Freshly Made Sketches: Thankful

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!

It looks like Honey Bee Stamps has four sets of dies with Itty Bitty in the name and I have three of them. (The fourth just went on my wishlist since I clearly missed it!)  All three are on the above card. When I saw the sketch I imagined a row of pumpkins but when I saw the Itty Bitty Pumpkins, I realized I could change it up and use the Itty Bitty Leaves and the Itty Bitty Fall Flowers. I really love fall elements and colors so this was a fun series of 7 elements to make!

Then I got a little stuck at finding a sentiment that filled the space so I cheated a bit and made the card a mini slim so a single "thankful" would fill the middle. Since the "thankful" was a die, it gave a chance to add plaid to the background which always feels like fall to me. (This particular plaid also helped me line up my 7 fall elements.)

After this post, my family is running away to the mountains for our last mini-trip.  We've had a lot of problems getting away this summer between the work schedule for my husband and I, the interview schedule for my son, and an elderly cat - so we decided to do one-day mini-trips.  It's been quite successful.  The highlights have been the best pizza I've ever had at Pizza Rio in Salida, CO plus it's on a deck overlooking the beautiful Arkansas River. We went during the Salida Fiber Festival so I have a few (or maybe more than a few) new balls of yarn to use over the winter. Last week we discovered Howlin Wind Brewery and Blending in Rollinsville - a town of just 189 people but it has the brewery, a distillery, a wood-fired pizza place and a food truck (with amazing fried oyster mushrooms!) The entire front of the brewery was garage doors - all thrown open to the colors and smell of fall. And it was as friendly as it gets with the locals bringing even us city folks into conversations (horror movies and tattoos). I think the horror movies were because the locals are converting a defunct restaurant into a haunted house and based on the conversation, it would definitely be too much for me. The trip this week is actually going to stretch 2 days and we're going back to Summit County which was our stomping ground while the kids were growing up.  So probably nothing new, just a lot of fabulous memories!

Enough chatter - you have a card to make! I hope to see you playing along with us at Freshly Made Sketches.

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Trinity Stamps Scripty Thanks; Honey Bee Stamps Itty Bitty Leaves, Itty Bitty Pumpkins and Itty Bitty Fall Flowers

Paper: Stampin' Up Balmy Blue, Lemon Lime Twist, Peach Pie, Pecan Pie, Daffodil Delight, Moody Mauve and the long-retired Confetti Tan

Other: Paper Rose Winter Plaid Embossing Folder, Pink & Main Thankful Enamel Glitter Dots

52 Christmas Card Throwdown: Holiday Flowers

I am honored to be the guest designer this week at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown! It's a fabulous "throwdown" with a wide variety of challenges that helps keep me up on my Christmas card stash throughout the year.  The challenge for this week is flowers and/or flourishes.

I tried to get a flower and a flourish onto my card but other things called my name.  This is actually the third card that I made for the challenge.  I liked the first two and if I get photos taken, they might be worth showing on my blog. One even had a flourish. But they used dark and rich colors and with the warm weather still outside my window, I just decided I preferred light and bright. So I pulled out this fun little poinsettia and a "happy holidays" and created my light and bright Christmas card!

I have a number of poinsettias in my stash, some are truly glorious. Somehow though, I often come back to this fun little die from Flora & Fauna. The sentiment is new-to-me from scrapbook.com. I love sentiments that include two different fonts and especially those that allow me to add multiple colors. 

I picked five bright and cheerful colors and cut the flowers and the "happy" then I added gold sparkle paper and some gold enamel dots to keep it festive. I wanted just a little hint of pattern in the background so cut with the Concord & 9th Stitched Stripe Card Front.

Thank you to the group at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown - your challenges are always an inspiration!

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Scrapbook.com Happy Holidays, Flora & Fauna Poinsettia, Concord & 9th Stitched Stripe Card Front

Paper: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade, Lemon Lime Twist, Flirty Flamingo, Coastal Cabana and Granny Apple Green

Other: Stampin' Up Gold Glitter Enamel Dots

Freshly Made Sketches: Decorative Trees

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!

Even though I immediately envisioned trees when I saw the sketch, I planned to challenge myself to do something else. But then my Stampin' Up order with these new dies showed up on my doorstep the day before I was making cards, so what choice did I have?!  I adore these trees.  They will definitely be my go-to for this year's Christmas stash.

