Take Care & Sparkle {SSS Wednesday Challenge, CAS(E) this Sketch & Color Throwdown

Today I made a card for three different challenges; Simon Says Stamp {Sparkle}, CAS(E) this Sketch and the Color Throwdown. One of my cards was watercoloured and the other card, I used my Copic markers. I also inked up the Bamboo Rose stamp set again, from Altenew. 

       

I loved the sketch over at CAS(E) this Sketch and used my new Tim Holtz stencil to add some neutral gray to my top card. The sparkle is the shiny sequins on my card. They sparkle in the light!

The Flower Challenge and Meet "Maeley"

Hi Crafty Friends! I am back! It feels so good to get crafty once again after being off with pregnancy complications. Now that our sweet baby girl is here and my body is back to being my own again, I finally can craft. Of course, I am crafting between feedings and our new sleep schedule. LOL! It is an adjustment but worth it! Little Maeley is a doll and she is such a sweet baby. Corey and I are in love with her.

I found a new to me challenge called "The Flower Challenge". 

HELLO!!! 

This is one challenge I plan on playing with as much as I can because I LOVE floral stamps. This month's challenge is to CASE one of their designers...so I did! EEP! I cased the talented TaeEun and her stunning card!

 

I was inspired to watercolour and to create a simple, clean-lined card. Be sure to visit the challenge blog to see all the gorgeous inspiration there!

I used an Altenew set called "Bamboo Rose" that I absolutely love! I stamped the flowers in Archival ink and I did some masking to create a large focal point on one part of the card; inspired by TaeEun. Then I loosely watercoloured the flowers with my distress inks. Thank you for stopping by and for your support! I am off to craft some more. I hope you are crafting today too!

Butterfly Reflections Ink {Guest Designer}-Hello Friend

Good morning stamping friends! Today I am happy to share my 2nd post as the November Guest at Butterfly Reflections Ink! This online store is fabulous because she has SO many awesome stamp companies in stock AND she offers flat rate shipping for stamp and die purchases! Needless to say, I am hooked! 

I wanted to create a CAS one layer card and I did! But then I added a small strip of designer paper to the top of the card to "finish" it. I stamped the floral set from Altenew called Lacy Scrolls. It is SUCH a pretty set and I paired it with a sentiment set from Winnie & Walter called The Big, the Bold & the Happy set.

Thank you so much, Vanessa for having me on your team this month! I adore your store and your outstanding service. I think you are pretty great too! 

VLV Sketch #4 {Hello Lovely}

Hello stamping friends! Hooray for the weekend! I am working on my laundry pile as always and getting some work done too. Teachers always seem to be working on weekends! Occupational hazard I guess! But I love my profession and I am so excited about this school year. Everything has been going swimmingly!

This morning I decided to whip up a quick and easy card for the Week 4 of the Viva la Verve sketch challenge. It is SUCH a great sketch! I kept my card monochromatic and somewhat neutral. I wanted it to look classic and elegant. I stamped the floral image from Altenew's Hennah Elements Stamp set in black ink onto watercolour paper and did not colour it! I was going to watercolour it but I liked how it looked. (Hope you do too!) I paired it with the sentiment from the SRM Hello Big Sentiment Set.

Runway Inspired Challenge {Hello}

Today I am playing along with the Runway Inspired Challenge. I was drawn to the black outline and bold colours. I got out a new stamp set for me from Altenew called Scribbled Flowers and inked it with Stazon onto watercolour paper. Then I watercoloured each floral image! I loved the "splash" of colour from the big red bow so the "hello" sentiment from the Halftone Hello set seemed like a nice way to represent that pop of red. Totally out of my comfort zone but so much fun to make! I then tied some twine around the middle, again echoing the red bow.

The Card Concept #39 {Daisies}

Today I am sharing a card I made for the current Card Concept Challenge! I love the colours in the inspiration photo and wanted to create a card with loads of white space. Right now I am just playing with stamps...trying to get my Mojo back!

Once again I used one of my my favourite Verve sets called Bloom & Grow! I love this set and will probably be using it again for another card on Monday! This time I used Coastal Cabana, Honey and So Saffron for my card. All ink from Stampin' Up. The sentiment is from Altenew.

Freshly Made Sketches 200th Celebration!

Hello stamping friends! Today marks an amazing milestone! Way back (Sept. 7, 2011) I decided to start my 2nd challenge blog and I called it "Freshly Made Sketches". 

