Ok, don’t say I didn’t tell you that this sketch was cool!  This layout from Freshly Made Sketches is care of Lesley Croghan of Always Playing with Paper.  While I admit that this one intimidated me a bit at first, I think you will be surprised at how easy it is to use!  When you see the inspiration pieces from the design team you will see what I mean.  They are all going into my CASE files!

This card is pretty much all about punches and dies for the Big Shot.  I started with my 1 3/4″ and 1 1/4″ Circle Punches and the Everyday Enchantment DSP from Sale-a-bration.  The great thing about designer paper packs is that they coordinate.  Certainly makes it easy to create a card like this.  All I had to do was decide which patterns to put together and I was most of the way there.  I added some butterflies from the Beautiful Wings Embosslit and the little flowers from the Fun Flowers die, along with some Basic Pearl accents.  I sponged along all the edges with a some Soft Suede ink.  Finally, a little banner with my sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes and done!

This is one that would be easy to duplicate and create a whole pack of cards for myself or a gift.  Hmmm…might have to do that!

Now get right to work and try this sketch.  Don’t let it intimidate you…you’ll be happy you tried it!  Don’t forget to take a peek at the fab cards from the rest of the team.  Amazing!

Glad you stopped in today.  I’m getting ready for my stamping club meeting tomorrow.  If I have any extra stamping time, maybe I’ll have something else to share later this week.  Have a great day!

Stamp:  Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper:  Everyday Enchantment DSP (SAB), Very Vanilla, Baha Breeze, Poppy Parade, Pear Pizzazz;  Ink:  Soft Suede; Accessories:  Circle Punches (1 3/4″, 1 1/4″), Big Shot,  Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Fun Flowers Die, Basic Pearls, Sponge, Dimensionals

Happy middle of the week!  I hope your week is going well so far.  Just take a look at this cool sketch from Freshly Made Sketches this week.  It is brought to you by Jen Mitchell of I Create.  I’ve said it before but I just love her cards.  I think I have a disproportionate amount of them pinned for later inspiration.  *smile*

I made my card for today while stamping at Cindy’s last week.  Again, I just “had” to use some of her things that I don’t have.  I started with the hostess set Simply Soft.  I inked it with Versamark ink and then Chocolate Chip, stamped it on Shimmery White paper and embossed with Clear Stampin’ Emboss Powder.  I colored the flower first with Pink Pirouette ink and then Pretty in Pink using a Blender Pen.  The background paper was embossed using the Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder.  Then came the bow.  I love these double bows and I knew I wanted to add one on this card.  Cindy had some ribbon in her stash that was a perfect match.  How lucky for me!  I stamped a sentiment from Three Little Words to finish it off.  Back to the bow…while I was at Cindy’s, she was kind enough to actually create a video of me tying one of these.  It is so hard to explain but actually very easy when you see it done.  Here is the link to the bow tutorial.  I cannot emphasize enough that when you are done tying the bow, you will need to pull on the tails and re-fluff the loops a bit.  My bow on the tutorial has a knot that is a bit looser than the one on this card.  We did it in only one take and you can get the basics.  This bow has a tighter center and I like it a bit better.  The bow from the tutorial will be on a card next week.

You won’t be disappointed by the cards from the design team this week.  As always there is lots of variety and so much inspiration!  Can’t wait to see what you make with the sketch.

Thanks for dropping by today.  If you have any questions about the bow or anything else stamping related, just drop me a note.  See you again soon!

Stamps:  Simply Soft, Three Little Words; Paper:  Shimmery White, Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip; Ink:  Versamark, Chocolate Chip, Pink Pirouette, Pretty in Pink; Accessories:  Word Window Punch, Modern Label Punch, Blender Pen, Stampin’ Emboss Powder, Heat Tool, Pink Ribbon, Dimensionals

As promised, I’m back with a new layout from Freshly Made Sketches!  This week’s sketch is courtesy of Linda Callahan of Stampin’ Seasons.  What a great sketch.  Last week’s response to the sketch was amazing and I’m so excited to see what you create this week.

Before I get to my card, I just have to tell you how much fun I had with Cindy Elam of Heart’s Delight Cards.  She has the most fabulous stamp room and she gave me free run of it.  Yippee!  We made a card using the same sketch that you will see in an upcoming post.  I love how two stampers can use the same layout to create such different cards.

Speaking of which, back to this week’s challenge.  I wanted to try this print from the Twitterpated DSP after seeing some beautiful cards make with it and thought the little vase from Button Buddies would be a nice match.  I think this set is really cool.  The buttons are such a fun way to add texture.    These are actually the Cajun Craze buttons but they look like Riding Hood Red next to the DSP.  I tried a few different ribbon ideas before finally settling on the Basic Gray Taffeta (retired).  The little sentiment is from Day of Gratitude punched with a 1 1/4″ circle punch.

This sketch has so many possibilities that I may try another card with it later this week.  I’ll also post one of the cards I made at Cindy’s (the other two will be shown in upcoming SUO Challenges).

I’m so glad you dropped by today.  As always the team has amazing cards for you so make sure you go see their beautiful creations.  We welcome Narelle and Allisa as guest designers this month.  What gorgeous examples they have made!  Have a great day and see you soon!

Stamps:  Button Buddies, Day of Gratitude; Paper:  Twitterpated DSP, Basic Gray, Whisper White, Baja Breeze; Ink:  Basic Gray, Pear Pizzazz; Accessories:  Regals buttons, 1 1/4″ and 1 3/8″ circle punches, Basic Gray Taffeta Ribbon, Dimensionals

It is time for a new Freshly Made Sketches challenge and we have yet another fantastic layout for you to try.  Today’s sketch is courtesy of Rita Wright from Rita’s Creations. She is a fabulously talented designer and I am such a fan of her work.  When you see her card for this week, you will understand why!!

 I got to pull some of my new Sale-a-bration and Occasions Mini items out in earnest yesterday.  I had a real day off and the kids were at school.  It was so awesome to be able to experiment with some things I have been seeing with the new Framelits.  I used a tutorial from Kari Metzger for  Making Layered Frames.  I went down one size on the frames but otherwise followed her instructions.  I love the shadowbox effect!  I inked up my flower from Fresh Vintage with Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait and Lucky Limeade being careful to only ink the main flower with my markers.  I mimicked the colors in the lovely Everyday Enchantment paper.  I added some sponging to everything since the DSP looks sponged.  I didn’t want to cross the “clean” part of the rules too far but the card still needed something.  Of course a ribbon fixes everything!!  I sprayed some Very Vanilla Seam Binding with water and crumpled it up.  When it was almost dry I sponged on a little Soft Suede ink to give it a tea stained feel.  I have to say that making this card made me really happy!  I have missed stamping and am feeling so inspired when I get the time to create!  Remember that you can get these Sale-a-bration items free with your orders until March 31st.  This is a deal you can’t afford to miss!!  Our amazing CEO at Stampin’ Up, Shelli Gardner, is challenging us to use our Sale-a-bration items this month so I am entering this in the So Shelli Challenge too.

In a work update, I am officially “back on the line” at United Airlines.  I did my first two trips since last week and have been to New Orleans, Vancouver, Denver, San Diego, San Francisco and Chicago.  Some of those were for the night and some were for a few hours. Amazing how much I missed flying across this beautiful country.  I have to admit that it is the best office window ever!  Don’t forget to peek in the flight deck and ask if Jennifer is flying when you find yourself on a United Airbus!

I’m hoping to be back later this week with a “just because” card.  Let’s hope those schedulers don’t need me too much (I’m a “reserve” pilot and my schedule is to be on call).  Make sure you go admire the work of the rest of the FMS team.  Stunning examples again this week!

Stamps:  Fresh Vintage (SAB), Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper:  Everyday Enchantment DSP (SAB), Naturals Ivory, Soft Suede; Ink:  Poppy Parade, Peach Parfait, Lucky Limeade, Soft Suede; Accessories:  Big Shot, Labels Collection Framelits, Very Vanilla Seam Binding, Sponges, Dimensionals

 

First and foremost, I want to tell my mom Happy Birthday!!  The good news is that you get to see your card today.  The bad news is that it won’t be there.  I am woefully behind on birthday and thank you cards to my whole family but I am pretty sure they understand.

Today’s sketch from Freshly Made Sketches was created by the fabulous Tui Nathan.  It is wonderful and I had such fun using it.  I actually got to stamp yesterday for the first time in a long time.  Most of what you have seen over the last month was created before I went to training.  I was so happy to pull out my new Occasions Mini products and play!

The colors from the Twitterpated DSP were my inspiration on this card and I wanted to use the Bordering on Romance flowers again.  I didn’t have much time but the watercoloring is pretty fast and I really love doing it.  While I haven’t even finished putting the set together, I just “had” to use the sentiment from Apothecary Art.  I used some retired Basic Gray Taffeta Ribbon to create a double bow and then topped it with one of the new large pearls.  Of course, the flowers needed some pearls too!  My mom is a fan of flowers of all kinds so I hope she’ll like this one.  Hope your day is great, Mom!!

I mentioned yesterday that I finished my training on Friday.  As of today I am out on a 3-day trip to get my final sign-off.  I’ll be looking at your lovely entries on my layovers and I can’t wait to see what you create.  The design team has outdone themselves this week.  Make sure you go see their amazing work.

