Christmas Cheer — FMS158

Posted on October 15, 2014 by amyoneillblog

I always look forward to Wednesdays because that’s when we unveil a new challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches. And this week, the uber-talented Jennifer Timko is our hostess. Look at the great sketch she has for us:

It didn’t take me long to pick out the Cheerful Christmas stamp set for this sketch. I love how clean and pretty the main image is and I thought it would fit perfectly with the sketch.

I paired it with some dsp from the Nordic Noel pack and some Soft Sky card stock for the base.

This turned out to be a really simple and easy card. I love it when that happens!

We’d love for you to make your own card using the sketch. Meanwhile, you can go check out what the rest of the design team made for your inspiration at the Freshly Made Sketches site.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Little Pink Typewriter — FMS157

Posted on October 8, 2014 by amyoneillblog

I’m so glad you came by today! It’s my turn to host the challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches this week, and I hope you’ll play along. Ready to see the sketch? Here it is:

I recently got the Tap Tap Tap stamp set. I didn’t think I needed that set, and when I put in an order for a few other supplies it somehow ended up in my order. Does that ever happen to you too? Since it was 95 degrees here again today, I just can’t make Fall or Christmas cards, so I was glad to have this set handy.

I always thought it would be fun to have a typewriter this color. Well, I guess I can now. I watercolored the image after stamping it with StazOn Black ink. The color scheme is Crisp Cantaloupe and Coastal Cabana with Basic Black and Very Vanilla.

We would love to have you join us for this challenge. Hop on over to the Freshly Made Sketches site and check out what a fabulous job the design team did with the sketch, and then post your own creation to the gallery so we can 000h and aaah over your creations.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

It’s Your Birthday — FMS156

Posted on October 1, 2014 by amyoneillblog

Hooray for Wednesday! Wednesday means it’s time for another sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, and this week the queen of layers and monochromatic loveliness, and overall fabulousness, Narelle Farrugia has a superb sketch for us:

I loved this sketch at first sight! And I actually pulled my card together pretty quickly. I knew right away that I wanted to use the #hello stamp set. I love this set! I thought I’d keep true to the sketch and use some fun bright colors — Real Red, Hello Honey, Lost Lagoon, and Pool Party to the rescue.

I even pulled out my sewing machine and added a little wonky stitching because all of that white space made me a little uneasy.

The sentiment comes from a stamp in a previous month’s My Paper Pumpkin kit.

You should head on over to the Freshly Made Sketches site to check out what the design team made this week. I already took a peek, and was amazed as usual. We hope you’ll play along this week and post your creation to the gallery. We always love seeing what you make.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Holiday Happy — FMS155

Posted on September 24, 2014 by amyoneillblog

Time is flying by! It’s already time for another challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches. And this week our fabulously talented Kiwi friend, Karren Johnson, is our hostess. I was so excited when I saw that this sketch features a tag. I love making tags!

I pulled out the Mingle All the Way stamp set and colored it with my Stampin’ Write markers. I love the fun fonts on this set.

The dsp strip on the side comes from the Nordic Noel dsp package. I love the blend of traditional and non-traditional colors for Christmas in this package.

We have had such great participation lately, and I hope that you’ll help to make that continue. We love to see what you do with the sketches. Please stop by and see what the design team made this week at the Freshly Made Sketches site. It’s always fun to see how we come up with such different cards and styles using the same sketch.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Soft Holiday Cheer — FMS154

Posted on September 17, 2014 by amyoneillblog

Are you ready for another great sketch today? I hope so because the super talented Cindy Lovell has a fabulous sketch for us all the way from Germany:

I love the beautiful All is Calm Specialty dsp in the Holiday catalog, but I hadn’t used any of it yet. So I decided it was time to pull it out.

I layered my main panel on a piece of a Silver Foil Sheet. The cute sentiment is from the Cheerful Tags stamp set. I embossed the tinsel on the tree with Silver Stampin’ Emboss powder.

We hope you’ll play along with us this week and post your card to the gallery. Meanwhile, you should go check out what the rest of the design team made with this fun sketch at the Freshly Made Sketches site.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Circle of Thanks — FMS153

Posted on September 10, 2014 by amyoneillblog

Hooray for Wednesday! Wednesdays bring us a new challenge over at the Freshly Made Sketches site, and this week the oh-so-kind and lovely Jen Brum is our hostess. She is so talented with her CAS style, and she has a great sketch for us this week.

This is a nice, simple sketch which offers so many possibilities. But for some reason, I really spun my wheels with it. It took me forever to settle on a stamp set, then it took a long time to pick colors, and then I just couldn’t get happy with my layout. But I had a deadline and after wasting lots of time, it’s amazing how much I can get done with just fifteen minutes left on the clock when I have to. 🙂

I ended up using the #hello stamp set and a color combo of Tempting Turquoise and Rich Razzleberry with a little gold thrown in there. These are two colors I really like but rarely use anymore, so it was nice to dust those ink pads off a little.

