Copper Autumn Leaves — FMS601

Posted on August 30, 2023 by amyoneillblog

We had so much fun celebrating our 600th sketch at Freshly Made Sketches last week, but we are ready to share #601 with you. It comes courtesy of our OG stamper extraordinaire, Linda Callahan. Take a look at what she has for us:

I recently acquired the Autumn Leaves stamp set, and since we have been having a brutally hot August in Texas I thought it might be fun to pretend that the cooler temperatures of Fall are on the way. Please.

This stamp set, Autumn Leaves, was actually designed by one of our frequent gallery contributors, Amy Koenders, and it is fabulous! I love the leaf shapes and the sentiments, and I love the coordinating dies. It will be available in the upcoming mini catalog on September 6.

In addition to the stamp set and dies, there is some specialty dsp that will be available, the Oxidized Copper Specialty DSP. There are two different sheets — one with Pretty Peacock and one with just copper. It is gorgeous and is perfect for these leaves!

I die-cut the leaves from the specialty dsp and added some Pretty Peacock and Cajun Craze card stock for the die-cut leaf veins. A strip of copper accented dsp was added from the All About Autumn Specialty DSP collection, which is also in the upcoming mini catalog.

I applied one of the piercing dies to the bottom strip of Pretty Peacock dsp. It adds a little texture and makes the card work with the sketch better. The sentiment is from the Autumn Leaves stamp set and was die-cut with one of the coordinating dies. I love the fun shape and pierced details.

Some Adhesive Backed Speckled Dots were added as embellishments. Surprise — they’re also new in the upcoming mini catalog.

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!

My Happy Place — FMS600

Posted on August 23, 2023 by amyoneillblog

This is a special week at Freshly Made Sketches! We are celebrating as we have hit sketch #600 with the sketch this week. Over the past twelve years, we’ve had so many loyal contributors to the gallery, and we wanted to honor some of those who have been multiple winners by showcasing their cards for this milestone challenge. And to further celebrate, the winners of this week’s challenge will be asked to be guest designers in a future challenge. So without further ado, here is the sketch for this week:

I can’t seem to move the Bird’s Eye View stamp set off my desk. When it makes it off my shelf, my eye is always drawn back to it. I thought it would work well with the sketch and a sentiment from the Happy Labels stamp set, which I wanted to use with this milestone challenge. Because Freshly Made Sketches is my happy place. I love the ladies on this team and the inspiration I receive from them and so many of our weekly participants.

I started by applying some Balmy Blue ink onto a white card base with a blending brush and added some splatters. I then stamped the images, colored them with alcohol markers, and cut them out with my paper snips.

We hope you’ll join our celebration this week and add your own card using the sketch to the gallery. Meanwhile, be sure to visit the Freshly Made Sketches site to see what the design team and all of our All-Star guest designers have made for your inspiration.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Zany Elephant Birthday — FMS599

Posted on August 16, 2023 by amyoneillblog

It’s already Wednesday again, and that means there’s a new sketch up at Freshly Made Sketches, This week, it is provided by one who is supremely talented at clean and simple card making, Jen Mitchell. Take a look at her fun sketch:

I thought one of the cute animals in the Zoo Crew suite collection would work well with the vertical focal strip on the sketch. Plus this suite is so much fun with which to work, so it was an easy decistion.

I cut this sweet elephant out of a sheet of the Zoo Crew dsp package. I stamped the confetti from the coordinating Zany Zoo stamp set and colored it with some Stampin’ Write markers.

The sentiment is also from the Zany Zoo stamp set and was stamped on a piece of Pool Party card stock, which was layered on another piece of the Zoo Crew dsp.

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.

Did you notice that this week is sketch #599? Next week we’ll have a special challenge to celebrate the 600 milestone. Don’t miss it!

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Life is Better With You — FMS598

Posted on August 9, 2023 by amyoneillblog

It’s time for another new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, and this week our sketch comes from our friend, Jennifer Timko, who keeps our team in line. When she isn’t flying the friendly skies, she is making beautiful cards. And sketches. Take a look.

I wanted to play with those cute birds in the Bird’s Eye View stamp set again. I thought I would place two birds in the corners to work with the sketch.

I colored the images with alcohol markers and used a sentiment from the Happy Labels stamp set. This one came together pretty quickly.

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!

