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!

Freshly Made Sketches #661

Hello everyone! 

It's Wednesday and time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches! This one is from the very talented Jacquie and here is mine!

I had a ton of fun making this. Dies are my favorite to work with! I used several different companies' projects on my card today:

Impression Obsession - Primitive Snowman die
Memory Box - evergreen trees
Paper Smooches - sentiment
Simon Says Stamp - snowflake cover palte
Papertrey Ink - snowflake die

Our challenge is open until Monday, November 10, at 3 PM EST. We hope that you will join us! Check out my amazing teamies' cards on the FMS Blog!

Freshly Made Sketches #571

Hello! Happy new sketch day from Freshly Made Sketches! Our New England Jen is the hostess this week, with a wonderful sketch for all slimline lovers. As she says on the blog, however, you can make any shape that you would like. I stayed with A2 horizontal/landscape, because I don't make those very often.

Another pink one this week! I used the new X's and O's from Impression Obsession/Nola Chandler. It's such a cute set. I have a working 1957 Royal typewriter in my office, and that was my inspiration for the pink typewriter.

I embossed the XOXO with WOW! Embossing Glitter and colored the typewriter in with Copic markers. That cute heart stencil in the background is from Taylored Expressions.

I hope you will join our sketch challenge, and add your creations to our gallery. I would love to see what you make! 

This challenge will end at 3:00 EST time on Monday, February 6. Be sure to take a peek at the gorgeous cards my teammates have created on the FMS blog to inspire you. There are some beautiful and very creative designs there! Have fun with the sketch!

Freshly Made Sketches #563

It's Wednesday and time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches! The incredibly talented Jen B is our amazing hostess today with a fun sketch!

I love the stitched snowflakes from Stampin' Up in pale pink! My sentiment is from IO Stamps and is cut from silver shimmer metallic cardstock. I have teeny tiny gems on the snowflake centers. The cute winter background paper is from Stampin' Up!

I hope you will join our sketch challenge, and add your creations to our gallery! I would love to see what you make!

This challenge will end at 3:00 EST time on Monday, November 28. Be sure to take a peek at the gorgeous cards my teammates have created on the FMS blog to inspire you! There are some beautiful designs there! Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Freshly Made Sketches #522

It's Wednesday and time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Kim is our hostess this week, and has a fabulous sketch to inspire us. The square can be any shape you like. I chose to stay close to the sketch with this cute image from Impression Obsession (Kitty Hug).

I stamped with VersaFine Clair Nocturne, and embossed with WOW Clear Embossing Powder. I colored with alcohol markers, and cut out the square, following the image lines. I added a heart die cut from Ellen Hutson, and some patterned paper with teeny hearts in blues and gold. All mounted on textured white and Pool Party (SU!) cardstock. I love him! He looks like my daughter's kitty.

I hope you will join our sketch challenge, and add your creations to our gallery! This challenge will end at 3:00 EST time on Monday, February 14. Be sure to take a peek at the gorgeous cards my teammates have made on the FMS blog to inspire you!  

Merry December Snowman

Hello everyone!

I wanted to share my snowy merry December card with this adorable Small Snowman (DIE899-Q) from Impression Obsession for their current challenge. You can find it HERE.

I started with a monoprint abstract background (one of those I didn't like that now I love) and cut the Stitched Tag (DIE798-Y) from the print. Then came the snowman pieces. I popped up his hat, with the hat band cut from the same monoprint. Silver glitter paper was for the sentiment from Typewriter Sentiments (DIE905-Y). I popped up the entire tag on a textured blue background wrapped with Metallic Blue Kreinik thread, with two of the Primitive Snowflakes (DIE893-YY) peeking out. A couple of the snowballs from the Snowman set are also are popped up for dimension. A little textured blue cardstock for the main panel, and white for the base, and he is ready to pop in the mail for a merry December greeting.

Thank you for stopping by and I wish you the loveliest of celebrations (in the 2020 way!) for the new year to come. Happy Crafting in 2021!

Sweet Little Birds

Happy Friday, everyone!

