It is Wednesday and you know what that means?  Another Freshly Made Sketches Challenge is up for you!  This is another one of those sketches that you will use over and over again!

I decided to create this fun birthday card (made for one of my oldest son’s friends).  I am completely in love with the balloons in Patterned Party and the fit perfectly into this sketch!  I chose the colors because of the gift bag for his present and then promptly forgot to take the picture of the card with the bag.  Oh well!  You’ll have to trust me that it was an awesome match!  My trusty Brights Designer Paper Pack provided the DSP (in Real Red and Pacific Point) and I used Lucky Limeade as the accent color.  The sentiment is from Up, Up and Away.

Just wait until you see the rest of the cards created by the design team!  You will be so inspired to go use this sketch!  So glad you could drop in today.  Hope you have a great rest of your week!

Stamps:  Patterned Party, Up, Up and Away; Paper:  Brights Designer Paper Pack, Basic Black, Whisper White, Lucky Limeade; Ink:  Real Red, Pacific Point, Lucky Limeade, Basic Gray; Accessories:  1 1/4″ and 1 3/8″ Circle Punches, Real Red Wide Grosgrain (retired), Neutrals Buttons, Scallop Edge Punch, Dimensionals, Black Thread

Look at my cool new badge!!  Yes, I have been asked to design for the new challenge, Freshly Made Sketches for the next 6 months along with the super talented Cindy Hall.  How great is that??!!  Their sketches have already been fantastic and I am really in love with the design philosophy…clean, but not necessarily simple.  I have felt that is my design style for a while and can’t believe how fortunate I am to be in the company of such a great design team!

Take a look at the great sketch we have for you this week!  I love the simplicity with lots of room to make that “any shape” panel something special.

I chose to leave it as a circle but used my Perfect Pennants Die to create an interesting border.  I seem to be fully and completely in my seasonal color changeover and Always Artichoke seems to be one of my go-to colors this fall.  I used the Paisly Petals DSP as my inspiration and cut two of the leaves out of the DSP for the focal image.  Aren’t they pretty??  I threaded some Very Vanilla 1/8″ Taffeta Ribbon through my Early Espresso button and cinched up a bow made with Alway Artichoke Seam Binding.  The sentiment is from the hostess set Precious Butterflies.

I hope you are having a fantastic week so far!  Make sure you go see the beautiful cards that the rest of the team has made…and then show us your fantastic creation too!  Thanks for stopping by today!  Hope to see you again soon!

Stamp:  Precious Butterflies; Paper:  Paisley Petals DSP, Always Artichoke, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla; Ink:  Early Espresso; Accessories:  Big Shot, Perfect Pennant Die, Always Artichoke Seam Binding, Very Vanilla 1/8″ Taffeta Ribbon, Neutrals Buttons, Dimensionals

All products are Stampin’ Up!

Somehow I didn’t get to the post I promised for yesterday so today I have two cards.  The first is a card for the new sketch challenge Freshly Made Sketches.  After getting chosen as a Perfect Princess last week, I just had to play again!!  What a thrill to be chosen on the first challenge!!  They ask for clean cards.  Not clean and simple, but clean lines.  Love that!!  Here is their sketch for this week:

This is one that will go in the files to use again and again!

I started in an unusual place on this card…the “any shape” panel.  I just got my new Designer Frames Embossing Folder and knew I had to use it!  One of the first sets I fell in love with in the new catalog was Creative Elements and I haven’t used it nearly enough.  It is perfect for this layout.  I have said it before, one of my favorite things about Stampin’ Up is how much thought goes into the coordination of products.  It makes me so happy when I find corresponding elements in things.  For this card, I noticed the little tulips in the big flourish and immediately added my Framed Tulips Embossing Folder to the mix.  Both the oval (without the little dots) and the butterfly are hand cut.  Some Basic Pearls were added to the butterfly and then the sentiment for balance.  Let’s face it, the pearls make everything more elegant!!  Finally, I scrunched up the new Quilted Satin Ribbon using Sticky Strip and tied a little bow out of hand-colored thread.  Just used a Stampin’ Write marker to make it whatever color you need.

