Freshly Made with Simon Says: Warm Thoughts

So many of my blog heroes have been using light stone-gray patterns for their backgrounds instead of plain white and I love the look.  It seems to make the other colors so much richer!  I thought I would give it a try, but my first challenge was finding a soft gray tone paper.  The problem is that most of them are the backside of busier sheets of dsp so it takes a bit of looking.  Does anybody know if there's one big pack of light stone-gray papers??

I also wanted to play along with this week's challenge at Simon Says Stamp is to use a product from their store.  Not a big problem for me!!  I decided to use one of the feather dies that I just got and a new stamp set (list below).  I was browsing challenges and realized that the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches would be a perfect fit for the feather!

Here's my Simon Says Stamp list:

• SSS Pointed Feathers dies
• SSS Handwritten Greetings
• Clearly Beloved Sequins
• Hero Arts Raspberry Jam Shadow Ink
• Basic Grey Carte Postale
• the gray paper and twine are scraps

CAS(E) this Sketch! Bear Hugs

It's time for a new sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch!

I like this sketch, mostly because I LOVE my card!!  Is that bad to say?  If I post a card, I generally like it, but some cards just stand above the others in my mind.  I think this card is just charming - because of that sweet little bear and because of the happy accident of a smudge that needed to be covered, thus the heart balloon and the balloon string made out of a bee trail.  Most of my crafting accidents involve bad words or, in the case of a spilled glass of red wine, lots of tears.  But I love how this one worked out!


I hope to see you play along.  Once again, the design team at CAS(E) this Sketch! has a huge variety of cards for your inspiration.  I instantly saw a shelf of some kind, but the team has turned this sketch into a soup pot, and a feather and a clothesline - it's very flexible!!

• Stamps: Simon Says Stamp Circle Friends and scallop from Flower Friend
• Paper: white, Simple Stories Snap Color Vibe
• Ink: Stampin' Up Coastal Cabana, Memento Black, Copics
• Accessories: Doodlebug Sprinkles Swimming Pool Assortment, Lil Inkers Stitched Squares

CAS(E) this Sketch! You are the Best!

This is my second post today.  Curtain Call is just a short scroll away.

It's time for a new sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch!  I really like this one and you can see that I stuck to it almost exactly.

There are a number of different products from Simon Says Stamp on this card.  You all know that I like many, many companies. One of my "criterion" (beyond just loving their style) is that things work together.  In this case Simon Says Stamp came out with the floral stamps set which is absolutely darling.  A month or so later - they came out with dies.  The "you" is a die that coordinates with the You stamp set.  The stamp set comes with multiple styles of stamped "you" also - but you can add the diecut instead.  The banner comes from All-Occasion banners which also has a stamp set just full of sentiments that fit inside.  So multiple sets and multiple dies - but it all works!!
With all of the Simon Say Stamp product, I'm also adding this to their current Anything Goes challenge.
I hope you are inspired by this sketch and play along!!  Remember...there is flexibility allowed...you will have to check out the rest of the design team cards to really see how much flexibility and creativity there is in a sketch.

• Stamps: Simon Says Stamp Flower Friend, You, All-Occasion Banners
• Paper: Stampin' Up Strawberry Slush dsp, scrap of gray woodgrain
• Ink: Stampin' Up Strawberry Slush, Lucky Limeade
• Accessories: Simon Says Flower Friend dies, You die, All-Occasion banners die, Avery Elle Lucky Blend sequins, Lil' Inkers stitched squares die, large gem from Hobby Lobby brand

Stacey's Stamping Stage and Seize the Birthday: It's Your Day!

I put a badge on my sidebar awhile back about the birthday party at Stacey's Stamping Stage and then I never got my own card done to promote it.  There's just a few days left, but if you haven't checked it out - Stacey has a large number of great prizes as part of this party!!  All it takes is making a birthday card and linking it up!

As I was staring at my craft desk feeling a little uninspired - I also thought I'd add a challenge into the mix to give me a start and decided to use the sketch at Seize the Birthday.

