Freshly Made Sketches #528

Hello!

Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great week so far!  We're having a quieter week.  Two sick kids at home means we aren't going too far (they're not going anywhere!) but sometimes that's okay.  I needed this little break!  The sun has been shining and we've had some glorious weather!  I also love that the sun sets much later now!  It's so nice to have longer and warmer days!

We've got a great new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is our favourite Californian design team member Jacquie Southas!  Jacquie is an amazing card maker and her cards always make me smile!  Head over to her blog to check them out!  

I wasn't too sure what I wanted to do for this card and tried a few different things before I settled on using the Lovely Layers Greenery Honey Cuts from Honey Bee Stamps!  I decided to cut one in Garden Green then another one to slide behind it out of Champagne Foil Cardstock.  The background needed a little texture so I used a woodgrain embossing folder.  Of course what card is complete without some sequins?  I feel like I might have used a few too many.  Sorry, not sorry?!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Basic White, Garden Green, Champagne Foil

Stamps: Well, Hello (MFT)

Ink: Garden Green

Other: Woodgrain Embossing Folder, Lovely Layers Greenery Honey Cuts (Honey Bee Stamps), Sequins

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you'll head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and join in on our challenge!

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 #421

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great start to your week!

We have a fantastic new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is the amazingly talented and absolute Queen of Clean, Jen Mitchell!  Jen's cards are always beautiful and she can create such gorgeous, clean cards!  I am always in awe!  Head over to her blog to check them out!

I kinda knew what I wanted to do with Jen's sketch when I saw it.  I love my poppy stamps.  You guys already know that.  I decided I wanted to try out the "bunch" of poppies this time!  I had to try some gold embossed on black and then I wanted to do some where I coloured them!  I decided the plain white background was a little to sparse so I used the pinewood planks embossing folder to add in some texture.

Supplies (Black and gold)
Cardstock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Gold Foil
Stamps: Painted Poppy, Honey Bee
Ink: Versamark
Other: Gold Embossing Powder, Double Stitched Squares (Lil Inkers), Square Dies (Spellbinders), Double Stitched Circle Dies (Lil Inkers), Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder, Sequins, Dimensionals.

Supplies: (Red and White)
Cardstock: Poppy Parade, Whisper White
Stamp: Painted Poppy, Honey Bee
Ink: Memento Black
Other: Stampin Blends, Double Stitched Squares, Flag Die (MFT Blueprints), Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder, Dimesionals

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!
We can't wait to see what you come up with this week!

Have an amazing day!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #400!!!

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great week!  We're enjoying our last week of summer before school starts next Tuesday!  The 2 boys and I are spending the week with my mom and dad and enjoying some special time with them.  There is always delicious food here - including our favourite desserts!  I'm pretty sure I gain at least 5 lbs every time I come!!!

We have a brand new and fabulous sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  This is the final week celebrating our 400th sketch!  400 sketches!  I can't believe it.  How did we get to 400 sketches!  This is an incredible week to join along because we have some amazing sponsors who have jumped on board to help us out!  

Our prize winners will be chosen randomly from our gallery this week.  Once chosen, we will contact you via the information we have in our linky and post here on our blog.  You will have 5 days to respond or we will choose another recipient.  

• CAS-ual Fridays Stamps: $25 Gift Code
• Concord & 9th:  $25 Gift Code
• Ellen Hutson:  $25 Gift Code
• Hero Arts:  $25 Gift Code
• Lawn Fawn:  $25 Gift Code
• Neat & Tangled:  $25 Gift Code
• Newton's Nook Designs:  $25 Store Credit
• Reverse Confetti:  $25 Gift Code
• Simon Says Stamp:  $25 Gift Code
• Sugar Pea Designs:  $25 Gift Certificate
• Taylored Expressions:  $25 Gift Code
• Uniko:  Clear Stamp Set (In stock, any value)

A huge thank you to these generous companies for your support!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Early Espresso, Copper Foil

Stamps: Itty Bitty Birthdays

Ink: Early Espresso

Other: Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder, Seasonal Layers Dies, Dimensionals

Thank you 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 inspiration!

