Wednesday, August 27, 2025

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #701

 


Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great week so far!  Summer has finally decided to show up here and the weather has been amazing!  We are currently enjoying our vacation.  We decided very last minute to take a trip to Revelstoke, British Columbia.  We've got a lot of hikes we want to tackle.  One hike is supposed to be the most beautiful hike in Canada!  We shall see.  I will keep you posted!




We had so much fun celebrating our 700th sketch at Freshly Made Sketches last week.  I hope you were able to play along with our challenge.  We're now rolling into our next 700 sketches!  I have the privilege of being this week's hostess!  I love to see all the different variations of the sketch!  My sketch has the sentiment being vertical on that last panel but I couldn't find one that fit the bill so I had to leave it horizontal! 

Supplies:
Cardstock: Hammermill White Coverstock, Brushed Gold (SU)
Dies: Christmas Foliage (Spellbinders), Handwritten Holiday Sentiments (Spellbinders)
Other: Distressed Tile Embossing Folder (SU)

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  

You have until Monday at 1 PM EST to get your card entered into this week's challenge!

Have an amazing day!

Jen

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #700


Happy Wednesday!
I hope you're having a great week so far!  The summer weather has finally arrived - let's just hope the snow stays away for another couple of months so we can actually enjoy it.  

We are so excited to be celebrating our 700th sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  Can you believe that?  We've been creating sketches for you for 14 years!  I started playing along with Freshly Made Sketches at sketch #16!  You can see that card below!  Crazy to think that it was almost right near the beginning that I started to play.  I joined the design team at sketch #38.  I'm so thankful they've kept me around all this time!  

For this special sketch, we've invited back some of the designers that joined us along the way.  I'm so excited to see the cards that they create!  We sure hope you'll join us this week as well!  Our winner this week will get to be a guest designer for a week with us!!!

Since this is our 14th year, we've picked our 14th sketch as the sketch we're using for our challenge this week!  
I needed a more masculine birthday card and I wanted to use the new paper I had sitting on my desk so I went to town.  The mushrooms are actually cut out from paper in the Mintay paper pack.  I just love mushrooms.  We saw so many on our last hike.  They were gorgeous!  This card came together a lot faster than they normally do!! 



Supplies:
Cardstock: Hammermill White Coverstock, Soft Suede, Cajun Craze
Patterned Paper: Lakeside Memories Basics (Paper Rose), Wildwood Secrets (Mintay Papers)
Dies: Happy Fall Sentiments

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you'll head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and join in our challenge this week!  We can't wait to see what you create!  Feel free to post the first card you ever submitted!  We'd love to see that too!

Have an amazing day!
Jen


 

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #699


Happy Wednesday!  
I hope you're having a fantastic start to your week!  The summer is flying by!  I am wondering how we're almost at the middle of August already!  We still haven't had a lot of summery weather yet but we're trying to make the best of what we have had.  

We've got a brand new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is the amazing Verena Shapiro!  Verena's cards are spectacular so make sure you head over to her Instagram to check them all out!  
I needed a couple of sympathy cards this week and I thought this sketch worked perfectly for them!  So I'm not so great at background blending but I gave it my best.  I added some trees and some blooms and called it a day. I kept the cards simple.  Sometimes I start off simple and then it spirals into complicated!!!  



Supplies:
Cardstock: Hammermill Coverstock, Basic Black
Stamps: Essential Sentiments (MFT), With Sympathy Duo (Waffle Flower)
Ink: Detail Black (Pink Fresh Studio), Twisted Citron, Salvaged Patina, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Uncharted Mariner, Scattered Straw, Fossilized Amber, Carved Pumpkin (Distress Oxides)
Dies: With Sympathy Duo (Waffle Flower), Harvest Dies (SU), Scenic Adventure Dies (SU), Circle Dies
Other:  Black Rhinestone Jewels (SU), Neutral Matte Dots (SU)

Thought I'd include a few photos from our adventure on the weekend.  

Our adventure started by seeing 5 Grizzlies!  A big male bear ran across the road in front of us and then we came across these three little ones and their mom.  Mom was grumpy (I would be too if I had triplets).  

A gorgeous paddle on Upper Kananaskis Lake.  It was so calm and the weather was perfect!  It was 8 degrees C when we started!!!  But it warmed up fast!

Our first paddle this year which is quite shameful!

This picture just doesn't do the water colour justice!


Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope you'll head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and join in our challenge this week.  
You have until 1 PM EST to get your card entered into this week's challenge!
Next week we're celebrating our 700th sketch!  I can't believe we're at 700!!!  I joined the Design Team at Sketch #31!!  That was a really long time ago!  I can't believe they've kept me all this time!!  You won't want to miss out on our challenge next week so be sure to mark it on your calendars!!!

Have an amazing day!
Jen