Freshly Made Sketches #566

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #566!

I'm still in Christmas mode and immediately went looking for ornaments when I saw this fabulous sketch from the Queen of layering, Narelle Farrugia. This card has a great mix of old and new products.

The MFT Ornaments are cut from PTI shimmer cardstock, with Tim Holtz silver glitter paper tops and a strand of silver embroidery floss attaching them to the Sizzix 3D Leaf Pattern embossed panel. The PTI December Typed Words sentiment is silver embossed on a sentiment strip and tucked between the ornaments.

A few vellum leaves from the extra bits and pieces box are also tucked between the ornaments and a scatter of Pretty Pink Posh jewels finish the design.

Check out the amazing Clean Team designs and play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches over the next few weeks! Yes, this is the last challenge for 2022, so you have a little extra time to join in the fun.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #565

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #565!

I was so happy to see the center panel in this fabulous sketch from our amazing designer, Karren Johnson! I've had candy canes all over my desk and been waiting for the right sketch to highlight a pair aligned to create a heart.

The Taylored Expressions Peppermint Mint Kisses stencil and die set makes the perfect canes. For extra fun, the heart shaped center is turned into a sequin filled shaker.

An MFT Bitty Holiday Wishes sentiment is heat embossed on the bottom green panel and then a strip of washi tape and greenery bits and pieces added for more interest.

I hope you check out the terrific Clean Team designs at Freshly Made Sketches and play along with us this week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #564

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #564!

Wreaths and snow globes and snowflakes fought it out on my desk for the chance to be picked to star in a design based on this fabulous sketch for the always elegant Clean Team designer, Cécile Ribon. As you can see, snowflakes won.

I started with a piece of polka dot vellum embossed with snowflakes and cut into a circle. This piece is adhered to a white circle in a few spots hidden by the trio of snowflake die cuts and PTI Wet Paint Holiday peace die cut.

Each snowflake has a Pretty Pink Posh jewel center and a scatter of small clear sequins finishes the design.

I hope you check out the amazing Clean Team designs and play along with us this week at Freshly Made Sketches this week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #563

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #563!

I love the creative freedom the sketch from the queen of big, bold blossoms, Jennifer Brum,  gives us this week! Do you choose to take advantage of the wide open panel or focus on the offset circle focal point? As you can see, I did a little of both.

I adore the Taylored Expressions Peppermint Kisses stencil and die set that is used to make the pretty candy cane and holly cluster. I did substitute a few enamel dots instead of using the berry die cut.

The Lawn Fawn Merry Messages sentiment is stamped and heat embossed, ready to be added to the panel when I paused. I didn't want to add any more color to the design but went looking for an embossing folder to add texture and interest. A Tim Holtz Snow Flurries folder hit the spot for me.

I hope you check out the fabulous Clean Team designs at Freshly Made Sketches and play along with us this week!

Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends celebrating the holiday this week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #562

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #562!

This fabulous sketch from Kim Singdahlsen is the perfect opportunity to highlight washi tapes or strips of pretty designer papers, which was my first plan. I was distracted by Lawn Fawn Woodgrain cardstock into created a partial frame for a poinsettia instead.

An ancient PTI Think Big Favorites sentiment is stamped on the card base first and then sentiment strips dies were used to create the woodgrain pieces. The Poppystamps Blooming Poinsettia layers were cut from both pink cardstock and a pale pink vellum, layered and finished off with a gem center, then adhered on the panel.

The Clean Team has amazing cards at Freshly Made Sketches! I hope you check them out and play along with us this week.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #561

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #561!

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the overlapping rectangles in designer Linda Callahan's sweet sketch for this week so took a quick flip through my Christmas stamps and dies. The Greetery Bake It Merry set immediately caught my eye and the rectangles became a couple cookie sheets.

The cookies and sentiment pieces are cut from cream cardstock and frosted with Nuvo drops to mimic royal icing. While these pieces were drying, the silver metallic and vellum scalloped edge rectangles were die cut to make the parchment paper covered cookie sheets.

I strayed a bit from the sketch as my cookie sheets really wanted to sit slightly tilted. The design didn't feel finished until I added a few extra unfrosted cookies.

