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Freshly Made Sketches #135

Freshly Made Sketches #135 published on 8 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #135

FMS Final 135-001

So I’m apparently hitting that crazy time of the school year where there is too much to do and no time to do it.  Do you have that happen??  Please tell me it isn’t only me!!  Thank goodness Freshly Made Sketches and  the amazing Narelle Farrugia had the solution for one item on my list.  I needed a card for a family First Communion.  And fast!

FMS135 - Communion Cross

I pulled out a few retired/retiring items and threw in a few current to create this card.  Crosses of Hope is my go-to set for these events and it didn’t let me down here.  I used my Large Oval Punch and embossed an oval (cut with a retired die).  I thought the polka dots from Watercolor Wonder DSP set the right tone for a 2nd grade boy and tried to keep the card not too serious.  I Embosses the Smoky Slate panel with Decorative Dots (it carries over into the new catalog) and then added on some Chevron Ribbon.   I hope he liked the card!!

Next up, my own youngest son’s First Communion is this weekend so it is going to be busy, busy, busy around here.  I need to get a special card made for him too!  Hmmmm, I need more hours!!  Well, I hope your week is fantastic and full of fun things.  Make sure you hop right over and see what the design team has created for you this week.  As always….fabulous!!  Until I can get back to some more posting, have a great rest of your week!

Click HERE to purchase wonderful Stampin’ Up products.

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Freshly Made Sketches #134

Freshly Made Sketches #134 published on 12 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #134

FMS Final 134-001

Oh my, it is a rainy day here in Virginia!!!  You know what that means, right??  The perfect day for stamping!!  And we have the perfect sketch to get you going over at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  Karren Johnson is the sketch hostess this week and she has created a great one!

FMS134 - Medallion Thank You

My card might be subtitled “An Ode to Midnight Muse”.  This may, in fact, be the perfect blue.  Good thing I got to see a peek of the new In Colors on Monday.  That helped to ease the pain a bit.  *smile*  Ok.  This is a really quick and simple card.  If you want to see ‘not quick and simple’ make sure you check out the rest of the DT’s samples.  Because they are awesome.  But I was pressed for time on Monday when I made this because I had visions of a new catty dancing in my head and could not concentrate.  Surely you have had this happen!

So,  I pulled out the first circle stamp I saw and layered the Daydream Medallions images to make it look more like one image.  I added on a sentiment from Four You and flagged the ends of that panel using my Hexagon Punch.  It was a little too plain so I added on a few Basic Rhinestones.  Those add a bit more in person, I must say.  And that was that.  Off to the premier I went.  If you want to see a peek of a new stamp make sure you check out my last post. Because the stamp we got is super fun!

I hope your week is going well!  I’m heading off to stamp some projects for next month and maybe, just maybe, get a little more time to take in all the great stuff in the new catalog!  Thanks so much for stopping in!

Click HERE to purchase wonderful Stampin’ Up products.

Stamp: Daydream Medallions; Paper: Very Vanilla, Midnight Muse; Accessories: Hexagon Punch, Basic Rhinestones, Stamp-a-ma-jig

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Freshly Made Sketches #133

Freshly Made Sketches #133 published on 11 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #133

FMS Final 133-001

Another busy week is flying by!  I hope you have been enjoying yours.  We have another great sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  This one is courtesy of Cindy Lovell.   She is a fabulous stamper and I just love her work.

FMS133- Backyard Watercolor

I think this card should have the theme “old meets new”.  I added a few retiring items on here but also brought out a brand new product.  The stamp set Backyard Basics is on the cut list and I suspect it will sell out fast.  Get it while you can!  I just love this flower and wanted to color it.  So guess what I used??  The BRAND NEW Blendabilities.  These are alcohol based markers and are so fabulous!!  I got the upcoming color sets in my latest Artisan box and this is my first attempt at using them.  I have a lot to learn about this style of coloring but I’m already addicted!!  This uses the Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight and Old Olive Assortments.  Each color assortment comes with a light, medium and dark marker.  These will be available really soon….all in the new catalog!  To complete the sketch I used the Ovals Framelits to cut the largest scalloped oval and used the Square Lattice EF on it (also on the retiring list).  The ribbon is from last year’s Occasions Catalog and I had some hoarded away.

I hope you will join us for this fun challenge this week.  The team has some beautiful creations and I know you will love them all!

If you missed it, please make sure you go back to my post from last night because I have a BLOG CANDY GIVEAWAY!!!  All the details are there so go take a look.

So glad you stopped in today.  My boys are on spring break and I’m supposed to work some more this week.  Hoping to fit in some stamping too.  If so, I’ll be sure to share!  See you soon!

