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Freshly Made Sketches #558

Freshly Made Sketches #558 published on 4 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #558

This is post one of two today. Later today, I have a fun collaboration with Michelle Lupton. But first, Freshly Made Sketches! Our sketch designer this week is our amazing Jacquie who has given us a trio of fun for the week.

When I saw the sketch, I thought about tags and I knew just the ones. The Tag Builder dies and coordinating Tag, You’re It Holidays set (Honey Bee Stamps) were just what I needed! I leaned on some of last year’s patterned paper (it is on sale now at Honey Bee) and let the dies do most of the work. I thought this pink paper was a modern choice and I love it with the kraft tags.

I used a sentiment from the stamp set and opted for a black base/white embossing look. The twine is from my stash and the sequins are from an old Honey Bee Stamps pack called Ballet Slippers.

Thanks for stopping in today. I hope you like this card and will come over to join us this week! Make sure you come back by later to see my second post of the day.

Freshly Made Sketches #557

Freshly Made Sketches #557 published on 5 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #557

My leaves are starting to change and I’m all in on fall. Went to the apple orchard on Monday, made apple butter yesterday…I love fall in Virginia! Pretty much no matter what the sketch was this week, I was planning on using leaves and the sketch from our fabulous Judy Rozema is perfect!!!

The Lovely Layers: Fall Foliage dies from Honey Bee Stamps are simple glorious for perfect (and easy) leaf creating. I cut them out from Hammermill white paper and then blended on Distress Ink with my Bitty Blending Brushes. I love these little brushes for controlling where the color goes. I pulled a couple of leaves from my yard as color muses, as you can see. I added a few paint splatters to mimic the spots on my leaves.

I chose a sentiment from the new On The Line Fall Florals stamp set (Honey Bee Stamps) and I love how close the coordinating die cuts it. The background paper is from the Grain and Grunge Paper Pack and the gems are from the coordinating gem pack.

I hope you will come over to Freshly Made Sketches to check the gorgeous work from the team and play along. Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have a beautiful day!

Freshly Made Sketches #556

Freshly Made Sketches #556 published on 7 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #556

A little late to post today…sorry about that! Our sketch designer this week is the amazing Amy O’Neill and she designed a fun one. I combined some old and new products to create a sweet little baby card for a dear niece who just had a little girl

I don’t know what it was about this card but getting a good photo of it was just impossible. And believe me, I took a lot of them. Maybe something about the pale colors and the metallics. In any case, I used a sweet little onesie die from Newton’s Nook Designs with gold foiling for a modern look. I brushed on some Tattered Rose Distress Ink for a pale peachy pink and then added a heart from another NND set inked with Bundled Sage. So soft and pretty. I pulled out a little gold clothespin from my stash and added a little twine bow.

I added some gold foiling using Glimmer Matte Gold Foil and the Spellbinders Splatter Sentiments die. I love the texture this adds! The sentiments is from an old favorite, Everyday Sentiments, by SugarPea Designs which was heat embossed.

I hope you will come join us this week at Freshly Made Sketches! We love all the inspiration you give and it is always a joy to see how you used our sketches. Hope you have a great rest of your week!

Freshly Made Sketches #555

Freshly Made Sketches #555 published on 6 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #555

A sweet new sketch from our queen of flowers and fussy cutting, Narelle! (and you need to see her card for today!) I immediately thought fall when I saw the sketch and knew just what to pull out.

I knew this Patchwork Pumpkin stamp and die set from Honey Bee Stamps would be super fun. I inked up a panel with orange and pink Distress Inks and then stamped and cut the pumpkin. Pink you say?? Yes! Because it is a running joke with my sister and I. My mom made a super fun wall hanging quilt with pink pumpkins that I LOVE! And my sister rebels against the color choice. So there is a good chance this card will go to her…because, sisters!

That gorgeous textured background?? I’d love to take credit but it is from the Spooktacular Paper Pack from Honey Bee Stamps. The whole pack is awesome!

