Vivid Springtime Vases — FMS179

Happy Wednesday!  And Wednesdays bring new challenges at Freshly Made Sketches each week.  This go around, I get the pleasure of being the hostess and I have a pretty simple and clean sketch for you to try.

Since the sketch is pretty simple, I wanted to keep my card clean and simple.  I pulled out my Vivid Vases stamp and watercolored it with an aquapainter.  I used a card base of Soft Sky card stock which was embossed with the Polka Dot embossing folder.

Vivid Springtime Vases

I used a little strip of dsp from the Stacked with Love stack, and added a button.  I rounded two of the corners, and made myself stop.

VIvid Springtime Vases Close UpWe hope you’ll join us and create your own card.  We’d love to see what you do with the sketch.  Meanwhile, you can go by the Freshly Made Sketches site and see what the design team made for some inspiration.  You won’t be disappointed.

Enjoy your Wednesday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Hippity Hoppity — FMS178

It’s Wednesday, and with each Wednesday comes a new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week our fabulous friend from the land down under, Narelle Farrugia, is our hostess and she has a versatile sketch for us that I love.

Since Easter is right around the corner, I decided I’d better ink up my Easter stamps.  This is from a cute little set called For Peeps’ Sake.  The sentiment is from And Many More.  I added a piece of Best Day Ever dsp, which is a Sale-a-Bration offering.

Hippity Hoppity

I think these little chicks are adorable.  I used my Stampin’ Write markers directly on the stamp to color the image.

Hippity Hoppity Close UpWe hope you’ll join us and play along with the challenge this week.  You should go by the Freshly Made Sketches blog to check out what the design team made for some inspiration.  They always inspire me!

Enjoy your Wednesday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Watercolor Rainbow — FMS177

We have another great sketch for you over at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Our super talented friend from New Zealand, Karren Johnson, is our hostess this week.  Look at what she has for us:

I’ve been itching to do a little watercoloring lately, so I thought I’d try something different for me.  I made a watercolor resist background.  I embossed some watercolor paper with white Stampin’ Emboss Powder using a cool stamp from the Boutique Borders stamp set.  I love how easy it is to line up this stamp set and add row upon row with the photopolymer stamps — no Stamp-a-ma-jig needed.

Rainbow of WatercolorsI used a paintbrush and a set of watercolor paints to color the background.  Even though I chose most of the brightest colors in the set, this card turned out so soft and muted once it dried.  This is a different look for me, but I kinda like it.

The sentiment is from a Sale-a-Bration set called Simply Wonderful.

Rainbow of Watercolors Close UpWe’d love to have you join us in this challenge.  You can check out what the design team made over at the Freshly Made Sketches site for some inspiration.

Enjoy your Wednesday!  Thanks for stopping by!

A Long Happy Birthday — FMS 176

Happy Wednesday!  And with another Wednesday comes another sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week the super talented Cindy Hall is our hostess.  She has such a knack for adding such beautiful details to her cards.  I always look forward to studying everything she makes.

She has given us such a great sketch with which to work.  I love that it’s a different size than a normal A2 card, and there’s lots of room to be original and creative.

I still have some old envelopes that Stampin Up! sold a while back, for long and skinny cards.  I cut my card base to a 6-1/2″ by 6-1/2″ square, and then folded it in half to fit in the envelope.  It was fun to play with a different sized card.

Long Happy BirthdayI ended up using three different stamp sets for this card — Dotty Angles, Balloon Bash and Crazy About You.  I also pulled out lots of ink pads — Bermuda Bay, Blushing Bride, Crisp Cantaloupe, Pool Party, Hello Honey and Memento Black.

I love the word dies in the Hello You Thinlits collection.  Some of them are a little long, so I thought they’d be perfect for this sketch.

Long Happy Birthday Close UpI used one of the Birthday Bash Designer Washi Sheets for the striped bit at the bottom of this card.  I love this stuff!

We hope you’ll join us and play along with the challenge this week!  We love seeing what you create and post to the gallery.  You should jump over to the Freshly Made Sketches site to see what the rest of the design team made for a little inspiration.

Enjoy your Wednesday!  Thanks for stopping by!

You Made My Day — FMS175

It’s Wednesday.  At least, I think it is.  We’ve had snow days the past two days and with everybody at home these extra days after the weekend, I’ve lost track of what day it is.

Even though we’ve had snow days, we haven’t had any snow — just lots of sleet and ice. But the forecast for today is snow.  We haven’t really had winter weather all winter, but in one week — bam!  Hopefully this will be it and we can go back to normal next week.

We have a great sketch for you this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our lovely and talented Canadian friend, Jen Brum, is our hostess this week.  And she has a versatile, fabulous sketch.

I’ve been making an effort to ink up any unused stamp sets on my shelf lately.  One that hadn’t yet seen ink was the Best Day Ever stamp set, which is one of the Sale-a-Bration offerings.

