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