Freshly Made Sketches: Joyful

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!

My creative juices were low this week and I almost didn't play along. We spent a week apartment hunting with my youngest son and it was so darn hot where we were. The AC in the car would just start cooling us off when we were had to get out at the next apartment.  It was supposed to be a trip with half apartment-hunting and half vacation - but by the time we'd look at apartments we were all too drained for the vacation part. (Not that sitting in various air-conditioned breweries was a bad time(!), it just wasn't what we planned.) 

We got back just before this card was due to the design team blog and I was sitting down to email my teammates and tell them I was out. But then I got this idea that I surely had a big sentiment behind which I would put a gorgeous piece of dsp. When I found this sentiment, I let go of the dsp idea because I knew I had the perfect new-to-me embossing folder. Then I didn't want to cover the folder so I turned the large strip in the back into an arched frame. 

My card isn't a creative work of art but I like it. There are always benefits to a too-large stash in which I can always dig up unique sentiments and fun embossing folders!

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

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Simon Says Stamp Joyful, Essentials by Ellen Essential Arches (I lengthened it by cutting the arch side only then sliding it down, lining it up and cutting the square side)

Other: Sizzix Stars and Lights embossing folder

Freshly Made Sketches: Nordic Hello

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

 

I know the sketch said "any shape" but I was really drawn to the oval. Twenty some years ago, we used ovals on every other card but not so much these days with all of the other fun options. From there I had to figure out what to do in the oval but I quickly landed on a couple of dies from my favorite Nordic line of dies at Poppystamps. 

This is kind of an unusual card for me because I don't generally use pink. I have nothing against pink but there just aren't any people in my life to whom I would send a pink card. I was flipping through my cardstock looking for some bold oranges and yellows for the butterfly but the deep pink just jumped right out at me. I actually think it's due to my first week of retirement. I know that sounds odd, but hear me out.  I'm very much a Type A personality - the right tasks get done at the right time and nothing gets missed. I add things to my to-do lists even if they are already done just to give me the satisfaction of crossing them off! This even applies to my cards - each one has a purpose or someone in mind. But in my first week of retirement, I have very intentionally tried to immediately set a habit of slowing down and doing things for the sheer pleasure of it. When the pink jumped out at me, I was ignoring it but then my next thought was that I liked pink so why not do something different for the sheer pleasure of it! 

NOTE: I used the Delicate Details embossing folder from The Stamp Market. It gives a nice, crisp and dimensional image. However, my clean and simple eye saw all the detail in the leaf and butterfly and, while I liked the look of the folder, I wanted it to be more subtle so I ran it back through the machine with just two plates to squish the pattern a bit so it was clearly in the background. 

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

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Poppystamps Nordic Belle Butterfly, Nordic Sweeping Branch and Hello Poe Script, Taylored Epxressions Stitched Stacklets Oval and Petite Scallop Oval

Cardstock: Taylored Expressions Guava, Pink Champagne, Cupcake, Cilantro, Peapod and Granny Smith

Other: The Stamp Market Delicate Details embossing folder (run back through to squish the pattern a bit)

Freshly Made Sketches: Grateful

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 recently noticed that one of the clearance products at Stampin' Up was their Autumn Leaves die set. I hadn't gotten it when it was originally out because it turns out there really is a point where you can have too many leaf dies - but I'd always liked the set, particularly the dies for the leaf veins. When I saw they were $11 (that's REALLY cheap for Stampin' Up and it's a big set!), it was meant to be. They showed up the day I was going to make the card for this sketch and obviously, those circles are supposed to be leaves!

I actually started out with true autumn colors.  Then after I cut two of the leaves, it just felt wrong to me to post an autumn card. I always feel like autumn cards only happen in autumn . (Oddly, while I have posting "rules" for autumn cards, Christmas can be posted any time!) So I switched directions and created the first card with brighter colors (even though it will be for Thanksgiving) and I felt much better posting it. But I just couldn't leave the first one undone!

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: sentiment from Stampin' Up Falling Leaves (long retired)

Dies: Stampin' Up Autumn Leaves (retired), Tasteful Labels (retired)

Cardstock: Bright: Granny Apple Green, Berry Burst, Timid Tiger, scrap of gold

                    Rich: Crumb Cake, Cajun Craze, Pretty Peacock, Pecan Pie, Oxidized Copper

Other: Stampin' Up embossing folders: Pinewood Planks, Distressed Tile 3D

Freshly Made Sketches: Independence Day

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

The picnic basket is an OLD set by Papertrey Ink named Vintage Picnic.  It has multiple baskets and even more toppers and has survived all of my downsizing efforts so I must like it. The sentiment is from the Simply Sentimental series by Trinity Stamps. It's the kind of set I adore because it has multiple "happy" stamp and dies (most can be stand-alone) with even more add-on words including "Independence Day".

