Freshly Made Sketches 529

It's been a while since I've made a Christmas card so I used Jen T's awesome sketch at Freshly Made Sketches to add one to my meager 2022 stash.

The plaid challenge at Jingle Belles inspired the background for my card.  The bright color of the plaid I chose got me pondering contrasting colors I could use for the other layers of the sketch.  I went with traditional green and red Christmas colors and at first thought I had made a huge mistake!  But after a while I came to like this combination.  It's a little fresh and fun, I say to myself!

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some fabulous cards to inspire you to play along with us!  I hope you check them out!

Supplies

Stamps:  Signature Christmas (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  White Linen (Essentials by Ellen); Mossy Meadow, Real Red (Stampin' Up!); Perfectly Plaid Rainbow (Lawn Fawn)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

Freshly Made Sketches 455

Hello everyone!  I'm the hostess at Freshly Made Sketches for our latest challenge and I made something I love!  A SQUARE card!  Now, of course, anyone who has played along with us before knows that you can use whatever shape you want.   But square cards are so fun - because they are unusual and unexpected - that I think you should try one if you haven't before.  So here is my card and the sketch:

I'm getting to the time of year when I start to panic about the number of Christmas cards I've got made, or more importantly, not made.  So I take every opportunity to squeeze one in when I can.  This time around the "dashing through the snow" challenge at Jingle Belles inspired this little snowflake card.  Well documented here, I only like snow when it is a feature on a card.  I have no use for it on the ground!  But I do love my snowflake dies!  I layered a couple here and paired it with some pretty washi tape.  The big sentiment was embossed in silver.

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have some amazing cards to share with you so be sure to check them out.

Supplies
Stamps:  Peace Love Joy (Right At Home)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Versamark
Accessories:  Snowflake Trio die (amuse studio); Lindemon Snowflake die (Memory Box); silver cord (Stampin' Up!); washi tape

Freshly Made Sketchles 403

Another week has come and gone 😳 and it's time for a new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our sketch is designed by Narelle.  Her sketches always look so simple.  Yet she manages to take those sketches and layer them up while still keeping them clean and simple.  She's so gifted!  For my card I chose the traditional CAS route!

I went with a Christmas theme because I'm always worried that I don't have enough Christmas cards in my stash for the new season!  I'd rather have too many than not enough come December.  For my card I heat embossed the first layer of angled stripes in gold then added a strip of dark red cardstock and another slim white layer with a sentiment.  In between are a couple of pine boughs and a sprig of berries.  Super simple and relatively easy to put together! 

At Jingle Belles they are looking for a "peace" theme so my little sentiment fits the bill there.

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches design team members have made some great cards with this sketch so check them out!  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps: Gorgeous Grunge (Stampin' Up!); Tiny Word Christmas (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green (Stampin' Up!); gold glimmer (Recollections)
Accessories:  Pine Boughs die, Berry Sprig die (Poppystamps); gold embossing powder

Tag You're It 90

Today I've got a tag to show you that I made for the latest Tag You're It Challenge.  The twist with this challenge is that the tag has to be interactive.  I'm not very good in the "imaginative" department so I relied heavily on the inspiration tag and created a tag with a "floating" snowflake.

The base of my tag is an old favorite color, Baja Breeze, which looks great with silver accents.  I simply punched out a circle in the middle of the tag and filled the negative space with a silver sparkly snowflake suspended on silver cord.  I added a simple Christmas sentiment and a few sequins for good measure and I was done!  I'm also going to add this to the Jingle Belles challenge where they are looking for snow.

Thanks for stopping by.  There is still time to play along with Tag You're It so I hope you can join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Christmas Carols (CAS-ual Fridays)
Paper:  Baja Breeze (Stampin' Up!); Silver Glimmer (Recollections)
Ink: Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Let It Snow Too die (My Favorite Things); Basic Bookmark 2 die (Papertrey Ink); Midnight Blend sequins (Avery Elle); silver cord (Stampin' Up!); white seam binding ribbon

Freshly Made Sketches 376

I think it's been a few weeks since I made a Christmas card so our latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches became the inspiration for the latest card to go into my Christmas card stash.  Our hostess is Karren and her sketch is simple and elegant.

I have been dying to CASE this card and finally bought the stamp set that had the lovely buffalo plaid image.  It's not as wide as the horizontal layer on the sketch so I cut my card down to a 4 1/4-inch square so that it would be more in proportion.  I added some holly leaves, which I think are a little large for this wee card, but the glue is permanent so they are staying!  The "joy" sentiment was die cut from some glimmer paper so that I could play along with Jingle Belles.

