp set is You Mean the World to Me, Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge - all Close To My Heart.  Gumdrops by Your Next Embellie; Ink is Rich Cocoa, Memento;  Banner Bundle die, Verve.