Freshly Made Sketches 516

It's our last sketch challenge of the year at Freshly Made Sketches!  It's been so much fun creating alongside my FMS design team members this past year, not to mention all of you who joined us along the way.  I'm sure that one or two of you who made a card with one of our sketches inspired me to buy a stamp or a die or two, or three over the course of the year.  And for that alone I thank you.  But I also thank you for joining us week after week.  We wouldn't be here without you. 💖Our challenge this week is designed by Narelle and I surprised myself with another Christmas card.

I took some poetic license with the circles on the sketch and used stars instead.  I strung some gold cord from them to the top of the card to mimic hanging ornaments.  Then I tucked a sentiment in between the stars and embossed it in gold.  And to create a little contrast I sponged some ink in an arc around the left side of the card.

Thanks for stopping by!  Our Freshly Made Sketches challenge will be open until January 3rd so I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Jingle All the Way (Technique Tuesday)
Paper:  Night of Navy (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Night of Navy (Stampin' Up!); Versamark
Accessories:  Stitched Stars die (Lil' Inker Designs); Gold Glitter embossing powder (Hero Arts)

Freshly Made Sketches 514

I'm late again for a blog post!  😢 I was up bright and early this morning so that I could get some work done (I'm on vacation from said work, but still find myself working from time to time) and get this blog post ready.  I was doing some dishes when I turned the faucet to the left a bit and out it popped and practically fell into the sink!  Uh oh!  Turns out the lock nut that secures the faucet to the counter had completely rotted away and today was the day that it decided to fall over.  So I spent the majority of the day trying to fix it.  (I didn't by the way and I'm picking up a new faucet tomorrow).  Good times...

But the show must go on so here I am a few hours late with my card for Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is Cécile and as always her sketch has me dreaming that I can design cards the same way she does!

Those silver blobs in the center are pinecones, by the way.  I thought for sure that I had a pinecone stamp in my stash somewhere but apparently not, so I had to use this pinecone die cut, which is too small for what I wanted, but did the trick anyway.

The inspiration for this design came from a catalog that I got at work which has bulk Christmas cards with custom printing for companies to send to their customers.  The catalog is chock full of inspiration, which I knew would come in handy, so I brought it home and it now resides in my craft room.  I found an eye-catching card done in silver and black with green leaves and a pinecone and modified the design a bit to fit the sketch.  

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammies have some fabulous cards to inspire you to play along with us so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Holiday Messages (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Wild Wasabi (Stampin' Up!); Pinefeather (Papertrey Ink); foil paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Festive Greenery Sizzlit (Tim Holtz); Pine Sprig Cluster die (Impression Obsession); Subtle Dynamic embossing folder (Stampin' Up!); silver cord (Stampin' Up!)

Fusion - Gray and White Christmas

Happy thanksgiving to all my American friends!

Thanksgiving festivities apparently got the better of me because I completely blanked on posting my card for the latest Fusion challenge.  Better late than never!  It's the last one of the year and despite today's Thanksgiving holiday I made a Christmas card!

The theme is gray and white Christmas and I mostly stuck to that theme as I created a little fusion and combined the sketch with the inspiration photo.  There was some greenery in the photo so I picked up on that for my holly leaves, but the red I added all on my own.  I was going to do white berries instead of red ones but they didn't look as good!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you can create some Fusion of your own by joining us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Spruce & Sprigs (Papertrey Ink); Handwritten Holidays (Tim Holtz)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink); Smoky Slate (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Evergreen, Crimson (Altenew); Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Spruce & Sprigs die (Papertrey Ink)

Freshly Made Sketches 513

It's almost Thanksgiving day here in the United States and I'm celebrating by being on vacation and making a Christmas card for our newest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess is Jen Brum and her sketch is a classic one that you are going to love!

