Welcome to our January Guest Designers

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a relaxing break with loved ones.  I am excited to welcome our guest designers for January, Nina Forsyth and Jen Sannes.  Both ladies have been playing along with us and we are excited to have them on board for the month of January!!!


I asked the ladies to share a little about themselves, this is what they said!

Nina Forsythe

I am thrilled to be a guest designer for Freshly Made Sketches for the month of January. Thank you so much for inviting me. I have been stamping and creating cards for about 5 years.  I love to be inspired and hope that I can also inspire others. I have a fondness for ink, paper, stamps… maybe I should stop the list as it could go on for days J and I have a small stash of it all. I am excited to be designing with these talented ladies and look forward to seeing all the cards that are created for the challenges.

Jen Sannes

I am a stay-at-home mom to two school-age kiddos, which means I do a lot of shuttling, homework and reading help, helping out in classrooms and spending time with them at home when they are not in school.  When I have some free time, my absolute favorite thing to do is to stamp!  I've been stamping for about 15 years and I've been a Stampin' Up! demonstrator for a little more than 4 years.  My style is clean, simple with a lot of attention to detail.  My favorite kind of card is one that I can picture in my head and throw together in 30 minutes or less.  My other hobbies include knitting, photography, baking and spending time with my family.

Welcome ladies! So happy you could start off with us this year! A big thank you once again to our December Guest Designers Lauri Ingram and Christy Q.

Have a safe evening everyone! We will announce the winners for our current challenge on Tuesday and on Wednesday we will be back with a brand new sketch challenge from Tui Nathan.

All the best!

Lesley

Current Sketch Extended Until January 2nd

We have enjoyed our first few months here at Freshly Made Sketches! All of the talent we have seen and of course, all of the "clean" creations have made the start up for our blog so much fun! 

We will be taking the next two weeks off to visit with our families and to cherish the season.  In the meantime, we have decided to leave the wonderful sketch from Cindy open until Monday, January 2nd at noon (PST) which gives you two more weeks to play!  Then we will be back on January 3rd with our next sketch.  When we return we will be welcoming two new guest designers for the month!

To you and yours, have the happiest of holidays! 

Sincerely,
The Clean Team

Freshly Made Sketches #15-A Sketch by Cindy Hall

Hello and welcome to Freshly Made Sketches #15! I'm Cindy Hall, and I'm your hostess this week. Thank you so much to all of you who continue to join us with this challenge. This week's sketch was inspired by a quilted placemat that I particularly like. It just goes to show you, inspiration is all around you! I hope you'll join the Design Team and me this week with my very first sketch.

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!

Rita Wright	Jen Mitchell	Cindy Hall
Jennifer Timko	Linda Callahan	Tui Nathan
Lesley Croghan	Christy Q	Lauri

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

1. Please use any crafting product you would like to use.
2. Feel free to combine our sketch with up to THREE 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, January 2nd at Noon (PST). On Tuesday, January 3rd, 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 #14 from Jennifer Timko

Thank you to everyone who joined us for last week's challenge! We were blown away by all the wonderful submissions this week! The Clean Team has chosen some talented Princesses for you this week and Jen has chosen her Queen!

The "Perfect Princesses" this week are:

Lesley's Choice: Jessie of My Creative Escape

I chose Jessie's card because I loved her clever interpretation of the sketch! The colours too were simply adorable and her colouring superb! Love the simple, understated snowflake and the sweet button done up with a bow! A clean and crisp creation! Congratulations Jessie on being a Perfect Princess this week!

Linda's Choice
Angie at Midnight Inking

I loved the bold graphic design of this card! The colors are terrific and the texture is fabulous! The balloons in the sentiment mirror the background design and the button with the baker's twine is a wonderful detail! I would love to receive such a delightful birthday card! Congratulations Angie for being my choice as Perfect Princess this week!

Lauri's Choice

Gayatri at Handmade by G3

Another tough week to choose! So many wonderful cards, but I love Gayatri's beautiful design! I also love her sense of humor that she squeezed her design into the card to make it a Freshly Squeezed card! The colors are unexpected and work well together, and her graphic rounded edge squares are a clever interpretation! Congratulations Gayatri for bring my pick for Perfect Princess this week!

