Freshly Made Sketches: Just for You

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

I decided the big center panel would give me room to use an over-sized sentiment.  I also used some of my favorite paper.  I think it's gorgeous but I never, ever use it. Although I can appreciate it, it's very busy for my style.  However, with just one big sentiment a busier paper still looks fresh.  Then I plopped down my favorite flower for an accent.  Very, very simple!

It's a good flexible sketch - I hope to see you all playing along!!  It's going to be a fun gallery to browse with the wide variety of cards that I think we'll see!
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I've been talking about my 8 hours of cleaning and organizing in my craft room a week and a half ago.  This paper is one of the many things that I rediscovered.  I remember HAVING to have this paper from last year's Stampin' Up catalog - Pretty Petals.  LOVE the colors.  It's already retired and I'm just getting around to using it.  The stamp is also retired from this year's Sale-a-Bration catalog - Botanicals for You (although I didn't use any of the "botanicals"!)  The lighter coral cardstock is the retired Crisp Cantaloupe.

SU Botanical Builder Framelits dies

Pink and Main Stitched Rounded Rectangles

SU Calypso Coral CS

SU Old Olive CS

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Taylored Expressions Shout Out!

Happy Monday!  I am thrilled that I am getting a shout-out on the Taylored Expressions blog. Over the last few months, they have published interviews of design team members and today is my day!

Taylored Expressions has an incredibly wide range of sentiments. They also recently released a great floral set that pairs beautifully with all of those sentiments.  Here's one I did just for today that uses bold colors with a simple Christian sentiment.


(This card uses the colors at the current Share Joy Challenge. This card is going out to a dear friend who just can't escape stress - with an overwhelming work load, her son's wedding, other personal junk - all culminating with an emergency trip to the hospital due to her own stress.)

I also used this floral set on this more elegant card that I did during its release week. (Products used are listed at the link.)

Isn't it wonderful to have a floral set that takes on a different look depending on colors and style?  

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Pray Hope Trust

Taylored Expressions recently released ink to match their cardstock - and it is fabulous!  They started with a dozen colors.  Sadly, watermelon isn't one that has been released yet.  I tried to match with another ink, but it just doesn't capture the rose in the cardstock.

Faith in Bloom	Fresh Florals	Fresh Florals Dies	Stitched Banner Stacklets
Stitched Rectangle Stacklets	TE Premium Cardstock - Watermelon	TE Premium Cardstock - Poppy Seed	TE Premium Ink - Candy Corn - Full Pad
TE Premium Ink - Lemon Meringue - Full Pad	TE Premium Ink - Cookie Monster - Full Pad	TE Premium Ink - Oreo - Full Pad

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Merry Monday: Peace Love Joy

Here is the current challenge at Merry Monday Christmas Challenge.

Given I had this "peace love joy" die in my not-yet-used stash, how could I not play along??!

I found this very old paper by Martha Stewart in my stash.  It says it is "Snowflace" (with a "c") but I'm not having much luck finding that a paper called "snowflace" existed.  (I didn't spend a lot of time looking because I got tired of auto-correct telling me I really meant "snowflake".)  I thought the paper would be interesting enough so I put together the card with a just bit of gray behind the shaker and some lovely leaf green sequins that matched the paper beautifully.  But it was blah.  I should have added more sequins, or had a subtle pattern in the gray or something.  So I dug through my stash and found the Twigs & Berries die.  I think it helped add some life but still very peaceful.

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Not only am I struggling to find the Martha Stewart paper, I can't find anybody who has the Memory Box Twigs & Berries die.  It's one of my favorites with berries and gorgeous leaves. When I google it, I can find a lot of people who have used it on cards, but it doesn't appear to be available anymore. Sorry.

Die-Versions Peace Love Joy die

Pale Leaf Green Sequins

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Freshly Made Sketches: Floral Thanks

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

I just got my first new catalog order from Stampin' Up, but what do I do? I went back to an older die set!  I actually started out with a different plan using new stuff, but the flowers that I had planned on using were just a bit too small and delicate for my card idea. I realized that I had never used these dies and figured they were bold enough to carry off this idea!

You definitely must head over to the FMS blog. Besides the usual group of amazing designers, we have two fabulous guests. And as usual, there is a wide variety of inspiration - from elegant to sweet to a couple of charming pigs!
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SU Lots of Thanks	SU Botanical Builder Framelits dies	TE Stitched Banner Stacklets	MFT Blueprints 13 Die
SU Old Olive CS	SU Crushed Curry CS	SU Sweet Sugarplum CS	PPP 6mm Sunshine Glow

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Taylored Expressions: Sit...Stay...Heal

Sit...Stay...Heal...Get Better.

And, yes, I spelled "heal" correctly. I love the pun in this sentiment.  It comes from a Taylored Expressions set called Watson Stamp & Die Combo. The only thing that I love more than the sentiment is Watson himself.  Check out this face...


I'm all over the place when it comes to get well cards. There's something to be said for bright and cheerful, but sometimes the recipient just needs soft colors and a sweet puppy face.  Watson fills the bill, doesn't he?


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The paper is a very old piece from Fancy Pants Park Bench. You could use any soft and sweet patterned paper and then make your rug to match!

Watson stamp & die combo	Stitched Frame Stacklets 1	Stitched Banner Stacklets	Build a Scene - Nursery
TE Premium Cardstock - Sugar Cube	TE Premium Cardstock - Salt Water Taffy	TE Premium Cardstock - Lemon Meringue	TE Sequins - Build a Scene

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Merry Monday: Warm & Wonderful

I'm actually having fabulous weekend at my craft desk. Having said that, about six hours yesterday was cleaning and organizing and I have a few more hours to go today.  I actually like to organize - so much so that I'm a little thrilled when things get out of control so I can re-organize!!  Sad, huh?  But I also always re-discover things that I meant to use. In this case, I came upon a Ziploc of dies that I could not put away until they were used, but the entire bag had slipped under a stack of finished cards so I totally forgot them.  As fate would have it, one of the dies were stacked teacups - and the Merry Monday challenge this week includes a photo with stacked teacups!

I added some greenery and some flowers with yellow centers for this "warm & wonderful" greeting.

I may have gotten a little carried away with the yellowed background but my new toy this week are the Clarity Stencil Brushes that are all the buzz right now.  A few of my blogging friends got them and raved over their ability to do soft backgrounds.  Until recently I only saw them at overseas shops. About a week ago, I saw them pop up in the new section at Simon Says but fairly pricey at $25.  They are also at artistsupplysource.com for $10 less but are backordered.  So I stuck them on my Simon Says wishlist and signed up for email notifications at artistsupplysource and figured I'd wait a bit.  Less than 12 hours later, Jennifer McGuire came out with her video on Clarity Stencil brushes - I can't tell you how fast I bought them out of my Simon Says wishlist because once she does a video on a product - good luck finding it!!  But I got them!! And you can see my first ever soft background!!  
(Just a small detail - I got the flowers and greenery adhered to the cups and something was out of balance. The base of the teacup was actually covered by the flowers so the cups appeared to have nothing to sit on.  I just cut another piece out of the bottom of the die and adhered a second base slightly lower.  Problem solved!)
SUPPLY LIST

TE Stacked Teacups	TE Flower Box Sprigs & Flowers	TE The Cool Crowd	TE Stitched Rectangle Stacklets
TE Stitched Banner Stacklets	TE Cherry Pop CS	TE Premium Cardstock - Granny Smith	TE Peapod Cardstock
TE Premium Cardstock - Sweet Basil	Doodlebug Sprinkles - Bumblebee	SSS Clearly Beloved Sequins

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