Freshly Made Sketches #700!

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #700!

Freshly Made Sketches is celebrating a big milestone this week with the 700th challenge and 14 years of inspiration!!!! The sketch is a throwback to FMS14 and was designed by the challenge creator, Lesley Croghan. Although I stepped down from the Clean Team a few months ago, I am thrilled to be invited to play along with them this week!

The aqua and gray squares were die cut and adhered in their grid with washi tape to keep the edges clean as Tim Holtz Distress Snowfall Grit Paste was applied with a Taylored Expressions Breezy Stencil. While it dried to a translucent, frosty finish the Poppystamps Birthday Blowout sentiment was heated embossed in Liquid Platinum onto a oval piece of vellum.  

The the MFT Fab Foliage and Wild Greenery dies are attached along their spines to the gray tiles and then the sentiment oval slipped into place amongst the leaves.

For a little extra fun, Clean Team designers are posting the first card they created to play along with Freshly Made Sketches. For me, it was for FMS117 way back in December 2013!

My card is also being entered in Seize the Birthday #311 No Flowers challenge.

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 #674

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #674!

The amazing Clean Team designer, Jen Mitchell, has given us a fabulous sketch this week! I knew I wanted to do something with speech bubbles and text and almost flipped the design before deciding I like the look of an angled curved line more and kept the vertical orientation.

The MFT Happy Birthday Background Text is heat embossed on a white panel, then die cut with a MFT Speech Bubble edges die. Lawn Fawn Chit Chat stamps and dies were used to create the trio of birthday greetings popped up over this panel. Before it is adhered to the green panel, a MFT From All of Us sentiment is heat embossed in the bottom corner.

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

I'm also entering this card in Seize the Birthday Challenge #299 in the Anything Goes category.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #669

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #669!

The queen of layering, Clean Team designer Narelle Farrugia, has a wide open sketch for us this week. My need to replenish the stack of birthday cards had me reaching for balloons when I saw the circles, but as always, you can use any image in your design. Inspired by Narelle's layers and a new The Stamp Market Wispy Waves stencil, a windy tone on tone background is created first by adding a touch of ink to white molding paste.

Both MFT Balloon Stax and Poppystamps Celebration Balloons dies are used to give me the sizes I wanted and cut in a number of colors before deciding to go with an orange and aqua mix. The MFT Bitty Birthday Wishes sentiment is heat embossed and a couple of waxed thread strings added to the larger balloons to finish the design.

Check out the amazing Clean Team designs and play along with us this week at Freshly Made Sketches!

I'm linking this card to Seize the Birthday Challenge #297 - Use Something New.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #665

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #665!

I can't believe how perfect the amazing Kim Singdahlsen's sketch is for a birthday card. Okay, it is also perfect for anything MERRY, JOLLY or whatever other five letter word you need to spell out. I always have to interrupt the holiday card making season to make sure I have a few masculine cards on hand with a December birthday boy in the house.

Kim's vertical panels had me thinking HAPPY, so I pulled out the MFT Veritcal Stitched Strips and The Stamp Market Skinny Alphabet dies to play around. As often happens when I want to lean masculine, I end up using blues, greens or grays and a monochromatic palette.

The pale green letters are adhered straight in the center of the stitched panels before they are adhered slightly wonky on a wood embossed kraft panel. The MFT Bitty Birthday Wishes sentiment is heat embossed on a scrap of green vellum to finish the design.

I am linking this card to Seize the Birthday #296 where the Topping is Masculine.

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

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #651

Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #651!

Our super talented Clean Team leader, Jen Timko, is behind the fun asymmetrical sketch this week! I went through so many ideas and thought I'd settled on feathers and a sympathy card, when I came across the Papertrey Ink Leaf Silhouette dies (yup, I tag and use them as feathers as well as leaves) and switched to a masculine leaning birthday card.

The large die is cut several times to give me options for color blocking the finished leaf. An older PTI Birthday Bash sentiment is stamped on a piece of patterned paper, die cut and inked to blend better with the other colors. The design didn't feel finished until a few stitched leaves leftover from another project were layered under the large focal point leaf.

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

I'm linking this card to Seize the Birthday #290 challenge in the Anything Goes category.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #619

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #619!

I love this fabulous sketch designed by our super talented Judy Rozema! I knew almost immediately that I wanted to create something with a postage stamp look for the square element, but went through numerous ideas and color palettes before settling on this red, white and blue design.

A happy find was the airmail stripe image in an older Simon Says Stamp Sending Happy Thoughts stamp set to use for the vertical element. It is stamped in red first and then the strip was shifted to stamp the blue.

The postage stamp is created using images from Kerri Bradford Southern California stamp set and cut with a Spellbinders die. The SSS Sending die cut layered over the stamp provides the first half of the sentiment and an MFT Bitty Birthday Wishes finishes it off.

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

I am also linking this card to Seize the Birthday Challenge #275 in the Anything Goes category.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #612

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #612!

