Blue Train

I absolutely LOVE sketches.  I cannot create a card (or scrapbook page) without one.  But there are so many out there and I want to do them all.  But that is overwhelming, so I keep a file (on my computer) of my most favorites and use them as inspiration for the challenges I enter.  That is why you will see me reference many "old" sketches in my posts.  I don't enter any sketch challenges because it puts too much "pressure" on me to use that particular sketch and it hinders my creative mojo.  I know that is weird, but that's my process!

So on to my next challenge.  This is a cute kid card, which I don't have hardly enough of these in my stash.  And I really should have a bunch.  I'm at that age now where I have plenty of nieces and nephews to warrant a large supply!

This card is for the Heart to Heart (H2H) challenge - Seeing Double - and this is my interpretation:

  

Challenges Entered

Heart to Heart Challenges - "Seeing Double"

Products Used

Train stamp - "Little Boys" - Close to My Heart

Paper - Misc unknown, scraps

Sketch used was Mojo Monday #104

Pearfect

It has been a while since my last post.  It's taken me some time to get used to my new full time work schedule, kids & family.  But I think I have finally gotten some sort of rhythm down and can get back to some challenges.  I have narrowed them down to only about 3 that I will consistently enter.  So here is my "back on the wagon" entry for H2H & RCS.

Challenges Entered

Heart to Heart Challenges - Grateful

Red Carpet Challenge - Food theme

Stamps Used
Mayberry - Close to My Heart
Cricut Artiste Collection Word Balloons - Close to My Heart

Sketch used was Freshly Made #2

Colors used was Color Q #1

H2H "Pun Fun"

I am so overwhelmed by all of the fabulous challenge sites out there!  I want to do them all, but do not have that kind of time.  But I still want to challenge myself to create more cards and use all of the great products that I have.  I am a sucker for a great (and easy) sketch to follow, so I have a plan of going through all of the OWH sketches.  They are really basic sketches and they provide sizes!!  Hooray!

Along with using the OWH sketches I will follow the H2H challenges and Red Carpet Studio.  And then I will sprinkle in others if they fit with what I am creating at the time.  It is so hard to go minimal with the challenges, when I want so badly to cram in as many as I can.  But I need to have time to take care of other things, like my family (drag!)  LOL

So here is my start with the OWH sketches.  This one is sketch 116.  My theme of the card goes with the challenge this week for H2H and for Paper Playtime, which is to make a card using a "pun".

I used the stamp set "Howdy" from CTMH, which I borrowed from my very good friend Heather (who is also a CTMH consultant).  It's great to have friends to share stamps with.  That way you have a super abundance of stamps to use and don't have to "buy" them all!

Thanks for checking out my blog and hopefully you will be back to see how I am getting along in my sketch journey!

Challenges Entered:

H2H - Use a pun

Paper Playtime - Use a pun

Hiding in my Craft Room - Anything goes

Simply Create Too - Animals

CAS Birthday

I love being able to use up some "odd" paper.  You know the ones that look cool, but you can't seem to find a way to use them.  So the sketch this week from Seize the Birthday was a perfect way to use up some "special" paper.

I have tried using this paper before, but it was so bold, it "didn't work well with others."  So this CAS sketch was perfect.  The paper was able to be the star of the show and not compete with anything else.  The other challenge this week was for it to be a masculine birthday.  Well I think that black, orange and white seem to be "fairly" masculine!

Sketch from Seize the Birthday #11

Other Challenges Entered:

The Pink Elephant - CAS

The Cat's Pajamas - Black/White + One color

Heart 2 Heart newbie

I have been reading the Heart 2 Heart challenge blog for a while now, but never entered a project.  I like the fact that this is a brand specific challenge, because it will force me to use certain products.  So I thought I would finally enter a project since they are doing a "special" drawing for "newbies."

So here is my stab at one of the challenges for the month:  GO Green

I went pretty literal with the theme and just created something green.

Here is a view of the inside as well.

Products Used:

Be Yourself - stamp set (CTMH)

Happy Birthday - stamp set (CTMH)

Mayberry - paper pack (CTMH)

Art Philosphy - cricut cartridge

Card design based off of sketch from CAS #203

Thanks for stopping by.  I am hoping to keep going with these challenges!!

Rainy Thank You

I have been noticing now that it's spring, a lot of the card challenges are asking for themes of "April Showers" or "Umbrella".  I don't have anything with that even among my Cricut cartridges I wasn't seeing anything that might fit.  But I'm not sure I would buy anything with this theme either.  Anyhow, I do have my trusty box of leftover card fronts just waiting to be "up-cycled" into something new and found this cute little image.  

