Black and White Anniversary - FMS #669

I'm up for another sketch challenge card, how about you?  Narelle Farrugia is the sketch designer for Freshly Made Sketches #669 this week.  And, what a great card she made!   

While you're checking out Narelle's and the rest of the FMS Design Team's  designs for this sketch, why not play along.  It's so easy.  Make a card, take a photo and upload it to their site no later than 3pm EST on Monday January 20th, 2025.   If you don't have a blog you can upload to your Facebook Page or Instagram.  Easy peasy!

Here's My Card: 

Supplies Used: 

Stamps and Dies:

Lifetime of Love #162574 and coordinating dies - Flowers and inside sentiment and die frame.

Love For You #160398 - Sentiment "Happy Anniversary"

Cardstock:

Whisper White:

• Cardbase 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" scored at 4 1/4"
• Inside Mat 3 7/8" x 5" 
• Scraps for embossed flower images on front 

Basic Black: 

• Front Mat - 4" x 5 1/4  Dry Embossed
• Front Mat - 3" x 4" 
• Inside Mat - 4" x 5 1/4" 

Gold Glimmer Paper: 

• Front Mat - 3 1/4" x 4 1/4"

Designer Paper:

• Mixed Media Florals - Memories & More - Black and White Floral card 3" x 4" 

Note:  Although I really liked the Mixed Media Florals suite, I really only wanted some floral images I could use quickly and inexpensively.  For $15.95 CDN I was able to purchased the Memories and More Pack, which is totally awesome.   It comes with thirty-six 3" x 4" cards, fourteen 4" x 6" cards and four sticker sheets - 2 each of 2 different designs.  

Ink and Embossing Powder:

• Momento Black 
• Versa Mark
• Gold Embossing Powder

 Accessories: 

• Layered Florals 3-D Embossing Folder #162395.  

I love how the inside of this card turned out.  The arched floral die from the Lifetime of Love dies was perfect for highlighting the beautiful sentiment stamp. Note:  because this die is so frail I used Self-Adhesive paper behind my black cardstock scrap.  It not only made cutting the image easier - all the bits just popped right out, but it also made it easy to adhere to the mat.   

Thanks for  dropping by and checking out this week's sketch challenge card.  The hardest part of this card was deciding which floral images I wanted to use and I'm happy that I chose the Lifetime of Love stamps and dies.  I originally only bought this bundle because I loved the dies, but after using the stamps I've decided I love them both.  

HAPPY STAMPING!
PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006

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Cheery Get Well Card

 Freshly Made Sketches #668:  

It's 2025 and this is the first sketch challenge of the new year for me.  In fact, I have made a resolution to try a new sketch challenge at least twice a month this year, and to encourage my followers to join in the fun.  Who's up for a challenge?

Karen Johnston is the sketch hostess for this week's sketch  This challenge is open until Monday January 13th at 3:00pm EST, so there's lots of time for you to play along. I'd love to see what this sketch inspired you to create.  Stop procrastinating and take this opportunity to sit down and craft.

Here's My Card: 

I was cleaning up my craft room desk after making some cards with the December Paper Pumpkin kit and I had all sorts of bits and pieces from that kit as well as various sized scraps from the Timeless Plaid 6 x 6 paper pack, laying about.  It dawned on me that these scraps would work perfectly for this sketch challenge.  

Supplies Used: 

 

Cardstock: 

Whisper White:  

• /2" for based scored at 4 1/4" 
• 4 x 5 1/4" for inside mat
• 2 3/4 x 4" self adhesive label from Notes from the Heart Paper Pumpkin kit, embossed with Spring Flowers.
• 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" circle with gold embossed edge from Notes from the  Heart Paper Pumpkin kit, stamped Get Well Soon 

Calypso Coral: 

• 4 x 5 1/4" for mat

Designer Series Paper - Timeless Plaid #164678 from

(Jan-Apr Mini 2025):

