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 #660

Hello everyone! Today it is my pleasure to host this week’s sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! 

I decided on a classic oval with some “grounding” fruh frah on the bottom. My original idea was to use a new mushroom set with greenery. But as you know, things can take a sharp turn, and I suddenly remembered that tomorrow was Halloween. I have this adorable set from Papertrey Ink that. I hadn’t yet inked up so this little ghostie got her day today over the mushrooms.  Maybe next week!

I wanted to keep it sweet and simple for my grandkids. I love anything stitched and was so happy I snagged this set on the second restock (In Stitches: Halloween). My papers are non-traditional Halloween colors from Honey Bee’s Hugs & Kisses 6x6. 

Our challenge is open until November 4 at 3 PM EST. I hope you will play along! My phone is giving me fits about adding the sketch, so until I can get to my laptop at work, please check it out on our Freshly Made Sketches blog! 

Happy Crafting! 

Freshly Made Sketches #582

Today at Freshly Made Sketches we have a new sketch from Karren! Her designs are so creative!

I used Into the Blooms Peonies dies from Papertrey Ink. The sentiment strip is from Simon Says Stamp and the embossing folder is from Cuttlebug. I added five little clear gems for bling.

I hope you will join our sketch challenge, and add your creations to our gallery. This week's challenge will end at 3:00 EDT time on Monday, April 24th. Be sure to take a peek at the gorgeous cards my teammates have created on the FMS blog to inspire you. I am so honored to be on a team with such talented cardmakers!

Hello Friend! Freshly Made Sketches #472

Hello everyone! We have a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, and the very talented Narelle is our hostess this week!

I decided on a very CAS design this week. I just received my yummy box of Kitsch Flamingo products, so I had to use pink on my card. I stamped the Ink Splat AT0108 from Fun Stampers Journey using the Distress Oxide version of KF. Once that was dry, I added two sentiments from the Wet Paint 2800 Stamp Set by Papertrey Ink using VersaFine Clair Nocturne. I found a matching pink cardstock for my card base, and voila!

I hope you will join our sketch challenge this week, and add your creations to our gallery! This challenge will end at 3:00 EST time on Monday, February 15th. On Tuesday, we will announce the winner of this week's challenge who will be known as the "Queen or King of Clean". The team will choose other gallery favorites to be known as a "Perfect Princess or Prince".  

Be sure to stop at the Freshly Made Sketches blog, and click on the names of my teammates to see the beautiful cards they have created this week! 

Birds, birds, birds!

For today's SCS Ways to Use It Challenge, we were challenged to use BIRDS on our cards! I love birds, and have several individual stamps and also sets. In fact, just this week I received my new Birds of a Feather set from Papertrey Ink. I love the variety of sentiments for a lot of different occasions, and also the silhouette images of different kinds of birds.

I used a simple layout and some little details like faux stitching, sponging, and a stick pin to dress up the card.


Yesterday I took my summer school class students on a field trip to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha (3 hours from me). I am teaching a class called "Ocean Commotion" to 1st and 2nd graders. We focused on the aquarium, of course, and then visited several other exhibits, including the new Butterfly and Insect Pavilion, the Lied Jungle (Rainforest), the Desert Dome and Kingdoms of the Night, and of course the giraffes! There was a baby! We also went to the petting zoo, Gorilla Valley, Cat Complex and the Aviary. It was a long twelve hour day, but very fun!
I have been to zoos all over the country (including Denver, Chicago, Kansas City, San Diego, Phoenix and some in England!) and I still think that Omaha has the best zoo around. If you ever get a chance to visit, you should make an effort to go there. It is awesome! I am hoping that the pictures I took on the school camera turn out because the animals were all very active. If they do, I will show you some of the highlights tomorrow.

