Creative Sketches Week 25 Holidays and Celebrations

 Welcome to another installment of our Creative Sketches challenges. The 4th week is traditionally holiday or any day you celebrate and we have a sketch to up the ante on the challenge.

This weeks card is perfect for a birthday, promotion, retirement or any other celebration you wish to acknowledge. I chose bright happy colors. Daffodil Yellow, Tempting Turquoise and Melon Mambo cardstocks and inks, Brights Stack designer paper in Tempting Turquoise, Melon Mambo pom-pom trim, Basic Rhinestones, Scallop Circles #2 Big Shot Die, 2 3/8" Scallop Circle Punch, small scallop is a non-SU punch, En Francais background stamp, swirl is from Elements of Style, sentiments from On Your Birthday and Fabulous Phrases.


Don't forget to check out the other designers great cards
on the Creative Sketches site.

Creative Sketches Week 18 February Sketch

 It's time for another Creative Sketch Challenge. A small distraction after this weeks fun with the snow. I used my new Nature Walk stamp set from the Occasions Mini catalog, Botanical Gazette DSP, Very Vanilla, Cherry Cobbler and Marina Mist cardstock and Cherry Cobbler 1/2' seam binding and ink, Stampin' Dimensionals and Basic Pearls. A tip if you are not doing it already, save the border of your Stampin' Dimensionals once you've used them all. For the eggs I was able to cut small pieces from this leftover border to pop them for added interest.

Hopefully I'll have more posts shortly including some pictures of cards I recently did with The Ripple Group from my younger son's church, including pictures of the Juniors, Seniors and their Shepherds making the cards for From Our Hearts. But first I'm busy prepping more kits for this Saturday's event. Then I get about a 6 week break before the next Cards for Troops event. Just enough time to work on some of the wedding samples for my oldest son's wedding in June. It is going to be one busy year for me.

Be sure to stop by the Creative Sketches blog and check out the cards the other designers and participants have done.


Happy Chinese New Year!

Creative Sketches Week 16 Punches

 My Creative Sketches card gets to serve 2 roles as the sketch challenge and is a card for my new hostess club. This card showcases the new Ice Cream Parlor designer paper, ribbon and buttons from the soon to be released Sale-a-Bration catalog available next Tuesday Jan. 25th. The Build a Cupcake Punch and Create a Cupcake stamp set are from the new Occassions Mini Catalog. And there is just a hint of the new red Glimmer Paper in the cherry on top of the cupcake. This was a really fun card to design and create.

My second card also qualifies for the sketch challenge and is a design for my new club. It features the current Filled With Love promotion bundle. Love the paper in this bundle and I'm thinking I might just need to order myself a second package before it's gone. This card features the Full Heart Extra Large Punch and the Scallop Trim Border :Punch. A simple and quick card with lots of WOW factor. Pink and black is one of my favorite color combos. The Melon Mambo, Basic Black and Pretty in Pink go so well together.

Hopefully I'll be back next week with another sketch challenge. I'm starting a new round of Cards for the Troops events for From Our Hearts and with a wedding to prep for in just 5 short months, life is definitely going to be busy.

Creative Sketches Week 12 Holiday Card

 Wow, what a busy 6 or so weeks it's been. We made about 2300 cards last month for the troops and then I started running for the holidays. Whew! I am going to slowly back track and get caught up with the previous sketches for the Creative Sketches and I have a few new items to share. Plus I get to design for a whole new stamp club in January. I am still getting organized and sorted back out to gear up for a new round of events for From Our Hearts after the New Year and slowly getting my room organized enough to actually sit down and work in.

This weeks card is a sneak peek at the new Occasions Mini Catalog arriving Jan. 4th. I used the new Love Impressions DSP and the a' la carte stamp Be My Valentine. I popped and layered the heart for dimension. I stamped it in black on the gray layer, stamped in red on the pink and cut it out in full, then cut a banner out in the same red on pink and popped it on top. I also used Real Red, Basic Gray and Pink Pirouette cardstock and Real Red 1/8" ribbon.

 I hope everyone has a really fabulous Christmas and great New Year! Enjoy your celebrations with family and friends!

Creative Sketches Technique & Sketch Wk 3

Wow, it's late but I got my week 3 card done. Woohoo! Still have to backtrack to week 1 but hopefully in this next week. Life keeps throwing me curve balls. This weeks challenge was to use a dry embossing technique with a sketch. I took liberties with the sketch design. Here is the sketch:

Pretty sweet sketch design. I opted to make a pink card this week honoring Breast Cancer Awareness month. I am really tickled how it turned out.

I used 3 pinks but it looks like 2. The card base is Pink Pirouette, the frame is Regal Rose and both ribbons are Pretty in Pink. I used the Elegant Bouquet embossing folder, the Ribbon of Hope stamp and the sentiment is from the Hope Happens set. I love the variety of sizes in the Basic Pearls, using the medium ones for the flowers. I love using embossing folders and running them through my Big Shot. The make very quick, elegant backgrounds for cards without a lot of work. They are also great for adding texture to punched shapes. I use them a lot when designing for From Our Hearts.

If you are fighting breast cancer,
I wish you much strength and hope,
if you are a survivor,
I honor your victory
and if you have lost a loved one,
I wish you beautiful memories
and offer prayers for a cure
so the future is indeed brighter
for all women everywhere.

Visit the Creative Sketches Blog to view more great works of art. 

Creative Sketches Color Challenge Week 2

Welcome to Creative Sketches Week 2.

As usual I am trying to play catch-up.. I will backtrack later and post a sketch for Week 1 as soon as I can. This week's challenge was all about color. I decided these colors lent themselves well to a masculine card so I opted for a birthday card.

I like simple layered cards so I used a Soft Suede base, a layer of Marina Mist with a layer of Always Artichoke. I used the leaves from my Day of Gratitude set for the Always Artichoke background design. I realized afterwards that I accidentally grabbed Old Olive for the leaves, then decided I liked it that way. So I added a color not on the list. I used the pine trees from Plant Hope and used my Soft Suede and Always Artichoke markers to color the image and stamp. I then used Birthday Wishes from the hostess set Occasional Quotes for my sentiment stamped in Soft Suede and punched with the Modern Label Extra Large punch. I popped it with some SU! Dimensionals and added a bit of Marina Mist 1/8" taffeta ribbon for the bow. Simple, elegant and done.