Monday, December 21, 2020

2021 New Years Card for Freshly Made Sketches #466

 I made a quick New Years card to send to a fellow crafters father that is in a nursing home and hasn’t been able to see family since the pandemic started. I am entering this in Freshly Made Sketches #466.




Hope you have a Happy New Year and that 2021 is a much better year than 2020. I’m sure everyone agrees with that.

Sunday, December 13, 2020

Stampin’ Up! Pampered Pets Freshly Made Sketches #465

 I’m Christmas carded out. I decided to pull out an older stamp and die for this weeks Freshly Made Sketches challenge. https://freshlymadesketches.blogspot.com/2020/12/freshly-made-sketches-465-sketch-by.html

I choose the Pampered pets stamp and pets die. The paper was the Playful Pets DSP and I used a couple of playful pets trinkets.


I love that Stampin’ Up! Products coordinate together so well. It takes the guesswork out of making cards

Here is the sketch the card was based off of.

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Saturday, December 12, 2020

Let it Roll Card for Freshly Made Sketches #465

 Eric decided to make a card for the Freshly Made Sketches #465 Challenge https://freshlymadesketches.blogspot.com/2020/12/freshly-made-sketches-465-sketch-by.html this week. He used crumb cake for the tag which he punched out with Fancy Tag Topper Punch. The sentiment and dice were from the Game On stamp and the balloons were stamped with So Much Happy stamp set.




Monday, December 7, 2020

Stampin Up Snow Wonder Freshly Made Sketches #464

 Here it is December already and we have only had a dusting of snow, with none in the forecast. We need rain or snow or we will be in a drought again. If we can’t have real snow I can at least pretend. I decided to use the Snow Wonder Stamp for my snowman card today. 

I’m entering this in the Freshly Made Sketches #464 challenge for the week.






Stamp Set: Snow Wonder
Dies: Snow Time
Paper: Whisper White, Misty Moonlight, Feels Like Frost DSP
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Misty Moonlight, Versamark
Embossing Powder: White
Embellishments: Snowflake Adhesive Backed

These products are available to purchase in my shop. Www.Mcsquaredstampers.stampinup.net





Sunday, December 6, 2020

Let it Ride Birthday Card

 Looking at the Stampin’ Up! Retired list that’s starting on Tuesday got me inspired to bring out some of my retired stamps from years past. I was commissioned to make a masculine birthday card and thought of the Let It Ride stamp set. I also used the Country Living, Country Time and the Birch background stamp







We live in an open range area of Nevada and we have wild horses come through the neighborhoods quite frequently. I never get tired of seeing them! Only trouble is all the poop they leave behind. Small price to pay to enjoy  their beauty.

















Giant Year-end closeout sale


Have you made your list and checked it twice? Now's the time to shop for those items before they are gone for good. Remember the early bird catches the worm. SHOP EARLY TO AVOID MISSING OUT!

 Here is the link to the Year End Closeout Carryover List. These products will carryover to the new annual catalog.

Here is the link to the Year End Closeout Retired Product List. Once these are gone they won't be available again. 

Shop My shopping page. I would love to have you as a customer.

Thursday, November 26, 2020

Happy Thanksgiving

 This year has been a year like no other. We may not be able to have a traditional Thanksgiving with all our family members together but hopefully you can still enjoy the day. We can only hope that next year will be better and we can get back to living our life without all the restrictions. On that note I want to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving.

Here is a throwback card I made for family members last year.



Thursday, November 19, 2020

Stampin Up Dandy Garden-Freshly Made Sketches #462

 In between making wooden snowmen I took a few minutes make a quick card to enter in this weeks Freshly Made Sketches #462 challenge. It’s been cold and very windy here the last couple of days so I picked some bright colors for my card hoping to brighten it up around here.





I punched the circles from the Dandy Garden DSP. I popped up the 2 x 2 center square then punched one of the dragonflies out to place on top. I used Whisper White for the card base and a piece of  4x 5 1/4 Dandy Garden DSP and then a 3 3/4 x 5 piece of Whisper White that I embossed with the  Meadow Moments Embossing Folder. I stamped the sentiment from the Dragonfly Garden stamp set using Calypso Coral ink and then added a few Elegant Faceted Gems to finish it off.
For the inside I used a 4 x 5 1/4 piece of  the same paper from the  Dandy Garden DSP then added a piece of 3 3/4 x 5 Whisper White. I opted to leave off a sentiment but added a little dragonfly which I also punched out of the Dandy Garden DSP using the new dragonfly punch. 
I added a piece of the Dandy Garden DSP to the envelope flap and then stamped a dragonfly in the front lower left corner.



