Freshly Made Sketches 619

Hi friends!  I've been a bad stamper lately, but I'm back with a card for our newest Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  Our hostess this week is Judy and her card put me in mind of butterflies!

The color challenge at The Paper Players influenced the design of this card.  I used some grungy Stampin' Up! DSP for the black and white background and then used a butterfly as my pop of color.  

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches design team members have made some fabulous cards with this challenge so I hope you check them out!

Supplies
Paper:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Tempting Turquoise, Night and Day DSP (Stampin' Up!);  vellum (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Papillons die (4enscrap); Blueprints 15 Die (My Favorite Things)

Freshly Made Sketches 581

Hi all!  We've got a great new challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess and sketch designer is Cécile and, as always, when she designs a sketch I try (and usually fail) to channel her amazing design aesthetic.  Here's my humble attempt:

So, since spring has sprung out all over in my neighborhood, I decided to combine the pastel color challenge at The Paper Players with our Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  I used a stencil to create the background and then topped it with this artsy butterfly.  I know I was supposed to add a sentiment, but this looked too darn cute without one, so I left it off!  I hope Cécile forgives me!

Thanks for stopping by!  As always our Freshly Made Sketches design team has some amazing cards to inspire you to play along with us!  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Fresh Freesia, Basic Black, Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Certain Celery (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Pine stencil (The Ton); Papillon die (4enscrap)

Freshly Made Sketches 578

After a busy week and a missed challenge I'm back at Freshly Made Sketches for our newest challenge.  Our hostess this week is Jacquie and after contemplating her sketch I went with a layered stenciled design.

I think it's a fun design to layer images over one another - and pop one up on foam tape over the other. I chose to use vellum for the horizontal layer on the sketch so that the stamped images on the card base were still visible.

I was inspired by the spring challenge at The Paper Players too!

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches design team has made some beautiful cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Paper:  Whisper White, Vellum (Stampin' Up!
Ink:  Wisteria, Hydrangea, Ultraviolet, Forest Glades (Altenew)
Accessories:  Climbing Cosmos layering stencil (The Ton); Pierced Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things)

Freshly Made Sketches 565

Tis the season!  I was inspired by the latest Freshly Made Sketches challenge to make another Christmas card.  Our hostess is Karren and her sketch is classic!

This is a Santa from and old stamp set that I've had in my stash for a long time.  He's a jolly old elf - but don't color him after you've had a few cups of coffee!  LOL!  He's featured on a festive ho-ho-ho background stamped in Christmas green with a few spots in red to be interesting.

And speaking of Santa, at The Paper Players they are searching for him.  Luckily I found him!  LOL!

Thanks for stopping by!  Check out my fellow Freshly Made Sketches teammates cards.  I have no doubt they will inspire you to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Jolly Holiday (Stampin' Up!); Ho Ho Ho Background (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  Whisper White, Shimmery White, Call Me Clover (Stampin' Up!); Vellum (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Just Green (Altenew); Real Red (Stampin' Up!); Copics
Accessories:  Merry Christmas die (Impression Obsession)

Freshly Made Sketches 562

Hi all!  It's time for a new sketch from your friends at Freshly Made Sketches! This week our hostess is Kim and I love the building block style of her sketch.

I used a combination of stamps, washi tape, and cardstock to create those building blocks.  The sentiment is a fun one, and new to me, the horizontal washi has got some wonderful shimmer and the vertical cardstock layer is backed with some shiny silver washi.  Blue and silver is a great color combination for a Christmas card and this one was inspired by the color challenge at The Paper Players.

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some amazing and inventive cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out!  I'm sure you'll be inspired to join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Bold Fill in Holiday (The Ton)
Paper:  Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink); Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories: Bold Fill in Holiday die (The Ton); washi tape

Freshly Made Sketches 557

Wednesday is always fun for me because it's sketch reveal day at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our sketch this week is designed by Judy and her wide horizontal layer got me digging through my copious inventory of patterned paper for some inspiration.

I chose some paper that was perfect for a Halloween theme and fit the color challenge at The Paper Players to boot. I picked a sentiment from one of my favorite Halloween stamp sets and added a few fun bats flying around.  

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some great cards for you to see and be inspired by!  I hope you'll join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Autumn Apparitions (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Certainly Celery, Basic Black, Pumpkin Pie, Vintage Violet, Whisper White, Halloween Night DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Quadrangle Frames die (Simon Says Stamp); Ebony Black Nuvo Drops 

Fusion - Autumn Leaves

My calendar says "autumn" but the weather says "I don't want summer to end!"  It's been lovely here and although I don't want to admit that summer is over, I know that the leaves will be changing soon.  As luck would have it, our challenge at Fusion embraces those autumn-colored leaves  so I jumped on the bandwagon1

I combined these gorgeous Fusion colors with the sketch at The Paper Players.  I stamped a bunch of leaves in these beautiful colors and arranged then haphazardly horizontally to mimic the sketch.  Then I added a simple sentiment at the bottom.

Thanks for stopping by!  Remember at Fusion you can use the sketch, the inspiration, or both! It's up to you!

Supplies
Stamps:  Leaf Prints (Papertrey Ink); Always There (Altenew)
Paper:  Pool Party, Calypso Coral, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Ocean Tides (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Pumpkin Pie (Stampin' Up!); Honey Drizzle, Burnt Red (Altenew); Ocean Tides (Papertrey Ink); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  enamel dots (Freckled Fawn)

Freshly Made Sketches 553

Hi all!  We've got a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is our clean and simple queen Cecile.  She's given us a great sketch, so let's check it out!

I chose to use some of the colors at The Paper Players for my card (with the addition of a pale grey which I hope is an allowed neutral).  I pretty much followed the sketch and added a little thread behind the flowers for some texture. 

