So the wonderful Karren  has created her very first sketch for us this week at Freshly Made Sketches.  This is a really great sketch, don’t you think?

When I created this card, I had hit the point where I was decidedly over winter weather.  I actually like a good snow every now and then but we have had too many weather days and the boys have lost a lot of school days.  I needed a little spring so I created it!  Using these pretty flowers from Simple Stems and the print/colors from Kaleidescope DSP, I thought it would be fun to create a stamped panel with popped up flowers.  I hand cut the flowers (there is a framelit but it doesn’t go with all the flowers I chose) and put them on Dimensionals.  The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes…just the perfect size for the panel!

Ok, short and sweet this morning.  If you missed it, don’t forget to check out yesterday’s card and the blog candy!

Back on Friday with another Leadership project.  Until then, hope your day is great!

Click HERE to purchase wonderful Stampin’ Up products.

 

Well the Freshly Made Sketches gallery from last week blew me away and I have a feeling this week will be the same.  The lovely Jen Brum has created this fun sketch for us to use and I love it!

Ok, so where Jen sees circles, I see triangles.  Using the Triangle Punch and the Fresh Prints DSP stack made this so fun to put together.  I just randomly chose some patterns I like and popped out the triangles.  I thought this cute little sentiment from Hip Notes was perfect for the feel of the card (and I needed a card for my awesome nephew).  I stamped in Real Red ink and then put the triangles up on Dimensionals.  I used some Baker’s Twine from the Tag a Bag Accessory Kit and tied it onto a Cherry Cobbler button (which goes wonderfully with the Real Red in the DSP).  The layer got Coastal Cabana “frame” and then that panel went up on Dimensionals to attach it to the Real Red base.  On the inside I used the “Hooray for today” sentiment from Sale-a-bration.

I’m guessing you know what I will say.  But yes, the design team has rocked this sketch and you need to get right over to check out their work.  Make sure you play along and let Jen B know how much you love the sketch!

I’ll be back on Friday with another one of my Leadership display projects.  Until then, I hope your week is wonderful!  Thanks so much for stopping in!

Click HERE to purchase wonderful Stampin’ Up products.

 

Just take a look at this fantastic sketch from Freshly Made Sketches this week!  A classic look with loads of possibilities from the wonderful Cindy Hall.  I knew what I wanted to make the minute I saw it…and I love a sketch where that happens!

 

So I got this awesome set, Simple Stems, from the Occasions Catalog and it is so fantastic.  Kind of a “build a flower” set.  I stamped the flower top in Strawberry Slush and the stem in Pear Pizzazz.  The sentiment is from the hostess set Express Yourself and I love that pretty font.  I pulled out some paper from Gingham Garden DSP and it seemed so spring-like.  Perfect to improve my attitude about all the winter yuck we’ve been having!!  After I had everything together I thought it still needed a little something.  You KNOW that my go-to solution was ribbon of some kind but as I was sifting through, I came across this little paper clip with a bow on it.  It is the Simply Styled Embellishment that was in the Holiday Catalog.  It seemed to be just what I was looking for.  Still have some left from your holiday cards??  Just pull them out and use them for spring!

The team over at Freshly Made Sketches has some fantastic inspiration for you (I know…they always do!).  Make sure you hop over and check out their work.  I hope you’ll play along too!

Back tomorrow with another project from the Leadership Display Boards.  Until then, so glad that you dropped by.  See you soon!

Click HERE to purchase wonderful Stampin’ Up products.

 

I know what you are thinking already.  What an awesome sketch we have this week at Freshly Made Sketches!!  Yep…I could not agree more.  The amazing Linda Callahan has given us this uber trendy looking design and the team has created some amazing projects!

A sketch like this tends to make my imagination run a bit and I just decided it was ok to run with it.  Something about the Essentials Wooden Elements just seemed like a perfect fit.  These little things are crazy cool and I had such fun with them.  So what can you do with them?  Apparently just about anything.  I colored the heart with my Real Red Stampin’ Write Marker.  Then I colored the starburst with a Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker and cut out a coordinating shape with the Starburst Framelits out of Polka Dot Parade DSP to layer on.  Finally I applied some Multipurpose Adhesive to the arrow and loaded on some Silver Stampin’ Glitter.  The background paper is from Kaleidescope DSP and the little xoxo is from the Circle Card Thinlits.

Those of you who hopped over from the challenge may notice that I have a new look to my blog but I know my email subscribers may not have seen it yet.  I’d love to hear what you think so just click on over and let me know.  I designed it (and my shopping and signature buttons) using My Digital Studio.  It is so fun to be able to change up the look when I feel like it!!

