FMS563 Christmas Wishes

 

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!  We hosted here at the house where hubby smoked a delicious turkey, we had our family over, and enjoyed our time together.

I had a day off work and thoroughly enjoyed sitting down and stamping all day and well into the night.  It's not often that I get that energized about my creativity but seemed to be on a roll and created a few sets of cards over the weekend.

I'm squeaking in my challenge card at Freshly Made Sketches which was a great one to use my new stencil from Taylored Expressions, the Artisan Feathers with my Distress Oxide Inks.  I paired it with the Botanical Bunch stamp set from W-9 along with a sentiment strip from Simon Says Stamp.

Thanks for stopping by to say "hi"!

Hello

 Happy Thursday!  The weekend is thisclose to being here.  YEAH!!!

We had some rain this week so evening sports were canceled and I was able to sneak in some stamping.  Hoping this long holiday weekend I'll be able to get some time in doing some more as well so I'll have lots to share.

I grabbed a color and sketch challenge and made a quick set of 4 cards.  I love it when then the creation comes together so easily.  This week's Color Throwdown was not a color combo I'd reach for so it was working outside the box for me on this one, but like how it turned out.  I kept it very simple with the new Freshly Made Sketches for this week as well.

I used a set that is new to me from Papertrey Ink called Wonderful Words: Hello. I've used it a few times already-loving the die with the sentiments.  I grabbed some strips of cardstock and next time I use this sketch I think I'd throw in a patterned paper strip or maybe emboss them to add some texture.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a safe holiday weekend!

Card details:

Stamps:  Papertrey Ink-Wonderful Words: Hello & Die

Inks:  Gina K. Designs amalgam ink obsidian, Distress Oxide Pickled Raspberry

Cardstock:  Stampin' Up Basic Black, Calypso Coral, Rich Razzleberry, Papertrey Ink Raspberry Fizz & Rustic White

With Sympathy

Well hello there!  I know I'm hit or miss on this blog but I'm still creating.  Just don't seem to remember to take pictures and post like I used to.

I got energized a few evenings this week and broke out some of my crafty stuff so hope over the next few weeks I'll have a few more to share with anyone stopping by to visit.

Combining a sketch challenge from Freshly Made Sketches and a color challenge from Color Throwdown I had a good time coming up with this card, although never a fun card to have to send out.  I broke out my Minc foiling machine and some new Heidi Swapp foil I got.

My new Ginko Bundle set from Taylored Expression had just arrived in the mail so I was anxious to break it out and use it on this card.  Can see this being a favorite of mine on cards in the future, I'm a sucker for any type of floral stamp...so I am pushing myself to do some masculine cards that I'll be sharing as well.
Hopefully, you can see the shine from this foil in some of my pictures.  I also added a little score tape and foiled over that and think that adds a great little touch and is so easy to do.  I'm a pretty clean and simple stamper most of the time but have so much stuff I'm trying to experiment a little more with some of my supplies.

Thanks for stopping by to visit me and hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Bundle of Joy

 Sorry for the wonky picture-taking here-I'm failing at my photography skills these days.

I created this cute card for a colleague who just had their first grandchild this weekend.  He's a huge Penn State fan so I tried to stick to that color theme for the card.

I used the current Freshly Made Sketches #537 as I thought it would make a great masculine card.  Hope you enjoy the idea!

Card details:

Stamps: Reverse Confetti Sentimental Sayings

Cardstock: Not Quite Navy (SU), Balmy Blue (SU), Rustic White (PTI)

Inks:  Not Quite Navy, Balmy Blue, Smoky Slate

Embellishments: Taylored Expressions Little Bit Stars and Mini Strips Flags die (I used the stars and stenciled it onto my cardstock), embellishments from Let's Celebrate You Kit from TE

Thank you for your kindness

It's been so long since I've done any blogging, but I have been creating all this time.  

Last night the weather here wasn't too great and plans for the weekend got changed-so I tried to continue on from last week and keep on creating.  I attended the virtual Stamp Joy last weekend and my sister-in-law came over to get crafty.  It was a great day, a lot of fun where I learned some new techniques and stepped out of my comfort zone.