Never did I imagine that it would last for as long as it has and I never thought it would become so popular. The design team then, now and in between have been all so talented and wonderful! A couple of years ago I stepped down from "running" the challenge and the multi-talented Jennifer Mitchell and Jennifer Timko took over! They have done a fabulous job of building the challenge and making it into one of my favourite challenge blogs out there! Thank you ladies!!

Jennifer Timko managed to organize all these sponsors! Even Stampin' Up has jumped in!! Thank you so much, Jennifer for all of your hard work with organizing this amazing day!!!

The 200th Sketch is a cool one! SO many possibilities and so much potential! I decided to ink up an Altenew Stamp set that I love called Vintage Roses. My flowers are stamped in Stampin' Up ink using Crisp Cantaloupe, Cajun Craze, Tangerine Tango and Peach Parfait! The leaves are Pear Pizzazz and Gumball Green. I stamped the flower images first and then using the sentiment that came with the set, stamped the bottom half of my card. Then I used some gold dot washi and twine to accent the divide. The butterfly was punched out of vellum and I added some pearls.

I hope you will join in at Freshly Made Sketches and support the team with their wonderful work! There are so many prizes to be won!

Runway Inspired Challenge

Hello stamping friends! I managed to get some craft time in today and I decided to do some more water coloring with my Altenew stamps. I was inspired to play along with the Runway Inspired Challenge. I have been trending toward a more clean and simple style of stamping these days. I added some vellum over my watercolored blooms. And I used a sentiment from a Wplus9 set.

This is another project I started and discarded but it was fun to play with the ink and the stamps.

Altenew and Simon Says Stamp

Summer is here and I am looking forward to getting crafty! Just home from work and made another simple card using Altenew and Simon Says Stamps. I am really into making square 4x4 cards these days!

 Anything Goes Challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

Altenew & Verve Birthday {SSS/STB}

Hello! One more day of work and then I am on holiday for the summer. Being a teacher is wonderful for summer break but already my mind is whirling with ideas for next year! I have a HUGE TO DO list and I will be moving rooms at school too! SO exciting but lots of work ahead!!

I inked up another Altenew Stamp...just playing tonight and haphazardly stamped the flowers all over the card...I didn't line them up but I liked the messy look. I hope you do too!

 Anything Goes Challenge at Simon Says Stamp

Seize the Birthday

 

Altenew {Mini Card Set}

Today I am sharing a set of cards I made for our school secretary. She is retiring this year and I wanted to make her some cards to take with her as a gift.

I used Altenew stamps and some sentiments from Wplus9. I also used some washi tape for the accent at the bottom of each card. I used my favourite technique of stamping with distress ink on watercolour paper and pulling the colour around with a water pen. I am playing along with the Anything Goes Challenge at Simon Says Stamp.

Simon Says "Stencil It"

Made another simple card last night playing along with the Simon Says Stamp Stencil Challenge. I was happy to ink up some Altenew use some washi tape and a Tim Holtz stencil in the background. 

I wanted the flowers to have a whimsical feel and so I purposely did not line them up properly.

Altenew May Inspiration Challenge

Tonight I could not wait to play with my new Altenew stamps. I ordered a whole bunch of them! I think I fell in love with the Altenew Stamps because the are forgiving and artistic. I love that I can stamp "out of the lines". 

Tonight I used watercolor paper and distress inks. Stamping the images in the distress inks, I then used my watermarker to "pull" the colour out of the flowers. I was inspired to use the colours in Altenew's Tunisia Inspiration Challenge...so much fun and pushed me out of my comfort zone! I was also intrigued and inspired by the sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch. Hope you can see my interpretation! 

 

This single layer card took minutes to make. It was easy and fun!

Freshly Made Sketches & Altenew {Hello}

Today I am sharing a card I made for the current Freshly Made Sketches Challenge and Altenew's Tunisia Inspiration Challenge. Once again, I was inspired by the textured background. I used some new Altenew flowers called Whimsical Flowers and the sentiment is called Halftone Hello. The sketch is by Cindy Lovell! I always admire Cindy's work! This sketch was so easy to work with, I think I may need to make a few more cards with it!

  

Using an older SU! embossing folder, I embossed the background on white paper. I used Crisp Cantaloupe and Cajun Craze for my Flowers and Pear Pizzazz and Gumball Green for the leaf. The sentiment was stamped in black ink. I decided to use up some retired Smoky Slate ribbon from SU! as well. I used a MFT die called Stitched Rectangles.

I hope you will come and play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches !