Freshly Made Sketches #504

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Welcome to my blog and a new sketch for you to play along with at Freshly Made Sketches. This week our sketch has been designed by Karren Johnson. Karren’s sketch is as fabulous as her cards!

I was looking for something different to add to this card. I decided to create a mountain scene to fill the space on my mini slimline card.

The mountain images that I have added to my card are from the Mountain Air Stamp Set. I gave them colour with a combination of Crumb Cake and Soft Suede Blends. The mountains have been stamped twice to create the mountain range across the card. The join where the images meet was hidden strategically behind the two tree die cuts.

I felt my background needed a little something, so I took a Blending Brush and Balmy Blue Ink and added a skyline behind the mountains. I then added a strip of DSP, a thin strip of Basic Black Cardstock and some Crumb Cake Cardstock.

I then added two strips of Linen Thread and a knot, a sentiment and two Mossy Meadow Cardstock trees cut with the Majestic Mountain Dies.

The girls at Freshly Made Sketches have created awesome cards. Head over to the challenge and see what they’ve created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Global Design Project #309

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Hey Everyone

I had some craft room time today after I managed to sneak away from helping my husband paint the lounge room. I was ready to finish 5 minutes are we started….

The Global Design Project has a colour challenge this week that is one of my favourite challenges – Basic Black, Whisper White and a colour of our choice.

My colour of choice to add to black and white was Pale Papaya. This colour was chosen because of the pretty DSP that my mum sent me recently. It’s called Expressions Ink Speciality Designer Series Paper. To add some more black to the card, I added a strip of striped DSP from the Beautifully Penned Designer Series Paper pack. This pack can be yours free during Sale-A-Bration when you spend $90.

Once this paper was chosen, I then stamped up the flowers from the Artistically Inked Stamp Set with Pale Papaya Ink and fussy cut them out. Instead of stamped leaves, I used the large floral die cut from Artistic Dies to cut the Basic White Cardstock to serve as my leaves.

The sentiment I’ve added to my card has been embossed on Basic Black Cardstock and then hand cut out. To finish off the card, I added a White Crinkled Seam Binding Bow.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Just Add Ink #572

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Hey Everyone

We have a new challenge for you to play along with over at Just Add Ink. This week our challenge is an inspiration picture challenge. Take a look at the pic we have for you to create your project.

I took the pink from the flowers, green from the grass and blue from the sky for my card. The stamp set these flowers come from is called Forever & Always. The flowers have been coloured with the Lovely Lipstick Blends. I also added Light Smoky Blend touches to the centre of the flowers.

The leaves, that I have stamped in Old Olive Ink, are the from the Christmas Season Stamp Set. I like mixing stamp sets as I get more use from them. The leaves have been fussy cut out and adhered to the card base with Mini Dimensionals.

The card base was given colour with Balmy Blue Ink and a Blending Brush. I think adding a shaded background softens the base and makes the flowers stand out. A sentiment was added and three Basic Pearls to create a bling-y card. White Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon is a great embellished detail to add to any card, because you can never have too many details to look at.

The team at Just Add Ink have created wonderful cards using the inspiration pic. Make sure you head over to the challenge and see what they’ve created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Freshly Made Sketches #503

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Hey Everyone

There’s a new challenge for you to play along with at Freshly Made Sketches. Every week I am thrilled to see what our sketch is going to be. I have to say, I adore this sketch that the fabulously talented Cecile Ribon has created.

I couldn’t go past the Friends Are Like Seashells Stamp Set for this card. It’s been a couple of weeks since I used this set, so time it got some ink love.

I like to mix up my colours when using this set. The shells have been coloured with the Highland Heather and Soft Succulent Blends. My Color Lifter got a bit of a work out with these shells as I like giving them a light colouring. Each of these shells has been fussy cut out.

To add the leafy element from the sketch, I diecut a sea grass diecut with the Smooth Sailing Dies in Basic White Cardstock. The woodgrain designer series paper squares are from the In Good Taste DSP pack.

For the base of the card I took a Blending Brush and some Balmy Blue Ink and shaded the Basic White Cardstock. I then took the ink splatters stamp and randomly added some ink splatters.

After layering all of my elements together, I added a simple sentiment from the Friends Are Like Seashells Stamp Set. I kept the sentiment slim and simple so you could see my shells.

