Freshly Made Sketches #4

Happy Wednesday everybody!  Can you believe we are on Week 4 at Freshly Made Sketches already! Where does the time go!  We have a lot of exciting things happening next week, including the introduction of two new Design Team members.  They will be with us from October until March.  We can't wait to share who will be joining the "Clean Team". 

This week I am pleased to welcome Featured Designer LeAnne Pugliese from WEEinklings.  LeAnne and I met online in 2009 when I originally started blogging.  I met her through the Colour Throwdown, she was and still is a very supportive friend.  LeAnne was the one who convinced me to start up the Paper Players and backed me.  She is both talented and lovely.  Her work is always refreshing, unique and special.  She designs for the Paper Players, The Colour Q and the Colour Throwdown.  LeAnne is a pioneer of blogging and crafting, she has influenced and encouraged many stampers.  I just can't say enough about this wonderful lady!

This week's sketch features a TAG but please feel free to used any shape...just have fun!

LeAnne Pugliese (FD)	Jen Mitchell	Lesley Croghan
Linda Callahan	Rita Wright	Tui Nathan

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

1. Please use any stampin' product you would like to use, but please avoid putting sales pitches into your post.
2. Feel free to combine our sketch with up to 3 other challenges.
3. Please add a DIRECT link to your blog when adding your card to the linky below.
4. Please include our sketch and a link back to Freshly Made Sketches on your post.
5. Have fun!

This challenge will end on Monday, October 3rd at NOON (PST). On Tuesday, October 4th, we will be announcing the winner of this week's sketch challenge who will known as the "Queen of Clean" and each Design Team Member will choose one "Princess".

Winners for Sketch Challenge #3

It’s been an another amazing week at Freshly Made Sketches! Thanks to Nance Leedy for joining us and sharing her beautiful design. Choosing winners from 46 fabulous entries was not an easy task but our Clean Team has decided!

Read on to meet our "Perfect Princesses" and our "Queen of Clean"!

The "Perfect Princesses" this week are:

Lesley's Choice

Diane of Planted in Joy

I just love the amount of detail that Diane used on her card! She embossed, and she sliced the paper panel, to make it look like fringe. How cool! Her balloons are all stamped on So Saffron which looks amazing, and something I never would have thought of doing! The banner with Happy Birthday at the bottom is just the right touch! What an awesome card Diane, you blew me away with this fun and fully loaded card! Congratulations on being my choice for "Perfect Princess" this week!

 

Linda's Choice

Kim O'Connell of Paper Perfect Designs

Nothing says fresh like a clean line of laundry hanging out to dry on a bright sunny day! Kim created a delightful scene complete with clouds, grass and clothespins! The pink is just perfect against the blue sky and with the white accents! It all comes together beautifully in this sweet baby card! Congrats Kim on being my pick for "Perfect Princess" this week!

Tui's Choice

Michelle at Scrappin Fish Memories and More

I love this card that Michelle made for her Dad, she has described her card as a "scrappin card", and I think it is absolutely perfect - she also added that "when in doubt, add a photo of grandkids" he sure won't be donating it to the round, aluminium cyclinder anytime soon!
Brilliant, and oh so true ...Apart from the one of kind creation, I also love the "65" tags with the twine bows, great clean styling and lovely combination of colours! Congratulations Michelle on being my choice for the "Perfect Princess" this week!!!

Nance's Choice

Linda at Oop-A-Doodle

Oh my goodness, Linda’s beautiful card jumped right out of the gallery at me! I love how she used vintage elements and style to create a fresh and clean card. Chocolate chip and river rock are gorgeous paired together and compliment the very vanilla perfectly. Her soft coloring of the blossoms is so subtle and pretty and those crochet flowers? Gorgeous! Just an all ‘round beautiful take on this week’s sketch and my choice for a "Perfect Princess". Congratulations Linda!

Jen's Choice

Connie of Inkspired Treasures

I seem to have a thing for cards with autumn leaves, so Connie's card caught my eye right off! The rock-and-roll technique on the leaves is just gorgeous, and that big bold button topped off with the fabric just sealed the deal for me! The fabulous swirly sentiment looks great with a hint of leaves stamped behind it. Congratulations, Connie, on being a Perfect Princess this week!