The super talented Clean Team designer Linda Callahan has provided a fabulous, classic sketch for us this week! It was just perfect for pausing the Christmas card production and adding a much needed masculine birthday card to my stash.

The Memory Box Graceful Stag Collage die is cut from a piece of holiday tartan paper that was trimmed to size first. It is adhered to a Sizzix 3D Leaf Pattern embossed panel and a second, darker green panel is embossed and staggered behind it.

The Poppystamps Birthday Blowout sentiment is stamped on a MFT Mod Rectangle die cut that is adhered to a second, slightly offset dark green die cut to finish this super simple design.

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

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #595

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #595!

I was so happy to see a circle in Amy O'Neill's fabulous sketch this week because I recently added a few  Maya Road transparency doilies to the "use or purge" bowl on my desk.

The doily is layered over a pale blue vellum circle with Simply Graphic Pine Branches and Gold Button dies added to the top. The finished cluster is popped up over the Poppystamps Birthday Blowout sentiment.

Check out the amazing Clean Team designs and play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches this week!

I'm linking this card to Seize the Birthday #265 where the doily and polka dots meet the Circle or Circles challenge.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #590

Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #590!

 

I love the versatility of the Clean Team designer Kim Singdahlsen's fabulous sketch this week! My first thought was to do something with a trio of sentiment strips, my second thought was a layer cake, and my third thought was to combine the two ideas.

PTI Your Beautiful Birthday stamp set provided the sentiment and images to create the cake. The sentiment, cake plate and candle flame are embossed with Ranger's Gold embossing powder first and then the cake layers and candles added in shades of pink.

Several layers of MFT Stitched Rectangle Scallop Frame die cuts in white and a couple shades of pink are adhered together with a transparency piece between the top two layers to create a shaker box. Sequins and confetti are added before the stamped panel seals them in place.

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

I'm adding this card to the Seize The Birthday #263 challenge in their Anything Goes category.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #584

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #584!

I had an immediate idea when I saw Clean Team designer Linda Callahan's fabulous sketch this week and it only took four tries to get something I'm happy with. The stamp platform had a workout as all versions of my design included seventeen images of the PTI Birthday Style candle. 

PTI Hawaiian Shores and Limeade Ice are two of my favorite colors and things came together when I finally pulled them out. The candles are inked once and the MFT Blended Happy Birthday sentiment inked several times to get a deeper color. A teal die cut helps the sentiment stand out over the candles.

Yellow ink is blended around the candle tops and the happy part of the sentiment stamped directly on the panel. Wink of Stella adds a touch of sparkle to the flames and a scatter of enamel dots reinforce the festive feel.

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

Freshly Made Sketches #542

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #542!

Clean Team designer Kim Singdahlsen has given us a fabulous, classic sketch to work with this week. The biggest challenge was deciding what shape I wanted to highlight, but things came together very quickly once I flipped through a few dies and spotted a summer favorite.

The Hero Arts ice cream cone dies are cut and the cone embossed to give it a waffle cone look. Course glitter gives a sugary finish to the ice cream. The cone is popped up over a pretty pink gingham panel. A little white ink was smeared over the panel before stamping the Lawn Fawn Treat Yourself sentiment. A few enamel dots finish the design. 

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

I'm adding this card to Seize the Birthday #241 - Summer Activities challenge.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #530

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #530!

The first thought I had after looking at Jen Mitchell's terrific offset panel was to wrap it around the back of the card base, so I did. I think it is my favorite part of this design.

Still adding to the masculine birthday stash, a favorite tree stamp and die were pulled out today. The Concord & 9th Tree Ring Background image is stamped in lime green on a kraft MFT Mod Rectangle die cut panel first and the Memory Box Arboscello tree cut three times.

The trees are layered with dark green on the bottom, kraft next and a light green on top.

For a little extra interest and dimension, several green and tan Distress Inks were blended over the tree and the MFT Bitty Birthday Wishes sentiment strip. The sentiment gave me a giggle and seemed completely appropriate paired with the tree rings.

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

I am linking this to Seize the Birthday #235 in the Anything Goes category.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #528

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #528!

I'm thrilled to be hosting the Freshly Made Sketches challenge this week! I'm not sure which came first, the card design or the sketch, but they definitely were interlinked in my mind as a mulled over a few ideas for a simple masculine birthday card for my Pisces husband.

MFT Abstract Art images were inked with Mermaid Lagoon, Salty Ocean and Peacock Feathers Distress Inks, spritzed and stamped on the white panel. Once dry, the Simply Graphic Sardines images were stamped and heat embossed with Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder.

A Memory Box Fish Tales sentiment finishes the design.

I can't wait to see how you use the strips in the sketch! They can be for a sentiment, design element or some combination of both. Check out the amazing Clean Team designs and play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches.

I am linking this card to Seize the Birthday #234 in the Anything Goes category.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie