Joy to the World

Feb 16, 2016

      I'm back in the groove of making Christmas cards for 2016. I decided to incorporate 2 challenges with this card.  The fantastic sketch this week for retrosketches #202 make this card very easy.

The theme this week for Merry Monday is to incorporate berries.  My berries are very tiny. Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

Valentine for Retroskect 198 Challenge

Friday, January 22, 2016

    I love the sketch for this week's Retrosketch # 198 challenge.

  I decided to make another Valentine card.

                                         Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

Retrosketches # 198

Popping in with a Christmas card for two challenges.  My layout is based upon this week's retrosketch # 198.

The challenge theme this week at Merry Monday is hot beverages. The only hot beverage stamp I have is from PTI's Scen-timentals stamp set. I think it was the perfect size for the retrosketch.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

Retrosketches #196: Valentine Love Bug

 I'm on a roll. One of my New Year Resolutions was to keep my blog active since I neglected it in 2015. So far I've been pretty consistent.  In addition, I have been using more of my pattern paper. Using it always poses a challenge for me. Besides, I hate to give it up despite the fact that I have tons.
I'm trying to get a head start on my Valentines along with the many birthdays I have in January & February.

When I saw this adorable sketch for this week's challenge at Retrosketches, I knew I had to play along.

Having a limited amount of Valentine stamps besides endless hearts, I pulled out the love bug from the 2010 Love Tags from PTI. (This is a vault set now)

The hearts are from three different dies: Tiny Tags, Love Lives Here and Notched Heart Banner die.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

From Our Home to Yours

   Still on a roll making Christmas cards in between Valentine and birthday cards. I decided to use
sketch # 149 at Retrosketches for this card.

I am also submitting it for this week's challenge at Merry Monday. The theme is houses. I don't own any stamps with houses on them so I decided to use the die from Love Lives Here.  This is the first time I also used that particular sentiment stamp from Holiday Wishes. Never could figure out a good use for it, but I think it goes perfectly with this card. Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

Merry & Bright

Happy Friday!  I have a card today that I made for the challenge this week at Showcase Your Style.
It is a Color Challenge. I usually don't participate in color challenges, but when I saw this beautiful palette, I thought it would make a great Christmas card using non-traditional colors.

Needing a layout I used this sketch #148 from Retrosketches. (I can't believe I made the dead line for submission)

My card:

Since I don't have a reinker for VersaMagic Turquoise Gem, I used Copic BG15 to color the ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

Retrosketches # 141

It's been a long time since I participated in a Retrosketch challenge. Despite making many Christmas cards throughout the year, I still need quite a few more. Thought this sketch would work well with one of my new stamp sets from PTI: O'Tannenbaum.

Here's my take.

I heat embossed the tree with silver powder and stamped the ornaments & sentiment with Royal Velvet. Winter Wisteria was used for the dots around the tree. I created a snow drift using one of my edger's die. Added a dab of glitter to the edge. (My camera has a smudge on the lens; it's not the card)

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

Retrosketches: 100th Sketch

Just a quick post.
 Today I'm posting a card (of course in the last hours ) for the 100th sketch for Retrosketches.

 Here's my take.

Because I used a freebie digi stamp from PTI, I was going to submit this for the 2nd day anniversary challenge, but missed the deadline. Here's a close up of the free image.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek. 

Retrosketch # 97

   I have another Valentine card. I used the sketch from challenge # 97 of Retrosketches.

 I really love the clean and simple design.

Here's an upclose shot of the heart. I am disappointed in how the embossing came out. I actually did it twice. Both times the embossing was spotty. I even bought new white embossing powder since the one I had was old.

Overall, I am happy with this card. Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

PS> It is amazing how sun makes all the difference when taking a photo.  Too bad we don't have more sunny days in winter.

Merry Monday 2014

      January 2014 and Merry Monday already has their first Challenge up for the year. I am determined to play along each week in 2014. The challenge is an easy one: to use ribbon or twine on your Christmas card.

This sketch probably looks familiar as it is the one at Retrosketches # 96.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

MIM: Stamping Random Backgrounds

  I love this week's MIM: Stamping Random Backgrounds.  Ashley was right when she said it would take no time to stamp the background. I think it took me longer to find the right size of stars I needed for the card. My brother-in-law has a birthday next month. Since he will be in Europe on his birthday, I thought I would send it before he left.

 
I decided to use  sketch # 75 from this week's Retrosketches challenge.

Here's a close up.

   I just love the recently released Balloon Bash stamp set & dies. I can't seem to put this set down when making a birthday card.  Hopefully, I'll have a chance to make another card for MIM. Love how this turned out. Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

A Trio of Challenges

     This year I have been trying to make my Christmas cards throughout the year and have been participating in both Festive Friday and Merry Monday Christmas challenges.  However, I haven't been doing so well lately as I've been busy making birthday decorations for my granddaughter's birthday in August.  However, I found some time to make a quick Christmas card. I designed my card by using the color scheme from the current  Festive Friday Color Challenge.

  I think these non-traditional colors look so pretty together and will make a great card. I decided to use the sketch from this week's Retrosketches.

 Here's my card.

The pine leaves are embossed in silver along with the sentiment and inside decoration of the ornament. A ribbon and crystal finish off the ornament.   The picture does not do this card justice. It is so pretty IRL.

   I also decided to submit this to Merry Monday's Month long Christmas challenge

   Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek. 

Retrosketches #

 It has been crazy in my neck of the woods, and I haven't kept up with my blog or even commenting on ones I usually visit daily. A lot of my crafting time has been making my niece's wedding invitations. I am just about halfway there. I still have the response cards/envelopes to do after that. My goal is to have them done by the middle of June. Seems like the only cards getting made are those I need to give immediately. 

I just put this card in the mail to my sister who is having surgery on her knee this coming Monday. I used the sketch from Retrosketches #63. I am also submitting it at the last moment too!

     I stamped off the text stamp using Smokey Shadow. I wish I were better at that technique as I don't always have an even impression. The rose was stamped with Lemon Tart, Harvest Gold and Melon Berry. I used the Linen IP on the Hawaiian Shore card stock.

 Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

A Triple Crown Challenge

    I can't tell you how many years ago, I bought my little jars of Pearl Ex. Like many other stamping supplies purchased, they just sat unused.  When I saw Nichole using the Pearl Ex on her cards lately, I was hoping there would be a MIM tutorial. Wish granted.

   Had I remembered that all I really needed to do was stamp the image with Versamark, I think I would have used these babies a lot more. Here's an upclose shot of my image & sentiment.

     I also decided to use the Pearl Ex powders on the vertical border I stamped.

  

Since the theme of the card is birthday, I am also submitting it to the current challenge at CAS-ual Fridays which is having a birthday bash.

The sketch is from this week's challenge at Retrosketches. I pretty much stuck to it.

  I don't often combine challenges. So this is great for me.  Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

Birthday Balloons for my Brother-in-Law.!

     Now that Easter is over, I finally have a chance to play with my new birthday stamps PTI released in March. I have several birthdays coming up this month.  When I saw the sketch this week for Retrosketches, I knew I would play along.

     Here's the card I made for my brother-in-law based upon the sketch.

     An up close shot of the balloons. I was able to use a variety of scraps I had laying around. I love the touch of red. I think it really makes the card pop. Added some bling to the swirls too!

  CASology's cue card this week is:

  Balloons definietley convey the image of up; besides these balloons are popped up with adhesives. So I decided to add my card to their challenge. Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

Retrosketch #55 Easter

    I'm back for a 2nd week in a row playing along with this week's Retrosketch Challenge.

   Here's my card. Stayed with the original sketch except for my ribbon placement. 

  A close up shot of the bunny & ribbon. I used the Half & Half die along with the scallop punch from Making Memories.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

Retrosketches # 54

     It's been awhile since I played along with one of the Retrosketches' challenges. Since I need to make close to a dozen Easter cards (all different, mind you) I need all the inspiration I can get. When I saw this week's sketch, I knew I could come up with something.

  My version.

 
 I have been trying really hard to use older sets and pattern paper (whenever possible).  I love the color combination of Harvest Gold and Aqua Mist. The DT featured this color combo last year when the Scrambled Egg Stamp set was introduced.

 After playing around with the mini eggs from this set, I preferred the outline image to one that is filled in with coloring. Besides it's faster. Thanks for stopping by to take a peek. I love all your comments. They are appreciated.

On a Roll!

  This is my 3rd consecutive week that I have played along with Retrosketches' Challenges. I'm on a roll.
  Here is this week's sketch.

 

 Of course if you follow my blog, you know this will be a Christmas card. In fact I liked the way it came out, that I made a total of 7 cards. Now I only have 37 cards left.

  Here's a  close up of the sentiment. I used the canvas impression plate on the front panel  to give the card some texture, but it didn't show up in the photo. Do you think I need to add some red rhinestones to the holly berry on the ribbon?

 Thanks for taking a peek.