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 617

It's our first sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches in 2024 and despite the holidays being behind me I went with a Christmas card!

Narelle is our hostess this week and using her sketch I chose to do three Christmas trees for the main focal point on my card.  The trees were foiled in gold and in true fashion, are nearly impossible for me to photograph properly.  The tree on the right looks gold, but the others look like......something less than gold.  

One thing I learned in 2023 was that I didn't have enough Christmas cards made 😳 so I'm starting early this year!

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches design team members have some amazing cards using this sketch so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fa La La (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Real Red, Whispher White, Christmas Cocoa DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Geometric Trees foil plate (Trinity Stamps)

Freshly Made Sketches 614

I've been a bit under the weather and missed last week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge, but I managed to make a card for this week with our new sketch designed by Jen Brum!

Our design team had a bit of a laugh when we saw Jen's sketch -  because she is a self-proclaimed circle-hater!  And this sketch is just chock full of them!  But kudos to her for facing her fears!  I decided to use a bokeh stencil to create the circles on my card.  I added a horizontal vellum layer and a die cut sentiment cut from red foil cardstock.  It's a super simple design and pretty much all my pneumonia-fogged brain could come up with!

We are joined this week by Nancy Elrick, one of our 600th sketch winners.  So be sure to check out her design and the designs of our design team.  Amazing!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Paper:  Lost Lagoon, Vellum (Stampin' Up!); Watercolor Wash (My Favorite Things); Red Foil (Recollections)
Ink:  Frost White (Colorbox)
Accessories:  Bokeh Lights stencil (Simon Says Stamp); Merry Christmas die (Dee's Distinctively)

Freshly Made Sketches 612

We've got another fun sketch challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is Linda and her sketch got me thinking about layering some patterned paper and making a Christmas card.

 

This card is almost entirely made from patterned paper.  Despite my reputation as a CAS card-maker I do love layers once in a while.  😉  And patterned paper is my favorite way to create layers.  Once I settled on the layers for this card I added a die cut "JOY" sentiment plus another small sentiment to finish the thought.

Once again my Sketchbook from Trinity Stamps was a huge help when I was designing my card.  I love that I can sketch out different ideas before I actually start cutting into my precious paper stash.  (And I use a pencil when I'm sketching out my ideas so I can easily erase something that turns out to be the wrong idea).

Thanks for stopping by!  As always my fellow Freshly Made Sketches design team members have made some smashingly good cards with this sketch!

Supplies

Stamps:  Joy Stamp (The Stamp Market)

Paper:  Ruby Red, Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Silver Glimmer, Holiday Treasures DSP (Stampin' Up!); Solar White (Neenah)

Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)

Accessories:  Large Joy die (Simon Says Stamp); Glitter Drops: Leaf (PinkFresh Studio)

Freshly Made Sketches 611

I'm the hostess this week at Freshly Made Sketches...insert nail biting here.  I went with a layered design -not something I usually do.  But I like to challenge myself.  I hope you do too!

I'm at the point in the year when I start to worry that I don't have enough Christmas cards in my stash so that's my main focus when I make a new card.  This card uses a pretty plaid with gold and silver accents.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Paper:  Night of Navy, Gold Foil, Wrapped in Plaid (Stampin' Up!); vellum (Graphix); Christmas Overlay (Marisa Lerin);
Accessories:  Tag Sale #5 die (Papertrey Ink); RyLynn snowflake die (Simon Says Stamp); Let it Snowflake Too die (My Favorite Things); Metallic Gold Rhinestone (Pretty Pink Posh); Shine Gold Twine Cording (Maya Road)

Freshly Made Sketches 609

At Freshly Made Sketches this week our sketch is designed by Judy and we are joined by a new guest designer, Donna Mikasa, who was one of our 600th sketch challenge winners!  Check out the fun sketch!