Click HERE to purchase wonderful Stampin’ Up products.

Stamp: Backyard Basics; Paper: Crumb Cake, Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White; Accessories: Big Shot, Ovals Framelits, Square Lattice TIEF, Two-Tone Ribbon, Blendabilities in Rich Razzleberry, Daffodil Delight and Old Olive, Vintage Faceted Button, Baker’s Twine

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Freshly Made Sketches #132

Freshly Made Sketches #132 published on 10 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #132

FMS Final 132-001

Another Wednesday is here so fast!  Where does the time go??  The amazing Jennifer Brum is bringing us the sketch this week and I think it is so fun!  There are so many ways to take this one.  The sure sign of a great sketch!

FMS132 - Lovely Thank You

I went back to another favorite from the main catalog for this one.  Hello, Lovely is such a great set.  Love those chevrons.  They seemed to be perfect for the sketch so I inked them up with some of the older In Colors plus Calypso Coral using markers.  Then I inked the oval in Calypso Coral again and cut it out with an Ovals Framelit.  Remember the old flower trim from last spring?  Well, I hoarded some of it.  It is so pretty that it just had to be used!  I colored it Gumball Green and put a doily behind everything.  The sentiment is from Happy Watercolor.  The base of the card and the oval are created using Naturals Ivory Card Stock.

I definitely went for a cleaner version of the sketch but the team has shown all kinds of ideas with it.  I hope you’ll be able to join us this week.

 

Click HERE to purchase wonderful Stampin’ Up products.

Stamp:  Happy Watercolor, Hello Lovely; Paper:  Naturals Ivory; Ink:  Calypso Coral, Gumball Green, Midnight Muse, Summer Starfruit; Accessories:  Flower Trim, Doily, Big Shot, Ovals Framelits

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Freshly Made Sketches #131

Freshly Made Sketches #131 published on 15 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #131

FMS Final 131-001

Cindy Hall is such a lovely person so it is no surprise that she has created a lovely sketch for us this week at Freshly Made Sketches!  This is one of those that has a bunch of interpretations and the team has created exactly that.  I love these ladies!

FMS131- Hello Dahlia

I thought I’d flip this one on its side to allow room for this pretty flower.  As we approach new catalog time, I’m starting to pull out some of my favorites from the current catalog.  Modern Medley DSP and Regarding Dahlias rank right at the top!!  Together they are so fun!  I usually seem to make this flower in some variation of red so I tried a change up today.  The Daffodil Delight looks great with the Black and Vanilla, don’t you think?  I stamped the flower three times and cut out the layers.  After they were cut, I took a marker around the edges for a little extra definition (make sure you come from the back and not the front to avoid stray marks).  Other than that, the card is pretty straight-forward.  The prints do all the work.  Love that!!

Busy week for me this week.  I hope you have enjoyed my Merry Monday card and my Artisan card…if you haven’t seen them, just roll down to take a look.  Take special note of a surprise coming in next week’s Artisan post.  I have a check ride for the remainder of the week (a flying test with United) so no more stamping for me.  But I’ll be back on Monday with another fun Christmas card!  Until then, so glad you dropped by and I’ll see you again soon.

Click HERE to purchase wonderful Stampin’ Up products.

Stamp:  Regarding Dahlias; Paper:  Very Vanilla, Modern Medley DSP, Daffodil Delight; Ink:  Daffodil Delight; Accessories:  Dimensionals

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Freshly Made Sketches #130

Freshly Made Sketches #130 published on 10 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #130

FMS Final 130-001

I have a theme this week apparently.  Spring!!  And Linda‘s fabulous sketch fit right in!!  I see another awesome week at Freshly Made Sketches.    Is is me or does this challenge get more fun every week??!!

FMS130 - Watercolor Spring

If you saw yesterday’s card, I used this same sentiment.  Yeah, I might be a little excited about spring really getting here!!  I love the pretty papers in Watercolor Wonder and thought it would be fun to make a card with a bright flower and neutrals on everything else.  Well, that DSP has it all!  I mimicked the dots from the DSP with the Decorative Dots EF (SAB).  The flower used the Pansy, Petite Petals and Boho Blossoms Punches.  I spritzed them with a little water then formed them over my Tombow and Crystal Effects caps to get the added dimension.

I have been busily working on my April projects.  I get to be a guest for a fun challenge this month (you’ll see more next week) and of course I have all the Artisan Design Team projects.  We’ll even have some blog candy coming up later this month on our Artisan Wednesday Wow posts!!

So, I hope it is starting to feel like spring where you are (or to cool off if you are in the southern hemisphere)!  I saw my first daffodil yesterday and that made me ready for more flowers!  Make sure you check out the wonderful work from the FMS team this week.  Another inspiring variety!!  Thanks for stopping in.  See you soon!

