Freshly Made Sketches: Happy BDay

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Jen Brum and here’s what I did with it!

I've had this die set in my not-yet-used stash for quite some time. It's been so long that it's retired! I don't even know why it took so long because I love the look of both of the words. With the rectangle on the sketch, I had the perfect chance to use it. I knew I'd need color contrast to make the "happy" stand. The confetti paper on top actually has shiny gold confetti in it (although I didn't realize until this moment that you can't tell in the photo) and I was thrilled when I saw it because the navy and gold work well together.

We're heading out tomorrow for a five days in Ann Arbor, Michigan. My oldest son lives there with his very serious girlfriend and I'm embarrased to say we haven't visited them yet. Although we are there to see them, they have a packed tourist schedule planned for us. We'll see his world - apartment, work, favorite restaurants - and we'll see quite a bit of the area - orchards, museums, and a Great Lake. He's really excited about his life right now and I'm thrilled. And I love that after this trip, I'll be able to imagine him in his daily life!

I hope to see you playing along with us this week at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST

Die: The Stamp Market Happy Bday

Paper: Stampin' Up Birthday Bash (really old!), Night of Navy cardstock, Concord & 9th Neutral Foils Paper Pack

Other: Stampin' Up Iridescent Sequin Assortment

Freshly Made Sketches: Birthday Bunny

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have the first sketch by a new member to our team, Verena, and here’s what I did with it!

I have a lot of cards that I need to make in the next week or so, so the sketch had to work for one of them. None of the cards that I need worked with an actual moon.  I have a couple of beautiful floral stamps that have a nice curve but flowers didn't work for any of them either. Then I remembered this bunny set and one of my card recipients is a bunny lover! I started out absolutely certain I could either find different balloon strings or that I could "bend" the strings enough so that it was clearly the curve in the sketch. I thought I had, but now that I'm looking at my card photo, it's a bit of a stretch that I followed the sketch. The sketch definitely inspired my though. I would never have gone to this bunny set without it and it turns out it is just right for the recipient!

I hope to see you playing along with us at Freshly Made Sketches!

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Poppystamps Birthday Banners (and dies)

Dies: Spellbinders Floating Bunny (Small Die of the Month March 2022)

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Lemon Lime, Coastal Cabana, Flirty Flamingo, Taylored Expressions Cupcake, Simon Says Stamp Fox

Other: Stampin' Up Glitter Enamel Dots, Spellbinders Head in the Clouds embossing folder

Freshly Made Sketches: Sunshine Vibes

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by me that I based on a Christmas card that I did last year and particularly liked (found here). Here’s what I did with it this time.

I didn't quite follow my own sketch.  I had a plan that was going to be exact but guess what showed up unexpectedly the night before I was making the card - my order from the new Stampin' Up catalog and I had no choice but to play with it. I pulled out the open rainbow from Sunshine Vibes but I had to use a fairly wide panel to fit it horizontally which obviously made the panel taller vertically too. That meant I had a lot of space below it for a sentiment but not off the edge as it is in the sketch (and in my original Christmas card.)  You'd think I could follow my sketch, wouldn't you?!

I get so excited when I do the sketch.  I have a firm idea in my head of what the sketch is - then you all blow my mind each time with your creative ideas.  I look forwarded to visiting each and every card that shows up in the gallery.  Have fun!

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Stampin' Up Comforting Thoughts

Dies: Stampin' Up Sunshine Vibes, Rectangle Stitched

Paper: Stampin' Up Boho Vibes dsp, cardstock in Mossy Meadow, Petal Pink and Cloud Cover

Ink: Stampin' Up Mossy Meadow

Other: Stampin' Up Muted Palette Dots

Freshly Made Sketches: Hedgehog Hugs

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Linda and here’s what I did with it!

 

This is exactly the card that I needed to make for a dear friend who has more going on than any human being should - troubles with her kids, her elderly parents and her own health. She likes cute and pastels and she definitely needs hugs.  I say this because it obviously isn't exactly the sketch simply because it isn't square. But once I saw how it was coming together for my friend, I didn't care!

This is an old Penny Black die called Hedgehog Scene. There are two dies in the set. One has the hedgehog. The second die is the same size with a sun, ground and a tree. It's probably intended to layer but I wanted some color so just snipped the pieces that I needed in different colors. I had the whole square done before I went looking for paper so luckily found this scrap with the right color scheme. (I usually pick paper first so I have a direction for colors.) The dsp gave me the idea of adding colorful dots to the center of the flowers which ended up being just the right cheerful touch.

We had an interesting time this past weekend in our area and especially in our house. According to my son, it was the second time in history that the same town had two game 7s on the same day.  So what's a sports-addicted family to do? Move the dining room table and set up dueling TVs!!

