Hello Teacups — FMS

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We took a little break over the holidays, but now we’re back with a new sketch challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our hostess this week is Kim Singdahlsen, and she has a fun one for us:

There are some great Sale-a-Bration sets available this year, but there are three items that will only be available until February 15.  And they are some good ones, so make sure you don’t miss out on those.  One of these limited time products is the Hello stamp set.  I LOVE this set!  I love the fun, brushstroke font of the focal stamp and I love the companion sentiments and images that accompany it.  It is such a great set!  And you can get it free with any $50 purchase — this makes it even better!

Hello Tea Cups Close UpI used some of the Have a Cuppa dsp from the Occasions catalog on this card and a Wisteria Wonder card stock layer.  The sentiment was embossed with white embossing powder.   I kept this one really clean and simple.

Hello Tea CupsWe hope you’ll make time to play along with us this week.  We love seeing your interpretation of the sketch.  You can skip over to the Freshly Made Sketches site for a big dose of inspiration from the design team to get you started.

Enjoy your Wednesday!  Thanks for stopping by!

A Quilted Sunburst

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Happy New Year!  I hope you’re enjoying your 2016 so far.  We have had a relaxing and fun two weeks of vacation at our house, and are a little sad that we had to go back to the real world today.  The kids still have one last day of vacation today, but they go back to school tomorrow.

I got to play with some of the new Occasions catalog goodies the past couple of days.  One that I was eager to break out was the Sunburst Thinlits die.  It reminded me a little of an old quilt pattern of my grandmother, who made many, many beautiful quilts during her lifetime, so I went in that direction for my first card with this die.

Quilted SunburstI used some of the pretty papers from the new Have a Cuppa Designer Series Paper Stack.  I love the colors and cheery patterns in it.  I also used one sheet (the green one) from the Cherry on Top dsp stack.

I started by sponging on some Crushed Curry ink onto a Whisper White card base.  I then used the sunburst die to cut out a sheet of dsp in each of the colors.  I cut off each ray and then selectively placed them on the card base.

Quilted Sunburst Close UpThe sentiment comes from the Sunburst Sayings stamp set, and the sun stamp is from a new Project Life set called Memories in the Making.

All of these fun products will be available starting tomorrow!  A great way to start the new year!

Enjoy your Monday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Balloon Congrats — Stampin’ Up! Artisan Blog Hop

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Welcome to another Stampin’ Up! Artisan Design Team Blog Hop!  There are 20 of us from around the globe who will be sharing our projects with you twice each month.  All you need to do to follow along is click on the link at the bottom of each post.

It is only one week away until the Occasions catalog is live, and it will mark the start of the biggest annual event at Stampin’ Up!  — Sale-a-Bration!  We all love Sale-a-Bration!  With each $50 (US) purchase, you can get a Sale-a-Bration product for free.  Woohoo!

There is a fun new set in the Occasions catalog called Balloon Celebration, and it has a coordinating punch.  I love how punches can make projects so much quicker and easier.

Balloon Congrats

I started with a Pool Party card base.  A piece of Watercolor Paper was washed with some Pool Party ink and water.  Once that dried, I hand drew the strings with a Project Life Journaling Pen, and stamped the bitty stars with So Saffron ink, which I then covered with a Wink of Stella Gold Glitter Brush.  It adds a fun touch of shimmer.  I also applied some of this magical stuff to the wood sentiment.

Balloon Congrats Close Up

I created the balloons by first stamping off some Pool Party, Blushing Bride, Watermelon Wonder and Mossy Meadow ink once or twice onto some Whisper White card stock.  I love how there are two sizes of balloons with this stamp set and punch.

The cute little gold bow is actually a paper clip, and will also be available next week in the Occasions catalog.

All of these products will be available starting January 5.

You’re ready to hop on over to The Netherlands and visit Chantal de Kaste’s blog by clicking on the link below.  You can use Google Translate for any blogs for which you need translation help.  It’s so fun to hop around the world!

