Words of Encouragement - FMS Challenge #708

Freshly Made Sketches #708:

The wonderfully talented Jen T is the hostess for this week's wonderfully basic card sketch on Freshly Made Sketches.  Make sure you check out her own card design, it's stunning!  Also, why don't you play along.  Don't be intimidated by the blank canvas and simple design.  You  can choose any element to replace the circle and make it your own.  

 Here's My Card: 

Clean and simple cards are one of the biggest challenges I face as a papercrafter.  I never know when is enough or if I've done too little on my card designs.  After I finished this card I thought I could have possibly done more by dry embossing the white matte after I stamped the sentiment on it.  However, I didn't because I was concerned it would affect the lettering.  Oh well.  

I love the floral wreath die cut on this card.  Its a bigger image than I was going to use however it worked out well on the card. I die cut the image from a piece of Meandering Meadow Designer paper and then used the cut piece that was left, as a matte.  This combination of matte and design compliments each other quite effectively without having to do blending or other means of adding colour and design.  

Supplies and Instructions:

Stamps and Dies:

• Encircled in Natures stamps and dies #163623

Cardstock and DSP:

• Basic White card base - 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" scored at 4 1/4" 
• Balmy Blue matte  5 1/4" x 4 1/4" 
• Meandering Meadow DSP matte 5" x 3 3/4" - die cut taken from the center of this piece before adhering
• Basic White matter 4 3/4" x 3 3/4" 

Ink and Blends:

• Misty Moonlight

Accessories:  

• Adhesive Backed Shiny Sequins #163484 

Well that's it for this challenge.  I'd love to hear your comments.  Do you use designer paper for mattes?  What are your thoughts? 

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006 

Click here to visit my 24/7 Online Store 

Men and Their Love of Cars - Masculine Birthday Cards

 Freshly Made Sketches #707 

Here Are My Cards: 

Recently we had lunch with some old friends who just happen to be car buffs. They're into the speedway and going to the show and shines during the summer months.  I'd forgotten just how much these guys are into cars of all vintages and how enthusiastic they get when the conversation turns to cars, which it inevitably does.  So with that in mind, I made three birthday cards featuring some of my old car stamps and this wonderful sketch from Freshly Made Sketches.  

  

Supplies and Instructions: 

Stamps and Dies:

• Geared Up Garage Stamps #148590
• Garage Gears Dies
• The Route 66 Stamp Set by Carta Bella 52830

Cardstock and DSP: 

Whisper White

• Cut three card
• Card base in Whisper White cardstock measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and is scored at 4 1/4".Scrap pieces for sentiment layers 
• Whisper White matte for inside card 5" x 3 3/4"
• Real Red for card mattes inside and out 5 1/4" x 4".  Scraps for circles or rectangle mats for focal point 

Inks and Blends:

• Memento Tuxedo Black 
• Real Red 
• Daffodil Delight Light and Dark, Smokey Slate, for car details. 

Accessories:  

• Dimensionals 

Thanks so much for dropping by and looking at my interpretation of this weeks FMS challenge.  What fun!  See you again soon! 

HAPPY STAMPING!
PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006

Fall For Toile Paper Pumpkin Kit and FMS#706

 Once again it's time for a Freshly Made Sketch challenge.  Here's #706

Here's My Card:

This sketch was perfect for making an alternative card with the Fall For Toile September 2025 Paper Pumpkin kit.  I made a "thinking of you" card and featured a deer on the focal. 

Supplies:

Stamps and Dies:

• Autumn Abundance August 2024 Paper Pumpkin sentiments
• Nature's Beauty #150528 (R)
• Stitched Circles Dies  (R)

Cardstock and DSP: 

• Whisper White 
• Card Base 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" scored at 4 1/4" 
• Inside Matte 3 3/4" x 5" 
• 3" x 3" for stitched circle matte
• Pecan Pie
• Cut two 4" x 5 1/4" mattes for front and inside card
• 3 1/4 x 3 1/4" piece for stitched circle matte
• Cut two 3/8" x 2 3/8" strips for ends of DSP matte

• DSP:
• 3 7/8" x 5 1/8" piece of white/pecan pie cardstock from Fall For Toile Paper Pumpkin September 2025 kit
• 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" piece of cardstock with deer and trees in pecan pie 

Inks and Blends:

• Pecan Pie 
• Paper Pumpkin 
• Timid Tiger and Peach Pie blends for leaves 

Accessories: 

• Mini Corrugated Embossing Folder 
• Basics Cross Hatched Embossing Folder 
• Dimensionals 
• Gold Self-Adhesive Sequins 

Fall for Toile Alternatives: 

Here are some additional cards that I've made with the Fall for Toile September 2025 Paper Pumpkin kit. 

The last card was featured in this sketch challenge. 

Thanks for dropping by and checking out my sketch challenge entry. I hope you'll leave a comment or come back again.

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin Up! Demo since 2006

Freshly Made Sketches #700

Summertime Catching Up: 

Summer weather is so unpredictable these days. For example if it's hot on the west coast then it's cold in the East and vice-versa. In the Fraser Valley where I live, we expect hotter than average temperatures starting around the 15th of July, and this year has been no exception.  We had days of really hot weather in the high  30's C, but then just when you've had enough it miraculously cools down and rains for a couple of days before the next heatwave.  Our City moved to stage two water restrictions in lieu of drought predictions in early July and so far it's been a good balance, but we've cut down on our consumption and are doing our part where we can.  

I'm not a fan of high temperatures and I don't handle heat well.  Our house unfortunately doesn't have air conditioning so some days are just bearable.  Thankfully we use our basement for most of our entertainment and living and it's about 10 degrees cooler than the upstairs. I've been taking advantage of the heat difference and escaping to my happy "cool" craft room during the hot spells.  Not only is it cooler, but I'm far more productive and finding time to catch up on my kits and begin work on Christmas cards.  

Before I share this week's card challenge I wanted to share some excitement we had in late July when our lovely "big plant" bloomed. This plant has only bloomed twice in the twenty-five or more years we've had it and this was the second time!  

We moved it from it's normal northern exposure in the kitchen to the living room when we were painting this Spring and it's really "rawking" the change.  If anyone knows the botanical name for this plant let me know.  

AHSC Sketch Challenge #700  

I really liked this week's card sketch hosted by the design team. This is a fun and easy sketch great for coordinating designer series papers. This sketch has a clean and simple design, featuring blocks of colour and the focal can be any shape you want, keep it simple or add lots of layers.

I hope you'll play along with this week's sketch challenge. Don't worry about posting your card online if you don't have Facebook or a blog page it doesn't matter, just be proud of what you've made and share it if you want. It's always a happy feeling!

HERE'S MY CARD:  

I'm finally motivated to make Christmas cards again. I was inspired to use this brand new designer paper called Christmas Tags & More. It'll be released on September 4th when the new Mini Catalogue goes live.

I really love the traditional colours in this 48 page 6 x 6 paper pack which includes some ephemera pages, which make decorating easy. The paper will coordinate beautifully with garden green, poppy parade, real red, basic beige, soft seafoam and white cardstocks. I shouldn't have any difficulty using this paper pack up as it's so easy to work with and I love the designs.

The gold lines that I've added to separate the color blocks are a non-Stampin' Up! product that I love. They manufactured by Starform and are called Sticker Strips. I love the Glitter Gold/Silver Strips for seasonal cards as they add just a bit of glam without overdoing it.

Supplies:

Stamps and Dies:

• More Merry Wishes (R) #126402
• Stitched Shapes Dies (R)

Cardstock and DSP:

• Whisper White 
• Card Base 5" x 10" scored at 5"
• Inside Panel Whisper White 4 1/2" x 4 1/2"
• 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" for label sentiment 
• Garden Green 
• Cut two  4 3/4" x 4 3/4" for front and inside layers 
• 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" scrap for sentiment layer 

•  DSP Christmas Tags & More #16509
• Plaid strip for inside card 1" x 4 1/2"
• One piece DSP 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" cut into quarters

Ink:

• Real Red

Accessories:

• Poinsettia  Ephemera from Christmas Tags & More 
• Gold Mini Ball Beads
• Starform Glitter Gold/Silver Strips Stickers 

Well that's it for this week's challenge and I appreciate your dropping by.  If you have any questions regarding this designer series pack or how the card was assembled, just drop me a note or comment.  Let me know if you like this card design, and whether you were inspired to play along with this challenge.  Happy weekend and I hope you'll come back again.