As a side note, there have been some issues with Blogger this week and the ability of the team to comment.  Over at the FMS site there is a brief set of instructions on how to handle the word verification issue to ensure we can still comment on your projects.  We love looking at them and want to be able to comment on as many as possible!!

Thanks for stopping in today.  I hope the rest of your week is great!

Stamps:  Bordering on Romance, Apothecary Art; Paper:  Twitterpated DSP, Basic Gray, Whisper White; Ink:  Blushing Bride, Pear Pizzazz, Basic Gray; Accessories:  Basic Pearls, Large Pearls, Blender Pen, Basic Gray Taffeta Ribbon

 

I am so excited to bring you the sketch for this week’s Freshly Made Sketches Challenge!! I suppose it shouldn’t surprise you that my sketch choice for the week is a bit flying inspired.  “Straight and level” flying is the goal of every airline pilot.  Despite the efforts of my instructors and their failed engines, hydraulics, electrics (and anything else they can thing of…in a simulator, of course), my training partner and I have dutifully maintained this over the last few weeks.  Apparently, that is what I needed for stamping too!  The design team has created some spectacular samples and I can’t wait to see what everyone makes this week!

I made this card for my youngest son’s birthday.  Patterned Party is such a fun stamp set and I just love these little presents.  I started with the Real Red polka dot print and framed it using Basic Black.  Then I chose happy primary colors, Pacific Point and Daffodil Delight to go with the Real Red.  I thought it would be fun to add a little banner grounded by a button for the sentiment.  I tied the button with some black thread to mimic the bows on the presents.    The best part is that my little one liked Mommy’s card.

This is the last week of training here in Denver.  My big check ride is this Friday and then I’ll be done.  Sometime next week I can expect to go out on my first trip.  Hopefully I’ll get some stamping in before they send me on my way!!  Thank you for all the encouraging messages while I have been here and I am grateful for your patience on my minimal posting.  I hope to be back to “normal” in the next couple of weeks!!  I miss my stamping friends and can’t wait to catch up with them!

Make sure you go check out the awesome samples the design team has made.  I already see some CASEing in my future!!  Have a great week!

Stamps:  Patterned Party, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper:  Brights Designer Paper Pack, Basic Black, Whisper White; Ink:  Real Red, Pacific Point, Daffodil Delight, Basic Black; Accessories:  Neutrals Buttons, Black Thread, Dimensionals

Time for another Freshly Made Sketches Challenge!  This sketch is courtesy of Lesley Croghan again!  She is seeing double and I see a lot of great cards in our future!!

This was the second project I made over the weekend.  After convincing my boys that I “needed” to stamp to make Valentine’s, it was a bit harder to convince them I needed to make another card.  Needless to say, this had to be fast!  While I have all my lovely SAB papers and new mini items, the Spice Cake DSP called out to be used.  Let’s face it…these colors are right in my happy zone!  I let the paper do the work and simply cut two butterflies out with my Big Shot, one in Early Espresso and one in the DSP.  I channeled the talented Ann Schach of The Stampin’ Schach (without her trademark distressing) and rolled up the little banners.  So easy and yet such a great addition!  The button has a little piece of Very Vanilla paper threaded through to finish it off.

Again, a bit short and sweet on the post.  I’m so glad I got a little time to stamp while I was home but I’m back to studying.  This week’s “fun” includes lots and lots of engine out work along with other exciting emergency procedures.  Suffice it to say that United pilots are very, VERY well prepared if unusual things occur!!  At least we are finally in simulators.  My landings after three years off are still good…what a relief!!  There are many things that pilots use to judge an excellent flight but we know you passengers really just use the landing!  *smile*

Make sure you drop in to see the work from the rest of the design team!  I always love seeing the different interpretations of the sketch!  Hope you can play along this week.

Thanks for dropping by today.  I’ll see you again soon!

Stamp:  Because I Care (Hostess, retired); Paper:  Spice Cake DSP, Pool Party, Early Espresso, Very Vanilla; Ink:  Early Espresso; Accessories:  Big Shot, Beautiful Butterflies Die, Neutrals Buttons

Here we are…Wednesday already!  So much for my promised post with a new card.  Well, maybe in the next few days.  This pesky studying is getting in the way of my blog work!  *smile*  Fortunately I have a great sketch for you from Freshly Made Sketches.  This one is courtesy of none other than Lesley Croghan from Always Playing with Paper (aka, the woman who cannot possibly ever sleep for all the amazing things she does!!).

I figured it was about time to show you a Valentine’s Day card seeing that it is February!  This is the card I have made for my husband this year (shhh, don’t tell him).  I hope the bow doesn’t make it too girly but, after all, it is from me and I LOVE a bow!  Rose Red and Basic Gray are great together and it seems like forever since I have used Rose Red.  The Adorning Accents Embossing Folder hearts were my starting place for this card.  I thought they worked perfectly in the sketch.  I dug out one of my favorite retired sentiments from a set called Well Scripted.  I created a scalloped border using the Adorning Accents Edgelit.  So easy to get those perfect scallops!  A bow from the Rose Red Seam Binding was all that I had left.  I created a “potato masher” bow and then added a Basic Gray button.

