Freshly Made Sketches: Carrot Bunny

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 just had two cards that needed to be made this weekend - Easter for my 27- and 23-year old sons. Easter is a hard one because they really aren't interest in soft pastels and cute little bunnies.  But I thought this quirky Sizzix/Tim Holtz Carrot Bunny would work and then when I found paper from Paper Rose in these neutrals, I was ecstatic. Using it all on this sketch gave me a bit of a pause - I really hadn't planned on an oval nor on a small sentiment. Then the lightbulb came on that a sentiment fit on that big carrot. All in all this was a quick and easy card - great products and a fun sketch helped!

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Impress Spring Words

Dies: Sizzix/Tim Holtz Carrot Bunny

Paper: Paper Rose Eggs-quisite Days, Stampin' Up Sahara Sand, Delightful Dijon and Bumblebee (I keep all of my retired paper - I have colors that I bet most of you don't even remember!)

Easter Bouquet

I got all of my Easter cards out to prepare for mailing later in the week and realized I was one short.  Darn. I just had to put those envelopes aside and make another card.  Luckily I had recently purchased the Spellbinders Sealed Bouquet which I used for this trio of leaves and flowers.

I have seen some stunning cards using the Sealed Bouquet and others from the Sealed line. They are all tall like these because the point is to "seal" them with a wax seal where they come together.  I don't have the wax part, but I LOVE the tall blooms. I've seen amazing full bouquets using these.  There's even a fourth in this set - a berry branch.  And then you can start combining sets. I started with this one (and a Christmas set) but I have others on my wishlist!

I had cut the shiny Easter for another card and didn't end up using it. I love that it was ready to go for me today - and it's even layered up a couple of times which is a pain to do on these fine line dies, but I'd already done it.  It was definitely a happy cardmaking day!

Now I have to get back to those envelopes.

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Memory Box/Open Studio Springtime Typewriter Sentiments

Dies: Spellbinders Sealed Bouquet, The Greetery Let's Have a Word Easter die

Paper: Stampin' Up Granny Apple Green, Parakeet Party, Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody, Flirty Flamingo and Champagne Foil, Taylored Expressions Cupcake

Other: Spellbinders Hydrangea Blooms Embossing Folder (Feb 2023 club)

Easter Gnomes!

Both the Global Design Project and Hand Stamped Sentiments gave me the inspiration for this Easter card for my husband. 

This might not be the most exciting or creative card that I've ever made, but it is ABSOLUTELY PERFECT for my husband. A big thank you to the challenges for helping with that.  First - the gnomes. Going back to Christmas, I had just planned on minimal decorating but it turned out that my box of favorite decorations was hiding behind and under all the rest of the decorations in a tiny closet.  So I actually considered not decorating.  Then I was wandering Hobby Lobby one day and a quirky little gnome just begged to be taken home.  Christmas at Hobby Lobby was 60 to 70% off at that point so why not grab some decorations that I could consider "disposable".  My husband couldn't believe his eyes when my beautiful decorations suddenly became a couple of the tackiest gnomes that I could find (I walked right by the sweet and charming gnomes) and then it was downhill from there.  We started trying to out-gnome each other!  And I ended up keeping all of them!!  My favorite was a pillow he found with two little gray-haired gnomes holding hands with her braids and his beard being 3D. Now it's Easter and I doubt it's even occurred to him that gnomes work for Easter too so when I saw these Easter gnome dies, I got giddy!

The sentiment is self-explanatory for any of you who are a certain age! Years ago, I started taking notes where the eggs were.  Sad, huh??  This stamp popped up in the new category at Simon Says months ago and was out of stock before I got it ordered. Luckily, they got it back just a week or so ago and I got it in time for Easter.

Isn't this all just why we do this hobby?  I have the perfect card for the recipient!!

An apology to Hand Stamped Sentiments. I tried so hard to just use those colors plus neutrals. I found a brown that had an orange tone for the carrot - but I just couldn't do it - so a little bit of orange just crept in. 

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Riley & Company Funny Bones Hide Our Own Eggs

Dies: Impression Obsession Easter Gnomes, Poppystamps Little Bits of Turf

Paper: Stampin' Up Fresh Freesia, Pear Pizzazz and Balmy Blue, Taylored Expressions Candy Corn, Papertrey Ink Cocoa Bean

Ink: Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate

The Paper Players: Spring Has Sprung

The challenge this week at The Paper Players is a Clean and Simple Challenge: Spring Has Sprung. I just got a sweet new flower die that I wanted to use for an Easter card. I added some cheerful and springy sunrise colors behind it.

I fell in love with the Simon Says Stamp Posy die.  I needed another flower die like a hole in the head - but I didn't have anything quite like this. It is so sweet and so unique. In keeping with the clean and simple part of the challenge, all I did was added some sunrise stripes behind it and stuck it all to a scalloped frame. I did decide to emboss the background; I wanted it to be softer than stark white. I didn't even stamp the sentiment - it's clipped from a pre-printed set!