I didn't like the full picture that I got above but I hadn't looked at it before nighttime and I rely on natural light so I was stuck with it. Now I look at the picture and the white tree gets lost so the whole card seems out of balance.  I don't feel like it's that bad in real life so I took the close-up below (then had to edit out of all my yellow room light since there was no natural light!) It's a little closer to what I think the card looks like. (I guess I should have taken the full picture in the yellow room light because the close-up doesn't look half bad - but I didn't think of that until this moment.  It's hard getting older!) The white tree is probably still not quite right but I just had to use my favorite dies from the set right away.

I think they assume you'll do gem/pearl berries because there's even a set available in trios like these berries but I don't have those. I just found a small hole punch and punched my berries.

I hope to see you playing along with us this week at Freshly Made Sketches.  I wonder how many cards will show up without trees?!

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Stampin' Up Decorative Tree Dies

Paper: Stampin' Autumn to Remember Two-Tone cardstock (the light side of the olive piece), Old Olive Glimmer Paper (along with Berry Burst and White), Gingerbread and Peppermint dsp (retired)

Freshly Made Sketches: Peace on Earth

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!

I think I might have brought you the most boring sketch ever but I hope you don't look at it that way. Maybe it's just me, but I buy big sentiment stamps or dies and then I can never quite figure out how to use them. It seems too lazy just to plop them on a great piece of dsp or on a sponged wash of color or on an embossed background - but it isn't.  And I want to get over that feeling because those big beautiful sentiments can stand alone.

For my card, I added a big "Peace on Earth" sentiment from A Pocket Full of Happiness.  I toyed with paper-piecing the background then I remembered the feeling I was challenging myself to get over - so I just did a simple embossed background.  I sprinkled on just a few bright white snowflakes and I think it all works. That big sentiment stands alone!!

I hope to see you play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches. Use a big sentiment and then do what you will in the background.  Keep it simple or go crazy! I look forward to seeing your creations.

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: A Pocket Full of Happiness Peace on Earth

Paper: Stampin' Up Boho Blue

Other: Simon Says Stamp Fir Tree Branches Embossing Folder, Taylored Expressions Snowflakes

Freshly Made Sketches: Blessed

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!

The mornings are already cooler even though the days top 90 every single day.  I'm feeling autumn on the way!  It's my favorite season so I just could not resist a big fall leaf for the circle on the sketch. This is Honey Bees Lovely Layers Maple Leaf.  I used softer colors than I typically use for fall and then some pops of gold. I used a gray background because I like vivid fall colors with a cool, frosty look.  I'm regretting it though, I think it all would have been better on a warm kraft but after adhering all the little pieces, it was too late to go back! The sentiment is a from a set by scrapbook.com. I started out with every letter being a different color to mirror the leaf but it took the focus from the leaf. 

Now if the days would just get a little cooler around here - life would be perfect!!

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

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Honey Bee Lovely Layers Maple Leaf, Scrapbook.com Grateful Sentiments, Memory Box Wrapped Stitch Rectangles, Taylored Expressions Easy Strips 1/4" Patterns

Paper: Stampin' Up Daffodil Delight, Peach Pie, Calypso Coral and Lemon Lime Twist, Simon Says Stamp Fog

Other: Stampin' Up Cane Weave 3D Embossing Folder, Studio Katia Gold Foil Pearls

Atlantic Hearts Sketch: Happy Holidays

 As I was flipping through my favorite challenges, I perked up at the sketch from the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge because I have recentlyr realized how many Christmas poinsettia dies that I have that I have never used.  Notice what I didn't use.

I was flipping through to get to the poinsettia dies and saw this little tree.  I realized that I could use the sketch and the little tree and a package of fun Christmas papers to create a flat card that would be easy to mail. I don't do flat very often; I love dimension. But with five fun papers, I think this works.

The tree is Mod Tree by Simon Says Stamp - I think it's just a couple of years old. The paper is Cozy Christmas by Simple Stories. I was looking around to see if it was still available but discovered it is a decade old!!  I must really like it because I've cleaned out my stash multiple times and this pad of paper is still there. Actually I must truly love it because I have a lot left. (I refuse to use my favorite papers becaue I might have a better card to use it on in the future!  And don't tell me you can't relate!!)

Thanks to the Atlantic Hearts Sketch challenge for the inspiration!

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: My Favorite Things Cool Christmas Greetings

Dies: Simon Says Stamp Mod Tree

Paper: Simple Stories Cozy Christmas

Other: Stampin' Up Pinewood Planks embossing folder, Stamp Market White Glitter Stars