Freshly Made Sketches #381

Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches 381!

Lee Ann Barrett is hosting the challenge this week and giving us her first sketch as a member of the Clean Team! Just look at all the lovely space we have to play with!

I really thought I'd cleverly come up with a way to put the right number of candles on this milestone birthday card for my dad, but when I showed it to my husband, he just didn't get it.

A black panel is trimmed, with an embossing folder adding interest to the the larger piece and an older MFT Spotlight Sentiments stamp heat embossed on the narrow piece. A narrow strip of red cardstock separates the two pieces as they are adhered to the card base. 

The five Elizabeth Crafts candles are layered on the embossed panel. I hope the "5 x 18" candles made sense to you and I'm pretty confident my about-to-turn-90-years-old dad will enjoy it. We've been threatening to put the correct number of candles on his cake for years but always end up with a mathematical representation instead. Concord & 9th Double Cut Alphabet and Number dies were used to make this year's equation.

The Clean Team has terrific cards to inspire you - I hope you get a chance to play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches this week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Twofer Card Challenge 14: Balloons

I have a couple of cards to share based on the Twofer Card Challenge 14: Balloons!

It took me a while to remember thinking the inside piece of Papertrey Ink Shaker Shapes: Balloon Die looked like a giant Easter egg, but once I did the cards for this challenge came together pretty quickly.

For this first card a watercolor paper panel is inked with orange and yellow watercolor paints before the large balloon is die cut. A little extra Mustard Seed and Spices Marmalade Distress Inks are sponged over the die cut before the Simon Says Stamp sentiment is added.

The MFT cloud stencil along with Tumbled Glass and Faded Jeans Distress Inks adds a bit of interest to a white panel before the balloon is adhered. The top of the balloon is popped up and the bottom adhered snug to the panel before the panel is added with foam adhesive to a blue card base.

For this second card, the balloon shaker is transformed into an Easter egg by simply turning it upside down and snipping off the bottom piece. The same balloon die used on the first card is used to cut a transparency piece and a light aqua balloon. This balloon is embossed with a dotted chevron embossing folder to form the base of the shaker. The shaker is filled with assorted sequins and confetti pieces before being sealed.

The Papertrey Ink Simply Spring sentiment is stamped on the designer paper panel before the shaker piece is added. A couple Poppystamps Egg Cetera eggs and a set of Bunny Ears finish off this little scene.

I'm also adding this card to Poppystamps Challenge #54 Spring Cleaning (with the sequins, confetti, designer paper and embossing folder all being something old that hasn't been used in ages) and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where Simon Says Cute.. 

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

 

Freshly Made Sketches #380

Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #380!

I'm thrilled to have designed the sketch for this week and looking forward to see what you do with it! Whether you see the squares as part of a grid, plaid, tartan, buffalo check or as multiple small images is up to you. I did a little of both, using the bunnies on a check designer paper.

The Papertrey Ink Simply Spring Borders bunnies are stamped, the ears and cheeks lightly touched with a pale pink Copic marker and fussy cut before being added to the inked paper background.

The sentiment is stamped on a MFT Miniscalloped Stitched Die-namic die cut panel before the bunny square is added and the finished panel popped up on a Limeade Ice card base.

The Clean Team has terrific cards at Freshly Made Sketches and we hope you play along with us this week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CASology Week 336: OCEAN

Welcome to Week 336 at CASology!

I love the ocean and have been lucky enough to live most of my life close by, but somehow this cue word really challenged me. The ideas swimming in my head started to get too complicated and I had to remind myself to keep it clean and simple. That led me back to color and waves.

My husband's birthday is this week and I know this card is going to remind him of his happy place, the Greek islands.

To make my waves, I cut a couple of stencils using border dies and a transparency. The border is cut on both the right side and wrong side of each transparency to double the lines I have to work with. From past experience I've learned to put a piece of washi on one side so I don't accidentally smudge ink over my panel as I flipped from one cut edge to the other.

The design team has fabulous cards this week!

Bharati Nayudu

Deidre Payne

Jacquie Southas (you are here)

Janet Ribet 

Jen Wills 

Joyce Mehrberg

Karen Haman

Melissa Chipperfield

Rachel Bergfeld

Sue Symens

Guest Designer: Asa!

Sponsor: STAMPlorations!

We are looking forward to seeing how OCEAN inspires you - just remember to keep it Clean & Simple! This is a two week challenge so you have until 9 AM Monday, April 1st (CMT) to link your card to the CASology blog.

I am linking this card to Seize the Birthday in their Anything Goes category.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #379

Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #379!

The lovely Judy Rozema created our versatile sketch this week. I saw the circle elements as balloons and pulled out Poppystamps Celebrations Balloon dies to pair with an older MFT Birthday Sentiments stamp set.

A trio of balloons are die cut after inking a panel with Salty Ocean Distress Ink. The largest balloon is partially stamped with the sentiment to fit on the sentiment panel.

After the sentiment panel is popped up on the gray embossed panel, the middle balloon is tucked behind it and a third is placed floating away near the top corner.

The Clean Team has terrific cards at Freshly Made Sketches. We hope you are inspired to play along with us!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CASology Week 335: EARTH

Welcome to Week 335 at CASology!

I started looking for a globe image for my card this week and changed directions when I saw Concord & 9th Map Love stamp set. 

The world map image is stamped in Limeade ink and the sentiment selectively stamped over it, with "world" in teal. The panel is mounted on a teal card base with the bottom right corner rounded for added interest.

The design team has terrific cards this week!

Bharati Nayudu

Deidre Payne

Jacquie Southas (you are here)

Janet Ribet 

Jen Wills 

Joyce Mehrberg

Karen Haman

Melissa Chipperfield

Rachel Bergfeld

Sue Symens

Guest Designer: Helen!

We are looking forward to seeing how EARTH inspires you - just remember to keep it Clean & Simple! We are back to one week challenges so you have until 9 AM Monday, March 18th (CMT) to link your card to the CASology blog.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #378

Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #378!

Maybe because it is Girl Guide cookie season around here, but I kept thinking cookies whenever I looked at Amy O'Neill's sketch this week. I gave up fighting the idea and pulled out Avery Elle's Bonjour macarons. 

After the stamped images were die cut, Nuvo Gloss Simply White is run along the center of each macaron to add a little interest and texture to the design.

The card base is designed to mimic a decorative box with the MFT Mini Scalloped Frame and a layer of sparkly vellum.

Check out the fabulous Clean Team cards based on this sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. We hope you are inspired to play along with us this week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CASology Week 334: FUNKY

Welcome to Week 334 at CASology!

My first thought when I saw the cue word this week was "James Brown". My husband is a big fan and has a birthday in a couple of weeks, so the idea of a music themed birthday card led me to MFT Keep on Rockin' Stamps.

The 70s decorator colors of Harvest Gold and Avocado Green seemed appropriate to reinforce the funky feeling I wanted to embrace.

The design team has fabulous cards this week!

Bharati Nayudu

Deidre Payne

Jacquie Southas (you are here)

Janet Ribet 

Jen Wills 

Joyce Mehrberg

Karen Haman

Melissa Chipperfield

Rachel Bergfeld

Sue Symens

Guest Designer: Claire!

We are looking forward to seeing how FUNKY inspires you - just remember to keep it Clean & Simple! We are back to one week challenges so you have until 9 AM Monday, March 11th (CMT) to link your card to the CASology blog.

I'm also linking this card to Seize the Birthday in the Anything Goes category and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge where Anything Goes this week.

  

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie