Creative Mess

I have really been challenged with this week's sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches

I knew I wanted to do stars for the circles and a tree where the banner is but could not decide on the right DP. Once I finally decided on the DP here is what my workspace looked like

So fess up--I bet you all have had a desk top looking like this at some time! LOL!!  Well, as  the saying goes, "A messy desk is the sign of a creative mind,"
So here is a clearer picture of the actual creation.

Now I have some cleaning to do. The other half of that saying has to be "too much mess stifles creativity."

Merry & Bright

I love this inspiration picture from Curtain Call and knew I'd have to make a card.

I used the SU stars framelit dies to make the stars. The sentiment also from SU is heat embossed with silver but that sure didn't photograph well. Embossing the white background stars gave some texture. The blue and green glitter tape is from Michael's. It has a clear peel off strip on the back and I think it took longer to get that peeled away than to make the whole card!.
I also used  the tic-tac-toe grid from The Paper Players for the design. I did the diagonal row: star, embossing, white. Also sneaked in extras on the bottom row: die cut & glitter.

Inky Hands

I really got inky hands for Just Us Girls wild card challenge. I love the cards I see with sponged on ink and wanted to see if I could do it without making it look just messy. So here goes:

I used a green, sky blue, royal blue, and violet, streaking it across the card. Then a clean sponge to blur the lines and blend a little, The stamps are DaNami. The star is a sparkly sticker although that doesn't show well here.. I think I will go back and add a gemstone to the center for more sparkle.
I am pleased with how this looks and it was very easy, The card doesn't look too messy but my hands sure were. Had to stop and clean up before stamping the images.

Productive Day

Since I didn't have time to stamp yesterday, I am making up for it today. This is my second post. This one using the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.
I found this tan/white polka dot paper in my scrap box. It just whispered to me, "gingerbread cookies"

I used Kraft cardstock for the base. The sentiment and images are from Lawn Fawn. The cookies are stamped on a scrap of Kraft and cutout. I think it gives a better look stamping them on Kraft than on white and then coloring them brown. I used a white gel pen to color in the frosting.I used a Q-tip and white ink to give them a little "dusting" of sugar. Sweet package all tied up with candy cane ribbon.
Here is the sketch

Tuesday Morning

I know! I know! Today is Wednesday but my card is for Tuesday Morning Sketches I didn't have time to do one yesterday so here is Tuesday on Wednesday.
I did this one first

Then noticed on the sketch the sentiment was at the bottom. Since I had the papers already on my desk, I did another one in the same color scheme.

The DP, Peace sentiment and star dies are from SU. The Merry Christmas sentiment is The Angel Company.
Here is the sketch

Starting Over

When my kids were young, their cousin would shout out "Starting Over" if she didn't like how a game was going (i.e. she wasn't winning). I feel like that. Woot!, I had 2 really successful craft shows but yikes!, I sold all of my Christmas cards. So it is starting over for my own use. And I am low on Christmas paper so the challenge of "leftovers" from The Kraft Journal is just the thing for me.

The papers are actually 2 years leftovers from some DCWV Christmas packs. The stars are a die from Sizzix for SU. I traced over the snowflakes in the stars with a green gel star pen to give a little sparkle. And for some texture to the background ran the cardstock through Big Shot with a star embossing folder.
I have enough scraps to whip out about 4 more of these and then just 30+ more to go.
Because following a sketch is faster than deciding something on my own, I used this sketch from The Paper Players

Pretty Poinsettia

Continuing  with the gift card envelope decorating. Today, using this sketch from Freshly Made Sketches

The envelope is die cut with SU die and Big Shot. Love that it not only cuts but scores on fold lines also. This is a great way to use up those small scraps in your file. A few years ago, I bought a long garland of poinsettia blossoms at Michael's. That was a great bargain. I have used them on cards, gift bags, home decor, and still have a few left. So this is a very expensive looking but not so costly way to give gift cards.

Gift Card Envelope

I just received a Sizzix template for gift card envelopes from Stampin' Up. It cuts and scores the folds. It is just easier to give gift cards to my kids. And the grands are getting old enough they like to shop for themselves.
 I tried the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches to see if it would work on the smaller size. I love how it turned out. So this is a good way to dress up those gift cards.

The DP, stamps and tree punch are from SU. The size of that sentiment in the Festival of Trees set works well with small banners. I used Gorgeous Grunge from SU to stamp the white "snowflakes" in the background. I put a matching white button on the back flap, thinking I will close this with a glue dot after the card is inserted. I am experimenting with ways to keep the envelope closed without gluing in place. Any suggestions?

Here is the sketch

Here are a couple more of the gift card envelopes. The one on the right has a belly band ribbon that can be slipped off and back on after inserting the card.

Krafty Christmas

I made this clean and layered Kraft based card for the Krafty Christmas challenge at The Card Concept

The DPs are from my scrap file. Other supplies: Sizzix stars impression folder. From SU: stars framelit dies, little stars punch, tree punch, and gold/white twine. The Merry Christmas DP was thin so I adhered it to a piece of white cardstock and popped it up with dimensionals. I've been noticing the trend of loopy cord behind images and thought I would try that for a fun twist on this sketch I used from Freshly Made Sketches

Computer Tricks

I usually copy and paste the sketch from Tuesday Morning Sketches to a Word document so I can print it out to lay on my desk for easier reference. So here is the sketch as seen on Tuesday Morning Sketches

But that is not what my Word document showed. It actually turned the sketch upside down. I have not had that happen before and certainly am not techie enough to explain how that happened. Here is the card I made because this is the way it printed.

I know it is okay to flip a sketch but I was a bit surprised when I went to post my blog and found my card totally different. So I decided to make another one and amend my post. Here is the second try

I like the second one better because of that sweet angel snowman. And did you notice the tree topper is a mini-angel snowman?