Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #401

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great week so far!  We "celebrated" the first day of school yesterday!  It was a good day for the boys!  They both are happy with their classes and I'm sure they will have good years!  The summer flew by and I can't believe we're already into September!

A huge thank you to everyone who participated in last week's 400th Sketch Challenge at Freshly Made Sketches!  There were so many beautiful cards!

We have a great new sketch this week!  Our hostess is the amazingly creative Cecile Ribon!  Cecile's cards are always gorgeous and I'm jealous of her collections of dies!!
 

I bought a really fun paper pack from Michael's last week when I was at my mom's.  I've been creating some Gratitude journals with this paper and I have some scraps that I decided would be perfect for this fall card!  As much as I hate that summer is over, I love fall and fall colours!

I love the Layering Leaves dies from Concord & 9th so I used those and the fun fall sentiment, threw on some sequins and called it a day!  Actually, to be quite honest, the leaves which are now copper foil were originally orange and green but they didn't look quite right so after a day of staring at the card, I changed them to copper and feel better about the end result!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Kraft, Mango Medley, Whisper White, Basic Black, Copper Foil
Patterned Paper: Pumpkin Spice Paper Pack (Michael's)
Stamps: Give Thanks (Concord & 9th)
Ink: Pumpkin Pie
Other: Layering Leaves Dies (Condord & 9th), Circle Dies, Sequins (Taylored Expressions), Dimensionals

Thanks again 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!  They're just beautiful!

Have an amazing day!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #354

Hello!
Happy Wednesday!  I hope you're having a great week so far!  I've been in a bit of a baking mood this week -  I think mainly because I'm procrastinating organizing and decluttering my house!  Oh well.  The kids and my husband aren't really complaining.  Yesterday we had homemade Pumpkin Spice Donuts.  I really think I need to try chocolate ones!!!

Anyhow, we have a great new sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches courtesy of our resident comedian and storyteller Linda Callahan!  Linda also makes gorgeous cards so please head over to her blog to see what I mean!

As soon as I saw the sketch I knew that I wanted to make a fall card and use my dies from Concord & 9th!  I cut the stems off leaves 2 and 3 to get them the length that I wanted.  The sentiment really does ring true.  I love fall.  Don't get me wrong, I love summer - but I LOVE fall.  The temperature, the pretty colours and the pumpkins!  I LOVE pumpkins...oh, I'm getting off track again!

You'll notice that Linda and I created very similar cards - unintentionally but I'll say great minds think alike!!!

Supplies: 
Cardstock: Early Espresso, Cherry Cobbler, Very Vanilla, Copper Foil
Stamps: Give Thanks (Concord & 9th)
Ink: Early Espresso
Other: Copper Rhinestones, Layering Leaves Dies (Concord & 9th)

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 will definitely be inspired!

Have a fabulous day!

Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #205

Hello!

Happy Wednesday!  We are officially into fall now and it has to be one of my favourite seasons - okay, it's my favourite.  I love the coolness in the air and the beautiful colours of the leaves.  I also love pumpkins...have I mentioned that before?!  I have an obsession with stuffed ones.  Okay, so I have only just started this obsession but I found the cutest knit one at Hobby Lobby when we were vacationing in Kentucky.  It made the trip home with us!  As I told my friend Linda Callahan the other day,  I'm a funky nut!

So we have a  great new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches today courtesy of the amazing Rita Wright.  She is our in house colouring queen.  Well, many of our team colour fabulously but Rita can colour anything!  Head to her blog and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about.

I was a little stumped with Rita's sketch but then decided I would give a fall'ish wreath a try.  I whipped out the Wondrous Wreath stamp set and die and after about 4 tries finally got a half decent wreath I could use.  If you struggle with this stamp set, know you aren't alone.  If you don't struggle, know you are alone!!!!

I decided to keep the background and my banner white, though in hindsight it probably should have been vanilla.  Oh well.  I like white!  I threw on some Crushed Curry flowers and some pearls and called it a day!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Whisper White, Early Espresso

Stamps: Wondrous Wreath, Acorny Thank You, Pictogram Punches

Ink: Sahara Sand, Early Espresso, Crushed Curry

Other: Wondrous Wreath Framelits, Itty Bitty Punches (?), Basic Pearls, Banner Framelits, Itty Bitty Banners, Dimensionals

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you get the chance to pop over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and check out the beautiful cards the design team has created!  You won't be disappointed!