I actually posted five days this week.  It's been a long LONG time since I've done that. I know it wasn't serious and life-changing but my broken wrist and ankle last fall really made me take a look at everything I was doing.  First, I have to focus more on health and exercise - the broken stuff was a fluke accident but it really showed me how quickly things can change.  Second, my husband and I want to do more long weekends away - we did a road trip last fall that was spectacular and we want more of those.  Third, I'm an empty-nester and I want to start doing what I want to do and when I want to do it.  (That probably sounded a bit like a crotchety old lady, didn't it??)  The gist of all of this is I let go of two of my design teams.  It was SO hard - I loved them both. And it wasn't so much that I didn't like making the cards, but I HAD to do it and it HAD to be ready on a certain date and it HAD to be good.  Not to mention the photography side of it - getting a good picture is the worst part of blogging. So now I'll make the cards I want and I'll do it when I want!!  Last weekend, I wanted to make cards. Then if the picture isn't good - oh well.  I know good pictures make a difference, but I know I'll have some bad ones mixed in with the good. (I had one this week that it about killed me not to re-do!)

Enough about me - just wanted you aware of some changes around here.

Thanks to The Paper Players for the inspiration to use this beautiful Posy!

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Simon Says Stamp Posy, Stampin' Up Scalloped Contours

Paper: Stampin' Up Coastal Cabana, Flirty Flamingo, Mango Melody, Daffodil Delight, Papertrey Ink Aqua Mist, Taylored Expressions Cupcake

Other: Simon Says Stamp Reverse Easter Wishes (not the same as the Reverse Easter set), Stampin' Up Tasteful Textile Embossing Folder

Poppystamps: Joyful Bunny

 I'm on the Poppystamps blog today with some joyful Spring Bunnies with their glittery Farm Fresh Eggs in a field of beautiful flowers!

This card all started with that Spring Bunny.  He's one of two in the set. They are an older die set. As exciting as new releases are, there are some wonderful older products that will never leave my stash. Notice his fluffy tail!  

I loved creating the field of glittery eggs and fresh white flowers. I framed the scene and backed it all with two from my favorite blue trio from Memory Box' Stormy Blue cardstock pad. It's all such a soft look - just perfect for Easter!

There are many more pictures and details on the Poppystamps blog!

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Poppystamps Colorful Life clear stamp set

Dies: Poppystamps Spring Bunnies, Farm Fresh Eggs, Potpourri Flower Set, Layered Pointy Petals, Teardrop Butterflies, Scalloped Stitch Frames

Paper: Memory Box Delicate Pastel Glitter Pad and Stormy Blue cardstock pad

Other: Open Studio Pastel Jewels

Freshly Made Sketches: Marigold Birthday

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

 

I haven't bought a lot of stamps lately - I've bought a lot of dies, but not stamps. I think I've gravitated towards dies because of the amazing dimension you can get just by layering a few of them up.  But when I saw this stamp set, the dimension created by the two layers just called my name! On the other hand, I got a little frustrated because I had a really tough time getting that bottom layer to completely stamp.  I kept getting white spots even with the stamp-a-ma-jig and the tool you can use to apply pressure and even with the new stamp erasers I got to condition new stamps.  Ugh. It all reminded me why I like dies so much. But I eventually got a good image and I am loving the results.

This is going to a gardener so I wanted to be fairly realistic.  I don't know flowers - but apparently marigolds run from yellow to orange to red so I pulled out my favorite yellow and orange.  The leaves were a bit tougher. Most of the images I looked at had quite dark green leaves so I went darker but these aren't green-tones I generally like. I'm hoping it's close to right for the gardening recipient but when I use again for fun, I'm brightening them up!

I love the fonts on the sentiments in the Marigold Moment set but there's only three - a mother's day and two for thank yous.  I didn't need those sentiments. I'd pay a lot for a full set of sentiments in those fonts so I had a full selection!  But I had to dig deep and came up with the look I wanted in a birthday sentiment in the old Petite Pairs set. 

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Stampin' Up Marigold Moments and Petite Pairs

Dies: Stampin' Up Marigold Moments and Scalloped Contours

Ink: Stampin' Up Mango Melody, Daffodil Delight, Garden Green, Evening Evergreen

Christmas Card Throwdown: Snowman & Deer

This week's challenge at 52 Christmas Card Throwdown is Snowman & Deer. I didn't plan to play along (although I do love snowmen and deer on Christmas cards ) - I just had a lot of other cards that needing making.  I also had gone to IKEA for the first time in a year or so and came home with a few new storage items and I had stash just begging to be organized. I was moving some dies into a different place and saw this Sizzix/Tim Holtz Tiny Snowglobes that had a snowman and a deer.  I would have gone right by it but this challenge stuck in my head and the dies just had to come out and play. 

I had the sentiment stamped and most of the little dies cut when I really wanted to switch directions.  I might be the only Christmas cardmaker who actually doesn't like the classic red and green color combination like I used on this card. I like bright greens and coral pinks and aquas. But stamping that sentiment in dark green about did me in. There were multiple sections that just wouldn't stamp - in fact, I finally gave up and filled in the white gaps with a coordinating Copic marker. After all of that, I decided to stay the course and go with classic colors. And I guess it's not all about me - a large portion of my Christmas card recipients probably expect red and green cards!

Thanks to 52 Christmas Card Throwdown for inspiring to keep these dies out of storage for now and getting them onto a card!

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Sizzix Festive Sentiments #1

Dies: Sizzix/Tim Holtz Tiny Snowglobes - all except the little stars which are from Stampin' Up Decorated Pine dies

Paper: Photoplay It's a Wonderful Christmas, PTI Pine Feather, Stampin' Up Poppy Parade, Crushed Curry and Soft Suede

Ink: PTI Pine Feather