Freshly Made Sketches #667

I've been a very erratic stamper over the last year, but I managed to carve out some time to join my Freshly Made Sketches teammates for our first sketch of 2025!  Kicking off the new year is Cécile as our hostess, and as usual, I tried to channel my inner CAS Cécile as I designed my card.

I opted for a shaker for this card, mainly because I hadn't done one in so long....and, in this case, lends itself to a CAS card.  Fun!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches, where my fellow design team members have made some fantastic cards to inspire you to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Bokeh Burst Round (The Ton); All About You (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  You die (Simon Says Stamp); Royal Garden sequins (Pretty Pink Posh); gold embossing powder

Fusion - Peach Birthday

This week at Fusion our inspiration features a birthday party that I definitely want to be invited to!  Peach features predominantly in the color scheme as well as lots and lots of balloons!  I've never gone to a party with such fun decorations!  

I chose to feature some peach on my card, followed the sketch, and used a birthday sentiment.  Instead of balloons I went with a shaker accent - combining inspiration from the latest Just Us Girls challenge.  And it felt good to use up some old SU designer paper from my never-ending stash.  😊

Thanks for stopping by!  My Fusion teammates have got some great cards to inspire you to play along with us, so check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Scripty Sayings (Gina K)
Paper:  Whisper White, Peach Parfait (Stampin' Up!); Clear (Flourishes)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things)

Freshly Made Sketches 411

Hi all!  Wednesday means a new challenge from your friends at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is Jen Brum and I loved her sketch so much I managed to make two cards!

It's been a while since I've made a shaker card and that big rectangular layer on the sketch gave me the idea to make one.  I squared up the card so that the proportion of my snowflake square was just right a-la the sketch and I filled my shaker pocket with sequins in the colors of the season.

This is the second card that I made for this sketch.  I first made one a few days ago and it's a perfectly fine card - just not terribly exciting.  So back to the drawing board I went which lead me to this snowflake cutout which led me to this shaker design.  Here's card #1.

Thanks for stopping by!  Please check out the inspiration from the Freshly Made Sketches design team and be inspired to join us!

Supplies

(Shaker card)

Stamps:  Seasons Greetings (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!); acetate (Oriental Trading)

Ink:  Early Espresso (Stampin' Up!)

Accessories:  Snowflakes Snippet die (Spellbinders); Classic Christmas sequins (Neat & Tangled)

(Holiday Blessings card)

Stamps:  Spruce & Sprigs (Papertrey Ink); Peace Love Joy (Right at Home)

Paper:   Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Soft Suede (Stampin' Up!)

Ink:  Ripe Avocado (Papertrey Ink); Cherry Cobbler, Mossy Meadow, Soft Suede (Stampin' Up!)

Accessories:  Subtle Embossing Folder (Stampin' Up!)

Freshly Made Sketches 392

Hello, it's Wednesday so that means we've got a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is Jacquie and after some consideration I decided her sketch was perfect for a birthday card for my great-nephew who will be one in a few days.

I made a shaker accented with a big ONE and some cute animals.  Then I layered a birthday sentiment and I was done.   I figure that Baby G (that's what we call him) will like the sound of the sequins moving around the card!

Thanks for stopping by!  My Freshly Made Sketches teammates have made fabulous cards with this sketch so I hope your are inspired by their cards to join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Wild About You (My Favorite Things); Simple Sentiments (Avery Elle)
Paper: Bashful Blue, Prints Pack (Stampin' Up!);l Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink); Bristol Smooth (Strathmore)
Ink:  Nocturne (Verafine Clair); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Copics
Accessories:  Double Stitched Rectangle Frame (Poppystamps); King's Sapphire Couture Mix sequins (The Ton)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

CAS(E) This Sketch 291 Meets Fusion

I'm back with a new card for my combination of CAS(E) This Sketch and Fusion.  The sketch met with the baby theme and this is what came out!

Every other week I am fortunate enough to be able to combine the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch with the inspiration challenge at Fusion.  And I've been lucky that each time the two have melded together perfectly.  Well this week I took a look at both challenges and figured there was no way I could combine the two.  I resigned myself to making two different cards for each challenge.  And then this past Monday I went for a walk and the crisp air must have cleared my brain because suddenly I had an idea for a baby card using "I'm not sure the sex of the baby colors," a shaker as the main accent, and a couple of other circles to round out the sketch.  In the end it was easy peasy.  Always a bonus!