For my regular readers - yes, I used the same stamp set yesterday and yes, I found the cupcake top that the cat stole!!  Isn't it a fun set?  Can you see why I didn't want to lose that stamp?

• Stamps: Simon Says Stamp Cupcake Party, Papertrey Ink Tag-Its 10 (sentiment)
• Paper: Stampin' Up Bermuda Bay, MME Hip-Hooray (it was buried really deep in my stash so could be very old!)
• Ink: a large variety!
• Accessories: Li'l Inkers Stitched Circle Mats, Papertrey Ink Tiny Tags die, misc twine, misc enamel dots, Ranger Glossy Accents

Operation Write Home: So Sweet Birthday

I so like playing along with the Operation Write Home sketch challenges.  First, they provide measurements - talk about making it easy!  And second, for me they are an extra challenge in that they tend to be layered and not in my CAS comfort zone.  It gives me a chance to pull out patterned papers and extra embellishments.  In this case, I decided to try to use a variety of elements from July's Simon Says Stamp kit.  I've been getting these kits for months, and I rarely venture beyond the stamp set and perhaps a scrap of paper.  In this case, I used two papers, a border strip and a sticker sentiment!!  (I didn't use the straws, nor the Washi, nor the buttons - so I wasn't entirely successful in utilizing the kit - but you gotta start somewhere!)


I love the cupcake layers in this stamp set - there's even a layer under the frosting for the actual cake!

Crafting was a challenge this morning!

And now I am crawling around my family room floor on hands and knees looking for the stamp for the top of the cupcake that she stole.  Luckily, I had today's card finished - but I really would like to use this set again!

• Stamps: Simon Says Stamp Cupcake Party (SSS July kit)
• Paper: Lily Bee 6x6, red CS (SSS July kit)
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Aqua Mist, Fine Linen, Harvest Gold, Stampin' Up Daffodil, Real Red and Old Olive
• Accessories: Lil Bee stickers, Queen & Co 12" border stickers (both from SSS July kit),  Ranger Glossy Accents, Divine Twine Cherry

Absolutely Thinking of You

This is my second post today.

I am having a very good day.  I turned in the final projects for my classes yesterday and now I have a two week summer break!  (The next break is a week-long fall break and they don't even have a Christmas break - so I am going to take full advantage of this break with a lot of time in my craft corner!)  I had a plan today to catch up on some Operation Write Home sketches, tutorials and throw-downs.  I got sidetracked by the great sketch and bold colors at the Fusion Card Challenge and then I realized that it would really well with windows which is the OWH tutorial this week!  Check out the cute little owls peeking out of their holes!!

I fused the two challenges.  Obviously, I used the sketch.  Then from the inspiration, I got the owls, the flowers, and the rich browns and teals with pops of bright colors.

The window are quite easy to do.  Punch or die-cut your window shapes out of post-its.  Line them up on the cardstock.  Then use your punch (upside-down) or your die to cut each shape.

• Stamps: Stampin' Up Love Bandit, Simon Says Stamp On Edge
• Paper: Stampin' Up Early Espresso, Island Indigo, American Crafts Soho Garden 6x6
• Ink: Stampin' Up Early Espresso
• Accessories: Simon Says Stamps Absolutely die, Stampin' Up Island Indigo twine, Papertrey Ink wood impression plate, misc heart gems colored with copics

Mellow Yellow Bumble Bee

The current theme at Catered Crop is "mellow yellow".  The challenge is to use yellow somewhere in the project: sunshine bright, lemon zest, or mellow yellow!  The part that I like so much about Catered Crop is the Pinterest board that Linda shares each week to help inspire us - check out all the yellow!  (Click on the image to go to the complete board.)

I was struck by the fact that the board has no bumble bees!!  So I had to remedy the situation with this simple little bee and honeycomb hive.


I couldn't leave his little wings plain - see the sparkle!