Thanks for stopping by!  As usual my Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some fabulous cards using this sketch so be sure to check them out!  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Simple Sentiments (Avery Elle)
Paper:  White Linen (Essentials by Ellen); Powder Pink, Blackberry Bliss (Stampin' Up!); Soft Stone, Mint Julep (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Leafy die (Reverse Confetti); Pierced Square STAX (My Favorite Things)

Freshly Made Sketches 549

So we've got a fabulous new sketch for you from Freshly Made Sketches. Our hostess this week is Jen Timko.  Her design is CAS so I chose honor that with my card.

I changed my layout to a square card and stamped a bright shining star in the center.  The sentiment finished the look perfectly!  My colors were inspired by the challenge at Paper Players.

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

Supplies
Stamps:  Kinda Eclectic (Stampin' Up!); Shiny Happy Sentiments (Lil' Inker Designs)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things)
Ink:  Daffodil Delight (Stampin' Up!); Onyx Black (Versafine)

Freshly Made Sketches 547

We've got a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is Judy and I love her sketch!  Those vertical layers leave much to the imagination!

There were a lot of butterfly challenges around blogland this week so I combined my Freshly Made Sketches card with the tic-tac-toe challenge at The Paper Players (center horizontal) and the butterfly challenge at Allsorts.  I used some ancient DSP in a simple pattern then added an outline butterfly as my "circle"on the sketch.  The butterfly was a bit boring so I jazzed it up with some Wink of Stella.

Thanks for stopping by!  Our Freshly Made Sketches team has created some fabulous cards to inspire you to play along with us, so I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps: Simple Sentiments 02 (Simon Says Stamps)
Paper: White Linen (Essentials by Ellen); Midnight Muse, Sweet Pea DSP (Stampin' Up!); Dark Indigo (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Floral & Flutter dies (Concord & 9th); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye); Wink of Stella 

Freshly Made Sketches 535

Hi all!  I'm a wee bit late with my card for the latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches but here it finally is!  Our hostess this week is Amy and I love the banner she incorporated into the sketch.  So many possibilities!  

I chose to use the colors from The Paper Players and the flowers challenge from Just Us Girls and combine them with the sketch to create a CAS thank you card.  The banner was die cut with some parchment-style vellum and I stamped the sentiment on it using my go-to ink for crisp images.  But by the next day the sentiment was a fuzzy, blurry mess.  This looks cute as long as you don't look too close!  😂

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you can join us at Freshly Made Sketches! Our fabulous design team has made some cards that will surely inspire you to play along with us so check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Celebration of Thanks (Verve)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Lavender Moon, Green Parakeet (Papertrey Ink); Night of Navy (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Weathered embossing folder (Taylored Expressions); Pierced Fishtail Flags die, Plentiful Petals die (My Favorite Things)

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

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

Freshly Made Sketches 503

Hi everyone!  It's time for a brand new sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess and sketch designer this week is the incomparable Cécile.  I absolutely adore every card she makes!

Cécile has this minimalist design sense that translates into eye-poppingly beautiful cards every single time she makes one.  I tried to channel her inspiration when I made this card and used simple square outlines and a simple leaf using the colors of The Paper Players challenge.  I softened the color of the leaf by adding an additional layer in vellum.  I tucked in a small sentiment between the squares.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have some time to check out the amazing inspiration from our design team at Freshly Made Sketches!

Supplies
Stamps:  Tons of Type (The Stamp Market)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Hibiscus Burst (Papertrey Ink); Blackberry Bliss, Rich Razzleberry, Old Olive, Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Quadrangle Frames die (Simon Says Stamp); Lorelai Leaf die (Poppystamps)

Fusion - Seashells

Hi all!  It's time for a new challenge at Fusion.  This week the inspiration is about seashells, but as luck would have it I don't own any seashell stamps.  So I had to content myself with just the sketch! 

Summer seems to have started off with a bang here in Massachusetts, and it's not even technically summer.  A week ago it was rainy and cold and the last several days have been over 90 degrees.  Welcome to New England folks!  So all this hot weather put me in mind of summer flowers - which I have been feverishly watering in this heat.  Lucky for me the challenge at The Paper Players is about the signs of summer so all my summer thoughts went in to this floral card.

Thanks for stopping by!  Our Fusion design team has made some great cards for this challenge so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes, By Definition (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Whisper White, Smoky Slate (Stampin' Up!); Lemon Grass (Avery Elle); Soft Stone (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Lemon Grass, Daisy (Avery Elle); Smoky Slate (Stampin' Up!); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Blueprints 15 (My Favorite Things); Scallop Edge punch (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 488

Hi friends!  It's my time to be the hostess at Freshly Made Sketches - always a nail-biter for me!  This time around I made a no-frills sketch, but it's still got some room for your clever interpretation.

When I make a sketch I don't work backwards, meaning I don't make a card and then draw up the sketch based on the card.  I just come up with the sketch and hope for divine inspiration when it comes to actually making a card with it. 😊 This time around when I sat at my desk to make my card I was lucky enough to have some extra inspiration in the form of the dots challenge at Just Us Girls and the Tic-Tac-Toe challenge at The Paper Players (middle row across). 

Originally the ribbon and sentiment layers were a bit longer and I tried to add a few staples on the right side of them to be interesting, but my stapler wouldn't cooperate (read:  user error) and I made a big mess and had to cut down both layers to get rid of said big mess.  However, since I firmly believe in the old adage "there are no mistakes in stamping" I forged ahead with my modified version and all is right in the world.

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some awesome cards with my sketch so please stop on by to check them out.  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Tons of Type (The Stamp Market)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Poppy Parade, Wild Wasabi, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versfine)
Accessories:  Subtle embossing folder (Stampin' Up!); enamel dew drop (Freckled Fawn); seam binding ribbon