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 516

It's our last sketch challenge of the year at Freshly Made Sketches!  It's been so much fun creating alongside my FMS design team members this past year, not to mention all of you who joined us along the way.  I'm sure that one or two of you who made a card with one of our sketches inspired me to buy a stamp or a die or two, or three over the course of the year.  And for that alone I thank you.  But I also thank you for joining us week after week.  We wouldn't be here without you. 💖Our challenge this week is designed by Narelle and I surprised myself with another Christmas card.

I took some poetic license with the circles on the sketch and used stars instead.  I strung some gold cord from them to the top of the card to mimic hanging ornaments.  Then I tucked a sentiment in between the stars and embossed it in gold.  And to create a little contrast I sponged some ink in an arc around the left side of the card.

Thanks for stopping by!  Our Freshly Made Sketches challenge will be open until January 3rd so I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Jingle All the Way (Technique Tuesday)
Paper:  Night of Navy (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Night of Navy (Stampin' Up!); Versamark
Accessories:  Stitched Stars die (Lil' Inker Designs); Gold Glitter embossing powder (Hero Arts)

Freshly Made Sketches 483

Hi all!  We've got a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches designed by Narelle.  It's one of my favorite themes because it's got a grungy background, which in my book means you can just about anything to complement it and it will look fabulous!

I stayed pretty faithful to the sketch and incorporated a circle, some splatters, a flower and leaves on my card all done in the colors of the Color Hues challenge.  I love those colors!

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow teammates at Freshly Made Sketches have made some amazing cards with this sketch so I am sure you will be inspired to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Bokeh Dots (Essentials by Ellen); Mini 72 (Paper Artsy); Petite Posies (Technique Tuesday); Leaf Clusters (Altenew); Tons of Type (The Stamp Market)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Smoky Slate (Stampin' Up!); Citrus Burst (Altenew)

Fusion - Poppies

We've got a great new challenge for you at Fusion!  The inspiration photo is full of beautiful poppies but, alas, I didn't have any of those in my stash so I took my cues from the colors and from flowers in general and combined them, along with the sketch, to make this card.

The filmstrip is inspired by the vertical element on the sketch and was the first stamp I thought of using when I saw the sketch.  I stamped it in gray, so that it would be a little muted behind the brightly colored flowers.  I colored the flowers by scribbling some colors with Copic markers then stamping the flowers over my scribbles and fussy cutting them out.  I made this a slimline card to add to the TGIF Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!  My Fusion teammates have made some fabulous cards so be sure to check them out!  I hope you'll join us!

Supplies

Stamps:  Pocket  Full of Posies, Petite Posies (Technique Tuesday); Film Strip I (Creative Embellishments)

Paper:  Whisper White, Smoky Slate (Stampin' Up!)

CAS(E) This Sketch 244

Every where I look I see autumn or Halloween themed cards.  I've made a few of those lately myself but today I've got a Christmas card to share.  The calendar reminds me that Christmas is fast approaching and that I need to get a move-on with my Christmas card stash.  So here's another one for the books. 

The latest sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch gave me my layout.  Those layers had me stymied for a bit but I worked out a template using some scrap paper and once that was done this card went together very quickly.

Now, that bottom layer is actually some very pretty glitter cardstock that, in real life, is subtle shades of gold with some silvery-gray streaks shot through.  My photo makes it look very un-inspiring.  It's much prettier in real life.  The poinsettia is a new die that I got recenly and I love how it looks but it didn't come with leaves so I improvised with a die cut and corresponding stamp from another brand's poinsettia.  The sentiment was embossed on a vellum layer.

In an amazing coincidence I found out after I made this card that there is a tic-tac-toe challenge going on at Stamp Ink Paper and one of the verticals is Die Cut, Embossing, and Vellum.  Ahoy!  My card has all three!

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you'll check out our newest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch.  We love to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Jingle All the Way (Technique Tuesday); Pretty Poinsettia (WPlus9)
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Wild Wasabi, Poppy Parade, Hello Honey, Vellum (Stampin' Up!); glitter cardstock (Reflections)
Ink:  Evergreen (Alentew); Copper Delicata (Tsukineko)
Accessories:  Layered Poinsettia die (Penny Black); Pretty Poinsettia die (WPlus9); copper embossing powder

Freshly Made Sketches 305

I'm in a bit of a Christmas mood apparently as I celebrate a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.   This week our hostess is Amy.  At first glance her sketch is uber CAS but if you look a bit longer you'll see the possibilities are endless if you feel like embellishing a bit!

