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

Freshly Made Sketches: A Mountain of Hugs

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!

This one was easy! I had a definite need for a card for my oldest son who moved off to Michigan so I send him hugs from Colorado! And I had these colors out on my desk from last week's card.  I love it when it all comes together.  Good thing too because I just got back from my vacation and didn't have time to think too hard about this.

The mountain die is from Erin Lee Creative. This one is just Circle Mountain but there's also one with a river that I used here. The sketch gave me the idea to add some clouds and a bird in the upper right corner.

Vacation went very well.  That area of the country is still on our retirement list (tornade sirens notwithstanding!) It was gorgeous and had everything we are looking for. Biking and hiking trails even within the town; endless fishing; fine dining, basic family joints, an amazing deli, and the Whippy Dip which is a walk-up, no credit card, soft serve twist type of place; a vibrant downtown (no stamping stores, but there was a great yarn store!), dive bars and high end breweries, plus multiple coffee shops to try. And no cicadas!!!  If the tornadoes didn't give it away - we were in Iowa, specifically in Decorah in the northeast corner which is very different from the rest of the state. I'm very aware that I probably won't leave the house in July and August with the humidity but I don't even like summer here in Colorado so that's really no different.

We are actually going to do another little jaunt in just a few weeks and then we'll do a couple next year and it will be decision time!

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Avery Elle Simple Sentiments

Dies: Erin Lee Creative Circle Mountain, My Favorite Things Flat Bottomed Clouds, Paper Rose Flying Birds Small, The Greetery Pre-Text Banners

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Gray Granite, Boho Blue, Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry

Other: Stampin' Up Pinewood Planks Embossing Folder

Freshly Made Sketches: Fab Flower Birthday

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!

 

The birthday card I needed to make today was for someone I don't know well.  I knew the card shouldn't be frilly, yet I have seen her wear clothes with a floral pattern.  I knew it shouldn't be pastel nor bright. I settled on colors based on pictures on her office wall and I love how it turned out. 

The background stripe was a happy accident but I love how it grounded the flowers. Each vertical line is cut using the Memory Box Vertical Line Collage. Originally I cut multiple colored stripes for each opening - first I cut a variety of colors, then I cut a variety of greens like the greenery behind the flowers. Then as I was pondering how to keep the cute flowers from being...cutesy!....it struck me that I could go black and white so I found some stripes and added a panel behind the cut out stripes going the opposite direction.

The Happy Birthday is a recent purchase from Simon Says. My plan was to adhere the "happy" on top of the flower so I used vellum behind it. After I decided to add it behind the flower, I wish I would have the background layer in white - but my glue is strong and it was just too late! I love sets like this that give me a bold "happy" element and scripty add-ons.

A big shout-out to my Stampin' Up enabler at work for the wonderful black dots I used for the centers of the flower!

As you read this I am on the vacation/retirement-scouting-trip that I mentioned last week.  I am very much hoping I'm not sitting on a river bank while my husband fishes - while protecting myself from humidity, bugs and cicadas. I literally didn't know before we left that we were visiting during a massive cicada "awakening" - something that only happens every few hundred years. I'm not a huge fan of bugs, plus I noticed the American Academy of Audiology warns about ear damage from the noise.  Ugh. We're on the edge of it so fingers-crossed my worst nightmare hasn't come true!

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Simon Says Stamp (CZ Designs) Happy Combos

Dies: Simon Says Stamp (CZ Design) Happy and Fab Flower, Memory Box Vertical Line Collage

Paper: My Favorite Things Black & White Stripes

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Boho Blue, Crushed Curry, Calypso Coral

Other: Stampin' Up Matte Black Dots

Copic Matches to Stampin' Up 2024 Colors

I am missing one Copic match to the new Stampin' Up 2024 in-colors (and Basic Biege) so have not updated the full chart yet.  It's Pretty in Pink. I figured I'd just go with the colors I used for the original Pretty in Pink but I was noticing people using a different Copic match that just happened to be one of a handful of colors that I don't own.  I've ordered it but it won't be here before I leave on vacation - so everything is delayed.  I'll give you my picks here and update the chart available on my sidebar when I'm back.

I also want you to know that my Copics are old. I don't think they are supposed to change but I think they might. I'm noticing some people using Copics that sure look like they match in their samples but when I use my same Copic, it's not right at all.  With that, I'm guessing some of you will feel the same way about my matches. Maybe it's old Copics, but it's also paper and ultimately what your eye sees.  So here's what I see...

