Freshly Made Sketches #604

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #604!

The always elegant Clean Team designer, Cécile Ribon, has provided a lovely sketch this week! I immediately pulled out MTF Abstract Art and a paintbrush while I went back and forth over whether to stamp the brushstrokes images or paint them with watercolors. As you can see, the stamped images won.

The top center area of the square panel is very lightly inked with pale blue before the stamped swipes of color were added. The MFT Itty Bitty Summer sentiment is heat embossed in Platinum next and then the Wplus9 sailboat adhered with the body and tip of the mast tight to the panel and the sail popped up with foam adhesive.

In addition to the fabulous Clean Team designers we have one of the winners of our Challenge #600 winners, Annette Elias, as a special Guest Designer this week.  I hope you check out all their amazing creations and play along with us at Freshly Made Sketches this week!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #603

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #603!

I immediately saw Clean Team designer Jen Brum's trio of stacked circles as a snowman. The PTI Shape Up Snowman was a little larger than I wanted, but I decided to take creative license and squeezed it into the design.

Heat embossing gives the mittens and toque a bit of wooly texture and a pop of color. The aqua panel is placed over a snowflake embossed paneled before the snowman is popped in place. Her arms hold the Lawn Fawn Winter Big Scripty Words sentiment sign. 

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

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #602

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #602!

I had great plans for embossed backgrounds and multiple layered elements when I saw Kim's fabulous sketch this week, but in the end went super clean and simple with my design.

The full panel is inked to give an ombre feel moving from left to right, so that the left vertical panel is softly implied rather than a hard edge. The Memory Box Woodland Branch die cut is trimmed and attached to further suggest the left vertical panel. An MFT Greetings and Salutations sentiment stamped directly on the panel and a sweet Memory Box Resting Bird bird attached to the branch finish the design.

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 #601

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #601!

I was thrilled to see Clean Team designer Linda Callahan's sketch this week as I've had a few washi tapes sitting on my desk waiting for the right opportunity.

Knowing I would use a wide cacti washi, it was an easy decision to pull out the Hero Arts Layering Prickly Cactus for the center panel. The cactus is cut from a Peacock Feathers and Twisted Citron inked panel and layered with the MFT Sweet Succulents sentiment and sequin flowers.

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 #600 Celebration

 Welcome to the  Freshly Made Sketches #600 celebration!

We are celebrating YOU this week! Freshly Made Sketches has been so much fun for 12 years and 600 sketches because of YOUR amazing talent and participation in the weekly challenges! To help celebrate, many of our repeat weekly challenge winners are guest designing with us this week and the inspiration is next level amazing.

Each member of the Clean Team will pick a favorite this week as normal, but to continue the celebration, our picks will be invited to guest design on a future challenge. It really is about celebrating YOU this week!

For my card,  a white cardstock scrap is inked with yellow, orange and pink bands before the base piece of the Memory Box Drifting Side Butterfly dies is cut. The white outline piece is adhered over this and the complete butterfly adhered to a cloud stenciled horizontal panel.

A favorite MFT Greetings and Salutations sentiment is heat embossed on a black strip and slipped under the butterfly to finish off this clean and simple design.

I hope you check out all the amazing Clean Team and guest designer cards this week at Freshly Made Sketches. I'm looking forward to the FMS600 gallery filling with your stunning designs!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #599

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #599!

I had so many ideas for the offset vertical panel in the fabulous Jen Mitchell's sketch this week that it was hard to focus on just one. Most of my designs had the panel being a die or stamped image, with the sentiment off to the right, so I'm not sure how I ended up with my sentiment on the panel.

Once settling on the Poppystamps Art Deco Birthday Greetings sentiment, dies and embossing folders were pulled that would work for a masculine design. The Stampin' Up Woodgrain and Sizzix 3D Leaf Pattern folders were supported by a few trees trimmed from a Memory Box Pine Tree Landscape die cut.

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 #598

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #598!

Our amazing Clean Team leader, Jennifer Timko, has given us a great sketch this week! I didn't have an immediate idea for my design, but was pondering the sketch while swiffering away the post vacation cobwebs that popped up in all corners of the house when I started thinking Halloween.

I don't have a lot of Halloween products but somehow ended up with this tiny Tim Holtz Sizzix cobweb corner embossing folder in my collection and I'm sure it has never been used. 

Those of you that came into card making from the scrapbook world might recognize the Making Memories Magnetic Rubber Stamp Alphabet set used to create the sentiment. Feeling like something more was needed, a sweet MFT Fab-Boo-Lous Friends spider tied itself to the upper web with an Avery Elle Bunting bow.

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

Using anything never been used before will always makes me think of Darnell and her NBUS (Never-Been-Used-Schtuff) Challenge, so my card is going to join NBUS Challenge #53.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #597

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #597!