The splatters are from the Gorgeous Grunge set (does it even need to be introduced anymore?), which I embossed with gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder.

We would love for you to join us and make your own card for this challenge. We love looking at all of the cards in the gallery each week. Meanwhile, head on over to the Freshly Made Sketches site to see what the design team made this week.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Surprise Snapshot — FMS152

Posted on September 3, 2014 by amyoneillblog

When you have a holiday on a Monday, it sure does mess up the week! I can’t believe it’s already Wednesday! And since it’s Wednesday, we have another challenge for you over at the Freshly Made Sketches site. This week the fabulous Cindy Hall is our hostess, and she has a simple, versatile sketch for us, which I love.

I have a new single stamp called Snapshot, which I thought would be fun to color with my Blendabilities. And I can’t seem to get enough of the Typeset dsp, so I had to use it too.

It’s so hard to capture shine or sparkle in photographs, so you’d have to look really closely to see that I added some Crystal Effects to the lens part of the camera to give it a little shine. The yellow dsp is from the All Abloom dsp stack. And the sentiment is from the Sumthin’ Sumthin’ stamp set.

We hope you’ll have a chance to join us in the challenge at Freshly Made Sketches! Meanwhile, you can stop by and see what the other designers made with the sketch.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Watercolors and a Speech Bubble — FMS151

Posted on August 27, 2014 by amyoneillblog

It’s already Wednesday again, and it’s the last Wednesday of the month. That means two things — (1) It’s time for another challenge at Freshly Made Sketches, and (2) It’s our last week with Kim Singdahlsen as a guest designer. And boy, does she have a great sketch for us this week, so make sure to drop by her blog and leave her some love. She has done a fabulous job and we will really miss her.

I’ve been taking an online watercoloring class with some of the other team members, and I must say that watercoloring is not a talent with which I was blessed. I watch the videos and the techniques look simple enough, but when I go to make my own projects, they never look like what I had envisioned. In fact, they just look bad. That’s why I haven’t posted anything I’ve made yet. But I’m not giving up. I’m going to finish the class and I’ll keep trying the techniques with the hope that practice really does make perfect.

I had a scrap of watercolor paper on my desk, so I took an aquapainter and some Coastal Cabana ink and just made a colorwash panel. I then added a few drops of water to create a spotted effect.

I added a strip of Back to Black dsp and a white base which I embossed with the Large Polka Dots embossing folder.

For the focal image, I embossed the speech bubble from the Point & Click Project Life stamp set with white embossing powder on Strawberry Slush card stock, and then used one of the Word Bubbles Framelits dies to cut it out. I then cut out the letters with the Little Letters Thinlits Dies. I attached a piece of So Saffron card stock with dimensionals behind the speech bubble.

We hope you’ll make some time to join us at Freshly Made Sketches this week! You can drop by the website to see what the rest of the design team made for some inspiration.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Hey Feathers — FMS150

Posted on August 20, 2014 by amyoneillblog

It’s the last Wednesday of Summer vacation for my kids, and I think I’m probably sadder about that than they are. I love having them home for the Summer, and I love the relaxed schedule that Summer provides. I’ll have one in high school, one in middle school, and one in elementary school again this year. And that means three different start times, and lots of activities to keep track of.

Of course, Wednesday also means it’s time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. And this week the always delightful and majorly talented, Linda Callahan has a fabulous sketch for us.

One of the new sets in the upcoming Holiday catalog that I love is the Four Feathers set. Just like the name says, there are four fabulous feather stamps in this set. And to make it even more fabulous, there is a coordinating framelits set. I love that!

I decided to flip the sketch over on its side to better accommodate the feathers. I embossed them with Pool Party and Crushed Curry embossing powders, and added a little Strawberry Slush Thick Baker’s Twine on the black button. The sentiment is from the Hi There stamp set.

I hope you can find some time to join us and play along with this challenge. We always love to see what you make. You can drop by the Freshly Made Sketches site to get some inspiration from the design team. They always inspire me!

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Hip Hip Hooray for the Confetti Stars Punch — FMS149

Posted on August 13, 2014 by amyoneillblog

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for a new challenge at the Freshly Made Sketches site. And this week, the fabulous Rita Wright is our hostess, and she has a superb sketch for us.

I recently got a box of new goodies from the upcoming Holiday Catalog, and one of the items I was so excited to get is a new border punch called Confetti Stars. I just love stars as I think they are so versatile — they can be used for many occasions and they can be used for guys or girls.

I pulled out my Hip Hip Hooray Card Kit and used one of the stamps, the banner stickers and the card base.

The new punch was used along the bottom of the white panel. It is so fun! And I love the little stars confetti which is left behind after you use the punch.

We always enjoy looking through the gallery and seeing how you interpret the sketch, so we hope you’ll play along with us this week. Meanwhile, you can check out what the rest of the design team made at the Freshly Made Sketches site for some inspiration.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!