The Clean Team have created wonderful cards that will no doubt inspire you. Make sure you pop over to the challenge and see what they created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Freshly Made Sketches #502

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Hey Everyone

It’s time for a new sketch to play along with at Freshly Made Sketches. Sketches are the perfect starting point to any card. With the design already there, all you have to do is choose colours and a stamp set and your card will come together in no time.

This week our sketch has been by serious walking friend from Canada – Jen Brum. I don’t even know where Canada sits from where I am in Australia – but the difference in weather makes it feel literally on the other side of the world. Jen has created an awesome sketch and always creates awesome cards!

Take a look at her fab sketch:

The card I’ve created is full of pink and grey. The stamp set I’ve featured on my card is called the Forever Fern Stamp Set. I love all the leafy goodness in the images from this set. The leaves have been stamped in Basic Gray and Polished Pink Inks. The large leaf die cut in the background is made from Silver Foil. The die is from the Forever Flourishing Dies. Using Silver Foil adds a classy touch.

A White Crinkled Seam Binding Ribbon , that was coloured with the Light Polished Pink Blend, has been added to the card along with a strip of Polished Pink Cardstock and sentiment from the Forever Fern Stamp Set.

The background of my card was embossed with the Tasteful Textile Embossing Folder. I added a piece of DSP from the Peaceful Place DSP pack as it fitted with my colour scheme.

The team, as always, have created wonderful cards. Head over to the challenge and see what they’ve created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Just Add Ink #570

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Hey Everyone

Welcome to another Friday and the newest challenge at Just Add Ink. This week our challenge is a colour challenge.

When I first saw these colours, I immediately thought of a nautical card, but I created one last week, so I decided to change it up.

I inked up the Plentiful Plants Stamp Set for the first time with a combination of Night of Navy and Coastal Cabana Inks. After a bit of fussy cutting, some die cutting with the Perfect Plants Dies and played around with layering – my card came together.

To add some interest to the background I took a Blending Brush and some Coastal Cabana Ink and shaded the areas behind my plants.

I chose two sentiments, from the Plentiful Plants Stamp Set, and placed them over both pots.

The team at Just Add Ink have created wonderful cards using the challenge colours. Head over to the challenge and see what the team have created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Freshly Made Sketches #501

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Hey Everyone

It was so good to see so many people play along with our fabulous challenge at Freshly Made Sketches last week. I hope you were one of the many winners who managed to snag one of our generous prizes! This week our sketch has been designed by the uber talented Kim Singdahlsen. Here’s her cool sketch:

I am on a roll with creating Christmas cards. Hard not to when I’ve received my new goodies from the Stampin’ Up! July – December 2021 Mini Catalogue.

The stamp set I’ve featured on my card is called the Frosted Gingerbread Stamp Set. I’ve stamped the baubles from this stamp set in Sahara Sand, Blackberry Bliss and Pool Party Inks. I fussy cut each of these baubles out and layered them on my card with Dimensionals.

The designer series paper I’ve used in the background is from the Tidings Of Christmas Designer Series Paper pack. I’ve added Blackberry Bliss Cardstock layers to make the baubles pop. The sentiment I’ve used is also from the Frosted Gingerbread Stamp Set as it fit the size of the sentiment panel in the sketch. Three Basic Rhinestones were added to each of the baubles because every Christmas card should have bling. 🙂

Here’s the card I created:

The team at Freshly Made Sketches have created wonderful cards using Kim’s sketch. Head over to Freshly Made Sketches and see what they’ve created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Just Add Ink #569

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Hey Everyone

Welcome to the newest at Just Add Ink Challenge. This week our challenge for you is to:

Straight away I thought the only thing that I can think of is that Narelle starts with N, but I couldn’t very well throw a photo of myself on a card!

So my next option was was to create a nautical card. Easy peasy when you have the best nautical stamp set sitting on your desk. The Sailing Home Stamp Set images I’ve used are the lighthouse, sailing boat and anchor. These images have been lightly coloured with the Smoky Slate and Pool Party Blends.

I’ve layered Smoky Slate Cardstock on a Basic Gray Cardstock base, with a piece of Basic White Cardstock that the sailing boat is adhered to. Behind the boat, I shaded the background lightly with Pool Party Ink and a Blending Brush. The strip of designer series paper that I added is from the Peaceful Place Specialty Designer Series Paper pack. I chose this piece as it fitted with my mainly monochromatic theme.

