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 #95

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you are all having a great week.  I consider this our first week of summer vacation since we don't actually have anything planned!  I am super excited!  If only the weather would cooperate and we would get some slightly cooler, less humid temperatures!

Today we have a new sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is our fabulous Narelle Farrugia!  She is the queen of layers and beautiful bows.  Her card this week is no exception!

I must say that this sketch threw me for a loop.  I am not the queen of layers and I never know what to do when there are several "boxes" to work with.  I may have tried a few versions of this card before I decided on this one!  I'm a little bummed that the Perfectly Preserved stamp set has retired.  I must say that I do love it.  I paired some Calypso Coral up with the new Crisp Cantaloupe!   I am somewhat satisfied with the results.  I added a little Dazzling Diamonds on the flower bunches to make them sparkle!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, Calypso Coral, Crisp Cantaloupe
DSP: Tea for Two
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved
Ink: Calypso Coral, Early Espresso, Old Olive
Other: Cannery Framelits, Itty Bitty Banners Framelits, Basic Rhinestones, Dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by!
Please head on over to the Freshly Made Sketches Blog and check out the beautiful creations the Design Team has come up with!

Have a wonderful day!
Jen

Hello CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge!

Hello!
I hope everyone has enjoyed their weekend!  I have a husband who has been under the weather this weekend and he was really knocked out with this flu...chills, fever, the works!  Poor guy.  He seems to be doing a bit better now.  Not sure how the week will go!

I had a few minutes to craft in my workshop this afternoon and had to tackle a few card challenges!  I loved the sketch for this week's CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge!  I sure do love the clean and simple cards these days!

I decided to us some washi tape from the Epic Day journal kit.  I have never used it before and think I may be hooked.  It's so fun!  I opened up the new Costal Cabana ink for the flowers!  It's such a fun colour!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Basic Grey, Whisper White
Stamps: Four You, Perfectly Preserved
Ink: Basic Grey, Costal Cabana
Other: Basic Rhinestones, Epic Day Washi tape, Dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by!  I will be back tomorrow with another clean and simple card!

Have a fabulous day!
Jen

CAS(E) This Sketch Challenge

Hello!
I hope everyone is having a good weekend!  Our Saturday went very quickly and I don't imagine tomorrow will slow down at all either!  So sad how quickly our weekend's go by!  I'm thankful that next weekend is a "long weekend".  The boys have a PA Day on Friday so they'll be at home with me for the day!!!  I doubt they'll sleep in though!!!

The end of school is drawing near and I know if I don't get the Teacher cards made soon...well, they won't get done!  I decided I had better give it a whirl and this week's sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch was  perfect for the card I had in mind!

I wanted to keep the card clean and simple but had to use the chalkboard technique to create that blackboard effect!  I find it kind of funny since I don't think too many teachers (if any) at our school even use a blackboard!!!  I still think the technique is fun to do and appropriate for teachers!

I love the Perfectly Preserved set and am sad that Stampin' Up! has decided to discontinue it.  I don't think I'll be getting rid of it any time soon!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Real Red, Crumb Cake
DSP: Polka Dot Parade, Neutrals DSP Paper Stack
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved, Lacy and Lovely
Ink: Basic Black, Real Red, Gumball Green, White Craft Ink
Other: Cannery Framelits Dies, Dimensionals

Hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Jen

Retro Sketches Apples

Hello!  I can't believe that the long weekend is over!  At least here in Canada we had a long weekend and it was a nice one!  We are now back at home in Burlington and settling into the routine here!  Tomorrow should be an interesting day.  The boys are already asking to go back to Grannie and Papa's house!  Heaven help me!

Today's card is for the Retro Sketches challenge.  I saw online somewhere people who were making cards for their kids teacher's for September.  I figured that might not be a bad idea!  Get in good early!!!  Jacob's teacher and I are already friends so maybe I should be buttering up Caleb's new teachers!

I used the Perfectly Preserved again....but NOT the jar (you should all be proud of me!).  I threw in some buttons to mix it up a little!  I do love being able to stamp and cut out those shapes so easily with the framelits dies!  I wanted to keep this card clean and simple...just so that if I wanted to replicate it a few times it wouldn't take me forever!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White

DSP: Brights DSP Stack

Stamps: Perfectly Preserved, Tea Shoppe (Sentiment)

Ink: Basic Black. Real Red, Gumball Green

Other: Cannery Set Framelits, Brights Buttons, Dimensionals, Floss

Today's cute photos (okay, so they're cute to me!) are from today's hike to Hilton Falls.  The falls aren't really falls at this time of the year but there was more water than I expected!  It was a great family outing and the boys had a blast!  

Thanks for stopping by!  I'll be back tomorrow (or Wednesday morning) with this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge card!

Have a great day!

Jen

That Little Jar...again!!!

Hello!
Well, we survived Monday!  I wasn't feeling very good yesterday and was pretty much down for the count all day.  I am SO thankful I was at my mom and dad's for most of yesterday and my mom let me sleep in the afternoon and made all the meals for my boys.  My parents are so good to me!  What would I do without them?  Today I feel MUCH better!  My mom and I took the boys to the beach this morning for a bit (picture below).  The water here is very low due to a severe drought so there wasn't much water in the Ottawa River for them to have fun in...at least the marked off swimming area but they still managed to have fun!

