Freshly Made Sketches 438

We've got a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our challenge hostess this week is Karren and her sketch was perfect for me to use some of the patterned paper in my stash.

I already had patterned paper in my mind for those vertical stripes when I stumbled upon the challenge at Just Us Girls which was to use at least two different patterned papers.  Obviously that was a sign that I was on the right path!  I dug into my stash of old papers and found some that managed to fit the colors of the Color My Heart Color Dare challenge.  A butterfly took the place of the diamond on the sketch and I embossed the bottom solid layer of that butterfly to give it some texture.  I added a few little pearls just because it looked pretty!

Thanks for stopping by!  We'd love it if you joined us at Freshly Made Sketches!

Supplies

Stamps:  Totally Random Saying (Essentials by Ellen)

Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Peach Parfait, Vellum, Sweet Pea DSP, Everyday Enchantment DSP (Stampin' Up!)

Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Subtle embossing folder, Basic Pearls (Stampin' Up!); Vivienne Butterfly die, Darla Butterly die (Memory Box)

Freshly Made Sketches 436

We've got a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is Jen Brum and I love the classic lines of her sketch.  There is so much you can do with it!

I chose to go with shades of green for my entire card a-la the challenge at Color My Heart Color Dare.  I even sponged the background on this one with my Distress Inks, something I'm getting better at!  For the focal image I layered the leaves in several shades of green, framed the layer in black and added a black sentiment.  I think it's soft and soothing.

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some fantastic cards with this sketch so I hope you check them out!

Supplies

Stamps:  Leaf Clusters (Altenew); Keep It Simple Sympathy (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  Mint Julep (Papertrey Ink); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Bristol Smooth

Ink:  Cracked Pistacchio (Distress); Bamboo, Olive, Moss (Altenew); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Freshly Made Sketches 433

It's my week to be the hostess at Freshly Made Sketches and I decided to go with a bit of an abstract design.  Week after week it always amazes me how you all interpret our sketches so I thought it would be fun to see what you would do with a big ambiguous blob!

It's a coincidence that the latest challenge at Less is More is to use scribbles, drips, or splats but I embrace all coincidences like that as an invitation that I must play along so I grabbed one of my favorite splat stamps, added a small butterfly, a few enamel dots, and a slim sentiment.  I chose all shades of blue so I could play along with the Color My Heart Color Dare challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have taken my sketch and created gold with it!  So I hope you are inspired to play along!

Supplies
Stamps:  Ink Splats (IndigoBlu); Kinda Eclectic (Stampin' Up!); Tiny Words (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Blueberry Sky, Dark Indigo (Papertrey Ink); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Basic Pearls (Stampin' Up!); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

Freshly Made Sketches 426

Hello!  We've got a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is Karren and her sketch is perfect for any design you can think up.

I chose the colors at Color My Heart Color Dare and the "anything with wings" challenge at Allsorts to complement the sketch.  On my card the circle made a perfect butterfly that I made with a die cut using some patterned paper and a complementary solid color paper. 

The sentiment that I used is an old Stampin' Up! one that I've had for ages which brings up an interesting point.  Lately when I've been making my cards I've been digging through my extensive inventory of supplies for ideas and inspiration.  It's amazing the things I've got in there that have been neglected for years!  And what I've discovered is that I've got a whole lot of supplies that are perfectly good.  So I'm on an unofficial mission to show those supplies some love.

Thanks for stopping by.  My teammates at Freshly Made Sketches have got some great cards to inspire you to play along with us, so I hope you do!

Supplies
Stamps:  Pocket Silhouettes (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Poppy Parade, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Vivienne Butterfly die, Darla Butterfly die (Memory Box); enamel dew drops (Freckled Fawn)

Freshly Made Sketches 424

Hello!  We've got another great challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is Jen Brum and she really got me thinking about that flag....

Luckily I had a fun stamp in my stash that approximated the look of that flag.  So armed with some purple inks (I have a sister who is crazy about purple) I inked the flag, some flowers, and some leaves in varying shades of purple.  Cute!  I hope that Jen forgives me for the placement of my flowers and leaves (the circle on the sketch) - they are a little off per the sketch!

My purple-loving sister will get this card in the mail soon!  And the inspiration for the purple came from the latest challenge at Color Dare.

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow teammates at Freshly Made Sketches have made some lookers this week so be sure to check them out. 😀See you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Brushed Off, Keep It Simple Just a Note (Papertrey Ink); Summer Silhouettes (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Wisteria, Hydrangea, Ultraviolet, Andromeda (Altenew)

Freshly Made Sketches 417

Well hello!!!  I've been on a bit of a blogging break but I was happy to go back into my craft room the other day and roll up my sleeves to make a project for our debut 2020 challenge at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our sketch is brought to you by Judy and I love it!