The proportions of my card is a little off from the sketch 😬 but this card was born out of the scrap heap!  I had this panel with the pinecones hanging around on my desk for a while.  I had made it for a card that ended up not being made (!) and thought it might work nicely for this sketch.  I wanted the background to be bold so I used a dark indigo for the card base and layered on some nice tartan paper too.  There are lots of gold accents too!

Thanks for stopping by!  Of course, the Freshly Made Sketches design team has some fabbo cards to share with you, so I hope you check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Stained Glass Greetings (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Dark Indigo (Papertrey Ink); Gold Foil, Whisper White, Wrapped in Plaid DSP, Champagne Glimmer (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Dark Indigo (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Classic Pine stencil (Altenew); Peace Jotted Script die (Memory Box)

Freshly Made Sketches 604

We've got a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches this week!  Our designer is Cécile, and as always when she's given us a sketch I try to channel my inner CAS soul.

When I first saw the sketch I was pretty sure what stamp set I wanted to use for the two splashy background images, but I wasn't sure what the final image on top was going to be.  Then my sister asked me if had any cards with dragonflies on them, as she needed a thank you card for someone who was crazy about dragonflies.  Well I didn't have one, but I knew I could make one.  That was the perfect image I was looking for so this card was born!

Thanks for stopping by!  As always my Freshly Made Sketches design teammates have got some amazing cards to inspire you to play along with us!  

Supplies
Stamps: Abstract Art (My Favorite Things); Tiny Words (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  White (Gina K); Island Indigo (Stampin' Up!); vellum (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Sea Glass, Ocean Waves (Altenew); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Libellules die (4enscrap)

Freshly Made Sketches 595

I've really been into making Christmas cards lately.  I don't know if it's the "Christmas in July" phenomena or just general panic that I'll end up short at the end of the year!  But another Christmas card is on tap for our new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  Amy is our hostess and I think her layered design called for some patterned paper in the background.

Poinsettias are one of my favorite elements to use on a Christmas card and I paired one with this patterned paper that combines SU! Crumb Cake, Always Artichoke, and Cherry Cobbler.  The poinsettia and leaves were die cut using two of the same colors and I jazzed the card up a bit with some gold glimmer on the die cut sentiment and the center of the flower.  The "peace" sentiment is intended to replicate the rectangular layer on the sketch and I was able to tuck in a complementary sentiment next to the tail of the "P."  

Thanks for stopping by!  

Supplies
Stamps:  Stained Glass Greetings (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke (Stampin' Up!); gold glimmer (Recollections)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Blooming Poinsettia die, Peace die (Memory Box)

Freshly Made Sketches 594

It's Wednesday so that means there's a great new sketch challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is Narelle and those circles put me in mind of these fun (and new to me) fireworks images.

I bought the matching die for these stamps and I've got to say that trying to match up the die with the stamped image was very challenging.  I think the key might be to cut out each die cut onto plain paper and then use that as a registration mark on the stamped image.  I realized this, of course, after many attempts to line up the die with the image, and a few choice words when it wasn't working!

But in the end I'm happy with the result and thanks to Sunday Stamps Challenge for the colors!

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have some creative cards to inspire you to play along with us, too, so be sure to check them out! 

Freshly Made Sketches 579

Sorry I'm late with my post for Freshly Made Sketches.  I had a sick kitty earlier this week and I wasn't sure I'd even get my card made, but said kitty is doing better and I managed to eek out a card this week!

I was a little fluid with my interpretation of the sketch.  The oval on the sketch is the grid background and I dressed it up with some floral images using the colors from Sunday Stamps.

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some amazing designs with the sketch this week so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes, Off the Grid (Stampin' Up!); Tiny Words (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair); Ultraviolet (Altenew); Blueberry Sky (Papertrey Ink); Lemon Lime Twist (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  enamel dots (My Mind's Eye)

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)

Freshly Made Sketches 561

I'm really, really late posting my card for the newest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches!  But better late than never.  Our hostess this week is Linda and her sketch inspired some snowflakes, of all things!

I do love cards with sparkly snowflakes!  And I added some clear droplets around the white space because it looked quite plain to me otherwise.