 

The "Queen of Clean" this week is:

Rita's Choice

Jen Sannes of Simple and Sincere

It was tough to decide on a favorite this week, but Jen's card stood out to me each and every time I looked over all the beautiful entries. I love the wisteria/pear combination and the amount of white she balanced them with. The sentiment stamped over the simple flower image and the sweet flowers on the side make this such a gorgeous, clean card! Congratulations, Jen, for being the “Queen of Clean” this week at Freshly Made Sketches!

Thank you for joining us! Tomorrow we will be back with Sketch #4 and another Featured Designer.

There is still time to play!

Just a reminder that our challenge closes Monday, September 26th at noon and that we will announce the winners on Tuesday.  To join us, please CLICK HERE.

Freshly Made Sketches #3

Hello and welcome to our third challenge at Freshly Made Sketches.  This week we are so excited to welcome Nance Leedy as our Featured Designer.  Nance designs for the Paper Players and for Create with Connie and Mary.  Her style is fresh and unique, she always creates something special and has a tremendous talent for using her stamping supplies in an original way!  Besides all that, Nance is a lovely person and a good friend.  Welcome Nance!

Last week we absolutely LOVED visiting all of your blogs and seeing your creations. Remember, we are looking for clean but not necessarily simple designs...please feel free to use the sketch to create a card, a scrapbook layout or a 3D item...we are open to all types of crafts as long as they follow the sketch....

As always, feel free to flip the sketch or to change a shape...as long as the basic sketch is still visible.

Nance Leedy (FD)	Jen Mitchell	Lesley Croghan
Linda Callahan	Rita Wright	Tui Nathan

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

1. Although the design team uses Stampin' Up, you are welcome to use any product you like as long as there are no "online sales" or product pitches.
2. Feel free to combine our sketch with up to 3 other challenges.
3. Please add a DIRECT link to your blog when adding your card to the linky below.
4. Please include our sketch and a link back to Freshly Made Sketches on your post.
5. Have fun!

This challenge will end on Monday, September 26th at NOON (PST). On Tuesday, September 27th, we will be announcing the winner of this week's sketch challenge who will known as the "Queen of Clean" and each Design Team Member will choose one "Perfect Princess".

Winners for Sketch Challenge #2

It’s been an another amazing week at Freshly Made Sketches! Thanks to Ann Schach for joining us and sharing her beautiful design. Choosing winners from 60 fabulous entries was not an easy task but our Clean Team has decided!

Read on to meet our "Perfect Princesses" and our "Queen of Clean"!

Lesley's Choice
Holly of HOLLYBEARY Creations

This week my eye kept being drawn to Holly's sweet design. First of all, I love that she used the baby designer paper for her colour inspiration. The polka dots are both crisp and colourful! The stamped images were individually coloured and stamped...I love that look...it always adds such wonderful interest. My favourite part is the scrunchy ribbon, it is super pretty and adds such a nice element to this lovely card! Congrats Holly on being a "Perfect Princess" this week!

Rita's Choice

Susan Joyce of Cat's Ink.Corporated

I don't even know where to start with my list of things that I love about Susan's spectacular card. From the ruffled ribbon to the adorable little tag, it is such a great card. I love her gorgeous flowers, the little blue pearls, and the lovely flourishes stamped on the background. It is a perfect clean, yet NOT so simple card. Congratulations, Susan, on being my choice for "Perfect Princess" this week.

Tui's Choice

Pam Giudici at Wacky Whippet Stamper

I loved this card as soon as I saw it .... how super cute and adorable is this little fella in the image, he is totally tuckered out and is in heaven, take a look at his "oh, contented" little face, and to cap it off a word-perfect sentiment - it truly says it all doesn't it!!!
Apart from the cute image, I love Pam's colouring, she has captured those strawberries and made them look very delectable, the shading and highlights are well done and I love the simplicity that the twine adds as a soft subtle feature. Congratulations Pam on being my choice for the "Perfect Princess" this week!!!

 

Ann's Choice

Kim at Joyful Creations with Kim

From the moment I saw Kim's card, I was struck by its elegant simplicity. The Cherry Cobbler paired with Crumb Cake is a fabulous color combination. I love how the dotted background coordinates with the berries on the wreath. Of course, the trio of buttons with the tiny tag is the perfect touch. Congrats, Kim! I am proud to name you as my choice for a "Perfect Princess"!

