Freshly Made Sketches #700

Summertime Catching Up: 

Summer weather is so unpredictable these days. For example if it's hot on the west coast then it's cold in the East and vice-versa. In the Fraser Valley where I live, we expect hotter than average temperatures starting around the 15th of July, and this year has been no exception.  We had days of really hot weather in the high  30's C, but then just when you've had enough it miraculously cools down and rains for a couple of days before the next heatwave.  Our City moved to stage two water restrictions in lieu of drought predictions in early July and so far it's been a good balance, but we've cut down on our consumption and are doing our part where we can.  

I'm not a fan of high temperatures and I don't handle heat well.  Our house unfortunately doesn't have air conditioning so some days are just bearable.  Thankfully we use our basement for most of our entertainment and living and it's about 10 degrees cooler than the upstairs. I've been taking advantage of the heat difference and escaping to my happy "cool" craft room during the hot spells.  Not only is it cooler, but I'm far more productive and finding time to catch up on my kits and begin work on Christmas cards.  

Before I share this week's card challenge I wanted to share some excitement we had in late July when our lovely "big plant" bloomed. This plant has only bloomed twice in the twenty-five or more years we've had it and this was the second time!  

We moved it from it's normal northern exposure in the kitchen to the living room when we were painting this Spring and it's really "rawking" the change.  If anyone knows the botanical name for this plant let me know.  

AHSC Sketch Challenge #700  

I really liked this week's card sketch hosted by the design team. This is a fun and easy sketch great for coordinating designer series papers. This sketch has a clean and simple design, featuring blocks of colour and the focal can be any shape you want, keep it simple or add lots of layers.

I hope you'll play along with this week's sketch challenge. Don't worry about posting your card online if you don't have Facebook or a blog page it doesn't matter, just be proud of what you've made and share it if you want. It's always a happy feeling!

HERE'S MY CARD:  

I'm finally motivated to make Christmas cards again. I was inspired to use this brand new designer paper called Christmas Tags & More. It'll be released on September 4th when the new Mini Catalogue goes live.

I really love the traditional colours in this 48 page 6 x 6 paper pack which includes some ephemera pages, which make decorating easy. The paper will coordinate beautifully with garden green, poppy parade, real red, basic beige, soft seafoam and white cardstocks. I shouldn't have any difficulty using this paper pack up as it's so easy to work with and I love the designs.

The gold lines that I've added to separate the color blocks are a non-Stampin' Up! product that I love. They manufactured by Starform and are called Sticker Strips. I love the Glitter Gold/Silver Strips for seasonal cards as they add just a bit of glam without overdoing it.

Supplies:

Stamps and Dies:

• More Merry Wishes (R) #126402
• Stitched Shapes Dies (R)

Cardstock and DSP:

• Whisper White 
• Card Base 5" x 10" scored at 5"
• Inside Panel Whisper White 4 1/2" x 4 1/2"
• 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" for label sentiment 
• Garden Green 
• Cut two  4 3/4" x 4 3/4" for front and inside layers 
• 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" scrap for sentiment layer 

•  DSP Christmas Tags & More #16509
• Plaid strip for inside card 1" x 4 1/2"
• One piece DSP 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" cut into quarters

Ink:

• Real Red

Accessories:

• Poinsettia  Ephemera from Christmas Tags & More 
• Gold Mini Ball Beads
• Starform Glitter Gold/Silver Strips Stickers 

Well that's it for this week's challenge and I appreciate your dropping by.  If you have any questions regarding this designer series pack or how the card was assembled, just drop me a note or comment.  Let me know if you like this card design, and whether you were inspired to play along with this challenge.  Happy weekend and I hope you'll come back again.

HAPPY STAMPING!
PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006

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