    Once I got the card together, I had no idea what type of card this would serve purpose for.  Too dark for a Birthday and not cheerful enough for a Get Well.  And I don't have a sister that this might work for either. So I just decided to throw a Thank You on it and call it a day!

Image:  old "Up-cycled" card front
Sentiment:  CTMH "Random Thoughts" set
Clouds:  Going Places cartridge  (1 1/2", 1 3/4")
Raindrops:  stickers
Design:  Unscripted Sketches #152

Challenges Entered:

Unscripted Sketches - Sketch 152

Pollycraft Monday - Water

Charisma Cardz - Chipboard or stickers

Oldie But A Goodie - April Showers

Crafting for All Seasons - April showers

Alphabet Challenge blog - Dry embossing
Pixie Dust Studio - Clouds

CAS 184

I love the Clean & Simple sketches!  They are so "simple", and straight to the point.  Plus you can use these sketches over and over and can look different each time!  This sketch is going in "The Book"!  (I keep a binder of favorite "Go To" sketches.)

Stamp is from the "Happy Birthday" set by CTMH.
Flower is a punch
Design is from Clean & Simple sketch 184.

                                                 

Challenges Entered:

Clean & Simple - sketch 184

The Pink Elephant - CAS

ColourQ Challenge - Color challenge 

(Blushing Bride, Peach Parfait, So Saffron, Pear Pizazz, White)

CropStop Challenge - CAS
2 Sisters Challenge blog - Birthday

Chase Your Dreams

Card only post:

Chase your Dreams stamp is "Playful Expressions" by TPC Studio.

Star stamps is from the "Wishing Star" set from CTMH.

Star cricut cut done with Art Philosphy cartridge, Star 4 (1 1/2")

Design is from sketch by The Perfect Sentiment challenge, sketch 6.  Another twist to the sketch challenge was to use an "Uplifting" sentiment.

Challenges Entered:

The Perfect Sentiment - sketch & uplifting sentiment

Southern Girls Challenge - Sentiment / Quote

Bunny Hop

I got a brand new stamp set this past weekend and couldn't wait to use it.  The set is from CTMH called "A Hop".  It has the cutest bunny that I had to have.  So I'm glad that I will have plenty of time during this Easter season to be able to use it.

Stamp set - CTMH "A Hop"
Sentiment - sticker
Design - Sketch Saturday sketch

Challenges Entered:

Sketch Saturday - sketch

Phindy's Place challenge - Animal

My Time Made Easy - Color challenge (daffodil, aqua, pink, eggplant)

Hand Stamped Sentiments - Easter

The Paper Shelter - Easter

Whimsy Stamps - No patterned paper

4 Crafty Chicks - Easter

Cute Card Thursday - Easter

Use it Tuesday - "Unused" stamp

Sisterhood of Crafters - Easter

More than Favors - Easter

"Quilted" Card

I like this quilted technique for cards.  My grandmother is a quilter and this will end up being her Birthday card this year.  I know she will love it!  Plus it features her favorite color . . . Blue!  I think this will keep me at the top of the "Favorite" grandchild list!

I made my quilt block 4" x 4" and cut all my squares at 1" and then halved them for the triangles.  I followed the pattern called "Sarah's Choice" that I found online.  It may have another name, but that's what this particular site called it.  I look forward to making more "blocks" for future cards with different designs.  Now I have a purpose for all of my tiny scraps!!

The sentiment is from CTMH "Celebration" stamp set.

Challenges Entered:

Friday Mashup - Quilted card

Peachy Keen Stamps - Faux stitching
Party Time Tuesdays - Anything goes
Creative Belli Blog - 3 shapes (square, triangle, rectangle)

Popsicle wishes

I fell in love with another digi image!  It's even better when it's a freebie too.  Double Bonus!!  As soon as I saw this image I immediately printed it out and went to work.  I need to tweak the colors of the popsicle for next time, but is okay for now.

The digi image came from Pattie's Creations, called "Popsicle Trio".  It's her free image for the month of March.  Be sure to head over and grab it!!  I paper pieced the colors of the popsicles and then added my own "custom" sentiment.  I put the words together that are on the set from CTMH called "Random Thoughts".

I had a lot of fun with this card and see many versions of it in the future.  Many different colors and may even use some patterned paper.  Who knows?!