Click HERE to purchase wonderful Stampin’ Up products.

Stamp:  Springtime Hello; Paper:  Whisper White, Smoky Slate, Watercolor Wonder DSO; Ink:  Basic Gray; Accessories:  Pansy, Petite Petals and Boho Blossoms Punches, Big Shot, Decorative Dots EF (SAB), Neutrals Buttons, Baker’s Twine, Dimensionals

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Freshly Made Sketches #129

Freshly Made Sketches #129 published on 9 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #129

FMS Final 129-001

I’m always so happy when it is Wednesday.  Because Wednesdays are Freshly Made Sketches day!  Jen Mitchell is our hostess this week and she has such a fun sketch for us.  The team has shown all kinds of clever ways to use it so I know you’ll find it great to try!

FMS129 - Celebration Thank You

When Cindy Schuster created her adorable card for last week’s Artisan hop, I knew I wanted to use the technique with the fringed tissue.  Everything on this card but the stamp is from the Celebrations Add-On Kit from the Occasions Catalog.  Yes, it is intended to be an add on for the banners but I just needed to made it into a card!  I’m so in love with these prints and colors!  The papers are double sided so the Smoky Slate you see on the card is the back side of the Calypso Coral polka dots.  For the tissue, I cut it to length (there is a sticky strip already attached) and the filled my spritzer (in the kit) with regular old rubbing alcohol and Calypso Coral reinker.  Spritzed, let it dry a bit and then spritzed again.  Once the paper had dried (really, let it dry…I started too early), use the Fringe Scissors to cut the tissue.  It curls up like this on its own because of the coloring.  Cool!  The sentiment is from Simply Celebrate and fits perfectly on this tag piece.  I “destuck” the tag a bit by putting it on my jeans a few times and then used Dimensionals to pop it up.  I like the kit so much that I used it for another card today.  It will be a bit before I can post that one though.  *smile*

While I completely love all the kits that Stampin’ Up has been creating when they are used as advertised, I really love that they can be used in different ways.  It makes them even more of a deal!  And I love a deal!  Ok…time for you to check out the fabulousness from the design team.  There is so much to love!

Thanks so much for stopping in today.  If you missed it, please check out my post about Pinterest from last week.  Links to the Freshly Made Sketches Team page and other info too!  See you again soon!

Click HERE to purchase wonderful Stampin’ Up products.

Stamp:  Simply Celebrate; Paper:  Whisper White; Ink:  Calypso Coral; Accessories:  Calypso Coral Celebration Add-on Kit, Dimensionals, Fringe Scissors

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Did you know? – Pinterest edition

Did you know? – Pinterest edition published on 7 Comments on Did you know? – Pinterest edition

So I thought it would be fun to do a series of posts on the subject “Did you know?”.  I hope you think it is a good idea too.  For today’s post I don’t have a card, exactly, to share with you.  I actually have a whole lot of cards (and other things) to share instead.  Pinterest.  Are you a pinner?  Do you love it for inspiration?  Or recipes?  Ok…I’m digressing.  Pinterest seems to do that to me.

I wanted to make sure that you are aware of all the ways I personally use Pinterest to share my projects.  Sometimes it can be overwhelming to go back through someone’s blog to find a specific project and a Pinterest page can really shorten the search!  Did you know that I have a Pinterest page where I pin all of my projects?  I do!  Just click on the blog header below to check it out!

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All you have to do is scroll through to see what I have made since I started pinning.  When you click on the picture, it will take you directly back to the post for more details.

Now…did you know that the 2013 Artisan Design Team has a Pinterest page?  Oh yes we do!  After our Artisan Wednesday Wow posts go up, we each pin our projects there.  Again, an easy way to see all that we do and then link directly back to the posts for details.  Want to see??  Click on the ticket below (this is also linked in my side bar).

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When the Artisan team did all of our Leadership projects, we decided that it would be good to have a specific place to pin them.  So….we created a new page.  Click on the pennant to see.

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Finally, I’d be remiss if I left out my favorite challenge site Freshly Made Sketches.  The design team posts their projects and we also link in the sketches.  Because the sketches are linked back to the challenge post itself, it is a great way to find lots of inspiration FAST!

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I hope this doesn’t feel like too much shameless self-promotion, lol.  Really I just love sharing with you all and I know that it is easy to get behind on reading blogs.  I hope that this makes it easier for you to find my creations and those of the amazing stampers I’m privileged to stamp with on the Artisan Team and the FMS team.

Let me know if you found this helpful.  I’d love to hear your feedback!  If you have any questions that you’d like answered in a future “Did you know?”, be sure to drop me a note.

