Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Freshly Made Sketches: Hedgehog Hugs
Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Freshly Made Sketches: With Love
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
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
Freshly Made Sketches: Loving Easter Wishes
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
Friday, April 11, 2025
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
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Freshly Made Sketches: Happy Bird-Day
The paper was easy too. I am continuing with the downsizing and I'm making progress every single week. Why? My cardmaking started as a church card ministry so I made every possible type of card and used that to justify a massive stash. When I left that church, there is so much I just don't use any more; I can lean into my own style and stay there. So this has all been mainly focused around stamps, but this week I took a hard look at my card stock stash. I have every single color from Stampin' Up (since that's where I started) and I'll keep that. (What can I say? I like full sets and this is the ultimate complete set!) I have most of the colors from Taylored Expressions since I designed for them for years and I'm comfortable in their color palette so I'll keep that. I also had(!) extensive collections from a few other companies. (I can't tell you how much I want to move into other complete sets - looking at you Concord & 9th and The Stamp Market - but since I already have hundreds of colors, I'm managing to stay away from new sets.)
Anyway, I looked at those that weren't SU or TE and I realized I had a few favorites in each and I hadn't touched the rest of the colors in years. So I donated all those that I couldn't remember using. I didn't keep many but I did keep the corals and blues on this card (listed below). I had kept them all out on my desk to play with and it turns out they work on the first card I tried!
I hope to see you playing along with us at Freshly Made Sketches.
SUPPLY LIST
Dies: A Pocket Full of Happiness Birdhouse, Avery Elle Cloud Mat
Cardstock: My Favorite Things Peace Bellini, Coral Crush, Blue Breeze, Lazy Day, and Blue Yonder, Taylored Expressions Peapod and Granny Smith, Stampin' Up Early Espresso, miscellaneous woodgrain
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
Freshly Made Sketches: Forgiven
The cross is one of my favorites. It's retired, but it will always stay in my collection. Although hard to tell in the picture, I cut the cloth in white and spritzed it with sparkle to make it stand out. Then to follow the sketch, I added some lavender dots behind the cross using Stampin' Up's Gorgeous Grunge. I don't often add "grunge" like that, but I should do it more often - it really makes the cross pop.
And I have another Easter card ready to go!!
I hope to see you playing along with us at Freshly Made Sketches.
SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: Stampin' Up Gorgeous Grunge
Dies: Impression Obsession Easter Words, Taylored Expressions Old Rugged cross
Paper: Stampin' Up Highland Heather and Gorgeous Grape, Taylored Expressions Kraft Woodgrain Cardstock
Ink: Taylored Expressions Lavendar Glaze
Other: Stampin' Up Distressed Tile Embossing Folder, Honey Bee Stamps Prism Gem Stickers
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
Freshly Made Sketches: Cross in a Circle
The sentiment is from Verve Stamps which is sadly closed. I've been talking about downsizing and having to make hard decisions. But the easiest decision is that I will keep every Verve set that I have! I layered it under the Cross in a Circle by Alexandra Renke. I wanted to keep it very soft so I went with Stampin' Up's Petal Pink and their Country Lace dsp. The background is their Eyelet 3D embossing folder but note that after I embossed it, I flattened it by running the embossed piece back through between two plates. The embossing folder creates a fabulous 3D look but I was going for soft and subtle.
This is only my second Easter card of the year and I send quite a few. I had a moment of panic when I realized how far behind I was, but it turns out Easter isn't until April 20th this year so it turns out I have time to make my cards. Then I had another realization. My son and I scheduled vacation over that weekend without even realizing it was Easter. (We're leaving my husband behind to care for the elderly cat.) We'll be gone for the Maundy Thursday service, the Good Friday service and then we won't hear the organ thundering "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" on Easter morning. Not to mention the wonderful brunch we'd come home to. How will spring start without us being part of all of that??!
It's not a big vacation but I'm very excited. We're exploring Idaho. There are a lot of job opportunities for my son there and after he did a quick roadtrip there last year, he came home and said "Not that I want you guys following me, but have you thought about retiring to Idaho? You'd love it." I've never been, so he and I are flying to Boise and then exploring multiple medium and small towns east of there across the state. It looks amazing and might have everything my husband and I are looking for. He and our son are going back later in the summer so my husband can explore the fly-fishing options which is his only retirement plan. It is surprising how much that plan limits our choices but so far I love the areas on our list.
I'm clearly feeling chatty - and I'm sure you'd rather be making your card. I hope see you playing along with us this week at Freshly Made Sketches.
SUPPLY LIST
Stamps: Verve Egg-stra Special
Dies: Alexandra Renke Cross in a Circle, Taylored Expressions Banner Stacklets, Pretty Pink Posh Stitched Strips
Paper: Stampin' Up Country Lace, Perennial Essence Vellum, cardstock in Petal Pink and Smoky Slate
Ink: Stampin' Up Smoky Slate
Other: Stampin' Up Pretty Pink & Pretty Peacock Foiled Gems, Eyelet 3D embossing folder