We've got a great sketch for you at CAS(E) This Sketch and at Fusion you've got a choice:  a sketch or some inspiration - or combine both of them!  Whichever you choose I hope you can join us in either (or both) of those galleries!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Labeler Alphabet (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Certainly Celery (Stampin' Up!); Lemon Tart (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Certainly Celery (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Blueprints 20 die (My Favorite Things); Pastel Sequins (Verve)

Freshly Made Sketches 322

Happy Wednesday!  It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our sketch is brought to you by Cécile and it is simplicity at it's finest!  Let your imagination be your guide!

I made another Valentine!  I think it's because the color challenge at Cupcake Inspiration inspired my theme.  I liked the idea of a bit of black accenting the cream and pink and I thought it would make an interesting Valentine.  My card actually ended up being a postcard.  I made this card over the course of two days.  My only task on Day 2 was to stamp the sentiment.  Well, I wasn't paying very good attention because this top-fold card was bottoms up when I stamped the sentiment so it would have opened bottom side up.  Oops!  No problem, though.  I cut the card along the fold and I'll attach it to another card base - there are no mistakes in staming, right!!??!!

Thanks for stopping by!  And don't forget to check out the inspiration from our always-amazing design team at Freshly Made Sketches.  I hope to see you in our gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Love (Hero Arts)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Pink Pirouette, Regal Rose (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Regal Rose (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Love die (Hero Arts); Pierced Rectangle STAX, Rectangle STAX (My Favorite Things); Pink & Pepper Couture sequin mix (The Ton); Wink of Stella

Freshly Made Sketches 320

It's a month until Valentine's Day and our latest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches is just the thing to put you in the love-mood!  Our hostess this week is Kim and I think you are going to love her sketch!  We've also got some exciting news.  Teresa Kline will be joining us at a guest designer for the next two months.  We are thrilled to have her as a part of our team!

Have I mentioned that I love to make shaker cards?  I made one that I posted yesterday and here I am again with another one.  They're just so darn FUN!  This one is jam-packed with Valentine colored sequins (and even a few hearts).  I got this little sequin pack from my Tag You're It teammate Susan for my birthday and they were just what I needed to make this Valentine perfect!  There's a Valentine challenge at CAS on Friday so I think I'll add this over there too!

Thanks for stopping by.  We'd love to see you in our gallery at Freshly Made Sketches so please join us.  There's loads of inspiration there for you to see from our always-amazing design team!

Supplies
Stamps:  Love (Hero Arts)
Paper:  Cloud White (Reverse  Confetti); Cherry (Avery Elle); Pretty in Pink (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Cherry (Avery Elle)
Accessories:  Love die (Hero Arts); stitched heart die (White Lotus)

Love, Joy, and Peace on Earth

It has been a whole month since I made a Christmas card!  So in the spirit of staying on top of things I decided that the color challenge at Merry Monday was just the thing to jump start my 2018 Christmas card stash.  It helped that I had a mix of sequins in just the colors they are looking for.

I seem to be on a shaker card kick lately.  I confess that they are fun to make and the mixes that are available today are super easy to use.  I love how they contain sequins and beads and bugles and all kinds of fun things that I would never to think to mix up on my own.  And for some reason my Christmas shaker cards always seem to pair up with snowflakes.  I love how they look together so I won't question the why of it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fa La La (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Glitter (Recollections); Vellum (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Cherry (Avery Elle)
Accessories:  Funky Flakes die (CAS-ual Fridays); Let It Snowflake Too die (My Favorite Things); Christmas Couture sequin mix (The Ton)

CAS(E) This Sketch 254

Blogger SNAFU alert!  I messed up scheduling my latest card for the CAS(E) This Sketch challenge, but here I am, better late than never!

The sketch is gorgeous, as is the banner that goes with it, and originally I thought about using some flowers in the style of the banner but opted to do a shaker instead.  There's a purple challenge going on at Less is More so I thought a simple design using shades of purple would look pretty.  Especially since I had sequins and seed beads to go with it!

I'm happy to play along with this color challenge because I've got a sister that LOVES purple.  Her birthday isn't until August so I'll have to keep this safe until then. *smile*  And in case you're wondering why the sentiment on front is an incomplete sentence - the inside says "filled with lots of cake and ice cream!"  She's going to love it!

Thanks for stopping by!  And apologies all around to my CAS(E) This Sketch teamies for posting so late today.  They have all created some amazing cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Bokeh Burst Round (The Ton); Sentimental Birthday (Winnie & Walter)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Royal Velvet (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Pretty Amethyst (Fun Stampers Journey); Royal Velvet (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Lovely Lilac sequins (Neat & Tangled); Lavender Moon sequins (Pretty Pink Posh); seed beads

Happy Anniversary

Saturday I went to a party to celebrate the 50th anniversary of my aunt and uncle.  Sometime during the afteroon I decided that the card I was going to give them was not good enough so I sat at my desk to make a new one - with the help of the "cheer" challenge at CASology and the "shine" challenge at Less is More.

This card was sort of reverse engineered from the envelope!  I had a card all picked to give them and made a festive envelope to go with it with gold embossed accents and the word "cheers" featured right in the middle.  I chose gold because traditionally, that is the color of the "golden" 50th anniversary.  The envelope looked fantastic, but the card I was going to use had no gold on it so the two looked terrible together.  Luckily I had some time in the afternoon before I needed to leave so I made this shaker card.  Much better!  Here's the envelope that inspired my card:

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps:  Bokeh Bursts Round (The Ton); The Big the Bold and the Happy (Winnie & Walter)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); glitter cardstock (Recollections)
Ink:  Golden Glitz Delicata (Tsukineko)
Accessories:  The Big the Bold and the Happy die (Winnie & Walter); gold embossing powder

Freshly Made Sketches 312

I would say that I'm definitely starting to feel the Christmas crunch.  I had a look at my stash of Christmas cards and cringed.  I actually cringed.  So you'll have to forgive me if you see a Christmas card every time you visit here!  This week there's a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, brought to you by Cécile, and it didn't take much for me to see that square as being perfect for a shaker.

After trying out a few pieces of patterned paper for that triangle layer in the corner I opted to emboss it instead with a striped embossing folder - reminiscent of candy cane stripes.  The square was cut using a snowflake die and behind it are some Christmas colored sequins.  I watched a video the other day (which, incidentally, is how I came to buy that square snowflake die set) and the greatest tip I got from it was, when making a shaker card, to rub the acetate with anti-static powder (this is what I use) so that the sequins move freely around.  Genius!

There's an "anything goes" Christmas challenge at Happy Little Stampers this month so you'll find me linked over there as well.

Well, that's it for me.  Thanks for stopping by and please check out all the amazing inspiration from the design team at Freshly Made Sketches.  I hope you'll join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fa La La (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); Garden Green, Real Red (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Real Red (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Snowflake Snippets die (Spellbinders); Class Christmas sequins (Neat & Tangled)

Freshly Made Sketches 307!

Summer has made a comeback around here and I am loving it!  It's been in the 80s for the last few days and I am thoroughly enjoying this beautiful weather.  But it's the end of September and I know it won't last.  Soon the sweaters and boots will come out of the closet so I've got to enjoy this while I can.

I am also thoroughly enjoying our new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is Jen Timko and what a cool sketch she's given us this week.

Sometimes when I see circles like this it puts me in mind of a shaker card.  Of course, since the latest challenge at CAS-ual Fridays is for shakers there might have been a bit of subliminal messaging going on!  I grabbed some sequins in the colors or fall and created my card around them.

This was went together surprisingly easily!  I love when that happens.  Our amazing Freshly Made Sketches design team has put together some great cards with this sketch so make sure you check them out.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Hello Hello (The Stamp Market)
Paper:  Classic Ivory (Flourishes); Old Olive, Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Chocolate Chip (Stampin' Up!)
Acccessories:  Petite Scallop Circles die, Standard Circles die (Spellbinders); Autumn Harvest sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)

Lesley's Baby Girl Blog Hop

The secret is out!  Today is the day!  For these many long weeks friends of Lesley Croghan have been secretly planning a special baby blog hop just for her!  Our fearless leader in this super-secret mission is Lori Turner and I just want to start out this post by giving her a huge shout-out for conceiving of this idea, inviting a vast stamping community to play along, and for organizing the whole thing!

I am sure that many of you reading this know Lesley.  And if you don't know her personally I am sure that you have been touched by her in some way (even if you don't realize it).  She's been the driving force behind a multitude of stamping challenges all across blogland, many of which you might play along with every week.  She always has a word of encouragement for her stamping friends, a smile to offer, and is someone who I would really like to meet some day in real life!

Many years ago, back in early 2011, I got an email from Lesley asking me if I would like to be a guest designer at The Paper Players for the month of April 2011.  I was just a girl that liked to make cards and play along in challenges and here this rock-star was asking ME if I would like to join her band of merry card-makers.  Once I contained my excitement I said yes and I am forever grateful to her for giving me a chance to flex my card-making muscles and for encouraging me in this wonderful paper crafting community.  Although she probably didn't know it, she gave me the courage to continue on this crafty journey I had set myself on.

So today I get to be a small part of another community of friends that collectively thanks Lesley for her friendship, her mentorship, and her endless crafty inspiration.  Lesley is expecting a baby girl soon and I wanted to send her and her husband my heartfelt wishes for a healthy and beautiful baby with this wee card.

Now, there are quite a few of us like-minded crafty souls who have also made cards for Lesley and you can find them all here on Lori's blog.  There's a link party going on over there and we would love to have you join us.  Just make a baby themed card and link it to the gallery.

Over the last several weeks Lori collected all of our cards, packaged them up and sent them to Lesley with strict instructions to not open the box until today.  I wish I was there to see the look on her face when she saw what was inside!

Finally I am sending many blessings to you, Lesley and Corey, for a beautiful, healthy, and happy baby!

Supplies
Stamps:  Welcome Baby (SugarPea Designs)
Paper: Solar White (Neenh); Pixie (Avery Elle)
Ink:  Pink Pirouette (Stampin Up)!
Accesories:  Welcome Baby die (SugarPea Designs); Alpha Whimsy die (Paper Smooches)

Freshly Made Sketches 265!

This is officially Christmas card week on my blog.  I love to make Christmas cards but I hope I snap out of this soon because I'm pretty sure I'll be tired of doing the same theme day after day before long.  But today indulge me as we unveil a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, designed by the lovely and talented Narelle.  This one made me think of making a shaker card.

I recently got a sequin mix that was full of bits and bobs in Christmas colors and that is what I thought of when I started working on my card for this sketch.  I added a festive sentiment and I was done!  It sounds like I just whipped this thing up but it actually took a while to do - partly because I backed the shaker window with some teeny-tiny thick foam sticky squares that took forever to peel off to reveal the actual sticky stuff.  Note to self:  burn those.

I'm joining a few Christmas challenges around blogland too:  CAS on Sunday and Christmas Card Challenges.

I don't know about you, but I can hardly believe that today is the last day of November.  Nothing like the year whizzing by!  Thanks for stopping by and please pop on over to Freshly Made Sketches to check out the inspiration from the design team.  We hope you've got some time to join us in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Wonderful Words - Holiday (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  White (Gina K Pure Luxury); Baja Breeze (Stampin' Up!); Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink); Cryogen White
Ink:  Baja Breeze (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Merry Christmas die (Simon Says Stamp); Circles die (Little B); Blueprints 20 die (My Favorite Things); Christmas Couture Mix (The Ton)

colourQ 360!

I am on vacation this week from work and other than cleaning out the refrigerator I have no real plans.  I guess you can call this the ultimate relaxing stay-cation!  I have tentative plans to add crafting to my daily routine but I don't want to talk about it too much in case I jinx myself and it doesn't happen.  I usually spend a big chunk of my Sundays making all of my cards for the week but because I'm on vacation I didn't have to do that so this past Sunday I took my time and made just one!  Ooh-la-la!  The extra time allowed me to really think about my design and make a card that was a little more complicated than I usually do.

All of this is my lead up to the shaker card that I made using the new palette at colourQ.  I made a shaker because 1) I got a cool new stamp that is tailor made for shakers; 2) I have some cool sequins mixes that have names like Autumn Harvest and Festive Fall which fit perfectly with the colors of the challenge; 3)  shakers are way cool; and 4) the challenge this week at Can You Case It is, you guessed it, shakers.

Lessons learned on this card is to cut the circle from the cardstock first then stamp that bokeh burst image around the hole.  I did the opposite, and it was difficult to line up my circle die with the stamped image since it's done upside down.  If you look closely you'll see that it's off a bit.  It probably won't be all that noticeable to whoever receives this card, but I know it's not quite right!  I'm sure you can relate!!