Today I am sharing a sweet card made with products from Impression Obsession. I adore their stamps and dies! 

For my main image, I chose Three Birds (E19968). I stamped with Brutus Monroe Raven ink, and then colored in with Copic markers. I chose fall colors for my birdies. I used the awesome Stitched Speech Border (DIE992-R) to draw attention to the sentiment from Humble & Kind (CL1031-retired).

I am entering this in the current IO Challenge: You're a Hoot (Owls and Birds). Have a great weekend!

Festive Friday #0067

 Happy Friday!

September 23 is the first day of Fall! Are you as excited as I am? This past summer was a hot one, and I am so looking forward to the cooler temperatures and all of the fun that is in FALL!

At Festive Friday, you do not need to actually celebrate the occasion.  Your goal is to simply use three or more items from the inspiration list on your project. For my card today, I chose leaves, acorns, stitching, gold, green, and brown.

 

I looked through my unfinished projects box and found this lovely woodgrain paper (unknown manufacturer), and that's where I started! Then I pulled out these fabulous rustic country leaf and acorn dies by Impression Obsession, and used several colors of cardstock, including gold shimmer, for the dies. 

I chose a sentiment from one of my Unity Stamp Co. kits, added some gold metallic thread, and a few gold baubles for sparkle! The underlying panel is the same gold shimmer as the leaves and acorn, and the card base is Crumb Cake from Stampin' Up!

 

I hope you will join us for this challenge! Remember, you can choose any three from the list, for any occasion or theme! The challenge is open until September 14th!

For more inspiration, be sure to visit the rest of the  Festive Friday Challenge Design team!

Mary Fish -Guest Designer

Ann Schach  
Beth McCullough
Sharon Hashimoto Burkert
Melanie Hungerford
Helen Jennings
Stephanie Lanzalotto
Melva Peters

 

 

Merry Tag Making for Christmas

I am having a ton of fun making tags this season. Today's tag is made with dies from Impression Obsession, designed by Anna Wight.

I started off with cutting out my tag from a brayer cleaning sheet (where I run my brayer to get acrylic paint off). I used the adorable Stitched Tag DIE798-Y. The Small Snowman DIE899-Q makes up most of the tag, with the "merry" from Typewriter Sentiments DIE905-Y cut in silver metallic cardstock.

The hat and two snowballs are popped up. I added a few different fibers at the top. I love how it turned out! If you wish to purchase these dies, I would love if you would use my affiliate link, at no charge to you: http://shrsl.com/1ywoy

I'm playing in the Holiday Wishes Challenge at the IO Stamps blog with this tag!

The Scent of Fall is in the Air!

I love fall! Fall means football (my Cowboys are 3-0!), marching band (my daughter plays the baby bass drum!), pies, spice candles, pumpkins, soup season, beautiful colors, and pretty leaves~
It is my favorite season of the year.

Today I made a fall card using Sketch #63 from Sketches! by Tamara. Click HERE to see all the Design Team cards using this sketch.

My sentiment (Impression Obsession) is stamped in Chocolate Chip ink on Naturals Ivory cardstock and then the edges are sponged with Close to Cocoa and Really Rust. All other layer edges are sponged in Chocolate Chip. I bought these leaves a couple of years ago and hadn't used them on anything. When I saw this week's sketch, I knew I wanted to use them where the flourishes are. I love this patterned paper, and really wish I had about 5 more sheets of it - I can't eve remember where I got it! In this card, in addition to the DP and Naturals Ivory, I used Really Rust, DCWV Textured Neutrals, and Prisma Tawny Pack papers.

Join in and design your own card using this sketch. You can flip it, turn it, make it square, change the sentiment layer to a circle -- just be sure we can see the main idea of the sketch in your card! Play along! Link it back to Tamara's blog and your card may be featured next Friday!

Beginning tomorrow I will be in North Carolina visiting my son, so I don't know how much I will be able to post until I get back next Wednesday! I will not be posting a Monday House Mouse Challenge card, or a Sketches! by Tamara card for next week, as they are both due while I am gone! Have a great weekend!