Freshly Made Sketches #747

Hello folks,

A card for a couple of different challenges: 

Posting to:

Freshly Made Sketches #747

Time Out Card Challenge #318 Mother Nature

Claire

Breaking the Card Drought: Freshly Made Sketch - 717

Hello inkers, happy new year!

I can't believe it's been over 3 months since I made a card.  I've gone back to work full time in a new industry in a job that's busy 100% of the time and it doesn't leave room for much card making. Loving it, but I wish I had the time to ink up more often!

 

I had a little time off over Christmas, most of it spent holidaying with friends but I did manage to make this card for my father-in-law, using Freshly Made Sketch 717.  All the stamps I used are pretty ancient - almost as old as that typewriter probably!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Layered Blooms

Hello again,

I haven't been able to play along with Freshly Made Sketches for a while so made this card using the colours from Colour Throwdown and the prompts from Time Out (pastel and floral):

I don't use pastels often - I much prefer brights and bold colours so this is about as 'pastelly' (is there such a word?) it gets. Lots of older products on this from PTI and W Plus 9. 

I'm also popping it over to Seize the Birthday where the topping is 'layer it' - I love a few layers and layered the card stock and flowers to fit the challenge. 

Apologies if you've left a comment recently - I've got family over from the UK and looking for a new job which is a full time job in itself! I will get there eventually.

Happy stamping!

Claire

MFT Colour Challenge

Hello inkers, happy 2025!

It's been a while between cards - Christmas can do that, can't it?  We've had family over from the UK for a few weeks so lots of socialising and very little crafting.

It was hard to get motivated to play with paper again but what better way than by playing along with the brand new colour challenge at MFT.  I've missed their challenges so much in the last few months but they're back, alternating between a colour and a sketch challenge:
 

I also used the latest Freshly Made Sketch from Karren for some inspiration - a great sketch for those MFT 6 x 6 paper scraps I have lying around as I can't bear to throw them out! I have a real lack of birthday cards at the moment so used MFT's Let Your Hair Down.

Happy stamping and here's to a crafty 2025!

Claire

Altenew Ultimate Inspiration Challenge - Year in Review

Hello again,

You know another year has gone by when it's the Ultimate Inspiration Challenge: Year in Review   over at Altenew. I revisited Bridget's April challenge - I'd already used these colours a couple of times for the original challenge so I obviously liked them:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches for some inspiration - I thought it was perfect for this Psyanka stamp (currently half price so a good reason to buy it). I coloured the first one in full using Copics, then partially coloured the other three. It's quite a detailed design so I thought it would be a bit much with all four coloured. I also added a Fine Frames Cover Die and a teeny tiny diamante in the middle of each flower.

Happy stamping!

Claire

Freshly Made Sketch #663

Hello folks,

Sneaking in with a card for Freshly Made Sketches:

I can't get enough of these Merry Moose's from MFT - coloured with Copics with some added sparkle on his collar and cuffs. 

This one's also going over to Time Out's 'Inspired by Words' challenge - 'there truly is not an occasion that is not improved by wearing something festive.' You couldn't improve an occasion more than by having moose dressed as Santa!

Happy stamping!

Claire

 

Freshly Made Sketch 658

Hello inkers!

It's been ages since I've joined in with Freshly Made Sketches so here's a little card I made for my youngest son who turns sweet 16 this week. I use the term 'sweet' very loosely!

 

I've used the hues from Color Throwdown to colour this sweet little fisherman from Your Next Stamp. This was always a favourite set from YNS but he's been in semi retirement and hasn't seen ink for quite a while. 

I went for some smaller stitched Mod Rectangles from MFT instead of standard rectangles so I could have a little more white space to give it more of a CAS feel.  The patterned paper is also MFT. 

Have an inky week!

Claire

Freshly Made Sketches #639

Hello bloggers!

I'm playing along with Freshly Made Sketches this time. Amy's sketch gave me the opportunity to get all my old scrapbooking papers out. And I mean old. I haven't looked at them for a couple of years and had forgotten how many gorgeous papers I have gathering dust:

 

These papers were from Carta Bella - I though the fun colours would make a great kids card so inked up these cute monsters from Your Next Stamp. 

Hope you have a great start to the week!

Claire

Procaffeination

Hello again, 

Who doesn't like to procaffeinate? Coffee Set was one of the last sets I bought before Waltzingmouse  Stamps closed it's virtual doors so it's an oldie but still a goodie. I love the sentiments, perfect for those friends you never run out of conversation with,  once the coffee's been made!