Using "Independence Day" was particularly important to me because not only is it my country's celebration but it's my personal celebration of independence. Tomorrow is my last day of work EVER. I am retiring!! I think I'm excited but that mood changes hourly.  I am excited to be leaving work but I am unexpectedly anxious about retirement. There's the financial side (will we outlive our savings), there's the keeping busy side (I've never been a sit around and do nothing person) and then there's the concern of how do I keep from killing my husband (in 35 years, we have never spent this much time together - in fact, we haven't really spent even average time together with work travel and opposite schedules). We have planned carefully for all of it so it all should work.

What I don't have a plan for is where cardmaking stands with all of it. I'd like to think I'd spend so much more time in my craft room but I also know that I have 60 less cards to make every year if I'm not making birthday and Christmas cards and others for office mates. I'll eventually search out a church ministry or veterans organization or something like that - but as I've been sharing on my blog, we are also planning to move so I'm not going to get overly involved in anything here. I only share about one card a week right now although I make more - so maybe my commitment for now is to take the time to photo and share the others.

So Happy Independence Day to the U.S.A. and to me!!!

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Vintage Picnic (and dies), Trinity Stamps Simply Sentimental - Happy (and dies)

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Crumb Cake, Poppy Parade, Azure Afternoon, Blueberry Bushel

Sunday Stamps: Paper Posy Thank You

I saw the gorgeous colors at Sunday Stamps and just had to play along. I love the corals and blues, and especially the two rich colors as accents.

I needed a thank you card this week and I already had a plan of using this new-to-me floral die set. I absolutely love the variety of flowers and especially the embossed detail.  My card uses just a handful of the options and I'm looking forward to using all of them.  It's from Concord & 9th and I have a number of bold sentiments from them to balance the flowers so for this one, I found a "thank you". 

I had all of this sitting on my desk but just hadn't quite figured out what to do with it all until I saw the color challenge. Not only did I use the colors but I clearly was inspired by the big image! A big thank you to Sunday Stamps for the inspiration!

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Concord & 9th Happy Thanks die, Paper Posy dies

Cardstock: MFT Peach Bellini, Coral Crush, Lazy Day, and Jalapeno Popper, Stampin' Up Night of Navy

Other: Concord & 9th Paper Posy embossing folder, Stampin' Up Pinewood Planks embossing folder and Muted Palette Dots

Freshly Made Sketches: His Love

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

 

You can see that I didn't quite get it right but hopefully you can see that I was inspired by it! I shrunk it down a little with a smaller rectangle cut into the card front because I had settled on those butterflies and they just didn't fill the entire card front. Then those same butterflies became a problem with the sentiment. I had picked a very small sentiment and had every intention to place it across the butterfly as the sketch would indicate but the butterfly was too small and I lost too much of it with the sentiment.

I've been sending regular cards to my 20-year old niece who is working at a church camp this summer and can't even have her phone - but can get mail. I've used up my stash of appropriate cards already, although in fairness most of my stash is for my adult sons and for all my friends who are generally of the same vintage as I am - so it didn't take long to clean out the more youthful, female cards. For a new card, the sketch quickly drew me to butterflies and then this butterfly from Birch Press jumped out at me because it wasn't frilly and detailed, just fun. I went for cheerful colors and then found a scrap for the background that grounded them with the browns and more muted colors. 

I found a perfect pair of stamps in Simon Says Tiny Words Faith. They aren't in the stamp set as separate sentiments, not a pair, but I love how it worked out for my niece working at summer camp. With the outside sentiment being "His love guides us", the inside says "You are exactly where you're meant to be". I have so much respect for her decision to work at a camp and I rather doubt she's struggling at all - but just in case she's homesick or overwhelmed, I wanted the butterflies there to remind her she's in the right place!

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps; Simon Says Stamp Tiny Words Faith

Dies: Birch Press Simple Butterfly Contour Layers, Taylored Epxressions Diagonal Stitch Rectangle Stacklets

Paper: Studio Calico Printshop! Paper Pad, Stampin' Up Bubble Bath, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, Marigold Morning, Coastal Cabana, Summer Splash, Pecan Pie

Freshly Made Sketches: Thanks Berry Much

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

I actually made this a few weeks back (a big thank you to Michele for having her sketch ready for the design team early!) I tell you that because I'm sure you are getting tired of stories of my trip to Michigan but this is another card related to that trip.  I wanted something to give to my son and his girlfriend on the last day of the trip to say thank you. Sarah (my son's girlfriend) likes strawberries so I found a strawberry stem in my die collection to match the sketch. I wanted to do something fun with the sentiment to mirror the sketch but I just had to go punny and used the only Thank You Berry Much that I could find.

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Gina K Fun Fruit (and dies)

 Dies: Spellbinders Strawberry Patch (Die of the Month Aug 22)

Cardstock: Taylored Expressions Peapod and Granny Apple Green, Stampin' Up Real Red, Poppy Parade, Vary Vanilla, Daffodil Delight

Other: Stampin' Up Cane Weave 3D embossing folder, Loose Frosted Dots (old)