Tonight I broke out a favorite sketch site, Freshly Made Sketches as well as an old set that I had that I wanted to put to use, W-9 Fanciful Feathers.

I turned the sketch on its side to make it work with my images.

Thanks for stopping over to check out my creations today!  I appreciate it and hope you have a wonderful weekend.

 Card details:

Stamps: W-9 Fanciful Feathers, Clearly Besotted Scrumptious Sentiments

Cardstock: Basic Black, Crumb Cake, Confetti Cream

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copics

Accessories: Enamel Dots

Eucalyptus Card Set

 

This weekend was a struggle trying to create cards-I couldn't seem to get in a groove, but I managed to create a few CAS ones.

My first was a small set of cards using the Layered Eucalyptus set from Gina K. and Timeless Tropical set from Stampin' Up! for the sentiment.

I utilized the FMS479 sketch which I rotated to fit my image.

Card details:

Stamp Sets:  Layered Eucalyptus from Gina K. Stamps, Timeless Tropical from Stampin' Up!

Cardstock: Basic Black, Teresa Collins Far & Away,  PTI Rustic White, Burgundy unknown

Inks: Simon Says Stamp

Love

 

I've been spending a few evenings stamping while we are still off from sports most nights.  It's been great to get back into stamping a little more and using up some supplies I have.

For this card, I used the Freshly Made Sketches #470 and turned it onto the side (although now I realize my hearts are the opposite of the sketch).  The hearts were stamped & cut out of some backgrounds I had created using Distress Oxide inks awhile ago and hadn't gotten around to putting them together with anything.  The background on each of the cards were done using repetitive stamping of a background stamp from the Love Notes set from Verve Stamps.  

Thanks for stopping by to visit!

Card details:

Stamps: Take Notes & Love Notes from Verve Stamps

Inks: Distress Oxides, Basic Gray from SU

Cardstock: Confetti White from Papertrey Ink

Poppies & Flowers

This is the first slimline card I’ve made in years. I used the Poppy Bouquet stencils from #simonsaysstamp along with a sentiment from #stampemdous . I do love this color combo! #basementstamper #slimlinecards #stampemdous #simonsaystamp

While I had my Poppy Bouquet stencils from #simonsaysstamp out, I created another card using the #freshlymadesketches 429 along with a sentiment from #stampemdous . Another color combo I will have to use again. #basementstamper #stampemdous #simonsaystamp #freshlymadesketches

Of course I love creating with flowers as they are fun to color so I threw this one together using the Fusion Card Challenge using the sketch & inspiration along with the #simonstaysstamp Summer Garden set with a Stampendous sentiment and My Mind's Eye Flair Paper.  I fussy cut the flower out and used some dimensionals.

Merry Christmas Snowman

Hi there friends!  I know, it's been ages since I posted on here and I've been saying I'm going to get this back up and going but haven't yet.  

I've been having some fun making some holiday cards for an order, and since I had them out just have kept on making some to send out.

This card I used the Freshly Made Sketches #464 along with one of my most favorite images from Paper Smooches.  I colored him with some winter colors and added a few gems to the paper and his scarf to give him some flare and mounted him on some Echo Park Christmas paper.  The sentiment is from the CZDesign Sentiment Strip.

Enjoy and thanks for stopping by!

 

Special Day

With all our sports being called off for the weekend I'm getting some time in my stamp room.  Although I sat all last night creating a few special fold cards, I decided to branch off and do a challenge.  I'm usually behind in participating in them but wanted to play with this sketch this week.

This is from the Freshly Made Sketches and I used some patterned paper scraps I had laying around along.  I have been continuing with some pretty clean and simple cards but always love how they turn out.

Hope you enjoy this special card for a special person for their special day!

Back in the Groove

Well hello, my friends who may still be following my lonely little blog.  I know it's been a while since I've posted here, but I think I've finally got my groove back.

