Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #669

Hello!

Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great start to your week!  We are almost halfway through January!  I actually feel like it's flying by.  Normally I'd say January has 693 days but this year I feel like I'm blinking and it's gone.  I'm sure it doesn't feel that way to everyone and I know a lot of people struggle with January.  I think our weather has been so uncharacteristically mild that it doesn't quite seem like January.  At least that's what I'll tell myself!

We have a brand new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is our favourite Australian and the lady I'm most excited to take to the top of a mountain, Narelle Farrugia!  Narelle makes beautiful cards.  She's our layering queen so head over to her blog to check them out! 

I wanted to make another Valentine's Day card but I really struggled.  I probably should have just scrapped it and moved on to something else instead but I didn't.  I'm not overly thrilled with the final product but I got it done!  

Supplies:
Cardstock: Hammermill Coverstock White, Silver Foil, Real Red (SU)
Dies: Many Hearts Dies (SU)
Other: Curved Everyday Sentiments (Spellbinders), Silver Foil (Spellbinders), Subtle Texture Embossing Folder.

We headed out on a much warmer hike at Rummel Ridge on Saturday.  We thought we were in for a treat of a hike but turns out we hit a snowstorm on our ascent and our views were pretty non-existent!  Thankfully the skies cleared on our way down and we were able to catch a few beautiful views!  

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you'll join in our challenge this week!  You have until Monday at 1 PM EST to get your card entered into this week's challenge!  If you need any inspiration at all, please head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and check out the cards the Design Team have posted!

Have an amazing day!
Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #668

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great week so far!  We've had a chinook blow in so the temperatures have increased and it's lovely!  I don't love the chinook headaches that accompany said temperature change but they don't last long for us!!

We have a great new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches today!  Our hostess this week is the lovely Karren Johnson!  Karren's cards are always so beautiful so please head over to her blog and give her some love!  

I popped into the local paper store here and saw this cute little gnome die from Spellbinders and couldn't resist him!  I absolutely love gnomes!  Not as much as I love grizzly bears but grizzly bear dies are hard to come by!  I decided I would make this guy a cute little Valentine's Day gnome.  I had some old SU Valentine's Day paper from years ago that I grabbed to make this card.  I had originally made him in red but my oldest told me he looked like a Christmas gnome!  

Supplies:
Cardstock: Hammermill Coverstock White, Melon Mambo, Early Espresso, Granny Apple Green, Petal Pink, Pink Foil (didn't photograph well at all)

DSP: Pop of Pink (SU Retired)

Stamps: P.S. I Love You (SU Retired)

Ink: Detail Black (Pink Fresh Studios)

Dies: Garden Buddies (Spellbinders), Nested Circle Dies (Spellbinders), Tasteful Label Dies

Other: Tasteful Textile Embossing Folder, Heart Punches (SU - Retired)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you will join in our challenge this week!  We would love to see what you do with our sketch this week!  

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

If you need some inspiration, please head over to our blog!  The Design Team has created some beautiful cards! 

Thought I'd share some of the pics from our hike on Friday.  It was a beautiful day - despite being -20C.  The sun was shining and we had bluebird skies!  The hike itself sucked and might have made me scream at some trees!  

I hope you have an amazing day!
Jen

 

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #667

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Hello and Happy New Year!  

We are starting the year off with a bang!  Okay, maybe not a bang at our house but we're definitely starting out the year right.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and got rested up.  The tree and my Christmas village went away yesterday clearing away the last of the Christmas decorations.  The storage room has been cleaned and tidied and there is a massive load for donation and the dump!  I doubt the momentum will continue but we tried!

We have a brand new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week!  Our hostess is the amazing Cecile Ribon!  Cecile is a master card maker and I'm always blown away by her creations - both cards and other amazing paper crafts! Please head over to her blog and show her some love!  

I was totally wishing I had some really pretty snowflake dies I could use for this card but alas!  Now that I'm looking at it, I could use heart dies!  That's probably what I should have done.  Gotten a jump start on Valentine's day!  I went with stars instead!  I knew I had some pretty star paper that I managed to locate, I cut out some stars and used a pre-made foiled sentiment since it was just sitting there waiting to be glued onto a card!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Hammermill White Coverstock, Night of Navy, Copper Foil, Copper Sparkle 

DSP: It's an old Christmas one from SU.  I can't remember the name.

Dies: Stars Framelits (SU)

Other: Curved Everyday Sentiments (Spellbinders), Copper Foil (Spellbinders), Tin Tile Embossing Folder (SU)

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 Monday at 1 PM EST to get your card entered into this week's challenge.

If you need some inspiration, the design team has created some amazing cards!  Go check them out!

I hope you'll follow along for my 2025 hiking adventures!  Trevor and I wrapped up 2024 with 31 hikes together and I managed to squeeze in another 9 hikes with friends (and without Trevor) to top out at 40 hikes this year!  Not our biggest year for kilometers or elevation but we had such a fantastic year climbing.  I can't wait to see what we tackle this year!

Have an amazing day!

Jen

 

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #666

Hello and Happy Wednesday!
I hope you're having a great week!  We're quickly inching our way towards Christmas.  I think I have most of the shopping done now.  Stockings are giving me grief but that's the trouble with teenage boys!  I just need a couple of little things and we'll be good to go!  

We have a brand new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week and it's or last one of the year!  How is that even possible?!  I have the privilege of being this week's hostess!  I sure hope you'll head into your craft area, make a card and join in our challenge!