Challenges Entered:

Pattie's Creations - Anything goes

The Paper Shelter - Paper piecing

One Stop Craft Challenge - CAS

Less is More - Pick 3 challenges

(Week 40 - Red & Orange; Week 33 - Anything goes; Week 51 - Cut it Out)

Spring Bunny

I love using my Cricut to make cards and not just cutting letters for my scrapbook pages.  These challenges are great for getting me to "go outside the box" with my Cricut and actually use the many different cartridges along with all of the different stuff on them!

The design was inspired by the sketch from My Favorite Things.  The bunny cut is from the Doodlecharms cartridge and was cut at 3 1/2".  The stamped sentiment is from CTMH "March Word Puzzle".  Of course I had to add some fun googly eyes and a cute pink nose.  I just used black marker for the whiskers and mouth.  It was great to be able to use that leftover piece of "grass" paper.  I have been holding on to that scrap since making an Easter scrapbook page for my daughter about 2 yrs ago!! (ps, I still have a little bit left!)

Challenges entered:

Celebrate the Occasion - Spring

Bitten by the Bug 2 - Bunny or chick cricut cut

Sweet Stamps - Easter / Spring

Cutie Pie challenge blog - Pink w/rabbits

Clear it out challenge - Easter/Spring (use up pastel papers)

Oldie but a Goodie - Easter/Spring

Kitty Christmas

I know you may be confused by a Christmas card right now, but it's true, I made a Christmas card.  Now let me explain, there are a few sites that do card challenges for just Christmas cards.  So I thought this would be a great way to get some cards done early and not rush at the last minute.  Plus this may help me "flush out" my actual design for my cards this year.

I am a recycler of cards.  All cards.  When I receive cards for Birthdays and holidays I will display them for a while and then I will "cannibalize" them for "parts".  It may be the ribbon, the cardstock, or image, but I put them in a special box and will resort to them in times of need.  Well my Christmas parts are overflowing and will be using these Christmas challenges as a way to actually use these parts.  They are still very useful and I hate to throw things away that can be "reused".

So here it is, my part recycled card:

The stamped sentiment came from CTMH "December Word Puzzle".

Challenges entered:

52 Christmas card throwdown - Christmas feat. animal

Christmas Cards All Year Round - 2 green patterned paper
ABC Christmas challenge - Furry/Feathered friends

Doggy Birthday

OK, this is the last card for the day (maybe).  This was a fun card to make.  I don't have a lot of "kid" birthday cards, so this was a good one to start a stash.

The design was based off of the sketch from Catch the Bug challenge blog.  Another element of the challenge was to use one of their digi images, so I used the "Scruffy Puppy".  I got this image when it was available as one of their freebies (yay me!)  I popped the puppy image out with a 3D foam square and colored the image with colored pencils.  The bones on either side of the image are cutouts from some paper.  The sentiment is from CTMH "Happy Birthday" set.

Here is the sketch inspiration:

Challenges entered:

Catch the Bug challenge blog - sketch & digi image

The Paper Shelter - For the boys

Cute Card Thursday - Birthday

Totally Papercrafts - Male card

Birthday Sundaes - Animal birthday card

Sisterhood of Crafters - Birthday

The Kraft Journal - Anything goes w/Kraft

The Pink Elephant - Get "Krafty"

The Poodles Parlour - Anything goes

Paper Playtime - For the guys w/sentiment

Forever Friends - 3D, animal

Happy Easter card

Was able to come up with a cute card this morning.  In addition to the website challenges, I have imposed my "own" challenge in the mix.  I tend to use the same stamps over and over, so I am pulling out 2-3 sets per week and will only use those sets for week.  Exceptions are sentiments and any challenge that is asking for a specific type of item.  It will be interesting when I am only working with certain sets and will have to get creative.

Here's the first card of the week:

The design came from Ribbon Carousel Challenge, image and sentiment came from CTMH Seasonal Thoughts.  Large scallop circle was cut with the Art Philosophy cartridge (3 1/4", Circle 2)  The flower image is a sticker that I put on cardstock and trimmed.  I have so many stickers, so when I see an opportunity for one I try and use them.

Challenges entered:

Ribbon Carousel Challenge - sketch & ribbon

My Sheri Crafts - Easter

Perfect Sentiments - Easter w/sentiment
There She Goes - Easter w/animal
MyGrafico - Easter or Spring
My Craft Spot - Spring w/scallop

Rainbows & Buttons

This card turned out to be not what I had first envisioned, but I'm okay with the end result.  It's more along the clean & simple design and I got the Rainbow & Buttons on there to qualify for some challenges.  It was truly a challenge for me to incorporate a rainbow theme onto a card.  It's a color combo that I do not work with at all.  But here it is:

The design was based off (loosely) of the sketch from Pixie Dust Studios.  I cut the petals from the Art Philosophy cartridge (1 1/2", petal 2), then stamped with versa ink a flower/petal image from the Serendipity set from CTMH.  The Birthday greeting is from the Happy Birthday set from CTMH.

