Freshly Made Sketches #674

It's my turn to be the sketch hostess at Freshly Made Sketches this week!  The sketch that I made was entirely inspired by a die that I came across while organizing my craft room.  It was a simple die with a gentle stitched curve and I thought it was pretty and would make a versatile design.  Ta da!

And can I just say how much I love layered stencils!  They make me look like a coloring pro when all I'm really doing is sponging on some color through a bunch of stencils.  It's so easy!!

These cosmos make me think of summer - something I wish would hurry up and get here since it's been freezing around here lately.  They are so light and airy and as I perused my stash of sentiments for the perfect complement to them I found this mother's day one and thought I'd get out ahead of that holiday!

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches design team members have made some gorgeous cards with this sketch I know you'll be inspired to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Keep it Simple Mother (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); The Everyday Collection (Avery Elle)
Ink:  Wisteria, Hydrangea, Ultraviolet, Andromeda (Altenew); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Climbing Cosmos stencil (The Ton)

Freshly Made Sketches #670

Hi there!  I'm back today with a card for our latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  Amy is our hostess this week and she's given us a fantastic sketch!

My seasons are a little off because this sunflower is more suited to the end of summer than the dead of winter but I love this image and I thought it would be perfect for this sketch.  I scoured my stash of patterned paper for the perfect backgrounds and found these two SU! beauties.  All of it came together beautifully!

Thanks for stopping by!  

Supplies
Stamps:  Splendid Sunflower (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  Honey Nut (Papertrey Ink); Early Espresso, Old Olive, Whisper White, Spring Shower DSP, Welcome Neighbor DSP (Stampin' Up!)

Ink: Hello Honey, Baked Brown Sugar, Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Splendid Sunflowers die (My Favorite Things); Yana's Sentiments hot foil plates and dies (Spellbinders)

Freshly Made Sketches #668

Hello stamping friends!  We've got a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches and this week our design is brought to you by Karren.  The sketch looked like it had layers to me so I dug into my stash of patterned paper and made a valentine.

The color challenge at Color Hues helped to inspire my valentine.  Kraft + {insert color here} is always a favorite combination of mine.  The contrast is fun and so versatile.  In this case the vertical layers on the sketch lent themselves perfectly to a couple of different pieces of patterned paper which created the perfect background to my heart.  I added some gold Wink of Stella to the "love" die cut, but it looks very blah in this picture.  In real life it's quite zazzy!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you can join us at Freshly Made Sketches.  🩷

Supplies
Stamps:  Love Stamp (Hero Arts)
Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Real Red (Stampin' Up!); Gingham-Linen Rainbow Petite Prints (Doodlebug Designs)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Love die (Hero Arts); Scallop Border die (The Stamps of Life); Wink of Stella

Freshly Made Sketches #667

I've been a very erratic stamper over the last year, but I managed to carve out some time to join my Freshly Made Sketches teammates for our first sketch of 2025!  Kicking off the new year is Cécile as our hostess, and as usual, I tried to channel my inner CAS Cécile as I designed my card.

I opted for a shaker for this card, mainly because I hadn't done one in so long....and, in this case, lends itself to a CAS card.  Fun!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches, where my fellow design team members have made some fantastic cards to inspire you to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Bokeh Burst Round (The Ton); All About You (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  You die (Simon Says Stamp); Royal Garden sequins (Pretty Pink Posh); gold embossing powder

Freshly Made Sketches 663

Hi friends!  I'm back with my odd-ball not-so-consistent posting of a card!  This is the first year in a VERY LONG time that I'm seriously behind on my Christmas cards.  Not a good thing when it's past mid-November. 😳 But I've got a few days off from work coming up so hopefully I can hunker down in my craft room and churn out a bunch of cards...maybe assembly line style!  🙏🙏🙏

Anyway, I'm the hostess this week at Freshly Made Sketches and since I love square cards so much that's the design I've given you.  Of course, if square isn't your thing feel free to change it up!