Saturday, November 14, 2020

Stampin’ Up! Sneak Peek- Darling Donkeys Sale-a-bration Stamp Set Christmas card



 Yay! Eric decided to do some stamping. He saw my card for the Freshly Made Sketches #461 Challenge and decided he wanted to make one as well. Below is the card he came up with. Not bad for a beginner.






Here’s is the sketch he based it off of.

The stamped donkeys come from a new Sale-a-bration stamp set you can get for free with a $50.00 or more purchase starting on January 5th. 

Here is a sneak peek of the stamp set. Don’t you just love it! I’m sure this is going to be in big demand! 

We just finished attending the virtual OnStage@home event where Stampin’ Up! Shows the new catalogs, has product demonstrations and had several classes on business development. Over 10,000 demonstrators around the world attended.  I can’t wait until December 1st when we can pre-order any of the new items. That’s one of the perks of being a demonstrator!



Friday, November 13, 2020

Gnome Christmas Card

 Here is the second card I completed today. I went with the Gnome theme since it is currently so popular.


I stamped the Gnome and his house from the Gnome for the Holidays stamp set on Whisper White and then colored them with Stampin Blends and then fussy cut them out. I made some snow banks with Whisper White and the Home Together dies. I cut a couple of the trees from the same die in Shaded Spruce. I cut several leaves from Granny Apple Green using the Wreath Builder Dies for the top of the house. 

I adhered all the pieces over a piece of Snowflake Splendor DSP and then stamped the sentiment with Old Olive ink on a scrap of Whisper White. I punched a piece of Cherry Cobbler using the Timeless Labels punch. I used the same punch on the sentiment but trimmed off the top and bottom and then glued it to the Cherry Cobbler piece.

Hope you find sometime to craft over the weekend. I think it’s a great stress reliever. If you would like to purchase any of the items I used click the shop Stampin Up bottom on the top menu and it will take you to my shopping page.

Christmas Present-Freshly Made Sketches #461

 It’s a cold and very windy day here so I decided to stay in and get in some quality crafting time. I’m entering today’s card in the Freshly Made Sketches #461 . I changed the orientation of the sketch and it reminded me of a gift box. I went with a Christmas theme for my card.


I started my card with a Cherry Cobbler card base. I then layered on top a 4 x 5 1/5 piece of Plush Poinsettia Specialty Paper. I placed some mini glue dots on the back where I knew they wouldn’t show through to the front. I then cut a 1 x 5 1/4 inch piece of gold foil which I adhered to the top. Using the Gift Bow Builder punch I punched a bow out of Real Red Glimmer Paper. I added some dimensionals to the back and then centered it in the middle of the gold foil strip.


I choose a sentiment from the Wrapped in Christmas stamp set. I stamped this in Cherry Cobbler on a piece of Whisper White. Using my Stamparatus I stamped in again with Versamark ink and then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. I felt this made the sentiment really stand out. I punched it out with a 1 1/2 in punch. I then punched a piece of Cherry Cobbler with a 1 3/4 in punch to layer on the back.  I punched a small hole on the top which I layered a piece of linen thread. I then stuck the thread behind the  bow. To finish off the front I added some red Wonderful Gems.


For the inside I stamped another sentiment from the Wrapped in Christmas stamp set in Cherry Cobbler on a 4 x 5 1/4 piece of Whisper White. I adhered a 1/2 in strip of gold foil to the bottom.




I used a couple of bows from the Gift Wrapped Stamp Set. Using a Whisper White envelope I stamped a small bow in Cherry Cobbler ink to the front lower left corner. I then added to the flap a thin strip of Real Red Glitter paper and stamped a large bow centered on the flap and envelope and my card was done.

All the products used are available on my Stampin Up shopping page. If you select the shop now tab on the top menu it will take you to the shop. I would love to have you as a customer.


Saturday, November 7, 2020

Pine Wood Christmas Card -Freshly Made Sketches #460

 It’s cold here today and we have a chance of snow tonight. A good day to stay in and craft where it’s nice and warm.

 I just finished attending the virtual Stampin up OnStage. For the last two days we had many stamping demonstrations and video’s on prompting our business. I learned a lot of great new techniques and got to see the new catalogs coming January 5. One of the perks of being a Stampin Up independent demonstrator is being able to see the new products and order one month before anyone else.  I saw so many new stamp and die sets I just have to have. Their goes the budget!

Today’s card inspiration came from Freshly Made Sketches 460. As soon as I saw this sketch I new what I wanted  to make. 