The snowflake challenge at Just Us Girls helped me along with my card.  Instead of a rectangle I chose to use a giant snowflake pieced together with some glitter embossing powder and a snowflake die cut from matching glitter paper.  I added a simple sentiment embossed onto vellum (and had a heck of a time getting it to stick to the glitter paper)!  I chose blue as my color partially based on the challenge banner from Just Us Girls as well as the color challenge at Color Dare.

Thanks for stopping by!  We're excited at Freshly Made Sketches to bring you our first challenge of the year and hope that you will play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Blizzard Hugs (The Ton)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); glitter paper (Recollections); vellum (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Versamark; Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Bizzard Hugs die (The Ton); Marine embossing powder (Recollections); black embossing powder

Freshly Made Sketches 410

It's been a week since I've posted here!  Last week was one of those where long nights at work were just not conducive to getting crafty.  It's good that this week I am able to slow down and enjoy some time with my ink and paper!  And I'm just in time for our newest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week Linda is our hostess and her sketch pointed me in the direction of some new Christmas stamps that I got recently.

In addition to the sketch I used the colors at Color Dare to create this Christmas Card.  And at The Paper Players they want me to go into the woods.  Luckily on my trip there I found all these trees!  I wanted the vertical layer at the bottom of the sketch to be kind of subtle so it is made of vellum with a gold embossed sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some fantastic cards with this sketch which I am sure will inspire you to play along with us.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Peace on Earth (Ink to Paper)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Vellum (Stampin' Up!); gold glimmer (Recollections)
Ink:  Jungle (Avery Elle); Sage Shadow (Stampin' Up!); Versamark
Accessories:  gold embossing powder

Freshly Made Sketches 400

Will the real Freshly Made Sketches challenge #400 please stand up!  It seems like we've been playing a sketch challenge version of To Tell the Truth these last few weeks!  After taking a bit of a stroll down memory lane and digging some old sketches out of our archives we are ready to reveal the ACTUAL sketch #400!

It's quite a milestone, to be sure, and to celebrate properly we have PRIZES!  That's right anyone who plays along with us is eligible to win a prize from one of our generous sponsors!  We reached out to our crafty friends and asked if they would help us celebrate our 400th sketch and we were seriously overwhelmed by their generosity.

So let's get to it!

Isn't that a fabulous sketch?  SO. MANY. POSSIBILITIES.  For me, I saw that wide strip and new immediately that I needed to dip into my never-ending stash of patterned paper.  I love gingham so I chose this pretty blue one that was a perfect match to some cardstock that I also had (I love it when different brands collide and make something special)!  Then I added a two-tone butterfly.  It's been a while since I've used one of my pretty butterfly dies and this seemed like just the right occasion to use one of my favorite accents.

I also incorporated a couple of other challenges into my card today.  One for color (The Color Dare) and one that gave me an excuse to use a splatter stamp behind the butterfly (TGIF Challenges).

And now for those sponsors!  Drum roll please...........

Wouldn't you love a chance to win a prize from one of these awesome companies?  It's easy!  All you have to do is play along with our 400th sketch celebration at Freshly Made Sketches.  Winners will be randomly drawn from everyone who plays along!  I hope you'll join us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Simple Sentiments (Avery Elle); Ink Splats (Indigo Blu)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Rose Red, Pink Pirouette, Cool Caribbean (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Cool Caribbean (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Vivienne Butterfly die, Darla Butterfly die (Memory Box)

Freshly Made Sketches 394

Hello!  It's Wednesday so that means it's time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our sketch is designed by Jen Timko - and what classic lines it has!

That horizontal layer became a one-layer line of spots on my card a-la the Less is More challenge and the colors were inspired by the Color My Heart Color Dare challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you will join us in the Freshly Made Sketches gallery! 

Supplies
Stamps:  Circles Circles Circles (Whimsy Stamps); Keep It Simple Birthdays (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir)
Ink:  Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, Pacific Point (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 393

Hello!  Today we've got a brand new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches to play along with!  Our hostess this week is Lee Ann and I love her sketch!  It's got classic lines that are perfect for many different designs.

After I made this card I realized that I put the sentiment in the wrong place!  The worst part about this is that I print out the graphic for the sketch so that I can follow it when I'm actually making the card.  I think I was so focused on the horizontal layers that I assumed the sentiment was to go on one of them.  It wasn't until I had this done that I realized I made a major miscalculation!  Forgive me Lee Ann!

I chose blues to color these blooms so that I could join the Color My Heart Color Dare challenge then I picked light, medium, dark tones to play along with Just Us Girls.  Whew!

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some fantastic cards with this sketch so I hope you check them out and are inspired to join us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fine Line Florals (Concord & 9th); Painted Sayings (Whimsy Stamps)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Marina Mist, Bashful Blue (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Soft Sky, Bashful Blue, Marina Mist (Stampin' Up!); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)

Paper Players 53 and Color Dare 107

This week Lesley has cooked up quite a sketch for us at the Paper Players.

