Freshly Made Sketches 201

Well, hello everyone!  It has been over a week since I posted here. I can hardly believe it!  It's been a busy few weeks for me, both personally and professionally, which hindered by creative time but I figured I better get busy in my stamp room before I forget how all those supplies are supposed to be used!

I missed the Freshly Made Sketches deadline but wanted to play along (late) and ended up combining our sketch with the colors from the Color Throwdown.  That never happens in real life because our challenges both go live on Wednesday but through the magic of procrastination I made these two challenges meet as one!

I hope it's visible in the photo but the bottom most layer on my card is actually embossing paste that I used with a stencil. From there  I added a vellum layer and those gorgeous layered butterflies.

Last week, of course, we celebrated 200 challenges at Freshly Made Sketches.  The response to our challenge was overwhelming and it was a real treat to go through the gallery and see how you all interpreted our sketch.  Many of you were first time players and I hope that we will see you again in the gallery very soon!

In the meantime, to our loyal players I want to send a heartfelt thank you.  It sounds corny but if it wasn't for you then our challenge wouldn't exist!  So here's to inky fingers, piles of papers, and stamps galore!  Stamp on!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Papillon Potpourri (Stampin' Up!); Hennah Elements (Altenew)
Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes); Baja Breeze, Vellum (SU)
Ink:  Regal Rose (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories: Vivienne Butterfly die, Darla Butterfly die (Memory Box); Chevron Pattern stencil (Simon Says Stamp); Horizontal Stitched Strips die (My Favorite Things); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver); Basic Pearls (SU)

Freshly Made Sketches 200!

Today is the day!!  Yes!! I bet you've been waiting and waiting and your patience has finally paid off!  Because today is the day that we reveal the 200th sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  And to celebrate this milestone we've got prizes! Yep, that's right.  Play along with us and you have a chance to win a fabulous prize from one of our generous sponsors!

Woo hoo!  Can you believe it?  We are so grateful that these amazing companies have offered giveaways to participants in our challenge!  And that can be you!  Check out the Freshly Made Sketches blog for all the details!

And now on to my card.  I will admit, with no shame, that the pressure was on for this challenge.  We invited all the sponsors' design teams to play along with us if they could and play along with us they did!  The cards they all created are amazing (see them HERE) so I wanted to create something that fit right in.  I relied on a tried and true formula for me.

I chose the sentiment on this card intentionally for this challenge.  I'm so grateful for opportunity I've had in belonging to the group of friends that make up the design team at Freshly Made Sketches.  We are so much more than a group of girls that make cards together.  Despite the fact that we live on different continents and that some of us only "know" each other on Facebook we are a very close-knit family.  I've never belonged to a group like this before, and I'm pretty sure that I will never will again.  So a big MWAAAHH to my Freshly Made Sketches teammates.

And, of course, I am grateful for you, the designers that join us each week for our challenge.  Since the beginning I consider it a privilege that you choose to include us in your crafty journey and I love to see your creations in the gallery.  I hope that you will play along with us this week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Flower Patch, Gorgeous Grunge, Off the Grid (SU); Hashtags (Tim Holtz)
Paper:  Pure Luxury (Gina K); Basic Gray, Whisper White, Lucky Limeade (SU); Vellum (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Basic Gray, Melon Mambo (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Curvy Leaves die (Elizabeth Craft Designs); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

colourQ 304

Hello!  It's time for a new palette from colourQ!  This week our colors are inspired by this spectacular wreath!  You have to click that link and check that out.  I've seen some garden hoses in my life but I never saw one like that before!  Maybe next year I'll attempt to make that!  My card today isn't anything like that wreath, but here goes:

Despite how much I love that wreath I found the color combo intimidating.  When I sat down to make my card I had no idea what I wanted to do so I searched through my stash and found that leafy die.  I thought it would make a good focal image and from there I just layered on the other colors.  In the end I'm quite pleased with how this came out!  And I got some help from Sketch Saturday!