All of a sudden winter has arrived here in Massachusetts and I'm not ready.  😬 I've been spoiled by unseasonably warm weather this fall and then whammo - it's freezing outside!  The cold weather inspired another Christmas card and I went with a white poinsettia so that it would show up against the plaid background.  And in true fashion, once I had the card done, photographed, and ready to post I realized I forgot the sentiment.  I hate when I do that!  Apologies to Jen and her pretty sketch!

I'm also playing along with the latest Tic Tac Toe challenge where I'm using plaid, layers, and a die cut.

Thanks for stopping by!  And don't forget to check out Freshly Made Sketches for a great sketch and some design inspiration!

Supplies

Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Cherry Cobbler, Gold Foil, Wrapped in Plaid DSP (Stampin' Up!)

Accessories:  Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box)

Freshly Made Sketches 512

I'm excited to share our newest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches with you!  Our hostess this week is Kim and her design gave me the perfect opportunity to challenge myself with an unusual color combo for a Christmas card.

The color challenge at The Paper Players is so pretty so I challenged myself to create a Christmas card with it.  It would have been easy to incorporate the black with the sentiment but I wanted to see if I could pull it off using some sparkly black paper.  So I used said sparkly paper for the stripes, stamped a tiny sentiment in between them, and added a layered snowflake which I die cut in silver sparkly paper and white.  To finish off the snowflakes I put a little bit of white Nuvo drops in the center.  I love how it turned out!

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some fabulous card with this sketch so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Pure Florals Poinsettia (Uniko)
Paper:  Soft Stone (Papertrey Ink); Solar White (Neenah); black glimmer, silver glimmer (Recollections)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Rylynn Snowflake die (Simon Says Stamp); Let it Snowflake Too die (My Favorite Things); Gloss White Nuvo Drops

Fusion - Triangle Balls

It's a holiday here in the United States - Veteran's Day - where we honor those who have served in the armed services.  🇺🇸  My Dad was a very proud Marine and served in Korea during the conflict there.  Many years later he chose the same day to marry my Mom.  💕  I have great respect to those who make the courageous decision to serve their country. 

And today we also have a new challenge for you at Fusion.  The challenge prompt is about Christmas and I chose to use the colors from the photo and I took a little poetic license with the sketch.

I flipped the sketch and using the triangle theme from the inspiration photo used triangle Christmas trees on my card instead of circles.  And I also crowded them into one corner of the card rather than spreading them out per the sketch.  The "merry" dotted die cut is meant to mimic the thin layer on the sketch.  I wasn't kidding when I said I took some poetic license with the sketch too!

I'm also playing along with the challenge at Just Us Girls, where the challenge is the word prompt "Merry!"  Fun!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you can join us at Fusion - use the sketch or the inspiration or both!  Our design team will give you lots of inspiration so check us out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Triangle Trees (Reverse Confetti)
Paper:  Whisper White, Blue Bayou (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Nimbus (Altenew); Versamark
Accessories:  Merry Dots die (Poppystamps); Cherry Cobbler embossing powder (Stampin' Up!); Clear Sparkle embossing powder (WOW!); clear embossing powder

Freshly Made Sketches 511

Hi friends.  I'm back with a card for our newest sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is Linda and I love her classic sketch.

The space on the smaller layer was perfect for this turnabout wreath stamp that I inked up in traditional Christmas colors.  The stamp creates this awesome circular design that was just the thing for the "circle" challenge at Addicted to CAS.  I love it when challenges collide into a beautiful card!

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have some beautiful cards to show you so hop on over to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Wreath Turnabout (Concord & 9th); Fa La La (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Whisper White, Mossy Meadow (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Pear Pizzazz, Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, Real Red (Stampin' Up!); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Freshly Made Sketches 510

Hi everyone!  We've got a new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches and I am the hostess!  Woo Hoo!  I went with a traditional design with lots of room for layers.  Sometimes I like to make a card with layers - there's something about the weight and heft of a card with layers that pleases me. 😊

I went with a Christmas design, using up some old Stampin' Up! designer paper that's been in my stash forever plus a layered snowflake and a simple slim sentiment.  I made this card on Sunday so I was pleased to see that, quite by coincidence, the colors, the poinsettia elements, and the Christmas theme are also on tap for the challenge at Global Design Project (which doesn't go live until Monday).  Somehow I was channelling their challenge before I even knew about it!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope that you will play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches!  And special thanks to my FMS teamies who have totally rocked this sketch and who will certainly inspire you to play along!