Rita's Choice:

Jen at The Tiny Blue Butterfly

Who doesn't LOVE Snoopy and Woodstock?! When I saw Jen's adorable card I was immediately whisked away to some of my favorite childhood memories. My brother and I both loved the Peanuts gang so much! Jen captured the fun spirit of these adorable characters with her card. I love the colors, texture, and clouds so much! Congratulations, Jen, on being my Perfect Princess for the week!

Tui's Choice:

Tara at Can't Stamp the Rain

Wow ... what a tough choice this week, there were so many fabulous creations that I really had a hard time making my selection .... but finally, I decided on this gorgeous creation by Tara, how could I not ... if I am a sucker for anything - it is a beautifully tied bow, and this bow Tara has executed perfectly - big, bold and beautiful, nothing else is needed for this card, just a simple and adorable tag for a Christmas greeting!

Congratulations Tara on being my choice for Perfect Princess this week!

Christy Q's choice:

Kim S. of Joyful Creations with Kim

There were so many great cards this week to choose from but my eye kept going back to Kim's card. I just loved the crisp classical color combination of red, green and white that she used. The shimmer on Kim's focal image panel is just superb. What sealed the deal for me was that gorgeous green bow accented by a jewel festooned snowflake. Such a great way to add a bit of pop to a snowflake! Congratulations, Kim, on being my pick for Perfect Princess this week!

Cindy's Choice:

Libby of Libbystamps

I love snowmen, and this one is no exception! I think you'll agree that this is one very cute card. Libby's design choices, such as the light blue snowflake embossed paper, the silver glimmer paper and snowflake, the paper piecing of the scarf and hat on the snowman, and the tiny little flower with a pearl on the snowman's hat, make this a perfect wintery card. Congratulations, Libby! You're my choice for Perfect Princess this week!

Jen M's Choice

Narelle Farrugia of Stampilicious

Narelle’s black and white wedding card is perfectly ritzy! All those well-defined layers draw your eye in to the embossed center and the lovely bride. The flocked designer paper adds some interesting texture and the big bow embellished with a rhinestone finishes this elegant card perfectly! Congratulations Narelle, on being A Perfect Princess this week!

And Our Queen of Clean this week:

Tracey of My Creative Side

I have to say that the cards this week exceeded all of my expectations with the sketch (and I had pretty high expectations!). Wow! As I kept going through the entries, I was drawn back to this card by Tracey. I love the shaker card aspect, that beautiful snowflake and those little jingle bells. The bold colors that she chose for the squares gave this such a traditional holiday feel. This card will truly be a gift to the lucky recipient! Congratulations Tracey on being the Queen of Clean this week!!

Congratulations to all of our winners!!  Join us here tomorrow morning as we reveal our final sketch for the year from Cindy Hall!  We know you will love it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sketch #14-by Jennifer Timko

Hello and welcome Freshly Made Sketches Week 14! Jennifer Timko here as your hostess this week. Thank you so much to all of you who continue to join us with this challenge. Your amazing creativity continues to astound all of us on the team! I chose this sketch (it is my first) because I know I always seem to have scraps of paper left over at this time of year. I have a tendency to hold onto small pieces of designer paper and then don't know what to do with them. I hope that these background squares provide you some inspiration to use those little treasures in your stamp room! 

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!

Rita Wright	Jen Mitchell	Cindy Hall
Jennifer Timko	Linda Callahan	Tui Nathan
Lesley Croghan	Christy Q	Lauri

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

1. Please use any crafting product you would like to use.
2. Feel free to combine our sketch with up to THREE 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, December 12th at noon (PST). On Tuesday, December 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".

Winners for Challenge #13-Lesley's Sketch

Thank you to everyone who joined us for last week's challenge! We were blown away by all the wonderful submissions this week! The Clean Team has chosen some talented Princesses for you this week and Lesley had chosen the Queen!

The "Perfect Princesses" this week are:

Christy Q's choice
Dawn at Dabble with Dawn

The little red felt rocking horses that Dawn picked up from Germany a few years ago are truly the star on this congratulations card! The color combination of red and pastel blue really works as does the embossed white panel. The combination of stripes, circles and the adorable rocking horses really makes a winning card in my eye. Congratulations, Dawn, on being my pick for Perfect Princess this week!

