Seize the Sketch Christmas

Hello!
Are you ready for the weekend?  I'm totally ready for this last long weekend of the summer and school starting here next week.  We learned today who Caleb's teacher's are and we're very happy.  Hopefully this will be a great year for him!  He loves school so I hope this continues!

I made this card last weekend and haven't gotten around to posting it yet!  I love sketch challenges and the new Seize the Sketch challenge is no different!!!  This was a fabulous sketch!  I decided to make another Christmas card.  I still need to find that one perfect design that I will stick with and make a ton of cards with!

I went with the Winter Frost Specialty DSP again and added in some of that fabulous silver ribbon!  I used one of the smaller vintage faceted buttons.  The big ones seem a little to large to send in the mail!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Costal Cabana, Smokey Slate, Silver Glimmer Paper
DSP: Winter Frost Specialty
Stamps: Snow Swirled
Ink: Basic Black
Other: Vintage Faceted Button, Bakers Twine, Silver Ribbon

Thanks for stopping by!
I hope you have a great weekend!!!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches #101

Hello!

Happy Wednesday! I hope you're having a good week!  I spent the day shopping in NY on Monday and it was so fun.  What a fun group of girls!  I didn't buy too much but think I'll need to go back sometime soon!

Today brings us a new sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches!  The amazingly creative Linda Callahan is bringing us this week's super fun sketch!

I decided to go with a Christmas card this week.  I don't know why but somehow I feel like I need to get moving on those Christmas cards or I'll never get them done!!!  I think I just need to pick a simple design and go with it for everyone this year!  I do love the new DSP that SU came out with - though I'm really more a fan of traditional colours.

I opted not to get the new snowflake stamp set and dies though I think I may end up regretting that.  I kept the retired snowflake punch and decided to use that instead along with a few banners cut out using the Bitty Banners die!


Supplies:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Bermuda Bay, Costal Cabana, Basic Grey, Silver Glimmer
DSP: Winter Frost Specialty
Stamps: Pennant Parade (Sentiment)
Ink: Costal Cabana
Other: Snowflake Punch, Bitty Banners Die, Basic Rhinestones

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you have a fabulous day!!1

Hope you have a chance to join us for this week's challenge!  We can't wait to see what you create!

Jen

Thankful!

Hello!

I hope you've had a great weekend!  I managed to get a few minutes in my craft room this afternoon (and really, it was only a few minutes!) so that was nice!  The boys had a busy day and were pretty tired by the time they were tucked in bed!  Tomorrow I'm heading to Niagara Falls NY shopping with some friends.  I don't really have anything I'm desperate to get but I am not turning down a day away!!!  My hubby will be staying home with the boys tomorrow.  I have heard there's a trip to the train store involved!!!

I decided to create a card for this week's Create with Connie and Mary challenge.  I really love sketch challenges and had a vision for this challenge!!!  Sometimes visions work and sometimes they don't.  I started out with the Halloween card at the bottom and it didn't really work!!!  

I love fall cards - probably too much so.  I hope I remember to send my cards out this year!!!   I used the French Foliage stamp set for this card.  I know it's retired but I do truly love it.  I combined it with the sentiment from the Truly Grateful set.

Supplies: (Top card):
Cardstock: Whisper White, Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
Stamps: French Foliage, Truly Grateful
Ink: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, More Mustard, Cajun Craze
Other: Sponge Daubers, Dimensionals, Bronze Button, Cherry Cobbler Bakers Twine, Woodgrain Embossing Folder

Supplies: (Bottom Card)
Cardstock: Basic Black
DSP: Retired Halloween paper from last year....I forgot the name...sadly.
Stamps: Googly Ghouls, Mixed Medley
Ink: Basic Black
Other: Daisies #2 Die, Scalloped Circle Punch, Dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by!
I hope you have a great week!
Jen

Masculine and Grunge Birthday!

Hello!
Are you having a good weekend?  We are having a great weekend!  My wonderful husband took the boys flying today which gave me a few hours to do laundry and make some cards!  Woohoo!!!   I'm thinking I may even get an hour of crafting in tomorrow!

I have missed creating this week and as the start of school quickly approaches I'm hoping to get a few extra cards made a week (though that may be wishful thinking)!

 



I decided to play along with with this week's CAS(E) this Sketch! and Seize the Birthday challenges!  This week's Seize the Birthday challenge was an anything goes challenge so my masculine card fit in perfectly!!!

I do love the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set!  It is going to come in perfectly!  I used silver embossing powder to stamp the lines and just Basic Grey to stamp the dots.  After the fact I decided that the white was a little blah so I used the new Stylish Stripes Embossing Folder to add some texture!  I embossed the sentiment in Silver just to add a little something!  The edges are distressed though you can't really see it here!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Midnight Muse
Stamp: Lovely Labels, Gorgeous Grunge
Ink: Versamark, Basic Gray
Other: Silver Embossing Powder, Artisan Label Punch, Stylish Stripes Embossing Folder, Stampin' Distress Tool

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!!!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #100!!!!

Hello!

Happy Wednesday!  Today is a very exciting day for two very important reasons!  The first (and most important to our family) is our youngest son's 5th birthday!  I can't believe he's 5.  He came into this world creating excitement for us and hasn't stopped since!  We are taking the Go Train into downtown Toronto today to see some sights and then heading back to Burlington for dinner at Red Lobster (not because he likes the food but because he likes to sit and watch the trains).  Maybe you've figured out that my 5 year old LOVES trains!  

Next, today is our 100TH sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches!  We are super pumped about this! There are even some fabulous give aways!!!  Keep reading!!!!   Cindy Hall was the very first "Queen of Clean" and she is still creating such beautiful cards each week on our design team!  Cindy decided to pick the very first sketch as the sketch we would use this week!   So very excited since I hadn't started playing along yet when this sketch was introduced!