I'll confess that the color challenge at The Paper Players is what put me in mind of Christmas.  I see silver and immediately I think of elegant Christmas cards.  I used some silver shimmery paper along with a silver heat-embossed sentiment and I just love how they look together - especially paired with the pink poinsettia.

Thanks for stopping by!  And don't forget our new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our fabulous design team has made some beautiful cards to get you in the crafty mood so check them out!  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Jingle All the Way (Technique Tuesday)
Paper:  Cloud White (Reverse Confetti); Pink Pirouette, Pear Pizzazz, Vellum (Stampin' Up!); Silver Sparkle (Reflections)
Ink:  Silvery Shimmer Delicata (Tsukineko)
Accessories:  Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box); silver embossing powder

Tag You're It 68

Not only am I flabbergasted that it is Friday already, but also March is nearly over.  How did THAT happen?  Time marches on and so do papercrafting challenges!  Today I'm pleased to show you the latest challenge at Tag You're It with inspiration provided by the amazing Gayatri Murali.

How cute is Gayatri's tag?!?!!!  That dog!  I tried to recreate some of the elements of the tag with the supplies I have so I started by embossing some brickwork with embossing paste on the actual tag then I added a little dog house and my furry friend.  I placed my sentiment vertically too.

There are a couple of die-related challenges this week and since I used three on this tag I'll be including it at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge as well as AAA Cards challenge.

Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to check out the inspiration from the Tag You're It challenge design team.  I hope we'll see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Who Let the Dogs Out (Technique Tuesday)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Riding Hood Red, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Jet Black (Altenew); Prismacolor Pencils 
Accessories:  Dog Icons die, Quote Tag (Paper Smooches); Mini Brick stencil (The Crafters Workshop); embossing paste (Dreamweaver); baker's twine

Freshly Made Sketches 274!

The last few days were very busy for me.  I was trying to get a bunch of things done before the weekend so that I could watch the Super Bowl in peace.  Well, if you watched the game you know it was an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride - at least the fourth quarter was!  Being from New England I am well aware that everyone else hates the Patriots but it was a great game and sweet ending to a tumultuous couple of years.  #RogerThat

Now that's out of the way we can move on to the real reason you are here - the newest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches is up today and our design this week comes to you from Canada - where I'm pretty sure that Jen Brum doesn't care about my football team!

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Sometimes there is a strange phenomena in challenge blogland where different ones will have eerily similar themes.  This weeks offering is Addicted to CAS with a "pets" cue word and Just Us Girls who is looking for dogs.  I've had this doggy footprint die for quite some time and obviously these two challenges were the perfect excuse to use it.  And I love that the footprint is inside of a heart!

  
My friends at Freshly Made Sketches have made some fantastic cards with the sketch this week so be sure to check them out.  We hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Who Let the Dogs Out (Technique Tuesday)
Paper:  Fresh Snow Linen, Sweet Blush (Papertrey Ink); Black (Simon Says Stamp)
Ink:  Jet Black (Altenew)
Accessories:  Dog Icons die (Paper Smooches); Stitched Sentiment Flag die (Lil' Inker); Midnight Blend sequins (Avery Elle)

CAS(E) This Sketch 207!

We have whizzed around to Thursday and a brand new challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch designed by Michele Ferguson.  It has been a while (a full month, I think) since I've made a Christmas card so I took the opportunity of this sketch plus the "snow" challenge at Christmas Card Challenges and the "winter chill" challenge at AAA Cards to add to my 2017 Christmas card stash.

I dug deep into my stash for these snowflake stamps.  I've had them for years and once...once I contemplated selling them on eBay.  But then I came to my senses and kept them.  I love the patterns and I embellished them a bit on this card with some rhinestones.

Thanks for stopping by.  Don't forget to check out our latest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch.  We love to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Snowflakes (Stampin' Up!); Jingle All the Way (Technique Tuesday)
Paper:  Pure White (Gina K); Baja Breeze, Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Baja Breeze (Stampin' Up!); Jet Black (Altenew)
Accessories:  Blueprints 21 die (My Favorite Things); Basic Rhinestones (Stampin' Up!)

