Freshly Made Sketches #671 (and #670!)

It is my pleasure to host this week's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! I will admit, when I drew this, I had something totally different in mind. My image for the circle took up the entire card, so I had to regroup. I will save that idea for another day.

My sister sent me a wonderful package full of stamps and dies this week, and the Loopy Border (IO Stamps) was in the package! We are both sad that they have closed, but we both have a wonderful collection of their stamps and dies. This was where I started with my card. I cut three of the borders, and had a bit of a time cutting them to size and keeping them looking mostly the same. The loops are very delicate and I kept tearing the sides. But I finally got three that would work!

While I was cutting the loops, I happened to notice a stamp set from The Greetery in a bin by my die cutting machine. I had never used it, and thought it would fit nicely for the circle. Imagine my surprise when I took it out of the storage bin and it had dies! (I obviously have stuff I need to get better acquainted with). I loved the purple flowers in the Coffee or Tea 6x6 from Stamp Simply, and chose that for my background. I like how they peek through the loops. 

I hope you will join us and have fun playing! Our challenge closes Monday, February 3, at 3 PM EST. Be sure to check out the many amazing ideas my wonderful teammates have for this sketch on the blog!

My blog often gets neglected, and I didn't get a post up for last week's sketch, so I am sharing it here now. Amy had such a wonderful sketch with lots of room to play and I loved making this valentine:

The notebook tag and Love Bulb are from SSS, and the background and "love arrow" are from IO Stamps. The little foliage bits were in my Bits Box! Thanks for such a great sketch, Amy!