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 

Masculine Birthday - AHSC #650

Here's this week's sketch from Atlantic Hearts Challenge #650  I really like the diamond focal so decided to do the same for my card.  I don't know about you but October is such a busy month.  Almost every day there another' birthday and most of them this month are male friends and family.  This clean and simple sketch presented me with another opportunity to get a masculine card in my stash.  

Here's My Card:

Supplies and Instructions:

Stamps and Dies:

• Happy Hour #126642
• Brewed for You Stamps #159087
• Brewed Dies #159092 
• Stitched Squares Dies 

Cardstock and DSP:

• Whisper White 
• 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" scored at 4 1/4" for card base 
• 3" x 3" scrap for Whisper White Diamond and 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" for inside circle 
• 5" x 3 3/4" for inside matte 
• scraps for glasses and mugs 
• Basic Black 
• Cut 5 3/8" x 4 1/8" for front matte 
  
• Tartan Foil Designer Series Paper #162332 
• Cut two pieces 5 1/4" x 4" for front and inside mattes. 

Inks and Blends:

• Pebbled Path 
• Merry Merlot
• Crushed Curry 

Accessories:  

• Dimensionals 
• Nuvo Clear drops to add shine to wine and beer mug. 

Well, there you have it.  Nothing like a clean and simple design to make the focal point stand out.  Thanks for dropping by and checking out my card this week.  Make sure you stop by the Atlantic Hearts blog as well, the designers really outdid themselves this week.   

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006 

Click here to visit my 24/7 Online Shop 

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #648

 Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #648

Here's a fun sketch that involves a little bit of calculation to get things right but is fun to do.  This challenge ends on Sunday September 28, so don't delay, if you want to submit your work of art.  

HERE'S MY CARD:

I decided to make a masculine birthday card with this design.  Guys seem to like cards with depth and outdoorsy  type of scenes.  So this card fit the bill in every way. 

SUPPLIES: 

Stamps and Dies:

• Mountain Majesties May 25 Paper Pumpkin kit

Cardstock and Designer Paper:

• Card Base 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" Basic White scored at 4 1/4"
• Basic White Inside layer 3 3/4" x 5" and scrap for sentiment on card front
• Basic Black cardstock for base layer 5 3/8" x 4 1/8" and scrap for sentiment
• Lost Lagoon cardstock for layers on panels 
• Timeless Plaid DSP 5 1/4" x 4" in Lost Lagoon design for background layer

Inks and Blends:

• Memento Tuxedo Black ink

Accessories: 

• Rustic Metallic Adhesive Backed Dots
• Trimmer 
• Dimensionals

Thanks for dropping by and checking out my submission for this week's sketch challenge at Atlantic Hearts.  Hope you enjoyed it and will leave me some words of encouragement.  

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo since 2006 

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Throwback Challenge at Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #647

Atlantic Hearts Challenge #647

It's the 3rd Monday of the month and time for a throwback challenge to when Atlantic Hearts first started their challenge site.  Here's the original sketch followed by this weeks sketch.  This challenge runs from September 17th to September 21st, 2025, I hope you'll join me and play along.  

Click here to visit AHSC #647 and Check Out  the Design Team 's Samples. 

Here's My Card:

Do you have a friend who loves pink?  This is for a gal I know who absolutely loves pink, and the brighter and bolder the better.  She also likes the odd beverage or two, so this birthday card will be perfect for her in many ways. 

Here's a view of the inside of the card.  I used DSP for the coloured layer instead of cardstock which helps to keep the card lighter for going in the mail.  

Supplies:


Stamps & Dies

• Retired sentiment stamps from Stampin Up for birthday greetings 

Cardstock & DSP

• Strawberry Slush InColor 2025-2027
• 4" x 5 1/4" for front layer
• 2 3/4 x 3 1/4 for rectangle layer 

• Celebratory Sips 12 x 12 DSP_ #165586
• 3 3/4" x 5" for front layer 
• 4" x 5 1/4" for inside layer 
• Ephemera fussy cut from paper pack 

Inks & Blends

• Memento Black Ink 

Accessories

• 1/8" strip of gold ribbon 10" 
• Dimensionals 
• Strawberry Slush Sequins 

This was a very easy card to make since there was so little layering and stamping involved.  Let me know if you're a fan of this card.  I'd love to hear from you.  

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up Demo since 2006 

Click here to visit my 24/7 Online Shop 

Gingerbread Man FMS#703

It's time once again for the latest Freshly Made Sketch by Karren. The Design team has done a fabulous take on this sketch, so make sure you go and check out

Here is my Card:

Since I'm still into making Christmas cards, I decided to incorporate Karren's arches into another Gingerbread Man card.  

I realized after I finished this card, that I had only used one arch instead of two.  Oh well that's part of the creative expression.  

Supplies: 

Stamps and Dies: 

• Gingerbread Man Bundle Stamps and Dies 
• Arch Dies 

Cardstock and Paper: 

• Pecan Pie 4 x 5 1/4" piece for Gingerbread Man 
• 4 x 5 1/4" Real Red for mat and scrap for the toque 
• Garden Green scraps for scarf and toque 
• Basic White 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 for card base 
• 4" by 5 1/4 inch Basic White for Arch 
• Christmas Greetings Mix and Match Specialty cards and envelopes #165908.  One side of a card front cut down to 5" x 3 3/4" for mat on card front. 