So…I didn’t get as much stamping time as I had hoped yesterday.  But maybe just a little more today.  I have some more fun things coming up in April so trying to get those ready for you!  So glad you stopped in today.  I appreciate you sharing part of your day with me!  Have a great weekend!

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Freshly Made Sketches #128

Freshly Made Sketches #128 published on 8 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #128

FMS Final 128-001

Do you love a go-to sketch?  Yep, me too.  The sweet and talented Rita Wright has given us one of those this week at Freshly Made Sketches.  There are so many ways to interpret this one….you’ll see that from the design team.  That is when you know you have a great sketch!

FMS128 - Watercolor TulipsI thought I would go in an unexpected direction for this card and not put DSP in the bottom half of the focal panel.  Instead I colored the background and used vellum as the crossing panel.  Hard to believe I missed the chance to tie on a big bow, isn’t it?!!  Believe me I tried.  Just didn’t work with the watercoloring.  This stamp is from the Occasions set Blessed Easter.  I actually cut apart the words from the image when mounting it so that I could use each separately.  This allowed me to ink up the flowers using Stazon Black and watercolor.  I used my Aquapainter along with Soft Sky, Pool Party, Old Olive and Crumb Cake inks for the background.  For the flowers I used the Blender Pen and Daffodil Delight, Primrose Petals and Old Olive.  The sentiment is from Watercolor Wonder and it is stamped onto the White Vellum.  A black button tied with thread was my final solution to finish the sketch.

As always, the team has created a cool variety of cards and you will love them!  Don’t forget to tell Rita how much you love this one and join us in the gallery!

This week seems to be flying by already.  If you missed my previous post with my spring baskets, make sure you check them out.  I think they might be one of my favorite things I’ve ever made.  Hoping to be back on Friday if I get some extra stamping time.  Until then, so glad you dropped by.  See you soon!

Click HERE to purchase wonderful Stampin’ Up products.

Stamp:  Blessed Easter, Watercolor Wonder; Paper:  Watercolor, Basic Gray, Crumb Cake, White Vellum; Ink:  Stazon Black, Soft Sky, Pool Party, Old Olive, Crumb Cake, Daffodil Delight, Primrose Petals; Accessories:  Aquapainter, Blender Pen, Neutrals Buttons, Thread, Dimensionals

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Freshly Made Sketches #127

Freshly Made Sketches #127 published on 10 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #127

FMS Final 127-001

 

Another Wednesday already?? Well, it really is one of my favorite days of the week!  I am lucky enough to be the hostess for this week’s sketch and I hope that you like this one.  I have a confession to make.  I was struggling and playing with sketches (none of which I liked) when I went searching for inspiration.  Do you do that??  It didn’t take me long to find it because it was in a swap I did at last year’s Stampin’ Up Convention.  We did a swap with all of the Artisan Design Team Finalists (yes….that was an incredible swap) and Concept Artist Melody Hyde joined in.  Melody works at the SU Home Office creating the inspiration for catalogs, Stampin’ Success (the demo magazine) and SU Corporate Blog posts. (Julie shows a picture of Melody’s design here – it was used for a Founder’s Circle project)

FMS127 - How Old

I thought that the vertical Word Bubble Framelit and coordinating stamp from Just Sayin’ would perfect for the sketch. Combining them with the bright and happy Kaleidescope DSP give this a fun and modern feel.  Rounding the corners is an easy way to add character to your card with no actual work.  It is particularly easy when you used the Envelope Punch Board’s rounder punch.  I cut the Strawberry Slush print to the same size as the front of a Whisper White Note Card then used the corner rounder to round all the corners on both.  Not surprisingly, the rounder matches the corners on the Word Bubble Framelit.  LOVE that!  I did the same to the Bermuda Bay print then started popping everything up on Dimensionals.  The stamp uses Stazon Black Ink.  A few buttons tied with Baker’s Twine (from the Tag a Bag Accessory Kit) and I’m done.  Admittedly, you have to find someone with the right sense of humor about birthdays for this one, but it just makes me chuckle.  Perfect for “significant” birthdays especially.

The team has done some wonderful work with this one and you are going to love what they created.  Hope you enjoy playing along too!

See you on Friday with a post showing a fun series of stepped up cards.  Until then, I’m so glad you stopped by.  See you soon!

Click HERE to purchase wonderful Stampin’ Up products.

Stamp:  Just Sayin’; Paper:  Kaleidescope DSP, Whisper White, Whisper White Note Cards and Envelopes; Ink:  Stazon Black; Accessories:  Big Shot, Word Bubbles Framelits, Buttons, Tag a Bag Accessory Kit (for the Baker’s Twine), Dimensionals

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