Have a fabulous day!
Jen

Freshly Made Sketches Challenge #151

Hello!
Welcome to another Wednesday!  We are on vacation right now and currently enjoying the sand and surf in Myrtle Beach!  Since I'm pre-writing this post I'm going to go out on a limb and assume we are having a fabulous vacation!

We have a great new sketch today courtesy of Kim Singdahlsen.  This is Kim's last week with us at Freshly Made Sketches!  We have loved seeing her fabulous cards over the last four weeks and she leaves us today with an amazing sketch!

As the weather here in Burlington gets colder and fall approaches, I feel the need to make some Thanksgiving cards!  I must say that fall cards are my favourite ones to make!  I had some old DSP stashed in my craft room and decided to haul it out.  Sadly I can't remember the name.  Surprising?  Not so much, I know!  I paired up some Autumn Wooden Elements (from the new Holiday Catalogue).  I used the woodgrain embossing folder to add a little more texture!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla

DSP: I can't remember....

Stamps: And Many More

Other: Autumn Wooden Elements, Woodgrain Embossing Folder, Dimensionals

Thanks so much for stopping by!  

Please hop on over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog to check out the amazing cards the design team has created for you!  Don't forget to leave Kim some love and thank her for her great sketch and amazing contributions to our team!

Have a fabulous day!

Jen!

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

Seize the Sketch Thanksgiving

Hello!
Hope everyone had a great Monday.  Jacob and I had a great day together!  Jacob had a swimming lesson tonight and finally got his kicking down!  He was doing awesome!  I was so proud of him!  It's been a long road but he's getting there and loves the water!

I was excited to play along with this week's "Seize the Sketch" Challenge!  Thank you Lesley Croghan for creating yet another fabulous challenge!  I love sketch challenges!  I must say the angled lines did stump me for a while.  I'm a cut and dried kind of girl so throwing angles in there gets me off my game!

I'm in love with the Sweater Weather DSP!  I love fall colours and when I saw this in the new catalogue I knew I had to have it!!!  I couldn't wait any longer to make fall cards!  I got out my Wonderfall stamp set and the Autumn Accents die and went to town!  Throw in that fabulous Truly Grateful stamp set and autumn is in the air!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Chocolate Chip, Crushed Curry, Tangerine Tango
DSP: Sweater Weather
Ink: Chocolate Chip
Stamps: Wonderfall, Truly Grateful
Other: Autumn Accents Die, Square Lattice Embossing Folder, Argyle Embossing Folder, Dimesionals


Thanks for stopping by again today!  Here's another Hawaii picture!  This one was taken from the helicopter.  I love the colour of the water and all of that fabulous sand!  Gorgeous!

Have a fabulous day!

Jen

CAS Thanksgiving (already?)

Hello!
Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you had a great weekend!  Trevor and I arrived safely in from Kauai, Hawaii on Friday afternoon.  We had the most amazing trip and I am so thankful that we were able to go away.  I am also so very thankful to my mom and dad for taking such amazingly great care of my boys while we were gone!  Caleb loved it so much he decided to stay with them another week!

I was able to make a few cards on Saturday while doing some jet lag recovery!  I tackled this week's CAS(E) this Sketch challenge first!  I missed playing with this challenge the last few weeks!

My pre-order arrived while we were gone so I was able to tear that open and have some fun!  I love fall'ish cards more than any other!  I couldn't wait to get going!  I do love the new Truly Grateful stamp set!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Crushed Curry, Very Vanilla
Stamps: Truly Grateful
Ink: Early Espresso, Chocolate Chip
Other: Circle Punches, Twine, Dimensionals


Here's a shot of Trevor and I by the "Jurassic Park" waterfalls in Hawaii.  It was so beautiful here!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!

Jen

Fall Banner

Hello!
The weekend is here!  It's been a busy week here and I've had some card orders to fill along with trying to work on a few other things!  My husband is in charge of a flying event this weekend so we will be spending a good chunk of tomorrow at the field...praying for decent weather!