We can't wait to see what you come up with and hope you'll join in our amazing challenge this week!!!  

Have a fantastic week!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #378

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope your week is going well!  We are heading into March break here and we're pretty excited about it.  That being said, I don't think my kids have had a full week of school since January.  Between snow days and PA days and holidays it feels like they're never in school!!!  Oh well.  I also consider March break to be the end of winter in Southern Ontario.  This year, I may be off a bit.  We still have enough snow on the round and it's freezing outside!!  Hopefully by next week things start to change!

We have a great new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is the amazing Amy O'Neill.  Amy is our resident elements expert.  She can create the most intriguing cards.  I just love them.  Head over to her blog to check them out!

Amy's sketch is great!  I started out with different flowers and leaves and other things and finally realized I needed to get out my trusted favourite - Botanical Builders!  I just couldn't help it!  I love those flowers so much!

I opted to add in some purple to this card since I do love a good purple card!  I embossed the purple panel with the Pinewood Planks embossing folder to give it a bit of texture.  I wanted to use some DSP of some sort but couldn't find any that I liked!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Elegant Eggplant, White Glimmer
Stamps: The Inside Scoop - Birthday (Taylored Expressions)
Ink: Elegant Eggplant
Other: Botanical Builders Dies, Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder, Glimmer Dots, Dimensionals

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you'll head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog to check out the amazing cards the girls have created for your inspiration!  They are truly creative ladies!

Have a fantastic day!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #358

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I'm super proud of myself for remembering to get this post done!  I seriously can't believe that I forgot the last two weeks in a row!  I'm getting in the groove around here so it's getting easier to remember things!  We're having some gorgeous weather here today and I totally don't want it to end.  It's been super humid but I don't mind - I know what's coming so I'll take a couple more days of this summer weather!

We have a great new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week courtesy of the amazing Karren Johnson.  Karren's our New Zealand demonstrator (who I totally want to visit) and she makes gorgeous cards.  She makes beautiful backgrounds and colours like a queen!  Check out her blog to be amazed!

So I'm pretty sure Karren tried to do me in with this sketch.  There are 4 circles on this sucker.  4.  I didn't quite know where to start.  Then I thought it reminded me of a wreath.  I started with a Christmas wreath and that went disastrously.  Did not turn out at all so I tried a heart with some flowers and that didn't work so this is where we ended up.  I'm totally happy with it and must say red and grey make my heart flutter a bit!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Grey, Cherry Cobbler
Stamps: Sweet Celebration (Lil' Inkers)
Ink: Cherry Cobbler, Black
Other: Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder, Warm Welcome Dies (Lil' Inkers), Pretty Pines Thinlits, Black Rhinestons, Dimensionals

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you'll head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and check out the gorgeous cards the Design Team has created.  You will totally be inspired!

Have a fabulous day!
Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #337

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great week so far!  We've had a lovely week!  My mom and I have been on a few walks this week and have been admiring all of the beautiful blossoms.  They are just so pretty!  Our trees have almost all their leaves now and our backyard is becoming more secluded!  It's perfect for all of the outside time!

We have a great new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is the creative Linda Callahan.  Linda is our resident storyteller and beautiful card designer!  Head over to Linda's blog and check out her gorgeous cards!

I decided to ink up my Hello Lovely stamp set from Concord & 9th.  I haven't really used that set much before because I didn't have the markers to colour it (and my colouring is terrible).  I have unpacked most of my craft room now so I knew where the markers were and went to town.  I'm still learning the art of colouring and know that I have a long way to go!  Have you seen some of the girls on this team?  They're colouring queens!

I cut out the flowers roughly so they would fit better on the card.  Probably a no no but I really wanted to be able to use them!!!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Calypso Coral
Stamps: Hello Lovely (Concord & 9th)
Ink: Memento Black
Other: Stampin Blends, Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder, Bitty Banners Framelits, Sequins

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you'll head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and check out the gorgeous cards the Design Team has created for you!  You won't be disappointed!