I hope to see you this week at Freshly Made Sketches. Thanks so much for stopping in today. See you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #554

Freshly Made Sketches #554 published on 5 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #554

Our sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week is from our wonderful Karren Johnson. It is a classic look with lots of variation potential. I needed to re-stock on some cards for my college kid so that was my direction.

I just love the Caffeinated series from The Rabbit Hole Designs and this cat is just perfect for my son. I chose some school colors and new paper from Honey Bee Stamps to match.

I used Copic Markers to color with the cat colored with Warm Grays (W0, W2, W3, W5), his robe with Greens (G21, G24, YG67, G28) and Blue trim (B32, B37, B39).

I hope you’ll come over and join us this week! Thanks so much for stopping in today!

Freshly Made Sketches #553

Freshly Made Sketches #553 published on 7 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #553

A new week and a fun sketch for Freshly Made Sketches. The ever so amazing Cécile is our sketch designer this week and, as always, she has one that is simply delightful.

The biggest problem I had this week was with decision making. So…I didn’t make them. Instead I created both versions. The two images are from the fun stamp set called Hold My Flowers by The Rabbit Hole Designs. I loved the idea of using a more fall palette for coloring them. Pretty much stuck to the same colors for both. I could not decide whether to add white gel pen accents so I did on one and not the other. What do you think? Yes/no. I think I like it but I don’t do it much. Maybe I should more??

I thought they would be pretty against a gingham background so I chose two colors that I liked for it (both from Honey Bee Stamps). And then the sentiments are both from the Riding By… Stamp Set by Honey Bee Stamps. Again, black with white embossing or white with black?? One of each! I added some embellishments to match. The purple pearls are from a little gift pack that came in my order from The Rabbit Hole Designs and I made sure to use my Cottontail Embossing Tool from them for perfectly clean embossing. All the products are below.

I love the products over at The Rabbit Hole Designs and the team there is really, really nice. Make sure to go check them out! The FMS team did its usual amazing job with the sketch so go see all the inspiration there. Thanks so much for stopping in today. I hope you have a good day! See you soon.

Twenty-one years

Twenty-one years published on 6 Comments on Twenty-one years

“The tragedy, however, uncovered the remarkable truth that heroes live among us. 

Heroes like our fallen pilots, fellow crew members, and passengers who fought back when faced with an unthinkable reality. Heroes like the first responders who selflessly risked their lives running into burning buildings to evacuate thousands and the scores of rescuers who combed through the aftermath to pull victims from the rubble.” Michael J. Hamilton, ALPA UALMEC Chairman

Over the years, I have written about my thoughts on 9/11. I’m not sure I have much left that is meaningful but it is important that I always take time to acknowledge the loss and change that came because of that day. I spent time over the last few days working on this as I pondered and remembered.

I watercolored this beautiful image from Honey Bee Stamps. Starting with embossing in silver with a focus on blue as a nod to my airline. A bit loose and dreamy in the coloring. Kind of fuzzy like the day becomes as the years go by. But yet, when I see a “September sky” it always takes me back to the details.

I chose the sentiment purposefully as a reminder that none of us stand alone. We are better together and we cannot ever heal without the aid of all our brothers and sisters. I wish for us all a world where we continue to look for the good, give each other grace and reach out to lift each other up.

In memory of:

United 93:  Jason Dahl, LeRoy Homer Jr., Lorraine Bay, Sandra Bradshaw, Wanda Green, CeeCee Lyles, Deborah Welsh

United 175:  Victor Saracini, Michael Horrocks, Robert Fangman, Amy Jarret, Amy King, Kathryn Laborie, Alfred Marchand, Michael Tarrou, Alicia Titus, Marianne McFarlane, Jesus Sanchez

American 11:  John Ogonowski, Thomas McGuinness, Barbara Arestegui, Jeffrey Collman, Sara Low, Karen Martin, Kathleen Nicosia, Betty Ong, Jean D. Roger, Dianne Snyder, Madeline Sweeney

American 77:  Charles Burlingame III, David Charlebois, Michele Heidenberger, Jennifer Lewis, Kenneth Lewis, Renee May

 

Freshly Made Sketches #552

Freshly Made Sketches #552 published on 7 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #552

September!! So happy it is here! Still flying a lot but maybe I’ll get a few more moments to breathe. Thrilled for this sketch by my hiking goddess friend Jennifer Brum. If you don’t follow her ‘on the trail’ adventures, you should. I live vicariously through her! She gave us a wonderful sketch for Freshly Made Sketches this week…which I promptly got reversed on the panels. Ah well.