Thanks for stopping by and wish me luck cleaning out the fridge.  I am sure I'll find some expired salad dressing in there somewhere!

And don't forget to pop on by colourQ and check out our latest challenge.  There's loads of inspiration to be found there and I hope to see you in the gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Bokeh Burst Round (The Ton)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Soft Suede, Hello Honey (SU)
Ink:  Soft Suede, Ruby Red, Pumpkin Pie (SU)
Accessories:  Blueprints 13 die (My Favorite Things); Thanks Script die (Mama Elephant); Autumn Harvest sequins (Pretty Pink Posh); Festive Fall Mix sequins (Neat & Tangled)

Freshly Made Sketches 194

Happy Wednesday everyone!  It's time for a new sketch from your friends at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is Linda and her sketch made me think of a shaker card.  It seems like every time I see a square on a sketch, I think of shakers!  I've been lucky enough to meet Linda in person twice - the last time was just a couple of weeks ago.  More on that later.

I paper pieced this little party girl's dress and then fussy cut her out.  It's a delicate job cutting this image out because she is so skinny - some of the parts are so small I worry that I'm going to chop off a body part!  But she looks good when it's all done.

At Challenge Up Your Life they are looking for sequins so I filled my shaker up with some colorful ones.

The Freshly Made Sketches design team has made some beauties this week so make sure you head on over there to check them out.  I hope you can join us in the gallery!

I forgot to mention last week that I made a little field trip to Albany New York a couple of Saturday's ago.  My FMS teamie Jen Timko had a layover in Albany and it just so happens that Linda lives about an hour away and I live about 3 1/2 hours away so we all got to see each other for a bit.  It was the second time that I met Linda and the first time that I met Jen.  We had a lot of laughs.  Here we are trying to figure out my new selfie stick!

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Cheers (My Favorite Things)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Sea Glass (Avery Elle)
Ink:  Black Licorice (My Favorite Things); Onyx Black (Versafine); Copics
Accessories:  Birthday Bash sequins (Neat & Tangled)

Freshly Made Sketches 188

TGIW!  Is that even a thing?  It is for me because Wednesday is when there's a brand new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week Karren is our hostess and she's given us a sketch that I'm pretty sure you will love.  When I saw it I immediately thought of a shaker card.

That big old square was perfect for my bouncing sequins!  So that it wouldn't look so bare I stamped a little grungy image in the background then loaded up the sequins.  A little flower and some soft yellow leaves and I was done!  The colors come from the inspiration week photo at Just Us Girls.

As you can expect there are some great cards to be seen at Freshly Made Sketches so make sure you check them out.  I hope to see you in the gallery!  Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Summer Silhouettes, Thank You Kindly (SU); So 80's (WPlus9)
Paper:  Baja Breeze, So Saffron (SU); Classic White (Flourishes)
Ink:  Baja Breeze, Dusty Durango (SU)
Accessories:  Curvy Leaves die (Elizabeth Craft Designs); Nesting Squares die (Lifestyle Crafts); Winter Wonderland sequins, Fall Mix sequins (Neat & Tangled)

colourQ 289

Happy Tuesday everyone!  It's time for a new challenge from your colourQ friends.  This one is based on this jewelry box.  I just love the bit of Early Espresso in the inspiration photo.

I decided to make a shaker card based on the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.  One of the design team members there, Barbara Anders, made a shaker card and that inspired me to make my own!

I loved the idea of a predominately white card with some Early Espresso accents so those colors make up the main design of my card.  Then I filled the shaker with sequins in all the other colors of the challenge.  I love the little pops of color from the sequins!

As you can expect, the colourQ design team has made some fantastic cards with these colors this week so be sure to check them out.  And we also bid a fond farewell to Silke who is leaving us after this challenge.  We sure will  miss her beautiful creations each week!

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps:  DIY (Precious Remembrance)
Paper:  White (Spectrum Noir); Early Espresso (SU); Vellum (Papertrey Ink)
Ink:  Early Espresso (SU)
Accessories:  Blueprints 20 die, Fishtail Flags Layers STAX (My Favorite Things); Early Espresso button (SU); sequins (Avery Elle); crochet thread