Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #605

Happy Wednesday!  

I hope you're having a fantastic start to your week!  We're having a couple of nice warm days but the cold is on it's way.  Last year we were fortunate to have a long, warmer fall but looks like winter is anxious to get here!  Our hiking season is quickly coming to an end...it might even be over (which I might be okay with).  

We have a brand new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches! Our sketch this week comes all the way from New Zealand and our amazing hostess, Karren Johnson!  Karren's cards are so beautiful and she's a world class colourer!  Trust me.  Head over to her blog and check them out!

I saw that giant circle and wondered what I could do with it.  I remembered my Lovely Layers hydrangea and decided I would cut them out and colour them in various shades of purple!  I'm working on my distress oxide blending and these hydrangea are perfect to practice with!  Unfortunately I couldn't get a good enough picture of my card.  I used some wink of stella on the petals and it doesn't show up well!  

Supplies:

Cardstock: Hammermill White, Highland Heather (SU), Silver Foil

Stamps: Itty Bitty Gifting (MFT)

Ink: Black (Pink Fresh Studio), Milled Lavender (Ranger), Dusty Concord (Ranger), Villainous Potion (Ranger), Wink of Stella

Other: Lovely Layers Hyrangea Honey Cuts (Honey Bee Stamps), Itty Bitty Strips (MFT), Basic Rhinestones (SU), Tasteful Texture Embossing Folder (SU)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you'll join in our challenge this week!  If you need some inspiration head on over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and check out the cards the Design Team has created! 

Last Saturday we went on Hike #30 of 2023.  My husband wasn't too keen on this one.  He likes to summit peaks but I'd seen some pictures of this one and it's beautiful!  He agreed to try out Piper's Pass.  We hit the mountains just as the sun was coming up.  It was so gorgeous!  The larches have turned from green to gold in the mountains (see pic #3 below).  We try and stay clear of big larch hikes because they're soooo busy.  We were fortunate to see a few larches on our hike and not have to deal with all the people!

The cloudy skies made this hike even more incredible and we all said that it might just be one of our favourites!  

I hope you have an amazing day!

Jen

 

 

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #604

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great week so far!  It has quickly turned from summer to fall here and I'm pulling out the leggings and cozy sweaters!  The larch trees are starting to turn golden yellow and they're so beautiful!  Our hiking season will soon be coming to an end but we've had such a fantastic season!

We've got a brand new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is our incredible talented French designer Cecile Ribon!  Cecile's card always amaze me.  She continues to blow me away!  Head over to her blog to check them out!  

I wasn't too sure what I was going to do with this card.  I tried a few things (like always) and they didn't quite work out (like always) so I went with a Christmas card!  You can never have too many right?  And you also can't go wrong with red and white?!  I had one textured background chosen but it was too much so then I tried plain and didn't like it so I went with this one.  I always have such a hard time deciding things!  I really wanted to use red foil for the sentiment but for some reason I cannot get the red foil to work.  I always end up with foil where I don't want foil.  Has anyone else had this trouble with the red?  I've struggled with some other colours too.  So weird.  

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

Ink: Real Red, Cherry Cobbler (both SU)

Other: Subtle Texture Embossing Folder (SU), Christmas Bird and Poinsettia (Spellbinders), Glimmer Hot Foil Machine (Spellbinders), Silver Hot Foil (Spellbinders), Joyful Christmas Sentiments (Spellbinders)

Our most recent hike pictures!  We hiked up to Black Prince Lake which you'll see was all dried up.  We actually hiked up past another lake that had also dried up.  It's so sad.  Our summer was so dry.  I don't know how some of these lakes will recover.  We'd need a LOT of snow and rain next year!  This was a fantastic little hike.  It wasn't as strenuous as our last one.  The weather was fantastic and we brought two friends along on this one!  We also saw 14 Mountain Goats which was the highlight of the hike.  Mountain goats are a little elusive so we were super pumped to catch a glimpse of some!  

My husband being crazy!  

One little gold larch tree

What's left of Black Prince Lake

My and my friend Annie

Trevor and I

One of the many Mountain Goats we saw!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you'll head on over to the Freshly Made sketches blog and join in our challenge this week!

You'll find some gorgeous cards created by the Design Team already up on the blog that will inspire you!

Have an amazing day!
Jen

 

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #603

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a fantastic week!  Here were are sliding into the middle of September!  Do you decorate for fall?  Fall is my favourite season and I could leave my decorations up all year long!!  I have a pumpkin collection (obsession) and might have added to it again this year!  I get my decorations out once the kids are back in school and they stay up until November 1.  