Check out the Clean Team's fantastic cards this week and play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

 

Freshly Made Sketches #560

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #560!

I love the split panel in Jen Mitchell's terrific sketch this week and played around with a few different ideas before committing to a clean design supporting the pretty Poppystamps Holiday Mistletoe die cut.

The rectangle panels were cut using stitched dies and then embossed with a long time favorite Cuttlebug folder. 

The mistletoe is attached to a circle of Lawn Fawn Woodgrain cardstock in a couple spots before the twine bow and pearl berries were added. A simple MFT Snow Globe Sentiments stamped on a cream strip using Memento Espresso Truffle ink finishes the design.

I hope you check out the amazing Clean Team designs at Freshly Made Sketches and play along with us this week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #559

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #559!

This is one of those weeks where I knew exactly what I was going to do the second I saw Clean Team designer Jennifer Timko's fabulous sketch! As you can see, I didn't resist the urge to turn circles into wreaths and pulled out an ancient My Favorite Things Winter Wreath and a few favorite jingle bells.

My original plan was to go with a traditional green wreath and red bow, but the pale aqua bells had me shifting to a nontraditional holiday palette. The wreath is loosely adhered layers of white, pale aqua and vellum die cuts with a few Pretty Pink Posh jewels for sparkle.

The bow that came with the die set was a little overwhelmed by the bells so the top piece of another bow came to the rescue. It fit perfectly, gives a better balance to the design elements and helps hide the floss tied to the bells that allows them to dangle freely. A sweet MFT Snow Globes Sentiments finishes the design.

I hope you check out the amazing Clean Team designs and play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches this week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketch #558

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #558!

I am hosting the sketch this week and really excited to see your designs fill the gallery. Funny thing is I drew the sketch with a very specific idea to use the squares as the focal point and when it came time to create was distracted into a completely different direction where the squares are a background element.

Three layers of Poppystamps Madison window die provides my grid squares (sort of, yes these are rectangles) and is decorated with Papersmooches holly and enamel berries in one corner. The MFT Joy die is paired with a Hero Arts Clearly Kelly Fa La La La sentiment to create the sentiment for the bottom right of the grid.

A Taylored Expressions embossing folder adds a brick wall for a little more texture and interest.

I hope you check out the amazing Clean Team designs and play along with us this week.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #557

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #557!

This fun sketch is from amazing Clean Team designer, Judy Rozema! I picked up a Hero Arts leaf stencil and paste a few weeks ago and decided this was the perfect sketch to play with them.

Distress Inks were randomly blended through the stencil first and then a rough layer of the paste added for a bit of texture and crinkle. The ink colors came through most of the paste, but were a bit muted in a few spots. The stencil was easy to put back in place and add more color.

A square is cut from the corner of a wood embossed panel plucked from my bits & pieces bin before it is adhered to the card base. The leaf panel is added next, hiding the cut out piece. The sentiment square is formed using a few more bits & pieces (hello die cut and Lawn Fawn Stitched Leaves) along with a freshly made heat embossed MFT Greetings & Salutations sentiment strip.

I hope you check out the fabulous Clean Team creations and play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches this week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #556

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #556!

Clean Team designer Amy O'Neill has given us a fabulous sketch to work with this week. I think I've mentioned it before, but I almost always see a circle element as a wreath when it is centered like this and couldn't resist pulling out the Memory Box Sussex Wreath die to play with this week.

The wreath is cut from both Lawn Fawn Pixie Dust cardstock and a thick vellum. Only a dot of adhesive is used at the center of each snowflake to layer the die cuts, allowing a bit of movement for the layers.

Another strip of pale blue vellum is cut a little wider than the panel and embossed with falling snow for interest and texture. After the Lawn Fawn Winter Big Scripty Words sentiment is heat embossed in Liquid Platinum on the white panel, the blue embossed vellum panel is wrapped around it and adhered at the back. A tiny dot of liquid glue is also added in the very center of the vellum panel where the Pretty Pink Posh jewel sits for a finishing touch of bling.

I hope you check out the amazing Clean Team designs and play along with us this week at Freshly Made Sketches!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

CASology Challege #408: COZY

 Welcome to CASology Challenge: COZY!