Jen's Choice

Tracey of My Creative Side

I absolutely loved the colors that Tracey chose for her card. The Crumb Cake layer on top of the Early Espresso is a color combo that drew my eye right away. And the paper piercing on the Crumb Cake layer is a perfect way to add some dimension. And on top of that Tracey colored the stamped image with wonderful soft colors that are highlighted by that sweet butterfly. Congratulations, Tracey, on being a Perfect Princess this week!

It wasn't easy picking the "Queen of Clean" this week! All of the designs were gorgeous but I kept going back to this beautiful creation from Kathy Tanner.......

Linda's Choice

Kathy Tanner of Stamping Still

Kathy’s fabulous use of white space around her image is outstanding! Her design of Rich Razzleberry and white embossed leaves is stunning! The tiny tag and the touch of Old Olive are perfect finishing touches. Her card is clean and beautifully crafted! Congratulations Kathy for being the “Queen of Clean” this week at Freshly Made Sketches!

Thank you for joining us! On Wednesday we will be back with Sketch #3 and another Featured Designer.

Freshly Made Sketches #2

Looking for last week's winners?  Click HERE.

Welcome to our second week at Freshly Made Sketches! Wow! We were blown away by the submissions we received for our first challenge and thank you to everyone who left us such kind comments. We appreciated them so much!!!

This week, our Featured Designer is stamping superstar, Ann Schach. Ann is a member of the Paper Players, and someone I consider a dear friend. She also designs for Pals Paper Arts. Her style is bold, distressed and beautiful! She has a knack for putting together designer papers and for adding pearls to her work. Her cards are always stunning and this week is no exception. She created a beautifully "clean" creation with this week's sketch! Welcome Ann!

This week's sketch is a square shaped design but feel free to make the sketch your own...if you would rather do a "regular" sized card using the sketch, that would be fine too!!! The sky is the limit!

The Design Team have come up with some gorgeous and "clean" samples!

Ann Schach (GD)	Jen Mitchell	Lesley Croghan
Linda Callahan	Rita Wright	Tui Nathan

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

1. Although the design team uses Stampin' Up, you are welcome to use any product you like as long as there are no "online sales" or product pitches.
2. Feel free to combine our sketch with up to 3 other challenges.
3. Please add a DIRECT link to your blog when adding your card to the linky below.
4. Please include our sketch and a link back to Freshly Made Sketches on your post.
5. Have fun!

This challenge will end on Monday, September 19th at NOON (PST). On Tuesday, September 20th, we will be announcing the winner of this week's sketch challenge who will known as the "Queen of Clean" and each Design Team Member will choose one "Perfect Princess".

Winners for Freshly Made Sketches #1

What a terrific first week at Freshly Made Sketches!  Thank you to everyone who joined in our first challenge and thank you to Jaydee for being our Featured Designer!  We loved visiting your blogs this week!!!



Without further ado, let's see who the "Clean Team" has chosen as their "Perfect Princess"!

Linda's Choice
Jen Timko of Stampin' On The Fly

Jen's card stood out to me right away. Her elegant thoughtful design is beautiful in its simplicity and color! A few pearls add to the charm of the ribbon flower and the overall look. The soft blue with the neutral tones give it a fresh clean look.  Congratulations Jen on being named a "Perfect Princess" !

Rita's Choice

Carrie Gaskin of Artisic Avenger

Carrie really touched me with this beautiful card and her inspiration for each and every detail.    I found myself sitting with tears in my eyes as I was reading her post on 9/11.   That day will forever live in our memories and continue to stir up so many emotions.   Even looking at the solo chair as I'm typing this is making me a bit misty-eyed.   Black and white, clean, and oh so meaningful.   Thank you, Carrie, for this beautiful piece of art and congratulations on being my choice for "Perfect Princess" this week.

Tui's Choice
Susan Joyce of Cat's Ink.Corporated

Wow ... what a tough job it was this week to make a selection ... each and every entry was fabulous and you all certainly rose to the challenge .... but after much deliberation I finally settled on this really lovely Anniversary card by Susan.  Firstly, the colour combination - elegant, classic and chic, and then the fabulous texture from the embossed backgrounds to the gorgeous punched lace and finally, nothing says "love" like the beauty of a red heart - strategically placed top, centre and bottom!  Congratulations Susan on being my choice for the "Perfect Princess" in our debut challenge!!! 

