Freshly Made Sketches 624

Our newest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches comes to us from Kim.  Her sketch just called out to me to use up some of the patterned paper in my stash.

This particular patterned paper that I used is a favorite of mine for Christmas cards because of the earthy colors.  The rich greens and dark reds are perfect together and look great with my favorite Christmas flower:  the poinsettia.  I accented the earthy tones of this card with some leaves in brushed gold cardstock.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a chance to play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches!

Supplies
Stamps:  Signature Christmas (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, Brushed Gold, Deck the Halls DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box)

Freshly Made Sketches 605

It took me a bit longer than I wanted, but I finally got my Freshly Made Sketches card done!  Special thanks to my Freshly Made Sketches teammates for putting up with my delays!  Our hostess and sketch designer this week is Karren and her sketch immediately put me in mind of a Christmas card with one of my go-to design elements:  a poinsettia.  We are also joined this week by Cindy Beach - one of our 600th sketch celebration winners.

The circle on the sketch became a poinsettia framed with a circular die cut of tiny dots.  Once that design element was done the trouble started.  I wanted to use white ribbon for the horizontal layer so I started rummaging through my extensive ribbon stash for white ribbon.  I came up empty!  I must have used it all up!  Then, by some miracle, I found a small scrap of white satin ribbon hiding under the eight million rolls of other ribbon that I've got....and it was the perfect length!  It became my horizontal layer and I put a sparkly die-cut sentiment on top of it!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you check out my fellow Freshly Made Sketches design teammates cards, because they will inspire you for sure to play along with us!

Supplies
Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Solar White (Neenah); Champagne Glimmer (Stampin' Up!);velour paper (Hygloss)
Accessories:  Circles die (Little B); Blooming Poinsettias die, Peace Jotted Script die (Memory Box); satin ribbon (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 575

Hi stamping friends!  Today at Freshly Made Sketches we've got a challenge for you designed by Karren and, no surprise, it's a great one!  It's now March and I don't think I've made a Christmas card in a while so I thought I'd better add one to my stash.  This sketch gave me the inspiration I needed.

I recently discovered flocked (or velour) paper and I bought a paper pack recently.  It came in handy for the poinsettia on my card.  Look, what gorgeous texture it adds!  I added some leaves in a shimmery vellum, some enamel dots for texture, and the vertical strip of patterned paper for some extra interest.  The colors I chose were inspired by the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!  As usual my fellow Freshly Made Sketches design team members have made some amazing cards to inspire you to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Signature Christmas (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  White Linen (Essentials by Ellen); Pool Party, Blushing Bride, Twitterpated DSP (Stampin' Up!); vellum (Graphix); velour paper (Hygloss)
Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box); enamel dots (Studio Calico)

Freshly Made Sketches 564

Christmas is in full swing here at my house.  At least for my cards, that is!  And I'm having fun experimenting with my new hot foil machine, as well.  The two things came together for my card for Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Cécile is our hostess and her card inspired a lot of Christmas possibilities for me.

It was hard to capture a decent picture of this card, but the background is a lovely rose-gold foil and I topped it with a scallop circle also cut in rose-gold followed by a vellum poinsettia.  Unfortunately the color of the rose-gold and the poinsettia itself didn't lend well to my not-so-great photography skills.  But the card is very pretty in real life!

I hope you have time to play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  As usual my fellow design team members have cooked up some fabulous cards to inspire you!

Supplies
Stamps:  Tiny Words Christmas (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Rose Gold Specialty (Stampin' Up!); vellum (Graphix)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Plaid Tidings Background hot foil plate, Petite Scallop Circles die, Layered Poinsettia die, Rose Gold Shimmer Foil (Spellbinders); Stitched Circles STAX (My Favorite Things); Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box); Love Glitter Sprinkles (Doodlebug Designs)

Fusion - Gingerbread

I'm super behind this week in my posting, but I'm finally here with my card for the latest Fusion challenge.  I decided to go with the sketch and incorporated some of the colors from the inspiration photo.

I love the combination of a kraft background with red and black on a Christmas card.  And the plaid makes me smile too! 😊.  And I added another favorite element, the poinsettia.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to check out the amazing creations from the Fusion design team too!

Supplies
Stamps:  Joy (Concord & 9th); Sending Joy (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Desert Storm (Neenah); Real Red (Stampin' Up!); vellum (Graphix)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Poinsettia die (Paper Smooches)

Freshly Made Sketches 536

Pardon my late entry (again) for our newest Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  I've got to say that the circles on the sketch initially put me in a bit of a panic, but after poking around in my stash I came up with a card that makes me so happy!  Karren is our hostess and her sketch got me thinking out of the box!

So, when I first saw the sketch I was thinking about something along the lines of three flowers, or maybe three geometric shapes, or maybe three butterflies.  But as I was looking through my stash I stumbled on this JUMBO stamp set from The Ton which had three poinsettias in roughly the same placement as the circles.  Perfect!

I embossed the background with some subtle burlap texture because I didn't like the flowers against a plain white background.  The poinsettias and leaves have amazing dimension - perfect with the textured background - and the black die-cut sentiment just makes the whole thing pop!  I love this card!

Thanks for stopping by!  The amazing Freshly Made Sketches design team has some fabulous cards to inspire you to play along with us, so I hope you do!

Supplies
Stamps:  Boundless Poinsettia (The Ton)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Whisper White, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Frosty Pink, Coral Berry, Ruby Red, Frayed Leaf, Forest Glades (Altenew)
Accessories:  Rustic Burlap impression plate (Papertrey Ink); Merry Christmas die (Impression Obsession)

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 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 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 492

 🎵🎶🎵  We're having a heat wave...a tropical heat wave  🎵🎶🎵 It's our second one of the year and it's only technically been summer for about 9 days!  So to celebrate my 100-degree weather I decided to take Cécile's new design for Freshly Made Sketches and make a Christmas card.  Dreaming about Christmas won't help the weather outside but it makes me smile all the same!

