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Freshly Made Sketches #627

Freshly Made Sketches #627 published on 2 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #627

Happy Wednesday, everyone! A lovely new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches by our wonderful Karren Johnson. It can be a mini-slimline or not…whatever works for you! I hadn’t made one in a while so I thought it would be a fun style to make.

When I saw the sketch, I went with my gut and pulled out the new to me set from Colorado Stamp Company called Flower Pot. It has a perfect spring feel and I thought the little bouquet of flowers looked like the semi-circle from the sketch. Or close enough. I spent a little time (much needed) doing some Copic coloring. It was fun playing around with the pot to get a terra cotta look.

For the flowers, I kept the coloring pretty simple, although it did take a craft table full of markers to do it. The real challenge was leaving a white flower in the middle and I added a little bit of shading with my Warm Grays to, hopefully, keep it from looking too flat. I pulled a sentiment from another CCC set called Smell the Roses. Such a pretty font!

I think there is a taste of spring on the agenda all week here in Virginia so I may clear out a few beds to start getting ready for planting. I hope you have a lovely day!

Freshly Made Sketches #626

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We have another fun sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches and our designer, the lovely Cécile Ribon, gave us a great one. The half circle elements are particularly fun!

This card is directly inspired by the amazing Dawn Woleslagle. She did a live one night just playing with Distress Oxide ins and this background stamp from Honey Bee Stamps called Vintage Flora. She used exactly these colors! Her reminder was that when you are feeling a little flat on creativity, just pull out the inks and play. So I did just that! This background is the result and it is super cool.

This bluebird had been sitting on my desk for a few weeks waiting for plan and the background gave me just that! I added a bit of splattering and inking on the edges to match the style and knew it was going to work. With the extra ink after stamping the background, I had stamped again a few times. I used one of those and cut out the flowers, then added just a little more ink. I thought vellum would be perfect for the split semicircles and I love the texture it adds without covering anything up. Finally a little sentiment from the Mini Messages Set.

I hope this will inspire you to get out some inks and just play around! It is good for the soul! Thanks for stopping in today. See you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #625

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As I was coming over to write this post, I realized I never posted last week’s FMS card here. I did over at Instagram so a good time to remind you that I’m there as well: jentimko on Instagram. With that, we have a new sketch from Jen Brum for this week at Freshly Made Sketches and it is super fun. I took a little twist on the circle with a partial die cut edge to line it up with a die cut image.

I just got this sweet image from Colorado Craft Company called Finally Spring and thought it would be fun to use for the sketch. I love that the coloring only takes a few minutes since the images are so small. I used my Copics to create what I saw as cherry blossoms. Once that was completed I pondered how to make this work best.

I brushed on some Distress Oxides in Tumbled Glass and Broken China to “split” the panel. Then I added some Saltwater Taffy to an additional panel. Using the die for the image I did a partial die cut edge so that the image could nestle up in the cutouts. I make the image stand up a bit more, I cut two extra backing pieces to stack behind the image. Finally a sweet sentiment from the set.

I hope you like my interpretation of the sketch and will come over to join us. Thanks so much for stopping in today. See you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #623

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Hi everyone! I have a fun card for you this week courtesy of the latest Freshly Made Sketches challenge. Our always awesome Linda Callahan is our sketch designer this week and the gave us a fun slant on her sketch this week.

When I first say the release with these element stamps from The Rabbit Hole Designs, I knew I had to have them! My BioChem kid needs cards, after all! The Fall Foxes set is also so cute and I loved this little napping fellow for the sentiment. Seemed perfect for the sketch too. I did a bit of Copic coloring on the fox blending some of my browns and reds to get “fox color”. It was fun just to play with it and I wasn’t sure it would even work but I like how it turned out. And I decided to make him a spring fox!

I stamped on the sentiment (there are coordinating dies for the elements if needed) and kept the rest clean. A strip of black card stock and some twine with copper threading which I thought was fun with the fox. All ready to head out to the lad!

Hope you are having a great week. Just got back from a real live flying trip and it was nice to get out in the system for a few days. Reminded me of how much I love getting people where they need to go. Hope your week goes well. See you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #622

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As promised, back with a card for the latest challenge from Freshly Made Sketches. This week our sketch designer is the always awesome Jen Mitchell and she has a clean classic for us.

I pulled out an older set from Honey Bee Stamps called Seeds of Kindness. It is designed to go with the Seed Packet die and I thought it might be a good way to use the sketch. I stamped with Versafine Clair ink then pulled out my watercolor paints. I didn’t do a ton of shading since the flower are so small but nice to do a little bit of watercoloring again.

I cut out the image using the die and created this little seed pack. Tied on some linen thread and added a bit of lace to the bottom in a nod to the scalloped detail in the sketch. Hard to tell in the photo but the banner is stamped, cut and popped up on the birthday sentiment part. The background is from a paper pack so while it looks hard, it could not have been easier to use.

I think this one will be super popular this week and I hope you’ll come over and join us. Thanks for stopping in and I’ll see you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #621

Freshly Made Sketches #621 published on 3 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #621

Hello, my friends! Long time since I have posted! I’m pretty sure I told you all that I would be doing some non-flying work for United and that is exactly what I have been off doing. I’m learning to teach a 4 day course on Leadership for new Captains and it is taking most of my bandwidth to work on (along with my required flying, of course). And then, I took advantage of a week off to jet away with my oldest – just the two of us – to Paris for a 4 day vacation. His time off has not aligned with the rest of the family since he went to college and he was in much need of a vacation. So I took advantage of my travel “privileges” (which mostly only work in off season travel) and off we went. He had a passport from right before Covid started and he had never used it. We fixed that! I have some photos at the bottom of the post if you are interested.

With that, I’m the sketch designer this week and in true form, did not even follow my own idea. In fairness, I created the sketch a while ago and well, all of the above things. I hope you will enjoy playing along with us at Freshly Made Sketches on this one.

I thought I’d better get back into crafting with something fairly simple so I opted to color just one of the flowers and pop it up. I went with older sets and things I just love to keep it easy. The flowers/leaves are from Friendship Blooms by SugarPea Designs and I did some Copic Coloring on that. The sentiment is from an Ellen Hutson stamp set.

Most of the work is done by my Misti. I stamped and colored first, attached the leaves to the flower and then just looked at the spacing for stamping. I cut the stamped flower part with a rectangle die so I could cut off a bit of the edge. I popped the image layer up and added a few pearls. Clean, simple and just what I needed to clear my head a bit from all the chaos.

For our trip to Paris, we hit the ground running and saw Ste. Chapelle and the Musée D’Orsay on the first day. We did a food tour in Montmartre (highly recommend) and visited Sacre Coeur while in that area. Of course the Eiffel Tower plus the Musée de l’Armée (a fabulous military museum) and most of a day at the Louvre. Whew….that was a lot in a short time! It had been a long time since I had been there so it was nice to return! A few photos of our adventure.

Thanks for staying to visit a bit. I hope your week is great! I’ll be back soon (really…I actually have another card ready).

Freshly Made Sketches #617

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Happy New Year! I hope that you had a wonderful and safe holiday season. As we all get back to work and school, our team at Freshly Made Sketches has some fun to share too! Our amazing Stampin’ Up Artisan DT 2024 Member Narelle Farrugia is our sketch hostess and she has a clean and classic sketch to get us back to creating.

I thought I’d get back to it with a clean and simple little card with some easy coloring and happy colors. The Little Birdies set from Honey Bee Stamps seemed just right for the job. I stamped some of the images and colored them with my Copics. I love this little bird!

For the squared I used the inserts from the Lovely Layers: Seasonal Frame. These deckled edges give a bit of detail and make alignment less fussy. Great for a quick card! I brushed on some Distress Oxide Ink in Salty Ocean with a little bit of fade on the bottom. The sentiment is from the Mini Messages Stamp set (and there are MANY mini messages on this one!) and used the coordinating Mini Messages Banners Dies to cut it out.

I hope you will come over and join us this week. Make sure to stop by and say hi to the team (and especially tell Narelle a big congrats on being chosen for the ADT this year). Wishing you another year of happy crafting and I hope that 2024 brings you and your families much joy!