• Old Olive gingham -  2" x 2" square 
• Boho Blue gingham - 1/2" x 4" strip and 
• Boho Blue gingham - 3 3/4" x 5" mat 
• Calypso Coral plaid - 1 1/4" x 5" strip 

Accessories: 

• Velum leaves from Notes from the Heart Paper Pumpkin kit
• Floral die cut from Storytime Moments 
• Opaque Faceted Gems #162979 - Calypso Coral (5) 
• Dimensionals 
• Tombow Mono Adhesive 

Thanks for visiting and commenting on my challenge card.  I'm quite happy with it and feel the combination of the paper and cardstock are sure to perk someone up who isn't feeling well.   If you took my advice and entered this Freshly Made Sketches challenge let me know as I'd love to see your creation.  

Have a good week.........

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT! 

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006

Click here to visit my online 24/7 store

Lost Lagoon Let It Snow for FMS #657

Hi and welcome to my blog for a look at the newest sketch by Freshly Made Sketches design team and hosted by Karren Johnson.  Here's her sketch: 

This is a great sketch! You just have to look at all the great card samples both by the FMS Design team and the participants to see how much variety it invokes. While I'm not a fan of angled panels on cards either, I thought this would be a great chance to coordinate some old and new stamp and dies for this season's cards. 

HERE'S MY CARD: 
I chose to do a monochromatic card with a tag on tag look.  It worked out pretty good starting with the background papers from the Winter Meadow DSP pack. I absolutely love the combination of these two papers.  The solid one looks like a wintery sky and the trees on the lower paper are beautifully blended. 

This sentiment from Stampin' Ups! Greetings of the Season Bundle, seems to be my go to sentiment and tags for this year's cards.  For the sentiment I love the mixture of serif and sans-serif lettering, which gives a more modern look to the sentiments.  I also love the largest of the 9 dies which measures 2-1/2" x 3-3/4".  Now that's a good sized tag! 

Here you can see more of the detail in the tag.  I love how the tag within a tag works.  My only regret with this design is that I didn't stamp off the Let it snow tag before the final stamp in order to reduce the bold Lost Lagoon color on the solid bids of the design.  It's quite a bit darker but it still fits within the monochromatic theme.  

The snowflakes which are beautiful on the larger tag should have been bolder and popped out more, but I'd already embossed my cardstock before die cutting the tag.  The result is a flatter look but it still works.  The nice thing about these dies is they can be cut using either the full size Stamp, Cut & Emboss (Big Shot) or the mini.   

The die cut trees were made using a die from the Encircled in Nature Bundle.  I'm starting to fall in love with all the intricate dies and beautiful stamps in that set as well.  These little trees are all joined and die cut well.   

Supplies:

Stamp Sets and Dies:

• Merry Little Labels (R) 144795 - Let it Snow 
• Greetings of the Season #164325 for the inside sentiment and dies for the large tag
• Encircled in Nature dies - Lost Lagoon tree images
• Lovely Label punch for Let It Snow Label 

Cardstock and Designer Series Paper:

• Lost Lagoon 8 1/2 x 5 1/2" piece scored at 4 1/4" for card base scraps for pine tree die cuts 
• Whisper White 2 pieces 4" x 5 1/4" for inside and outside mats
• Scrap of Whisper White for Let it Snow label and 3" x 5" scrap for tag
• Winter Meadow DSP for background papers in Lost Lagoon

Ink and Accessories:

• Lost Lagoon ink
• Basic Rhinestones on front tag
• Dimensionals 
• Snowflake Sky Embossing Folder for large tag

Tip for Finding Product on my 24/7 Shopping Web Page: 

This year has been a very confusing and sometimes frustrating year for customers and Stampin' Up demos, trying to locate specific products online.  I want to give you a tip to make it easier for you.  If you're searching for a product such as the Encircled in Nature stamp and dies, and you don't have the direct link to the product you can go onto my web  page and do a quick search.   You must be on the "Shopping" page (see menu below my name on main page and you'll find the search box to the far right of the screen.  Here's a snapshot to assist you. 

Thanks for visiting my blog  today.  I hope you'll come back often and when you do leave me a comment as I'd love to get to know who is following me and to hear your card making likes and dislikes.  Until next time......

HAPPY STAMPING! 

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006 

Click here to visit my 24/7 online store 

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Sending Happy Thoughts FMS#654

It's Sunday and the weather has turned cold and cloudy.  Perfect weather for going to my card room and working on some projects.  I'm using this weeks sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches for my card inspiration:  

Here's My Card:

Truthfully although this looks like  a very easy sketch challenge, I wasn't sure how to approach it.  After looking through my stamps for trees or tall features that I could use and not finding anything that really worked, I had a lightbulb moment.  

I decided to rummage through my past Paper Pumpkin kit bags to see if there was anything that would work.  I was so excited when I found the Adventure Begins kit from 2021 which featured nature and camping scenes.  There were still some card bases left in the bag that worked perfectly for creating this card.

The leftover background scenes in the kit were simply amazing, but the one I chose seemed to be the best for this sketch.  Using this scene eliminated the need to do anything else apart from attach the trees and a card strip to the card front. 

I cut the picture mat to 3 3/4" x 5" and mounted it on a 4" x 5 1/4" Whisper White mat.  After adhering these two mats I attached them to an 81/2" x 5 1/2" Basic Black card base.  

Deciding on what to do with the strip was difficult.  I had lots of ideas but no time to start searching for dies that would cut the strip into rolling hills or a picket or log fence.  So I decided to keep it simple and used a 1" by 3 3/4" piece of Basic Black cardstock. When I was positioning the strip, I realized it didn't add any dimension or life to the card so I embossed it with the Fern embossing folder. This simple step added the depth I was looking for. I adhered one of the trees with adhesive and the second one with dimensionals. I grabbed a pre-stamped sentiment from my stash and I was finished.  This is literally a 5 minute card. 

The sentiment is from a long retired Stampin' Up! set where all the sentiments were on one piece of red rubber and you used a coordinating solid die to cut them out.  The stamp and die are long gone, that's why I don't remember the name, however before I sold it, I stamped and cut out  a gazillion of the sentiments and I'm still using them.  Having pre-stamped sentiments on hand is a life saver when you're in a hurry.

Supplies:

The Adventure Begins - June 2021 Paper Pumpkin kit by Stampin' Up! for background paper, tree shapes (ephemera) and coordinating envelope. 

Cardstock:

• Basic Black 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" for the card base. 
• A 1"x 4" strip for the front card layer and 
• a 4" x 5 1/4" Whisper White layer for inside mat.  

Ink:

Momento Tuxedo Black ink

Accessories: 

• Fern Embossing folder for black strip
• Basic Rhinestones 
• Dimensionals 

Thanks for dropping by and checking out my card for this week's Freshly Made Sketches challenge.  Appreciate it.  Let me know if you've ever used kits to complete a sketch, I'd love to hear your story.  

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006 

Click here to visit my 24/7 Online Store 

Winter Meadow - FMS #651

Hi everyone.  Thanks for dropping by and checking out my cards this week.   This sketch challenge by by Amy at Freshly Made Sketches  caught my eye, and I thought I'd give it a go.  There are so many things you could actually do with this challenge.  Remember the shapes like the oval in a sketch challenge can be swapped out (any shape) so if ovals aren't your thing you have the option to change the image to something else.  

Here Is My Card:  

I really like the designer papers in the Winter Meadow pack.  The colours are so beautiful.  Originally I was going to use Lost Lagoon cardstock for my card base and  accessories, however I'm still working on cleaning up my stash so wound up using a card base I had on hand that is in a retired color called Tranquil Tide.  It matched in with the paper pretty well.  

I've had a lot of fun with the Sophisticated Sled dies and stamp set and have made several cards with the sled as the focal point.  For my version of the challenge, the sled represents the oval in the sketch.  