I started with a heavy whisper white card base, layered on top a 4 1/8 x 5 3/8 piece of Cherry Cobbler and the layered on a piece of embossed a 4 x 5 1/4 piece of whisper white with the evergreen trees embossing folder. I cut a piece of 3 x 4 Classic Christmas DSP and then cut the bottom to make a banner. I used dimensionals to pop this up 1/4 inch from the top of my embossed layer.

I cut 2 trees from Shaded Spruce using the Pine Woods Dies. I then used the largest tree die and cut it out from Green Foil. I glued the two small trees down and then popped up the green foil tree in the middle. I tied a bow from linen thread and used a glue dot to stick it to the base of the green foil tree. I stamped the sentiment with Versamark Ink from the In The Pines stamp set on a piece of Cherry Cobbler cut to 1/4 x 3 3/4. I heat embossed this with white embossing powder and then used dimensionals to adhere it  centered and 1 3/4 inches from the top.



For the inside I stamped the small tree and sentiment in Shaded Spruce on a 4 x 5 1/4 in piece of Whisper White and adhered it onto a piece of Cherry Cobbler cut to 4 1/8 x 5 3/8.

I finished off the envelope flap with a piece of the DSP cut to 2/14 x 6 and then stamped the same little tree on the front lower left.

I hope all of you get a chance to do some crafting this weekend. If you enjoyed this card and want to make it yourself, I would love to have you as a customer.  Take care,

Monday, November 2, 2020

Dragonfly Garden-Freshly Made Sketches #459

 I’m entering my card today in the Freshly Made Sketches #459. I procrastinated in getting this in and I’m just under the wire.



I used the Dragonfly Garden stamp set with the Dandy Garden DSP and the Dragonflies punch. The card stock is Blackberry Bliss.



Saturday, October 17, 2020

Boho Indigo Freshly Made Sketches #457

 Just got back from a few days away. This was the first time away since the beginning of March when the pandemic started. It sure was nice. We took a beautiful ride down the eastern sierra to see all the fall colors. The trees were beautiful, the weather was nice and not too many people around.

I saw the sketch for this weeks Freshly Made Sketches #457 challenge and knew exactly what stamp set and paper products I wanted to use. 


I choose to use the Boho Indigo product medley from Stampin’ Up! #153132 for my card. I love the papers in this set and the vase dies are beautiful.






I started with a card base of night of navy cut at 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 and scored in the middle. I then used two of the papers included in the set. I cut the blue floral piece to 3 1/2 x 4 and the pre-embossed very vanilla sheet to 2 1/2 x 4 3/4. I cut out a small vase from Balmy Blue and a flower sprig from Mint Macaron using the dies included in the medley. I put a small linen thread bow on the vase and 3 of the little flowers that were also included in the medley. I stamped the sentiment with Versamark ink on a 1 x 3/12 strip of night of navy and heat embossed it with white embossing power.I popped the sentiment strip and the vase up with dimensionals.

For the inside I used a 4 x 5 1/4 sheet of very vanilla and added a 1/2 inch strip of the floral paper to the top and bottom and then added one of the matching flowers from the front the lower right corner. I added the same paper to the flap of a very vanilla envelope. I’m very happy with the way this card turned out.



If you would like to purchase this medley you can purchase it from my online shopping page by selecting the Shop Stampin’ Up Now tab on the top menu bar. The product code for the entire medley is #153132.  I would love to have you as a customer.

Friday, October 9, 2020

Case this Sketch #393 challenge Autumn Greetings

 I made this card to enter into the Case this Sketch #393. I used the Stampin Up stamp set Autumn Greetings #153368 and the Autumn Essentials Dies #153569. 



I used Pumpkin Pie for the card base. A circle of Blackberry Bliss and Plaid Tidings DSP. 

Stampin Blends used to color the image:

Pumpkin Pie Light and Dark

Blackberry Bliss Light and Dark

Crumb Cake Light and Dark

Mango Melody Light and Dark

Old Olive Light

Granny Apple Green Light and Dark

Cajun Craze Light

Real Red Light

I finished the card off with a linen thread bow and some Wonderful Gems and some Sequins.

I added some Plaid Tiding paper to the envelope flap and stamped the small pumpkin from the stamp set on the front lower left corner.

Hope you have a wonderful fall weekend!

Another Have a Hoot Halloween card

 I’ve just about finished my Halloween cards for this year. This final card is for my 3 year old grandson. All products used were from Stampin’ Up! except for the the card base. The card base was purchased over the internet as I needed a card where we could record a personalized greeting. It’s not the best quality but you can at least understand the talking and the music. 