I've been on a creating frenzy over the last 2 months or so, trying to use up some of my 30+ packs of 6 x 6 patterned paper.  I came across this fantastic blog called The Best Things in life are pink and tried my hand at one of them which I have been posting on Instagram.  I had fun and found it forced me to use paper I've had sitting around and I loved the cards that I made with them.

For this first card, I tried my hand at the Freshly Made Sketches 419, I love sketches as my starting point and go back to FMS ones all the time.  I added some 3D Crystal Lacquer on the fish although it was hard to capture on this card.

I used the Authentique Fresh patterned paper and Memory Box Fish Tales Shadow on both of my cards.  For my second card, I went back to a favorite sketch blog-MojoMonday 529 although I screwed up my measurements a bit on this one, I still like the outcome.  I also used the 3D Crystal Lacquer to make the fish bubbles.

Those who have followed me over the years know I'm pretty clean & simple style.  Sometimes I don't even use embellishments, but I'm happy with that and crafting is a stress reliever that I'm finding my way back into and loving it.

So be patient, I may not blog a lot still but I am going to make an effort to share more of what I make no matter how old the sets I use are.  I know my blog needs a major overhaul so if anyone knows someone that does this, please send me their info-I may need to get it updated soon.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Birthday Fishes

This took me a few times to get it to look like I was imagining in my head.  I saw this sketch at Freshly Made Sketches #169 and thought it looked like a fishbowl and these images came to mind.

This is for a birthday card swap I'm doing with a friend (we were both creating 5 different cards to swap).  I'm always in need of birthday cards and miss swapping with people.  

I used the Pink Paislee Color Wash set to create my water background.

Thanks for stopping by to visit!

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Card details:

Stamps: Briny Blue and Birthday Buddies from Paper Smooches, Color Wash from Pink Paislee

Cardstock: Cool Caribbean, Early Espresso, Whisper White

Inks: Marina Mist, Bermuda Bay, Cool Carribean

Embellishments: buttons, twine, tiny bubbles cuttlebug folder

SDC161: Flowers

Wow!  I can't believe it's been over 2 months since I last blogged...and for those of you still around, thanks for hanging in there.

I've been working on a big project the last month or so involving some wedding invitations for some very special people.  I'll wait a little longer to share those as they just were mailed not too long ago.

So besides that big project and my full time job demanding more attention, I took a break from my stamping and while I missed it a lot, I just couldn't seem to get my mojo going.  Finally this weekend I sat my butt in my studio, threw on a Hallmark movie and stamped a little.

This weeks challenge over at Stampotique Designer's Challenge is one of my good friend, Kristen's and I couldn't pass up creating with some flowers.  Hope you will join us at a chance to win a $30 gift certificate over there.

I also used the Freshly Made Sketch #149.

As always, thanks for stopping by, appreciate the love!

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Card details:

Stamps: Sunflower Medium 9257 and Grow Your Dreams 7321 by Stampotique Originals

Cardstock: Daffodil Delight, Crumb Cake, Confetti Cream

Inks: Chocolate Chip, watercolors

Accessories: Candy dots

Heart Full of Love

When I saw this Hampton Arts stamp, I snatched it up real quick.  I love that it's a small square with text writing all over it and works as a perfect background to a small image.

This card would be perfect for an anniversary, thinking of you, congratulations, miss you, many different occasions would work for it.

This week's challenge over at CAS-ual Fridays is to Put your {heart} into it.

Misstreez aka Teresa over at SCS Hope You Can Cling to Challenge asked us to create a card featuring text on it for her challenge.  I used an older Freshly Made Sketch for my {heart} card.

Card details:

Stamps: Novel Background from Hampton Art and Text Objects from Verve Stamps

Cardstock: Rose Red, Basic Black and Whisper White from Stampin'Up!

Inks: Rose Red and Basic Black from Stampin'Up!, Versamarker from Tsukineko

Embellishments: French Script Embossing Folder from Cuttlebug, Clear Embossing powder and Basic Pearls from Stampin'Up!, Pennant Trim Die from Verve Stamps