Cécile always designs the most artful cards - and sketches - and I was excited to create a clean and simple card for this sketch.  I added a bit of texture with the embossed square in the center and decided to mount it to a layer of gold glimmer paper.  The red poinsettia gives this a beautiful pop of color.  The gold cord completes the look and allows me to enter this into the Christmas Card Throwdown challenge following the far right column.

Thanks for stopping by!  As always my Freshly Made Sketches teammates have dreamed up some beautiful cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Christmas Mini Cluster (The Ton)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Cherry (Avery Elle); gold glimmer (Recollections)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Poinsettia die (Paper Smooches); Decorative Dots embossing folder, gold cord (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 450

It's time for a brand new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is Karren and she's got a great sketch for us!

Well documented here, when I see a sketch with three of anything I go running for the hills!  But my go-to compromise is three things that are not identical to each other.  In this case it is a flower and two sets of leaves on either side.  That equals three!

I'm way behind on my Christmas cards this year and since I recently got this plaid DSP, and I love plaid on Christmas cards, I decided to take the opportunity to use the sketch for a Christmas card.  The three circles became a poinsettia and two sets of leaves - and to add a little more interest I added some copper cord behind them.  The leaves looked a little lost so I sponged a bit of green on the edges of them so they stood out a little more.  Pretty!

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches design teammates have made some gorgeous card with this sketch - what great ideas they have!  So be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Paper:  Desert Storm (Neenah); Garden Green, Cherry Cobbler, Champagne Glimmer (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Garden Green (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Poinsettia die (Paper Smooches); Copper Cord (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 400 - A Redux

It's hard to believe but we are at 400 challenges at Freshly Made Sketches!  Woo hoo!  Our very first challenge debuted on September 7, 2011.  We had six members on our design team (two are still here - me included) and that first challenge saw countless people play along.  And here we are nearly eight years later still going strong!

We've got a month long celebration planned and we are kicking it off with a bit of a challenge redux.  Our sketch this week is actually our debut sketch from all those years ago.  (Incidentally we did the same thing for #100 so this sketch has got some traction)!

Here's my new take on the sketch as well as the cards I made for #1 and #100.

Challenge 1

Challenge 100

I decided to go with a Christmas theme this time around.  I used some colorful striped paper, some white shimmer cardstock (which looks fantastic in real life) and my favorite poinsettia die that I cut from some gorgeous gold vellum and all that is highlighted with this great buffalo plaid stamp.  I love that thing!

Our Freshly Made Sketches design team has really gone all out for this challenge so I hope you can play along with us.  We've got some fun things in the works so stay tuned as we celebrate 400 challenges over the next few weeks.  It's going to be fun!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Sending Joy, Travelers Journal December Typed Words (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Desert Storm (Neenah); Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Real Red, Ski Slope DSP (Stampin' Up!); Cryogen White
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair); Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Blueprints 21 die (My Favorite Things); Layered Poinsettia die (Penny Black); enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

CAS(E) This Sketch 327

Sometimes, out of the blue, I am inspired to make a Christmas card.  This is a good thing because if the mood doesn't strike me at random moments throughout the year I'm scrambling come November to make a whole bunch at once!  Luckily our newest sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch this week inspired one!

The colors for my card come from the latest challenge at Sunday Stamps.  Despite the fact that the challenge is called "summer adventure" Those screamed "Christmas" to me so I grabbed my new favorite poinsettia die and got to work assembling those colors into a Christmas card.  To add a bit of texture I used some burlap twine behind the poinsettia.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you get a chance to play along with us at CAS(E) This Sketch!

Supplies
Stamps:  Tiny Words Christmas (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Fine Linen (Papertrey Ink); Baja Breeze, Night of Navy, Vellum, Twitterpated DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Night of Navy (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Layered Poinsettia die (Penny Black); linen thread, enamel dot (My Mind's Eye)

Freshly Made Sketches 53

Wednesday is, of course, the start of a new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  Last week was our anniversary challenge and I was completely blown away by all the entries in the gallery and all the nice things people had to say about Freshly Made Sketches. It certainly seems like the concept of a fresh and clean card is something everyone can wrap their head around!  Now onward to another year of amazing challenges and an amazing gallery!

This week, Tui has engineered another challenge that had me thinking sideways, upside down, right side up and everywhere in between!  Take a look at this:

This is another example of a card that looked way better in my head than in the execution of it.  And I think the ladies at FMS might give me an "F" on it, because I totally messed up all the vertical stripes.  It may be hard to believe but I actually spent a lot of time thinking about how I wanted this card to go.  It was at work that I got the bright idea to use the Silver Glimmer paper and to make a poinsettia from one of the leaves in French Foliage. Somewhere along the way, I thought that if I made vertical strips of the glimmer paper placed just so, it would give the illusion of vertical strips of paper between them.  Not so, it turns out.  But it was too late to start over so I went with it.

I tried to jazz up the poinsettia with some smooch spritz but it didn't come out quite as shimmery as I wanted.  A quick look in the catty just now has revealed why:  I think I used Vanilla Shimmer instead of Silver Foil.  It does have a nice shimmer in real life, but I think the silver would have been a better choice.

And in their usual crafty way, the Freshly Made Sketches design team has interpreted this sketch in a variety of cool and interesting ways so be sure to pop on by for some inspiration.

Thanks for stopping by and here's to another great year of sketches!!