Crazy for a Sketch

Hello friends!  It’s that time of the month when the Crazy 4 Challenges team has a sketch challenge for you to try, so I hope you’ll join us this week!  This is a cute little square sketch that I love!

For my card, I used some old patterned papers from Papertrey Ink, and this sweet new Happy Harvest acorn stamp set from Reverse Confetti, along with the matching Confetti Cuts dies.

I kept this pretty simple, adding some enamel dots around the image for embellishment, instead of the line of dots on the bottom right corner.

And speaking of Crazy 4 Challenges, last week’s challenge kind of came and went and somehow I just never got my card photographed and uploaded.  Life has been crazy lately… I’m working really hard the last few months trying to eat healthier, exercise and lose weight so lately my focus is more on going for a walk than stamping.  (Down 30 pounds since May!)  Plus I started a new job 2 weeks ago, so I’m really sidetracked.  Anyway, last week’s challenge can be found HERE.  The challenge was to choose your two favorite colors on the color wheel, then make a card using the colors opposite your favorites.  Trouble is, my most favorite color is orange, and my next favorite is aqua blue.  Those colors ARE opposite each other on the color wheel.  So what I did instead was just move around the wheel from orange to yellow, and from blue to purple.  (I’m NOT a purple fan so anytime I have to use it is a challenge!)  And here’s what I came up with.

I watercolored this Clearly Besotted sunflower from the Sunshine and Smiles stamp set, and added the die-cut thank you sentiment.

Be sure to stop by the C4C blog for all the challenge details today, and be inspired by the rest of the CrAzY girls…

Anja de Regt
Barbara Anders
Caz Counsell
Frances Byrne
Jessie Rone
Joanne Grzelak
Karen Aicken
Maryann Einem
Raquel Mason
Rebecca Ednie

Thanks for stopping by today!

Oh Deer!

The Crazy 4 Challenges team is back again today, and the challenge this week is to create something with forest friends.  Any forest animal, or forest scenery you’ve got… create a card with it.  I LOVED this challenge because it gave me a chance to finally use my Clearly Besotted Deer to Me stamp set, and matching dies….

I kept this design pretty simple, stamping the images with Versafine Onyx Black ink on Distress Watercolor card stock, then embossing with clear embossing powder.  I then used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers and an aquabrush to watercolor all the images.

Be sure to stop by the C4C blog for all the challenge details today, and be inspired by the rest of the CrAzY girls…

Anja de Regt
Barbara Anders
Caz Counsell
Frances Byrne
Jessie Rone
Joanne Grzelak
Karen Aicken
Maryann Einem
Raquel Mason
Rebecca Ednie

Thanks for stopping by today!

Color Throwdown #367

The fabulous Jodi Collins is our Color Throwdown hostess today, and she’s got a lovely palette of colors for you to play with…

As far as I’m concerned, coral is always a beautiful color to play with so I really enjoyed this combination of colors.  I used my Clearly Besotted Fairytale Ending stamp set to create this sympathy card…

I used the matching die to cut out the floral spray from watercolor card stock, then used my MISTI to stamp the image in Versamark and embossed with detail white embossing powder.  Then I colored with my ZIG Clean Color Real Brush markers.  The watercolor background was created with Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint distress inks. For the “gold” in our color palette, I went with a muted gold and used Liquid Platinum embossing powder on my sentiment.

Please be sure to visit the CTD blog today for more inspiration, and visit my Throwdown sisters for more inspiration.  And help us welcome our new Guest Designer for November, Karolyn Loncon!

Barbara Anders
Broni Holcombe
Joan Ervin
Jodi Collins
Lori Tecler
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Karolyn Loncon, November Guest Designer

Your visit to my blog today is a blessing, and I appreciate it!

Thank You Florals

Hello friends, and happy Saturday!  I hope you’re having a beautiful weekend!

I recently saw these beautiful floral stamps from the Clearly Besotted Fairytale Ending set on Debby Hughes’ blog, and I just had to have them!  (There’s a matching die, too!)  The sentiments in the set are all wedding-themed, which I don’t have a need for right now, so I just made a thank you card because there is always a need for those!

I’m a little late, but the layout of my card is from last Saturday’s Retro Sketch #175, and a can also enter this in the Tie It Up challenge this week on the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge blog.  I stamped the floral spray with Versmark, embossed with white detail embossing powder, then colored with my Zig Clean Color markers.  On the oval panel, which was cut from watercolor card stock, I just did some easy ink smooshing with Tumbled Glass distress ink.  Then I made the sentiment by stamping “Thank” from an old MFT stamp set in Steel Grey hybrid ink, and added the “you” cut from Ripe Raspberry card stock using the Simon Says “You” wafer die.  I added a big yellow flag behind the oval that was cut from the Blueprints 13 dies, and stamped with a polka dot background stamp.  The green panel was die cut with the Blueprints 24 and stamped with the BG Diagonal Stripes background.  I added a twine bow, and some black enamel dots for embellishment.

Thanks for stopping by today, and have a great weekend!

Sunflower Hello

My husband and I were serving as greeters at church yesterday, and just a few minutes before the start of the service we noticed a young couple carrying a little girl, coming across the parking lot.  As greeters, we’re always supposed to be on the lookout for new people, and I mentioned to my husband that I thought maybe they were new.  As they came closer, my husband said “Oh my gosh, I think that’s our neighbors!”  And sure enough, they were!  They live around the corner from us, and have been looking for a new church, so we were really happy that they decided to give the Orrville C&MA a chance today!  I told pastor after the service that I’d do what I could to extend the welcome into the coming week, so I made some zucchini bread last night and this card to take over to their house…

I was really glad to have colored this sunflower image on Friday night right after I got my package from Ellen Hutson with this new Clearly Besotted Sunshine and Smiles stamp set.  (The first Clearly Besotted set I’ve owned… I have a feeling there are going to be more!)  I was SO inspired by this card that Debby Hughes did with this set, so I just had to have it, especially since I’m so partial to sunflowers, anyway.  I used Ranger Distress markers on watercolor card stock for the image, then used a wet brush to color.  I also added some distress color around the sunflower, then distressed the panel up good with some splotches of Antique Linen ink.  The layout comes from the Sweet Sunday Sketch #273 this week.  I used the Happy Hellos Die-Namics to die-cut the hello from Steel Grey card stock… I cut three layers, glued them together, then applied crystal lacquer for dimension.  I die-cut some Sno Cone card stock with the Medium Scallop Die-Namics (retired) and a circle from Grout Gray card stock using the new Zig Zag Stitched Circle STAX Die-Namics.  On the yellow background panel, I stamped the BG Diagonal Stripes background.
I hope you like my happy sunflower!  Thanks for stopping by today!