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Enjoy your Thursday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Botanical Thanks — Monday Montage #59

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Monday Montage Banner -- OctoberWelcome to our last Monday Montage blog hop of 2015!  We are a group of ten stampers who love to share what we create, and all you have to do to follow along is to click on the links at the bottom of each post.

One of the product suites in the upcoming Occasions catalog is the Botanical Gardens suite — stamp set, framelits, dsp, washi tape, etc…  It is a fun suite because there are so many options with it.  There are lots of blooms and leaves to mix and match.  There is a bundle available for this suite in which you can get the stamp set, dies, and dsp for 15% off.  Love that!  All of these products will be available starting on January 5.  And to make it an even better deal, by purchasing this bundle you will qualify for one free Sale-a-Bration item of your choice.  You could add the sentiment set I’ve used below for free!

Botanicals ThanksI needed a thank you card for a Christmas gift, so I went with a sentiment from Perfect Pairings, which is a Sale-a-Bration set.  I love a good sentiment set, and this is one that I was excited to see.

All of the flowers and leaves were cut out with the Botanical Builder Framelits Dies.  I used a color scheme of Old Olive, Mossy Meadow, Cherry Cobbler, Hello Honey, Lost Lagoon, and Pool Party.

Botanicals Thanks Close UpYou’re ready to hop on over to Breelin Renwick’s blog for a big helping of creativity.  If you prefer to work your way backwards, you can venture over to Wendy Weixler’s blog to admire her beautiful project.  Either way, be sure to work your way through all ten blogs.

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Enjoy your Monday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Camper — Stampin’ Up! Artisan Blog Hop

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Welcome to our first Stampin’ Up! Artisan Design Team Blog Hop!  There are 20 of us from around the globe who will be sharing our projects with you twice each month.  For this post we are each sharing a project with you and a little bit about ourselves so you can get to know all of the team.  So for those of you who already know me, you can skip on down to the project.  🙂

I live in the Dallas area in Texas.  My very supportive husband and I have been married for 20 years (we just celebrated that anniversary this month), and have three children — ages 16, 14, and 11.  Before I had kids, I was a CPA but am now a stay-at-home mom.  I have been a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator for over seven years.  I fell in love with the products the first time I got to play with them.  I love how they all coordinate and are of such great quality.  I love being a demonstrator because it such a joy to see someone who “isn’t creative” make a beautiful card and discover that we can all truly be creative (especially with the right supplies).  🙂

I am so excited to be on this team!  It is really a dream come true, and I am looking forward to getting to know the other team members and to grow creatively.  After having applied to be on this team several times over the years, I am still quite shocked to actually be on it.

Hopefully, you aren’t tired of Christmas cards yet.  For my project today, I used a stamp set from the Annual Catalog and a couple of dies from the Holiday catalog.

Christmas CampingI started by sponging on some Soft Sky ink onto some Thick Whisper White Cardstock.  I stamped the sentiment from Holly Jolly Greetings with Basic Black ink.

The cute camper from the You’re Sublime stamp set was stamped with Jet Black Staz-On ink onto Watercolor Paper.  I watercolored it with Real Red, So Saffron, Smoky Slate, Basic Gray and Mossy Meadow inks using an aquapainter.

I used the Perfect Pines Framelits Dies to cut out the tree and a Christmas Greetings Thinlits die to cut out the sentiment from a Silver Foil sheet.

Christmas Camping Close UpI added a few embellishments here and there, but kept it pretty clean, which is typically more my true style.

You’re ready to hop on over to The Netherlands and visit Chantal de Kaste’s blog by clicking on the link below.  You can use Google Translate for any blogs for which you need translation help.  It’s so fun to hop around the world!

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Enjoy your Thursday!  Thanks for stopping by!

 

You Mean the World to Me — FMS217

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It’s time for our last challenge of 2015 at the Freshly Made Sketches site.  Our good and talented friend, Linda Callahan, is our hostess and she has a simple and fabulous sketch for us.