Our always fabulous colourQ design team has cooked up some fantastic cards for you this week!  So be sure you check them out!  We'd love to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Blossom (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  Basic Gray, Daffodil Delight, Poppy Parade, Coastal Cabana, Whisper White (SU)
Ink:  Daffodil Delight
Accessories:  Palm Fancy die (Hero Arts); Pierced Rectangle STAX, Fishtail Flags STAX, Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX (My Favorite Things); Cakewalk button (October Afternoon)

Tag You're It #28

TGIF!  Today I've got the distinct pleasure of being your hostess at Tag You're It.  And it also happens to be the 100th challenge at As You See It.  As a past guest designer over there they asked me if I would play along with this milestone and I jumped at the chance.  The theme is "celebrate" so I made this tag.

I've been inking up these new stamps that I got recently and I've got to say that I'm loving them!  I don't usually use images like these but I'm trying to stretch my repertoire!  And they are so cute!  Who wouldn't love them! 

I hope you can join us at Tag You're It and that you are inspired by my tag!  And don't forget to pop on over to As You See It to play along with their 100th challenge too!  They've got blog candy so you don't want to miss it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Birthday Bears (My Favorite Things); Birthday Sampler (Paper Smooches)

Paper:   Sea Glass (Avery Elle); Night of Navy, Real Red, Daffodil Delight (SU); Neenah Solar White; X-Press It Blending Card

Ink:  Night of Navy (SU); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Copics

Accessories:  Traditional Tags STAX, Pierced Traditional Tags STAX, Sentiment Strips die, Birthday Bears die, Birthday Wishes & Balloons die (My Favorite Things); crochet thread

Freshly Made Sketches 199

Hello!  It's Wednesday so that, of course, means it's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is our friend from down under, Karren.  And what a sketch she's given us.  Lots of white space to fulfill all of your CAS dreams!

I was actually oddly out of sorts with the big blank space on this sketch. Odd, for sure, if you know me. But then I got to poking around my stash and found these circular images and got to work randomly stamping them onto all that white space.  One thing I knew for sure I wanted to do was use a big sentiment stamp so I left some room towards the right to accommodate that.  These awesome colors are courtesy of the Can You Case It challenge.

Last Friday my niece got engaged to be married. I, as well as many other family members, knew the proposal was going to happen ahead of time so I made a card last week that I was going to send the happy couple once the deed was done.  It was a very nice card.  But once I got to making this card I realized it would be a much better choice for them .  The other one had flowers and some other boring stuff.  This one has lots of graphic images and one fantastic sentiment - and my niece will definitely appreciate it.

Don't forget that in one short week we will be celebrating 200 sketches at Freshly Made Sketches!  We've got some sponsors and prizes lined up to help us celebrate this milestone so you don't want to miss it.  Wondering who those sponsors might be?  Well, check back on the Freshly Made Sketches blog on Friday to see a little sneaky peeky!

In the meantime, thanks for stopping by here!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Sunburst (Clearly Besotted); Friggin Fabulous (The Ton); Awesome Blossom (The Alley Way Stamps)
Paper:  Pure White Luxury (Gina K); Simply Chartreuse (Papertrey Ink); Whisper White, Basic Black (SU)
Ink:  Simply Chartreuse, Ocean Tides (Papertey Ink); Perfect Plum (SU); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Stitched Sentiment Flag die (Lil' Inker Designs) 

colourQ 303!

Hello hello!  I feel like I've been neglecting my blog lately, but the beautiful summer-time weather I've been having has prevented me from staying inside.  I just can't let these hot and sunny days go by being cooped up inside so I've been spending most of my weekend time relaxing on the patio.  You can be sure that once winter rolls around I won't be outside very much at all and hopefully I'll have loads of time to make up for my crafty absence!

But onto our new color palette at colourQ inspired by this mobile phone cover.  I love the rich tones and that woodgrain background.  Wouldn't you know it, this Etsy seller doesn't make this cover to fit my phone!  Rats!

I thought that I had a floral stamp in my stash that was similar to the flower on this phone cover but I couldn't find it.  Either I dreamed that I had it or I sold it on eBay!  But never fear - when a flower won't do grab a butterfly instead.  This one I bought a while ago and this is the first time I inked it up.  It's quite large and I was a bit nervous about coloring the blank spaces but decided to go with a bit of a streaky effect with my markers.  I like how it looked with the razzleberry tones but not so much with the teal ones so I blended those a bit.  My layout is from the latest Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.

