Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #637

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope everyone is having a great week so far!  We're coming off of an extra long weekend.  Unfortunately the weather was horrible.  We even drove through a snow storm on Saturday!  No hiking for us!  We did some off-roading which was fun but a little chilly!  We had to wear our winter coats! Some places got hit with snow on Friday and some mountain peaks received upwards of 30 cm of snow!  The start of summer hiking season has been significantly delayed!  That being said, it's also delaying and helping wildfire season so I guess we'll be thankful!  

We have got a fun new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is the amazing Karren Johnson!  Karren is super creative and an amazing colourer (I know, it's not a word!) so make sure you head over to her blog and check out her beautiful creations!  

So shockingly (or not), I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with this sketch.  I had just purchased some new dies to make some masculine cards (I feel that these are sometimes hard to find!) and thought I could get a head start on a Father's Day card.  My husband got a smoker for Christmas and he makes some delicious dinners so I thought this card would work perfectly for him.  My dad also is amazing on the BBQ so I might have to create one like this for him as well.  I'm going to actually get to see my dad for Father's day this year (or the day after) so he might get his card and gift in person!  

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

Patterned Paper: Simple Stories Summer Lovin' Red Gingham

Stamps: Pond Life (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Detail Black (Pinkfresh Studio)

Dies: King of the Grill (Crafter's Companion), Double Stitched Circles, Tasteful Label Dies (SU)
Other: Subtle Texture Embossing Folder (SU)

Just thought I'd include some pics from our off roading adventure!  We still could see the mountains from where we were so it was almost as good as hiking!  Loved getting out and getting some fresh air!  Super fun new hobby to add to our list!  

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you'll head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and join in our challenge!  We love seeing so many different cards!  We definitely have a creative group of card makers that play along each week.

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 #539

Hello!

Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great week so far!  We've had a bit of rain over the last couple of days and we're so thankful.  I have never lived anywhere that went this long without rain.  Everything looks so green and happy now!  If it could just warm up a bit it would be wonderful!  

We've got a great new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is the fabulous Jennifer Timko!  Jen's card are gorgeous and I'm always wow'd by her creativity!  Head over to her blog and check them out!  

 

So I flipped this sketch around a bit since my bear die was pointed the other way!  I'm pretty sure that's okay!  I'm not totally thrilled with this card but I totally lack creativity and supplies when it comes to making masculine cards (especially Father's Day cards)!  I think I need to focus on that a bit more!  Push myself out of the floral/feminine card design!

I've always made this bear out of black cardstock before but now I know this guy is a grizzly (note the hump behind his shoulders) so he's now brown!  Yes, grizzlies can be really dark or really light but this guy is just brown!  

Supplies:

Cardstock: Early Espresso, Wild Wasabi, Shaded Spruce, Garden Green

DSP: Peaceful Prints (retired)

Stamps: Handsomely Suited

Ink: Early Espresso

Other: Bear Die (Taylored Expressions), Pine Woods Dies, Evergreens (Taylored Expressions), Tasteful Labels Dies

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you'll head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and take a peek!  We also hope you'll join in our challenge this week!  The Design Team has got some beautiful cards to inspire you!

Have an amazing day!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #488

Hello!

Happy Wednesday!  I hope you are having a great start to your week!  We've been early watching our robin's nest and the babies have gotten so big so fast!  I feel like they doubled in size just over night.  Only a few more days until they'll be out of the next and toddling around.  Thankfully our backyard seems very protected and our little feathery friends should be safe and sound.  

We have a great new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is the amazing Jen Mitchell!  Jen is the queen of the CAS card!  Her cards are always so elegant and make me smile!

