Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Freshly Made Sketches: His Love

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

 His Love Guides Us


You can see that I didn't quite get it right but hopefully you can see that I was inspired by it! I shrunk it down a little with a smaller rectangle cut into the card front because I had settled on those butterflies and they just didn't fill the entire card front. Then those same butterflies became a problem with the sentiment. I had picked a very small sentiment and had every intention to place it across the butterfly as the sketch would indicate but the butterfly was too small and I lost too much of it with the sentiment.

I've been sending regular cards to my 20-year old niece who is working at a church camp this summer and can't even have her phone - but can get mail. I've used up my stash of appropriate cards already, although in fairness most of my stash is for my adult sons and for all my friends who are generally of the same vintage as I am - so it didn't take long to clean out the more youthful, female cards. For a new card, the sketch quickly drew me to butterflies and then this butterfly from Birch Press jumped out at me because it wasn't frilly and detailed, just fun. I went for cheerful colors and then found a scrap for the background that grounded them with the browns and more muted colors. 

I found a perfect pair of stamps in Simon Says Tiny Words Faith. They aren't in the stamp set as separate sentiments, not a pair, but I love how it worked out for my niece working at summer camp. With the outside sentiment being "His love guides us", the inside says "You are exactly where you're meant to be". I have so much respect for her decision to work at a camp and I rather doubt she's struggling at all - but just in case she's homesick or overwhelmed, I wanted the butterflies there to remind her she's in the right place!

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps; Simon Says Stamp Tiny Words Faith

Dies: Birch Press Simple Butterfly Contour Layers, Taylored Epxressions Diagonal Stitch Rectangle Stacklets

Paper: Studio Calico Printshop! Paper Pad, Stampin' Up Bubble Bath, Pretty in Pink, So Saffron, Marigold Morning, Coastal Cabana, Summer Splash, Pecan Pie

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Freshly Made Sketches: Thanks Berry Much

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

Thank you BERRY much


I actually made this a few weeks back (a big thank you to Michele for having her sketch ready for the design team early!) I tell you that because I'm sure you are getting tired of stories of my trip to Michigan but this is another card related to that trip.  I wanted something to give to my son and his girlfriend on the last day of the trip to say thank you. Sarah (my son's girlfriend) likes strawberries so I found a strawberry stem in my die collection to match the sketch. I wanted to do something fun with the sentiment to mirror the sketch but I just had to go punny and used the only Thank You Berry Much that I could find.

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Gina K Fun Fruit (and dies)

 Dies: Spellbinders Strawberry Patch (Die of the Month Aug 22)

Cardstock: Taylored Expressions Peapod and Granny Apple Green, Stampin' Up Real Red, Poppy Parade, Vary Vanilla, Daffodil Delight

Other: Stampin' Up Cane Weave 3D embossing folder, Loose Frosted Dots (old)

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Freshly Made Sketches: Oh Thank You

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!

 Oh Thank You

I had two requirements for making a card this week - it had to be a thank you and it had to include a cat. My son and his girlfriend took so much time away from their beloved Bucket while showing us around Michigan that I figured I had to send a thank you directly to the cat thanking him for sharing his parents with us.  He's a beautiful cat with a gorgeous coat that's kind of gray, kind of tannish but where most cats have white, his is beige. Here's a pic that shows his coat even though he's looking at the camera upside down while hanging off the edge of the bed.

I kind of forced my needs into the sketch.  I found a round thank you then found a kitty that could be standing next to it. Since Bucket's a boy, it had to be slightly masculine, but since I'm really doing it for Sarah, my son's girlfriend, I picked paper with a hint of pink and yellow too. 

The brick was inspired in a completely different way.  Just the plain blue was not enough so I started playing with my usual polka dots, etc. but they didn't have a "rugged" look to match the look of the paper. Then I was remembering and smiling at the fact that Andrew and Sarah shared that they regularly had "Zillow-time" together. They have a plan for their future and browsing Zillow looking for what/where their dream house could be is an important step. For some reason, that was in my head and out popped the brick embossing folder looking just like the side of a house!!

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

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Die-Versions Oh Thank You, Simon Says Stamp Kitty Cat, Papertrey Ink Bows Galore

Paper: Stampin' Up Boho Vibes 6x6 dsp, cardstock in Cloud Cover, Daffodil Delight, Secret Sea, Cajun Craze and Sahara Sand

Other: Stampin' Up Brick & Mortar embossing folder

Wednesday, June 4, 2025

Freshly Made Sketches: Let's Celebrate

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

Let's Celebrate


Not only was I inspired by the sketch on this one - but also by the gift bag!



Given the number of birthdays and other events coming up this month, I knew right away that I would cut balloons out of the Paper Rose Balloon Trio and arrange them around the square as shown in the sketch. I didn't have anything in my mind after that but I had the gift bag and the light bulb came on that I could use the same colors. Then I realized there was even more inspiration in the bag - I added embossed stripes and embossed dots! (I won't tell you how many colors and background I played around with before I realized the inspiration was right there in front of me.)

We spent part of last week visiting our son and his girlfriend in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I have never been in Michigan, but more importantly I hadn't met his very-serious girlfriend. We all played tourists and I have to say, I was very impressed with the state - so many cute and vibrant downtowns in the various "suburbs" with unique stores and restaurants, plus amazing natural beauty including really big (or great) lakes!!  And the girlfriend is absolutely wonderful. It's so good for a mother's heart to see their child settling into a happy life!

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Altenew Sentiment Strips 2

Dies: Paper Rose Balloon Trio

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Pacific Point, Tahitian Tide, Poppy Parade and Daffodil Delight, Taylored Expressions Candy Corn

Othher: Stampin' Up Stripes embossing folder, Polka Dots embossing folder