I thought long and hard about this sketch before I attempted it.  I had a hard time deciding on a color scheme until Wednesday when I saw that the color challenge this week at The Color Dare was Marina Mist, Certainly Celery and So Saffron.

I had a hankering to do a little sewing so I got out my Janome Sew Mini and stitched each of the So Saffron layers.  Then I had a hankering to use the retired Heartfelt Thanks stamp set.  Sometimes these things just hit me and I have no idea why. 

That's not exactly true.  Usually, when I have not decided on what stamp set I'm going to use for a sketch or a color challenge, I will get up close and personal with ALL of my stamp sets.  I methodically go through each one until I find the perfect one.  And sometimes, if I'm lucky, I'll have that " A HA" moment, where I stumble on a stamp set that is absolutley perfect for what I have in mind.  In this particular case I wouldn't call it an "A HA" moment so much as a "hey, I haven't used that stamp set in a while" moment.  And so this card was born.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

Color Dare 106 and FTL145

I had been contemplating the FTL sketch from last Friday for a while, but I found the sketch a little intimidating and couldn't seem to figure out how I wanted my card to look.  After poking around the blogosphere for some inspiration, I thought that the color challenge at The Color Dare was pefect for the sketch challenge, so I set to work.

After looking at this card, I still can't believe that I made it!  This is pretty far outside the realm of what I'm used to making, but I think these colors are fabulouos together.  And I love how the vellum panel doesn't cover everything completely, but gives the stamped images underneath a very soft quality.

Thanks for stopping by!

Color Dare 105 and Unscripted Sketches 110

I decided to try my hand at a new (to me) sketch challenge called Unscripted Sketches.  I thought it had a very nice CAS layout.

And I thought that it would be a nice layout for this weeks Color Dare challenge to use Elegant Eggplant, Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz, and Sahara Sand. 

Elegant Eggplant is not a color that I use very often, but after using it here, I'm coming to appreciate it.  And look how great it looks with these other colors!  I even managed to use some brads that are a very deep purple (they look black in the photo, but trust me they are as eggplant as they can get)!

Thanks for stopping by today!

SSSC121 and Color Dare 104

This week the color challenge at The Color Dare is very unusual.  The challenge was to use Not Quite Navy, Baja Breeze and Cajun Craze.  I had to think long and hard about this one, and I'm still not sure about what I came up with.  I decided on the Sweet Sunday sketch for my layout.

Once again, I did quite a bit of waffling about what I wanted my stamped image to be.  At first I was going to use one of the animals from the Fox & Friends stamp set, but that would have made the card a little kid-friendly and I just don't have any kid-friendly sentiments.  So, I went the butterfly route.

I think the circle is too big and would have looked quite a bit better if I had some Cajun Craze dp.  Despite all the things I don't like about this card, I do think the colors are really great together.  And I took a little liberty with the ribbon.  It's actually some left-over Dusty Durango, but the color is really close to Cajun Craze.

Thanks for stopping by!

FTL143 and Color Dare 103

I've found myself stumped quite a bit in my stamp room this week, and I haven't even been in there all that much.  Last night I sat down to make a card for the FTL143 and Color Dare 103 challenges.  The FTL sketch looks like this:

And the colors are Tempting Turquoise, Pear Pizzazz and Very Vanilla.  Sounds easy right?  That's what I thought, but as it turns out trying to make a card with two colors and a neutral is really hard!  At least for me anyway.  But I persevered and eventually came up with this:

The good news is that I actually like this card.  Once I got it done and started photographing it, I thought it didn't look half bad.  The bad news is that I should be making graduation cards for a party later today and since I took time out to make this card, I'm in danger of {gasp} having to buy some cards. 

Someone send the paramedics, I think I'm going to faint!

So that being said, I'm signing off to put my nose to the grindstone and make those cards.  My family is very well aware that I always make my own cards, and my name will be mud if I show up to this party with store bought cards.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!

Paper Players 40 and Color Dare 99

This is the second card I made for the Color Dare challenge.  The first has been relegated to the "what was I thinking?" pile!  The colors for the challenge are Basic Gray (which I love), Cherry Cobbler (which is the best red on the planet) and Marina Mist (which I am coming to realize is a really fabulous blue).  In my mind, I envisioned a really cool card to showcase the blending of these colors.  It seemed like a pretty unusual combo, but I had to give a try.  I just had to!

As I mentioned, the first card was horrible, but I didn't want to give up so I turned to the Paper Players sketch challenge for a little inspiration.

All you need is a great sketch, some time to think about what you are trying to achieve, some inspiration and voila!  A card (that you actually like) emerges.

One of the design team member's card for the Color Dare used three buttons in a row, so I decided to do that on my card where the sketch challenge graphic showed a sentiment.  I put the sentiment on the square panel and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have time to stamp today!