Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Inspired by a Sketch




After an emergency trip across the country last week,
Sketch_231I returned home to find the bits and pieces of this card still sitting on my craft table. I had started to put the card together but was called away because of medical issues with one of my brothers. The card is based on sketch #231 at Unscripted Sketches.



Stressful Week


This past week was very stressful. I ended up flying across the country to spend some time with my brother who was in ICU for a few days. He's home now, but has some critical care issues that need to be addressed 24 hours a day (indefinitely). It was a stressful trip and I worry that he won't get the care he so needs. When I returned home, I had to get my mind off him so I played with paper and created a few cards. This card came together very quickly.  I used ink to create the sky background, using a punched circle to mask the area where the moon sits in the sky. Then I added the stamped trees in the foreground. The tree stamp is from Inkadinkado. It's one of my favorite stamps. I printed the sentiment directly onto the cardbase using my computer, matted the scene on black cardstock and adhered it to the cardbase.  I love the calm, peaceful feeling created by the snowy scene but more importantly, I appreciate the distraction a bit of card making provides during this stressful time.

Supplies: Cardbase: Recollections, Ink: Studio G, Stamp: Inkadinkado, Cardstock: Recollections, Adhesive: Scotch ATG

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

"Bits & Pieces" November Sketch

It always surprises me at how many different ways a sketch can be interpreted and I often wonder if you can still see the sketch in my creations. This birthday card is a typical example. I  used Kathy's "Bits and Pieces" November sketch from the The Sketch File. Lately Kathy has been challenging our design team with multi-layered sketches, which I often find challenging. How about you? Do you love the multi-layered sketches or are you like me and have to work at being creative with them? Either way,  I hope you will be inspired and will link up a card or two with us over at the The Sketch File.



Sunday, November 10, 2013

Full of Joy

This is my second card for the current sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches. I used a chevron embossed background and added tiny holes with a needle. Next I punched snowflakes and die cut the word joy three times from patterned paper and red cardstock. I layered the snowflakes on a wavy strip of red and white cardstock. 


Supplies: Cardbase: Recollections, Cardstock: Bazzill, (red/green), white (scrap), Joy die cut: Lil' Inker Designs, Snowflake punch: Emagination, Darice Chevron Embossing Folder, Needle, Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, Scotch ATG

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Love these DIES!


I finally found time to put together another card. This one is for the sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches. I haven't played along with a challenge there for a while, but I just couldn't resist creating with the incredible sketch. I knew that the layout would work perfectly with my new Lil' Inker Designs jingle bell dies. They are fabulous!!!! I simply adhered metallic paper to a piece of cardstock than ran the paper and die through my Fiskar's Fuse. The jingle bells came out perfect every time!  I adhered them to an embossed mat  with dimensional adhesive, then added the horizontal strip of ribbon and cardstock that I wrapped with metallic threads.

Supplies: Cardbase: Recollections, Cardstock: Bazzil, Dies: Lil' Inker Designs, Adhesive: Scotch ATG, Metallic threads, Ribbon: Offray, Embossing Folder: Spellbinders, Die cut machine: Fiskars Fuse, Dimensional Adhesive: EK Success

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

November Sketch File Challenge

In the little corner of the USA where I live, it is suppose to be AUTUMN. You'd never know that from the weather we've had since the beginning of October. We've had one snow storm after another and we are currently buried under several inches of snow. In a typical fall, it would melt off before another snow storm hit, but this snow doesn't look like it is going anywhere. With all these snow storms surrounding me, I decided to make a card that looked a bit more like summer. I used our current sketch from The Sketch File and lots of lady bug images. If you hop on over to The Sketch File, you'll see that Kathy has also posted her card. I hope you'll be inspired enough to play along with us at the The Sketch File.




Saturday, November 2, 2013

Paper Bead Necklaces


I recently tried my hand at making paper beads. I found it to be a slow process, but also very relaxing.

The first photo shows my first attempt at making a necklace from the hand made beads. I chose decorative papers that have fall colors. In the end, I really liked the mix of colors and have worn the necklace to work. One of my colleagues really liked it so I decided to create a second one with coral colored papers for her. This time I added small silver spacers between each of the handmade paper beads. I think the spacers add a bit of elegance that my first attempt lacked.


The last necklace  is a combination of left over beads and a few newer ones.
I included the spacers on this one as well, but I am not as happy with the mix of colors.

I am so glad I finally got around to trying these paper beads. It's one of those crafts that has been around for a very long time. I think I might even experiment a bit more to see what other bead shapes I can create.