Freshly Made Sketches 528

Hi folks!  It's that time of the week when we debut a brand new sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our hostess is Jacquie and her sketch has a lot of fantastic white space that you can fill - or not - to your hearts content!

Originally, inspired by the colors at Sunday Stamps, I was going to do floral images of some sort.  But then I got thinking about some of my old grungy stamps that were languishing in my stash and decided to use a few of them to create a little splash of color in the corner and highlight it with a colorful dragonfly.  I have no idea if dragonflies come in this color in real life but I think it looks pretty so who cares!  For the three vertical layers on the sketch I stamped a trio of sentiments.  Easy peasy!

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow teammates at Freshly Made Sketches have got some great cards to inspire you to play along with us!  I hope you do!

Supplies
Stamps:  Distressed Patterns (My Favorite Things); Fonds Grunge (4enScrap); Simple Sentiments 02 (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Whisper White, Rose Red, Vellum (Stampin' Up!); Raspberry Fizz (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Maple Yellow, Forest Glades, Evergreen (Altenew); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)
Accessories:  Libellules die (4enScrap)

Fusion - Bookshelf (or Cats)

For some reason daylight savings time really messed me up this year.  Before I knew it, Sunday was coming to an end and I hadn't accomplished much besides vacuuming up cat fur.  Not for nothing, but sometimes I manage to vacuum up enough fur to make my own cat. 😹  So when it came time to make my card for the latest Fusion challenge, there wasn't a whole lot of gas in the tank, so to speak.

I was pretty sure that I didn't own any book stamps but I rooted around in my stash to see if I could find something book-related just in case.  I stumbled on this cat-on-a-line die and thought that it would mimic the horizontal layer on the sketch.  Well, I guess it does but once I put it together I was very under-whelmed.  However, by now it was Monday night and I had no time to go back to square one so this had to do!  And wouldn't you know, the challenge at Addicted to CAS is feline.  That's serendipity!

Thanks for sticking around this long to make it to the end of the post.  I appreciate it!  And head on over to the Fusion challenge to see the beautiful cards cooked up by our design team.  

Supplies
Stamps:  You Crazy Cat (Concord & 9th)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  FeLine die (Penny Black)

Freshly Made Sketches 527

We've got a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess and sketch designer this week is Judy and I love her sketch!

I used the same colors as I did last week for my FMS card for two reasons:  they are quite lovely together and there was a color challenge going on at another blog using these but I didn't read carefully enough because said challenge is now closed!  Too bad for them because they'll miss out on this beauty!  LOL!

I dug into my Stampin' Up! DSP stash and selected a bright yellow pattern for the vertical strip, chose vellum for the rectangles so they didn't detract from the pretty DSP, and topped them all with lovely butterflies.  I was going to add a vertical sentiment right alongside all that lovely-ness but couldn't find anything that caught my eye so this will remain sentiment bereft.

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to hop on over to Freshly Made Sketches to see what my fellow DT members have cooked up for your viewing pleasure.  Hopefully you will join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Kinda Eclectic (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  White Linen (Essentials by Ellen); Whisper White, Vellum, Beyond the Garden DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Pacific Point (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Elegant Butterfly punch (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 526

We've got a great new sketch for you this week at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess is Amy and she gave us this classic design that you can interpret in so many ways.  In light of what is going on in Ukraine I felt compelled to take the sketch and make a small homage to the Ukrainian people.

The background layers on the sketch gave me the perfect layout to mimic the colors of the Ukrainian flag and then I added the top layer with sunflowers against a cloudy sky.  The sentiment is from a breast-cancer-survivor set from Verve but the sentiment seemed apt.

Many years ago I worked with a woman from Ukraine.  She didn't work at my company for very long so I didn't get to know her well, but I hope she and her family are safe.  I'm not exactly sure why I made this card other than that I felt compelled to use these bright colors at a time when the days are so bleak and dark.  What I really want is to send a fleet of fighter jets, but I only have paper and ink.  And prayers that the people of Ukraine triumph over the evil they face.

