Category Archives: Freshly Made Sketches Challenge

Ephemera Birthday — FMS643

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It’s time for a new sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches, and this week it comes to us via our friend from up-state New York, Linda Callahan. Take a look at what she has designed:

I have really been loving the ephemera kits that are available in the annual catalog. I love collage-style cards and these kits are perfect for that.

I started with a card base and coordinating envelope from the Calming Creek Cards & Envelopes collection. I then applied two of the flowers from the Fully Flowering Ephemera Pack, and placed a circle label from the Labels & Layers Ephemera Pack. The little butterflies are from the Something for Everything Ephemera Pack, while the sentiment is from the Saying Something Ephemera Pack. I managed to use something from each of the four ephemera packs!

We hope you’ll join us and create your own card using the sketch! Meanwhile, be sure to stop by the Freshly Made Sketches site to see what the design team has created for your inspiration!

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Mailbox Love — FMS642

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We’re back with another sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, and this week our favorite Bay Stater stamper extraordinaire, Jen Mitchell, is our hostess. Take a look at the sketch she has made for us:

A square card! How fun! I don’t think I’ve shared any of the cards I’ve made with the Sending Love stamp set, so I decided to pull it off the shelf.

After coloring the cute mailbox, the bird, and little envelopes with my alcohol markers, I cut them out with the coordinating dies. I blended some Balmy Blue and Garden Green inks on the card base to try to mimic the sketch.

I stamped the dashed horizontal stripe with some Real Red ink and cut it out, layering it on some Night of Navy card stock. The sentiment is from the Sending Love stamp set, as well. The little hearts were cut out of some Real Red card stock using a die from the Sending Love dies collection.

We hope you’ll join us and create your own card using the sketch! We love to see what you make as we browse the gallery each week. Meanwhile, be sure to stop by the Freshly Made Sketches site to see what the design team has created for your inspiration.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Icing on the Cake — FMS641

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It’s time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, and this week it comes to us via our card making, sky flying friend, Jennifer Timko. Take a look at what she has for us:

I needed to make something quick, so I reached for an ephemera pack again. This time I used the Fully Flowering and Saying Something packs.

I placed the flower die-cut and the sentiment die-cut on circles I cut out using two of the Spotlight on Nature dies. Then my plan for a quick card went out the window. I thought a plain card base was boring, so I decided to use the Sketched Plaid background stamp using Versamark ink on the base to add a little interest. I should have stopped right there, but no – I had to add some pretty sheer ribbon as well. My quick card turned out to be a little more involved than planned.

We hope you’ll join us and create your own card using the sketch! Meanwhile, be sure to stop by the Freshly Made Sketches site to see what the design team has created for your inspiration.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Pup — FMS639

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It’s time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, and this week I have the pleasure of assuming the hostess role. That means that I have to come up with a sketch. I love making clean collage-style cards, so I designed a sketch that would work with that style. Take a look:

I’ve been having a lot of fun with the different ephemera packs in the annual catalog. Needing a birthday card, I chose the Something for Everything Ephemera Pack and the Calming Creek Cards & Envelopes to make this card.

I just chose some of the party-themed elements in the pack and arranged them according to the sketch. This card came together really fast!

The sentiment was the only stamping on this card. It is from the Simply Said stamp set.

We hope you’ll join us and create your own card using the sketch! We love to see what you make as we browse the gallery each week. Meanwhile, be sure to stop by the Freshly Made Sketches site to see what the design team has created for your inspiration.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Blue Magnolia — FMS638

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There’s a new sketch up at Freshly Made Sketches, and this week it comes to us courtesy of Narelle Farrugia, our resident Artisan Award winner from Australia. Take a look at what she has for us:

The Magnolia Mood stamp set seemed like a good option for this sketch. I stamped the gorgeous magnolia bloom and cut it out with the coordinating dies.

To keep the card true to the sketch, I added a white die-cut which I made using one of the dies from the Lovely & Sweet die collection. The dsp card base is from the Country Woods collection.

We hope you’ll join us and create your own card using the sketch! We love to see what you make as we browse the gallery each week. Meanwhile, be sure to stop by the Freshly Made Sketches site to see what the design team has created for your inspiration.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Fish for Dad — FMS637

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It’s time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, and this week it comes to us courtesy of our favorite New Zealander, Karren Johnson. Take a look at her fun sketch:

I thought I would try to get ahead of the game and make a Father’s Day card. Masculine cards are so hard! I decided that a couple of the little fish from the Something for Everything Ephemera Pack would work well with the sketch and would fit a masculine motif as well.

