It’s Wednesday and time for Freshly Made Sketches, where clean is the name of the game!  Lesley’s lovely sketch this week features a central oval, just perfect for the bird image from A Beautiful Season.  I hope you enjoy today’s clean and elegant card.

The finished card measures 4-1/4″ wide x 5-1/2″ long.

• Elegant texture! Stampin’ Up!’s new Fancy Fan Textured Impressions Embossing Folder adds a classic and elegant pattern in seconds.

• Gilded embossing! The Bird from A Beautiful Season was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder.  The berries and leaves were lightly tinted using Blender Pens and inks.  The result would delight King Midas himself!

• Classy bow!  Retired Early Espresso Satin Ribbon makes a gorgeous bow.  Luckily I still have a few yards of satin ribbon tucked away.

• Stylish sentiment! The Merry Christmas sentiment from Petite Pairs was inked in Soft Suede and punched with a small oval punch.  This was then layered onto a Cherry Cobbler banner, created using the Bitty Banners Framelits. 

As you can see, I am trying to use up a little of my retired paper and ribbon.  I never get all of my retiring paper used up before the new catalog release.  It’s like when you have breakfast, and you eat all of the cereal but there is still milk left in the bowl.  The new catalog has been released with all of its fabulous designer series patterns, and I still have old ones to use up!

This card is so easy to create…and I now have one Christmas card completed!  With little Lexi Lou in the house, it may be the only one I get created.  Don’t let her sweet looks fool you…she is a little dynamo!  She has seriously put a crimp into my blog surfing and email answering.  But it won’t be long until she starts sleeping through the night…I hope! 

Even though I have not had the opportunity to respond back to your comments the past few weeks, please know that they are so very important to me, and I do read each and every one of them.  And of course, I will always take the time to answer any questions that you may have about the cards I create or the techniques that I use.  Until next time…

Stamp Sets:  A Beautiful Season, Petite Pairs;  Inks:  Versamark, Cherry Cobbler, Always Artichoke, Soft Suede; Designer Series Paper:  Mocha Morning Specialty (retired);  Card Stock:  Very Vanilla, Brushed Gold, Cherry Cobbler;  Tools:  Heat Tool, Gold Stampin’ Emboss Powder, Blender Pens, Big Shot, Labels Collection Framelits, Bitty Banners Framelits, Fancy Fan Textured Impressions Embossing Folder; Glitz and Glam:  Basic Pearls, Early Espresso 5/8″ Satin Ribbon (retired)

 

In celebration of The Paper Players’ 100th Challenge, each member of the Design Team perused the previous challenges, and selected one of their favorites.  I selected Challenge #17:  A Sketch Challenge.  This was my first challenge as a Design Team member, so it is a special challenge to me.  We are asking our participants to select any past challenge and create a card for it. I hope you will hop along to see what the other members of the team selected.  At the end of the challenge, one lucky participant will be receiving all of our cards as a little “thank you” for supporting us! 

Here is my original card which appeared on September 23, 2010:

And here is my new one:

The finished card measures 4-1/4″ wide x 5-1/2″ long.
Need a card in a hurry?  This is the card for you!

• Texture!  Want a quick and easy way to add pizzazz to a clean and simple card? A Textured Impressions Embossing Folder does the trick.  My folder of choice for this card is Stampin’ Up!’s new Argyle one.

• Face the Facets! Stampin’ Up!’s new Vintage Faceted Designer Buttons add classy sparkle!  The centers of the largest size are just pearl-fect for adding a Large Pearl Basic Jewel.  Coloring to coordinate is a breeze with a permanent marker.

• Pretty Papillion! A Raspberry Ripple Butterfly from Papillion Potpourri graces the center square.  Of course, I just had to add pearls for its body.

• Bow down to the Bow! A Whisper White Organza bow gets a punch of color from a snippet of new In-Color Stitched Satin Ribbon!

I hope you will hop along to see what the other members of the team created.  At the end of the challenge, one lucky participant will be receiving all of our cards as a little “thank you” for playing with us!  

Don’t you just love the new Argyle folder?  I debated on whether to use the Fancy Fan folder, but I thought the argyle one looked really cute with the butterfly! What do you think?  Won’t you let me know in today’s comment?  Your comments are important to me and I do read each and every one of them.  I know I have been remiss in responding back and thanking you for the wonderful comments you have been leaving.  But we can blame that on…you guessed it…Lexi Lou!  

Lexi is exhausted after stealing the dish towel.

As always, if you ever have any questions about the cards that I create or the techniques I use, I am only an email away! Until next time…

(Click Here to see the remaining retired stamps which I have for sale. )

Stamp Set:  Papillion Potpourri ();  Ink:  Raspberry Ripple (126859); Card Stock:  Raspberry Ripple (126842), Whisper White (100730);  Tools:  Big Shot (113439), Argyle Textured Impressions Embossing Folder (127750), 1-1/4″ Square Punch (119865), 1-3/8″ Square Punch (119877); Glitz and Glam:  Vintage Faceted Buttons (127555), Large Pearl Basic Jewels (125577), Whisper White Organza Ribbon (114319), Raspberry Ripple Satin Stitched Ribbon (126845)

 

A wise woman once told me to start every post with a picture. Since I don’t have any pictures of my stamp sets, you will have to settle for one of Lexi Lou.  It is time for me to downsize by selling my retired stamps.  So here we go!

• Sets will be described as “new” or “used”.  Used stamps may having stained blocks.   I will try to describe each set as accurately as possible.
• Sets will be sold on a first come, first served basis.
• If you are interested in a set, please email me at kimschach@msn.com.  Include your zip code so I can calculate your shipping charge.  No phone calls please.
• I will ship the cheapest way possible.  This may be Flat Rate in some instances.
• Payment can be made by PayPal or by personal check.  Please do not make a payment until I send you a confirming email.
• US addresses only.
• This list will be updated daily.  Once a set is sold, it will be removed from the list.
  

Ribbon of Hope   Wood, like new $2

Falling Leaves  Well used  $5
Valentine Love Clear, used $5


Bear Hugs   Wood, new  $5
For All You Do  Wood, used but like new  $10 
Sinceres Salutations (French version), like new  $8
Good Grids  Wood, new  $3
Pretty Patterns  Wood, new $5
Outlined Occasions  Clear, new $5

Until next time…