I like to have masculine birthday cards up my sleeve, so I added this sentiment from the Artistically Inked Stamp Set, rather than nautical themed ones in the Sailing Home Stamp Set.

The team at Just Add Ink have created wonderful cards so make sure you head over to the challenge and see what they’ve created.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Freshly Made Sketches #500

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Hey Everyone

Welcome to our sketch #500 celebration at Freshly Made Sketches!  This milestone sketch challenge has been designed by the amazing Linda Callahan. Linda is not only talented in card making but she creates fab sketches too!

Our crafting community is incredibly generous and we are so happy some of our favorite companies are helping us mark this milestone.  It is hard to believe that when Lesley started this challenge, we would still be going strong 10 years later.  And that, our friends, is because of YOU.  Our players inspire us week in and week out with your creative takes on our designs.  We are thrilled to be able to reward you with some fabulous prizes!  After you take in the team’s take on Linda’s sketch, you can find all the details below.  


Also, some of the team members are giving away their own prizes as part of the celebration.  Those will be listed on our personal blogs along with the details to win!  Please hop through our links to see our own thoughts on this celebration and to say hi!

My stamp set of choice is the Christmas Season Stamp Set. The pine cones have been cut out with the matching Seasonal Layers Dies. I’ve gone with a new-to-me colour combination for the stamping – Blackberry Bliss, Gray Granite and Evening Evergreen. Even though Blackberry Bliss is an unusual colour for pine cones, I think it works quite well. The base colour of the two-step stamping is stamped in Gray Granite Ink and the second part of the stamping is stamped with Blackberry Bliss Ink.

The leaves have been stamped in Evening Evergreen Ink. Even though there are matching dies, I have fussy cut the leaves out because I like a really fine line around the image.

My card base for once is not Basic White Cardstock! I have gone with Blackberry Bliss Cardstock, then a Gray Granite piece mats the Basic White Cardstock. On this Basic White Cardstock, I added a strip of subtle DSP. It’s from the Peaceful Place Designer Series Paper pack.

The sentiment that I added to my card is from the Tidings & Trimmings Stamp Set. It was the perfect fit for the sketch and I didn’t want to overpower the pine cones with a large sentiment. Three Basic Rhinestones finished off my card.

Our winners of these prizes will be randomly chosen from those who join the gallery this week.  Once chosen, we will contact you via the information you give in the link tool and post here on the blog.  You will have 5 days to respond or we will choose a different recipient.  So make sure you come back next week to check!

We are so grateful to these amazing sponsors for their support and generosity!  

We have a few simple rules to keep things fun and fair for all of our players:

  • Please use any crafting product you would like to use.
  • Feel free to combine our challenge with up to THREE other challenges, except for another sketch challenge.
  • Please add a DIRECT link to your blog or other online gallery when adding your card to the link below.  If linking to a public gallery, use keyword FMS500.
  • Include our challenge sketch and a link back to Freshly Made Sketches on your post.
  • Have fun!

This challenge will end at 3:00 EDT time on Monday, August 30th.  On Tuesday, we will announce the winner of this week’s challenge who will be known as the “Queen or King of Clean”.  The team will choose other gallery favorites to be known as a “Perfect Princess or Prince”.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle

Global Design Project #305

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Hey Everyone

I had some time today to play along with pretty combination of colours at the Global Design Project.

The Count On Me Stamp Set has been sitting on my desk un-inked, so I decided it needed some ink love today.

So you might wonder why I went with a blue bear? I went with a blue bear as I remember a kids show years ago that had a blue bear and I figured if it was alright for TV, then a blue bear should be fine on a card. The bear was given colour with the Balmy Blue Blends. The heart the bear is holding has been coloured with the Pale Papaya Blends.

The little fox image has been coloured with the Pale Papaya Blends and the koalas watercoloured with Pear Pizzazz Ink. Koalas aren’t green, but I had to use the colours given to me. You could say they’ve maybe overdosed on eucalyptus leaves to be that shade?

The background of the card was shaded with Balmy Blue Ink and a Blending Brush. The Basic White Cardstock die cut trees were cut with the Majestic Mountain Dies. I chose the sentiment from the Penguin Place Stamp Set purely because of it’s neat little size – it worked best for my card.

Thanks for stopping by.

Cheers

Narelle