HAPPY STAMPING!
PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006

Click here to visit my 24/7 online shop 

Monochromatic Birthday Card FMS #688

  This weeks Freshly Made Sketch challenge is hosted by Jen B.  

Here's My Card: 

I'm a big fan of Lost Lagoon so I looked through my stash for papers in that colour.  I remembered the Timeless Plaid 6x6 paper pack had some Lost Lagoon designs and because these papers are double-sided it was really easy to find a coordinating piece of dsp to go with this sketch design.  

For the center focal I added the big birdhouse from Country Birdhouse.  I was able to use the same dsp for the front panel of the birdhouse by paper piecing it.  

Supplies: 

Stamps & Dies: 

• Country Birdhouse Stamps - sentiment "happy birthday".
• Country Birdhouse Dies - birdhouse, flowers, bird
• Birthday Sentiment inside card from "See You Later" Sale-a-bration stamp set(R) 

Cardstock & DSP:

• Whisper White 
• 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" card base scored at 4 1/4". 
• Inside Matte 3 5/8" x 5 1/4" 
• 2 scraps for sentiment and trim on birdhouse
• Lost Lagoon
• 5 1/4 x 2" for top matte on card front
• 5 1/4" x 1 3/4" for matte on bottom card front 
• Timeless Plaid DSP (R)
• 5 1/8" x 1 7/8" 
• 5 1/8" x 1 5/8"
• 2" x 2" scrap for front of birdhouse

Ink:

• Lost Lagoon ink and blends 
• Momento Black 

Accessories: 

• self adhesive backed lost lagoon gems
• dimensionals 

Well that's it for this week.  I hope you enjoyed this card, and will leave me a comment before you go.  

Happy Stamping!

Penny Tokens Stampin' Spot!

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006

Click here to visit my 24/7 Online Shop 

Mixed Media Florals Birthday Card - FMS#685

Spring has arrived and that yearning to get out in the garden has taken over. I've spent lots of  time weeding and planting my flower beds, while my husband was busy pressure washing our two decks.  The bottom one was in pretty rough shape, so he was able to get it painted and the patio furniture set up. We had a great morning visiting local nurseries, picking out baskets and other greenery.  What fun!  Just a little bit more tweaking and we'll be set for enjoying our yard and deck time.

Speaking of fun, I've just checked out the sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches, #685 hosted by Linda Callahan.  The Design Team has out done themselves with their designs.  So make sure you check them out, because there's so much inspiration.  Here's the sketch:

Here's My Card:
Following in the garden theme, I chose a combination from the Mixed Florals

Memories and More card pack for the images on my card.  Honestly with this sketch and the predesigned rectangle cards, the most time consuming part was choosing the images and sentiment for the front of the card.  

I was really surprised at how quickly this card came together and I like the placement of the sentiment and the striped paper piece.  I like the length of the sentiment which is from the Sending Love stamp set.  The fonts are lovely.

I cut down a pink striped Memory and More card that coordinated with the strip on the card front to 5"1/4  x 4" and used it as a matte.  A layer of Whisper White measuring 3 3/4" x 5" made up the sentiment layer.  As I often do, I stamped the Perennial Birthday "Happy Birthday" sentiment, this time in Misty Moonlight ink. The flower motif was easy to fussy cut from another memory pack card and some randomly placed sequins really finished the inside of this card. 

Supplies:

Stamps and Dies: 

• Sending Love #162873 (R) -sentiment "A Little Love from me to You"
• Perennial Birthday (R) - sentiment "Happy Birthday" inside matte 

Cardstock and DSP:

• 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" Whisper White card base scored at 4 1/4"
• Boho Blue Matte for front 3 1/8" x 4 1/8"
• Whisper White Matte inside 3 3/4" x 5" 
• Mixed Media 4 x 3 Floral design Memories and More card - front
• Pink Striped Mixed Media card 1/4" x 4" for front matte
• Pink Striped Mixed Media card 4" x 5 14" inside matte

Inks and Blends:

• Misty Moonlight Ink for sentiments 

Accessories:

• Trimmer
• Purple Self-adhesive backed sequins #164970

Well that is it for today's Freshly Made Sketch card.  I think I'll make some more cards using the Memories and More Pack.  I have a tendency to forget how easy they are to work with and they take the guesswork out of layering.  Let me know if you have used these card packs and whether you like them.  For $16.00 these packs are a great addition to one's stash.  Have a great week ahead and come back again. 

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006

Click here to visit my 24/7 Online Store

Celebratory Sips Floral Birthday Card - FMS#684

This week's Freshly Made sketch was hosted by Jen.  Its a very simple layout and quite quick todo.  This would be a great sketch for anyone wanting to try doing a challenge.   

FMS # 684 by Jen

Here's My Card:

I just got some new Stampin' Up Supplies including a 12 x 12 paper called Celebratory Sips that I bought because of the beverage designs.  When I opened the paper package I fell in love with a floral patterned paper that had a straight olive green backing.  This paper was perfect for the card I made.  

Supplies: 

Stamps and Dies:

• Spotlight on Nature Circle Dies #163579
• Wanted to Say Dies - Flower #161594
• Bough Punch #157711
• Lacy Border Punch
• Stitched Circle Die 2 1/4"

Cardstock and DSP:

• 81/2" x 5 1/2" basic white card base 
• 3 3/4 x 5" basic white matte inside and 3 x 3 scrap for circle die 
• Blackberry Bliss for mattes 
• 4" x 5 1/4" inside matte
• 5 3/8" x 4 1/8"  matte card front 
• 1" x 5" strip for scalloped edging and scraps for flowers
• Bubble Bath 3" x 3" scrap for circle and scraps for flowers
• Celebratory Sips 12 x 12 DSP 4" x 5 1/4" floral pattern for front panel
• 3 2/4" x 4  7/8
• 1/2" x 4" for inside strip 
• 1" by 4 7/8" strip of reverse Old Olive side for front panel 

Inks and Blends:

• Blackberry Bliss

Accessories:

• Purple Adhesive Backed Sequins #164970
• Dimensionals large
• Tombow Glue 

So that's it for today's card.  I hope that you're inspired to try out this sketch challenge.  Drop me a note and let me know if this is the type of card you would send for a birthday greeting or would like to receive.  

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006 

Click here to visit my 24/7 online shop

In Sympathy for Vancouver's Fillopino Community - FMS#683

Last night in Vancouver BC Canada a most terrible and senseless tragedy took the lives of 11 people and injured many more who were attending festivities during the Lapu-Lapu Filipino festival. A 30 year old Vancouver man plowed his car into these innocents, committing such a heinous act that words cannot even describe. 

I'm using today's sketch to design a sympathy card for all those affected by last night's loss. Obviously I can't make or send a card to all the families, first responders and others affected by this tragedy, but hopefully by posting my card and my message of condolence I can express my sadness, grief and offer my prayers for healing to those who need it.   

Freshly Made Sketches 

Here's My Card: 

Supplies:

Stamps and Dies:

• Textured Notes #165548 - basket bottom and leaves 
• Country Flowers #163405 - sentiment "With heartfelt sympathy" 
• In the Moment #157987 - sentiment "You're In My Thoughts" 

Cardstock and DSP:

• Basic Beige 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" scored at 4 1/4" for card base
• scraps for sentiment on card front, basket and leaves 
• Early Espresso 3 1/4" x 5 1/4" front panel 
• 1" x 5 1/4" strip for bottom inside detail
• Pecan Pie 4" x 5 1/4" for front matte 
• DSP - Woven Textures 12 x 12 #165560
• Cut 3" x 5" strip of DSP cut this piece in half at 2 1/2" flip one side over and adhere to early espresso panel. 
• 3/4" x 5"  strip of DSP cut in half, flip one side over adhere two panels to 1" x 5 1/4" early espresso panel on inside bottom of card. 

Ink and Blends: 

• Tuxedo Momento Black 
• Pecan Pie 

Accessories: 

• 2" circle punch for basket
• Dimensionals 
• Adhesive
• Gold Sparkle Gems (R) 

The detail in the Textured Notes distinktive stamps is amazingly crisp.  The trick to stamping with distinktives is to not over saturate the surface with ink.  You'll get a clearer image by reinking and stamping a few times.

Well that's it for today's card.  Thank you for stopping by and having a look at my card.  Appreciate it. 

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006

Click here to visit my 24/7 Online Shop