Freshly Made Sketches 621

We've got a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Our hostess is Jen Timko and her sketch put me in mind of some snowflakes.  I haven't seen many of those flying around this winter (fine by me) but I have no problem adding them to a card.

      

This card is pretty big - six-inches by six-inches but I needed it to accommodate the snowflakes.  The snowflakes are a mix of silver shimmer ink and glitter cardstock. So pretty in real life!  Thanks for stopping by. 

Supplies
Stamps:  Bizzard Hugs (The Ton)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); silver foil (Recollections)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine); Silvery Shimmer (Delicata)
Accessories:  Blizzard Hugs dies (The Ton)

Freshly Made Sketches 616

We've got a fun new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess and sketch designer this week is Amy.  I discovered I'm a bit low on my Christmas cards this year 😳 so I took the opportunity to use the sketch to add to my Christmas card stash.  Gotta get those cards in the mail!

In addition to the pretty patterned paper I wanted to use snowflakes on my card. And since I've got about 8-million snowflake dies I thought this would be easy to do.  Alas, the dies proved to be difficult to cut and punch out  all the little pieces.  The one on this card is the only one that I managed to do properly.  But I love how it looks!

The colors of my card were inspired by the Christmas Card Throwdown challenge.  

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

Supplies
Paper:  Concord Crush, Champagne Glimmer, Lap of Luxury DSP (Stampin' Up!); Silver Foil (Recollections)
Accessories:  Snowflake Cluster Fancy Die (Hero Arts); cold cord (Stampin' Up!)

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 593

I've got Christmas on my mind again for my Freshly Made Sketches card.  Karren has given us a great sketch inspired by a "bridge" card and I'm not ashamed to say I had no idea what a bridge card was!  Luckily the sketch can be interpreted in other ways, but I was intrigued by the concept so I watched the video link on Freshly Made Sketches and loved the idea!  I can't wait to try my own variation of a bridge card!  Here's how I interpreted the sketch.

This funky Christmas paper formed the background of my card and inspired the gold snowflake swoosh.  I stamped the slim sentiment in gold and added some golden gems for a little added bling.

Thanks for stopping by!  Our Freshly Made Sketches design team have some marvelous interpretations of this sketch so definitely check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Triangle Trees (Reverse Confetti)
Paper:  Whisper White, Sahara Sand, Holiday Lounge DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Gold (Encore)
Accessories:  Snowflake Cluster Fancy Die (Hero Arts); metallic gold jewels (Pretty Pink Posh)

Freshly Made Sketches 563

We've got a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Jen Brum is our hostess and in honor of the snow she's already seen fall at her house this season, I made a card with snowflakes!

I did something on this card that I haven't done in a very long time - spritz some color with a color mist.  It gave the background a little splash of color and makes the snowflakes stand out a bit more.  I'm also joining the snowflake challenge at Perfectly CAS.

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches have got some fabulous cards to show you and I know you'll be inspired to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Ways to Say Merry Christmas (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); glimmer paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Lindemon Snowflake die (Memory Box); Let it Snowflake Too die (My Favorite Things); Bazinga Color Mist (Mister Huey's)

Freshly Made Sketches 558

Hi all.  Today we've got a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess is Jacquie and her design got me thinking about snowflakes, of all things!

I opted to go with a square card to mimic the squares on the sketch.  And from there it was a short leap to these square snowflake dies.  The blank space on the bottom was perfect to emboss a fun, scripty, holiday sentiment.

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

Supplies
Stamps:  Peace Love Joy (Right at Home)
Paper:  Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink); Silver Glimmer (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Versamark
Accessories:  Snowflake Snippets die (Spellbinders); silver embossing powder

Freshly Made Sketches 543

Hi all!  It's Wednesday so there's a brand new challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches!  Cécile is our hostess this week and, once again, her superb CAS instincts shine through on this sketch.  I humbly just try to play along and mimic her style!

I've been wanting to use mesh (drywall) tape on a card for ages.  Every time I see it used on a card, it gets elevated on my to-do list and then, invariably, I forget about it until I see it again.  (I blame menopause for my forgetfulness)!  Since I live in an older home, which occasionally crumbles, drywall tape is something useful to have on hand and I've got quite a bunch.  Well, the other day I saw this card made by my friend Judy and my love of drywall tape started all over again.  

The small square in Cecile's card was perfect for the mesh tape.  I added a silver-glimmer snowflake and a slim sentiment in a bright blue and this card was done.  Easy peasy.