The team has some fun stuff to show you this week and I’m certain the gallery is going to have a fabulous flair to it!  Hope you’ll be able to join in this week.

I’m taking tomorrow off (out flying today) so I’ll be back on Friday with some more from my Leadership Display work.  Hope your day is fantastic!

Click HERE to purchase wonderful Stampin’ Up products.

Happy Wednesday to you!  It is one of the most wonderful stamping days of the week because there is a new challenge from Freshly Made Sketches!   The lovely Rita Wright has given us an amazing layout and I know the gallery is going to be full of gorgeous creations again this week.

As with yesterday’s card, I chose to combine the super cool Retro Fresh DSP and the Just Sayin’/Word Bubbles Framelit combination.  They really do work well together!  I have always been such a fan of DSP mostly because it does so much of the designing for you.  This new set of papers from the Occasions Mini combines trendy prints with great colors and I am having such fun using it!  All I had to do was pull the Tangerine Tango and Coastal Cabana colors from the paper for the stamp.  The phrase is from Just Sayin’ and I inked it with Stampin’ Write Markers then cut it out using my Big Shot and the Word Bubbles Framelits.  The layered banner is easy to create too.  Just cut two of the same sized banners using the Banners Framelits using a print and the framing color (in my case Soft Suede).  I trimmed 1/16″ off of either side of the printed banner and the same off the top to create the perfect layering.  So easy!!  A few coordinating buttons tied with Linen Thread and done!

This is another card that could be used for men or women and also for a number of occasions.  The perfect card for my stash!  I hope that you enjoy playing with us this week and I am certain you will love what the whole Design Team has made.

I’ll be back tomorrow with another of my projects from the Leadership Display Boards.  Until then, I’m so glad you stopped in!

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I’m back with the latest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.  Our new designer Cindy Lovell has designed her very first sketch and it is so cool!  Playing with the angles is a challenge at first but the results are so fun!

 

I continued on with my gold theme from yesterday’s post for this one.  Let’s face it, gold is incredibly trendy and I’m pretty happy that Stampin’ Up has so many “toys” to play with in this great metallic.  I used the Fancy Foil Vellum and backed it with the Gold Foil and I love the two together.  Attaching vellum can always be a challenge since you want to conceal the adhesive.  The Fancy Foil allows you to hide it behind stripes (and dots and hearts) which makes it pretty easy to use.  Now, I went a step further and actually sewed it on but this is completely makable without the machine.  I added on a butterfly from Beautiful Butterflies cut from the foil then stamped and embossed a regular White Vellum sheet with the sentiment from Regarding Dahlias (stamped in Gold Encore and embossed with Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder).  I added a little bit of the new  Gold Sequin Trim to the butterfly to fancy him up.  The whole whole thing is attached to a White Vellum card base.

I am really excited to see what you will come up with for this sketch.  The design team has such a variety of amazing cards and it is fun to see the different interpretations!

If you missed it, I started posting my projects for the Leadership Display Boards on Monday.  I will be back tomorrow and Friday with some more!  Can’t wait to show you!  Until then, thanks so much for stopping by and I look forward to see you soon!

Stamp:  Regarding Dahlias; Paper:  Fancy Foil Gold, Gold Foil, White Vellum Card Stock; Ink:  Gold Encore; Accessories:  Big Shot, Beautiful Butterflies Die, Gold Sequin Trim, Heat Tool, Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder, Glue Dots

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Freshly Made Sketches is off and running with our new challenges for the new year.  The extraordinary Jen Mitchell is our sketch hostess this week and this one should have everyone playing along!  We also have the privilege of welcoming a new Design Team member this week!  Karren Johnson has been a gallery favorite for a long time and we are thrilled she will be joining us to inspire you.

I’m continuing on with my Retro Fresh theme of the week.  Make sure you check out yesterday’s card (it is one of my favorites in a while and has Sale-a-bration peeks).  I love that this DSP can take on a more masculine flair.  I thought the sketch made it perfect to show you the new Starburst Sayings stamp set and its matching Starburst Framelits.  They are so awesome!!  This stamp particularly is so great since it can be used for so many occasions (birthday, promotion, graduation).  Yep, I think a stack of these in varying colors/DSPs will be added to my stash for those times when I need a last minute card.

The team obviously recharged their creative batteries because the DT samples this week are so fantastic!  I know you will love them too so make sure you go on over and take a look.

Starting next Monday, I will begin sharing projects I made for Stampin’ Up’s Leadership Conference.  I can’t wait to show you all that I was working on at the end of November!  Until then…have a great rest of your week!

