Freshly Made Sketches Encouragement Card

I found a little time between trips to do a few challenges.  The card today is for a friend battling breast cancer.  She is an online card making friend I have known for so many years but never met in person.

I saw this sketch at Freshly Made Sketches for their weekly challenge and decided it would be a fun one to use for my card.

This is my card for the sketch challenge.  The background is a piece of die cut watercolor paper.  The rectangles that the flower is stamped on are also die cut.  I used three different Tattered Angels sprays to color the background and the flower background.  

The flower stamp is from Stampers Anonymous Studio 490 Wendy Vecchi Stamp it Stencil it.  The sentiment is from Stampendous stamped in Black Versafine Ink.

Thanks for stopping by.

Fall Is Approaching

I am in the mood to make fall cards.  I had found some vellum with scattered leaves on it so wanted to use it on a card.  Of course once you layer things on it, you don't see many of the leaves on the vellum as on this card.

I used the weekly sketch from Freshly Made Sketches - I liked all the layers.

I have a packet of paper (old packet) from Cosmo Cricket - the colors are great.  The package has stickers with it so I decided to use some of those for my layers.  The sentiment and the arrow are part of the collection.  The vellum and greenish square of pattern paper is just stitched to the under layer of red.  The leaf is cut with my Silhouette.  

One more fall card done.  I think I will send this to my Mom - she is such a blessing to all of us.  

Come back tomorrow for a fun announcement.

Sunday Creativity - Two Challenges Combined

Home from my 45th class reunion.  It was nice to see people again.  I graduated with a good group of people.  We even do reunions for special years.  We had one the year everyone turned 60 and are planning one for the year everyone turns 65.  The off year celebrations are a big potluck at someone's home.  Being an early riser, my drive home was accomplished with very little traffic and even though it takes two hours, I was home shortly after 8 a.m. this morning.  Time to get some things done.

I had laid out a card (started anyway) before I left home on Saturday.  I was able to combine the card with two challenges.

The first challenge is the weekly sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  I just had to move my two strips down to accommodate my sentiment.  Here is the sketch.

The other challenge is a CAS monochromatic challenge from The Paper Players.

Here is my card.

The card is "shades of teal" - one of my favorite color combinations.  The snowman sticker is from Penny Black and the sentiment is from SRM Stickers.  I embossed the white and teal mat with a Cuddlebug snowflake embossing folder.  (shhhh - don't tell anyone - I am using more of my recycled white card stock from commencement programs).  I scattered a few pearls around the white areas to pick up more of the teal color.

Enjoy your Sunday.

Freshly Made Sketches, Authentique and Lil' Inker Designs

Once again sneaking in under the deadline with my card for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge for the week.  I love the sketch this week.

The Authentique paper grouping was sitting on my design table (aka the mess) from Saturday's card.  I love the beautiful colors in the grouping.  As I was going through things, I found the stamps I had bought from Lil' Inker Designs.  The image is so sweet and I love all the sentiments that go with it.  It is a great card for my next Operation Write Home box.  

The image was colored with Copics.  The little stars is a punch that I have.  I think they add the finishing touch to the card.

Thanks for stopping by.  Why does the three day week end have to end?

Freshly Made Sketches

I loved the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week.  I do have problems with keeping it fairly simple - my middle name is not simple - I believe it is layers.  I did make two cards from the sketch.

I will share the card I made for Christmas.  I think it will go in my Operation Write Home box.  I just let the paper do the talking on the entire card.  No stamp was inked for this card.

The paper is from Glitz.

Everyone enjoy their Sunday.  I am going to go to a huge flea market today - should be interesting.

Freshly Made Sketches and Lawn Fawn Paper

I needed to get a birthday card in the mail today so I decided to use the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.  

I decided to be a rebel and flip it on its side.  I also moved the circle up a little so that I could add my birthday sentiment underneath the image.

The owl image is a $1 stamp I got somewhere a long time ago.  He is colored with copics.  the balloon is patterned paper.  I added glossy accents to the balloon and the eyes and beak of the owl.  The cute paper is from Lawn Fawn.  I love that background paper - 'Oh Happy Day' - could be used for so many different cards.  All the colors in the paper are bright and cheerful.

I am also entering this card in the current challenge on the SRM Challenge Blog.  The challenge for the month of May is birthdays.  All the sentiment stickers are from SRM Stickers.  Love their stickers.

Well off to get lots done.  I do hope to create off an on - I think it is my reward for accomplishing those dreaded tasks of clearing and cleaning.

Valentine's Day and Freshly Made Sketches

Valentine Day fast approaches so I need to get a few more cards done.  I think I will make four cards using this stamp.  The card design may vary.  "Bee"s are a favorite subject in our family since we have 4 generation of "Beas".  Molly Beatrice (grandma), Bonnie Bea (sister), Carrie Bea (daughter) and Elaina Bea (great niece).

The card is based on the weekly sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  With their sketches they want you to be clean and simple.  I tried.  My papers are vibrant colors.  Pink is my mother's favorite color.  I do hope she forgives me for the green on the card.  She doesn't like green.  Here is the sketch.  I stayed very true to it.  I must confess it looks naked to me.  

The paper is from American Crafts - Dear Lizzy.  Beautiful colors in the 6 x 6 pad.

Thanks for stopping by.

Lucky Stars For You

I wanted to do a patriotic card for Memorial Day week end.  I have made two versions of this card and they will go in my next Operation Write Home Box.

The card design is based on the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

I changed the orientation of the card to have a vertical card.  Stars are my flowers.  The sentiment is a digital that I have but bad me - I did not put who it was from - I do apologize to the creator.  The paper is from We R Memory Keepers.

This card is also for the challenge on CAS-UL Friday to make a red/white/blue card.  

I found a 50% off coupon at Michael's for today - I am off to buy a collection of Gelato's and have some fun with them.  I love coupons.

Here is my other card based on the sketch - the sentiment is on the other side.

Lawn Fawn, Freshly Made Sketches, and Operation Write Home

Second post of the day - can you believe it - I have been playing with paper - but I think I will run some errands pretty soon - grocery store - here I come - I just need a few things.  Going to look at some summer clothes - going to Florida so I may need some clothes.

This card is based on the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.  I am still using paper from a 6 x 6 pad from Basic Grey - come back on Monday - more Oldie Monday cards will be posted - have a couple on the design table already.

The stamps are from Lawn Fawn.  Great stamps for cards for Operation Write Home.  Of course, will some of the young heroes even know what a portable radio is - and I may be dating myself on what I called the radio.  I made one for my OWH box and one for my son in law.

Enjoy the remainder of your Saturday - off I go to brave the grocery store - normally I do it on Sunday morning early when everyone is in church.

Freshly Made Sketch and Play Date Cafe Unite

Feels good to make a card.  Work - this last month - has sucked the creativity out of my soul - hopefully another week it will be better.  This card actually is for two different challenges.

It is based on the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

It is also based on the color challenge at the Play Date Cafe - I think this is the first time I have ever played along.  I have a hard time with color challenges - I never know where the paper is in that color.  I must confess I went and bought the paper today for this card because I knew I wanted to use some of my favorite pattern paper - black and white houndstooth.

The sentiment is from Hero Arts and the butterfly stamp and punch are old - they are from - Paper Shapers and Purple Daisy Designs.

Everyone enjoy your evening - maybe I will use this color combo to make a few cards for my next Operation Write Home Box.

Is It Spring Yet?

I know - it is too early - to start thinking Spring should be around the corner.  The next best thing - well kinda - but not really - is to make cards with spring like colors.  I needed a Thank You card - so I went to check out the challenges around "blog world".  CAS-ual Friday has one for Thank You cards and this card is based on the weekly sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.

Since I had the butterfly punches out and those spring colors - and it is now time to work on spring cards for Operation Write Home - I made another card.  The monthly challenge on Stars and Stamps - for Our Daily Bread Designs - is to use dry embossing on your card.  Our Daily Bread Designs will pay for shipping for up to two boxes of cards to our Heroes.  This means we need to post a minimum of 50 cards for the month of January.  We are well on our way to reaching that goal.  I had to add some bling to my card - I wonder if I overdid it - maybe I should take the bling out in the loops.  I may still still do that.

Enjoy your day - still thinking about going to work - the roads did look a little icy earlier so that is why I did not race out of the house this morning to do it - I wonder if I will go.

Third Post Today

Third post today - all using the same image and the same 6 x 6 paper pad from Little Yellow Bicycle.  I have made six cards today.  It was nice to dig into my stamped images and find those 5 colored robots - grab a pad of paper that would make great children cards - I guess mostly boy cards since it is a robot.  This card is based on the weekly sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

Another card for my Operation Write Home box.

Thanks for stopping by today - now I need to go work on my Oldie Moldie Monday cards - I found some Easter images in the image drawer and I know in my scrap bag is a great piece of paper for Easter cards - yes for Operation Write Home - it is time to make Easter/Spring cards - the Valentine Day deadline has passed already.

Enjoy your evening.

Riley the Moose Meets Freshly Made Sketches

Scootching in under the wire to post this card for the sketch on Freshly Made Sketches.  Riley the Moose was out today for some stamping.  Come back later in the week to see the other card I made with Riley and the same paper.

Here is the sketch  from Freshly Made Sketches.

The mustache paper is from Echo Park Paper Company.  The matting paper is from a grouping I got at Tuesday Morning - it is from TPC Studio.  I bought the packet because it had great matting potential.  Riley was also stamped on some of this paper from TPC Studio.  A sticker from SRM Stickers completes the cards.  This card will be sent to an elderly gentleman having a few health issues.

Have a great Sunday evening - Green Bay Packers play on Sunday night football - so Wisconsin will be shutting down shortly.

Changito Visits Operation Write Home

My card for today uses some paper from Imaginisce (6 x 6 pad).  I had six of this cute monkey stamped so finished coloring the ornament and hat and booties to coordinate with the paper I was going to use for the card.  The sentiment strip is from one of the pieces of paper - I thought to was perfect for this image.

The card is based on the weekly sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

It also works for the challenge on Shopping Your Stash weekly challenge which is fur or feather - I do believe Mr. Changito qualifies for fur.

I made two of this card - they are going in my next Operation Write Home Box - which will need to be shipped in October sometime - I just sent a box of 50 today - if you look back in this weeks posts you can see I am already working on valentine cards.

Oldie Moldie Monday

Welcome once again to Oldie Moldie Monday - the day to show some love to your old supplies.  The paper used on all my cards today is a Christmas collection from Pink Paislee.

Guess what - Oldie Moldie Monday - meets - Shopping Your Stash where their challenge is 3, 2, 1.  I think Oldie Moldie Monday and Shopping Your Stash is a good relationship we must build upon.  On my card I used 3 patterned papers (stripe, dots and green), 2 circles and 1 sentiment.

The card is based on a sketch from Freshly Made Sketches where they are celebrating their first anniversary.  For the anniversary you can use any of the sketches from the year.  I chose Sketch 42 for my card.  I just flipped it on its side.  This card will go in in next box for Operation Write Home

This week end the Penny Black blog had a challenge to make tags.  I made several tags over the week end using the Pink Paislee paper.  Both sentiment stamps are from Penny Black.  I did lots of fussy cutting on the santa tag - the tags became cards for my personal cards for 2012.  The cards are too bulky for Operation Write Home.  The tags were cut with my Silhouette.  The Penny Black blog challenges the last two week ends have helped me get some more cards made.  I used some of my favorite trim on the cards.  Torn pieces of muslin which were tea or coffee stained.

Everyone enjoy your Monday - remember to show some love for your old supplies - they are still beautiful and they just need your creativity to bring them to life.

Oldie Moldie Monday

Good Monday morning - time to share my Oldie Moldie Monday card - showing some love to some old supplies.  The paper is actually only from 2011 so it is just a little dusty.

I had this paper pad from My Mind's Eye out yesterday for my sketch challenge card for Operation Write Home.  This card is also for Operation Write Home.  I guess it could be for Valentine's Day but I think it could be a general love card.

The card is based on the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

The stamps are from Hero Arts - a set I got from Hero Arts - because I had a card published using their stamps.  They have a great incentive program.  I added Glossy Accents to the flower and then to all the hearts.  The pink hearts and flower circle are pop dotted for some dimension.

