Celebrate with Ephemera — FMS646

It’s time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! In keeping with the spirit of the Olympics, which starts this week, our sketch comes from the host country of France courtesy of Cecile Ribon. If they gave out medals for using die-cuts to make the most beautiful cards, Cecile would win the gold hands down! Take a look at her fun sketch:

When I first saw this sketch, my thoughts immediately went to the ephemera packages. I could picture birthday candles for the narrow rectangles in the sketch and some birthday cake for the circle and flower images in the sketch. And then I got a little carried away.

I started with a Pool Party card base and added the candles and cake as mentioned above. And then I kept adding. There are just so many fun things in these kits! I couldn’t help it!

I ended up using items from the Labels & Layers pack, the Something for Everything pack, and the Saying Something pack.

We hope you’ll join us and make 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!

Textured Birthday Blooms — FMS645

There’s a new sketch up at Freshly Made Sketches, and this week it comes from our Canadian friend and mountain hiker, Jen Brum. Take a look at what she has provided:

I thought this sketch was the perfect excuse to make a floral themed card. I decided to dust off my Textured Floral stamp set and use it again.

I stamped the flower three times using Calypso Coral ink and some of the leaves using Old Olive ink, and then cut them out with the coordinating Textured Floral Dies. I also cut out some more leaves using some Mossy Meadow card stock.

The sentiment is from the same stamp set and was stamped using Memento black ink.

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 gallery to see what the design team has made for your inspiration!

Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanks for stopping by!

Birthday Wishes — FMS644

There’s a new sketch up at Freshly Made Sketches, and this week it is provided by the talented Kim Singdahlsen. Take a look at what she came up with:

Since I always seem to be in need of birthday cards, I started with the cute cake from the Attention Shoppers stamp set.

I colored the cake with alcohol markers and cut it out with my paper snips. The sentiment is from the Simply Said stamp set, while the dsp is from the Bright & Beautiful dsp 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!

Ephemera Birthday — FMS643

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!