You Made My Spring DayI love how easy it is to build your own images with this set.  These winter days we’ve been having inspired me to use some pretty Spring colors — Blushing Bride, Strawberry Slush, Pumpkin Pie, Pool Party, and Daffodil Delight.

you Made My Spring Day Close UpWe hope you’ll join us and play along with the sketch this week!  We love to see what you create.  You can check out what the rest of the design team made over at the Freshly Made Sketches site for some inspiration.  They always inspire me!

Enjoy your Wednesday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Lovely in Lace — FMS174

Happy Wednesday!  And with the arrival of Wednesday, we get a new sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week the most talented Cindy Lovell is our hostess, and she has a great sketch for us.

I have a stamp that I’ve been wanting to ink up but it just hasn’t fit any of the cards I ‘ve needed to make lately.  But now that birthdays in our house and Valentine’s Day are behind us, I can move on to other cards.

I love the look of clear embossing on Very Vanilla card stock.  When I first saw Something Lacy, I knew that I’d want to use this technique with it.  I love the detail on this stamp.

Lacy Happy Together

I paired this stamp with a flower made from the Typeset dsp using the Flower Frenzy Bigz die.  I also used some of the White Jute Ribbon and Sahara Sand Lace Trim.

Lacy Happy Together Close Up

We hope that you’ll love the sketch and decide to play along this week, as we love to see what you create.  You can check out what the design team did with the sketch over at the Freshly Made Sketches site.

Enjoy your Wednesday!  Thanks for stopping by!

A Crooked Happy Birthday — FMS173

It’s Wednesday, so that means we have a new sketch for you over at the Freshly Made Sketches blog.  And this Wednesday, the amazing Kim Singdahlsen is our hostess.  Look at what she has for us:

I had some birthday themed products out on my desk, so I decided to start there.  I used the Balloon Bash stamp set and the Birthday Bash dsp.

Crooked HBI embossed the focal image with Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder, cut it out, and popped it up with dimensionals.  I love how the specialty dsp also has gold embossing on some of the balloons.

Crooked HB Close UpWe hope you’ll join in and make your own card using the sketch.  We love to look through the gallery and see how you use the sketch.  You can see what the rest of the design team made this week over at the Freshly Made Sketches site.  They always wow me.

Enjoy your Wednesday!  Thanks for stopping by!

 

Celebrate Real Nice — FMS172

It’s Wednesday yet again, and this week the ever clever and always talented Linda Callahan is our hostess over at Freshly Made Sketches.  She has a great sketch for us:

I am in need of birthday cards this month, so I decided to make one using the Balloon Bash set.  I took a few liberties with the sketch, but stuck to it for the most part.

Celebrate Real NiceI stamped the focal image/sentiment and then fussy cut it out.  I wasn’t happy with it when I placed it against the white card base, as I thought it needed something to make it pop.  So I decided to sponge a little Crushed Curry ink behind the image.  I am definitely not very skilled at that technique, but I do think it served its purpose.

Celebrate Real Nice Close UpI colored the little banner in the top corner from Celebrate Today with my Stampin’ Write markers before stamping and then cut it out with the Balloon Framelits Dies.  The dsp is from the Birthday Bash dsp collection.

We hope you’ll make your own card using the sketch and share it in the gallery so we can see it.  Be sure to go by the Freshly Made Sketches site to see what the rest of the design team made this week.

Enjoy your Wednesday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Pirate Valentine — FMS171

One of the best things about Wednesdays is that we have a new sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches.  And this week you are in for a treat, as the truly talented Rita Wright has a fun sketch for us.

I decided to make another Valentine’s card and I really wanted some coloring therapy, so I used one of the adorable images from the Hey, Valentine set.  This little pirate is so sweet, and so fun to color.

Pirate ValentineI added a strip of dsp from the Stacked with Love dsp stack, and cut a strip of stars using one of the dies from the Mini Treat Bag Thinlits.  I also added a little star clip from the Essentials Hardware Clips.

Pirate Valentine Close UpI wasn’t comfortable with all of the white space (I know — It’s a fault of mine), so I added some Crushed Curry splatters, and called it a day.

We hope you’ll join us and create your own card using the sketch.  We always love looking through the gallery and seeing what you make.  You should hop on over to the Freshly Made Sketches blog and see what the rest of the design team made.  They always inspire me.

Enjoy your Wednesday!  Thanks for stopping by!

One Cute Fox — FMS170

We’re back again with another great sketch challenge for you over at the Freshly Made Sketches site.  And this week, the amazing Jen Mitchell is our hostess.  Look at what she has for us:

This is such a great sketch!  I pulled out a new Valentine’s set — Hey, Valentine — and a new paper pad, Stacked with Love.  I think all of the images in this set are so cute, and I love the patterns and colors in the paper stack.

Foxy ValentineI colored the cute fox with Blendabilities, and I used the Hearts Border punch, which is so fun.

Foxy Valentine Close UpIt’s good to have another Valentine’s card in the stash.  Maybe I won’t have to scramble so much to get mine out in the mail this year.  I’m an optimist!

We hope you’ll join us and create your own card with the sketch this week.  We always love to see how you interpret the sketch.  You can check out what the rest of the design team created for a little inspiration over at the Freshly Made Sketches site.

Enjoy your Wednesday!  Thanks for stopping by!