Freshly Made Sketches: It's Your Birthday

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

I took some liberties with Cecilé's sketch.  It was absolutely perfect for the balloon scene that I wanted to create - but since it's for a 10 year old, I needed a few extra splashes of color.


Honestly, I really wanted to go totally cutesy for this card, but I will be giving it to my niece at exactly the same time that her big sister will be getting this card for her 13th birthday.  It seemed safer to make sure the cards were fairly equivalent - some shine, some sequins, a few balloons - but this niece likes pink and blue so I added plenty of pink and a splash of blue.

I hope to see you playing along!

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Taylored Expressions: A Happy 13th

It's my niece's birthday tomorrow. The big one...13!  It's a tough age in many ways - it's even tough on the aunt making her a card.  Her favorite color is no longer pink.  I didn't think anything cutesy or frilly would work because she thinks she's all grown up.  But I definitely wanted some shine and sparkle.  I figured balloons would be a safe option - as long as I added shine and a lot of sequins!!


I love the balloons and the strings.  You could get by with one balloon on a very CAS card.  I added a grouping to get all of her favorite colors- plus they gave me a background for the shiny 13.


The "happy" down the side was an after thought after I laid out my balloons and had space to fill - but I like it because it allowed me to add that fun paper in the background.  I mixed sequins from a few different mixes (yes, one of them is a Halloween mix but it had the perfect plum to match the star balloon!)


My family will see her briefly on her birthday.  We are the surprise judges for her pizza party cooking contest.  My SIL is avoiding telling me if all of their ingredients are "safe" or whether the judges are in for some unusual flavors.  Our real birthday time (along with her soon-to-be 10-year sister) will be in a few weeks when they hang out with my family.  We're going to watch one of my favorite movies ("The Unsinkable Molly Brown"), play games with my guys, and make Valentine cards for her parents. Then they are going to spend the night and the next day we are going to visit the house that the real Molly Brown lived in in Denver.  I don't get to hang out with girls very often so I think I'm more excited about the weekend than my nieces will be!

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Freshly Made Sketches: A Picnic

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

I just got my Stampin' Up order from the Occasions and the Sale-a-bration catalog so no matter this week's sketch was, I was going to make it work.  Luckily the little flowers on the sketch looked just like wine and cheese to me so I pulled out some of the pieces from the Picnic with You set.


I had the wine and cheese stamped and cut but needed another color to soften it a bit.  I took the stamp that's the filler to the cherry bowl, stamped and fussy cut then tucked it in so you couldn't see the curved bowl part - green grapes!!

Question for all of my Stampin' Up experts.  I have the fabulous Pinewood Planks deep embossing folder (which is what I really wanted to use on this card), but I cannot find my original Big Shot platform which is required to use the folder. I only have the magnetic base.  I also have a Cuttlebug.  Does anybody have a workaround so that I can use the Pinewood folder without going out and buying a new Big Shot platform??

I hope to see you all playing along!

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Stamps: Stampin' Up (SU) Picnic with You
Dies: SU Picnic Basket Builder Framelits, Taylored Expressions Stitched Banner Stacklets
Cardstock: SU Cherry Cobbler
Ink: SU Cherry Cobbler, Crushed Curry, Hello Honey, Marina Mist, Pear Pizzazz
Embossing Folder: Stampin' Up
Embellishments: SU Glitter & Clear Epoxy Shapes

Freshly Made Sketches: So Sweet

It's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and I have the honor of bringing you the sketch!

I definitely had Valentines on my mind when I created the sketch with the hearts. I like square cards and I love when things go off the edge.  But as usual with Freshly Made Sketches, we welcome your creativity.  I stuck with the hearts. My card might be used for Valentines - but I also think it's a "sweet" thank you card!!


My own sketch gave me a few headaches. Funny, huh?  I can't tell you how many colors, heart dies and sentiments I had on my table before it was over.  I got to the idea of those pierced hearts fairly quickly, then I tried backing them in red and glitter silver, then I tried cutting them out of kraft, then I tried woodgrain on the kraft.  Sentiments were a problem too. After trying sentiments on different banners - I ended up with this die cut "sweet" - and finally decided that pink and white made sense!!  I swear - I can make even a simple card into a long drawn-out process. It's lucky that I love every step!