We've got a brand new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  I have the privilege of being this week's hostess!  I had fun coming up with a sketch this week and can't wait to see what you do with it!  I love seeing everyone's creativity!

So maybe you see a snowman when you see this sketch!  I did too at first but I really wanted to make a fall card!  I tried using some patterned paper but I'm running low on fall paper and had a hard time pairing together two patterns I liked!  Needless to say, plain white won out!  I grabbed my hardwood embossing folder (or maybe it's called woodgrain?) and added some texture.  I used my Fall Foliage stamp set (Reverse Confetti) for the sentiment and just cut it out by hand.  

Supplies:
Cardstock: Hammermill White, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler

Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake

Other: Hardwood Embossing Folder (SU), Autumn Wonder Dies (Spellbinders)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you'll head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and join in our challenge!  If you're looking for some inspiration you'll definitely find some!  The Design Team has some beautiful cards posted!  I'm looking forward to see all the different cards that get posted!

Enjoy the photos from Saturday's hike!  It was crazy.  I actually got a little twinge of altitude sickness from this one!  The false and true summits of this mountain - Observation Peak, are both over 10,000 feet.  You can see both Bow (blue) and Peyto (turquoise) lakes from the top!  There's a fantastic glacier on the back of the mountain we were able to check out - as in look at!  These glaciers are not stable so we don't go near them!  The last picture is just to show how steep the trail was.  I am pretty sure it was the steepest one we've done so far!  Definitely the most amazing and breathtaking!  Hiking season is drawing to a close so you won't have many more pictures to see!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  

Have an amazing day!

Jen

 

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #602

Happy Wednesday!  Wow, Wednesdays come fast when you've had a long weekend!  Our youngest started 10th grade yesterday which seems almost impossible to me!  The boys' high school has a staggered start so my oldest doesn't start until Thursday.  Oh how I wish time would slow down a bit.  I'm not ready for my oldest to start his last year of high school.  Didn't he just start Kindergarten last year?!

We've got a great new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week!  Our hostess this week is the incredibly talented Kim Singdahlsen!  Kim's cards are spectacular.  She comes up with the most beautiful things!  Head on over to her blog and check them out!    

I knew I wanted to do a Christmas card with this sketch.  I also knew I wanted to do a pink poinsettia!  I don't think I've ever created a pink poinsettia so it was about time!  I opted to keep the colour to just pink and white so the "greenery" is now "whitery"!  I added some silver accents and was done!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Hammermill White Cover Stock, Blushing Bride, Silver Foil

Ink: Blushing Bride

Other: Holiday Blooms (Spellbinders), Christmas Bird Poinsettia (Spellbinders), A Merry Little Christmas Sentiments (Spellbinders), Silver Foil (Spellbinders), Silver Sequins (SU), Dainty Diamonds Embossing Folder (SU), Glimmer Hot Foil Machine (Spellbinders)

Our most recent hike wasn't a big one but one that was on our list.  It was long - almost 19 km but only 600 m elevation gain!  We did the Plain of 6 Glaciers Teahouse at Lake Louise!  It's an iconic hike and one we hadn't done.  You'll see the teahouse in the photos below.  We didn't actually stop and have anything at the teahouse. We just wanted to get on our way!  It was so neat to see all the glaciers and hear them cracking.  Our hiking season is coming to an end.  At this time of year we have no idea how many more weeks we'll have.  Snow and unfavourable weather can hit at any time and end things!  

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you'll head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and join our challenge this week!  There are some amazing Design Team cards there to provide you with some incredible inspiration!  

Have an amazing day!

Jen

 

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #601

Happy Wednesday!
Here we are starting our next 100 sketches!  A huge thank you to everyone who participated in our 600th Freshly Made Sketches challenge last week!  We loved seeing all of your beautiful cards!  It's been a true honour to be on this design team and part of this challenge!  I love being inspired by each of you!

We've got a fantastic new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week from Linda Callahan!  Linda is so fun and makes the best cards!  You need to check out her card for today!  I love it!  Head over to her blog to see it and all her other masterpieces!  