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

Supplies
Stamps:  Believe (Verve)
Paper:  Whisper White, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Pacific Point (Stampin' Up!); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Mini Cloud Edges stencil, Sunflower die (My Favorite Things)

Fusion - Turquoise Rose Bouquet

Sorry I'm late with my Fusion card post.  Apparently I forgot to hit Publish 😕  

The challenge inspiration has these beautiful roses in a lovely turquoise color with little bits of gold thrown in for good measure.  Using that as my first clue, I opted to use a die-cut flower (definitely not a rose) in the shades of blue as I saw them along with a bit of gold.  I incorporated that into the sketch and used some lovely corrugated kraft paper for the panel on the left side of the sketch.  I stuck some clear droplets in the center of the flowers then sprinkled a few sequins around to take up some of the blank space and add a little interest.  The script sentiment sits perfectly in the right bottom corner.

Thanks for stopping by!  Don't forget at Fusion you can use the sketch, use the inspiration photo, or create a little fusion of your own by combining the two!

Supplies
Stamps:  Painted Sayings (Whimsy Stamps)
Paper:  Naturals Ivory, Gold Foil (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Daisy die (La-La Land Crafts); Winter Wonderland sequins (Neat & Tangled); Clear Droplets (Pretty Pink Posh)

Freshly Made Sketches 525

Hi all!  It's time for a new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is Karren and her design had me thinking and re-thinking my card.  Sometimes big blank spaces provide so much inspiration I don't know where I want to go!  I finally settled on a design featuring some eclectic colors and a leafy design.

The colors at Color Throwdown were interesting to me and I decided to use them to stamp leaves in a random pattern.  I added a script sentiment in black and I was done!  What started out as complicated ended up being super simple!

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

Supplies
Stamps:  Leaf Clusters (Altenew); Just Saying (Wow!)
Paper:  Whisper White, Tempting Turquoise (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Rocky Shores, Bamboo, Orange Cream (Altenew); Tempting Turquoise (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 524

We've got a great new challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is Cécile and she's given us one of those sketches that makes me want to think outside the box!

I got the idea to make this a one layer card and opted to use the colors at Sunday Stamps.  For the square shape I stamped a background in a watercolor style then overlaid it with the leafy image in a dark brown.  To mimic the chevrons in the sketch I used wee staples.  They are a bit crooked and not well spaced -- but that's what you get with a handmade card!  It adds to the charm, right?

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

Supplies
Stamps:  Distress Patterns (My Favorite Things); Faith in Nature (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Whisper White
Ink:  Baja Breeze, Marina Mist (Stampin' Up!); Fallen Leaves (VersaFine Clair)

Fusion - Colour Palette: Birds

Hi all!  It's time for a new challenge at Fusion!  And just look at these gorgeous colors!  I didn't have any bird stamps or dies so I chose to create a little fusion by using the colors from the photo and combining them with the sketch for my card.

I've recently embarked on a project to organize my craft room and in the process of moving things around (and throwing things out) I've found some supplies that I have completely forgotten about.  One of those things was some cardstock that I think may have been one of the first "in colors" that SU came out with.  I used one of them as the base of my card and it is a lovely shade with just a tinge of green to it.  I added another layer with some patterned paper to create some "texture" and in place of the circles on the sketch I layered some flowers.  A fun, bold sentiment in the corner finished this off perfectly.

Thanks for stopping by!  My Fusion teammates have some fantastic designs to inspire you so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Birthday Bash Sentiments (Papertrey Ink); Canvas (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Blue Bayou, Cherry Cobbler, Pumpkin Pie, Summer Starfruit, True Thyme (Stampin' Up!)

Ink:  Blue Bayou, Cherry Cobbler (Stampin' Up!); Onyx Black (Versafine)