It's my turn to be the hostess at Freshly Made Sketches this week and I went with my favorite kind of card design...a square one!  I don't know why I love them so much but I do!

It's a very special day today!  At Freshly Made Sketches we are celebrating our 700th sketch challenge!  I can hardly believe it!  The challenge debuted on September 7, 2011 and here we are nearly 14 years later, and we're still at it!

To commemorate the event we are resurrecting our Sketch #14 - for 14 years - and I'm going to show you not only my redux of the card I made with that sketch, but my original one, AND the first card that I made for our debut!  So here goes!

Here's my new card.  My original one was a Christmas card so I decided to make another for this challenge...plus it doesn't hurt to add to my Christmas card stash.  Lord knows I don't create anywhere near the volume that I used to so every card helps. 😉 This is one of my favorite poinsettia dies and I love how it looks in the deep red of SU! Cherry Cobbler.

This is the card I made for the original #14 challenge which was from December 7, 2011.  I remember at the time I was enamored of making wreaths by stamping a small snowflake stamp over and over again in a circle until it resembled a wreath.  Add some small hand -drawn circles to resemble berries, some gorgeous patterned paper and a pretty bow, and I had a lovely Christmas card!

And if you'll indulge me for just a moment I want to show you the card that I made for our inaugural sketch.  I was really into patterned paper in those days and I still love how it can enliven a card.  I also used to do quite a bit of stitching on my cards too...still have my Janome mini so maybe I should try that some more!

A lot has changed these last 14 years.  I've got more wrinkles, don't craft nearly as much as I want to, but I still love the joy of creating something lovely.  I'm incredibly lucky to be a part of the Freshly Made Sketches team and I'm grateful that they put up with my long absences. 😝 I'm happy to know that our team inspires each and every one of you each week to create something that you love.  After all, that's what this crafty journey is all about!

Thanks for stopping by!  And once again, our Freshly Made Sketches design team has got some wonderful cards to, once again, inspire you to play along with us. 

Supplies
Paper:  Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive, Very Vanilla, Jolly Holiday, Silver Glimmer (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories:  Stitched Mini Scallop Square die (My Favorite Things); Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box); brads (Stampin' Up!)

Hi friends!  It's my turn to be the sketch hostess this week at Freshly Made Sketches and I think I went a bit old-school with a multi-layered design.  I was feeling a little nostalgic for some patterned paper so that's what lead to this particular sketch design.

And even though spring is here and the flowers are blooming where I live, I settled on a Christmas card this week.  Gotta add those to my stash!  

Thanks for stopping by!  Our always amazing Freshly Made Sketches design team have made some fantastic cards this week!

Supplies:
Paper:  Whisper White, Soft Suede, Christmas Cocoa (Stampin' Up!)
Stamps:  Spruce & Sprigs (Papertrey Ink); Joy Stamp (The Stamp Market)
Ink:  Cloudy Sky, Crimson, Evergreen, Mocha, Almond Butter, Moss (Altenew); Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Scallop Border die (The Stamps of Life); Spruce & Sprigs die (Papertrey Ink)

It's my turn to be the sketch hostess at Freshly Made Sketches and I think I came up with a sketch that has lots of room for interpretation.  Rectangles?  Who cares.  Triangles?  Boring.  The sketch is merely a prompt for you to unleash your creativity.  I can't wait to see what you create!

I, however, did modified triangles in the form of some slim trees. 😉

When I sat down at my desk to turn the sketch into a card I had a vague idea to use some triangular shaped trees, but honestly didn't know exactly how this design was going to go.  Then I looked through my stash of stamps and found these trees already stamped and in the colors that I needed!  Once I had all of those, this card went together pretty quickly. Some pearlescent snowflakes in the background, a bit of colorful paper, and some twine for added texture and my little Christmas card was born!

I've been absent from the Freshly Made Sketches blog for quite a bit this year because my work/life balance is out of whack.  But it felt good to make this card and take back my craft room from my kitties!  They had the last laugh, though, because I used a stencil for the falling snow and when I peeled it back from the card there was a big blob of cat fur stuck to the embossing paste!  