I’m happy with the way the card turned out. The cape on the bottom owl was colored to match my grandson’s face mask he is going to wear for Halloween. In case you can’t tell what’s on the cape they are small ghosts.


The images and dies are from the Have A Hoot stamp set# 153389 and Peek A Hoot dies #153573 with the exception of the bats which I stamped from the Hallows Night Magic stamp set #153356 and cut our with the Halloween Magic Dies # 153565. For the circles I used the Layering Circles Dies #141705. 

Card stock used:
Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Mango Melody, Silver Foil and Black Glitter paper. 

DSP used for the inside and envelope:
Magic in This Night #153517

Stampin Blends:
Crumb Cake Light and Dark
Pumpkin Pie Light and Dark
Mango Melody Light and Dark
Basic Black Light
Smoky Slate Light
Soft Suede Light and Dark

Embossing Folder 3D Cobwebs was used for the white circle behind the pumpkin.






I hope you enjoyed the card. I would love to hear your comments. 

If you would like to purchase any of the items used to make the card you can visit my Stampin Up page by selecting the shop button on the top menu. I would love to have you as a customer.


Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Stampin Up Swap

I can't believe it's been over two weeks since I posted. The weather got cooler, the smoke dissipated and I have been enjoying being outside! I have also been working on swaps for the upcoming Stampin' Up! virtual meeting and my team leads Stampin Spectacular 2020.  We had to use all new products from either the holiday mini catalog or the annual catalog so I decided to make some holiday cards.

I used a card I had made for the case-this-sketch-388 challenge and changed it up a bit. I had to make 31 cards for the swap. This is the first swap I am participating in and I have to say I didn't realize how time consuming this would be! But I finally finished them and got them in the mail yesterday. 

Here is the original card and then updated card I used for the swap. I'm happy with the way the swap cards turned out.

Original



New Swap Card


Basically, I changed the middle tree to foil and popped it up in front of the outside trees instead of beneath. I made a bow from linen thread instead of the ribbon and moved the tag to center bottom.

Which one do you prefer? I would love to hear your comments.

I kept the inside and envelope the same with the exception of the sentiment stamped inside.




Here's all the swap cards ready to go.


Thanks for stopping by. If you would like to make these cards for yourself all of the products are available on my shopping page. I would love to have you as a customer.


Friday, September 11, 2020

Have a Hoot Case this sketch #389

 We had a few cool,  non-smoky days but today the smoke is back and we are back to the 90’s! I’m anxious to get rid of this smoke and heat. All we can wish for is rain! That will help the fires and hopefully clean some of this smoke out permanently. It’s so tragic that between California, Oregon and Washington over 5 million acres have burnt this summer.

On a happier note today’s card is another Halloween card made with the Have A Hoot stamp set that I am going to enter in the Case this Sketch #389 challenge. 






Card Stock

Pumpkin Pie A2 card base, 2 in circle, 3/4 x 3 banner

Whisper White 4 x 5 1/4 embossed with Cobwebs 3D embossing folder, 4 x 5 1/4 inside, scrap 

Plaid Tidings DSP 4 x 3, 4 x 1/2  (2), 2 1/4 x 6

Black Glitter Paper  1 1/2 x 4, 6 x 1/2, scrap for owls

Stamp Sets

Have a Hoot

Hallows Night Magic 

Dies

Peek-a-Hoot

Punch’s

        2 inch circle

        Bats (retired)

        Banners Pick a Punch

Stampin’ Blends

Cinnamon Cider light and dark

Rich Razzleberry light and dark

Mango Melody light and dark 

I glued the embossed whisper white piece on the card stock then layered the Plaid Tidings DSP and then the black glitter paper. I stamped the owl on a piece of whisper white scrap and also on the Pumpkin Pie Circle. I only colored the branches on the Circle and then colored the owl and moon and die cut them out. I used dimensionals to pop these up over the image on the circle. I then added dimensionals to the back and added this over the glitter black piece. I stamped the sentiment on the banner with versamark ink and heat embossed with shimmery black embossing paste. I then added dimensionals to this and placed it even with the top and over from the left 1/2 in. I punched the bats from the black glitter paper and added to the banner and circle.

For the inside I stamped the sentiment and spider on the Whisper White paper then added the strips at the top and bottom and the bat in the lower left corner. I finished off the envelope flap with the strip of black glitter and the Plaid Tidings DSP. I glued a leftover bat to the lower left corner.

Here is the sketch I based this card off of:


Hope you have a great weekend! I‘m lucky, I get to watch my 4 month old granddaughter tomorrow. Nothing like being a grandparent!