I had some trouble with this sketch!  Good thing I hadn't played along 100 sketches ago!!!  I really wanted to make Jacob a 5th birthday card using this but alas I couldn't make it work.  The creative juices just haven't been flowing lately.  I am still on a fall kick (maybe it's those cool nights) so I decided to stick with the theme!  That and I can't get enough of that DSP!!!!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla,
DSP: Orchard Harvest (retired)
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved, Falling Leaves (retired)
Ink: Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Lucky Limeade
Other: Basic Pearls, Cannery Framelits, Bitty Banners, Dimensionals

So...there are some fabulous give-aways up for grabs!  All you need to do is create a card and enter into this very special challenge.  The list of items will be available on the Freshly Made Sketches blog!  You'll also see our Design Team has grown for this week!  We have asked a handful of our special winners to join us this week for our little celebration!

We do hope you'll all participate and create a card for our challenge!

I'll leave you with two pictures of Jacob...Happy 5th Birthday Love Bug!!!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a fabulous day!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #99

Hello!

Happy Wednesday!  Can you believe it's Wednesday already?  I can't believe it's been almost a week since we left the beautiful island of Kauai.  Time sure flies by.  It has been a cool return to Canada and tonight I actually had to close the windows because the house was getting too cold.  Fall is in the air.

We have a fabulous new sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches.  The amazing Rita Wright has a great sketch for us this week.   It was super fun to play with!  

I really do enjoy simple cards and cards with lots of white space!  I decided to stick to a black and white combination (again....) since I do enjoy the clean look they give together.  I finally caved and bought the Mosaic Madness bundle!  I do think it's fun!  I have seen so many fabulous cards using it!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White
Stamps: Mosaic Madness, Create a Cupcake
Ink: Stazon, Basic Black
Other: Mosaic Textured Embossing Folder, Mosaic Punch, Basic Rhinestones, Circle Punch, Dimensionals


Another Hawaii picture!  This is from the Big Island and shows the piping hot lava pouring into the ocean!  So amazing!!!  I am so thankful I was able to see nature at it's hottest!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a fabulous day!
Please head on over to the Freshly Made Sketches Blog and check out the beautiful cards the Design Team has created for you!  We can't wait to see what you come up with this week!

Jen

Seize the Sketch Thanksgiving

Hello!
Hope everyone had a great Monday.  Jacob and I had a great day together!  Jacob had a swimming lesson tonight and finally got his kicking down!  He was doing awesome!  I was so proud of him!  It's been a long road but he's getting there and loves the water!

I was excited to play along with this week's "Seize the Sketch" Challenge!  Thank you Lesley Croghan for creating yet another fabulous challenge!  I love sketch challenges!  I must say the angled lines did stump me for a while.  I'm a cut and dried kind of girl so throwing angles in there gets me off my game!

I'm in love with the Sweater Weather DSP!  I love fall colours and when I saw this in the new catalogue I knew I had to have it!!!  I couldn't wait any longer to make fall cards!  I got out my Wonderfall stamp set and the Autumn Accents die and went to town!  Throw in that fabulous Truly Grateful stamp set and autumn is in the air!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango
DSP: Sweater Weather
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Stamps: Wonderfall, Truly Grateful
Other: Autumn Accents Die, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Argyle Embossing Folder, Dimesionals


Thanks for stopping by again today!  Here's another Hawaii picture!  This one was taken from the helicopter.  I love the colour of the water and all of that fabulous sand!  Gorgeous!

Have a fabulous day!

Jen

CAS Thanksgiving (already?)

Hello!
Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you had a great weekend!  Trevor and I arrived safely in from Kauai, Hawaii on Friday afternoon.  We had the most amazing trip and I am so thankful that we were able to go away.  I am also so very thankful to my mom and dad for taking such amazingly great care of my boys while we were gone!  Caleb loved it so much he decided to stay with them another week!

I was able to make a few cards on Saturday while doing some jet lag recovery!  I tackled this week's CAS(E) this Sketch challenge first!  I missed playing with this challenge the last few weeks!

My pre-order arrived while we were gone so I was able to tear that open and have some fun!  I love fall'ish cards more than any other!  I couldn't wait to get going!  I do love the new Truly Grateful stamp set!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Crushed Curry, Very Vanilla
Stamps: Truly Grateful
Ink: Early Espresso, Chocolate Chip
Other: Circle Punches, Twine, Dimensionals


Here's a shot of Trevor and I by the "Jurassic Park" waterfalls in Hawaii.  It was so beautiful here!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches #98

Aloha!
Greetings from Hawaii!  I hope everyone is having a great week!  I am getting this post ready ahead of time so technically I'm not in Hawaii yet!  I can't wait to update you on the trip and get some pictures posted once we're back!  I'm sorry that I didn't get commenting on any cards last week!  They were all beautiful!

It's Wednesday and that brings us a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week's hostess is the lovely Jen Mitchell!  She makes the most amazing clean and simple cards!  I just love checking out her blog to see what she's made!

I had some suggestions for some wedding cards so decided to tackle this sketch with a wedding card!  We've been invited to a few weddings this fall so I should get some made to have on hand!

I used the Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder on the black but you can't really tell in this picture..sorry, it was raining and the lighting wasn't the best!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Silver Glimmer

Stamps: Love and Laughter

Ink: Stazon, Basic Black

Other: Basic Rhinestones, Boho Blossoms Punch, Dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by!  Please head on over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog to check out the beautiful cards the design team has cooked up!  I can't wait to see what you create as well!

Have a great day!

Jen