Okay...I used the jar again.  I can't help myself...I LOVE it!  I am not using it for my Freshly Made Sketches card this week though...I promise!  Today's card is for the Dynamic Duos and Create with Connie and Marie challenges.  I needed to kill two birds with one stone today!  I love Early Espresso and Crumb Cake!  They have to be my favourites!  The new Early Espresso Core'dinations cardstock has to be one of my favourites.  I didn't have an SU sanding block handy but my mom did happen to have some sandpaper in her craft room today!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla
DSP: Natural Composition Specialty
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved
Ink: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso
Other: Cannery Set Framelits Dies, Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder, Early Espresso Ribbon, Adorning Accents Edgelits, Bitty Banners Framelits Dies, Dimensionals, Basic Pearls

Bathing Beauties! 

Caleb and my mom are planning an Olympic party to have later this week.  Today Caleb decided he wanted to make flags for different countries for decoration for this party.  So this afternoon he and my mom made all 13 of these cute flags.  I thought he'd maybe sit through 2 but he did all 13.  She cut the paper and he glued it all together!  It was so sweet!  I can't wait for the party on Thursday!

Thanks for stopping by!
Have a great day!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #45

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I trust you're having a great week so far!  We visited the Bonnechere Caves yesterday (Tuesday) with the boys!  The caves are pretty interesting and the story behind their discovery is pretty wild!  It was a great morning out and the boys had fun.  We had a delicious picnic lunch by the Bonnechere River which was wonderful!  My mom makes the best picnic lunches!

Today's card is a for our weekly Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  You can hop over to their website and check out the Design Team's fabulous creations!  I am so thankful to be working with a great group of ladies!  They are an amazing group!

Cindy brings us this week's sketch...there's a circle there BUT it says "any shape" so I took full advantage of that command and chose to use my new favourite stamp set "Perfectly Preserved".  I love that little jar!  I had to go with the pear again...sorry!  I'll go with something different for next week, I promise!  Sorry about the picture...my camera died (I'm so sad) and I'm using my mom's camera for the time being.  It's taking me some time to adjust from an SLR to a point and shoot.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Island Indigo
DSP: Orchard Harvest
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved
Ink: Island Indigo, Early Espresso, Gumball Green
Other: Island Indigo Ruffled Ribbon, Woodgrain Embossing Folder, Cannery Framelits Dies, Small Oval Punch

Here's some pictures from our adventure today!  The boys weren't too thrilled to be posed together...well, Caleb wasn't happy...Jacob loves his brother!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a wonderful day!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #43

Hello!
Sorry for the lack of cards lately!  Our church VBS started this week and we have 530 kids!  I'm exhausted!!!  Man I feel old!   I've been getting home, getting the boys lunch and then realizing that there isn't much time left in the day!  Tonight I had great intentions of card making but the main light in my card room blew both lightbulbs and my husband hasn't quite gotten in to change them!

Tui has a great sketch for us this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  LOVE the rectangles again!  I decided to change up the sketch angle a little since I really wanted to use my Perfectly Preserved again!  I do really love that little jar!  I added some Dazzling Diamonds to the flowers to make them sparkle a little more!  I sometimes go a little too far with the bling!

Thanks for stopping by!  My husband just informed me that we're out of "regular" lightbulbs so he's replaced my "regular" lightbulb with a halogen so I imagine I'll be wearing sunglasses in there tomorrow!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green, Whisper White, Early Espresso
DSP: Chock Full of Cheer
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved
Ink: Early Espresso, Raspberry Ripple, Gumball Green, Versamark
Other: Dazzling Diamonds, White Embossing Powder, Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Basic Rhinestones, Cannery Set Framelits Dies, Bitty Banners Framelits Dies, Early Espresso Bakers Twine, Rhinestones,

Jar of fun!

Hello!
How is your weekend going?  We had a good day...my husband is starting to feel good again though I believe I may be succumbing to the dreaded plague!  My body is fighting hard.  Mommies can't get sick can they?

I have another sneak peek card today!  There will hopefully be one tomorrow too if I get it finished!  I absolutely loved the new Perfectly Preserved stamp set (and coordinating dies!!!)!  It's so cute and perfect for any season really!

It's hard to tell from the picture but my pear is actually embossed in the new Gumball Green Embossing Powder!  Who doesn't love that?  I think Gumball Green is my new favourite colour!  The ribbon slides are also new and work perfectly with the ribbon!!!  Just something different from a knot or bow!

Thought I'd include a picture of the boys this afternoon!  Caleb decided to create a "car" out of a Stampin' Up! box...well, after I pulled out some ocean life stickers for them his car quickly turned into a submarine!  Hilarious!  They had a ball Friday and Saturday decorating their submarines!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Early Espresso, Raspberry Ripple, Whisper White
DSP: Be of Good Cheer
Stamps: Perfectly Preserved
Ink: Early Espresso, Raspberry Ripple, Versamark
Other: Whisper White Embossing Powder, Gumball Green Embossing Powder, Cannery Set Framelits Dies, Ribbon Slides, Early Espresso 1/4" Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon, Argyle Texted Impressions Embossing Folder, Dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!
Jen