Thanks for visiting and a special thanks to my teammates at Freshly Made Sketches who have been graciously putting up with my absence for many months. 😘 🩷

Supplies
Stamps:  Peaceful Forest (Ink to Paper); Jingle All the Way (Technique Tuesday)
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Merry Moments DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Falling Snow stencil (Simon Says Stamp); Pearlescent embossing paste (Dreamweaver) jute twine

Our newest challenge at Freshly Made Sketches comes to us from Kim.  Her sketch just called out to me to use up some of the patterned paper in my stash.

This particular patterned paper that I used is a favorite of mine for Christmas cards because of the earthy colors.  The rich greens and dark reds are perfect together and look great with my favorite Christmas flower:  the poinsettia.  I accented the earthy tones of this card with some leaves in brushed gold cardstock.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you have a chance to play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches!

Supplies
Stamps:  Signature Christmas (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, Brushed Gold, Deck the Halls DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box)

We've got a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Our hostess is Jen Timko and her sketch put me in mind of some snowflakes.  I haven't seen many of those flying around this winter (fine by me) but I have no problem adding them to a card.

This card is pretty big - six-inches by six-inches but I needed it to accommodate the snowflakes.  The snowflakes are a mix of silver shimmer ink and glitter cardstock. So pretty in real life!  Thanks for stopping by. 

Supplies
Stamps:  Bizzard Hugs (The Ton)
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah); silver foil (Recollections)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine); Silvery Shimmer (Delicata)
Accessories:  Blizzard Hugs dies (The Ton)

It's our first sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches in 2024 and despite the holidays being behind me I went with a Christmas card!

Narelle is our hostess this week and using her sketch I chose to do three Christmas trees for the main focal point on my card.  The trees were foiled in gold and in true fashion, are nearly impossible for me to photograph properly.  The tree on the right looks gold, but the others look like......something less than gold.  

One thing I learned in 2023 was that I didn't have enough Christmas cards made 😳 so I'm starting early this year!

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches design team members have some amazing cards using this sketch so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Fa La La (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Real Red, Whispher White, Christmas Cocoa DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Geometric Trees foil plate (Trinity Stamps)

We've got a fun new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess and sketch designer this week is Amy.  I discovered I'm a bit low on my Christmas cards this year 😳 so I took the opportunity to use the sketch to add to my Christmas card stash.  Gotta get those cards in the mail!

The colors of my card were inspired by the Christmas Card Throwdown challenge.  

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches have made some fantastic cards with this sketch so be sure to check them out!

Supplies
Paper:  Concord Crush, Champagne Glimmer, Lap of Luxury DSP (Stampin' Up!); Silver Foil (Recollections)
Accessories:  Snowflake Cluster Fancy Die (Hero Arts); cold cord (Stampin' Up!)

I'm continuing a mad dash of making enough Christmas cards to mail to friends and family and this week's Freshly Made Sketches provided a great layout.  Our hostess this week is Karren and many thanks to her because the circle on the sketch was a poinsettia no-brainer for me!  We are also joined this week by guest designer Nancy Leppek, one of our 600th sketch challenge winners.  

We've got another fun sketch challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our hostess is Linda and her sketch got me thinking about layering some patterned paper and making a Christmas card.

I'm the hostess this week at Freshly Made Sketches...insert nail biting here.  I went with a layered design -not something I usually do.  But I like to challenge myself.  I hope you do too!

I'm at the point in the year when I start to worry that I don't have enough Christmas cards in my stash so that's my main focus when I make a new card.  This card uses a pretty plaid with gold and silver accents.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Paper:  Night of Navy, Gold Foil, Wrapped in Plaid (Stampin' Up!); vellum (Graphix); Christmas Overlay (Marisa Lerin);
Accessories:  Tag Sale #5 die (Papertrey Ink); RyLynn snowflake die (Simon Says Stamp); Let it Snowflake Too die (My Favorite Things); Metallic Gold Rhinestone (Pretty Pink Posh); Shine Gold Twine Cording (Maya Road)

At Freshly Made Sketches this week our sketch is designed by Judy and we are joined by a new guest designer, Donna Mikasa, who was one of our 600th sketch challenge winners!  Check out the fun sketch!

The proportions of my card is a little off from the sketch 😬 but this card was born out of the scrap heap!  I had this panel with the pinecones hanging around on my desk for a while.  I had made it for a card that ended up not being made (!) and thought it might work nicely for this sketch.  I wanted the background to be bold so I used a dark indigo for the card base and layered on some nice tartan paper too.  There are lots of gold accents too!