Have a fabulous day!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #335

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope everyone is having a great start to their week!  We suddenly have Spring here in Southern Ontario!  I think we actually skipped spring and went straight for summer.  It was so beautiful and warm!  I missed playing along the last couple of weeks.  We did a renovation in my craft room (due to a leak in our basement) and the craft room was completely packed up.  My husband worked like a crazy man and got it all done in just two weeks.  He is amazing!  I moved in on Saturday and with the help of my son Jacob got everything unpacked.  Well, almost everything.  There are still a few things left to unpack!

We have a great new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches courtesy of the amazing Jennifer Timko!  Jen is so creative and her cards always make me swoon!  Head over to her blog and check them out!

So the oval threw me for a bit but I quickly remembered I had oval dies and I even knew where they were!  It's going to take me a while to get used to the new layout of things in my craft room!  Anyhow I threw in some flowers and a sentiment and voila!  Okay, it didn't come together that easily. I had to add some texture to the centre oval because it looked blah without it!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Berry Burst, Lucky Limeade, Basic Black
Stamps: Sweet Celebration (Lil Inkers)
Ink: Berry Burst, Lucky Limeade, Always Artichoke
Other: Oval Dies, Scalloped Oval Dies, Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder, Sweet Celebration Dies (Lil Inkers), Dimensionals, Black Jewels

Thanks so much for stopping in today!  I hope you'll head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and check out the amazing cards the Design Team has created!  You won't be disappointed!  We can't wait to see what you come up with this week!

Have a fabulous day!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #325

Hello Everyone!
Happy Wednesday!  We are having some crazy warm weather here in Southern Ontario!  It was 14 degrees here yesterday!  Felt like summer!  Okay, maybe not quite but it's far better than -35!  I think it's nicer to have rain than snow except that the kids didn't get outside at all yesterday at school so they played basketball and hockey outside in the rain when they got home.  They needed to blow off some steam!  A little rain never hurt anyone right?!

We have a great new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is the queen of embellishments and colours - one of our Texan Designers - Amy O'Neill!  Amy's cards are always so beautiful and she can put things together that look absolutely amazing!  Go and check out her creations!

So I opted to go with a daisy for my card this week.  I think I rebelled a bit against that large star and circle!!  I love the old daisy dies from SU.  I haul them out every so often when I want the perfect daisy!  I embossed the background, threw on some sequins and voila!  I wish it had come together as quickly as that!!!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Daffodil Delight
Stamps: Bitty Banners (Reverse Confetti)
Ink: Stazon Black
Other: Daisy Die (SU - Retired), Pinewood Planks, Sequins, Circle Punch, Bitty Banners Confettti Cuts (Reverse Confetti), Dimensionals

Thanks again so much for stopping by!  I hope you'll head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and check out the gorgeous cards the Design Team has created!  You will be inspired!

Have a fabulous week!
Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #324

Hello Happy Valentine's Day!
I hope you're all having a fabulous day celebrating love!  We don't do too much around here.  We generally celebrate together!  I always make chocolate covered strawberries for dessert and I bought the two boys and my husband a little chocolate.  Not a lot.  They don't need it!!!  I'll be going to bootcamp tonight and Caleb will be heading to youth at church so it won't even really be spent together!!

We have a an amazing new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches courtesy of our layering and fussy cutting queen Narelle Farrugia! Narelle's cards are just gorgeous!  Head over to her blog and you'll be wowed by her creativity!!

I opted not to use a circle for this card.  Because I needed a valentine's day card for my husband and wasn't sure what to do.  The funny thing about this card - which says that I love him and coffee, is that I don't like coffee!!!  I'm a tea drinker but the heart didn't say tea so we went with coffee.  He'll understand!!  I hope!