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How can it be that this is the last Freshly Made Sketches challenge of the year?!  The time has flown by!  This amazing sketch is courtesy of the lovely and talented Amy O’Neill.  I think everything she makes is extraordinary so it is no surprise that this sketch is too.  We will have this challenge open for longer than the usual time and it will not close out until January 6th.  The team will be taking the holidays off but I hope that means you will have plenty of time to play along.

I pulled out some new things to play with for this one.  First of all, the new Occasions Catalog has Banner Framelits.  Oh yeah!!  Two of the sizes here are the smallest ones and the range up to some nice big banners.  Love them!  I paired the framelits with some new DSP called Retro Fresh.  Some fun colors and prints, don’t you think?  Finally I just had to show you the new Essentials Wooden Elements.  These are so on trend and easy to use.  I just stamped right on the wood with a sentiment from Six-Sided Sampler.  I added some watermarks with the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set and used the Coastal Cabana Ruffled Ribbon to complete the sketch.  This came together fast because it had to!  I’m still making Christmas cards (yes, yes…I know) and hoping to have most of them in the mail by tomorrow.  We’ll see….

Ok, so these new things will be available on January 3rd (yippee!!) and I’m happy to answer any questions you have about them.  Now I have one more piece of news.  This is the last week that design team member Linda Suarez will be with us.  She has some fun plans for the new year!  I am always inspired by Linda’s work and I will personally miss seeing her FMS cards.  A special thank you to her for all that she has done for our team.  Make sure you drop by and give her a good send off!

I’m so glad you stopped in today.  I really appreciate you coming over and I look forward to seeing you again soon!  Have a great week!

Stamps:  Six-Sided Sampler, Gorgeous Grunge; Paper:  Retro Fresh DSP, Coastal Cabana, Baked Brown Sugar; Ink:  Baked Brown Sugar; Accessories:  Big Shot, Banners Framelits, Essentials Wooden Elements, Coastal Cabana Ruffled Ribbon, Sticky Strip, Dimensionals

Click HERE to shop my Stampin’ Up Store.  Make sure you check out this week’s specials!

For all of you in the US, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!  Mine was nice and quiet and I actually got to spend it with friends and family here in Virginia.  I was on call for United but the phone didn’t ring.  A holiday blessing for sure!  I can’t believe that we are already into December.  I have so many Christmas cards left to make! I’m hoping I can use this sketch from Freshly Made Sketches to help me out.  I am the sketch hostess this week and I left it clean and basic…you can add as much or little as you want!

So here I am needing Christmas cards but did I make one…of course not!  Do you do that too?  Well, I was simply too distracted by NEW products from Stampin’ Up that were still sitting on my table.  Still, you ask??  While these just became available on Dec. 1st for SU demonstrators (and available to everyone on Jan. 3rd), I have had them for few weeks.  I told you I have been creating and this a little of what I got to use!  The stamp set is called Geometrical and it has the triangles plus this sentiment (and others).  Cute, huh?!  The Bermuda Bay print is from the new Kaleidescope DSP.  These are all available in the upcoming Spring Catalog.  I added an edge to the borders around the DSP with the Tiny Wave blade on the Rotary Addition to the Stampin’ Trimmer.  All I needed was a few buttons to finish the card.  The button colors were pulled from the DSP.  It is seriously awesome DSP!  Now there is a new Triangle Punch that coordinates with this stamp and I cannot recommend it enough.  Mine are hand cut because the punch wasn’t ready to be sent so early but I will be getting it.  It will really make this stamp easy peasy to use!

Now if you are looking for Christmas ideas, roll down a little to last night’s post.  I made a card and matching “envelope” (a fun bag) that I really like.  It might be one of my favorites so far this season!

I hope you enjoy the sketch this week.  Please make sure you give a warm welcome to our new guest designer Cindy Lovell.  She is filling in while our amazing team mate Allisa Chilton takes a break.  You will love Cindy’s style…she is a great addition to our happy group of stampers!

Thanks so much for stopping in today.  I hope to be back in the next couple of days with more that I have been creating.  Until then, have a great week!

Stamp:  Geometrical; Paper:  Kaleidescope DSP, Whisper White, Bermuda Bay; Ink:  Bermuda Bay, Strawberry Slush, Crushed Curry; Accessories:  Rotary Addition, Tiny Wave Blade, Buttons, White Baker’s Twine, Dimensionals

Click HERE to shop my Stampin’ Up Store.  Make sure you check out this week’s specials!