I recently acquired these fun Autumn Wonder dies from Spellbinders.  I love them but I didn't initially buy the envelope die that corresponds with them.  I ended up going back and getting it though because a fall bouquet coming out of an envelope just seems so fun!  I really struggled with this one though.  I had trouble coming up with the background.  Finally I settled on some Early Espresso but really the More Mustard looked better!!!  We won't go there though!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Cherry Cobbler, More Mustard, Early Espresso, Pumpkin Pie, Crumb Cake, Garden Green, Wild Wasabi, Mossy Meadow, Basic White, Gold Foil (all SU)

Ink: Pumpkin Pie, Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, More Mustard, Garden Green, Wild Wasabi (all SU)

DSP: In Good Taste (SU Retired)

Other: Mini Everyday Sentiments (Spellbinders), Autumn Wonder (Spellbinders), Dazzling Diamonds (Spellbinders), Gold Foil (Spellbinders), Glimmer Hot Foil Machine (Spellbinders)

Okay, it's now time for the latest hiking photos!  We've had some smoky views from the wildfires in BC so we've had to change around some of our hikes.  No sense hiking up a massive mountain if you can't see anything at the top!  This was a "smaller" one but it was a beast.  Definitely not my favourite.  Definitely will not be doing this one again - ever!!!

Rimwall Summit!  It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the summit to ourselves! 

Yup, that's the summit - it sucked getting to that point!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I do hope you'll head on over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and join in our challenge!  There are some fabulous cards on the blog from the Design Team that I'm sure will inspire you!

Have an amazing day!

Jen

 

Celebrating 600!!! Freshly Made Sketches 600th Sketch!

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a wonderful start to your week?  Maybe your kids have headed back to school this week or maybe you're on vacation!  We were on vacation last week and it was wonderful.  We did a lot of hiking so be prepared to be bombarded with hiking photos at the end of this post!

Did you see that it's our 600th sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  That's about 12 years!  Can you believe that?  It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating 400!  I just scrolled back and my first sketch with the Design Team was #38!  I didn't realize I had been with this lovely group of ladies for so long!  No wonder we feel like family!  You're going to see some extra cards on the blog this week!  We took a look at the who had won our challenge the most over the years and picked a bunch of those people to make cards for your inspiration!  

 

This week, when each Design Team member picks their "Perfect Prince/Princess" that person will be offered the future opportunity to be a guest designer for one of our challenges!  We really wanted to celebrate all of you and how much we love how you join in our challenge each week!  Some of you have been around since Sketch #1!  

So I grabbed this new poinsettia die set by Spellbinders this week.  I love the poinsettia and I also love that sweet little bird!  Spellbinders really does make some amazing dies!  I had this already embossed piece of black cardstock sitting in my collection of black so I opted to use it!  

Supplies:
Cardstock: Real Red, Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green, Basic Black, Gold Foil

Ink: Real Red, Cherry Cobbler, Garden Green

Other: Christmas Bird, Poinsettia Dies (Spellbinders),  A Merry Little Christmas Sentiments (Spellbinders),  Nested Circles (PinkFresh Studios), Woodgrain Embossing Folder (SU), Gold Foil, Glimmer Hot Foil Machine

Okay so vacation at our house means hiking!!!  We got 4 hikes in and beat last year's hike total!   I was pretty pumped!  

So hike #1 was Healy Pass!  It's a beautiful spot that you get to from Sunshine Ski Hill in Banff.  The weather was iffy and we weren't sure what we were in for but by the time we got there, the skies had cleared and it was beautiful!  

Hike #2 was my most favourite hike so far (ever)!  Snow Peak in Kananaskis Country!  The skies were crystal clear and it was absolutely beautiful!  The hike was a tough one but we plugged away and got it done!  I will remember this one forever!  

Hike #3 was the beautiful Lake O'Hara in British Columbia!  This is a protected area and you can't get in without a ticket and we were fortunate to score two  tickets.  There is an alpine circuit that we did and it was so beautiful but it was the hottest day we've ever hiked.  The views were incredible and we were so thankful for the kind man who offered to take our picture so we weren't doing the usual selfie!

Hike #4 - Pigeon Mountain.  This was a bike and hike!  Thankfully we could bike the first 5 km of this hike which cut down on the distance and time!  It was super smoky but we took advantage of the day and enjoyed it anyhow!  Rolling green hills and a beautiful surroundings always make the day better!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Thanks also for putting up with all the hiking pics!  We had such a good time!  Hiking season will be over soon enough and we'll try and squeeze in as many as we can!  

Please make sure you head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog!  You'll see the Design Team's cards as well as our special guests'!  You will definitely be inspired and you'll want to join in our challenge!  Remember, if you get chosen as one of this week's favourites you'll have an opportunity to join us in one of our challenges!  

Have an amazing day!

Jen