CAS(E) This Sketch 206!

I just checked the calendar and sure enough it's Thursday.  This week is just whizzing by!  And I don't usually say that about weeks when I'm at work!  But Thursday also means it's time for a new challenge from your friends at CAS(E) This Sketch.  So here goes:

For a brief moment I thought about sticking with the inspiration on the sketch and using a bird on my card - but then I came across this cute stamp set full of monsters and knew that would be way more fun!  I grabbed some blue and purple pencils and colored him a-la the challenge at Can You Case It then added some silver embossing paste through a dotted stencil.  I have no idea what occasion I would use this card for but I love the sentiment.  One day I hope I'll find the perfect person to send it to!

The CAS(E) This Sketch design team has some awesome cards to show you this week so be sure to check them out.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Monsters Ink (Technique Tuesday)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Foil Paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Jet Black (Altenew); Pacific Point (Stampin' Up!); Prismacolor pencils
Accessories:  Blueprints 13 die (My Favorite Things); Dot Fade stencil (Tim Holtz); Metallic Silver embossing paste (Wendy Vecchi)

Freshly Made Sketches 267!

Welcome back to the all-Christmas all-the-time channel!  Yep, you guessed it - I've got another Christmas card to show you.  This time for the brand new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our hostess is our intrepid traveler Jen Timko!  Don't you just love the possibilities with this fantastic sketch?

I chose this pretty color combo of purples and silver because I had intended to play along with a particular color challenge, but I wasn't paying attention to the dates of that challenge properly and it closed already!  But the colors are beautiful and the silver gave me an excuse to use this snowflake die again.  Luckily I'm not too late to play along at Stamp Ink Paper where the theme is winter holiday.

I'm still slowly mailing out my Christmas cards and hopefully I'll get them all done by Friday.  That's my plan anyway!  Tomorrow I've got a card to show you that actually has nothing to do with Christmas!  And I even broke out my Distress inks and - dare I say it - actually did some sponging!  {gasp}

Our Freshly Made Sketches design team has some beautiful cards to show you this week so be sure to check them out.  I hope you can take some time to join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Jingle All the Way (Technique Tuesday)
Paper:  Elegant Eggplant, Wisteria Wonder (Stampin' Up!); silver foil (Recollections)
Ink:  Elegant Eggplant (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Kate Snowflake die (Simon Says Stamp); Love and Sparkles Mix sequins (Neat & Tangled)

CAS(E) This Sketch 201!

Years ago Stampin' Up! sold this gorgeous brushed metallic cardstock.  It is wonderful stuff - nice and heavy-weight, plus the colors are so beautiful.  I bought it in silver, gold, and copper and I love it to pieces.  Well, in true hoarder style, I had never opened the copper package.....until the other day.  I almost didn't do it, but quickly realized that was stupid.  And I'd got it in my head to use copper colors on my card for the latest challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch so open the package I did!

The sketch has got some simple elements so I inked up the grungy sunbeams with copper ink and layered on a couple of die cut trees - cut from my precious copper cardstock.  Behind the cutouts on those trees I used some sparkly silver paper.  The sentiment was stamped with the same copper ink and after only about 15 minutes this card was done!  It's been a long time since I've put a card together that quickly!

I'm still playing along with a bunch of Christmas themed challenges so I'm joining Just Us Girls where they are looking for a Christmas tree and Creative With Stamps who want Christmas stamps.

My CAS(E) This Sketch teamies have got some gorgeous cards to show you with this sketch so be sure to check them out.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Jingle All the Way (Technique Tuesday); Grunge Cirque (Tim Holtz)
Paper:  Pure White (Gina K); Brushed Copper (Stampin' Up!); Silver Foil Paper (Recollections)
Accessories:  Sapins die (Simply Graphic)

Freshly Made Sketches 266!

It's time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is our resident color-mix-master Amy O'Neill.  I stumbled upon some snowflake challenges as I perused blogland for ideas for my card so that inspired my take on this fabulous sketch.

I know I sound like a broken record but this is way more sparkly in real life than it appears in this photo!  The snowflakes were both cut with some glimmer paper and I wove a bit of shiny red cross-stitch floss behind the silver one for a little interest.