The card base and envelope are from the Calming Creek Cards & Envelopes set. I cut out the postage squares using the Perennial Postage Dies and placed them on squares of Poppy Parade card stock.

The strip along the side was made with some Crushed Curry card stock and a little strip of Poppy Parade. The sentiment is from an old Paper Pumpkin kit. Super easy and quick!

We hope you’ll join us and create your own card using the sketch! Meanwhile, be sure to stop by the Freshly Made Sketches site to see what the design team has created for your inspiration.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

With You — FMS636

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It’s Wednesday, and that means there’s a new sketch up over at Freshly Made Sketches. This week it comes to us all the way from France courtesy of our queen of die-cuts, Cecile Ribon. Take a look at her fun sketch:

I should have taken another look at this great sketch before finishing up my card. I looked at the sketch and had an idea to use some of the branches/leaves from the Leaf Collection background stamp to place around a sentiment in the center. And then I neglected to look at the sketch again until I went to type up this post. The sketch didn’t look like I remembered it! Not only did I not make a square card, but somehow my branches/leaves ended up under the focal rectangle in the middle, not around it. What happened?!? Sigh… I should know better than to trust my memory.

I stamped the background stamp on three pieces of white card stock — once with Lemon Lime Twist ink, again with Peach Pie ink, and a third time with Garden Green ink. I then cut out some of the leaves with my paper snips.

The sentiment is from the Comforting Thoughts stamp set and was punched out with the Modern Oval punch. I added some In Color Resin Dots as embellishments.

We hope you’ll join us and create your own card using the sketch! Go take a look at what the design team created for your inspiration at the Freshly Made Sketches site — they did a much better job of following the sketch than I did!

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Magnolias for Mom — FMS635

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It’s time for another new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, and this week it comes to us courtesy of our Canadian mountain hiking friend, Jen Brum. Take a look at what she has for us:

I thought this sketch would work well with the Magnolia Mood bundle as the focal panel is quite large, so I decided to make a Mother’s Day card using it.

The images in this set are gorgeous and require little coloring since magnolia blooms are white. I stamped the image, colored it with alcohol markers, and cut it out using the coordinating dies. The die-set also includes some intricate dies. I placed one of them under the focal image.

I used some of the Country Lace dsp, and placed it all on a Petal Pink card base.

We hope you’ll join us and create your own card using the sketch! Meanwhile, be sure to stop by the Freshly Made Sketches site to see what the design team has created for your inspiration!

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Tiny Zinnias, Big Gratitude — FMS634

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There’s a new sketch up at Freshly Made Sketches, and this week it comes from our Coloradan friend, Kim Singdahlsen, who always puts such thoughtful details into her cards. Take a look at her sketch:

I felt like the sentiment should be the focal image of this sketch, so I went in search of large sentiments. I didn’t have to look far as I’ve had the Simply Zinnia set sitting on my desk, and I thought it had a sentiment that would be perfect for the challenge.

I stamped the sentiment with Blackberry Bliss ink, and then cut a couple of pieces of Flowering Zinnias dsp to work with the sketch. That was the second hardest part of the card – diagonals are always a little challenging for me. It took me a couple of tries.

The hardest part for me was deciding what to do after that. I felt like the card was missing something — that it was too bare. In the end, I just added some Blackberry Bliss dots, and called it a day. I decided the paper was busy enough that I didn’t need to add anything else. And plus, I was tired of overthinking it.

We hope you’ll join us and create your own card using the sketch! We love to see what you make as we browse the gallery each week. Meanwhile, be sure to stop by the Freshly Made Sketches site to see what the design team has made for your inspiration!

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Simply Zinnias — FMS633

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There is a new sketch up at Freshly Made Sketches, and this week it is provided by our crafty up-state New York friend, Linda Callahan. Take a look at her clever sketch:

There is a gorgeous suite of products that is available online and it is called the Flowering Zinnias Suite Collection. It is an on-line exclusive bundle so you won’t find it in any of the catalogs. I was really drawn to it because of the gorgeous dsp, but when I sat down to make my first card with this suite, I ended up only using the stamp set.

I started by stamping and coloring the flowers with my alcohol markers before cutting them out. There are coordinating dies in this bundle. The sentiment is also from the Simply Zinnia stamp set.

For the two little blocks in the corners under the focal panel, I used one of the dies from the Autumn Leaves Dies.

We hope you’ll join us and create your own card using the sketch! Meanwhile, be sure to stop by the Freshly Made Sketches site to see what the design team has created for your inspiration!

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!