Supplies
Stamps:  Holiday Messages (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, vellum, Deck the Halls DSP (Stampin' Up!); glitter paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Stitched Mini Scallop Rectangle die (My Favorite Things); Snowflake Trio die (amuse.studio); Lindemon Snowflake die (Memory Box)

Fusion - Typewritten Thanks

 We've got a great new challenge for you at Fusion.  The sketch or the inspiration - you choose!

I chose the sketch and a teeny bit of the inspiration photo.  As I was poking around blogland I saw the color challenge at The Color Throwdown and thought I might have a turkey in my stash that I could color up with the right colors.  In a nod to the typewriter I stamped a background in some type written words.  I wanted to add a "thank you" sentiment but couldn't find anything in my stash that fit without overpowering the turkey!  I'm also going to add this at Retro Rubber and their "fallin' for autumn" challenge.  The text background is from 2003 and the turkey is from 2011.  It pays to not de-stash sometimes!

Thanks for stopping by!  We'd love for you to join us at Fusion.  We've got some great inspiration for you to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps: It's Fall About You (The Alley Way Stamps); By Definition (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Desert (Neenah); Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!); X-Press It Blending Card
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Crumb Cake (Stampin' Up!); Copics

Freshly Made Sketches 509

We've got a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Our hostess this week is the incomparable Jen Timko!  Her sketch inspired me to make a slimline card.

Halloween is around the corner so that was a big inspiration plus I added in a couple of other challenges.  I took my color cues from the challenge at Just Us Girls and had some fun with the Halloween Fun challenge at Cupcake Inspiration.  

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you can join us at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our design team has some great cards to inspire you to play along!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Ghouls & Goblins (Inkadinkado Stamps); Bite Me, Autumn Apparations (Stampin' Up!)

Paper:  Smoky Slate, Peach Parfait, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Nocturne (Versamark Clair); Smoky Slate (Stampin' Up!); Copics

Accessories:  Pierced Nested die (The Ton)

Freshly Made Sketches 508

Hi friends!  We've got a fabulous new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Our hostess is Jacquie and there's so much you can do with her design!

The background on this card is wide washi tape.  It's a bit hard to work with but super pretty in real life.  After I added it to the background I stuck a piece of it to a scrap piece of cardstock and fussy cut a couple of the flowers and leaves to add some interest to the top layer of the card.

I'm late posting my card for the challenge because I completely messed it up!  Usually I make my card on Sunday so that I have a couple of days to tweak, photograph, and edit before I do my blog post.  This week I was under a time crunch because I had a work meeting on Tuesday that meant I wasn't going to get home until very late so I wanted to have the card done and posted on my blog by Monday.  

So, the card was done on Sunday and I start composing my blog post on Monday when I realized that I forgot one layer on the card.  I had no time to make a revision so I thought I'd be out for the week.  But it bugged me that I had made such a stupid mistake so on Wednesday night I peeled off the flowers and sentiment from the "wrong" card, added the missing layer, and added the flowers and sentiment back again so that the card followed the sketch.  Whew!

I am 100% sure that my Freshly Made Sketches teammates didn't have trouble like this with their own cards!  I hope you can check out our challenge and join us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Mix & Match Everyday Sentiments (Concord & 9th)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Raspberry (Avery Elle); Smoky Shadow (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Smoky Shadow (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Calming Bouquet washi tape (Altenew); Subtle Dynamic embossing folder (Stampin' Up!)