I need a couple of extra Father's Day cards and I don't always know what to do for these masculine cards.  I feel like I never buy the masculine stamps for some reason.  I had just made a few cards using these tree dies and realized they would be perfect for my Father's Day cards as well.  As I posted my card I realized that Jacquie and I had the same idea about our Father's Day cards.  I'm going to go with "great minds think alike"!!!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Whisper White, Garden Green, Granny Apple Green, Evening Evergreen

Stamps: Crazy About You

Ink: Basic Black

Other: Pine Planks Embossing Folder, Pretty Pines Thinlits, Other little diecut trees (Taylored Expressions) Dimensionals

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you'll take some time to head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and check out the amazing cards that are "on display".  They sure are beautiful this week!  We can't wait to see what you come up with!

Have an amazing day!

Jen

 

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #392

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great week!  I'm typing this with the most beautiful sunshine streaming in my windows!  It's just gorgeous!  Thankfully my windows were cleaned recently so they're still relatively nice looking and I'm not staring at them in horror!!!!  Window cleaning is not my favourite task!  I have a few more windows to do upstairs and then I'm done!

We have a great new sketch today at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is the amazing Jacquie Southas!  Jacquie creates such beautiful cards that are always so colourful and happy!  I love them!  Head over to her blog to check them out!

I must say that I'm not a huge fan of this card.  I thought at first I did like it but then when I got it ready to mail to my dad I decided I was a little disappointed.  Thankfully my dad is too kind to ever say anything bad about my cards!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black
Ink: Basic Black
Stamps: Lovely as a Tree, Crazy for You
Other: Subtle Texture Embossing Folder, Stitched Frames, Dimensionals

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope you'll head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and check out the amazing cards the Design Team has created for your enjoyment!  You'll be glad you did!

Have an amazing day!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #342

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great start to your week!  We are in school wind down mode which is finally nice.  Caleb had what we hope is his last test today.  I know the teacher is just trying to keep them busy and out of trouble but I think we're all pretty much done!!!  Just a week and a half to go!

We have a got a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is the amazing Amy O'Neill!  She is our colour master and she can mix and match colours like no ones business.  She's also amazing with embellishments and getting thread to make these perfectly amazing circles!!!  It's a skill I don't possess!!  Head over to her blog and check it out!

I used this sketch to make a Father's Day card for my Dad.  I don't have a lot of masculine paper or stamps so I pulled out some of this Christmas paper from last year since it was about as masculine as I was getting.  I only have one Father's Day set and it's a retired one from SU.  I kinda thought the card needed something so I added in some arrows using the arrow punch!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black. Old Olive
DSP: Merry Little Christmas  (SU Retired)
Stamps: Best Dad Ever (SU Retired)
Ink: Basic Black
Other: Arrow Punch, Dimensionals

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you'll head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and check out the amazing cards the Design Team has created!  They are pretty spectacular!

We can't wait to see what you create this week!

Have a fabulous day!
Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #294

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're all having a great week!  We are still waiting for school to be finished.  Nothing like dragging it out until the bitter end.  The kids have checked out mentally and I'm pretty much done with making lunches and washing containers!!!  Only 3 more days!!!!  Yay!!!  Next week is the camp at our church and we are expecting about 1000 kids!  Should be a wild time!  I will have a great group of kids who will be introduced to the world of card making!  Can't wait!

We have a great new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches courtesy of one of our Texan designers Amy O'Neill!  Amy amazes me with her ability to match colours and patterns and always has the perfect accents.  She can also wind thread into the most perfect looking loops!

Amy's sketch stumped me at first but then I realized I wanted to turn it into a Father's Day card.  Yes, I made this card weeks' ago.  I didn't miss Father's Day - don't worry!  My dad got this card before the actual day!!!  I really love this stamp set from Reverse Confetti.  It worked perfectly to say exactly what I wanted.  I don't really have any Father's Day stamps and sometimes I find them pretty cheesy and this was what I wanted!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Night of Navy, Silver
DSP: A Little Foxy (retired SU)
Stamps: So Very Special (Reverse Confetti)
Ink: Smoky Slate, Night of Navy
Other: Bitty Banners Dies, Dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope you'll head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and check out the amazing cards the Design Team has created!