I probably won't be able to post any new cards until Tuesday, as my husband and kids are leaving for Arizona today for a family reunion on his side of the family. I think he will want to take the camera..... what do you think? :)

It's just as well. Some of you know that my dad is in the hopsital after suffering a mini-stroke last week. He will be there probably another three weeks. So I will spend some more time with him and my mom this weekend. They will celebrate their 55th wedding anniversary on Monday. Last Monday was my dad's birthday, so we had a fun party in the hospital room! My sister is also here, visiting from Arizona, so we can maybe do some stamping this weekend and I can show you those projects next week.

Some other not-so-great news -- my little sweet beagle Queen Dayna (see sidebar for picture) has two cancerous tumors the same size as her heart, surrounding her heart. We found that out on Tuesday. The vet said she might live 6 more months, but I don't think it will even be two. She is very despondent, and is not eating, so we will not prolong her suffering. This came on so suddenly; just a few weeks ago she was still acting like a puppy. But when she dropped 20% of her body weight in a month, I knew something was wrong. So I will miss her and so will my lab puppy! So I will spend some time with her too!

Give your pets a hug today!
Thanks for stopping by!!

Stamps: Garden Silhouettes, Papertrey Birds of a Feather
Paper: K & Co. Recycled DP, Very Vanilla
Ink: Elegant Eggplant, Almost Amethyst
Accessories: paper piercer, ribbon, square brads, sponge dauber, Heidi Grace heart stick pin
Techniques: sponging, piercing, faux stitching

House Guests and Flowers

I made this for today's SCS Color Challenge:
Regal Rose
Real Red
So Saffron

I love Flower Factory, and although it is retired, I will probably always keep it, as I think it's really versatile and I love flowers! I also had this double colored ribbon in my stash, which fit perfectly with the colors.

I used Holly's (Toy) sketch found HERE.

Stamps: Flower Factory (retired SU), Green Thumb (Papertrey)
Paper: Whisper White, Regal Rose, So Saffron
Ink: Regal Rose, Real Red, So Saffron
Accessories: Marcy scallop punch, ticket corner punch, Cuttlebug Swiss Dots EF, circle punch, red brads (American Crafts), ribbon

My son is coming home from college in NC for three weeks on Friday! We are really excited to see him. He is driving back, which he hasn't done before (he usually flies), so we are praying for good weather and rest each night for him. He will take 3 days to drive back. My sister is flying in on Monday from Arizona for a three week stay as well, so it should be lots of fun around here.

Usually I am inspired by something to make a card, but today I am inspired by my card to get some fresh flowers and have those here Friday!

I sure enjoyed reading all your comments about my Ireland trip and how some of you have been there - and other places too! I had mentioned in my "trip list" that education was a much higher quality there and Laurie asked how so. Tomorrow I have some thoughts on that, as well as a new technique tutorial (new to me anyway!) for you to try! I hope you will come back then!

Petal Prayers for Shelly.....Please join me!

I made this card for Shelly (see below), using today's SCS Sketch Challenge.

I loved this DP when I saw it and wanted to show it off using today's sketch. I tried a strip of CS as my #2 piece in the sketch, but it covered up too much of the pattern, so I went with white narrow grosgrain instead.

The chipboard flower (my #3 piece in the sketch)has DP glued to it, and then the edges were sanded. There are Raindrops on the center of the #1-B flowers (courtesy of Jessie [knightrone]!). There is not much stamping on this, but I liked the spring feel of the pretty paper!

I made this card for Shelly, a mom of 4 young children, who has advanced breast cancer that has spread. Please read Shelly's story and send her a card!
The inside of my card says "With each petal I send a prayer."

It's Never Too Late

to help someone

It brings joy to both parties.
It makes you a better person
and gives the receiver
hope and faith.
It gives life greater purpose.

Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Paper: Pink Passion, Certainly Celery, Basic Black, DP by Provo Craft and MOD
Ink: Bordering Blue
Accessories: chipboard flower, white grosgrain ribbon, Prima, green brad, large oval punch, Raindrops (thanks, Jessie!), paper piercer

Thanks for stopping by!