Ink:

• Real Red
• Versamark for Embossing Image 

Accessories:  

• Delightful Decorative Dots # 165915
• Embossing Powder White 
• Heat Gun
• Starform Red and Gold Sticker embellishments non Stampin' Up 
• Mini Corrugated Embossing Folder 
• Greetings for You Mix and Match Ephemera #166208

Well that's it for today's card.  Hope you like it and will leave a comment.  

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up Demo since 2006 

Click here to visit my 24/7 Online Shop 

North Pole Delivery Strip Card Challenge AHSC #646

Welcome and thanks for dropping by.  I'm continuing my quest to complete 50 Christmas cards before the end of September, and can happily say the end is very close indeed. I began two weeks ago and have been using a mix of products from the Mini Catalogue - September to December 2025.  

So after making these many cards you could speculate I'd have a lot of bit's and pieces of cardstock and paper left over, and you'd be 100 percent correct. 

One of the papers that I used a lot was the North Pole Delivery 12 x 12 designer series paper and ephemera.  I thought this would be a perfect design mix to use for this week's sketch by Atlantic Hearts.    

Here's this week's sketch challenge from Atlantic Hearts #646: 

This card design utilizes strips of paper in a variety of sizes from 1/4", 1/2", 3/4" and 1" in width.  The paper strips can go in any direction as long as the  whole sheet is filled, right down to the most fiddle corners.  The strips are glued on and overlap the edges of the mat, and then are cut off as sections of the card are completed.  The strips can be laid down in any direction, but they must but up against one another and there can't be any gaps.  The end product usually looks like a quilt design.  

Here's My Card: 

Supplies: 

Stamps & Dies:

• Traditional Labels Die and Stamp Bundle  #165865

Cardstock and DSP:

• Garden Green mat 5 3/8" x 4 1/8" for front mat.  The decorative mat was cut from the center of this layer using the Colourful Contour dies.
• Petal Pink 4" x 5 1/4" mat for front layer and 2" x 3 3/8" mat for sentiment layer 
• Strips of Poppy Parade and Petal Pink for quilted pattern 1/2" and 3/4" bands
  
• North Pole Delivery  #165837 12 x 12 DSP cut into 1/2", 3/4" strips 

Ink and Blends: 

• Poppy Parade 

Accessories: 

• Delightful Decorative Dots #165915 

I hope you enjoyed today's stamping challenge card.  If you've never tried one of these cards before they are a lot of fun and a great way to use up those paper scraps that are always left over.  

HAPPY STAMPING!

PENNY TOKENS STAMPIN' SPOT 

Penny Hanuszak, CDN Stampin' Up! Demo Since 2006

Click here to visit my 24/7 online shop

Christmas Cards in August AHSC #642

Hi and welcome to my blog.  Have you been out to the stores this past week?  We went to the Seven Oaks mall this morning and I was surprised to see that the summer clothing and decor are gone and Autumn displays are in every window.  I haven't even really had time to enjoy summer yet, and we're already being pushed towards Fall.  I even saw Halloween decorations which gave me pause for thought ....... way too early! Worse than that Christmas Trees and gifts are on sale in  Costco!  

The Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge celebrates the3rd Monday of the month challenge and provides a look back to their beginnings. Current Design Team and past members have contributed not only their sketch for this challenge, but have also provided pictures and links to their original challenge.  

Original AHSC Sketch 

Here's My Card: 

This was a very clean and simple card to make.  I decided to use the beautiful Soft Seafoam and Garden Green mix of designer papers from the soon to be released  Christmas Tags and More 6x6 paper pa

The Merry Christmas sentiment is also from a new product release called Greetings for you Mix and Match Ephemera Pack, which will be available in September following the Holiday Mini Catalogue release. These beautiful gold embossed sentiments are perfect for holiday cards and gift tags or cards.  These are such great sentiments  already am in love with them! 

Supplies:

Stamps and Dies:

• More Merry Messages (R) Stampin' Up!  Stamp Set 

Cardstock and Designer Paper:

• Whisper White  
• 8 1/2"  x 5 1/2" scored at 4 1/4" for card base
• 5" x 3 3/4" for inside layer 
• Soft Seafoam - 4 x 5 1/4" for front matte
• Garden Green 
• 5 3/8" x 4 1/8" for front matte 
• 4 x 5 1/4" matte for inside layer
• Christmas Tags & More DSP #165907
• Cut 4 strips 3 3/4" x 1 1/2" for front adhere to Soft Seafoam matte.
• Cut 1 strip 3/4" x 5" for the inside WW matte.

Ink and Blends:

• Garden Green Ink Pad

Accessories:

• Greetings for You Mix and Match Ephemera Pack (English)
• Starform #1004 Gold and Silver Self-adhesive glimmer lines (gold)
• 1 three bead Pearl from Cherry Cobbler & Pearl Adhesive Backed Berries #164119
• Dimensionals

I hope you enjoyed my interpretation of sketch #643 and will leave a comment.
If you decided to follow along with the sketch challenge make sure you send me a picture so I can look at your creation. What fun! Until next time.......

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