Linda's Surprise Blog Hop

My friend and blogging buddy Linda Callahan is taking a wee break from her design team commitments and card making hobby because she is expecting her first grandchild! I am so happy for Linda. Not only is she a talented stamper, she is a wonderful person full of good humour and hilarity! She is a gem! To celebrate her upcoming foray into Grandma "hood" I have organized some of her blogging friends to wish her well!!! I will miss her at Freshly Made Sketches for the next few months and hope she will return soon!

Each of us in this hop will be sharing what our grandmother's meant to us! I was close to both my grandmothers and cherish the wonderful times we spent together! My Grammy's favourite colour was purple and her favourite flower was the hydrangea. She would walk me to the mall, just down from her house and we would go shopping at Woodward's together. I was very close to both of my grandmothers, they taught me so much and shared wisdoms I am only now beginning to understand and fully appreciate.

Happy Hopping...please click on Mary Fish's name to start the hop...

Lesley Croghan

Mary Fish

Cindy Hall

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

Nance Leedy

Jen Mitchell

Tui Nathan

LeAnne Pugliese

Ann Schach

Jennifer Timko

Rita Wright

Congratulations Linda!

Freshly Made Sketches #41-A Sketch from Cindy Hall

This week at Freshly Made Sketches , the talented Cindy Hall has an amazing sketch that I think is SO versatile! The design team has created such a variety of cards with her awesome sketch! I decided to create an A2 card with her sketch, instead of square and inked up ANOTHER new stamp called "Star Tree" which is a single stamp, affordable and it stamps SO nicely!

{Stampin' Up Supplies Used}

Stamps: Star Tree, Hostess Set (long retired by my favourite!)

Inks: Raspberry Ripple and Island Indigo 

Papers: Raspberry Ripple, White and Island Indigo DSP

Extras: Oval Punches

We hope that you will join Freshly Made Sketches this week!  Please be sure to visit the other DT Members to see their wonderful creations! 

Jennifer Brum
Allisa Chilton

Lesley Croghan

Cindy Hall

Jen Mitchell

Tui Nathan
Jen Sannes

Ann Schach
Linda Suarez
Jennifer Timko

Winners of Merry Monday Challenge #25

Thank you to everyone who joined us for last week's sketch!!! What a terrific group of Christmas cards! I love to see what will be done with my sketch! Sometimes I create the sketch and think to myself "Will anybody like this sketch?" So thank you to all who play and encourage me to keep going! 


The Merry Makers have chosen their favourites for this week. Be sure to grab your badge and display it proudly on your blog!

Wendy's Choice: #1 Sherry Eckblad
Button Junkie

Loved Sherry's card for the second week in a row! Fabulous papers and I love the K & Company embellishment! Super cute Christmas card! Congratulations, Sherry, for being my Top Pick this week!

LeAnne's Choice: Alicia
Paper Art Princess

It is no secret that I love silhouettes, especially stamped in white on this beautiful aqua background!  I especially love winter scene silhouettes, and when they're made into a cute little snowglobe like this one, I am over the top!  What a clever creation Alicia has made--and it earned her a Top Pick from me!  Congratulations!

Nina’s Choice: Jen
Ladybug Designs

Jen’s card caught my eye this week, I am always drawn to texture. I love the simple cream and brown colour combination and the snowflake is so elegant.  Finished with sparkly brads and Congratulations Jen, for being my Top Pick this week!

Vicki's Choice:
Danielle

I just love Danielle's sweet little shaker card! The doily framed image is adorable. Love the added bling and fun sentiment too. Congratulations, Danielle, for being my top pick this week.

Narelle's Choice: Mikki
Mikki's Creative Corner

How gorgeous is this card?  I love Mikki's card because of the gorgeous wintery, Christmasy scene she has created. Her use of chalks for the sky and sunset/sunrise is very clever and very effective.  Frostwood lodge is the perfect DSP to complete this scene. Congratulations Mikki, for being my Top Pick this week!

Bonnie's Choice:
Beverly

Beverly's little snow globe scene is so adorable.  It reminds me of snow globes when I was a kid.  I love her choice of decorative paper and the little banner too. Congratulations, Beverly on being my Top Pick this week.

This week's winner is:

Lesley's Choice:

Hayley Kew

I chose Hayley's sweet card because I love how she coloured in that snowman with glitter! His hat and scarf are also paper pieced, which makes him even more extra special. Love too that Hayley created an Easel Card using the sketch! Congratulations Hayley on being our winner at Merry Monday this week! I would love to have you as our Guest Designer for Monday, July 2nd! Please email me if you would like to join us!

This week's sketch is on! The current sketch closes on Sunday at Noon (PST), sure hope you will join in on the fun! To play along, please CLICK HERE!

Merry Monday #26-{Christmas Deer}

Welcome to another week at Merry Monday!  The idea behind this challenge is to get a head start on your Christmas cards!  Each week, I create a sketch and I choose one Merry Monday Winner who will then be a Guest Designer for a future challenge!  So get out your Christmas supplies and let's get to work!    

Lesley Croghan

For my card, I mixed old with new...using the Holiday Lineup stamp set and the new "Sweet Essentials" sentiment set. The deer are coloured with Copics and I used a small snowflake at the top for my shape. I have to say, this is not my most favourite card I have ever created but it took me 20 minutes and that included the time to photograph it. Lately I have been creating cards in record time, mostly because I have no time! I can't wait to get some real time in my craft space! The design team has created some wonderful samples to inspire you and welcome to Cindy, our Guest Designer this week!

LeAnne Pugliese

Nina Forsyth

Wendy Aungst

Narelle Farrugia

Bonnie Klass

Vicki Burdick (FD)

Cindy van Oorschot(GD)

Paper Players #101-A Sketch from Me and the Play Date Cafe

Just a quick post tonight as I am pooped! I had a great day at auditions for Oklahoma! This week I am the challenge hostess at the Paper Players and I get to create a sketch! I hope you like it and that you will play along with us this week, at our 101st Challenge! Lovely Nance Leedy is taking a blogging vacation and so the talented Vicki Burdick is joining us this week, filling in for Nance. Welcome Vicki!

I wanted to make a masculine grad card for a son of a good friend. I hope he likes it! I used the colours from the The Play Date Cafe...I loved them this week! I used another new Stampin' Up set called "Blue Ribbon", which I thought was perfect for the colours!!

We hope that you will join the Paper Players Challenge this week! You have until Friday at Noon (PST) to link up your creation! Please be sure to visit the other DT Members to see their wonderful work!

The Paper Players Design Team

Ann Schach

Anne Marie Hile

Jaydee

LeAnne Pugliese

Lesley Croghan

Vicki Burdick 

Dynamic Duos #8-Monochromatic and SO HAPPY!!!!

Oh my goodness! Saturday today and some exciting things happening in my little world! First of all, I am DONE report cards! I am so happy about that and secondly, today is the first round of auditions for Oklahoma!!!! Yippee! I am directing Oklahoma next year for our local theatre company and I am so excited to see who is coming out to audition today!!!

But today is also the reveal for this week's colour duos at Dynamic Duos. This week is a Monochromatic Theme of River Rock and Always Artichoke. I absolutely LOVE River Rock and never get to use it. When I chose this week's colours I was so pumped to see the elegant creations the design team would create and they do not disappoint! Here is my card, I hope you like it! I am really happy with how it turned out and let me say, I LOVE this new Summer Silhouette set!!!!

My dear, dear friend has been battling some tough days with life and I wanted to make her a serene and loving card, so let her know how much I care about her! She is one of those amazing people who never thinks about herself and I am proud that she is my friend. 

I inked up another new set, it is ALL butterflies and YES, has a matching punch! Oh and the sentiment comes from ANOTHER new set...yes, I bought them all! LOL! I am so happy with Stampin' Up's new catalogue, it is the best one they have had in years!  Won't you join us this week at Dynamic Duos!  Here are the links to the fabulous Design Team!

Allisa Chilton

Anne Marie Hile

Anika Lerche

Bronwyn Eastley

Kim Singdahlsen

Lesley Croghan

Lisa Elton

Melissa Chipperfield

Paige Grabau

Sue Joyce

Still time to play at Merry Monday!

Good morning everyone! There is still time to play along with the Merry Monday Sketch this week! Feel free to make a tent topper card or not...have fun with it! To play along, please CLICK HERE. The linky closes at Noon (PST) on Sunday!

Freshly Made Sketch #40-{Thinking of You}

Happy Wednesday blogging friends. The past few days I have been battling a headache/tummy ache thing...unsure of what it is but hoping it will go away soon. This week I am the hostess at Freshly Made Sketches and I have a simple but hopefully enjoyable sketch for you to try! I went with the new In Colours using Gumball Green and Raspberry Ripple combined with So Saffron. The embossed background was created with my new Chevron Embossing Folder and the sentiment is also new!!! That set is called "Sweet Essentials" which is a lovely sentiment set which stamps so nicely! The stamp set I used to create the flowers is called Summer Silhouettes and I can see will be a fast favourite for me! 

{Stampin' Up Supplies Used on this Card}

Stamps: Sweet Essentials, Summer Silhouettes

Inks: Gumball Green, Raspberry Ripple and So Saffron

Papers: Be of Good Cheer Designer Paper, Gumball Green and Raspberry Ripple, Whisper White

Extras: Chevron Embossing Folder, White Organza Ribbon

I have reopened my online Stampin' Up Store...to visit my online store to purchase any of the above materials I used, please CLICK HERE. I am a Canadian Stampin' Up demonstrator.

We hope that you will join Freshly Made Sketches this week!  Please be sure to visit the other DT Members to see their wonderful creations!