I was inspired to go for a little Christmas this week but in a non-traditional color way. I think this might be a palette I lean on this year. I blended Salvaged Patina and Kitsch Flamingo onto white card stock (the purple is just where they blend!). I actually blended it onto an A2 sized panel with the intention of doing something else but then the plan took a turn. I used the Cottontail Powder Tool on the whole panel (this tool is fabulous!) and then stamped the Falling Snow background stamp in Versamark ink and heat embossed with white powder.

I cut down the panel to create the back layer and a layer to peek through on the top. Using the Pine Trees Honey Cuts, I cut out the biggest tree from a white panel and to layer over one of the inked panels with foam tape. As my plan came together, I inked up a small scrap of white to match the background and added a sentiment from Inside: Holiday Sentiments (all the stamps and dies are from Honey Bee Stamps). Before putting it all together, I splattered the inked panels with some Hero Arts Iridescent Shimmer Spray. I added a few pink gems to finish it off.

You can see how I twisted the panels the wrong way but I think the sketch lends itself to so many options. The team made some awesome projects of course! I hope you will be inspired and come over to join us. Thanks for stopping in today. See you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #551

Freshly Made Sketches #551 published on 11 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #551

Another fabulous sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week. This week’s designer is Kim Singdahlsen and she gave us one with elements of flair but wide open space for design (and her card is amazing, as always!). I opted to re-visit a technique recently shown by the talented Dawn Woleslagle (WPlus9) that uses silhouette stamps inked and then spritzed. Super fun!

I used all Honey Bee Stamps products for this card but was able to capture the same style as Dawn. The Bold Botanicals Stamp set was great for this. I inked in Distress Oxide (and some Distress Ink) and then sprayed the stamp with a sprayer. I just used a clear block since imperfect is the look for this. A little bit of random layering and I just kept adding until it seemed done.

It needed a little something else so I added some splatters and Warm Pearls. A dark brown card stock layer and a sentiment from Inside: Thankful Sentiments was all that was needed to finish the sketch.

I hope you like this and that you’ll come over to join us. Make sure to check out Dawn’s cards too. She is such an inspiration! Thanks for stopping in. See you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #550

Freshly Made Sketches #550 published on 4 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #550

This sketch marks another year of Freshly Made Sketches and the inspiration for so many thousands of cards. What a remarkable thing! Only fitting that our sketch designer is one of the original team members, the one and only Jen Mitchell! Truly she is a queen of clean perfection and a simply amazing person too! Of course she has a great sketch for us.

I love the many variations possible on this sketch (and the team has shown a few, of course). I thought it would be fun to create a split panel card with one big image. I am thrilled with the result. I pulled out a favorite holiday set, Mondo Holly by Ellen Hutson. I love coloring it every time! I used Daniel Smith watercolors on the stamped and clear embossed image.

The variation in the watercolors (just some greens and a bit of blue for the leaves and some red, pink and burgundy for the berries) makes it fun to just play. I’m no professional at watercoloring but just putting in color and letting it move around brings me joy. AND…the first Christmas card of the season. Last week, fall and this week, Christmas. I guess I’m on to fall crafting for sure!

And with that, things have remained pretty busy around here. I just finished a check ride for United (once every 9 months) and this was a big one (every other one has a bit more consequence). What a relief to have it done! Also, my oldest leaves this weekend to go back to college for his second year. It has been so nice having him home (and one of the reasons I’m not crafting much…soaking in as much time as I can). I’ll be a mess again next week and also the proudest mom of all that his future holds! I hope that I’ll be back to crafting a bit more over the upcoming weeks. Thanks for allowing me to be a part of your day. See you soon!

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