Relax — FMS597

Posted on August 2, 2023 by amyoneillblog

Well, here we are in August already. Kids go back to school here next week! Summer may be flying by, but don’t worry – we still have a new sketch for you this week at Freshly Made Sketches. Our hostess this week is the incredible Jacquie Southas. She has a sketch that is unique and fun. Take a look:

My older daughter graduated from college in April with a nursing degree and was in desperate need of a break. So she is spending the summer in northern Michigan at her boyfriend’s family’s lakehouse. They are just enjoying a leisurely summer trying to decide where they want to start their careers. How exciting to be at that point in your life where the world is full of possibilities. What state should I live in? What type of nursing should I pursue, etc… The In the Moment stamp set has been sitting on my shelf for quite a while and has never seen ink, and one of the images seemed perfect for her.

I pulled out my aqua painter and inks and decided to do a little watercoloring on this one. Boy, am I rusty! It was fun though. I went with a color palette of Fresh Freesia, Bubble Bath, Balmy Blue, Night of Navy, Lemon Lolly, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, and Smoky Slate.

I decided to put the sentiment on the inside of the card and used a strip of dsp from the Bright & Beautiful collection since the colors worked together so well.

We hope you’ll join us and create your own card using the sketch this week. 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!

Birthday Raccoon — FMS596

Posted on July 26, 2023 by amyoneillblog

There’s another new sketch up at Freshly Made Sketches. It is supplied by the lovely and talented Judy Rozema. She wants our focus to be solely on the top half of the card this week. Take a look:

Well that is an awful lot of white space, which always makes me uncomfortable when I’m making a card. So needless to say, I thought this challenge was quite challenging. My hubby has a birthday tomorrow, so I wanted to make a card for him.

I pulled out the Zany Zoo set and stamped this cute critter and the celebratory confetti and then colored it all with alcohol markers. I then cut it out with one of the Basic Borders Dies.

This was my first time to use one of the new colors, Azure Afternoon, and I love it. It is a pretty shade of blue.

We hope you’ll join us and create your own card using the sketch. 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!

Countryside Inn Flower — FMS595

Posted on July 19, 2023 by amyoneillblog

It’s time for another new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, and this week is my turn to assume the hostess duties. Here is the sketch :

I thought this was the perfect opportunity to use two products that I hadn’t touched yet — the Countryside Inn dsp and the Paper Florist Dies.

I die-cut the flower pieces from white card stock and added a touch of Balmy Blue ink with a sponge dauber. The leaves were cut from Misty Moonlight card stock.

The sentiment from Layering Leaves was embossed with white embossing powder.

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Textured Floral Heart — FMS594

Posted on July 12, 2023 by amyoneillblog

It’s time for another new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, and this week our hostess is our favorite fussy-cutting, collage-making, stamper extraordinaire, Narelle Farrugia. Take a look at her fun sketch:

I recently got the Textured Floral Bundle, and I knew I could make it work with this sketch. I ended up adding a lot of things to the sketch (leaves for the three flowers), but hopefully the sketch can still be seen.

I started out by scoring two parallel lines on the card base to represent the horizontal strip on this sketch. You have to look really hard to see them on my card as I almost covered them up entirely. I was supposed to put a thin strip of dsp there, but didn’t remember that until after I had glued all of the flowers down and I really didn’t want to start over. Sigh…

I stamped the flowers in Petal Pink, Pumpkin Pie, and Calypso Coral ink and the leaves in Old Olive and Soft Sea Foam inks. The flower centers were stamped with Crushed Curry ink. I added some Iridescent Pearls for embellishments.

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. 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!

Bird’s Eye Note — FMS592

Posted on June 28, 2023 by amyoneillblog

We may be in the sweltering throes of Summer (at least in Texas, we are), but don’t worry — we have a cool new sketch for you over at Freshly Made Sketches. It comes to us via France and our favorite die-cutting, card-making friend, Cecile Ribon, has a fun sketch for us. Take a look:

I really wanted to make another card with the sweet Bird’s Eye View stamp set, and I was determined to make it work with this sketch. So I used some Lemon Lolly and Crushed Curry inks to blend a sun on the card base, and then cut out some images from the stamp set to substitute something for the sailboat shape in the sketch.

Other than adding a sentiment from the Happy Labels stamp set, I kept this one very simple. I lightly blended some Balmy blue ink around the sun to add a little color and colored the bird, branch and leaves with some alcohol markers.

This was a quick and easy card to make!

We hope you’ll join us and make 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!