Thanks for stopping by!  Of course, the Freshly Made Sketches design team has some fabbo cards to share with you, so I hope you check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Stained Glass Greetings (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Dark Indigo (Papertrey Ink); Gold Foil, Whisper White, Wrapped in Plaid DSP, Champagne Glimmer (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Dark Indigo (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:  Classic Pine stencil (Altenew); Peace Jotted Script die (Memory Box)

It's Wednesday so that means we've got a new challenge for you at Freshly Made Sketches.  Our hostess this week is Narelle.  She's given us a fun sketch with three circles (three of anything is my fave 😂 - just kidding).  But I'm always up for a challenge!  We're also joined this week by another guest designer from our 600th challenge-palooza - Claire!

This was the second card I made for this challenge.  The first one had pretty flowers but they were from a stencil and were too far apart to be believable for the sketch so I had to do some re-thinking.  I thought it would be a fun interpretation of the sketch to use chunky letters that spelled out "JOY" so that's what I did.  I cut them from gold foil and layered them on top of some holiday-themed patterned paper.  I thought the patterned paper was a bit too bright for the look I wanted, so I added a vellum layer over it to soften it up a bit.

Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to check out the inspiration from the Freshly Made Sketches design team!

Supplies
Stamps:  Peace Love Joy (Right at Home)
Paper:  Pretty Peacock, Gold Foil (Stampin' Up!); Vellum (Graphix); Snow Village (Pink Paislee)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Joy die (Pinkfresh Studio)

It took me a bit longer than I wanted, but I finally got my Freshly Made Sketches card done!  Special thanks to my Freshly Made Sketches teammates for putting up with my delays!  Our hostess and sketch designer this week is Karren and her sketch immediately put me in mind of a Christmas card with one of my go-to design elements:  a poinsettia.  We are also joined this week by Cindy Beach - one of our 600th sketch celebration winners.

The circle on the sketch became a poinsettia framed with a circular die cut of tiny dots.  Once that design element was done the trouble started.  I wanted to use white ribbon for the horizontal layer so I started rummaging through my extensive ribbon stash for white ribbon.  I came up empty!  I must have used it all up!  Then, by some miracle, I found a small scrap of white satin ribbon hiding under the eight million rolls of other ribbon that I've got....and it was the perfect length!  It became my horizontal layer and I put a sparkly die-cut sentiment on top of it!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you check out my fellow Freshly Made Sketches design teammates cards, because they will inspire you for sure to play along with us!

Supplies
Paper:  Kraft (Papertrey Ink); Solar White (Neenah); Champagne Glimmer (Stampin' Up!);velour paper (Hygloss)
Accessories:  Circles die (Little B); Blooming Poinsettias die, Peace Jotted Script die (Memory Box); satin ribbon (Stampin' Up!)

We've got a great new sketch for you at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Our hostess is Jen Brum and her design incorporates three circles.  Well documented here - three of anything gives me the heebie-jeebies!  I have no idea why, it just does!  But her design is perfect for these ho-ho-ho die cuts.  So I cut them from some sparkly red paper and layered them on top of some really old-school holiday paper from Stampin' Up!

After I made this card I realized there are a few things I would change about it!  But it's my Mona Lisa this week and I've already moved on to the next card!  Even still it's full of sparkly goodness!

Thanks for stopping by!  My fellow Freshly Made Sketches design team members have sone amazing cards to show you, so check them out!  

Supplies
Paper:  Old Olive, Holiday Treasures DSP (Stampin' Up!); Foil Paper (Recollections)
Accessories:  Ho Ho Ho die (My Favorite Things); Festive Mix enamel dots (Studio Katia)

I've really been into making Christmas cards lately.  I don't know if it's the "Christmas in July" phenomena or just general panic that I'll end up short at the end of the year!  But another Christmas card is on tap for our new challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  Amy is our hostess and I think her layered design called for some patterned paper in the background.

Poinsettias are one of my favorite elements to use on a Christmas card and I paired one with this patterned paper that combines SU! Crumb Cake, Always Artichoke, and Cherry Cobbler.  The poinsettia and leaves were die cut using two of the same colors and I jazzed the card up a bit with some gold glimmer on the die cut sentiment and the center of the flower.  The "peace" sentiment is intended to replicate the rectangular layer on the sketch and I was able to tuck in a complementary sentiment next to the tail of the "P."  