I am very excited to see what you do with this sketch.  It is amazing to see a few lines and shapes that I drew on paper, turn into an entire gallery of gorgeous cards!

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Taylored Expressions Happy Birthday Cutting Plate

I recently needed to quickly make a birthday card to get it mailed on time (so a simple card) but it was for a very special lady (so a "stepped up" card).  A cutting plate to cover the entire front works perfectly for the "quick and simple" part.  Cutting plates add detail with just one big die cut.  They are also easy to "step up". My favorite ways of doing this are either by sponging the background with various colors - or by making it a giant shaker card.  I went a slightly different direction for this card when I saw that the banners in Skinny Mini Party Borders matched the detail in the Happy Birthday Cutting Plate.


I liked the warmth of a Toffee background, then I picked colors that had coordinating enamel shapes so I could add a final accent of tiny little hearts to the balloons.  The colors of the extra banners pop and give it a celebratory look but even with all of the detail, it's still a quick and clean card!!


Quick, easy, and sent to the birthday girl on time!!

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TE You Have My Heart

Last month was the Valentine release from Taylored Expressions.  There was one set I hadn't had a chance to play with that was too charming to miss - You Have My Heart!  (Not to mention a new die set called Pierced Heart Stacklets.)  Here's how I put them together.


They have the sweetest expressions!  Be sure to look at the stamp set closely because there's a sweet bear too. The heads are separate from the bodies which allows them to be popped up - or cocked sideways - or "wobbled" with Mini Wobble Springs!


I wanted to add interest while keeping the full focus on the image so I simply "framed" them with a pierced heart from the Pierced Heart Stacklets.  There are multiple sizes of hearts in this set so I picked one that held the image and one of the sentiments.


(If you look closely, I added a little Wink of Stella Clear Glitter on this guy's glasses.)

These little guys are really quick and easy to use.  And I like that they add the fun of a wobbly head that any young recipient will enjoy.

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Freshly Made Sketches: The God of Hope

Welcome back!  After an extended holiday break, Freshly Made Sketches is back with a new sketch!  This week's sketch is brought to us by Rita.

I love crafting in the fall and in the Christmas season. I love the themes of those seasons - gratitude, hope and joy - plus the colors of those seasons are my absolute favorite color schemes.  Gratitude, hope and joy are perfect themes throughout the year, but I do like a change from the color schemes.  I pulled out spring berries and I used corals and fresh greens.  (But I kept the hope and joy!)


I noticed in the sketch that the panel goes slightly off the edge; I love that look so I did the same with my berries.  I trimmed the main panel to be only 4" wide so that even with the bit that's off the edge, it will still fit in a standard envelope.
I hope to see you playing along with us for the first sketch of 2018!!
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Stamps: Papertrey Ink (PTI) Beautiful Berries: Spring, Inspired: Hope
Dies: PTI Beautiful Berries: Spring die, Inspired: Hope die
Cardstock: PTI Melon Berry
Patterned Paper: PTI Simply Chartreuse Pattern Pack (the older, retired patterns)
Ink: PTI Simply Chartreuse, Ripe Avocado, Melon Berry, Berry Sorbet

Taylored Expressions If Cupid Could Talk...

Last month was Taylored Expression's Valentine release and I fell totally in love with a new set called If Cupid Could Talk Stamp & Die Combo.  Cupid joins an entire series of "If ___ Could Talk" stamps - they are fun and flexible to use because you can add different faces to a main image for different moods or sentiments.  Cupid particularly works for me because of some of the somewhat snarky sentiments that work perfectly for the boys and men in my life!!

As a sneak peek for the release, I designed this card.  Today, I'm totally copying myself - and adding more cards for a gift set for a friend with 3 sons and a husband.



I used a variety of faces and more of the sentiments. (FYI - there are some sweet faces too if you aren't feeling snarky and sarcastic!!)

I also added a variety of arrows from Follow Your Arrow.  Then I packaged it up in a simple gift box using the Noteworthy Belly Band and another sentiment from the Cupid stamp set.


I grinned the entire time that I was making these cards.  I hope my friend and the men in her life get a good laugh also!

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