Here is the sketch:

Challenges entered:

Hand Stamped Sentiments - Rainbows & sentiment

Pixie Dust Studios - Sketch

Raise the Bar - Grouping of 4 (buttons)

All Sorts Challenge - 3 in a row

Stamptacular Sunday Challenge - Buttons

Card Makin' Mamas - Buttons

Lily Pad - Inspirational Photo (rainbow & buttons)

Spring Thank You

I got a new stamp set yesterday and I actually used it right away!  Isn't that crazy!  The set came with the new Pemberley Workshop on the Go by CTMH.  The workshop isn't until next Saturday, but I looked at all the fun stuff and tried out one of the techniques.

As always, I start with a sketch and then work from there.  The sketch came from Card Positioning Systems.  I cut out three sizes of flowers from the Art Philosophy cartridge (1 1/2", 1 1/4", 1", Flower #5), then I stamped the flower image from the Pemberley stamp set, and then added a brad to the center.  The vine on the right is from some old clearance card stock I have had forever and finally was able to use.  The sentiment is from the Pemberley stamp set as well.

Here is the original sketch:

Challenges entered:

Card Positioning Systems - Sketch

Sweet Stamps - Spring theme

The Stamping Boutique - Gold

Crazy 4 Challenges - Green

Drunken Stampers - Thank You

Wags 'n Whiskers - Green

Crafter's Companion - Spring

Simply Create Too - Spring

Simon Says Stamp - Green

One Stop Craft Challenge - Handmade flowers

St. Patrick's Day card

It's been a while since my last post!  Holy Cow!  Things have been quite busy and then we had a major snow storm and we were without power for a week!  Yes, a whole week!

So I am finally back to normal and decided to get back into some card challenges.  I created a spreadsheet (I know, like a nerd) of all the different challenges, and organized so I can keep up.

Here is the latest work of art.

I'm not really into doing St. Patrick's cards, but was able to pull something off.  The shamrocks are from CTMH March Word Puzzle and the sentiment is from a random dollar special set that I had picked up from Michael's or Joann's.  I forgot I even had it.  Luckily, I did store it in the correct bin and it was a nice surprise to see that I had a small St. Pat's sentiment.  The other one I had was way larger than I remembered!!

The design was based off of a sketch from Sunday Sketch & Stamp.

Here are all of the challenges I entered with this card:

Sunday Sketch & Stamp - Sketch 97

MyGrafico - St. Patrick's Day

Scrappy Moms Stamps - St. Patrick's Day

Pile it On - St. Patrick's/Shades of green

Sentimental Sundays - Go Green

The Kraft Journal - Luck O' the Irish

Use it Tuesday - Green

Ladybug Crafts Ink - anything goes

Cupcake Craft Challenges - Going Dotty

Little Red Wagon - Lucky

More Than Favors - St. Patrick's theme

Be Mine Valentine

Card was created from some leftover scraps and the flower in the middle is an old "up-cycled" card front.  (Have to use everything you've got!!)  Scallop was made using the Art Philosophy cartridge on my Cricut and then I  punched the hearts out with a heart hand punch.  The "Be Mine" stamp is from the February Word Puzzle from CTMH.

CHALLENGES

Sweet Stop Sketch Challenge - Sketch

Use it Tuesday - All about Love

I Brake For Challenges - Love

The Stamping Boutique - Valentine's

Paper Shelter - Love is in the Air

Oldie but Goodie - Have a Heart

Top Tip Tuesday - Valentine's

Pals Paper Arts - Red

Good For You!

This creation was based on the sketch challenge over at My Favorite Things.  Again I used some scraps and just tried to make things work!  I did okay, I'm not too happy with it, as I couldn't really agree on what I wanted the main image to be.

Here is a close up of the main image.  Stickles caused the ink to bleed a bit, but Oh Well, I am not a perfect stamper!!













Here is the info on products used:

• Large scallop circle - Art Philosophy cricut cartridge
• Main image - SU Figures of Speech
• small sentiment - CTMH Express Postage (had to manipulate it, as the stamp was actually curved and I forced it to go straight which explains why it looks a little "wonky".)
• paper - scraps (I never know what the brands are!!)
• yellow colored pencil
• star dust stickles