I'm in the throws of kids camp preparation and I have paper and stamp sets and pictures and lists all over my craft room.  It is definitely not conducive to creating anything these days and I feel like this card definitely doesn't meet the standards I set for it!!  Thankfully I always have next week!!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black
DSP: Stacked with Love (retired)
Stamps: Merry Cafe
Ink: Real Red
Other: Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder, Dimensionals

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

Have a "lovely" day!!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #320

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great start to your week!  We've got a bit of snow on the ground right now so the kids are happy.  They like to play in the snow at school and they both really like to shovel snow.  There is rain in the forecast though so I'm assuming our snow will disappear - which I don't mind but leads to lots of indoor recesses and squirmy kids!

We have a great new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches courtesy of the amazingly talented Kim Singdahlsen.  Kim's cards are fantastic and she comes up with the best designs!  I could totally go and play in her craft room for hours too!  I've always wanted to visit Colorado!

I must admit that at first I was a little stumped with this design.  I started to panic a bit but then realized that I needed a baby card for my sister in law who had a baby early in December.  Now, don't think I'm a slacker and just sending the card now!  Kim had her sketch ready super duper early because she's amazing and so my card was done a LONG time ago!!!  I decided to stick with the heart theme, added some glimmer pink, threw in some texture and voila.  A card to welcome my first niece!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Glimmer Pink (Non-SU)
Stamps: Sentiment Flag Additions (Lil Inkers)
Ink: Stazon Black
Other: Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder, Softly Falling Embossing Folder, Stitched Flags Die (Lil Inkers), Hearts Dies (Spellbinders), Dimenaionals

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!  You can also welcome our Guest Designer Teresa Kline to the team!

Have a fabulous day!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #309

Hello!

Happy Wednesday! I can’t believe it’s Wednesday already!  I hope you’ve had a great start to your week. I’m still without a laptop and working off my iPad which is a little frustrating my old laptop is not fixable and we had to bite the bullet and get a new one. Technology.  Can’t live with it, can’t live without it!!

We have a great new sketch this week courtesy of Linda Callahan! Linda makes such beautiful cards and she has such a fabulous sense of humour.  I seriously think she should write a book!

I needed to make an anniversary card for my husband as we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary last week.  I try and keep the cards themed like our wedding was, hence the leaves, the cherry cobbler and the gold!   I was pretty liberal with the sketch. I opted to pretend I didn’t see those evil circles and saw leaves instead! 

Supplies:

Cardstock: Whisper White, Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Crushed Curry, Gold

DSP: Painted Leaves

Stamps: I can’t remember....

Ink: Early Espresso

Other: Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder, Large Number Framelits, 

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you’ll head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and check out the gorgeous cards that the Design Tean has created for your inspiration!  

Have a fabulous day!

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #307 - Take Two!

Happy Wednesday!
I hope you're having a great start to your week!  The weeks seem to be flying by!  I can't believe that it's October already and this weekend we'll be celebrating Thanksgiving here in Canada!  Turkey and gravy!!!  Yummy.  Oh, I guess that means I have to make that.  Hmmm...I wonder how everyone would feel about hamburgers instead!!!!

So you may have noticed that this is the same Freshly Made Sketches card that I made last week.  We had a little, itty, bitty issue with our linky tool and all of the submissions we had received vanished into cyberspace somewhere.  We decided that we would extend our challenge one additional week with hopes that everyone who had entered would re-enter their gorgeous cards!!!

Our sketch was courtesy of my dear friend Jen Timko!  Jen is such an amazing card maker and comes up with the most creative cards!  Did you see her x-ray card?  You need to go and check out her blog!

I wasn't quite sure what to with this sketch when I first saw it but then I realized I needed a wedding card for my friend Laura who is getting married this coming Saturday!  (Well, Laura and Brad had a beautiful day and Laura was a gorgeous bride!)  I love the heart die from Lil Inkers and knew it would be the perfect substitute for an evil circle!!!  I threw on some flowers and voila!  I used the colours that Laura had told me she's using for her wedding!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Night of Navy, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Smokey Slate

Stamps: Sweet Celebrations (Lil Inkers)

Ink: Pink Pirouette, Smokey Slate

Other: Sweet Celebrations Dies, Celebrate Word Die, Sequins, Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder, 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 inspiration!