I appreciate the simplicity of this sketch.  With everything going on during this busy time of year, I needed one like this.  I reached into my pile of new stuff and pulled out a fun new stamp set called Going Global.  This set will be available in the Occasions catalog when it is released on January 5th.

You Mean the WorldI started with a sheet of fun new dsp from the Going Places dsp stack.  I then applied a watercolor wash of Hello Honey ink on some watercolor paper.    The globe image was stamped with Basic Black ink on Very Vanilla card stock and punched out with the 2″ circle punch.  I added some Gold Glimmer Paper stars punched with the Confetti Stars Border punch and a strip of the paper along the bottom.  That was layered over another strip of the Going Places dsp and the White 1-1/4″ Jute Ribbon.  A Classy Designer Button and gold cording was added to finish it off.

You Mean the World Close UpWe hope you’ll join us and make your own card for the challenge.  You have until January 4th to add your card to the gallery.  Surely  you’ll need a creative break before then!  🙂  Meanwhile, be sure to visit the Freshly Made Sketches site to see what the design team made for some inspiration.

Enjoy your Wednesday!  Thanks for stopping by!

For Someone Awesome — Monday Montage #58

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Monday Montage Banner -- OctoberHere we go again!  Another Monday Montage Blog Hop for you!  We are a group of ten stampers who love to share what we do.  And all you have to do to follow along is to click on the links at the bottom of each post.

I wanted to make a card of encouragement/thanks for a friend who just did an awesome job on something last week.  I know it wasn’t easy for her and was most likely a little scary, but she did an awesome job.  I immediately thought of a stamp in the Big News stamp set, which I knew would be perfect.

Awesomeness LimitI pulled out my stack of Pretty Petals dsp and selected three different patterns.  I then inked up my stamp with Calypso Coral, Mint Macaron, and Basic Black inks using my Stampin’ Write Markers, and stamped on some Very Vanilla card stock.  I cut out the image with a Lots of Labels framelit die.

Some punched out flowers, paper piercing, and black baker’s twine finished off the card.  It came together pretty quickly.

Awesomeness Limit Close Up

You’re ready to hop on over to Breelin Renwick’s blog.  I love visiting her site and seeing her creativity at work.  If your prefer to work your way backwards, you can hop over to Wendy Weixler’s beautiful blog.  Either way, be sure to work your way through all ten blogs.

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Enjoy your Monday!  Thanks for stopping by!

Botanicals Just for You — FMS216

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These Wednesdays are flying by!  I think every day flies by in December though.  And since we’re at another Wednesday, we have another sketch for you over at Freshly Made Sketches.  Take a look at what our our talented hostess, Rita Wright, has for us (I love the tilted panels on this sketch!):

I got a little distracted from my Christmas card to-do list yesterday.  I got a box full of pre-order goodies from the upcoming Occasions Spring catalog yesterday.  As a demonstrator, we get to order these products a month early — such a fun perk!  We also get to include Sale-a-Bration products as well, and I have to say that I love the offerings this year.  I also got my first box of Artisan goodies, so it was like Christmas yesterday opening both of these boxes.  As I sat and stared at all of these fun things, I must admit I felt quite overwhelmed.  I mean, where to start?  Which one to use first?  What a fun problem, huh!

The catalogs don’t go live until January 5, but here’s a sneak peek for you.  I ended up pulling out the Botanicals for You stamp set, which is a Sale-a-Bration offering.  I love the big, bold sentiment in this set.  And it has some cute companion sentiments as well, but I didn’t use those on this card.  One fun thing about this set is that it coordinates with a designer vellum stack, which is another Sale-a-Bration offering which I used on my card below.  It also coordinates with a fun bundle in the Occasions catalog.  So there are lots of ways to use this set.

botanicals just for youThe background dsp is from Botanical Gardens dsp, which will be available in the Occasions catalog.  I love the colors in it — Hello Honey, Mint Macaron, Cajun Craze, Mossy Meadow, Basic Black, and Old Olive.  The washi tape is also from the Occasions catalog and coordinates with the Botanical Gardens suite.

botanicals just for you close upWe hope you’ll take a little break from your Christmas preparations to make your own card with the sketch this week!  We love to look through the gallery.  You can go see what’s in there yourself and look at all of the design team’s creative work at the Freshly Made Sketches site.