Jaydee's Choice
Tracey of My Creative Side

So many amazing choices this week that it was really hard to choose a winner, but I settled on Tracey's fabulous Halloween card.  I loved the repeating circular elements, the highlighted 31, the highlighting on the punched out bat, and the way the bat appeared to be flying over a full moon.  The scalloped textured layer beneath the dotted DSP was fabulous.  I also loved the broke up sentiment.  Congratulations, Tracey, on being my "Perfect Princess" for the week. 

Jen's Choice

Kim S of Joyful Creations With Kim

All that white space caught my eye right away and the dry embossing really makes it stand out.  The colors are fantastic and are a perfect complement to the flowers.  I really liked the pleated flower detail with the ribbon peeking out behind it and that sweet butterfly finishes sit off beautifully!  Congratulations, Kim on being my "Perfect Princess" this week!

I had a challenging time choosing the "Queen of Clean" this week! 

 Wow! SO may terrific submissions, I honestly had to keep going back to look them all over again!!!  However, one card in particular kept jumping out at me and my choice for the "QUEEN OF CLEAN" this week is.....

Lesley's Choice

Cindy Hall of Pretty Impact

I chose Cindy's pretty card because I loved the clean lines and the awesome embellishements! The pearls in that flower really pop and the Vintage Lace border punch is dressed up with Ribbon. Love how she inked the birthday sentiment with her markers, to make it two-toned as well.  All around a perfect "freshly made" design!  Congratulations Cindy for being our first "Queen of Clean"!

Thank you for joining us! Tomorrow we will be back with Sketch #2 and another Featured Designer.

Still time to play!

There is still time to play with our first sketch challenge!  The linky will be closing on Monday night at midnight (PST).

Here is the sketch and to add your card or to see the Design Team samples, please click HERE.

Freshly Made Sketches #1

Hello and welcome to Freshly Made Sketches! Today is our very first challenge and we are so excited to begin this fun journey together! The main idea behind this challenge blog is to use the sketch provided and to create a "clean" card. You might wonder what we mean by clean? We are looking for clean-lined creations but unlike Clean and Simple challenges, we encourage lots of detail and embellishments as long as they maintain a "clean" look to your card.

 

The "Clean Team" has come up with some "Freshly Made" designs to get you in the spirit! We are so excited to visit your blog and to see what YOU create with our sketch!  We would also like to welcome Featured Designer Jaydee.  Jaydee is the Queen of Clean and she has an awesome style that you will love!!!  She is our first Featured Designer and we are excited to have her on board! Welcome Jaydee!  To visit Jaydee's blog, be sure to click her name under her card sample!

Jaydee-Featured Designer	Jen Mitchell	Lesley Croghan
Linda Callahan	Rita Wright	Tui Nathan

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

1. Please use any stampin' product you would like to use, but please avoid putting sales pitches into your post.
2. Feel free to combine our sketch with up to 3 other challenges.
3. Please add a DIRECT link to your blog when adding your card to the linky below.
4. Please include our sketch and a link back to Freshly Made Sketches on your post.
5. Have fun!

This challenge will end on Monday, September 12th at Midnight (PST). On Tuesday, September 13th, we will be announcing the winner of this week's sketch challenge who will known as the "Queen of Clean" and each Design Team Member will choose one "Princess".





Let's get clean!!!

The Clean Team

Meet Design Team Member Lesley Croghan (that's me!)

Always Playing with Paper

My name is Lesley and I am a primary teacher in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. I am happily married and we have one sweet furbaby named "Rolley the Rocket Dog". Crafting has become quite an obsession for me.  A few years ago, my friend took me to her Stampin' Up monthly party! I joined her group that night and made many friends. Almost 3 years ago I decided to become a Stampin' Up Demonstrator myself. I just love being a demonstrator!

I have been blogging for about 3 years now, posting my cards and about a year ago, I created the challenge blog called "The Paper Players".  I love blogging and creating and now I am excited to share this new venture called "Freshly Made Sketches".  We sure hope you will join us for the weekly sketch challenge.

Smiles,

Lesley

Lesley's Samples: