Freshly Made Sketches #724

 

Jen B is back and brings us Freshly Made Sketches #724.

 

I used Altenew's Craft Your Life Stitched With Love Kit because it had several 

elements that I could use on my card. The flowers and leaves are unique in that you

die cut them, then run through an embossing folder that gives them texture.

I also used the burlap background stamp so the panel would have texture without

the added bulk. At first I was trying to get a perfectly stamped image but went with

an imperfect print for interest. A Waffle Flower sentiment finished off the card.

 

Visit the Freshly Made Sketches blog for all the details and deadline and for more

inspiration from the rest of the team members. You have until Monday, Feb  23rd

at 3pm EST to link up your card. Hope to see you in the gallery!

 

Freshly Made Sketches #723

 

 Freshly Made Sketches #723 is brought to you by our teammie Verena. 

Here's her awesome sketch that had me stumped for a while .

At first all I saw was a fish. Then a whale, then a leaf, then an umbrella.

And at the last minute I thought about a nest and came up with this.

 

I assembled the Memory Box nest and borrowed some eggs from Papertrey Ink 

together with greenery from Altenew. I used a 3D embossing folder that was

buried and rediscovered. Isn't that texture amazing?

The bottom of the card front was covered with cream card stock and the

springtime sentiment was stamped on it. I assembled all of the elements

and called it done, although the card lost its "clean" status along the way.

 

Visit the Freshly Made Sketches blog to see how the rest of the team

interpreted Verena's sketch and join us if you can. You have until Monday,

February 16th at 3:00pm to link up your card. Hope to see you in the gallery!

 

 

Freshly Made Sketches #722

 

Teammie Kim brings us a fun sketch this week  Meet Freshly Made Sketches #722.

 

I thought about going rogue and turning the sketch but in the end I stuck with 

Kim's version.

I used Altenew's Craft Your Life Chocolate Flowers kit, which is still one of my 

favorite sets. I embossed the chocolate bar design and trimmed it per the sketch.

Using the Zero Waste cover plate, I cut flowers and leaves in one pass with white

card stock because I wanted to color them in 

I used bright colors and inked and assembled the blooms. I adhered them to the

diagonal and finished off with a white embossed sentiment.

Visit Freshly Made Sketches for all the details and see more inspiration from the 

rest of the team. Will you go rogue by turning the sketch or play with it as is?

We'd love to see and hope to see you in the gallery!

 

 

Freshly Made Sketches #721

 

It's time for a new sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches. Jen M designed

Sketch #721 and it looks like this.

 

 

Here's how I interpreted her fun sketch.

 

I seem to be stuck in wood slice mode and this time used Papertrey Ink's 

together with leaves and blooms in the set. After inking all the pieces, I assembled

them and that's when I opted for an A2 sized card instead of a square. It was

just too large to be squished in a square format.

I embossed a kraft strip with Altenew's embossing folder and adhered it per

the sketch. The wood slice was adhered to it and I finished off with a

white embossed sentiment.

 

Visit the Freshly Made Sketches blog for all the details and deadline and for

more inspiration from the rest of the team. We hope you'll make some time

and join the challenge this week!

Freshly Made Sketches #720

 

Here's this week's Freshly Made Sketches #720 from Jen T.

 

 

And here's my take on it with Valentine's Day just around the corner.

 

I used products mostly from The Greetery for my card. I put together two wood 

slice hearts and assembled some forget-me-nots. A panel was embossed with a

very old embossing folder and adhered to a card base. The hearts were placed 

on the card per the sketch and I tucked in the flowers. I chose a fun sentiment

to finish off the card.

 

Visit Freshly Made Sketches for all the details and inspiration from the rest 

of the team, then join us if you can. You have until Monday, January 26th 

at 3:00PM EST to link up your card. Hope to see you in the gallery!

Freshly Made Sketches #719

 

Judy brings us a fun sketch for Freshly Made Sketches #719 and it looks like this.

As always, I had numerous ideas and settled on using a favorite bird. He was

already assembled and spattered with some "snow" and I trimmed his scarf so 

he'd fit within the card.

The knitted piece was a scrap that I salvaged and I used Altenew's embossing

folder with the assorted sentiments so I wouldn't have to decide on one.

I assembled all of the pieces per the sketch and finished off with some 

iridescent sequins. 

Visit the Freshly Made Sketches blog for all the details and more inspiration 

from the design team. You have until Monday, January19th at 3PM EST to

link up your card. Hope to see you in the gallery!

Freshly Made Sketches #718

Hello, and Happy New Year!

Are you refreshed and ready for another year of Freshly Made Sketches? 

Amy brings us Sketch #718 and it looks like this.

 

I had several ideas in mind and settled on an embossed background technique that 

I learned from the talented Therese Calvird on YouTube.

 

Basically, you use a 3D embossing folder on patterned paper then swipe white pigment

 ink over the raised areas. And that's it. Adding glitter to the wet ink is optional but 

you can do without and the results are still amazing!

My folder of choice was Altenew's Magnolia Dreams and I made sure to use a pigment

ink pad with a firm, flat surface. I used a pad of Craft Consortium paper and my

sentiment is from CZ Designs. 

Be sure to check out Therese's tutorial and give this technique a try, and join the

challenge if you can. You have until Monday, January 12th at 3PM EST to link up

 your card

 

Freshly Made Sketches #717

 

Freshly Made Sketches #717 by Narelle will be the last sketch for 2025

so that all of you, as well as the design team, can enjoy the holidays.

 

 Here is my simplified take on it.

 

The Backyard Wren is typically facing to the right but I wanted it facing inwards 

to the left. After die cutting the pieces, I colored the reverse side and assembled 

the bird. A cream colored panel was embossed and adhered to a kraft card 

base. The wren and greenery were adhered per the sketch and I added a 

simple one word sentiment.

 

Come and join our last challenge of the year. You have until Monday, 

January 5th, 2026 to link up your card for this sketch.

Happy Holidays and see you in the new year!

The Flower Challenge #109

 

 It was a sad day in blog land when The Flower Challenge announced it will

close its doors at the end of the year. Kudos to Karren for taking over running

the challenges after pioneers Aileen and Vi "retired" and prevented us from 

going through floral withdrawal.

 

I'm entering the last challenge with the theme to Use Christmas Florals.

 

 

I know we think of poinsettias as a Christmas flower and I own a few poinsettia 

stamps and dies but couldn't decide on which one to use. So I went with snowdrops 

after Googling to see if they were considered a winter flower and was quite pleased
to read that they are.

 

 

I own two sets of snowdrops and I'll have to admit that the one by Papertrey Ink 

was much easier and faster to assemble. As luck would have it, I had an inked

and spattered panel that I was probably going to use in landscape format.

I turned the panel and adhered the flowers and leaves on top and spattered

more "snow" over the panel. I finished off the card with the sentiment and

iridescent sequins.

So here's to The Flower Challenge and their design team members, old and

new, for all the inspiration you provided. We'll miss you!

Freshly Made Sketches #716

 

 Michele brings us this week's Freshly Made Sketches #716 and there are

countless possibilities for the circular element.

 

 

Here's how I was inspired.

 

I put together leaves, berries, and branches, and adhered them to an embossed circle.

A dark green card base was embossed with tiny dots and the circle was adhered

to it. A simple sentiment was stamped on a banner shape and adhered to the

card per the sketch.

Visit the Freshly Made Sketches blog for all the details and deadline as well as

inspiration from the team, then come and join the challenge! You have until

Monday, December 15th at 3:00pm EST to link up your card(s).