Jennifer Brum
Linda Callahan
Allisa Chilton

Lesley Croghan (That is me!)

Cindy Hall

Jen Mitchell

Tui Nathan
Jen Sannes

Ann Schach
Linda Suarez
Jennifer Timko

Sunday Stamps Challenge #4-Congratulations

My friend Holly has a brand new challenge going on called Sunday Stamps! This week she has a fabulous sketch and I decided to get inky with it!  I inked up another new set (yes I went crazy with my first Stampin' Up Order)! The new set is called Lacy & Lovely. The sentiment comes from Sweet Essentials. The colours I used are Summer Starfruit, White and Basic Black.

{Supplies Used}

Stamps: Lacy & Lovely, Charming and Sweet Essentials

Inks: Summer Starfruit, Black

Papers: Summer Starfruit, Black, White

Extras: Large Circle Punch, Black Brad, Scallop Edge Punch

Congratulations Holly and design team on your new exciting challenge!!!

Merry Monday Winners for Sketch #24

Thank you to everyone who joined us for last week's sketch!!!  What a wonderful collection of Christmas cards and welcome to our new participants, glad to see you are working on those cards!! I have quite a stash of Christmas cards ready now...it makes me happy!!!

The Merry Makers have chosen their favourites for this week. Be sure to grab your badge and display it proudly on your blog...if you would like!

Wendy's Choice: Sherry Eckblad
Button Junkie

Sherry's card this week brought such a smile to my face when I seen that adorable Santa in her main image! Her designer papers are very cute & festive and I just loved the HO HO HO! Congratulations, Sherry, for being my Top Pick this week! :)

LeAnne's Choice: D'Ann
Live, Laugh and Stamp

I really liked the way D'Ann used the diecuts, especially with the embossing as the mat, and I LOVE the wreath image with the sentiment over top, but I REALLY liked the glimmery panel and snowflakes!!  Topped off with those sweet bells, this was a humdinger in my book!  Congrats, D'Ann, for being my Top Pick this week!

Nina’s Choice: Robyn
Water Lily Cards by Robyn

It is so inspirational to see all these fabulous Christmas card each week,  I loved the simple look of Robyn's card. The effect of the inked embossing folder is fantastic and the die cut ornament is stunning. Congratulations Robyn, for being my Top Pick this week!

Vicki's Choice: 
Susan Joyce

I was instantly drawn to Susan's creation. The color combo is so warm and inviting and I loved the little scene she created inside the ornament. The silver cording is perfect and her attention to detail is impeccable.

Congratulations Susan for being my Top pick this week.

Narelle's Choice:Jenn
Handmade by Jennifer Frost

Jenn's vintage and very elegant card stood out for me this week.  The Early Espresso DSP and Cherry Cobbler cardstock combined together are just gorgeous.  I love how she's raised the bauble and added the button to finish it off - perfect touch! Congratulations Jenn, for being my Top Pick this week! 

Bonnie's Choice: Tricia
Simply Stamping

What a fantastic gallery of cards this week!  The soft colors and tone on tone print of these papers make the JOY really stand out and that just took my heart!  And the ribbon treatment was just the right finishing touch. Congratulations, Tricia, for being my Top Pick this week!

This week's winner is:

Lesley's Choice: Cindy

Creations by Cindy

Cindy's card caught my eye because I loved those sweet little felt mittens on the front of it! The new Christmas papers and that perfect bow, highlighted the mittens perfectly! A heart-warming Christmas creation! Congratulations Cindy on being our winner this week, I would love to have you as our Guest Designer for Monday, June 25th! Please email me if you would like to join us, my email is located in my blog banner.

My current Merry Monday Sketch is up...thank you to all for your kind comments about my sketches! I am happy you are enjoying them!!!! To play along with this week's sketch, please CLICK HERE.

Merry Monday #25-Celebrate!!

Welcome to another week at Merry Monday!  The idea behind this challenge is to get a head start on your Christmas cards!  Each week, I create a sketch to get your creative juices flowing and I choose one Merry Monday Winner who will then be a Guest Designer for a future challenge!  So get out your Christmas supplies and let's get to work! Congrats to Carol L for being our Guest Designer this week!   

Lesley Croghan

I received my order from Stampin' Up this past week and am only able to play with some new goodies tonight! I was excited to ink up this brand new stamp set called "Happy Hour". It is so much fun!!! I added the holly and the candy cane to the middle drink and the sentiment comes with the set too!!! I also used the new In Colours, I used Gumball Green and Raspberry Ripple and Primrose Petals. I love the pinky red for Christmas!!!! The embossed layer was created with the "Fan Fair" embossing folder, which matches the designs in the drink glass! Love that! The design team has come up with some amazing samples....

LeAnne Pugliese

Nina Forsyth

Wendy Aungst

Narelle Farrugia

Bonnie Klass

Vicki Burdick (FD)

Carol of Our Little Inspirations (GD)