Freshly Made Sketches: Birthday Moose

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

Cécile's cards and sketches are so amazingly artistic. They are clean and fresh and still so full of beautiful details. I love following her sketches; they inspire me to create cards that I never would have come up with on my own and I love them.  However, in this case, I went back to a classic look for me because I immediatley saw a row of trees and a sun. Then I just had to pick an animal for my forest!

I used linen-textured paper, then brushed a soft blue in the background for a sky. (You kind of have to squint to see it in the picture but it's there in real life.)  The Whittle Moose is from Poppystamps. It's retired but will never leave my stash because it's just perfect for my mountain-loving family who have all experienced a moose in the wilderness! I needed a variety of skinny trees and I had that in Alexandra Renke's 5 Pine Trees set Little. It's a fun set because some of the dies cut outlines of trees but I just wanted a simple row so didn't use any of those. The sentiment is also Poppystamps - they have a variety of these that come with the little dies.

FYI My card could easily have been a square card. I just forgot that part.

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Poppystamps Birthday Banners and dies

Dies: Poppystamps Whittle Moose (retired), Alexandra Renke 5 Pine Trees set Little

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink Linen, Stampin' Up Daffodil Delight, Gray Granite and Pecan Pie, Papertrey Ink New Leaf

Ink: Stampin' Up Balmy Blue

Freshly Made Sketches: Tweet Cardinal

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'm already wildly behind on my Christmas card stash.  It's not so much that I have too many cards to make, but if I don't clear out some of my not-yet-used stash, I won't be able to buy new stash! (I'm guessing you don't believe the no-new-stash part because I don't even believe it myself!) So I made some space in my Christmas stash by using four different die sets. I had pulled a few poinsettias, then this little guy jumped out at me. He's Tweet Cardinal by Spellbinders. I've been doing this hobby for a long time and I remember when it was a big deal when basic-shaped dies like circles and rectangles came out and it was so exciting. Now look at all the dies available. There are so many layers and so much amazing detail. This die is just the cutest!

I stuck with my Spellbinders stash and found the greenery. Then I needed a large sentiment. I have lots of big Merry Christmas but do you ever find "christmas" hard to fit on a card front?  A big one goes across the full card and doesn't tuck neatly into a space like I had in front of my cardinal. So I found this "joy" by Simon Says. Then the background needed a little something so I added a die cut wnoflake background by Concord  & 9th and some sequined snowflakes.

This was a fun card to make. I did the cardinal first and he made me smile the whole time! I hope you hve as much fun playing along with us this week at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Spellbinders Tweet Cardinal, Spellbinders Parcel and Post Christmas Decorations, Concord & 9th Snowfall Card Front, Simon Says Stamp Large Joy

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade, Real Red and Peach Pie, Taylored Expressions Cilantro and Peapod

Other: Studio Katia Bluebell Pearls, Pretty Pink Posh Sparkling Clear Snowflakes

Freshly Made Sketches: Sending Hugs

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

Virtually every time I create a sketch, I do it with the intent of using some of my patterned paper stash and most of the time, I end up making a card without patterned paper. I don't know why. It's not that I never use patterned paper, but when I do it's typically just a strip as an accent.  I love paper and I adore what I see other people doing with patterns (and then I end up buying that paper) but every time I use it, the card just feels cluttered so I don't use it and now I'm sinking under the weight of my stash. Wow. First world problems, huh?!

But this time I actually did use paper. It's the retired Garden Walk by Stampin' Up. Of course me being me, I couldn't go all out with color so I toned it down with a pure white bouquet of flowers from Be Bold Blooms by Spellbinders.  Actually the flowers were the second thought after I purchased the Stitched Rectangle Sentiments by A Pocket Full of Happiness (found at scrapbook.com) and realized they would make a nice tag for flowers. 

I hope to see you playing along with us this week. Have fun with it. I know I'll have fun looking at everybody's creative ideas. And as always, I'm sure I'll be adding products (especially patterned paper) to my wishlist after I've seen the amazing things you've done!

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Spellbinders Be Bold Blooms, A Pocket Full of Happiness Stitched Rectangle Sentiments

Paper: Stampin' Up Garden Walk (retired), cardstock in Wild Wheat and Pretty Peacock

52 Christmas Card Throwdown: A Chubby Cardinal

The technique theme at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown has been to "colour an image".  I haven't colored in years and I used to color all the time, so I figured it was just the kind of challenge that I needed.  I pulled out a stamp set I got a number of years ago from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps (probably about the time I stopped coloring!) and decided this chubby little guy needed to make an appearance on a card.

If you follow my blog, you might realize that I colored on my very last post so this card wasn't the first one in years.  True - but even that non-Christmas card was somewhat inspired by this challenge.  As I was thinking about coloring for this Christmas challenge, I started seeing other coloring that I should do and now I've colored two cards.  But I definitely need practice. I've always been a simplistic colorer but I fell in love with Copics because they blend beautifully and you don't need to be an artist to make it all work.  I even have an entire tutorial from 2011 about simple blending found here.  I'm now looking at this bird's wing and it's not blended at all.  I guess I should have reviewed my own tutorial!