Thanks for stopping by!  Our Freshly Made Sketches design team will surely inspire you to play along with us. Join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Holiday Messages (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); silver glimmer (Recollections)
Ink:  Dusk (Altenew)
Accessories:  Lindemon Snowflake die (Memory Box)

Freshly Made Sketches 519

Apologies again for being late to post my card for our newest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  Blame it on Wordle.  I've been busy planning my strategy for tomorrow!  😂 Have you heard of it?  Are you hooked?  If you're not currently I predict you will be!

Anyway on to my card.  It didn't take long into the new year for me to get a hankering to make a Christmas card.  Jen Timko's sketch provided the perfect layout and the colors at Just Us Girls provided the soft, sparkly palette.

I embossed the background of the blue layer and then cut this snowflake square out of silver sparkly paper.  The paper is very thin and prone to tearing when trying to pick the small parts out after being cut with a die so it took a while to get all those little bits and bobs removed, but the end result is so worth it.  It's super sparkly in real life!  

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have some fabulous cards to show you with this sketch so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fa La La (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Soft Sky (Stampin' Up!); Solar White (Neenah); silver glimmer (Recollections)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Guide Lines Impression Plate (Papertrey Ink); Snowflake Snippets die (Spellbinders)

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 500 AND PRIZES!

Hey friends!  I'm super proud and excited to share with you our 500th sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our very first sketch debuted almost 10 years ago on September 7, 2011 and here we are still at it!  It's been a privilege and an honor to create alongside my Freshly Made Sketches teammates all these years and I sure hope we're around for another 10 more!

To celebrate our milestone we've got PRIZES!  Every one who links up in the gallery, and who follows the challenge rules, will be eligible for a prize from our generous sponsors!  Winners will be randomly chosen after the challenge closes on August 30th.

And wait there's more!  PRIZES that is!  Some of our design team members have put together prize packages on their personal blogs so be sure to hop on through the design team blogs to find out what you need to do to win.  I've got a prize.....or two.....or three to give away myself!

So let's get going.  Our sketch this week is designed by Linda, one of our OG design team members, and it's a classic one all the way!

I used some lovely watercolor patterned paper for my background then added a vertical layer embossed with some falling snow.  To that I added a couple of layered snowflakes - one in vellum and one in silver glimmer paper.  I twirled some silver cord around behind the snowflakes and added a slim sentiment.  It's quite sparkly and lovely in real life and since summer has finally decided to make an appearance here in New England I thought a cold snowflake would counteract our heat wave quite nicely!

To celebrate our 500th Freshly Made Sketches challenge I put together three prize packages of new items for your crafting stash.  Three random commenters on my blog (US addresses only) will receive a prize package with an assortment of stamps, dies, stencils,  and patterned paper from companies such as Papertrey Ink, My Favorite Things, Altenew, Winnie and Walter, Memory Box and more!  The prize packages were randomly assembled so I can't tell you ahead of time what you'll receive, but I'm sure you are going to love it!  

Thanks for stopping by!  Please join us in celebrating our 500th challenge at Freshly Made Sketches and your chance at winning some fantastic prizes!  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Tiny Words Christmas (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Cool Caribbean, Vellum (Stampin' Up!); Watercolor Wash (My Favorite Things); silver glimmer (Recollections)
Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Snowflake Trio die (amuse.studio); Lindemon Snowflake die (Memory Box); Snowfall/Speckles embossing folder (Tim Holtz); silver cord (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 496

My card for Freshly Made Sketches this week is a study in coincidence and serendipity.  The layout is brought to you by our hostess this week, Judy, and I love her design.

So I made a card for this challenge on Sunday but I wasn't really happy with it.  With no shame, I can say it was quite boring.  So Monday I decided to scrap it and sat at my desk looking for some inspiration.  I stumbled on the Color Hues challenge and loved the colors.  I scrolled down to look at their design team cards and found this beauty by Sheri.  I loved her design and what a coincidence that it had some colorful blocks, just like our FMS challenge.  So borrowing her idea I cut some blocks of cardstock in the colors of the challenge and then pondered whether to add a sentiment or some other focal point.  

And then - out. of. nowhere. - this layered snowflake literally appeared in the middle of my desk.  I actually know where it came from.  It was on a card I made a few weeks ago and put aside on my desk.  It was no where near the area where I was working and I have no explanation as to how it unattached itself from that card and appeared in the middle of my work space.  But since one of the snowflakes was in a color compatible with the challenge I knew right away that I needed to use it on this card.  Serendipity, I say!

Thanks for stopping by!  We'd love to see you at Freshly Made Sketches - our design team has some great cards to inspire you to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Tiny Words Christmas (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Aqua Mist, Simply Chartreuse (Papertrey Ink); Sea Glass (Avery Elle); Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Snowflake Trio die (amuse.studio); Let it Snowflake Too die (My Favorite Things)

Freshly Made Sketches 481

It's time for a great new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is Cécile and her unique sketch had me a bit nervous at first!