I have to tell you about the sequins.  Have you noticed that sequins are trendy right now?  I looked all over for multi-packs of nice sequins.  There are many, many stamp companies selling beautiful sequins, but they come in huge packs of single colors and I just don't want that many.  I found them and I ordered them but these are not them.  Later, I was digging through a box of embellies that I hadn't been in in years.  Guess what was at the bottom?  These sequins by Hero Arts - they are dated 2005 - in the world of cardmaking, that's ancient!  The moral - never, ever get rid of anything - because you just never know!
FYI - I did a little matted window like this recently and a number of people asked about it.  Just cut a small 2" square of black and punch the smaller circle out of it.  Punch the bigger circle out of your top white layer .  Line up, then adhere the black under the white!!  In this case, I also stamped the honeycomb circle on another small 2" square of white and lined it up under the "window".
I also am submitting this to the current Simon Says Stamp challenge - Anything Goes.

BIG NEWS: The downloadable Copic charts for color matches to Stampin' Up and

Papertrey Ink have been updated for the brand new Stampin' Up colors and the

most recent Papertrey Ink colors.  The link to these charts is on my side bar to the right!!

• Stamps: Simon Says Stamp Circle Friends
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Harvest Gold, black and white
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Harvest Gold, Memento black, Copics
• Accessories: Simon Says Stamp Talk Bubble 2, Smooch Pearlized Top Coat, Circle punches - 1 3/8" and 1 1/2"

CAS(E) this Sketch: Happy Bee Day!

This is my second post today!

It's time for another great sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch!  I love these sketches!!  I can't tell you how many times I have gone back and used older ones for inspiration (and as part of the design team, how often I have had to stop myself from using future ones!!)  If you haven't bookmarked the page with past sketches - do it now - it will be a constant source of inspiration!

Today's sketch is no different - clean and simple, but lots of flexibility...

I had this set from Simon Says Stamp at the top of my box of new stuff and I thought the little squiggly line in the sketch could be a bee's flight path!!



I know that I am often guilty of looking at other blogs and thinking the ideas that I am seeing are so "easy" that even I could do them.  But there is rarely a truly "easy" card.  For me, every once in awhile, a card just comes together and I am thrilled.  But mostly I experience a LOT of false starts, or smudged inks or I just plain don't like what I have done.  Today was particularly bad - so I snapped some shots of all of my false starts for this sketch!!  (The feather was my original idea for the sketch and there are probably about a dozen attempts at that one alone!)

Hopefully this sketch will go a little easier for you!!!  I'm looking forward to see what you create!

• Stamps: Simon Says Stamp Circle Friends
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Harvest Gold
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Harvest Gold, Memento Black, copics
• Accessories: Martha Stewart Crystal Fine Glitter (on his wings), Tim Holtz embossing folder

Day 2: Online Class Pattern Play

This is my second post today.

{For a tutorial on Feedly - a replacement for Google Reader - read this post}

Today's class at Online Card Classes included a number of fun techniques to do with patterned paper.  The first technique involved emboss resist on patterned paper and was truly lovely.  I played a little bit with it but could not come up with anything that fit my more clean style.  I'm going keep playing with it and sometime in the near future - I'll get something to work!  The second technique was stamping stripes of color on patterned paper to highlight a die cut sentiment - really fun!  I played a little bit with this but after wasting a few sheets of patterned paper with a bad color choice or a bad stamped image - I decided to take a deep breath and try again later.

My personal lesson for the day - even with fabulous designers giving tons of tips and techniques - it still takes practice!!

So I retreated to the third technique - paper piecing with patterned paper.

I am fairly proud of myself - because my card has five different patterns - that's definitely a record for me!

I also kept in mind many of the techniques that we learned on Day 1 - in this case, separating patterns with a "blah" pattern.  Consequently, I think my card looks more like a Day 1 card than any of the techniques today!!


I like these classes almost more for all of the side techniques.  This card includes some edging using a T1 and T3 Copic marker.  It is pop-dotted.  And I used twine again!!  I also added that little raspberry dot by the sentiment.  I didn't use the technique that we learned today - but just watching somebody create their own embellies really opened my eyes to the idea of making something instead of spending way too much time digging through my stash looking for the perfect match.  (I know - the little dot is really nothing special - it looks like a colored gem - just let me be proud of myself anyway!!)

