Freshly Made Sketches #647 and the Group of Seven

My friend Karren is the host and Sketch designer at Freshly Made Sketches #647!  She says that she has gone back to her card-making-roots with a 'color-blocked' sketch and card!  Man, did she open a can of worms in my craft space.. and I mean that in the best of ways!

You may remember that I 'inherited' a load of craft supplies from my cousin early this year.  There were many pads of 12x12 inch paper pads.  I haven't been able to find a home for them yet - but when I saw this Christmas collection that included pink I knew they were right at home all along...

I spent hours yesterday and a bit of time this morning creating

a baker's dozen Christmas cards for my seniors!  Don't you agree the

ladies will love these colors?  I'll go back to drawing board for the gentlemen!

I used Karren's Sketch for inspiration for this group:

... and 'flipped' the Sketch for this one which I will add to the FMS #647 gallery!

I reached for a few of my favorite, but no longer available sets

from Wplus9 for a few sentiments and ribbons and bows!

The wonderful ladies from The Group of Seven Cardmakers gave me 

all the inspiration I needed to use even more of those papers.

Darnell named their technique this month Kaleidoscope which is a

fantastic way to describe the method of 'cut and paste.'  Be sure to 

check out their fabulous cards HERE.  And now my own Kaleidoscope card:

There are MANY more strips of paper where these came from - I might go back for more!  Hope you're getting ahead on your Christmas cards.  Who says Christmas in August isn't a thing? lol

=] Michele

Group of Seven to the rescue!

When a girl starts making Christmas cards in July, she's bound to run out of ideas - and steam!  Group of Seven Cardmakers to the rescue with a fun technique from GinaK!  And I did indeed need a rescue...

THIS was the view from my window yesterday:

WAY too early for this - I was hoping that our weather patterns 

from the last few years would continue and we'd be snow-free until January!

I started by looking through my stash of background stamps and landed on a crackle stamp from Simon Says, and a French Script from Sugar Pea Designs.  Many of the Group used Poinsettia stencils - you know I just had to reach for one of my own, right?  I couldn't stop at one:

This gorgeous stencil is from The Ton - I only used two of its three layers 

which left more white space to shine!

These purples are the newest from The Stamp Market: Sugarplum, and Plum.

Loll used a crackle stamp - who knew I actually owned one??  Why hasn't it been used??  I'm happy to rectify that situation and found a few stencils to add the pizzaz!

I can't believe it's the first time I'm using these gorgeous deer this year!

That crackle really jazzed up the sky behind the trees from Artplorations and

this lovely GinaK Snowflake, too.

I really need to watch a video [if there is one] on how to use this layering stencil

from Pinkfresh ... I like it but I'm never sure I'm using it correctly!

What IS right is that silver embossing powder and lovely sage-y greens - so cool!

Now, if that doesn't just make a girl feel better, I don't know what would!  Thanks Group of Seven!

=] Michele

CASEing Bobby and sharing it with a Group of Seven Cardmakers!

Which came first?  The Group of Seven members have been tempting me with their fabulous makes using a technique that I was dying to try - then Bobby used it for her JUGS #699 card!  It doesn't matter, as I made TWO cards so I can send one to each! Well, that was my intention...  NOTE TO SELF: read the directions!

When a girl has more than 100 embossing folders, it can be tough to choose just one to play with ... thus the reason for TWO cards.  Let's start with the one I am sharing with JUGS' CASE the Designer challenge, shall we?  

Here are the inks I chose...

I found the wonderful Alstroemeria Bunch Folder and Die combo from

SSS on the cheap - I've been admiring my friend Bonnie's use of it long enough!  

The video Bobby shared on her post used Distress Oxide inks which were

blended onto a panel of paper randomly.  AFTER dark ink was applied to the debossing side of the folder, the piece was placed inside the embossing folder and run through the machine.

The results I had were not perfect... the ink kept beading up on the plastic folder... but perfection is in the eye of the beholder and my husband saw a wonderful 'pointillism' to the resulting background!

I agree and thought it was the POINT of CASEing - to change a few things, right?

The ink colors - check.  The folder - check. The color of the background and

the resulting fun that resulted from using a dye ink rather than a pigment ink!

Okay.  My card for the Group of Seven is all wrong!  It was supposed to be done using water coloring with the inks!!   I'm sorry ladies!  But I'm sharing it just the same - kind of a 'don't do as I say or do' kind of thing!  I'll do better next time!

Altenew's Beautiful Bergenia embossing folder, three different colors, and VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink...

I found the best way to clean that embossing folder after playtime was to use liquid laundry soap directly to the folder, scrub with a soft nail brush, and then with warm water added.  Clean as a whistle and ready to play again!

Off I go to enter my cards - thanks for stopping by!

=] Michele