Supplies:

Stamp Set(s): 

• Sophisticated Sled - #164340 Online Exclusive
• Christmas Gleaming - sentiment #150464 (R)
• One Horse Open Sleigh # 162119 - sentiment inside mat
• Winter Memories #127937 (R) - skates on inside mat 

Card Stock and Designer Series Paper:

• Tranquil Tide 8 1/2 " x 5 1/2" scored at 4 1/4" for base; scraps for skate laces and for the greenery
• Early Espresso 4" x 5 1/4" for mat on card front and scrap for sled rail
• Gray Granite for sled slats 
• Whisper White scrap for the ice skates and sentiment base 
• Winter Meadow DSP #162133 for mat
• Scrap of striped dsp from unknown paper source

Ink:

• Tranquil Tide for sentiment
• Gray Granite - skates on inside panel mat 

Accessories:  

• Starform Black/Silver Glitter stickers
• Starform Glitter  Silver/Gold strips 
• Dimensionals 

Thank you for dropping by.  If you liked this card let me know, I always appreciate your comments.  

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006 

Click here to visit my 24/7 Online Store 

Pool Party Monochromatic Birthday Card - FMS #650

This week's sketch at Freshly Made Sketches was designed by Judy at Jar Full of Joy   I wanted to make a monochromatic birthday card using some Stampin' Up! designer series paper and a stamp and die set I hadn't tried out yet, so these  three rectangles in the sketch became the perfect layout.  

Click here to see the Design Team and Participants creations and inspiration.

HERE'S MY CARD: 

I love this Subtles Designer paper.  It comes in a 6 x 6 package and includes all the colours in the Subtles color line.  The sentiment "Time to Celebrate" is from the Round We Go stamp set by Stampin' Up!

Round We Go Dies and Stamps 

I'm  glad I bought this set as it has quite a good variety of sentiments and the fonts are a wonderful mashup of styles.  

I haven't created or used a lolly on my cards for some time.  The die in the Round We Go coordinating die set is really easy to use and cuts and puts in the tiny fold lines.  To make this lolly I needed two strips of designer paper that I joined together using Tom Bow.  I've seen other folks using a heat gun, but with the DSP it didn't seem necessary. 

I wanted to keep the inside of the card relatively dressy but simply by adding a layer of pool party beneath the white mat.  Normally I would cut this layer using  card stock but I decided to use a piece of the beautiful DSP. I think it looks great.  The font for the Happy Birthday sentiment is quite cool.  It's also from the Round We Go Stamp Set.  

I pulled out an old retired birthday stamp set from Stampin' Up! called Picture Perfect Birthday, to stamp the little party horn to mount on the focal piece.  I love those stamps and have never been able to part with them because they add such a fun feeling to a celebration.  To make sure the little horn stood out from the background color I stamped it using Coastal Cabana Ink.  The beautiful opalescent sequins bring the focal point to life. 

SUPPLIES USED: 

Stamp & Die Set(s):

• Round We Go Stamp Set #163724
• Round We Go Dies #163729
• Picture Perfect Birthday #145519
• Stitched circle dies (R) 

Designer Series Paper:

• Subtles (2024) 6 x 6 DSP - Pool Party - 2 strips dsp with circles and 1 strip with leaves - all strips 1 5/8" x 3 6/8", 4" x 5 1/4" dsp with circles for inside mat.

Cardstock:

• Whisper White 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" for card base scored at 4 1/4", 4" x 5 1/4" mat layer for card front,  3 3/4" x 4 7/8" mat for inside, scrap piece for 2" stitched circle and horn 
• Pool Party 4 1/4" x 5 3/8" mat for card front 
• Pool Party Cut two 1 1/2" x 5" strips with circles for lolly and die cut a circle to use on the back of the lolly as an anchor point. 

Ink: 

• Pool Party
• Coastal Cabana 

Accessories:

• Pastel Adhesive Backed Sequins - 5
• Dimensionals 

Thank you for checking out my FMS#650FMS#649 challenge card this week.  I'm really happy to have visitors and love to have comments.  I'd also like to know if my card or those of other participants and or the FMS Design Team have influenced you to play along.  Let me know, I'd love to see your card too.  

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006

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