Have a fabulous day!!!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #307

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great week!  We have been having one crazy heat spell here.  I don't think we had weather this hot all summer.  It's been pretty intense.  Thankfully the kid's school has air conditioning so they aren't too wiped when they come home.  Today is supposed to be the last day though and then back to seasonal temperatures.  I'm all for cool nights where you can sleep with the windows open but I dread the cold weather coming!

We have a great new sketch today at Freshly Made Sketches courtesy of my dear friend Jen Timko!  Jen is such an amazing card maker and comes up with the most creative cards!  Did you see her x-ray card?  You need to go and check out her blog!

I wasn't quite sure what to with this sketch when I first saw it but then I realized I needed a wedding card for my friend Laura who is getting married this coming Saturday!  I love the heart die from Lil Inkers and knew it would be the perfect substitute for an evil circle!!!  I threw on some flowers and voila!  I used the colours that Laura had told me she's using for her wedding!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Night of Navy, Pink Pirouette, Whisper White, Smokey Slate

Stamps: Sweet Celebrations (Lil Inkers)

Ink: Pink Pirouette, Smokey Slate

Other: Sweet Celebrations Dies, Celebrate Word Die, Sequins, Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder, 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 inspiration!

Have a fabulous day!!!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #299

Hello!
Happy Wednesday! I hope you're having a great start to your week!  We've had a great week so far.  Trevor was off yesterday and the boys and I went for a long bike ride to downtown Toronto. Nothing like being able to by right down by the CN Tower.  The waterfront trail is amazing and the breeze coming off the lake was fabulous!  Such a great morning!

We have a great sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is the lovely Kim Singdahlsen.  Kim's cards are so fantastic.  I would love to go and hang out in her crafting space for a day!  I think she has the best stamps!

Kim's sketch is very versatile.  I of course didn't have a clue what to do.  This also is not my first card!!  Ha!  If you struggle making cards and following sketches, know you're not alone out there!  I love the new pinewood planks embossing folder and will probably use it as much as I use Wink of Stella (which I did not use on this card!).  I wanted to use some sequins and kinda picked the colours around the sequins.  The hearts started out as silver ones but they didn't show up enough so they were quickly swapped out for black!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Basic Black, Watermelon Wonder, Black Glimmer (non-SU)
Other: Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder, Heart Trio Punch (SU - retired), MFT Blueprints Dies, Sequins (SU), Smile Word Die (Lil Inkers), Dimensionals

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you'll head over to the Freshly Made Sketches Blog and check out the amazing cards the Design Team has created!  You won't be disappointed!

Have a fantastic day!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #297

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I trust everyone is having a great start to their week!  We are in total vacation mode here and with the exception of a few appointments, we've been relaxing, swimming, reading and biking.  It's been fabulous.  This year our family decided to cut out all evening activities and to do lots of mountain biking together.  It's been the best decision!  We have totally enjoyed our evening (and some afternoon) rides together.  It's been amazing to watch the boys gain skill, confidence and endurance.  They can hop rocks and logs like pros now!

We have a great new sketch today at Freshly Made Sketches courtesy of the amazingly talented Jen Mitchell!  Jen makes beautifully creative cards and often dominates when it comes to "clean".   Head over to her blog and you'll see what I mean!

I love Jen's sketch. At first I was going with a completely different look but then changed my mind.  I used the Ice Cream Parlor DSP and the Frozen Treats stamps and dies at camp almost every day.  The kids loved ice cream cards and I must say, I do too!   Of course if you look closely you'll see some Wink of Stella on that chocolate sauce!!!  I just couldn't resist!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Whisper White, Chocolate Chip, Watermelon Wonder
DSP: Ice Cream Parlor
Stamps: Frozen Treat
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Other: Frozen Treats Framelits, Banners Framelites, Pinewood Planks Dynamic Embossing Folder, Wink of Stella, Dimensionals

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  I hope you'll head over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and check out the fabulous cards the Design Team has created for you.  You won't be disappointed.

Have a fabulous day.

Jen