Seems like I'm always on a quest to find the right lighting for taking pictures of my cards.  I see so many pictures of perfectly captured cards and I still don't know how they do it!  For this card I used a light ring and my iPhone.  I think it looks pretty horrible so I'll be going back to my light box and my digital camera.  Old school for me! 

Thanks for stopping by!  And apologies for not visiting your awesome blogs very much.  Some day I'll figure out this work-life balance thing and return to my favorite hobby more consistently.  <I'm looking at you, retirement 😉 >

As usual, my super-talented friends at Freshly Made Sketches have been designing and creating the most beautiful cards and this week is no exception.  So I hope you'll check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Tiny Words Christmas (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Naturals White (Stampin' Up!); Christmas Blessings-Holly (Sheila Reid)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Alpine ribbon (Stampin' Up!); Layered Poinsettia die (Penny Black)

Freshly Made Sketches 654

It's my turn to be the sketch hostess at Freshly Made Sketches and I think I came up with a sketch that has lots of room for interpretation.  Rectangles?  Who cares.  Triangles?  Boring.  The sketch is merely a prompt for you to unleash your creativity.  I can't wait to see what you create!

I, however, did modified triangles in the form of some slim trees. 😉

When I sat down at my desk to turn the sketch into a card I had a vague idea to use some triangular shaped trees, but honestly didn't know exactly how this design was going to go.  Then I looked through my stash of stamps and found these trees already stamped and in the colors that I needed!  Once I had all of those, this card went together pretty quickly. Some pearlescent snowflakes in the background, a bit of colorful paper, and some twine for added texture and my little Christmas card was born!

I've been absent from the Freshly Made Sketches blog for quite a bit this year because my work/life balance is out of whack.  But it felt good to make this card and take back my craft room from my kitties!  They had the last laugh, though, because I used a stencil for the falling snow and when I peeled it back from the card there was a big blob of cat fur stuck to the embossing paste!  

Thanks for visiting and a special thanks to my teammates at Freshly Made Sketches who have been graciously putting up with my absence for many months. 😘 🩷

Supplies
Stamps:  Peaceful Forest (Ink to Paper); Jingle All the Way (Technique Tuesday)
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Merry Moments DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Falling Snow stencil (Simon Says Stamp); Pearlescent embossing paste (Dreamweaver) jute twine

Freshly Made Sketches 642

Well it sure has been a while since I've posted here.  I won't go into the gory details, but suffice it to say that life gets in the way.....of so many things!  But it's my week to be the hostess at Freshly Made Sketches and hostess I will.  My sketch is square and it's got a wavy layer, but as you all know by now, neither is necessary in Freshly Made Sketches Land.  It's all about how YOU interpret the sketch!

I decided to use the gorgeous colors at the Just Us Girls challenge to make a square birthday card.  Blue flowers are hard to come by in my neck of the woods, but they are easy to find when you are the architect!  I love these pops of color!

Thanks for stopping by!  As usual my Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some amazing cards with this sketch!

Supplies
Stamps:  Birthday Messages (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Midnight Muse, More Mustard, Bermuda Bay (Stampin' Up!); vellum (Papertrey Ink); Watercolor Wash (My Favorite Things)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Upsy Daisy die (My Favorite Things); Curvy Leaves die (Elizabeth Craft Designs)

Freshly Made Sketches 632

Hey there!  I find myself to be the sketch designer at Freshly Made Sketches this week and I am excited to see how you all interpret this sketch.  For me, I used some of my patterned paper stash and added a floral display in shades of purple.

This is a big card - that floral display takes up a lot of room - but I love it!  The sentiment is hot foiled and tucks in to the florals perfectly.

Thanks for stopping by!  If you haven't already be sure to check out the cards my Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made.  They're awesome!

Supplies
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Lucky Limeade, Lucky Limeade DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Soft Lilac, Lavender Fields, Deep Iris (Altenew)
Accessories:  Climbing Cosmos stencil, Coming Up Cosmos die (The Ton); Super Scripty Thank You hot foil plate +n die (The Stamp Marktet)