My second card for the day is a wonderful treasure!  My oldest son asked to use some stamps to make a card for me.  How could I say no??!!  He also asked me to see my markers so he could choose colors and came away with Always Artichoke and Cherry Cobbler (that apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree!!).  I was summarily kicked out of the stamping area while he created.  There was some consultation with my youngest son, I think, and this is the result.  They chose the hummingbird because we have enjoyed our feeder all summer long.  Now just look at that beautiful marker work!!!  Oh, I am a proud mommy!  And mostly because they made something they knew I would treasure forever.  Am I lucky or what??!!  *smile*  This was posted with permission of the artist of course.

Thanks for dropping in today.  I’ll be back on Tuesday with our next Stampin’ Up Only Challenge.  You are going to love it!!  I’m working busily on some class, club and Creative Crew projects.  I’ll share them all just as soon as I can.  Have a great weekend!

Card 1:  Stamps:  Creative Elements, Day of Gratitude; Paper:  River Rock, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla; Ink:  River Rock, Early Espresso; Accessories:  Big Shot, Framed Tulips Embossing Folder, Designer Frames Embossing Folder, Espresso Quilted Satin Ribbon, Basic Pearls, Dimensionals, Sticky Strip, Thread

Today marks 10 years since one of the darkest days in recent history.  Last year I wrote about some of my experiences that day while working at United Airlines.  As I went back to read that post, I realized how much I didn’t cover.  I know everyone remembers that day with their own unique point of view and mine is very much as a working pilot.  I told you about flying that morning and the sky being so clear.  It is one of the things I will always picture clearly, I think.  I also spoke of how my day transpired.  On this landmark anniversary, I want to speak of another important thing I took away from the day.

While at O’Hare, after our passengers had been helped, my Captain and I were then left like many others.  We had no idea what to do to help.  You see, pilots are generally type A personalities and we like to fix things…immediately.  Like everyone else, we were left helpless as we watched the horror of the day unfolding.  We watched film of OUR airplane, our brothers and sisters, our customers being used to commit an atrocity.  There was a banding together in the crew room with people I had never met as we cried over the losses.  We became friends even though we had never met.  When we finally got to our hotel room, we rode in on a bus with some of our customers.  Later at dinner, while we watched the President speak to the country, those same customers bought our dinners.  They thanked us, even though they didn’t know us, for doing our job safely every day.  After we finally got the air traffic control system moving again, I was on my final leg home out of Portland, OR.  We came to the airport to find passengers dressed in their red, white and blue.  Perfect strangers banding together to go get on an airplane to Washington, DC, because no one was going to keep them from taking their trip.  They bonded, they hugged and that flight home was one of the best of my career.

So I guess that is my focus for this tenth anniversary.  Putting away the differences, showing civility to a stranger, assuming the best instead of the worst.  Figuratively letting the clouds clear and allowing ourselves see that beautiful blue sky again.

I suppose it isn’t hard to see my inspiration for today’s card.  I am thinking of all those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2011 and of all the heroes who stepped in to save even more from being lost.  This sketch is courtesy of a brand new sketch challenge, Freshly Made Sketches and is their first sketch FMS1.

Thanks for stopping in today.  I wish you a safe Patriot Day!

In memory of:

United 93:  Jason Dahl, LeRoy Homer, Lorraine Bay, Sandra Bradshaw, Wanda Green, CeeCee Lyles, Deorah Welsh

United 175:  Victor Saracini, Michael Horrocks, Robert Fangman, Amy Jarret, Amy King, Kathryn Laborie, Alfred Marchand, Michael Tarrou, Alicia Titus

American 11:  John Ogonowski, Thomas McGuinness, Barbara Arestegui, Jeffrey Collman, Sara Low, Karen Martin, Kathleen Nicosia, Betty Ong, Jean D. Roger, Dianne Snyder, Amy Sweeney

American 77:  Charles Burlingame III, David Charlebois, Michele Heidenberger, Jennifer Lewis, Kenneth Lewis, Renee May