The team on the left, the Denver Nuggets, won! Then very surprisingly, and against all Vegas odds, they just won the first game of the next series.  The team on the bigger TV, the Colorado Avalanche, which is clearly the one we cared most about given the bigger TV, lost.  It was very traumatic because they had pulled ahead and just let it go at the end.  

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Mama Elephant In My Heart

Dies: Penny Black Hedgehog Scene

Paper: Stampin' Up Sunshine & Rainbows, cardstock in Balmy Blue, Daffodil Delight and Granny Apple Green

Freshly Made Sketches: With Love

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Jen Mitchell and here’s what I did with it!

The Teardrop Tag die set by Pinkfresh (retired) has a large tag and then a variety of half-circle dies that can be set into it. The tag was too big for the sketch but I found a circle that just barely fit the flowers and it brought it down to a good size. The card is intended as a Mother's Day card but I got everything picked and realized that I don't have a mother's day sentiment that nicely fit into the open space. So I went with "with love" and I'll add a mother's day on the inside.

Our trip to Idaho went well but totally ccomplicated our retirement plan. My husband and I have had to compromise. He would love to retire to an off-the-grid cabin along a fishing stream.  I, on the other hand, want to be able to walk to a grocery store and a good brewery/taphouse/wine bar.  Our compromise is a smallish town that is near everything we both wanted, but not so small that it isn't vibrant. So what did I fall in love with?  Metro Boise! But I don't think 850,000 people is "smallish". It's so green - there's water everywhere! And it's amazingly clean. Plus the traffic isn't bad (at least in comparison to what we live with currently)  All so different from where we live now. And in my opinion, an easy drive to his fishing. That's my story - I'm just not sure I'll be able to convince him. FYI - the mountains of Idaho are gorgeous but we know don't want to live in the mountains for a variety of reasons - we just want to visit regularly. 

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: The Greetery Sentiment Suite: Love

Paper: Stampin' Up Garden Walk dsp, cardstock in Wild Wheat, Groovy Guava, Crisp Cantaloupe, Watermelon Wonder

Dies: Pinkfresh Teardrop Tag, MFT Stitched Ric Rac, Memory Box Butterfly Delights, Trinity Embossed Edge Circle

Other: Stampin' Up 2023-25 In Color Opaque Sparkle Dots, Stampin' Up Polka Dots embossing folder, Taylored Expressions Brick embossing folder

Freshly Made Sketches: Loving Easter Wishes

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Judy and here’s what I did with it!

 

I really like the unique look of the sketch's angled panels. It's very eye-catching. So I decided with just a few more days until Easter, I'd add a cross with the sketch highlighting it using grass green, bright yellow flowers and a polka-dotted sky. Then I went tone-on-tone for the sentiment which led me down the path of adding other tone-on-tone accents.  The flower on the cross came with the set. Then I added a branch of leaves across the bottom. 

We are taking off tomorrow for the vacation I've been talking about! I had planned to get next week's FMS card done in advance, but I have not gotten it done so it will be a couple of weeks before I'm back on the blog!

I hope to see you playing along with us at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Thoughts of Easter Sentiments and dies

Dies: Reverse Confetti Cross, Simon Says Stamp Simple Stems

Paper: Stampin' Up dsp in Daffodil Delight, Pool Party and Wild Wasabi

For Some Bunny Special

I definitely needed a bunny card for Easter given my son's answer when I asked about his very-serious girlfriend's favorite things so I could make cards she loved was bunnies and strawberries.   It also was a great excuse to buy a couple of the Nordic Bunnies by Poppystamps!

I love the entire Nordic series by Poppystamps and I'm not just talking the bunnies. They have leaves and flowers, butterflies and birds, wreaths and trees and snowmen, and even a moose.  I don't have everything but I do have a really good sampling! I wanted the sweet bunnies to be the focus so I simply added a floral embossed background and the sentiment (which is also from Poppystamps.)

I haven't seen my oldest son since he moved to Michigan nor have I met the girlfriend.  We tried last fall but it turns out that living in a big college football town significantly impacts the availability of flights and hotels. My son highly recommended we not come in the winter so are finally going in May.  We have our flights booked and nothing is going to get in the way!

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Poppystamps For Some Bunny Special, Nordic Bundled Bunny, Nordic Happy Bunny

Cardstock: MFT Natural, PTI Soft Stone, TE Toffee, Stampin' Up Crisp Cantaloupe, Groovy Guava, Pistachio Pudding, Mint Macaron, Barely Banana, Soft Saffron

Other: Spellbinders Hydrangea Blooms EF