Fusion - Pumpkin Mug

We've got a lovely new challenge for you at Fusion.  I decided to combine the sketch with the colors of the inspiration photo and make a birthday card.....with no pumpkins in sight!!

I don't have any decent pumpkin images in my stash so that got me thinking about the sketch.  I thought a slimline card would look good with those long horizontal layers across the bottom.  Then I stumbled on the AAA Birthday challenge, which, you might have guessed by now is to make a slimline birthday card.  So I colored a bunch of gifts using the colors from the Fusion inspiration photo and arranged them on either end of the card.  I didn't want to cover them up with the horizontal layer so I made that out of vellum and a slim white layer so that the gifts would still be visible.  

But the pièce de résistance on this card is the sentiment.  It's from a Stampin' Up! set from 2005!  It's perfect here nestled between the gifts and also a perfect justification for hoarding certain craft supplies.  I love it when I can do a deep dive into my crafting stash and emerge with a winner!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you can join us at Fusion where you can follow the sketch, follow the inspiration photo or create some fusion of your own by combining the two!

Supplies
Stamps:  It's a Wrap (The Stamp Market); Sincere Salutations (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); White (Spectrum Noir); Pumpkin Pie, vellum, Sweet Pea DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Nocturne (Versafine Clair); Copics
Accessories:   Pierced Nested die (The Ton)

Freshly Made Sketches 507

Hi friends!  My thoughts turned to Christmas for our latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess is Judy and the circles on the sketch got me thinking about one of my favorite Christmas images.  Take a look!

I do love my poinsettias!  I used a neutral background for my poinsettias, inspired by the color challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown.  I embossed the top layer with a bit of texture because...well...everything looks good with texture!  I layered a few banner die cuts and stamped a tiny sentiment tucked around one of the poinsettias.  Ta da!  Done!

I'm so happy to add to my Christmas card stash.  We're almost at the middle of October and December will be here before we know it so I've got to think about my card supply!

Thanks for stopping by!  Please check out our challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  I hope you can play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Holiday Gnomes (Reverse Confetti)
Paper:  Desert Storm (Neenah); Truffle (Avery Elle); Whisper White, Real Red (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Truffle (Avery Elle)
Accessories:  Subtle Dynamic embossing folder (Stampin' Up!); Layered Poinsettia die (Penny Black); Stitched Rectangle STAX, Slanted Sentiment Strips die (My Favorite Things); Autumn Harvest sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)

Freshly Made Sketches 506

I decided to dig into my Halloween stash for my Freshly Made Sketches card this week.  Our hostess this week is Amy and her sketch put many ideas into my head!

The challenge at The Paper Players was a moody-spooky Halloween board which put me in mind of this skull stamp that's been in my stash for ages.  I embossed the image with silver embossing powder and added a few touches of silver cardstock on the card to break up the more somber blacks and blues that I also used.  I was going to add a Halloween sentiment on the bottom black layer but changed my mind at the last minute because I was going to have to heat-emboss it so that it showed up but since I had already assembled and glued the diagonal layers I was afraid I'd get stray embossing powder everywhere.  I should have embossed first and then assembled the layers!  And they've also got a Halloween challenge at Just Us Girls so I'm playing along there as well.

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some fabulous cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  From the Crypt (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Whisper White, Basic Black, Night of Navy (Stampin' Up!); foil paper (Recollections); Watercolor Wash Brights (My Favorite Things)
Ink:  Versamark
Accessories:  Petite Scallop Circles Small die, Standard Circles Small die, Standard Circles Large die (Spellbinders); Dotted Borders die (Avery Elle); silver embossing powder

Fusion - Poppy Door

I knew instantly when I saw the challenge at Fusion what stamp set I wanted to use.  I was sure I had a poppy stamp in my stash but when I went looking for it with my other floral stamps I couldn't find it.  Oh no!  So then I started going through past blog posts to make sure I wasn't hallucinating about actually owning that stamp.  Once I confirmed that I had used it in the past I started going through all of my stash hoping that I had misfiled it.  Luckily that is just what happened!  Whew!