I'm hosting the challenge this week and decided to create a landscape sketch that would allow me to use this MFT Life's a Beach sentiment. My vertical stripes are palm trees, but of course you can do whatever you want to frame the panel in your design!

I am absolutely in love with this MFT Watercolor Wash Rectangle stencil and blended kraft ink along the bottom inch or so and light blue for the sky. Wplus9 Dockside seagulls were heat embossed before the sentiment strip and Simply Graphic palm trees were layered and adhered. A few Studio Calico sequins were added to mimic coconuts.

I hope you check out the fabulous Clean Team designs and play along with us this week at Freshly Made Sketches. I'm so excited to see the gallery fill with your amazing creations!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #596

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #596!

How fun is this sketch from our talented Clean Team designer, Judy Rozema!? I'm a big fan of Clean and Simple designs, so had a few thoughts running through my head before settling on rainbow stripes.

Scraps of cardstock are cut with an MFT sentiment strip die and adhered to a smaller panel. The ends are cut with an MFT Torn Paper Edge die before being popped up on a white panel. The Stamp Market Color Me Happy sentiment is heat embossed on a black sentiment strip to finish 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 #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 #594

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #594!

The more I looked at Clean Team designer Narelle Farrugia's layered sketch, the more I saw a sailboat as the large, focal point circle. Could the unused Wplus9 sailboat die sitting on my desk have influenced me? Why, of course. 

A Wplus9 Dockside compass image is heat embossed on a navy circle, the MFT Itty Bitty Summer sentiment heat embossed on an aqua strip, Memory Box Flying Gulls die cut to be assembled and layered over the sailboat washi before the sailboat was popped up over them.

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

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Freshly Made Sketches #593

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #593!

The fabulous sketch this week comes from our super talented designer, Karren Johnson. When she mentioned being inspired by a Jennifer Mcquire bridge card I had to check it out for myself. I was completely sucked into the possibilities and ended up with more of a landscape orientation for my design.

Instead of stenciling and foiling a panel, I flipped through paper pads until I found a summer theme from a 2015 Fancy Pants pad that worked for an idea brewing. The card base is a 8" x 4 ¼" and scored at 1¼, 2½, 5½ and 6¾. The flip flop paper is trimmed to fit on the right and left flaps and the back panel.

Popsicles were created using the MFT Mini Cafe All Day cup die and a partially cut Slimline Starter die provided the perfect stick. The sticks are cut from thin wood and the cups made from two layers and adhered to a base for extra stability. Before they were adhered the Ellen Hutson Say Cool sentiment was heat embossed across the center three.

Thanks for introducing me to a fun technique, Karren!

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 #592

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #592!

The lovely sketch this week comes from our always inspiring Clean Team designer Cécile Ribon! I completely planned on going with a favorite theme of sailing into the sunset for a retirement card when the Kerri Bradford Canada Day stamp set derailed my plans.

Once I saw the circle element as an iconic Canadian red maple leaf, I couldn't unsee it and my challenge became figuring out what to use for the triangle element.

After playing around with a few mountain range images without success, I pulled out the Kerri Bradford Willow alphabet set to see if this thin, whimsical font could fit into the design and the card came together quite quickly. The dotted line breaking up the sentiments is from Lawn Fawn Deck the Halls stamp set.

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 #591

 Welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #591!

Not only is team member Jennifer Brum an amazing card designer, she is an avid hiker who shares her adventures in the Rockies regularly on social media. My fear of heights keeps me off steep, open mountain ridges but I do love getting in nature, especially if it involves a trail around a lake. My husband and I have been exploring the local lake and lagoon trails, so translating the sketch into lake hike view seemed a great idea for a Father's Day card.

A blue cardstock panel is cut first and then a few triangle "trees" in different sizes were cut from plain scraps of cardstock. I did cut the trees in a few shades of green but in the end decided to stick to one color and add texture to some using a Sizzix 3D Leaf embossing folder. The trees were adhered to form the center triangle from the sketch first and the bottom aqua "lake" was added for the bottom section. A simple MFT All About Dad sentiment finishes the design.

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

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 #589

 Welcome to Freshly Make Sketches #589!

I will admit the sketch from the fabulously talented Linda Callahan had me a little stumped this week.  I was hung up on how to use the vertical panel. At the same time, I have been mulling over what to do for a graduation card for my son. I have limited supplies that are specific for graduation and none were really speaking to me. I honestly can't believe how long it took me to see the cap and scroll possibilities in the sketch, but once I saw it, the card came together very quickly.

The scroll was created first, using a Spellbinders Wonky Rectangle die to get the curved shape, and then I decided on the size of the simple square for the mortar board. The scroll is adhered over it at a slight so you can see the black brad attaching the tassel made with floss using the University of California at San Diego colors.

For a bit more interest, a faux embossing technique is used on the panel. The white cap dies were adhered randomly before the panel was cut to size for the card.

A simple piece of silk ribbon and PTI Wet Paint III die cut stacked in three colors finishes the design.

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