Good morning! Welcome to Sketch Saturday #765. For today’s challenge, we were to pick from the Archive & the twist was to pick from 2014.

I looked through that year & decided on Sketch #336. I knew I wanted to make a baby card & thought the rounded edges would go with that theme well.

Since I already had a baby card in mind, I then decided to go with a girl design.

I first picked out the patterned paper with the flowers and circles. Then I found the background paper and additional paper strip in coordinating colors.

I found a baby stroller cut file from the Cricut library and added the brown wheels and handle.

I finished it off with the It’s a Girl pre-printed sentiment.

So there you have my take on this week’s challenge. You can check out the other Design Team member’s ideas on the Sketch Saturday #765 post.

If you play along, be sure to link your card on the blog at the bottom of their post.

As always, if you have any questions, suggestions or comments feel free to leave them here or on the Contact page. I would love to hear from you.

I am thankful for all of you & I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Talk to you soon,

Machelle

Uncategorized Card Making

Cards papercrafting

November 16, 2024

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Sketch Saturday #764

by Machelle Willing

Hello friends! Today I have Sketch Saturday #764. Wait – what? What about Sketch #763?

Well, it seems that I missed the last sketch. I do want to apologize for that. Life has been busy around here & I just ran out of time.

Side note: My grandmother used to tell me time goes faster the older you get. As always, she was right.

Now, how about we get back on track with Sketch Saturday #764?

This sketch shows a landscape orientation with a couple of layers, circle embellishments & a banner. The twist for this week was to distress something on the card.

I made a birthday card and used the colors in the pre-printed sentiment as the basis for the circles and background.

I stayed mostly true to the sketch with the exception of adding the birthday cake image on top of the circles.

I distressed the edges of the layered red piece with a file.

So there you are; a bright happy card with a touch of rough around the edges.

I hope you head over the Sketch Saturday blog to play along with this week’s sketch. Check out the other design team’s cards and upload yours in the link at the bottom of the page.

Please be sure to leave any comments on this post & if you have any other questions or suggestions, please send me a message on my Contact page.

You can also follow my social media channels or join my VIP FB group. I would love to hear from you & don’t forget to check back soon for more crafty inspiration.

Machelle

Uncategorized

January 20, 2024

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2024 Word of the Year – Progress

by Machelle Willing

Hello my friends! I am back with my 2024 Word of the Year – Progress. First, let’s start with the definition: forward movement, gradual betterment, to develop to a more advanced stage.

There are so many quotes about progress, too. I will try to share those monthly on my social media pages, but the one I chose as my main focus is:

I know, for me, sometimes just getting started is the hardest part. Once I start a project, even if something goes wrong I can figure out a way to fix it or get back on track but the actual “get moving” part is just SO hard. Do you find that to be true for you as well?

This is the forward movement part. JUST START and then gradual betterment will automatically follow.

Maybe you start a small project that can be finished in one sitting. Those are always the best because you get immediate satisfaction. But even if you start something you think should be quick & it ends up taking longer (sometimes much longer) than you expect you are moving forward and days, weeks or even months later you can look back and see the gradual betterment.

No matter how small the steps, you can always look back and see the improvement. I also love the quote: “Progress, not Perfection.” Believe me, I have to tell myself this one a lot.

Here is my Vision Board for my 2024 Word of the Year that is in my planner:

As you can see, it’s not perfect, but it is there as a reminder to just keep moving forward. I also added some synonyms; Advance, Evolve & Improve.

I will add more quotes and decorations as the year progresses.

Some areas I want to progress in are:

Time Management – this one seems like it is very hard for me. I have too many ideas and responsibilities and do not do a good job of prioritizing.

Learning Procreate – this is an App I downloaded for my I-Pad but have not taken the time to really learn. Of course, it will do much more than what I need, but I need to start with the basics.

Consistency – I need to be more consistent with this website, my social media accounts and my handmade card business. This goes hand in hand with Time Management. I need to learn to put it on the calendar like any other appointment. Non-negotiable.

I have quite a list of specific projects I want to make progress on, but we’ll start with the general ideas above and they will trickle down to the individual items, I’m sure.

If you have chosen a 2024 Word of the Year or participate in Ali Edward’s One Little Word Project, please leave a comment and let me know what your word is & why you chose it.

Please be sure to leave me a message if you have any questions or suggestions. You can follow me on social media or subscribe to the blog through the links in the sidebar, too.

Ya’ll come back soon!

Machelle

Uncategorized

December 20, 2023

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2023 Word of the Year Review

by Machelle Willing

Wow! Hello friends! I can’t believe another year is almost gone and Christmas is less than a week away.

I thought I would take time to review my 2023 Word of the Year – Value. You can read why I chose that word in my January post.

Now I know that I only had a handful of #wordsonwednesday posts that were about my word and I didn’t do any updates here on the blog, BUT I think about my word often during the year.

This is the 10th year I have chosen a word & after a while it becomes second nature to think about your word throughout the year even if you are not actively involved in Ali Edward’s One Little Word project.

Several things come to mind when I think of what I value most:

Calm, peace & quiet – I need some quiet time by myself every day to let go of the stress of work & responsibilities.

Job values – I prefer to feel like I am helping people in some way, rather than just earning a paycheck.

A clean & uncluttered home – This has not been the year for this. We are currently remodeling our master bathroom and Clean & Uncluttered are not words I would use at the moment.

Time for fun – Because one of our dogs has a seizure disorder, he cannot be boarded or left at a doggie daycare type facility. This makes it difficult for my husband & I to just go out for the evening or take a weekend trip. We do have a person who stays with him here at the house sometimes, but we need to make it more of a priority.

Family – Unfortunately, our extended family does not get together as often as we should. I’m sure this is the same for many of you; everyone is busy and it takes a lot of planning to make this happen.

Most of these are what I wrote back in January but I added a couple of new ones, too.

When you choose a word (or sometimes it chooses you) and you think about it and live with it for a year, it helps to clarify what is important to you. Sometimes those are the same at the beginning and the end and sometimes they are very different. Or somewhere in between.

Here are some of the quotes I posted to Instagram & Facebook about my 2023 Word of the Year.

My favorite is that Values give us direction, meaning and purpose. I think I have learned a few things about myself this year with Value being my 2023 Word of the Year and I hope it continues to give me direction going forward.

Do you choose a Word of the Year? If so, please share in the comments how you think about your word and if it helps guide you to be more mindful of your every day.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! I will be back in a couple of weeks with my new Word of the Year for 2024 and updates on what has been keeping me so busy.

Talk to you soon,

Machelle

Uncategorized

Sketch Saturday #765

Sketch Saturday #764

2024 Word of the Year – Progress

2023 Word of the Year Review

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