Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #643

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great week!  We are finally getting some summer weather around here - that I'm super excited about!  Next week is actually supposed to be hot!  There is still snow in the mountains so this hot weather will help some of the snow to melt which will hopefully slow down the rain we've been having!  Mountain weather is super weird!  

We've got a brand new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is the amazing Linda Callahan!  Linda's cards are always beautiful so head over to her blog and check them out!  

I don't have a postage stamp die unfortunately so I was a little stumped at first.  But I had just made a little trip to the Paper and Ink Boutique and purchased a lot of the Spellbinders June release so I had this fabulous new flower dies sitting on my desk!  I knew that was a good start!  I just love flower dies and all the different colour combinations you can come up with!

I had kinda forgot about the sentiment box at the bottom and I had already stamped the Happy Birthday in the box.  I opted just to add the Happiness Blooms to the bottom.  Oop!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Hammermill White Coverstock, Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, Calypso Coral, Mango Melody, Granny Apple Green, Gumball Green, Basic Black, Flirty Flamingo.

Stamps:Typewriter Adventure Sentiments (Spellbinders)

Ink: Detail Black (Pinkfresh Studios)
Dies: Floral Spray (Spellbinders), Mini Everyday Sentiments (Spellbinders), Stitched So Sweetly (SU)

Other: Tasteful Textile Embossing Folder (SU - retired)

Here's a few pictures from our hike on Saturday!  It was an absolute leg burner.  I don't think I've climbed anything that steep before!  It was crazy!!!  So worth it though. The view was breathtaking!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you'll join in our challenge this week!  We love seeing all of the cards and admiring your creativity!

You have until Monday at 1 PM to enter this week's challenge!  If you need some inspiration, head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog!

Have an amazing day!

Jen

 

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #633

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're all having a great week!  Spring seems to have finally arrived here.  Though I won't say for sure that we won't see snow again!  Anything is possible in Alberta!  Trevor and I went on an amazing hike with our friend Annie on the weekend.  The weather was perfect!  Not a cloud in sight, almost no wind and the most beautiful views.  It was one of my favourite hikes.  There was at least 6 feet of snow where we were.  If you broke through you went down to your butt and your foot still wasn't touching the ground!  It was crazy!  We couldn't believe it.  But I truly believe that the mountains are prettier with snow.

We've got a brand new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is the incredible Linda Callahan.  Linda's cards are beautiful so please head over to her blog and check them out!  

So I honestly didn't know what I was going to do with this sketch.  I didn't feel all that creative!  I decided that it would be perfect to use some of the patterned paper that I have been hoarding.  I grabbed one of my paper packs and got to work.  These little butterflies and looked so cute!  I added some flowers and some bling and called it a day!

Supplies: 

Cardstock: Hammermill White Coverstock, Hello Honey, Lost Lagoon, Basic Black

Paper: Simple Stories 6X8 Paper Pad Trail Mix

Ink: Saltwater Taffy Distress Ink, Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide (Tim Holtz)

Dies: Paper Florist Dies, Nested Essential Dies (both SU), MFT Everyday Strips (MFT)

Other:  Glimmer Hot Foil Machine, Gold Foil, Mini Everyday Sentiments (Spellbinders), Wink of Stella, Iridescent Rhinestones Basic Jewels.

Here's a few photos from our weekend hike!  I hope you enjoy them!

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!  We always love to see what you come up with!

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 #629

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  Hope you're having a great week so far!  We are deep in snow here in western Canada.  We got a lot of snow over the last week and I'm so ready for it to be done.  Yesterday was cold and windy and I'm trying to tell myself that spring will come eventually!!!  We do need the moisture as we're starting spring in drought conditions but at this point I will take rain!!!

We've got a brand new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is our favourite Texan, Amy O'Neill!  Amy makes such creative cards!  You definitely need to head over to her blog and check them out!  So we've got another sketch with a rounded object on it!!  The team is trying to kill me!  

I wasn't sure what to do for that oval but then I realized that the Lovely Layers Peony looks very ovular!  I opted to go with that.  I have a friend undergoing a medical procedure today and I wanted to make sure to get a card in the mail for her since her recovery won't be as speedy as she'd like!  

I am a little obsessed with using the Distress Oxides to colours my flowers!  I'm late to oxide game but one of these days I'm going to hit up the local paper store and grab some more!!!  I really do love them!  I didn't have a lot of purple paper hanging around so I had to make due with what I found!  