I created some Fusion this week because I combined the sketch with the inspiration photo.  I stamped the flowers in an aptly named poppy ink and their placement gave me a spot to add this lovely sentiment.  In a nod to the bricks in the inspiration photo I added a brick embossed background.

Thanks for stopping by!  Check out our Fusion challenge this week.  You can choose the sketch or the inspiration photo or make some fusion and combine the two!

Supplies
Stamps:  Poppy Field (Rubbernecker Stamps); Hope Blooms (Verve)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Whisper White, Garden Green (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Poppy Parade (Stampin' Up!); Nocturne (Versafine Clair); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Bricked embossing folder (Tim Holtz)

Freshly Made Sketches 505

The funny thing about Blogger is that you have to actually click "Publish" in order for your blog post to be seen by others!  Sorry folks.  I'm late for my Freshly Made Sketches post because I forgot to do just that.  But I'm here now with my card designed by the very talented Narelle.

The air has cooled quite a bit where I live and that has got my digging around in my stash for autumn themed stamps.  The challenge code word at Addicted to CAS is "autumn" so I took that as a sign that I was on the right path.  I made three versions of this card because I kept messing something up and I'm still not entirely happy with it, but as my friend Linda advises, call it a Mona Lisa, post it anyway, and move along to the next card.  Good advice.  The card I'll share tomorrow is much better looking, I promise!

Thanks for stopping by!  My teammates at Freshly Made Sketches have some fabbo cards to share so check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fall Colors (Precious Remembrance); Confetti Shapes Circle (The Ton)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Cocoa Bean (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Autumn Blaze, Firebrick, Espresso (Altenew); Versamark
Accessories:  Confetti Shapes Circle die (The Ton) copper embossing powder (Ranger)

Freshly Made Sketches 504

Hi everyone!  It's Wednesday so that means it's time for a new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is Karren and she's designed a slimline!  I love those!

I started with a slimline rectangle die then made a card base to accommodate it.  Initially I had a vague idea to stamp some leafy images - maybe even with a Christmas theme -  in the corners but when I started poking around some of my favorite challenge sites for inspiration I found lots that are in an autumn theme mood.  So I switched gears, grabbed a stencil, and inked it up in the corners using the colors from Just Us Girls.  I then went over it with some sparkly embossing glitter for a little pizzazz.  I didn't want to cover up the leaves entirely with a horizontal layer across the bottom as per the sketch so I used vellum.  Apologies if it's hard to see in the photo.  You'll have to believe me that it's there!  Then I added a slim horizontal layer in a yellow that is complementary to the ink and a sentiment die cut in black.  Easy peasy!

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches teammates have some great cards to inspire you to play along with us!

Supplies
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Crushed Curry, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!); vellum (Graphix)
Ink:  Dried Marigold, Fossilized Amber, Candied Apple (Distress Oxide); Versamark
Accessories:  Tumbling Leaves stencil (Simon Says Stamp); The Big the Bold and You die (Winnie & Walter); Slim Diagonal Stitched Rectangle die (Pinkfresh Studio); clear sparkle embossing glitter (WOW)

Fusion - Peach Birthday

This week at Fusion our inspiration features a birthday party that I definitely want to be invited to!  Peach features predominantly in the color scheme as well as lots and lots of balloons!  I've never gone to a party with such fun decorations!  

I chose to feature some peach on my card, followed the sketch, and used a birthday sentiment.  Instead of balloons I went with a shaker accent - combining inspiration from the latest Just Us Girls challenge.  And it felt good to use up some old SU designer paper from my never-ending stash.  😊

Thanks for stopping by!  My Fusion teammates have got some great cards to inspire you to play along with us, so check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Scripty Sayings (Gina K)
Paper:  Whisper White, Peach Parfait (Stampin' Up!); Clear (Flourishes)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things)