Freshly Made Sketches: Comfort and Joy

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

I still had this Stampin' Up dsp out from this card a couple of weeks ago when I challenged myself to use patterned paper. And then this sketch came along and I realized I could use more of it. I have issues with patterned paper. First, my cardmaking style just doesn't use a lot of it but second, when I get paper I love, I refuse to use it because I might run out.  I definitely have issues!  This is the retired Stampin' Up Garden Walk and I am so wishing I would have purchased multiple packs. 

I also got Stampin' Up's Paper Florist dies when they were retiring (and heavily discounted). I have so many flower dies but I love the wonky look of all of the dies in this set and I thought this one worked really well with the patterned paper even though it's not a poinsettia.  

And since I was all about retired sets, I used this sentiment from the retired Stampin' Up Christmas Classics which will always stay in my stash simply because of this one sentiment!

Given the record-setting heat outside my window, I am definitely enjoying fooling my mind into thinking Christmas!

Speaking of heat, I am getting ready to walk to work at my new office.  Heat bad - but walk good! Our offices are being renovated and expanded so my department was chosen to relocate for 18 months and in a stroke of amazing luck, the new offices are about 3/4 mile from my house!!  I am so excited - I have visions of so many more cards coming out of my craft room.  First of all - 3/4-mile commute so I'm home quickly! But secondly, I'm bound to get an energy boost from walking home instead of driving and then immediately collapsing on the sofa from a hard day. So it's nighmarishly hot outside but I've been waiting for this new office for weeks and I'm definitely walking.  It will be interesting to see if I call my husband or son at the end of the day to rescue me from 100 degree walk home.

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Stampin' Up Christmas Classics (retired)

Dies: Stampin' Up Paper Florist (retired), Tasteful Labels (retired)

Paper: Stampin' Up Garden Walk dsp (retired), cardstock in Poppy Parade, Wild Wheat, Granny Apple Green

Ink: Stampin' Up Pretty Peacock

Other: Stampin' Up 2023-25 In Color Opaque Sparkle Dots

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