I used the colours from Colour Throwdown and Jen B's simple sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches.  The dp is from a very old 6x6 pad and happened to have the perfect colours - I just stamped a few beans over it to keep with the theme!

Happy stamping!

Claire

 

Freshly Made Sketch #622

Hello folks,

A very quick post with a card I whipped up tonight using the latest Freshly Made Sketch:

 

I used Sweet Christmas Wishes and Lined by Hand background. I've also used the colours from MFT's Color Challenge 229 although my Ripe Raspberry is more coral than raspberry...oops. I'm also popping it over to their Ready, Set, Christmas challenge. 

Happy stamping!

Claire

MFT Colour Challenge and Freshly made Sketch

Hello again,

Just sneaking in with a card using MFT's pretty autumnal colours from their latest challenge closing in a few hours:

I love colouring this little cutie from Let Your Hair Down (retired.) The stencilled clouds were done using Cloud Stencil and the background was embossed with Lined By Hand background stamp. A couple of scraps from Birthday Brights Paper Pad and it was good to go!

I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches - heaps of time to do this one as it doesn't close until January 1.

Probably the last card from me before Christmas so happy stamping and Merry Christmas!

Claire 

Freshly Made Sketch #611

Hello again,

Love the Autumnal colours over at Sunday Stamps - I paired them with Jen's layered sketch at Freshly Made Sketches:

 

Some older stamps on this one - Papertrey Ink's Lovely Layers and Waltzingmouse's Simple Sprig (since it was already out!) all set against an Altenew EB. I decided to make a standard card rather than a square one for the simple reason I don't have any square envelopes!

Happy stamping!

Claire 

Freshly Made Sketch #608

Hello folks!

My mojo has been severely lacking this week. When that happens I always reach for trusty stamps that I know will give me a crafty kick up the backside - in this case it's Doodlie-Do from PTI :

I used Judy's lovely, layered sketch over at  Freshly Made Sketch and the colours from Color Throwdown with the barest amount of colouring as I think the blooms are just as pretty as is. The frame is also PTI with dp from MFT - cover plate and sentiment from Altenew. 

Happy stamping!

Claire

Freshly Made Sketch #606 - Guest Designer

Hello inkers!

I'm so thrilled to be guest designer for one of my absolute favourite challenges this week - Freshly Made Sketches. They reached an unbelievable 600 challenges a few weeks ago and I was lucky enough to be chosen for a GD spot for the current challenge:

This week it's a sketch from Narelle featuring circles. I've always struggled with circles but I have these pretty Ink to Paper blooms which I think fit the sketch perfectly. I added a sparkly enamel dot in the centres to match the glittery embossing powder. The sentiments in the pack were a little too large so I picked a smaller one from Altenew and it's all backed by Altenew's Cross Stitch Canvas Die.

The DT would love you to pop over and say hello - then all you have to do is link up your card for the chance to be crowned Queen of Clean!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Freshly Made Sketch #600!

Hello folks!

Can you believe Freshly Made Sketches has made it to their 600th sketch? That deserves a celebration and at the very least deserves a play along this week:

On Sunday it's Father's Day here in Australia so here's a little card for the big bloke (or should that be biggest bloke as there's 3 of them in my household). I used some older stamps from Your Next Stamp, Waltzingmouse, MFT and Stampin' Up...hopefully he likes it, along with the bottle of whisky to celebrate the special day!

Congrats to the FMS design team and thanks so much for all the inspiration over the years!

Claire

Freshly Made Sketch #599

Hello folks,

Not much card making this week - my mojo has well and truly disappeared and I had a complete mental block with anything crafty - so frustrating!

Nothing like a new Freshly Made Sketch to bring it back though - I used the pretty colours from the latest MFT challenge:

Lots of MFT products on this one - PI Winter Kisses, a sentiment from Holiday Cheer, various MFT dp's and die-namics flag dies. This one's also going over to there Ready, Set, Christmas challenge!

Happy stamping!

Claire

Time Out Photo Inspiration

Hello again,

Quick post for a couple of challenges - Time Out's inspiration pic and the latest Freshly Made Sketch:

 

I took inspiration from the dusky pink curtain, the font on the basket on the top shelf and the splashes of gold. I stamped the background with PTI's Background Basics Super Stripes and the bloom is Altenew.

Happy stamping!

Claire