Supplies:
Cardstock: Hammermill Coverstock White, Perfect Plum

DSP:Pansy Petals (SU Retired)

Ink: Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord (Distress Oxides)

Other: Lovely Layers Peony, Perfect Plum Ribbon, Mini Everyday Sentiments (Spellbinders), Silver Foil (Spellbinders), Dainty Diamonds Embossing Folder (SU), Iridescent Rhinestones Basic Jewels (SU), Glimmer Hot Foil Machine (Spellbinders)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you'll join in our challenge this week!  We always love to see what you create!  If you need some inspiration, head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and check out the cards that are posted!  

You have until Monday at 1 PM EST to get your card entered into the challenge!

Have an amazing day!
Jen

 

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #627

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great week!  We have emerged from winter and have been enjoying some beautiful weather!  Warm temperatures and lots of sunshine!  My husband I went skiing on the weekend and had the best time!  The weather and conditions were perfect!  Probably our best skiing adventure in a long time!  

We have a fun new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is the amazing Karren Johnson!  Karren is an incredible card designer and I'm always wowed by her creations!  Head over to her blog to check them out!  

I wasn't sure what to do with this when I first saw the sketch but then when I next looked at the sketch I saw mountains and a sun so that's how we rolled!  I had to piece a few dies together hence the big trees in front.  I needed to cover up the ugly joint!  I can't wait for the summer hiking season to start.  Right now we're in a severe avalanche risk season.  Trails that don't normally experience avalanches are seeing avalanches.  I digress...back to cards!

I grabbed some mountain dies, some Distress Oxides and went to work!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Hammermill White Coverstock

Ink: Bundled Sage, Rustic Wilderness, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Uncharted Mariner, Pumice Stone, Hickory Smoke, Scattered Straw (Distress Oxides - Tim Holtz)

Other: Mini Everyday Sentiment (Spellbinders), Layering Alpine Lake Scene (Prism Studio), Shine Bright Confetti Cuts (Reverse Confetti), A2 Mountain Scene Builder (Honey Bee Stamps), Glimmer Hot Foil Machine (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 need some inspiration you'll definitely find it on the blog.  

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

Have an amazing day!
Jen

 

Freshly Made Sketches #626

 

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great week so far!  March has come into Calgary like a raging lion.  We started off the month with lots of snow and super cold temperatures.  I am sure hoping that March goes out like a lamb but this is Canada, I won't hold my breath.  We do desperately need the snow - we are already looking at a drought so any snow is better than no snow I guess!

We've got a brand new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is our French designer Cecile Ribon!  Cecile's cards are always spectacular so make sure you head over to her blog and prepare to be wowed!  

When I first saw Cecile's sketch I was a little nervous.  Not only is there a giant circle but it's cut in half!  Half circles!  What on earth do I do with half circles?!  I remembered for a card a long time ago I had cut some sunflower dies in half.  I realized I could do that again!  So, off I went to make some sunflowers!  I'm running a little low on my daffodil delight so I just used my white cardstock and blended it with brushes.  The sunflower looked a little naked on the page so I decided to stencil some honeycombs onto the page using the Distress Oxides!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Hammermill White Coverstock, Sahara Sand (SU) Copper Foil (SU)

Ink: Scattered Straw, Pumice Stone, Scorched Timber, Ground Espresso (All Distress Oxides)

Other: Lovely Layers Sunflowers (Honey Bee Stamps), Sunflower Dies (SU), Mini Everyday Sentiments (Spellbinders), Brown Foil, Glimmer Hot Foil Machine, Grain and Grunge Gem Stickers (Honey Bee Stamps), Honey Comb Stencil

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.  We can't wait to see what you create!  You have until 1 PM EST on Monday to get your card entered!

If you need some inspiration you will want to head over to the blog and see some fantastic cards from our Design Team!

Have an amazing day!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #622

Hello!
Happy Wednesday! I hope you're having a great week so far!  We've gone from super warm and lovely to slightly below freezing but still beautifully sunny. We got some snow on the weekend - which was much needed but still a change from last week's spring like weather.  The temperatures are supposed to stay cooler this week and then rise again next week.  Strangest weather ever.

Since it's Wednesday, that means we have a brand new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is the amazing Jen Mitchell!  Jen's cards are super clean and look amazing so head over to her blog and check them out!  

I wasn't too sure what I wanted to do for my card this week but I remembered I had seen Laurie Unger make a card recently and I thought I'd take my inspiration from her!  I hadn't made any Valentine's Day cards yet and though my husband won't be home for Valentine's Day I probably should still make him a card!!!

I wanted to go for an all white card.  I really wanted that red heart to pop.  I foiled up a sentiment and the card was ready to go.  Sometimes keeping it very simple is best for me!  

Supplies:

Cardstock: Hammermill White Coverstock, Real Red (SU)

Other: Small Heart Punch (SU - retired), Stitched So Sweetly (SU), Mini Everyday Sentiments (Spellbinders), Red Foil (Spellbinders), Glimmer Hot Foil Machine (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.  We always love seeing what you create!  If you need some inspiration, head over to the challenge page and you'll find lots there!

Have an amazing day!
Jen

 

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #621

Hello and happy Wednesday!
I hope you're having a great week!  We are still experiencing the joys of a chinook!  It's been above freezing and sunny most days so we are basking in the warmth and getting out as much as possible.  I can't believe how nice it's been.  I've heard that some places haven't seen the sun in weeks.  I do not miss that part of living in Ontario.  I remember you could go week and weeks and it would be gloomy and damp.

Since it's Wednesday, we've got a brand new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is our favourite pilot, Jennifer Timko!  Jen makes the most amazing cards and does a ton of the behind the scenes work on our little blog.  She is truly amazing!  Head over to her blog and check out her beautiful cards!  

So as always, this wasn't what I had in mind.  I really wanted to make a Valentine's Day card but could not for the life of me come up with a design.  I think my creativity has been lacking a bit more since I've been working but I have been enjoying the time I have had in my craft cave!

I had this Lovely Layers Mum sitting on my desk and realized it would work perfectly as the centre point of this card.  I cut out and inked up some leaves and called it a day.  I also had the gold rimmed circles on my desk so there wasn't a lot required to complete this card.  

Supplies:
Cardstock: Basic Black, Hammermill White Cover Stock, Daffodil Delight

Ink: Shabby Shutters, Mowed Lawn, Rustic Wilderness (All Distress Oxides)

Other: Lovely Layers Mums (Honey Bee Stamps), Nested Circles (Pink Fresh Studios), Hardwood Embossing Folder (SU), Mini Everyday Sentiments (Spellbinders), Glimmer Hot Foil Machine (Spellbinders), Gold Foil (Spellbinders)

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Please head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and join in our challenge!  We always love seeing the cards that you post!  If you need some inspiration, you'll definitely find it on the blog!  

I hope you have an amazing day!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #617

Hello and Happy New Year!
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!  We had a very quite Christmas and start to the New Year.  We didn't travel anywhere this year and so it was just the 4 of us and that was just perfect for me.  I missed my family terribly and hope to get to visit them soon but Christmas is always so hectic to travel.  We got some hikes in and some ski days!  It was wonderful.  I got to sleep in (sleeping in is 6 AM for me) and so that was lovely!  I start a new job next week so I'm a little nervous!  I haven't worked in 17 years so getting back into the throws of things will be different.  Thankfully it's just part time and I get to do something that is out of my comfort zone so I'll be learning new things!  I'm taking on the role of Women's Coordinator at our church!  I'm excited and have lots of ideas bouncing around in my head so we'll see how this goes!

Okay we've got our first sketch of the new year ready for you at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is Narelle Farrugia.  Narelle's cards are always jaw dropping and her creativity always amazes me!  Head over to her blog to check them out!  I think one of Narelle's resolutions this year is to come and visit me so I can take her up a mountain!

This is a great sketch and shockingly I knew what I wanted to do right away!  My husband's bestie's birthday is coming up next week and I thought I'd try and get a head start on some of my January cards.  Don't worry - this increased organization will probably only last a week or so!  I've got a lot of outdoorsy themed paper that I rarely used but knew it would be perfect for this card!  I cut some trees, coloured them with some Distress Inks and added my sentiment!  

Supplies:
Cardstock: Gray Granite (SU), Hammermill White Coverstock

Patterned Paper: Mountain Trek 2.0 (Paper Rose)

Distress Ink: Rustic Wilderness, Mowed Lawn, Bundled Sage, Shabby Shutters

Other: Evergreens (Taylored Expressions), Mini Everyday Sentiments (Spellbinders), Square Dies (Spellbinders), Black Foil (Spellbinders), Glimmer Hot Foil Machine (Spellbinders).

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you'll head over to our Freshly Made Sketches blog and join in our challenge this week!  The Design Team has got some amazing cards posted to spark your creativity!

Ski day!  We're missing a kid because he was off skiing with friends!

One gorgeous sunrise in the mountains!

The Summit of Prairie Mountain 

Still smiling!  It was a great hike!

I hope you have a great week!  Make sure you get outside and get some fresh air!

Jen

 

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #606

Hello! 

Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great week so far!  Monday was a holiday here - for some people so my days are all mixed up.  My husband was off but my kids were at school.  Trevor and I got a hike in - I'm thinking this might have been our last one for 2023.  Makes me a little sad but that's okay.  The 4:00-4:30 alarms are getting hard!  There is snow on the ground in the mountains which means ski season is right around the corner!

We've got a brand new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our favourite Aussie is hosting this week - Narelle Farrugia!  I always find Narelle's cards are absolutely gorgeous and just when I think they can't get better, they do!  Head over to her blog and check them out!  

3 circles.  I didn't know what to do with 3 circles.  I had to think on it for a few days before I tackled this one.  I finally decided I would stick to fall coloured flowers with a kraft background!  I hauled out my Be Bold Blooms and went to town.  In the process I discovered that the centre die for the smallest flower is missing. I've turned my craft room apart looking for it to no avail.  These little pieces are so small and you just never know when they get stuck to a certain white paw.  She could track them anywhere.  I also don't know how long it's been missing for.  Oh well. 

Supplies:

Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Crushed Curry, Rich Razzleberry, Cajun Craze, Real Red, Cherry Cobbler, Early Espresso, Mossy Meadow, Copper Foil (All SU)

Ink: Crushed Curry, Rich Razzleberry, Cajun Craze, Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow (all SU)

Other: Mini Everyday Sentiments (Spellbinders), Be Bold Blooms (Spellbinders), Double Stitched Circle Dies (Reverse Confetti), Glimmer Hot Foil Machine (Spellbinders), Copper Foil (Spellbinders)

Here are a few shots from Monday's hike.  Those yellow trees are called Larches (also known as Tamarack in some parts of the land).  Larches are evergreens that don't stay evergreen!  Their needles turn yellow in the fall and then they fall off.  Don't get me wrong, the summit of Mount Fairview was spectacular and Lake Louise looked so small down below!  It was fun to be out in the snow!  This is our first snow of the season - now don't get me wrong, we don't have snow at our house, just some of the higher mountains!  I do like hiking in the snow though as you don't get as hot which is nice and recovery goes faster!

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!  We always love to see what you create!  If you need a little inspiration, the Design Team has cooked up some beautiful cards so make sure to check those out!

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

 

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #597

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great start to the week!  Can you believe it's August already?  How did that happen?  Our kids still have one more month of summer holidays which is so nice.  Trevor is feeling better now and off traveling again for work.  Hopefully he doesn't bring another plague home with him!  None of the rest of us got sick which is amazing!!!  We'll have to adjust our weekend hike to account for him being at sea level all week!  

We've got a brand new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is our favourite Californian, Jacquie Southas!  Jacquie makes such beautiful cards so please head over to her blog to check them out!  

Jacquie's sketch stumped me for a bit.  I didn't know what I wanted to do with it.  I had some ideas but I just couldn't make them work so I flipped through all my Lovely Layers dies and landed on the hydrangea.  We just had some hydrangea planted by a landscaper and they all died (we won't talk about that though) so I was feeling all the love for the hydrangea dies!  I had the background already sitting on my desk in the rose gold so I went for it.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Blushing Bride (SU), Wild Wasabi (SU), Hammermill White, Rose Gold Foil (SU)

Other: Mini Everyday Sentiments (Spellbinders), Lovely Layers: Hydrangea (Honey Bee Stamps), Dazzling Diamonds (Spellbinders), Iridescent Rhinestones (SU), Rose Gold Hot Foil (Spellbinders)

Some views for you from our most recent hike!  This is the Grizzly Ridge to Highwood Ridge Traverse.  It was not for the faint of heart despite us being told it was pretty easy.  It was a beautiful hike and in the end I thought it was fun. The views are always incredible!  I still stare at the mountains and think they don't look real.  

I hope you'll head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and join in our challenge this week! We'd love to see what you come up with! We always love seeing everyone's beautiful creations!

I hope you have a fantastic day!
Jen