I love sketches like this where the design leaves a lot of room for interpretation - the gallery is always so diverse!  I hope you have a chance to check out the inspiration from our Freshly Made Sketches design team and join us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Sending Joy, Spruce & Sprigs (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Desert Storm (Neenah); Real Red, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); gold glitter (Recollections)
Ink:  Ripe Avocado, Pure Poppy, Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Spruce & Sprigs die, Bold Borders Flurries die (Papertrey Ink)

Freshly Made Sketches 360

Happy Wednesday!  Today we've got a brand new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches designed by Amy.  I used her inspiration to make another Christmas card.  (I'm trying to stock up on my stash)!

These "grumpling" images are adorable and they are perfect to make fun Christmas cards.  The classic design of the sketch inspired me to make a dent in my prolific stash of patterned paper and I'm so glad I did.  The polka dotted background is fun!  I'm also joining the challenge at Jingle Belles which is to use an animal on a Christmas card.  I actually have no idea what kind of animal this grumpy fellow is, but he's got fur and paws and, oddly enough, antlers so I'm going with it!

Thanks for stopping by!  Once again our Freshly Made Sketches design team have created some beautiful cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out.  And then join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Holiday Grumplings (Taylored Expressions)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Jolly Holiday DSP (Stampin' Up!); X-Press It Blending Card
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Nocturne (Versafine Clair); Copics
Accessories:  Classic Scallop Ovals dies, Classic Ovals dies (Spellbinders)

Freshly Made Sketches 345

Hello hello!  We're back at Freshly Made Sketches with a brand new challenge this week designed by little ol' me!  I used a tilted layer *gasp* in the sketch so I hope you like it!

I decided to make a Christmas card with a kraft card base (one of my Christmas faves) and finally inked up this stamp set that I've had for at least a couple of years.  That's my cool-dude Santa!

The Jingle Bells challenge is looking for stars and stripes this time around and I used a bit of both here and at AAA Cards it's Christmas in July.  It's kind of fun to think of snowy things when it's 90-degrees outside!

Thanks for stopping by!  And I hope that you will join us at Freshly Made Sketches this week!

Supplies
Stamps:  Tis the Season (Essentials by Ellen)
Paper:  Desert Storm (Neenah); Riding Hood Red (Stampin' Up!); Marker Paper (Strathmore); Heidi Swapp patterned paper
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Nocturne (Versafine Clair); White (WPlus9); Polychromos pencils
Accessories:  white embossing powder

Freshly Made Sketches 301

Today we've got a new sketch debuting at Freshly Made Sketches.  But before I get to that I'd like to thank everyone that played along with last week's sketch.  It was #300 and that's a milestone to be proud of.  Week in and week out there is inspiration to be found over there (both from the design team and from the participants in the gallery) and that's what this card-making hobby is all about.  So thank you for supporting Freshly Made Sketches.  Here's to 300 more!

This week our sketch is brought to you by Jen Brum.  I had a little trouble with the angle of that diagonal layer.  Mine ended up being a mirror image but I think you get the idea!

I wanted a simple Christmas card and this sketch was perfect to show off that big, elegant snowflake.  There's a "peace on earth" challenge going on at Jingle Belles and luckily I had a sentiment that fit perfectly on that diagonal layer.  Both the snowflake and the sentiment were heat embossed in gold.

Thanks for stopping by!  And do be sure to check out our 301st challenge at Freshly Made Sketches!

Supplies

Stamps:  Star of Light (Stampin' Up!); Christmas Carols (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps)

Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Taste of Textiles (Stampin' Up!)

Ink:  Versamark

Accessories:  Stitched Basic Edges die (My Favorite Things; gold embossing powder

Tag You're It 67

I have been a busy beaver in my stamp room this week.  I don't know when I've had so much time to get my fingers inky but I won't question it!  Today I've got a tag to show you that is based on the inspiration at Tag You're It and the holiday foliage challenge at Jingle Belles.

I loved the embossed clockwork on featured artist Marion's tag and imagine my surprise when I discovered a clockwork stencil in my stash!  That was the first feature I decided to copy on my tag but since there was a big snowstorm in the forecast that made me think of winter and not summer flowers, I used a poinsettia and made a Christmas tag instead.