All good things must come to an end and we have reached that point with the CASology Challenge.  I have to give a huge THANK YOU to Melissa Chipperfield for creating this wonderful corner on the internet and inviting me to join the design team. It has been a privilege to create cards along with the talented team and watch the gallery fill with the amazing creations of everyone playing along.

For my final design team card, I decided to highlight that white space in a clean and simple design doesn't have to be white.

The Ali Edwards Cozy sentiment is heat embossed on a black rectangle first and then the house adhered with foam dots under it. This house is a sticker that was added to a piece of scrap paper and trimmed to leave a narrow frame.

The small panel is popped up on the card base and a trio of hearts adhered flowing out of (into?) the house.

I hope you check out the amazing design team cards!

Åsa Johannson

Jacquie Southas (you are here)

Melissa Chipperfield 

Nancy Elrick

Sandie Munro

We are two amazing Guest Designers this month!

 Arlene

Christine

 

We are looking forward to seeing how COZY inspires you - just remember to keep it Clean & Simple! This is a month long challenge, so you have until 9 AM Monday, October 31st  (CMT) to link your card to the CASology blog.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #555

Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #555!

Our fabulous sketch this week is from the Queen of lovely, layered designs, Narelle Farrugia! I do miss the crisp crinkle and beautiful colors of autumn leaves this time of year and couldn't resist pulling out a few leaf products to see how they could play together.

The Lawn Fawn Stitched Leaves dies were cut from paper scraps in autumn colors and arranged into a twine tied bouquet before being popped up on a kraft stitched circle. This circle was adhered to the leaf embossed panel and then sat for a few days while I figured out what to do with the rectangle panel and sentiment.

In the end, as you can see, I layered the two elements. The MFT Greetings and Salutations sentiment is stamped with green ink on the flag first, then The Greetery die cut added and the entire piece popped up over the circle die.

I hope you check out the amazing Clean Team designs and play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches this week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #554

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #554!

I had any idea immediately for Karren Johnson's fabulous sketch this week and pulled out the Memory Box Graceful Stag Collage die, PTI Dash Away All stamp set for the sentiment and a scrap of buffalo check designer paper.

It took a bit of thinking before deciding to use the Taylored Expressions snowflake embossing folder on a white panel then cutting out the offset Ellen Hutson Rectangle. The rectangle is cut again in black to create a frame for the stag die cut. 

By adhering the stag to the embossed small rectangle first, it was easy to trim the stag to fit and leave some of the antlers extending out of the frame. A glitter red enamel dot finished off the design.

I hope you check out the fabulous Clean Team designs and play along with us this week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #553

Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #553!

 

This lovely sketch from Cécile Ribon inspired another Christmas card from me. Our heat wave had me initially thinking snowflakes but in the end I couldn't resist creating a glitter paper and vellum poinsettia in snowflake colors.

A little Tumbled Glass Distress Ink was blended on the center of the panel first and then a trio of rectangles were cut to form a stencil for the a little more ink. The Memory Box Bold Christmas Greetings sentiment is heat embossed in Ranger Liquid Platinum before the layered poinsettia is added.

A few Pretty Pink Posh gems add a little extra glitter to finish the design.

I hope you check out the amazing Clean Team designs and play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches this week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #552

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #552!

The fabulous sketch comes from the amazing Clean Team designer, Jennifer Brum, this week! True confession time, I always have a moment of panic when I see a tipped panel but take a deep breath and  remind myself I have plenty of shapes that can be subbed in for one or both of the rectangles.

Once I narrowed my choices down to the Memory Box Large Coffee on the Go die the fun really began.  Decorating the cozy is my favorite part of using this die set.

A Lifestyle Crafts Knit embossing folder provides texture and winter coziness to the cozy and a Paper Smooches snowflake along with snowflake sequins and a jewel center add to the festivities. A Paper Roses Designs Cable Knit stencil is used to add a little more color and repeat the knit motif. 

Once all the pieces were adhered and the heat embossed MFT Snow Globe Sentiments sentiment placed, a few more snowflake sequins finish off the design.

I hope you check out the amazing Clean Team cards at Freshly Made Sketches and play along with us this week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie