Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Freshly Made Sketches: Up, Up & Away

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! This week's sketch is by...me!!


When I put the sketch together, I had an entirely different idea in my mind.  I'm not a huge patterned paper user although I own way more than my fair share.  It's not that I don't love the paper, but for me, it just adds another element that has to match - in color, style, "weight", etc. - and it all adds stress to my cardmaking!  I thought this sketch would be a perfect way to add three small strips of pattern!  But check it out - do you see patterned paper in my strips?  Nope!!  When the chips were down - I stuck with white!

FMS Up Up

I hope that I've given you a couple of ideas for the sketch - patterned paper strips or clouds!!  I'd love to see you playing along and then take time to browse the gallery.  It is a learning experience and also so much fun to see what everybody else does with exactly the same sketch.

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Monday, March 27, 2017

Taylored Expressions Easter Treat Bags

I wanted to make some cute little Easter treats to take to Easter dinner for the young ones.  Although in all honesty, there's only one true young one in the extended family and she's already 9. But even though the other "kids" are 12, 17 and 21 - they are still getting cute Easter treat bags!

I pulled out Somebunny Loves You by Taylored Expressions because it's cute but I thought the silly animals might also work for these older "kids" (who probably just care about the candy anyway!).  I put them on the Bracket Notecard and then realized the "somebunny" sentiment that came with the set didn't fit in the space - so I pulled out Peek-a-Boo Easter which has the the same sentiment but in a slightly different shape and size.

Taylored Expressions Somebunny Loves You

I made the paper bows out of a feminine and masculine plaid and then, believe it or not, I carried the little bows to the store to match the candy.  That's a true sign of an obsessive a dedicated cardmaker!! (Sadly, after my pride in matching candy to bows subsided, I realized the flaw is that I actually have a child who doesn't do chocolate.  Ugh.  I need to carefully take apart one of the bags and then find non-chocolate matching candy!!)

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Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Freshly Made Sketches: Hello There

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today we have a sketch by Linda.


I have no idea where this card came from!  I could have used two butterflies, or two flowers, or two hearts - there are so many options with this sketch.  Maybe it's the beautiful weather - but I immediately knew I wanted a park bench.  I added a pine tree to make this a park bench in a small town in our Colorado Rockies.  I think I have spring fever and need to do some hiking!  

FMS A Park Bench

The bench has three layers to give it some dimension and I rubbed the edges in white to give it a bit a wooden appearance.  My squirrel is pop-dotted.  A few yellow sequins for sunshine. The frame keeps it all together!  

Such a fun and flexible sketch - I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

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Monday, March 20, 2017

Taylored Expressions Easter Blessings

This year I decided to do a better job at recognizing the host/hostess when my family is invited out. I'm very guilty of just showing with whatever I said I'd bring.  But I know that when we entertain - it's a lot of work!  There's planning and re-planning, shopping, and cleaning and cleaning and more cleaning!  I can make even a simple burgers-on-the-deck party hard.  I know there are natural entertainers - but that's not me.  (Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I actually kept my house clean and tidy, but there are too many cards to make to spend a lot of time on my house!)

So I'm thinking ahead to Easter and we are going to two dinners that weekend so I decided to prepare ahead with hostess gift tags.  I'm not sure yet what gift will go with the gift tag - but I think these beautiful spring tulips and a blessing sentiment will be just right!

Easter Blessing tags

I love the trend toward layered stamping.  The depth and dimension truly makes it a work of art (and since I can't even draw a recognizable stick figure, I need all the help that I can get to create art!) Besides the tulips, I added lots of scallops, lacy edges, spring colors and sheer ribbon.

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