Today's project is based on my Halloween one.  I had seen some other fall ones on Pinterest that were sort of similar.  I wanted to try my hand at one using the Orchard Harvest DSP and the Autumn Accents Die.  I used MDS2 to create letters...I actually printed ones out, traced them and then cut these ones out.  I used my home printer and I didn't like the colours I originally used (though the same as these colours they didn't turn out too well printed).  I added a lot of texture since I LOVE texture!  Threw in some buttons and some bling and voila!  Now...you might be wondering why it's laying on my kitchen floor...the ribbon came undone and I seriously have had NO tine to come down to either re-glue it or stitch it.

The chipboard I used for the background, though not sold by SU came in a paper pack!!!  I just cut it 4X4 with my trimmer and then used a template to round the corner since it wouldn't fit in my corner rounder.

Supplies:
Cardstock: More Mustard, Early Espresso, Cajun Craze, Lucky Limeade, Raspberry Ripple
DSP: Orchard Harvest
Other: Autumn Accents Die, Woodgrain, Perfect Polka Dot, Square Lattice, Argyle Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Wood Buttons, Bronze Buttons, Basic Rhinestones, Early Espresso Grosgrain Ribbon, Dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by!
Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Jen

The Paper Players Fall Challenge

Hello!
How is your week going?  Jacob had his first day of school on Thursday. Well, it wasn't quite a day of school.  It was a half hour visit with the teacher (who was Caleb's teacher for the past two years!).  Mrs. Cooper is wonderful and Jacob loves her (thankfully)!  We had a great visit and he's ready for his next visit next Thursday...the start of kindergarten here is slow and painful!

Okay today's card...yes, it kinda looks like one I've made before but I tweaked it a bit to fit my mood!  I am so in love with the new core'dinations cardstock that I just can't stop using it!  Is that terrible?  I recently "acquired" the Stampin' Up! sanding block...it is so much fun!!!

Today's card is for this week's "The Paper Players" challenge.  Check out their design team's fabulous cards this week!

I love the Wonderfall stamp set and the Autumn Accents die.  I don't know what I'll do when fall is over!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Early Espresso (core'dinations), Cajun Craze, More Mustartd

DSP: Orchard Harvest

Stamps: Wonderfall, Apothecary Accents (sentiment)

Ink: Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Early Espresso

Other: Stripes TIEF, Buttons, Linen Thread, Autumn Accents Die, Dimensionals, Sanding Block

My baby started school today!  He was so excited for his first day of Junior Kindergarten!

Freshly Made Sketches #50

Hello!
I hope you're enjoying your week!  We are on "vacation" this week.  Maybe more of a "Stay-cation".  We are doing little day trips here and there and coming home each night to sleep in our own beds!  Today was a trip to the Halton County Radial Railway (Museum).  It is a Streetcar museum near us and the boys LOVED it!  What a great day trip for us.  We got to take a street car trip to an old street car that had been converted to an ice cream shop!  Fantastic!

Anyhow, today is Wednesday!  New sketch for us over at Freshly Made Sketches!  You NEED to go and check the blog and see the fabulous cards the Design Team has created for you!  What a talented group of ladies (most of whom are named Jen!).

Lesley brought us a fabulous sketch this week!  I loved it - there weren't any circles (sorry Jen M!).  I knew right away I wanted a fall card.  We were driving today and noticed the trees are already starting to turn colour around here...fall is sadly on it's way!

Okay so my card...sorry...I LOVE those leaves!  The Autumn Accents die is fabulous and it's great because it can be used without the coordinating stamp set!  The Orchard Harvest DSP is my new favourite and the colours remind me of a perfect fall day!  I also love the look of the Early Espresso Core'dinations cardstock paired with the Woodgrain Embossing Folder!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Early Espresso (Core'dinations), Cajun Craze, More Mustard, Very Vanilla
DSP: Orchard Harvest
Stamps: Apothecary Art
Ink: early Espresso
Other: Autumn Accents Die, Woodgrain, Perfect Polka Dot and Square Lattice Textured Embossing Folders, Basic Pearls, Bronze Button, Linen Thread, Dimensionals

Here's a little picture of my cuties standing on the tracks at the museum today!  

