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

Freshly Made Sketches: Get Well Flowers

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!

 

Just a couple of cards ago, I used the new Stampin' Up In Color inks - all five of them! On this card I used three of the cardstocks. (Then I have an order coming tomorrow and after that I should quickly be coloring with my chosen Copic color matches.)  I like this year's colors. Part of the reason I especially like them is because in all of my collections of cardstock from other companies, not a single color was equivalent so these colors are all fresh and new to me. Of course I'm saying all of that and nothing else on the card is from Stampin' Up. I'll probably always use Stampin' Up colors - I have every color of cardstock back to the very beginning so can't stop now!

I decided to stick with the circles on the sketch and went right to the Pinkfresh Floral Circles. (They seem to be retired but I love them so will continue using them regularly.)  I had used the pierced rectangle on the main panel for some interest then found a sentiment die that also had pierced detail - then finally picked a sentiment that fit.  Seems a little backwards but it's always good to have a quick get well card in the stash. 

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Say It Essentials

Dies: Pinkfresh Floral Circles, Avery Elle Double Pierced Rectangles, The Greetery Sentiment Suites dies, Mama Elephant Femme Frames

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Petunia Pop, Peach Pie, Shy Shamrock, Basic Beige

Ink: Stampin' Up Petunia Pop

Other: Stampin' Up 2024-2026 In Color Shimmer Gems

52 Christmas Card Throwdown: Golden Trees

It's June and I suddenly realized that I hadn't done a single Christmas card this year. Since I was already having an enjoyable and productive cardmaking session, I figured it was time to get started. And as luck would have it, the color challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown inspired me to pull out this Tree Pattern Cover Plate, a variety of green dsps and quite quickly, I have my first card of the season!

This is the Hero Arts Tree Pattern Cover Plate. I love the forest of trees. My original plan for it was a rainbow of color, but the challenge sent me to just green - so the die can't leave my not-yet-used stash until I've done my rainbow. The sentiment is from Paper Rose and I picked it because it was bold and chunky but it didn't cover many of the trees.The green is Stampin' Up's Garden Green which has been a long-time color for them and since I've also been around a long time, I knew I'd have dsp to match. 

Thanks to 52 Christmas Card Throwdown for the inspiration!

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Hero Arts Tree Pattern Cover Plate, Paper Rose Season's Greetings Chunky

Paper: Stampin' Up Garden Green, tree scraps from Stampin' Up Distressed Gold, Gold Foil, Festive Foils, Peaceful Prints, Sweetest Christmas, and one of the early packs of dsp by color family

Atlantic Hearts Challenge: Hoping with You

 After getting the new Stampin' Up In Color cardstock with my first order from the new catalog, I realized I liked the whole group of them so turned right around and ordered the ink. (I tend toward die-cuts on my cards and not so much ink, so it's a fairly big deal for me to get ink!)  I knew I could use all five colors with this retired set, Sending Smiles, so stamped them and then they've been sitting on my desk because I haven't had any great ideas to use them.  Then I noticed the sketch at the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge and it all came together.

I put the flowers around another new-to-me set - Comforting Thoughts. It was one of Stampin' Up's online exclusives a number of months ago.  I got it for this particular stamp but I love them all - they are heartfelt and encouraging both in their words and their look.

Thank you to the folks at the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge for the inspiration!

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Stampin' Up Comforting Thoughts, Sending Smile and dies

Dies: Stampin' Up Stylish Shapes

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Basic Beige, Pretty in Pink

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

Other: Stampin' Up Cane Weave Embossing folder, 2024-2026 In Color Shimmer Gems

Freshly Made Sketches: Just Bee-Cause

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!

 

I like how this turned out but it was a happy accident. My cat was working her way up through her get-attention routine and she was already up to one of the top levels which is chewing on plastic and pulling things out of their storage boxes in my craft room.  (The top level had been chewing on electric cords which, of course, cannot be ignored. But I seem to have solved that with some mesh cord covers I found on Amazon!)  She was happily chewing on Sizzix die set plastic and as I was shooing her out of the room and putting back the sets she pulled out, there was this beehive set!!  That was a long story for no good reason except that I can never ignore inspiration even when it comes from an annoying cat who believes she must always be the center of attention. 

I had pulled out some paper that was more bee/beehive related but it was all yellow and black and I really wanted to pull another color in to give me a direction for the flowers that came in the die set.  I'm kind of a lot matchy-matchy and I like when the paper ties it all together. Funny story - I must be more matchy-matchy across my entire life than I thought because I dressed the other day in army green pants, a soft turquoise top and gray Skechers.  I thought it looked pretty good. When I came out the living room, my youngest son took one look and asked what was wrong with me because nothing matched!! It explains a lot about my cardmaking, doesn't it?!

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Concord & 9th Sweet Bee

Dies: Sizzix Bee Hive, My Favorite Things Sentiment Strips

Paper: Fancy Pants Park Bench

Other: Pretty Pink Posh Buttercream gems