Petunia Pop RV66

Peach Pie YR12

Summer Splash BG23

Shy Shamrock G03

Basic Beige W1 is grayer or E81 which is beiger

Pretty in Pink - my picks for the original Pretty in Pink were R81 but a better match is layering R11 and then R81.  What I'm seeing people use is RV21 and that's what I've ordered to check out.

I'm back from vacation on May 27th. RV21 should be in my mailbox by then and I'll update charts right away!

Freshly Made Sketches: Wish Big

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!

 

My husband loves to fly fish.  It actually might be more of an obsessive hobby than my cardmaking - with the abundance of poles and flies, the early hours, the long drives, the willingness to stand still in cold water for hours! He keeps trying to convince me that I'd love it and if I learned, we could do it together. Ugh. Just no.  I usually fend him off by telling him we could learn each other's hobby and spend even more time together.  He takes one look at my craft from and I don't hear about fishing again for months. 

When I saw Cécile's sketch, I knew these fish would be the frame. Then I was looking for a completely different sentiment and the "wish big" jumped out at me and tickled my funny bone. When he got home from a full day of fishing last night, he didn't tell me about the drive or the weather or the company - but he did catch a 20" brown (whatever that means!)

This weekend, we are starting a 10-day vacation. We're trying to sell each other on options for retirement. Where we are going ticks a lot of boxes for both of us. He'd be close to fishing and there are quaint towns and lots of outdoor/bicycling options for me. However, I'm not going  to mention where we are going. I don't want to offend anybody since my answer to this area is most likely a big "no".  It's the weather.  We ran into a chatty stranger a few weeks ago and she was originally from where we are going and she told me "Oh honey, he's taking you there for the one good week of weather all year long."  We'll see!

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Taylored Expressions It's Your Day (and dies)

Dies: Paper Rose Fish Family

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Misty Moonlight, Boho Blue, Old Olive and Mossy Meadow, My Favorite Things Naturals

Ink: Stampin' Up Misty Moonlight

Other: Honey Bee Stamps Black Gem Stickers, Stampin' Up Subtle Embossing Folder

Freshly Made Sketches: Birthday Deer

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 talk a lot about planning to use patterned paper, then not ending up using it. In the meantime, I do have a serious collection of patterned paper. I knew what I was doing with this sketch the second I saw it. I used this nature scene paper from Stampin' Up (retired) along with a critter for a birthday card for my husband.  The critter was supposed to be a moose based on a fabulous vacation we took last year to the Moose Capital of Colorado (Walden, population 569) but my stash failed me. I had a large very goofy moose and a small cute moose, neither of which I wanted to use with the gorgeous background paper.

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

SUPPLY LIST

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Winter Woods (the sentiment)

Dies: Sizzix/Tim Holtz Winter Wonderland, Trinity Modern Embossed Rectangle Stack

Paper: Stampin' Up New Horizons, Cardstock in Pecan Pie and Evening Evergreen

Other: Stampin' Up Brushed Metallic Adhesive-Backed Dots and Subtle embossing folder

Freshly Made Sketches: Birthday Candles

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!

As is so often the case, I had something totally different in mind when I put together the sketch.  I tried to tempt myself to use some of the beautiful dsp I have stashed away - so I figured this sketch would give me an opportunity. Then for a little fun, I put a big sentiment on the diagonal.  Did you notice that I didn't use any dsp?  I had every intention to but a candle background popped into my brain and there was no going back!

I cut the candles with Concord & 9th's Make a Wish dies.  The five candles to the right weren't quite tall enough so are snipped right behind the sentiment and "stretched" out a bit so you can see the top.  I was suprised to realize I was limited in my sentiment choices. I have plenty of large sentiments but it turns out most of them are stacked with the "happy" on top of the "birthday" so not long like I needed.  Luckily, I have always liked the font on this die from Poppystamps - it's fun but not too frilly.  

A little embossed confetti in the background and I know just who it's going to go to.  (Hopefully they don't take offense at a card full of birthday candles!)

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

SUPPLY LIST

Dies: Poppystamps Happy Birthday Poe Script. Concord & 9th Make a Wish dies

Cardstock: Stampin' Up Poppy Parade Mango Melody, Daffodil Delight, Parakeet Party, Balmy Blue, Orchid Oasis, HIghland Heather

Other: Taylored Expressions Sprinkles Embossing Folder