I need a couple more Christmas cards and I figured that poinsettias would fit best in those massive circles that I opted to put on that sketch in a moment of weakness!  I actually had 3 of the 4 poinsettias already made on my desk.  They were just sitting there from a previous card making attempt and were just calling to be used on this card. 

Supplies:
Cardstock: Hammermill White Coverstock, Real Red, Silver Foil

Stamps: Christmas Pines

Ink: PinkFresh Detail Black

Dies: Christmas Bird Poinsettia (Spellbinders)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I thought I'd share a few photos of our most recent hike.  This was a hike to Chester Lake.  It's not long and not a lot of elevation gain but there was a ton of snow!  It was beautiful!  

I sure hope you'll join in our challenge this week.  You have until Monday at 1 PM EST to get your card entered into this last challenge of 2024!

If you need some inspiration head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and check out the cards that are posted! 

Have an amazing day and Merry Christmas!

Jen

 

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #665

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great week so far!  We've got a chinook rolling through so the weather has been lovely!  Some of that crazy snow we had received is melting!  We had some freezing fog this morning so the trees are coated again but that must makes them super pretty!  Are you ready for Christmas?  I think I'm pretty much done!  I have a couple of little things to do and some stocking stuffers to buy but I feel better than I did last week!

We've got a great new sketch today at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess is the lovely Kim Singdahlsen.  Kim makes such beautiful cards so head over to her blog to check them out!  I'm a little behind in getting my card posted!  I actually had it done good and early but I had forgotten to take a picture and by the time I remembered yesterday, it was pitch black out and I take terrible inside pictures when it's dark!  Soooo...here I am a few hours late!

I started with strips.  I tried.  I really did.  I have given up on Christmas cards because Canada Post is on strike so the mail isn't going anywhere anyhow and I figure they'll be so backed up when the strike is over that I might as well move onto a different type of card!   

My husband's birthday is early in February and creeps up on me so I thought I'd get a head start and get that card done!  I started with a different idea and hated it and wanted to incorporate mountains somehow so I threw some trees in for my long strips and away we went!  

Supplies:
Cardstock: Hammermill Coverstock White, Garden Green, Wild Wasabi, Gumball Green, Smoky Slate, Silver Foil

Dies: Pine Woods Dies (SU), A2 Mountain Scene Builder Add-On Honey Cuts (Honey Bee Stamps), Celebrate Script (Taylored Expressions)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you'll join in our challenge this week!  You have until Monday at 1 PM EST to get your card entered into this week's challenge.  If you need some inspiration, head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and check out what's posted there!  The Design Team has some amazing cards!  

 Have an amazing day!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #664

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great start to the week!  We had a pretty big snow storm on the weekend but finally the sun has come out and at least melted some of the ice on the roads.  I'm still not used to the way Calgary deals with snow.  Or maybe doesn't deal with it?!  I've attached some pictures at the end of this post of our winter wonderland.  It sure does get you in the Christmas spirit!  

We have a brand new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is the wonderful Linda Callahan!  Linda's cards are always so lovely.  Please head over to her blog to check them out!  

So I'm going to call my card the crooked card.  I have a very crooked eye and wow, I sure didn't disappoint with this card.  My panels are crooked, my sentiment is crooked but at least I got the card finished.  I'll just have to send this one to my mom because she'll tell me it's wonderful no matter how crooked everything is!!  Though with the Canada Post strike I don't think mail is going anywhere anytime soon!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Hammermill Coverstock White, Real Red, Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, Wild Wasabi, Gumball Green, Gold Foil

Stamps: Itty Bitty Gifting (MFT)

Ink: Black Detail (Pink Fresh Studios)

Dies: Build-A-Wreath (Spellbinders), Christmas Bird Poinsettia (Spellbinders), Itty Bitty Strips (MFT)

Other: Winter's Veil Embossing Folder (Tonic Studios), Brushed Metallic Adhesive Backed Dots (SU)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Here are a few winter shots!  We finally got a day of sun after almost a week of cloud.  That is super weird for us.  We usually have sun every day!  

We hope you'll head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and join in our challenge this week!  We always love to see what you come up with!  If you need some inspiration, head over to the blog and check out the cards that are posted!  

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

Have an amazing day!
Jen

 

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #662

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great start to your week!  There is a chinook blowing through so it's been quite lovely temperature wise - not so nice are the accompanying chinook headaches that most of us get.  I will put up with the headaches to have some beautiful weather!!!

We have a brand new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is the amazing Jennifer Timko!  Jen is such an amazing card designer and a talented airline pilot!  She's also one of our fearless leaders and we're so thankful for her and all she does for our challenge!  Please head over to her blog and give her some love! 

I don't usually do too well with large open spaces BUT I am in desperate need of Christmas cards so I figured I'd throw some poinsettias on this one and call it a day!  I opted for an all white background but think I might make another one with a black background!  I started with silver centres for my poinsettias but then went with copper foil!  I wanted to be different!  I threw on some copper jewels and called it a day!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Hammermill White Coverstock, Copper Foil (SU)

Stamps: Star of Light (SU)

Ink: Detail Black (PinkFresh Studios)

Dies: Poinsettia Dies (SU)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  
We hope you'll enter in our challenge this week!  You have until Monday at 1 PM EST to get your card entered on the Freshly Made Sketches blog!  If you need some inspiration, head over to the blog and check it out!  

We hit up a fantastic Christmas market on the weekend and then did a little hike.  The hike was fantastic even though the views were non-existent.  It was just so nice to get out after a few weeks of not hiking!

Reindeer at the Christmas market

So many sheep on the road today!!!

Hiking in a snow storm

Fantastic summit views

Frozen creek

Hope you have an amazing day!

Jen