But my initial nervousness at all those circles gave way to snowflakes!  It's well documented here that I only like snow when it's on a card so I let a whole lot of snowflakes loose on this card.  I cut them from silver glimmer paper and carefully arranged them in a grid.  The sentiment was embossed in silver.  At the last minute I added a slim silver border to break up the white background a bit.  All that silver was inspired by the color challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you can join us at Freshly Made Sketches for our latest challenge!

Supplies
Stamps:  Ways to Say Merry Christmas (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Silver Foil, Silver Glimmer (Recollections)
Ink:  Versamark
Accessories:  Let It Snowflake Too die (My Favorite Things); silver embossing powder

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 Sketches 453

Hey all! We've got a great new challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is Judy and her big circle got me thinking about a snowflake!

I opted to go for a square card because it fit my snowflake better.  😊This snowflake stamp set has a great splatter halo effect and after I stamped it I die cut the solid part of the snowflake out of some pretty glitter paper and popped it up on top.  After I put all that together, I then pondered what to do about the smaller circle.  I'll confess that I don't love what I chose, but it's a small circular sentiment from an old stamp set that I've had in my stash forever.  I stamped everything in purple so that I could play along with the challenge at Less is More.

Thanks for stopping by!  Our Freshly Made Sketches design team has made some fabulous cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out.  We hope you'll join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Blizzard Hugs (The Ton); Perfect Presentation (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!); glitter paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Ultraviolet (Altenew)

Freshly Made Sketches 441

Summer is in full swing here.  The sun is shining, the weather is hot, and the vegetable garden is growing.  So, of course, this put me in mind of snowflakes for my Freshly Made Sketches card this week!  LOL!  Our hostess is Judy and that big ol' circle is what made me think of the snowflakes.

I went with a white on white card even though I have such trouble photographing those!  But the snowflakes look so pretty layered in white.  I used some sparkly paper and some sparkly vellum to cut them and layered them against a falling snow background.  Even I love a good snowflake - as long as it is a feature on a card.  And they are especially easy to take when it's 90-degrees outside!  At Christmas Card Throwdown they are looking for snowflakes so I'm playing along there as well.

Thanks for stopping by!  Our Freshly Made Sketches design team has got some great cards to inspire you to play along with us!  

Supplies

Stamps:  Tiny Words Christmas (Simon Says Stamp)

Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Dazzling Diamonds (Stampin' Up!); vellum (Graphix)

Ink:  Onyx Black (Versamark)

Accessories:  Snowfall/Speckles embossing folder (Tim Holtz); Snowflake Trio die (Amuse Studio); silver cord (Stampin' Up!)

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

CAS(E) This Sketch 335

Our latest sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch had me all be-fuddled this week.  Sometimes what seems simple is actually complicated.  Does anyone else think that or is it just me!  After a few iterations I finally settled on this card:

Obviously I turned the sketch on its side.  But this was a late decision based on the fact that I couldn't find any suitable images for a vertical card.  I stumbled upon this snowflake die quite by accident as I was looking through my stash and quickly cut it from some silver glimmer paper and added a slim sentiment.  Happy Little Stampers has got an "anything goes with dies" challenge going on and I think I qualify for effort alone because punching out all the little bits on this snowflake die took forever!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you join us at CAS(E) This Sketch!  My fellow design team members have created some beautiful cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Travelers Journal December Typed Words (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); silver glimmer (Recollections)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Snowflake Edge Fancy die (Hero Arts)

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 372

Hello!  It's Wednesday so it must be Freshly Made Sketches day!  This week our hostess is Linda and since she recently lived through the first snowmageddon of 2019 my card is an homage to her and all those adorable snowflakes she had to shovel. 😂

I have a little trick of adding vellum to a card when I'm stuck on a design element.  In this case that horizontal layer needed to be subtle so as not to take away from my sparkly snowflakes.  Vellum to the rescue once again!  The snowflakes were cut in shimmery white cardstock and some glimmer paper and with the silver cord behind them and the shiny washi tape we've got one super spectacular snowflake card.  The sentiment, although usually associated with Christmas, is a nod to the winter storms that tend to plague us through the first quarter of the new year here in the northeastern US.

At The Paper Players the challenge is a clean and simple snowy day - and what better than a snowflake or two for that?

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you can join us in the gallery at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  We love to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Ways to Say Merry Christmas (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Shimmery White, Vellum (Stampin' Up!); glitter paper (Recollections)
Accessories:  RyLynn Snowflake die (Simon Says Stamp); silver cord (Stampin' Up!); black embossing powder; washi tape