So dig out those oldie moldie paper and supplies and show them some love.  They still make great cards.

Authentique Paper, Freshly Made Sketches, Stamper's Best and Operation Write Home

Yes - blogger is behaving tonight - it quickly uploaded.  I do hope this continues - makes posting cards and my creative life much less frustrating.

This card is for several challenges.  It is based on the weekly sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.

The other challenge is the monthly challenge on Stars and Stamps - Operation Write Home's card blog.  This challenge is sponsored by Our Daily Bread Designs.  For every 25 cards made - they will pay for the shipping on a box of handmade cards to our heroes.  They will pay for a maximum of two boxes.  I do wish we had more sponsors like that.  The challenge this month is to make a masculine card.

I do like how the card turned out.  I just bought a new pad of paper by Authentique because it had great masculine colors.  The stamp is by Stamper's Best.  I used some Spellbinder's dies to cut out the image and mat for the image.  The sentiment is a $1 stamp I bought somewhere.  I know it will get lots of use.  The image and sentiment are pop dotted.  I did a little distressing on the edges of some of the paper.

Everyone enjoy the remainder of your evening.

Freshly Made Sketches, Stampendous and My Mind's Eye

Tonight I am posting another card I have made for Operation Write Home.  I based the design for the card on the weekly sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.  I think this will make a great card to be sent home to a child.

Also - I liked the sketch from last week but never got a chance to make it so I made two of these cards.  My Stampendous monkeys are getting a work out this month.

This paper is a 6 x 6 pad from My Mind's Eye.  We have been having a discussion on how many cards you can get out of a 6 x 6 pad - so I am doing an unofficial experiment and will attempt to keep track.  Of course, it really helps when your paper is double sided like this pad is.  I also am lucky to have some nice colored card stock bases that work well with this paper collection.

Stay tuned - I do promise that not every post will be cards made from this particular pad.  I do need variety in my creative life.

Happy Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July - it is so toasty and dry toasty - in the State of Wisconsin.  We are suppose to hit 100 degrees today - I know for some parts of the country that is normal - but for Wisconsin it is not - we have a few 90 degree days a summer - but we are heading to record breaking numbers this summer.  I am hibernating from the heat and just playing with my paper.

My card today is based on the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches.

I made my card a little smaller - it is 5 x 4.  My image did not seem to fill enough of the card front - It is very hard for me to do somewhat clean and simple.  I have this paper collection I got at Tuesday Morning from Momenta - and I love all the colors in the collection - plus it is double sided.  I used a sticker from SRM Stickers and cut it apart to add a sentiment to the card.

Stampendous has a challenge for the month of June to make summer cards - they - plus the midweek challenge at Operation Write Home - broke out my monkeys to get inked.  Little Miss Monkey is bringing summer flowers to someone they love.  Thank you to the challenge for Stampendous for encouraging me to get out my monkey stamps and play with them.

The card is going to a special young woman who is starting her journey into the challenges of the working world.  She loves monkeys, she loves orange and she loves cards from her Miss Barb.

I must warn you - the monkey in the rain slicker is coming out next - maybe he will bring rain to the state of Wisconsin.

Authentique Paper and Freshly Made Sketches

Once again I needed to make a sympathy card.  I decided to let this beautiful paper by Authentique provide my inspiration and focal point.  I chose to color just a few butterflies and cut them out and adhered on top so they look like they are floating there.  I did use my Stardust pen to add glitter to all the butterflies - just to dress it up a little.  The card is a 5 1/4 inch square.


The design of the card is based on the weekly sketch from Freshly Made Sketches - the idea is to be clean - I never know if I can accomplish that.  I do try though.  

I also used the color challenge from Authentique paper for the month of June.  I do love their paper - it has such beautiful weight - and it is double sided - the back side is always a nice plain color - which is so wonderful to have for stamping or layering.  I used papers from their 6 x 6 pads from two collections - Carefree and Fresh.  

Well I must head to bed - I am tired and my kitchen is a mess.  Potluck at work tomorrow and I tried a new chicken salad recipe - I sure hope it is good.