Joy to the World

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Wishing you and your family a very merry Christmas and a happy holiday season. My last card of the season and one of my new favorite images. Clean, simple, and the heart of our celebration.

This stamp is called the Joy of Jesus by Unity Stamps. I colored in Copics and watercolor and love both results. Same layout, just some sewing and distressing on the watercolor card.

Thank you for another year of kind words and support for my crafty adventures. I’ll be back in the new year and look forward to what 2024 brings. Wishing you peace and joy!

Good Tidings

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As this holiday season is in full swing, I wanted to share a series of cards I made with the Good Tidings line by Honey Bee Stamps. I started this as a test of stenciling on images. I see lots of people who create beautiful cards with stenciling as their method of coloring. But personally, I have not had a ton of success with it. Still, when I saw the Good Tidings suite, I thought yeah…just get the stencils too. I was already getting the stamps and dies and, knowing the quality of Honey Bee, the stencils were a worthwhile add-on.

First up, I went to my tried and true. Copic coloring! I loved coloring this image! I find it such a brain break and I get lost in the shading and details. But, when it comes to holiday cards, not the most efficient. This one took me about 2 hours to color. So next, I pulled out the stencils. To be honest, my first attempt was not good. I stenciled first and then over-stamped with the image. That did not work for me. So I tried again except that I stamped the image and then used the stencils for shading. Since I already had the Copic image, I looked to mimic those colors and shading with my Distress Inks. Here they are side by side:

I did not use the one stencil that has “highlights” for the leaves but otherwise just worked through the stack. Other than the shading on the pinecones, I was able to approximate the darks and lights using my Bitty Blender Brushes to help get more color in the nooks and crannies. And this one took me…..10 minutes. Yes, TEN. So in mass production, this is manageable and still feels hand colored and special. I’m a convert to the stencils! Obviously, the Copic markers allow for more depth but the stencils give such flexibility on time.

I finished these out in a way to match. On the Copic version, I used the Burlap 3D Embossing folder on the panel behind the image and matted it with Gold Cardstock from Erin Lee Creative. Both images with cut out with the coordinating die and I chose a sentiment from the stamp set for heat embossing (also with a coordinating die). Pearls to match but the layout is exactly the same.

I created one more for those who might not have the stencil but still want a card that is easy to make in multiples. This time, the power of gold! I got rid of the extra layer and just stamped, embossed and cut out the image. Same sentiment and some pretty gold pearls.

I love the versatility of this suite and am so glad I took the chance on the stencils. The beauty of this image is what captured me and I will be using this for years to come.

I’m on call today and hoping the system stays quiet for a couple more days. Cookies to back and a few last presents to wrap. Wishing you a bit of calm in your hustle and bustle!

Freshly Made Sketches #616

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Well, I never did get back to you last week. Sigh. Once I’m in the training center, all of my brain cells are apparently occupied and I totally forgot. So I guess that means I have some cards to share over the next couple of weeks. For today, I have the latest from Freshly Made Sketches and our last sketch of the year. The team will take a couple of weeks off and be back in the new year. We close out with this awesome sketch by the lovely Amy O’Neill. It is great for your last Christmas cards (that’s me!) or for moving into the new year with fresh stamps.

If you haven’t already heard, the wonderful Dawn Woleslagle is closing her shop, WPlus9. She isn’t leaving the industry, just moving more into designing. We are all winners for that. It looks to me like this set, Joyful Poinsettias, is already sold out but there are some other pretty things left at a huge discount. I have loved coloring this set but I needed fast for today. Heat embossing to the rescue! I set up the flowers and the sentiment, stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with silver. So fast, so elegant!

I used some glitter paper from Simon Says Stamp to complete the sketch and this card was done! Looks fancy, totally easy. Not going to lie, the hardest part of the process was getting photos. Still not great pictures but the silver was giving my camera all kinds of issues. It is so pretty in person so I hope you get the feel of it.

With the challenge open so long, you are welcome to join in at anytime and you can even add multiple cards. Hoping this sketch will be fun for you to use if you have some time off for crafting. Thanks for stopping in today. Really, really, I will have another card up soon. Until then, have a great week!

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