Be sure to check out all the inspiration at Freshly Made Sketches and join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Blizzard Hugs (The Ton)
Paper:  Just Jade (Stampin' Up!); Solar White (Neenah); glimmer paper (Recollecltions)
Ink:  Lagoon (Altenew)
Accessories:  Alexis Snowflake die (Simon Says Stamp); Let it Snowflake Too die (My Favorite Things); Clear Droplets (Pretty Pink Posh)

Freshly Made Sketches 559

It's vintage for me this time around for my Freshly Made Sketches card.  Jen Timko is our hostess and her sketch is an absolute classic!

My stash of patterned paper is so old I consider it vintage!  And I was able to use a few sheets on this card.  Not to mention the scallop circle die from Spellbinders.  I remember years ago when acquiring Spellbinders Nestabilities was a mission for me!  I've got quite a few of them but sometimes I forget to use them, so it was a treat to see a big circle on the sketch which was perfect for the Spellbinders scallop circle die.  I added a few layers on top of it then topped it with a poinsettia and leaves as my version of the trio of circles.  

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow design team members at Freshly Made Sketches have some great cards for this week's sketch so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fa La La (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Early Espresso, Always Artichoke, Cherry Cobbler, Deck the Halls DSP (Stampin' Up!); Desert Storm (Neenah); Gold Glimmer (Recollections)
Ink:  Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Petite Scallop Circles die, Circles die (Spellbinders); Layered Poinsettia die (Penny Black); Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box)

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 - Pinwheels

Hi everyone!  We've got a great new challenge for you at Fusion.  The colors are awesome, the sketch was fun, and I couldn't resist those pinwheels.  Here's what I made!

I went deep into my crafty stash for this card.  I have no idea who made the background paper that I used, the pinwheel flowers are from a long-unused die, and the gray paper was a total surprise when I stumbled on it.  But somehow this collection of supplies combined into a fun card that incorporates the colors and sketch of the Fusion challenge!  

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you can create some Fusion along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Tiny Words (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Smoky Slate, Patterns Stack Neutrals (Stampin' Up!); Enchanted Evening, Harvest Gold (Papertrey Ink)
Accesssories:  Mini Paper Rosettes die (Tim Holtz)

Freshly Made Sketches 551

Happy Wednesday!  We've got a fabulous new sketch challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is Kim and I love her design.  It's got layers and wide open space - a perfect combination for the imagination!

I chose to keep my card CAS and following the "pink" challenge at Addicted to CAS I used varying shades of pink for the horizontal layers on the sketch.  Then I got the bright idea to incorporate the vellum challenge at Less Is More and added a simple leafy die cut.

Thanks for stopping by!  You don't need me to tell you that my fellow Freshly Made Sketches teammates have some creative takes on this sketch.  So be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Tiny Words (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Pink Pirouette, Powder Pink, Rococco Rose, Vellum (Stampin' Up)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Feuillages Ajourés die (Simply Graphic)

Freshly Made Sketches 548

Hi friends!  Our latest sketch challenge from Freshly Made Sketches features a straight, vertical layer.  That got me thinking about a stamp set featuring a line of butterflies.  Butterflies seem to abound lately in some of my favorite challenges so I decided to combine my Freshly Made Sketches card with a couple of them.  Our sketch this week is brought to you by Jacquie.  I love her minimalist design.

I wanted to do something simple with my card so I stamped the line of butterflies in a fun color then added a "layer" by drawing a vertical line down the card, being careful to go around the butterflies.  It's a one layer card and so much fun!  There are butterfly challenges at Just Us Girls as well as Less Is More so I'm adding my card to those challenges too!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you'll play along with our Freshly Made Sketches challenge!  Our design team will surely inspire you so check out their cards.

Supplies
Stamps:  Butterflies and Moths (Tim Holtz); Tiny Words (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Simply Chartreuse (Papertrey Ink); Onyx Black (Versafine); Copic Multiliner

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