Rita's Choice
Susan at Cat's Ink.Corporated

How sweet is this card?! I love the candy images so much and they are too adorable stamped in the different shades of pink. I {heart} all the dots that Susan incorporated though the embossing and also on the ribbon; they just add to the fun of the card! Congratulations, Susan, on being my Perfect Princess for the week!

 

Jen M's Choice

Sacha Wilson at ink-ology

As soon as I saw Sacha’s elegant card this week I was in love! The embossed gold cardstock is stunning and is wonderfully set off against the black card base. The punched flowers look just like holiday poinsettias and she finished all this off with all my all-time favorite holiday sentiment stamp! Congratulations Sacha, on being A Perfect Princess this week!

 

 

Jen T's Choice

LeAnne of Wee Inklings

Another week of amazing cards! I am, like many of you, deep into finishing my holiday cards. I think that is what made this card stand out. The fresh spring-like colors, that little scalloped panel and those bright red flowers. What a great thank you card! Congratulations, LeAnne, on being my pick for Perfect Princess this week!

 

Cindy's Choice

Kim B. of Joyful Creations

Isn't this just the most adorable card?! Kim used some really wonderful elements to create a thoroughly professional, fresh and clean card. I love the reindeer, especially 'Rudolph' in the middle with his glittery red nose and what looks like a green bow tie! The snowflake embossing on white is the perfect backdrop, and the plaid DSP keeps it fun. The baker's twine with the sentiment keeps the whole theme in balance. Congratulations, Kim! You're my choice for Perfect Princess this week!

 

Tui's Choice

Jodene Tripp of Did I say that out loud?

I was totally captured when I came across Jodene's card this week, not only is her colour palette a striking combination, but the soft subtle texture on the background enhanced further by the simple stitching creates a clean and stylish backdrop for these oh so sweet lil gingerbread guys! I mean seriously, the white trim and red buttons is cuteness all over, and finally a simple bow and simple sentiment - I was smitten! Congratulations Jodene on being my pick this week for Perfect Princess!

 

 

Lauri's Choice

Lindsey at Doodlings

I loved this card right from the start! With so many to choose from, this one kept calling me back....the color combination is so unique and I love the ribbon treatment! I will be casing this one for sure...a fun and funky CAS card! Congratulations Lindsey on being my choice for Perfect Princess!

Linda's Choice

Katy McGloin

The bright colors against the white on Katy's card are beautiful! The design is simple and fresh and I love the bold graphic images. The score lines are a terrific addition with the designer paper. And those three little pearls just seem to echo Peace Hope Love! Congratulations Katy on being my pick for Perfect Princess this week!

And Our Queen of Clean this week:

Lesley's Choice
Jenny of Crafting in the Country

 

Wow! This week's submissions were all so fabulous, I had a hard time narrowing it down but I kept coming back to Jenny's sweet snowflake card! Not only is it amazingly clean, it is super cute! I love the textured paper, the perfect rectangles of colour and the lovely little snowflakes were all arranged like falling snowflakes should look...freshly fallen! Fresh, clean and simple, this card really shone for me this week! Congratulations Jenny on being our Queen of Clean!!!

 

Please join us tomorrow as Jennifer Timko brings us a terrific sketch, just perfect for the holiday season!

 

Smiles,

There is still time to play!

There is still time to join our current sketch challenge at Freshly Made Sketches...please CLICK HERE to join us.  This challenge ends on Monday, December 5th at noon (PST).

Freshly Made Sketches #13-Any Shape, Any Shape, Any Shape...

Hello and welcome to Freshly Made Sketches. This week I am excited to be your hostess and I wanted to create a sketch that had three shapes in it that could be the same or different, as long as there are three shapes on the card..."any shape, any shape, any shape..." (I am singing "Any Shape" to the tune of "Let it Snow")  Please feel free to flip the card and make it your own as long as the design is clean and the sketch is still visible.

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!

Rita Wright	Jen Mitchell	Cindy Hall
Jennifer Timko	Linda Callahan	Tui Nathan
Lesley Croghan	Christy Q	Lauri

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

1. Please use any crafting product you would like to use-scrapbooking, card making, material, 3D design, etc...
2. Feel free to combine our sketch with up to THREE 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, December 5th at noon (PST). On Tuesday, December 6th, 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".