Freshly Made Sketches #671

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #671!

The amazing Clean Team designer, Judy Rozema, has created a fun sketch for us to work with this week. I've been poking through a bin of long forgotten dies and another of specialty papers that were perfect for adding a bit of dimension and interest to my design.

The crepe paper is cut with a rolled flower die, folded in half and adhered in over lapping rows to leave a loose fringe loop edge. The top of the fringe layers is covered with a border heart die cut trimmed to fit the width of the panel. A simple bright pink Memory Box Sketchbook Love die finishes the card.

I hope you check out the terrific Clean Team designs and play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches this week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #532

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #532!

Clean Team Designer Kim Singdahlsen's fabulous sketch was perfect for inspiring a wedding card needed this weekend. 

The versatile Poppystamps Silver Bells die is being used for wedding bells and cut from Lawn Fawn Pixie Dust Sparkle cardstock. The inside of the bells are colored with a Copic marker for a bit of dimension and tied with a couple strands of peach fiber before being added to the corner of the Mini-scalloped stitched panel.

An MFT Essentials sentiment is heat embossed for a clean and simple finish.

I hope you check out the fabulous Clean Team designs and play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches this week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #497

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #497!

  

I am hosting the challenge this week and came up with a sketch that was designed around a couple sentiment strips. Of course, you can add your sentiment anywhere and do something entirely different for the strips!

The Rubbernecker Layered Poppy stamp is heat embossed on watercolor paper before being watercolored. Although I have always loved red poppies, the orange California poppy has really stolen my heart in the last few years and seemed appropriate for wedding wishes from us California relatives to my nephew and his fiance.

An MFT Bitty Birthday Wishes stamp is paired with the MFT Document It - Off the Chart stamp to make the full sentiment on the two strips. Twine wrapped around the panel provides the vertical strip and completes the design.

I  look forward to seeing how you are inspired by the sketch this week! Check out the Clean Team designs and play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #485

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #485!

It has been ages since I've needed a wedding card but we have two coming up in the next 6 weeks. This card really took on a life of its own as the original plan slowly changed in every which way except for the vertical banner. Dies, sentiments and designer papers were arranged and rearranged over a couple days before I finally made a commitment.

The PTI Penned Elegance sentiment is heat embossed on the PTI heart die and popped up over the MFT Fishtail Flag die cuts. A smaller banner is created with ancient PTI Banner Builders dies - I love the little banner toppers!

The hearts joining the banners are cut from the Memory Box Heat Wave die and all a slightly different shape and size, adding a touch a whimsy to the design.

I hope you check out the fabulous Clean Team designs at Freshly Made Sketches and join in the fun this week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CASology Challenge #366: ZODIAC

Welcome to CASology Challenge #366!

I don't have any specific zodiac, astrology or astronomy images in my collection so started off thinking I would play with either stars or animals this week. I have plenty of crab, lion and fish images to work with to create a birthday card for a Cancer, Leo or Pisces friend. Looking at the Chinese zodiac opens up even more options. Along with birthday cards, I thought it would be fun to look at romantic pairings which lead me into the four elements of the zodiac.

I'm not sure earth and water are considered an ideal match in astrology, but Stefan and I will be celebrating 25 years next month so I created an anniversary card for us.

The earth symbol is created with a small triangle die cut and a snipped piece of a Poppystamps Frieda Leaf die cut and paired with an MFT Color Drop die cut and pair of circles for the water symbol. Once again, my MFT Essential Sentiments stamp set is used. 

The design team has great inspiration for you this week!

Deepti Stephens

Deidre Payne

Jacquie Southas (you are here)

Jen Wills

Joyce Mehrberg

Karen Haman

Melissa Chipperfield 

Milka Gubo

Nancy Elrick

Sandie Munro

Sue Symens

Guest Designer: Ma-Mi!

Sponsor: STAMPlorations!

We are looking forward to seeing how ZODIAC inspires you - just remember to keep it Clean & Simple! This is a two week challenge, so you have until 9 AM Monday, April 27th (CMT) to link your card to the CASology blog.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #394

Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #394!

Clean Team designer Jen Timko created this fabulous and versatile sketch! I took the idea of a band across the bottom of the card quite literally in my design.

The PTI Big Basics Congratulations die is cut from a white glitter paper once and twice from white cardstock. The layers are adhered together before being added to the Berry Sorbet and vellum layered band. This band is popped up along the center to allow room for the white and vellum leaves to be tucked into place. A scatter of sequins add a bit more fun to the festive feel.

The Clean Team has great cards to inspire you! We hope you play along with us this week at Freshly Made Sketches.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CASology Week 313: DRESS

Welcome to Week 313 at CASology!

My plan was to make an origami dress with patterned paper for this week's card fell apart as I just couldn't get my fingers to crease & fold the paper as needed. So I went to plan B and love the way my dress turned out.

After a few tries, a piece of lightly glittered vellum survived to make the skirt and a freehand top was cut from glitter paper. The scalloped velvet ribbon was perfect for finishing off this elegant little number. The feminine sentiment comes from an old MFT stamp set, a la Mode Cheers.

The design team has a outdone themselves this week!

Anna Uhras

Bharati Nayudu

Deidre Payne

Jacquie Southas (you are here)

Janet Ribet

Jen Wills

Joyce Mehrberg

Karen Haman

Marcie Sharp

Melissa Chipperfield

Rachel Bergfeld

Sue Symens

Sponsor: STAMPlorations

Guest Designer:  Barb G.