Thanks for stopping by!

Have a wonderful day!

Jen

So Grateful

Hello!
Did you have a great day?  We had a good day!  The boys got some new binoculars so had to go around this morning investigating things!  Caleb still isn't feeling 100% yet so we're hoping for some improvements tomorrow...poor little guy!

I created a very clean and simple card this afternoon.  It's for two "challenges".  The first challenge is the Clean and Simple Cards challenge on Splitcoast Stampers.  I was so glad they had a sketch this week since I needed something to work from !  The second challenge is the Sunday Stamps Challenge. This week they had a colour challenge.  The colours chosen were Red Riding Hood, So Saffron and Soft Suede.

I really do love the French Foliage stamp set.  It's perfect for almost any type of card...versatility is paramount when ordering stamps!  I love fall cards and fall colours and thought these two challenges combined would be perfect!  I used the sentiment from Apothecary Art and then cut it out using the Bitty Banners Framelits Die!  I decided to mount vanilla on vanilla just to give it a little added dimension!

Here's a picture of my little spies!  They sure love being at Grannie and Papa's!  So much so that we've decided to spend next week here too!  Poor Grannie!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Very Vanila
Stamps: French Foliage, Apothecary Art
Ink: Soft Suede, Red Riding Hood So Saffron
Other: Bitty Banners Framelits Dies,  Basic Pearls, 3/4" Circle Punch, Dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by!
Have a great day!
Jen

So Grateful

Hello!
I hope you had a great day!  The boys are still in Papa and Grannie heaven!  They are having so much fun!  I got to pet my first groundhog today!  My mom has had the same groundhog ("Mommy") living in her backyard for 8 years.  She has managed to "tame" her and she comes when she's called, eats out of my mom's hand and lets my mom pet her.  I've always been a tad skittish of the furry little friend but today decided to give it a whirl and pet her!  She is very soft.  She is so sweet too!  I will try and get some pictures of her uploaded for tomorrow!

This is a card we'll be doing at my upcoming workshop.  I LOVE the Wonderfall stamp set (which coordinates perfectly with this Autumn Accents Die) but decided to cut the leaves and texturize them instead!  I really love the new Orchard Harvest DSP from the Holiday Catalogue!  It's super fun and has some fantastic colours in it!

This card is a sort of case from the most recent SU Demonstrator Magazine.  I altered it slightly to make it a bit easier for people at the workshop to make!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Early Espresso Core'dinations, More Mustard, Cajun Craze
Stamps: Apothecary Art
Ink: Cajun Craze
Other: Brushed Bronze Designer Buttons, Early Espresso Baker's Twine, Autumn Accents Bigz Die, Woodgrain, Perfect Polka Dot and Square Lattice Textured Impressions Embossing Folders, Dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by!
Have a great day!

Jen

Clean and Simple Maple Leaf

Hello!
I hope you all had a great day!  It was hot here today...very hot.  42+ degrees C (or about 108 F) with the humidity.   The boys played outside a bit this morning but by this afternoon it was WAY too hot!  We did however go to see Madagascar 3 with them late afternoon.  Caleb loved it...Jacob got bored!  Go figure!

Okay, another sneak peek at some new Holiday Catalogue goodies.  Unfortunately my picture does not do the new Champagne glimmer paper justice.  It's just beautiful and more coppery to me than champagne but none the less!  I also love the new buttons...The metallic colour is so perfect for fall!  It's also hard to tell from this picture but the leaf is embossed with the new Early Espresso Embossing Powder! Oh and don't forget my favourite...the new Woodgrain Textured Embossing Folder.

This week's CAS-ual Friday's challenge card is to create a Clean and Simple card using "Text".  I think my maple leaf qualifies perfectly!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Early Espresso, Very Vanilla, Champagne Glimmer
Stamps: Wonderfall, Falling Leaves (retired)
Ink: Early Espresso, Versamark
Other: Woodgrain Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Autumn Accents Bigz Die, Brushed Bronze Designer Buttons, Early Espresso Bakers Twine, Early Espresso Embossing Powder, Dimensionals

Thanks for stopping by!  I'll be back tomorrow with another Holiday Sneak Peek card!

Jen