Thanks for stopping by!  

Supplies
Stamps:  Stained Glass Greetings (Simon Says Stamp)
Paper:  Crumb Cake, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke (Stampin' Up!); gold glimmer (Recollections)
Ink:  Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Blooming Poinsettia die, Peace die (Memory Box)

I've got Christmas on my mind again for my Freshly Made Sketches card.  Karren has given us a great sketch inspired by a "bridge" card and I'm not ashamed to say I had no idea what a bridge card was!  Luckily the sketch can be interpreted in other ways, but I was intrigued by the concept so I watched the video link on Freshly Made Sketches and loved the idea!  I can't wait to try my own variation of a bridge card!  Here's how I interpreted the sketch.

This funky Christmas paper formed the background of my card and inspired the gold snowflake swoosh.  I stamped the slim sentiment in gold and added some golden gems for a little added bling.

Thanks for stopping by!  Our Freshly Made Sketches design team have some marvelous interpretations of this sketch so definitely check them out!

Supplies
Stamps:  Triangle Trees (Reverse Confetti)
Paper:  Whisper White, Sahara Sand, Holiday Lounge DSP (Stampin' Up!)
Ink:  Gold (Encore)
Accessories:  Snowflake Cluster Fancy Die (Hero Arts); metallic gold jewels (Pretty Pink Posh)

A busy work schedule last week caused me to miss last week's challenge at Freshly Made Sketches, so I was determined to not miss this weeks sketch.  Our hostess is Cécile and her sketch is so fun!

I sponged the circle and added the star, in keeping with the Christmas theme, and stamped the "wise men" in silhouette.  (Although I think the one on the right is a female (Mary) accepting a gift from the magi).  The sentiment, tucked in perfectly.

As this is a one layer card and pretty simple in nature I'm going to add it to Less is More!

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope we'll see you in the Freshly Made Sketches gallery!

Supplies
Stamps:  Three Kings (Penny Black); Star of Light (Stampin' Up!)
Paper:  Bristol Smooth
Ink:  Fossilized Amber, Wild Honey (Distress Oxide); Onyx Black (Versafine); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)

Hi stamping friends!  Today at Freshly Made Sketches we've got a challenge for you designed by Karren and, no surprise, it's a great one!  It's now March and I don't think I've made a Christmas card in a while so I thought I'd better add one to my stash.  This sketch gave me the inspiration I needed.

I recently discovered flocked (or velour) paper and I bought a paper pack recently.  It came in handy for the poinsettia on my card.  Look, what gorgeous texture it adds!  I added some leaves in a shimmery vellum, some enamel dots for texture, and the vertical strip of patterned paper for some extra interest.  The colors I chose were inspired by the Cupcake Inspiration Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!  As usual my fellow Freshly Made Sketches design team members have made some amazing cards to inspire you to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps:  Signature Christmas (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  White Linen (Essentials by Ellen); Pool Party, Blushing Bride, Twitterpated DSP (Stampin' Up!); vellum (Graphix); velour paper (Hygloss)
Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine)
Accessories:  Blooming Poinsettia die (Memory Box); enamel dots (Studio Calico)

Welcome back to a new year of challenges from Freshly Made Sketches!  This week our favorite Texan, Amy, is our hostess and she's cooked up a beauty for us!

This card was a topsy-turvy journey for me!  My first card idea involved layers and flowers.  But the colors were wrong, the flowers were wrong, the layers were wrong, so I scrapped it.  Then I remembered these bow images and thought I could stamp them and draw vertical lines to each one so that they seemed to be dangling.  To accommodate the rest of the sketch I drew in a rectangle design and tucked in a sentiment on the vertical side.

I do love a one-layer design and some go together for me easier than others.  Despite my early troubles, this one ended up being perfect to my eyes!

Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to check out the amazing cards that our Freshly Made Sketches design team has made to inspire you to play along with us!

Supplies
Stamps: Holiday Bows (The Ton); Holiday Message (Mama Elephant)
Paper:  Whisper White (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: Rubellite, Teal Cave, Starlight (Altenew); Nocturne (Versafine Clair)