Thanks to 52 Christmas Card Throwdown for the inspiration to do some coloring!

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Winter Birds and dies

Dies: Essential by Ellen Essential Arches

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade, Distressed Gold (on the arch)

Other: Sizzix Embossing Folder, Stampin' Up Gold Glitter Enamel Dots

Freshly Made Sketches: Heal Peace Rest

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!

OK, I admit it. I've been looking for an excuse to use this set so I made it fit the sketch. I haven't colored in forever. I really need to do it more because I thoroughly enjoyed making this card. I also store my Copics way too far away from my crafting table and it's just a complicated step to use them. But I already had them out finding my Copic matches for the new Stampin' Up in colors so decided to show off all of my picks. 

I added cardstock in each of the colors so you can see whether you like the Copic colors that I picked. Just keep in mind that (1) cardstock impacts the colors and (2) your eye impacts the color. Yellow is my best example (although there isn't a yellow in this batch).  I'm not a fan of plain yellow.  I don't know why because I know plenty of other people who pick it as their favorite color. That's my eye. So when I pick a Copic match for yellow (and remember, I did these matches for my use - I am not associated with Stampin' Up in any way), I will always tend toward a more golden hue than a bright yellow. It may not be the best match, but it will blend well and it's what I would use.

These are the Copics I used on my card.  The lighter of each of these colors is my pick to match In Colors.  The full chart of my selected Copic Markers for all Stampin' Up are available here and always on my sidebar. 

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Stampin' Up Country Flowers, Comforting Thioughts

Dies: Stampin' Up Country Flowers and Stylish Shapes, My Favorite Things Oval Shadows (retired)

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Pretty in Pink, Petunia Pop, Peach Pie, Shy Shamrock, Summer Splash

Other: Stampin' Up Eyelet 3D Embossing Folder, Adhesive-Backed Dappled Dots

Freshly Made Sketches: Feel Better

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!

 

Oddly, my first plan for this sketch actually involved the stripe. I have these patterned stripes from Taylored Expressions that I hadn't used yet. As I was looking at them, I focused on these three patterns and they drew me toward a get well card. I see those stripes as sunshine, rain and rainbows and I love that imagery for a get well. I tried to make it a bit more obvious with the sweet little sun and the subtle background of clouds. The bold sentiment is from scrapbook.com - it's what I wanted to say plus it fit perfectly!

My latest retirement-exploration trip went well and the Black Hills area of South Dakota is staying on the list! It was beautiful there but I knew that because I grew up there and it just hasn't changed that much. I had some gorgeous walks and hikes while he found some great fishing holes. One of the fishing spots that he liked in the Hills is only 14 miles from Rapid City plus there is actually fishing right in the town! Compare that to Colorado where he can't get anywhere in less than 2 hours due to traffic and then might not be able to find a spot along the river due to the sheer volume of people. 

We still have a few years to figure this all out. We've visited two likely places this year, so now we need to figure out where we'll explore next year. It must have easy access to fly fishing for him and biking/walking/hiking options for me plus enough of a town that there are entertainment and social options. And it has to be reasonably priced - many of our very favorite areas have been "discovered" and we just can't keep them on the list (looking at you Bozeman, Montana and Buena Vista, Colorado.)

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

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Taylored Expressions Easy Strips - 1/4" Patterns, Scrapbook.com Feel Better, Poppystamps Whittle Sunshine, Spellbinders Postage Edge Rectangles

Paper: Stampin' Up Sunshine & Rainbows, cardstock in Flirty Flamingo, Mango Melody, Pool Party, So Saffron

Freshly Made Sketches: Thinking of You

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 knew right away that this card would have a flower from Stampin' Up's Paper Florist. I was late at getting this set only getting it when it retired. I talked myself out of it for so long because I have an outrageous number of flower dies - but it has a nice variety with a unique look so I just couldn't let it retire. I picked the biggest flower for this card. That flower was designed for more dimension but since so many of my cards get mailed, I kept it fairly flat.  I started out with the idea of using a Smoky Slate pattern that's in the same paper pack for a sympathy card, but when I put together the big flower, it had a unique and bold look so I changed to a brighter paper and changed to a "thinking of you" with a more cheerufl look.

In the next few hours, my husband and I are taking off for another retirement exploration trip. We're heading to the Black Hills of South Dakota. That's where I grew up and I still love it. I love the outdoors and the simple beauty of it all.  I even love the silly little tourist traps that are just a bit old-fashioned.  And for my husband, the fly-fishing is fantastic and that is the only thing he asks out of retirement. However, in the 35 years we've been together, we have never gone during tourist season. The last time we were there there were wide-open roads and everywhere we went was quick and easy.  I need him to experience the parade of Winnebagos as far as the eye can see, all with seemingly inexperienced drivers before we decide if it stays on our list. We are only gone for 5 days - it's not like I need to explore - we just need to see the traffic while getting to our hiking and fishing destination. 

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

Supply List

Stamps: Stampin' Up Four You

Dies: Stampin' Up Paper Florist

Paper: Stampin' Up Country Lace, cardstock in Petal Pink and Groovy Guava