• Stamps: Simon Says Stamp Like Your Style (flower), Papertrey Ink Flower Fusion 1 (sentiment)
• Paper: MME The Sweetest Thing Lavender
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Smokey Shadow
• Accessories: Glossy accents and glitter, twine

Day 1: Online Class Pattern Play

This is my second post for today!

I decided to enroll in the Online Card Class: Pattern Play to learn more about the use of patterned paper.

I don't use patterned paper too much, let along mixing various patterns.  But somehow, those cute papers and 6x6 pads just keep jumping in my shopping cart.  I decided that I was either going to have to start using them - or they were going to have to stop accumulating in my stash.

Today's class had a variety of tips about the basic of mixing patterns - size of patterns, boldness of patterns, ways to set apart the patterns and the use of a striped strip.  My card for today tries to use a little bit of everything that I learned. (There were a number of techniques for setting patterns apart - I used a white mat.)  I most definitely did not get overly creative with this card - I used papers from one pad instead of trying to mix and match my own and, although there are variations in size and boldness, the patterns are still pretty basic!!  Even so - this is quite a bit of pattern for me!!

One of the things that I always love about these classes are all the other tidbits that you pick up when you watch the videos.  Kristina loves twine bows.  I like twine too - but usually I have to have some kraft on the card so it's all matchy-matchy.  I loved her twine - so tucked it on mine - such a nice contrast!    Jennifer talked about bending acrylic stamps - the stem on my card is actually a straight stamp that I bent.  I always watch very carefully for the basic supplies and the techniques that they use.  Did you know there are clear pop dots?  How cool is that?My sketch comes from Freshly Made Sketches.

• Stamps: Simon Says Stamp Flower Friend
• Paper: Lawn Fawn Bright Side 6x6 pad, Papertrey Plum Pudding
• Ink: Papertrey Plum Pudding, Stampin' Up Gumball Green and Vintage Violet (really old!)
• Accessories: Stampin' Up twine, Martha Stewart Bright Large Gemstones

Hey There! with CAS(E) this Sketch!

This is my second post today.  If you are here

for The Alley Way Stamps blog hop - it's just a post away!!

It's time for another fun sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch!  I LOVE this one because I saw that I could use my new talk bubbles!!

You will definitely have to click over to the CAS(E) this Sketch! blog - I am always in awe of how many different ideas come out of a simple sketch - butterflies and airplanes and there's even a mustache!

Then play along - I love seeing what everybody creates!!

(I'm also submitting this to the Simon Says Stamps challenge blog: Anything Goes.)

• Stamps: Simon Says Stamp Talk Bubbles 2
• Paper: Echo Park Scoot dsp, Stampin' Up Pacific Point
• Ink: black
• Accessories: Simon Says Stamp Talk Bubbles, misc twine

CAS(E) this Sketch with Fun Angles!!

This week's sketch at CAS(E) this Sketch! is a little bit different with a unique angle.

I used the sketch exactly as is but so many of the design team found that they were making it upright that they actually did the sketch that way too.

I had this diagonally striped embossing folder on my desk and decided it worked perfectly for an angled panel.  I just got the You die and stamp set from Simon Says Stamp and I thought that the embossed panels looked a little like a spotlight - so a little glitter and a gem and I have a special friend card!

I hope you have fun with this sketch.  I found it to be just a little harder than the others - so I really look forward to seeing what you come up with!

• Stamps: Simon Says Stamp You
• Paper: black, white, Papertrey Ink Raspberry Fizz
• Ink: black
• Accessories: Simon Says Stamp You die, May Arts ribbon, Lifestyle Crafts embossing folder, Martha Stewart Crystal Fine Glitter (on "you")
• Challenges: Besides CAS(E) this Sketch, I have to thank CAS-ual Fridays because I was feeling a little lost on this sketch until the idea of black and white plus 1!