As usual, the Freshly Made Sketches design team has made fantastic examples for you!  We are welcoming Kim of Joyful Creations with Kim and Tracey of My Creative Side as our guest designers this month.  What talented stampers!  Hope you can join us in the challenge!

This week holds another test of sorts.  Now we get into different phases of flying check rides.  Our “validation” on Friday will be on procedural items.  Basic checklists (getting the aircraft ready to go, inflight checks, taxi and shut down procedures), instrument procedures and flying both missed approaches and landings.  Missed approaches are when you cannot land for weather, runway conditions or whatever and need to take the airplane back around for another runway or airport.  This is where the three years off shows most to me and I will be studying a lot this week.  If I am a bit remiss on commenting, I promise I will catch up after the check.

I hope your week is great and I very much appreciate you stopping by today!  See you soon!

Stamp:  Well Scripted; Paper:  Rose Red, Basic Gray, Whisper White; Ink:  Rose Red; Accessories:  Big Shot, Adorning Accents Embossing Folders and Edgelits, Rose Red Seam Binding, Neutrals Buttons, Thread

Happy middle of the week, everyone!  I hope you are having a great one!  I have this week’s great sketch from Freshly Made Sketches for you and it is another winner!  This one comes from the super talented Jen Mitchell of I Create.  She is one of my favorite stampers.  Her clean lines are always striking.  Her tone on tone layering always makes me say wow!  Make sure you check out her card for this week’s sketch…it is fantastic.

I went with a decidedly spring palette for today’s card.  I just love Pear Pizzazz…not too olive, not too pale, just right!  This fun print from Twitterpated DSP just seemed to call out to me.  Of course, out came my new Bordering on Romance again.  This little flower is just the right size for the sketch!  I stamped it in Stazon Black, then watercolored with my Blender Pen using Daffodil Delight, Riding Hood Red and Pear Pizzazz.  The sentiment is from the hostess set Precious Butterflies…love this one!  I added a border created with the Adorning Accents Edgelit and some Basic pearls on the flowers and in the corner.  I have to say that this card just makes me happy!

So the test went really well (96%) and I am on to the next phase of training tomorrow.  We start flipping switches and running procedural checklists in a mock-up of a cockpit.  I always like it when I get to start doing more “pilot” stuff and less classroom stuff.  There is still classroom to go, of course, but the trainers are one step closer to the simulators.

I hope to be back early next week with a card I made before coming to training.  Until then, make sure you go enjoy the cards created by the whole design team.  As usual, they are incredible!  Thanks for stopping in today.  See you again soon!

Stamps:  Bordering on Romance, Precious Butterflies; Paper:  Twitterpated DSP, Pear Pizzazz, Basic Black, Whisper White; Ink:  Stazon Black, Daffodil Delight, Riding Hood Red, Pear Pizzazz; Accessories:  Big Shot, Adorning Accents Edgelits, Basic Pearls, Blender Pen

Take a look at the fabulous sketch from Freshly Made Sketches this week!  This sketch is courtesy of the amazing Linda Callahan of Stampin’ Seasons.  She makes the most lovely cards and you just have to go see her version of this layout!  Of course, the rest of the team has made some amazing projects too.

With such clean lines to the sketch, I chose to use the KISS (Keep It Simple Stamper) principle.  I pulled out my Fruit & Flowers stamp set and chose this pretty little flower.   The background paper is from the coordinating Berry Blossoms DSP and I let those colors be my guide.  Calypso Coral and Early Espresso are so fantastic together!  I attached some Early Espresso (retired) Satin Ribbon with one of the brads from the Sale-a-bration package and finished with a sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes.  I love the spring feel of this and it helps me with my continuing need for thank you cards from the holidays.

Well, yesterday was my first day of Airbus training and my brain is getting full of lots of numbers.  Not too bad so far but I know today will hold many more hours of classroom work.  I’m going to keep this one short so I can get back to the books.  Thank you so much for all the kind wishes on my training!

I’m so glad you were able to drop in today.  Make sure you take a look at the design team’s gorgeous work!  I’ll be back next Tuesday with a new SUO Challenge.  Until then, have a wonderful week!

Stamps:  Fruit & Flowers, Teeny Tiny Wishes; Paper:  Berry Blossoms DSP, Early Espresso, Whisper White; Ink:  Calypso Coral, Early Espresso; Accessories:  Early Espresso Satin Ribbon (ret), Everyday Enchantment Ribbon and Brads Pack