Be sure to check out the design team inspiration at colourQ this week and then join us in the gallery!  We love to see you there!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Flutterby (Indigo Blu); Papillon (Tim Holtz)
Paper:  Classic White (Flourishes); Early Espresso, Pumpkin Pie, Taken With Teal (SU); X-Press It Blending Card
Ink: Hot Fudge (My Favorite Things); Pumpkin Pie (SU); Copics
Accessories:  Stitched Square STAX, Pierced Fishtail Flags STAX (My Favorite Things); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

Freshly Made Sketches 198

Happy Wednesday!  Of course today is the new sketch reveal at Freshly Made Sketches and this week our hostess is Cindy Lovell who has given us this very fun sketch!

I recently got these adorable new stamps and have been neglectful in getting them inked up. But the fun sketch got me thinking that this little bear, with his tower of gifts, would be a perfect image for it.  And I love that the topping at Seize the Birthday is embossing so I embossed the white layer with dots.  I always seem to forget that embossing is a great way to add some interest to white space.  Glad I remembered here!

Don't forget the countdown is on to our 200th sketch celebration at Freshly Made Sketches!  It's a wonderful milestone and to celebrate we've got a fun-tastic sketch and loads of sponsors to thank you all for playing along with us!  Stay tuned as we reveal all the details on August 19th!

But for now we've got this great sketch for you to play along with!  Our amazing design team has totally rocked the sketch this week so make sure you check it out.  And then get inky and join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Birthday Bears (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  White (Papertrey Ink); Sea Glass, The Everyday Collection (Avery Elle); Night of Navy (SU); X-Press It Blending Card
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Copics
Accessories:  Birthday Bears die, Blueprints 20, Stitched Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); Femme Frames die (Mama Elephant); Decorative Dots embossing folder (SU)

colourQ 302

Happy Tuesday! We've got a new color palette for you at colourQ and it is inspired by this apron.  I love the shades of yellow in the inspiration photo and found a sketch that I thought would complement these colors perfectly.

Actually, when I first saw this CAS(E) This Sketch I wanted to run as fast as I could in the opposite direction!  But then I broke it down into definite layers and realized it would be perfect for the colourQ palette.

The circles reminded me of a sunburst so my sentiment reflects that.  I love the contrast of the black sentiment against the circles.  It's clean and simple yet bold!  I love it!

Be sure to pop on over to colourQ and check out the beautiful cards the design team has made to inspire you this week.  You won't be disappointed!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Hand Lettered Hello (WPlus9)
Paper: White (Papertrey Ink); Bermuda Bay, Hello Honey, So Saffron, Peach Parfait, Basic Black (SU)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  The Big, the Bold and the Happy die (Winnie & Walter); Circles STAX 1 & 2 (My Favorite Things)

Booyah!

The weather here the last few days has been picture-perfect for summer and I really wanted to leave all my responsibilities behind and just crash on a beach or on my patio to soak up the sun.  But alas reality reared its ugly head and I found myself at work last week and doing some housework this weekend.  But never fear I did manage to spend some quality time with my chaise lounge this weekend and even got a little crafty.

I made this card using the very-bright colors at Color Throwdown. Such an eclectic combination and not one that I was sure I could combine successfully but I trudged on.  Once I broke it down to green (leaves), yellow (flowers) and purple (the wild card here with a button) I was ok.  The background circle is a stencil that I did with some embossing paste.  The layout is from Cardabilities.

The sentiment may seem a bit odd with these floral images, but this card is destined for someone special who will appreciate it.  I made it using my vintage Dymo labler (don't know how I lived without that thing for so long)!  Booyah!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Dream Big (Verve)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Gumball Green, Whisper White (SU)
Ink;  Daffodil Delight (SU)
Accessories:  Leaves die  (Penny Black); Radio Waves stencil (Memory Box); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver); SU button; crochet thread