The challenge at CAS-ual Fridays is for glitter and snowflakes - check - while Creative With Stamps is looking for Christmas stamps - easy peasy - and lo and behold The Paper Players want snowflakes too - double check! 🙌

My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made some beautiful cards this week so be sure to check them out.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Jingle All the Way (Technique Tuesday)
Paper:  Soft Sky, Basic Gray, Red Glimmer, Wintergreen DSP (Stampin' Up!); Silver Foil paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Snowflake Trio die (amuse.studio); Kate Snowflake die (Simon Says Stamp); red crochet floss

CAS(E) This Sketch 260!

This week at CAS(E) This Sketch we've got a bit of a theme going on.  And it involves pets, something near and dear to my heart!

Karen of Feline Creative contacted Chrissy and asked if the team would be interested in participating in Cards for a Cause to benefit the Tri-County Humane Society in St. Cloud Minnesota.  They need general and thank-you cards with a pet theme and I was happy to contribute.  I've got two cats that I adopted from my local shelter so I know first hand the important work these shelters do.  Sending along a card for the society to use to thank the adopters is the least I can do!  Here's a pic of my kitties in a rare moment of them sleeping together.  They are brother and sister but don't always hang out together!

And in a totally coincidental twist the the challenge at Global Design Project this week is to use animals or pets.

You don't have to follow our pet themed challenge to join us at CAS(E) This Sketch this week, but if you do and you want to donate your card please make sure you use a pet (and not a wild animal).  The humane society is mostly looking for general and thank you cards, but birthday, sympathy, and anniversary cards are welcome too.  Please leave the inside of the card blank so that the humane society can write a personal message, and include an envelope.  Don't put them in a plastic sleeve.  You can mail your card to Karen Howard, 9088 Country Avenue, Monticello MN  55362.

Thanks for joining us and be sure to check out the cards from the CAS(E) This Sketch design team.  They are purr-fect!

Supplies
Stamps:  Cat's Meow (Technique Tuesday)
Paper:  Basic Gray, So Saffron (Stampin' Up!); Black (Simon Says Stamp)
Ink:  Jet Black (Altenew)
Accessories:  feLINE die (Penny Black)

CAS(E) This Sketch 189!

Today I've got another Christmas card to show off with a little help from Leigh's design at CAS(E) This Sketch along with the colors at Merry Monday.

I really wanted to take the circle element on the sketch and use a snowflake.  And the idea of a gold snowflake against a black background seemed like a good choice.  The only problem I faced was that the Merry Monday challenge also wanted white and I didn't want to spoil the drama of the black and gold.  What to do.  What to do.  Vellum to the rescue!  I embossed the sentiment in gold on a vellum layer and put it right across the center of the snowflake.  It's quite pretty in real life and, of course, I had a hard time getting all that prettiness across with my meager photography skills but it doesn't look half bad here!

The gals at CAS(E) This Sketch have made some beautiful cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out.  I hope you can join us in the gallery this week!

Supplies
Stamps:  Jingle All the Way (Technique Tuesday)
Paper:  Black (Simon Says Stamp); Gold Foil (SU); Vellum (Papertey Ink)
Ink:  Versamark
Accessories:  Eliza Snowflake die (Simon Says Stamp); gold embossing powder

Freshly Made Sketches 246!

I'm very excited that it's Wednesday and time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches!  Our  beautiful sketch, designed by Rita, has a tag on it which put me in mind of Christmas.

The colors for my card were inspired by the latest Christmas Card Challenge, although I took a little artistic liberty and added some silver sparkle!  Originally I was going to use patterned paper in these colors for the different layers on the tag but then came across an old tag I made that had a sparkly circle on it.  I used that idea for the circle and then added the two triangular trees in green and red to make it extra festive!

The Freshly Made Sketches design team has some great cards to inspire you to play along with us this week, so be sure to check them out.  I hope to see you in the gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Modern Christmas (Clearly Besotted); Jingle All the Way (Technique Tuesday)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink); Baja Breeze, Silver Glimmer (SU)
Ink:  Mossy Meadow (SU); Smokey Shadow (Papertrey Ink); Ruby Red (Altenew)
Accessories:  Femme Frames (Mama Elephant); Small Stitched Rectangle die (Lawn Fawn); Pierced Traditional Tags STAX, Washi Tape die (My Favorite Things); Baja Breeze seam binding ribbon (SU); crochet thread