We can't wait to see what you create this week!

Have a great day!
Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #241

Hello!

Happy Wednesday!  It's the middle of June and today is my parents anniversary!  Happy Anniversary mom and dad!  I hope you guys have a wonderful day!!!  

We have a great new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches today!  Our fabulous hostess and head enabler is the one and only Karren Johnson!  Karren is incredibly talented and her cards always wow me!  Head on over to her blog to check them out!

Karren has a great sketch for us and it's super versatile.  Of course I had left my Father's Day cards to the very last moment.  I really have no idea how it's even possible that it's June!  I find it really hard to find great masculine images.  I knew I had this plane from the Send Me Soaring set and decided to use that.  I added some clouds and the sun because the card was a little empty.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Daffodil Delight
Stamps: Send Me Soaring, And Many More
Ink: Stazon Black
Other: Builders Border Set Die (Lil Inkers), Sun 'n Clouds Confetti Cuts (Reverse Confetti), Dimensionals

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you'll head on over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and check out the great cards the Design Team has created for you!

Have a fabulous day!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #191

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  Can you believe it's already the middle of June!  Wow!  Father's Day is fast approaching!  I can't believe how that snuck up on me!  I don't live all that close to my parents so I don't get to see my dad for Father's Day but that sure doesn't mean I don't appreciate him.  He is the best dad and Papa in the world!

We have a fun sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches courtesy of the amazing Jennifer Timko!  Jen creates such beautiful cards!  They are so creative and I am always inspired by what she's done!  Check out her blog and you will not be disappointed!

Jen's sketch is very open for interpretation this week!  I was a little worried since I wanted to use it to make a Father's Day card!  I love the Open Sea (a lot!!!) and so I decided to combine that with some double garland banners from Reverse Confetti!  Some blue, red and white to make it even more nautical and I called it a day!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Cherry Cobbler, Whisper White, Silver
Stamps: The Open Sea, Crazy For You
Ink: Night of Navy, Crumb Cake
Other: Double Garland Banner Die (Reverse Confetti), Circle Punch, Dimensionals

Thanks so much for for stopping by today!  I hope you'll head on over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and check out all the amazing cards the design team has created for you!!!

Have a fabulous day!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #89

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you are having a great week so far.  It's been lovely here - a little cooler than usual BUT it's so nice to be able to sleep with the windows open!  I seem to have come down with a bit of a cold so I'm a little more tired today than usual.

Today brings us a new sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches!  I must say, I love working with this group of ladies!  I truly feel blessed to be part of this design team and to be able to call these ladies my friends!  Today's sketch is brought to us courtesy of the fabulous Rita Wright!

I was super excited to see Rita's sketch!  At first it had me stumped but I realized I needed to get some father's day cards done and knew The Open Sea would work perfectly in this sketch!  I hope my dad doesn't mind receiving yet another Open Sea card!!!!  I do apologize for the picture quality....the lighting was terrible...

Supplies:

Cardstock: Early Espresso, Whisper White, Cherry Cobbler, Crumb Cake

DSP: Nautical Expedition

Stamps: The Open Sea, Teeny Tiny Wishes

Ink: Early Espresso, Crumb Cake, 

Other: Cherry Cobbler Bakers Twine, Bitty Banners Framelits Die, Word Window Punch, 

Thanks for stopping by!  Please take a minute to stop on over at the Freshly Made Sketches Blog to see all of the other beautiful cards our Design Team has created for you!

Have a great day!

Jen

Happy Father's Day!

Hello!
Happy Father's Day!  How did the middle of June get here so fast!  I can't believe it!  Father's Day around here won't be too exciting.  My husband spent Saturday flying his airplanes at a fun fly near Guelph (Ontario).  That was his treat.  He has also seen his present already - new shoes for his mountain bike!  He was pretty excited!  Oh, and I picked up him favourite Thai food for dinner!

