Freshly Made Sketches 520

Hi stamping friends!  It's time for a new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches and yours truly is the hostess this week.  I chose - surprise, surprise - a square card for my sketch.  But, as I always say, you can use another shape if squares aren't your thing.  Here's what I did with the sketch.

I happened to spy this colorful and cheerful patterned paper in my stash the other day and thought it would look super cute for this sketch.  I was right!  The gingham looks so cute with the florals!  I actually attached an entirely different sentiment to this card at first but after looking at it for a bit I thought it was too dark and too big.  So I made this rounded square and stamped a prettier sentiment on it and layered it over the old sentiment.  I hope whoever gets this card doesn't start investigating my crafting techniques and discover the sentiment underneath!

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches teammates have, once again, knocked it out of the park with this sketch so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Posted Note Sentiments (Reverse Confetti)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Pixie (Avery Elle); Vellum (Stampin' Up!); patterned paper (American Crafts)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Classic Scallop dies, Standard Circles dies (Spellbinders)

Fusion - Coffee Chalkboard

Our newest challenge at Fusion will have you thinking of standing in line for a lovely cup of coffee!  I don't have a lot of coffee stamps so I decided I would be better off using the sketch this week.  I did incorporate some of the brown shades from the inspiration photo which, happily, coincided with the color challenge at Christmas Card Throwdown.

One thing going on my stamping shopping list is a decent stag head die.  The one I have is so inadequate.  I remember seeing several on cards leading up to the holiday season but I don't know where I saw them or who might make them so I have to start searching.  If you have a fave, drop me a line or leave a comment!

Thanks for stopping by!  Stop on by Fusion to check out our newest challenge and play along.  Our design team has made some terrific cards to inspire you to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Sketchy Christmas (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Taste of Textiles Specialty Paper (Stampin' Up!); glitter paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Lindemon Snowflake die (Memory Box); Hampton Art stag die; Burlap ribbon (Stampin' Up!)

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 518

Well hey there!  I'm popping in a bit late with my card for our latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches, but better late than never.  This week our super sketch is brought to you by our hostess Judy and it's the kind of sketch I love - open to lots of interpretation.

I didn't want to make a card that had a whole lot of white in the background so I did a deep dive into my stash of patterned paper and found this gray checkered paper to use as my background.  I layered it on top of another gray piece of card stock then layered both onto some blue card stock.  There's a method to my madness here as I was incorporating the colors from The Color Throwdown!  To finish off the challenge colors I added a daisy in yellow and some green leaves.  A simple slim sentiment finished the look.

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

Supplies
Stamps:  Tons of Type (The Stamp Market)
Paper: Enchanted Evening, Lemon Tart (Papertrey Ink); Smoky Slate, Wild Wasabi (Stampin' Up!); Gingham-Linen Rainbow Petite Prints (Doodlebug Designs)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Upsy Daisy die (My Favorite Things)

Fusion - It's a New Year

I think the new year has me off to a rough creative start.  I took a little hiatus from stamping the last couple of weeks and jumped in with two feet for our first Fusion challenge of the year.  I loved the bokeh design of the inspiration photo and decided to make my card by combining the bokeh with the sketch and the colors from another challenge.  But the colors ended up being way off to join the color challenge so... this is what I've got.

 

I sponged the colors on to my cardstock then used a bokeh stencil to add those little highlights in white. I substituted a couple of sparkly stars for the two circles on the sketch and stamped the sentiment to mimic the horizontal layer on the sketch.  You may notice that the top of the "S" on the "Stars" sentiment is missing.  Just my luck I got a bad stamp with an incomplete piece. 😕

I think this card is pretty cute anyway and I hope you think so too.  I thank you for stopping by!  Be sure to check out my fellow Fusion teammates for our first challenge of 2022!

Supplies

Stamps:  Shiny Happy Sentiments (Lil' Inker Designs)
Paper:  Bristol Smooth; Glitter Paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry, Fossilized Amber, Chipped Sapphire (Distress Oxide); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Bokeh Lights stencil (Simon Says Stamp); 3 Star Stitched dies (My Creative Time)

Freshly Made Sketches 517

Well hello!  I've been MIA on my blog for a few weeks enjoying a holiday break, but I'm back today with a brand new card for our challenge at Freshly Made Sketches!  We are starting off the new year with a fun sketch from Amy and I surprised myself by making a Valentine.  Usually the new year has me nostalgic for more Christmas cards but this year I've apparently started a new trend!

Those squares on the sketch became an arrangement of hearts on my card and I added a slim sentiment across them.  To create some interest on the background I embossed it in a diamond pattern and added a bit of color at the top and bottom.  All in all a super easy card to create!

Thanks for stopping by!  Our amazing Freshly Made Sketches design team has some made great cards to inspire you to play along with us so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:   I {Heart} Hearts (Stampin' Up!); Tons of  Type (The Stamp Market)
Paper:  Whisper White, Rose Red (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Real Red, Melon Mambo, Pretty in Pink, Regal Rose, Rose Red (Stampin' Up!); Onyx Black (Verafine)
Accessories:  Guide Lines impression plate (Papertrey Ink)

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 514

I'm late again for a blog post!  😢 I was up bright and early this morning so that I could get some work done (I'm on vacation from said work, but still find myself working from time to time) and get this blog post ready.  I was doing some dishes when I turned the faucet to the left a bit and out it popped and practically fell into the sink!  Uh oh!  Turns out the lock nut that secures the faucet to the counter had completely rotted away and today was the day that it decided to fall over.  So I spent the majority of the day trying to fix it.  (I didn't by the way and I'm picking up a new faucet tomorrow).  Good times...

But the show must go on so here I am a few hours late with my card for Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is Cécile and as always her sketch has me dreaming that I can design cards the same way she does!

Those silver blobs in the center are pinecones, by the way.  I thought for sure that I had a pinecone stamp in my stash somewhere but apparently not, so I had to use this pinecone die cut, which is too small for what I wanted, but did the trick anyway.

The inspiration for this design came from a catalog that I got at work which has bulk Christmas cards with custom printing for companies to send to their customers.  The catalog is chock full of inspiration, which I knew would come in handy, so I brought it home and it now resides in my craft room.  I found an eye-catching card done in silver and black with green leaves and a pinecone and modified the design a bit to fit the sketch.  

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

Supplies
Stamps:  Holiday Messages (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Basic Black, Whisper White, Wild Wasabi (Stampin' Up!); Pinefeather (Papertrey Ink); foil paper (Recollections)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Festive Greenery Sizzlit (Tim Holtz); Pine Sprig Cluster die (Impression Obsession); Subtle Dynamic embossing folder (Stampin' Up!); silver cord (Stampin' Up!)