Incidentally the snowstorm ended up being a dud around here.  First impressions had a forecast of 12 to 18 inches of the white fluffy stuff but, fortunately for me, the storm tracked further west than originally thought and I ended up with about 6 inches of snow followed by a lot of rain.  And the reason why I had so much extra time in my stamp room is because my boss cancelled work in an anticipation of all that snow so I had all day on Tuesday to putter around the house!!!  I didn't do so much puttering as creating, but who cares!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Sketchy Christmas (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Cherry Cobbler, Old Olilve, Whisper White, Silver Glimmer (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive (Stampin' Up!); Jet Black (Altenew)
Accessories:  Traditional Tags STAX (My Favorite Things); Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box); Spruce & Sprigs die (Papertrey Ink); Clockwork stencil (Tim Holtz); white embossing paste (Dreamweaver); Cherry Cobbler seam binding ribbon, silver cord (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 262!

Another presidential election is in the bag here in the US.  I have no idea who won because I wrote this post Tuesday night when it was "too close to call."  And in other news there's a new sketch challenge up at Freshly Made Sketches brought to us by Jen Brum!

I had Christmas on my mind when I made this card.  There is a "purple and gold" challenge at Less is More and the "flower" challenge at Jingle Belles got me thinking that maybe I could combine those with my FMS card this week.  Yes, that horizontal image really is purple!  I die cut the poinsettia out of vellum then added a couple touches of gold and voilà!  And can I just say that this is very cool looking in real life!

Thanks for stopping by and please stop by Freshly Made Sketches and check out the inspiration from the design team.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Many Merry Messages (Stampin' Up!); Rugged Edge (Indigo Blu)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Vellum, Gold Foil (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Concord Crush (Stampin' Up!); Gold Ultimate Metallic (Encore)
Accessories:  Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box)

CAS(E) This Sketch 194!

Another Christmas card done!  Whew!  This one I made for the latest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch.

I was going around and around in my craft room trying to find the right supplies to use for those horizontal layers.  I finally stamped the line and dotted image that you can see through the washi tape just so that I could put something on the front of my card.  So then I sat and stared at what I had done and wondered how I could make it better.  My endless supply of washi tape started calling me so I put some silver striped tape down over the stamped line and luckily that line still showed through.  Then I thought some shimmery paper would be just thing to jazz things up so I cut a small sliver then stuck that down.  A pink Christmas sentiment and I could join the pink challenge at Jingle Belles!

My CAS(E) This Sketch teamies have got some fabulous cards to show you using this challenge so I hope you check them out.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Handwritten Holidays (Tim Holtz); Christmas Carols (CAS-ual Fridays Stamps)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Silver Glimmer (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Coral Berry (Altenew)
Accessories:  Love Glitter Sprinkles (Doodlebug Design); washi tape

CAS(E) This Sketch 186!

Hello, hello!  We've got a new sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch and this one put me in mind of Christmas!  I recently got some new triangular Christmas tree dies and knew they would be perfect for this sketch.

There's a "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" challenge at Jingle Belles and by that they mean your card should be predominately red.  I dug deep in my stash and found this Ruby Red patterned paper so I used that for the majority of my background then added the trees in green.  I briefly thought about adding a sentiment to this but decided I liked the clean and uncluttered look better.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a chance to stop on by CAS(E) This Sketch to see the inspiration from our awesome design team.  We'd love to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Paper:  Chocolate Chip, Ruby Red, Old Olive, Holiday Treasures DSP (SU)
Accessories:  Sapins die (Simply Graphic)

Freshly Made Sketches 204

Hello, hello!  It's time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our intrepid pilot Jen Timko is our hostess and I am pretty sure that you are going to love her sketch!

At first I intended to make a card with some lovely leaves and some lovely fall colors, but then I saw that Jingle Belles and Shop Our Stash teamed up to encourage Christmas cards made with supplies we already have and I changed my mind.  Plus I'm way behind on my Christmas cards this year so any excuse to add to my Christmas card stash is a good excuse!

You won't be surprised to see that the Freshly Made Sketches design team has made some pretty fabbo cards this week so, if you haven't already, be sure to pop on over there and check them out.  You won't be disappointed!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Modern Christmas (Clearly Besotted); Joyous Noel (Verve)
Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Early Espresso, Blue Bayou, Whispher White (SU)
Ink:  Blue Bayou (SU); Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Pierced Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); Falling Snow stencil (Simon Says Stamp); Transparent Matte Texture Paste (Ranger); Winter Wonderland sequins (Neat & Tangled)