Enjoy your Wednesday!  Thanks for stopping by!

 

20th Anniversary — FMS215

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It’s Wednesday, and that means it’s time for another sketch challenge over at Freshly Made Sketches.  And this week, the very talented Jen Mitchell is our hostess.  She always makes such beautiful clean cards.  This is what she has for us:

Banners make me think of celebrations, and my husband and I have a big something to celebrate today — our 20th wedding anniversary.  I know.  I know.  You’re thinking I couldn’t possibly be old enough to have been married for 20 years.  🙂  ha!  I have been very blessed to call this man my husband, and I needed to make a special card for him for this occasion.  Here is a picture of us on our wedding day.

wedding photo

Masculine cards are always so tough for me, and this one was no exception.  I quickly realized I am seriously lacking in the anniversary stamps department.  I think I need to remedy that!

I ended up using three different stamp sets.  I used the Perfect Pennants stamp set for the focal image on the banner.  I used the Project Life set, Day to Day, and the Crazy About You stamp set for the heart.  The colors used are Lost Lagoon, Smoky Slate, and black.

20th anniversaryI used some of the Everyday Chic dsp and colored in random hearts with a Lost Lagoon Stampin’ Write Marker.  A little strip of Black Glimmer Paper adds a little sparkle, but since it’s black I figured it was still manly.  🙂

20th anniversary close upWe hope you’ll join us and make your own card for this challenge.  Meanwhile, you should jump over to the Freshly Made Sketches site to see what the design team created.  That will definitely give you a boost of inspiration.

Enjoy your Wednesday!  Thanks for stopping by!

 

Presents under the Trees — Monday Montage #57

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Monday Montage Banner -- OctoberWelcome to another Monday Montage blog hop!  There are ten of us who love to share what we create, and all you have to do to follow along is click on the links at the bottom of each post.

Now that Thanksgiving is over, there is no denying that Christmas is quickly approaching. I just need to embrace it and dive right in, so I decided to make a Christmas card for today.

I pulled out my Peaceful Pines set and coordinating framelits because I have so much fun decorating these cute trees.   I went with a traditional colors scheme of red and green, more specifically — Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive and Mossy Meadow.  I also threw in some touches of gold because I have been a little obsessed with gold accents lately.

Trees with PresentsI started with a Crumb Cake card base and layered on a sheet of the Holidays Fancy Foil Designer Vellum.   Then I took a piece of Whisper White card stock and stamped some little stars and dots from the Holly Jolly Greetings stamp set with gold ink.  I added some gold thread and sequins and a fun Snowflake Element and Metal Rimmed Pearl.

I stamped the trees with Versamark ink and used clear and white Stampin’ Emboss Powder on Old Olive and Mossy Meadow card stock, and then cut them out with the Perfect Pines Framelits Dies.  The sentiment was cut with a Christmas Greetings Thinlit die from Red Glimmer Paper, and the “Christmas” is a stamp from the Holly Jolly Greetings set, which I embossed with Gold Embossing Powder.

Trees with Presents Close UpThis would not be a card I would want to mass produce, but it’s perfect to send to a special someone.

You’re ready to hop on over to Breelin Renwick’s blog for a huge dose of beautiful creativity.  If you prefer to work your way backwards, you can hop over to Wendy Weixler’s inspiring blog.  Either way, be sure to work your way through all ten links.

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When creating this card, I decided to play along with Sandy’s current challenge at The Paper Players.  I haven’t done that in a while, and they always have great challenges.

I went with the “Patterned Paper, Sparkle or Shine, and Tree” column.  Or I could say I went with the “Snowflake, Sparkle or Shine, and Punch or Die-Cut” diagonal.  Or how about the “White, Embossing, and Punch or Die-Cut” column.  Just call me indecisive!

Enjoy your Monday!  Thanks for stopping by!