Anyhow, I had trouble making his Father's Day card.  I like to make cards that really reflect him and what he loves and his biggest love (after me and the boys of course!) is airplanes!  So, as you can see in the photos below I tried my hardest to make this card look like his favourite airplane - the big Pitts bi-plane done up in the Ford scheme!  This plane is made (by my husband) to look like the full scale airplane used in the Red Bull air races.  To give you a real sense of how big the plane is I included a picture of my husband starting it.  He's turning the propeller and his friend Brad is holding the plane...once it starts...it goes!

This isn't my favourite card but he'll like it because it will remind him of his "baby"!  I hope all the dad's out there have a great day!

Okay as an aside...I used my new Pacific Point ink but I'm not convinced it's Pacific Point...Does it not look totally different from the cardstock?  Am I imagining it or is there something wrong with my ink?

Supplies:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie
Stamps: Plane and Simple, Best Dad Ever
Ink: Versamark, Pacific Point
Other: White Embossing Powder, Apothecary Accents Framelit Dies, Dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by!  Check out Tiffany Bauer's page today where one of my cards is featured on "My Crafty Picks"!

Have a great day!
Jen

CAS Dad

Hello!
It's almost the middle of the week!  I think at this point I realize I'll survive the week!!  My oldest son has started his vision therapy and it's been very hard on Mommy and on him.  The new exercises really strain his eye muscles and since we do them first thing in the morning he tends to have sore eye muscles and a headache for the rest of the day.  Today was the first day that he said his eyes didn't hurt!  I think we're making some progress.  Almost 1 week done...9 months to go.  Ugh.  Seems daunting right now but we've seen the progress he's made over the last year so we know it's working and worth the pain!

Okay...enough of us!  Today's card is my submission for the CAS-ual Friday's challenge.  It didn't turn out quite as I had envisioned.  That seems to be happening a lot these days!!!

The challenge this week was to create a masculine card using DSP (designer series paper).   The challenge also requires that the card be CAS - clean and simple.

I have "borrowed" my mom's Timeless Type alphabet die set from my mom!  She's the best mom in the world and willingly lends me her stuff whenever I want!  They don't get any better!!!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla
DSP: Nautical Expedition
Ink: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
Other: Button, Early Espresso Bakers Twine, Timeless type Sizzlets dies

Out of This World

Hello!
I hope you had a great day!  We were back to the grind today.  My youngest and I ran around and did some errands.  He's not a big fan of shopping so let's just say I faced some resistance!

I tackled the CAS-ual Fridays challenge yesterday.  The challenge was pretty simple.  A clean and simple (CAS) card using punches or dies.  I am in need of Father's Day cards still so I decided I would use the challenge to get another card made!

I used the Loved Ones stamp set from Stampin' Up! and some silver embossing powder to create the DAD.  I cut it out afterwards so it would fit better on the punched out shape.

The other stamp set used (rocket and sentiment) is non-SU.

I think this card might be perfect for my boys to give their dad!  It's not an airplane but it does fly!!!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Basic Black. Real Red, Pumpkin Pie
Stamps: Loved Ones, Boys Basics - Out of this World (non-SU)
Ink: Versamark, Basic Black
Other: Silver Embossing Powder, Houndstooth Embossing Folder, Glitter, Black Pearl, Decorative Label Punch, Rocket Ship die, Dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jen

Freshly Made Father's Day

Hello!
How's your week going?   I'm glad it's Friday but man, this week went by quickly and I'm fast approaching party day!  I still can't believe that my oldest is turning 6...how is that possible?  There is still much to do in terms of party preparation so I may not get a card out until Sunday!!!

Today I snuck in a few minutes (okay more than a few minutes!) to tackle this week's Freshly Made Sketches Challenge.

I am going to be in need of a few Fathers's Day cards so I figured I better get a start on them!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler
DSP: Nautical Expedition
Stamps: The Open Sea, Sentiment - non-SU
Ink: Early Espresso
Other: Early Espresso Bakers Twine, Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folder,  Stripes Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Dimensionals