We are looking forward to seeing how DRESS inspires you - just remember to keep it Clean & Simple! You have until 9 AM Monday, Sep 24th.  (CMT) to link your card to the CASology blog. Did you notice the date? We are back to one week challenges!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Craft Hoarders Anonymous September 2015 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Craft Hoarders Anonymous September 2015 Blog Hop! I'm so glad you stopped by today, giving me the opportunity to share a trio of cards I created. 

You should be coming to my blog from Pam's blog. After visiting me, hop over to Glenda's blog next. To start at the beginning of the hop, and for a full list of participants, go to Gloria's blog here.

I have to give a big thank you to Gloria for coming up with the idea of a Craft Hoarders Anonymous Blog Hop and giving me a prod to use some of my extensive collection of pretty little things. For this first Hop, I concentrated on using buttons and bling, along with the contrasting textures of burlap and tissue paper to create a trio of Clean & Simple cards.

I need a wedding card for the son of dear friends this month and so this heart card was my first design. The tissue paper is die cut first and layered on a burlap square. Because these materials are a little flimsy and I didn't want the burlap to fray too much before I was finished adding the embellishments, the panel is backed with a transparency square.

The threaded buttons are adhered first and the pearls and bling added to fill in the gaps. A trio of bright pink flowers cover one corner, along with a Maya Road butterfly pin. The Avery Elle sentiment is stamped on a piece of vellum and heat embossed with gold embossing powder.

With design inspiration coming from CAS(E) This Sketch! #139, I am linking up to their challenge.

For this second card, a star die cut creates the window for a shaker card.

You can see here how I added the transparency to the back of the burlap for stability before cutting out the star center and adhereing the burlap to the main panel.

Threaded buttons, pearls and bling outline the star shape, an embossing folder is used to add texture to the back of the shaker box and microbeads provide the filling.

The sentiment is created by pairing a Simon Says Stamp die cut with an embossed sentiment banner. The shimmer card stock works well all the bling.

For this last card, I followed the same steps as the other cards, starting with the resin butterfly and adding the buttons and bling around it.

Once again, an Avery Elle sentiment is stamped and heat embossed on the vellum banner.

Some of my bling was in the colors I needed for these cards, but the majority of my extensive collection is clear or white. The pearls and gems are so easy to color with Copic markers to get the color I needed.

The design of this birthday card was inspired by inverting Freshly Made Sketches #202 and it is also being linked to Seize the Birthday in the Anything Goes category.

I hope you are inspired to use some of the crafting supplies you have been hoarding and will take some time to visit all the blogs of the very talented designers in this Hop!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CASE Study #192 & Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge #8

I have a couple of things to share today. First up is a card for the CASE Study #192 challenge. This is Wida Miller's 4th week as the May Muse.

I love so many things about Wida's card, starting with the black & white striped panel anchoring her embellishments. The stripes, gold glitter and stacked sentiments inspired my card, which kind of created itself.

I lightly painted the wood sentiment pieces with distress inks to add just a tiny touch of color.  Does any remember the movie Truly, Madly, Deeply from the early 90's? It's an old favorite starring my boyfriend, Alan Rickman (please don't tell my other boyfriend Colin Firth about us - it was very awkward when they were both in Love Actually).

This second project is a little gift box I made and filled with crafty bits & pieces for a friend that fled the San Diego wildfires for Texas. Well, that is sort of true - they arrived in Texas with a smokey smelling moving truck after having to pack & leave at the height of the fire. Not because of the fire though, it was a long planned moved and I will miss you at our crafty get togethers and field trips Pat!

For this project I truly dug into my hoard, using a metal handle, hatpin and brad along with an assortment of flowers. I am entering this in the Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge #8 to use Metal or Glass.

The Dear Husband and I are finally going out for our Anniversary dinner tonight - only 2 weeks late this year :)

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

MIM #163: Envelope Wraps + CTS#75 + MFW Hip on Handwriting + The Card Concept #9 Monochromatic Purple

With crafting time at a premium right now, I was happy to see a few challenges come together on one card. We have a wedding to attend next month and I thought the Make It Monday 163: Envelope Wraps from Danille Flanders was a great idea to add a little extra design to our card & gift. You can check out her tutorial here.

The wedding colors are lavender and grey, which makes this card perfect for The Card Concept #9: Monochromatic Purple Clean & Simple category. The card design is based on the CAS(E) This Sketch #75 and I am also entering this card in the Moxie Fab World Hip on Handwriting Challenge.

The wedding invitation has the bride and groom's initials intertwined, so I took that idea as a starting point for my design. I masked a couple of Wet Paint stamps to isolate the "l" and "j" before clear embossing them on a piece of watercolor paper cut with a Half & Half die.

I created a heart stencil and used a watercolor technique with Plum Pudding ink. After the panel dried, the embossing was ironed off and a touch of Wink of Stella added.

The envelope wrap was made by cutting both ends of the panel with the Half & Half die and using stamps from the Grand Ampersand stamp set. The ampersands were stamped first and left to dry for a few minutes, then lightly painted with a wet brush, pulling the ink off the image.

The sentiements were added before the panel was completely dry, allowing the ink to bleed slightly.

Happy Mother's Day to those celebrating this Sunday! I'm feeling a little sad this year, as it is the first one that I know for sure my mom doesn't know her children or grandchildren (or husband for that matter). It is a strange thing to miss someone who is sitting beside you, with a smile on her face and ready to give a hug anytime. Alzheimer's is a sad & challenging disease.

This photo was taken on a family vacation to Scotland in 1966, the first time my maternal grandparents met the five of us kids! I love all the tartan and distinctly remember carrying my uncle's transistor radio everywhere we went.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie