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Freshly Made Sketches #625

Freshly Made Sketches #625 published on 3 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #625

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!

CASE Me A Christmas Card – Surprise Edition

CASE Me A Christmas Card – Surprise Edition published on 1 Comment on CASE Me A Christmas Card – Surprise Edition

For those of you who know Michelle Lupton, you know that she is both super talented and one of the nicest people! Over the last years, she has done a series of CASE Me A Christmas Cards where she will CASE (Copy and Share Everything) one of her guests cards and vice versa. You take a non-holiday card and turn it into a holiday card using the inspiration of each other’s work. It is always such fun. This year, Michelle has had some things happen where she was just unable to commit to the project. Soooooo….a whole group of stampers committed to do it together in honor of her!!! This is primarily an Instagram event and all you have to do is go over to IG and search for the hashtag: #casemeachristmascard2023

The hardest part of doing this for me is narrowing down the choice of what to CASE. I generally use the rule of three on a CASE where I change 3 things while keeping some of the main elements of the original. In this case, I chose a floral card with partial die cutting. Her original is posted below. I used the Joyful Poinsettia set from WPlus9 (I know you are super shocked) and found the die for the set worked perfectly in the partial die cutting. I used my Copic Markers to color the image with traditional colors.

I chose Artichoke Card Stock from Concord and 9th as my base once I had finished my coloring. Then I created a mini slimline card using the Sweet Stacks: Mini Slimline Dies. I heat embossed my sentiment in Gilded Embossing Powder on Black Card Stock by Concord and 9th. Oh, and if you have ever had trouble with heat embossing on black (I did and thought it was my powders…and I tried a lot of powders), this card stock changed the game. It is smoother and somehow the heat embossing stays crisper. YAY! I added some splatters with Gold and Irisdescent White and then some red pearls.

So here is Michelle’s gorgeous card. Things I kept: Partial Die Cut, Sentiment Placement, Florals and Gems. Things I changed: Slimline layout, Copic coloring, Raised sentiment, Image panel to edge.

I hope you like my version of her card. Please come over and celebrate with us all. Michelle is just beloved and I’m thrilled to be a part of this ode to her talent.

Freshly Made Sketches #601

Freshly Made Sketches #601 published on 6 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #601

We had such fun with our sketch #600 celebration last week and now, onward! This week’s Freshly Made Sketches challenge designer is the one-of-a-kind Linda Callahan. She is the BEST!

I felt this one was perfect for a little scene and what better than Christmas mice from Merry Little Mice? I went with some non-traditional colors and had such fun coloring these elements.

I think I stuck close enough to the sketch on the background. I played around with adding an additional pattern under the teal but it just didn’t work for me. I love the stars on this pattern from the Make It Merry Paper Pad and found the crossing teal patten in an older, retired pad. The sentiment is from one of my workhorse sets called Inside: Holiday Sentiments. If you don’t have a set like this one, go grab it!

Thanks so much for stopping in today. I hope you have some crafting time this week and will join us. I have to say that I had a pretty challenging week last week at the day job and I’m so thankful for my coloring and creating time to bring balance to the stress. I hope you have a wonderful week!

Freshly Made Sketches #598

Freshly Made Sketches #598 published on 7 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #598

Hi everyone! Happy August to you! I am this week’s sketch designer at Freshly Made Sketches and I hope you will like this one. When I designed it, I had a floral in mind for the corner. I had this gorgeous poinsettia on my table from my last card so I opted to color the single image and go with Copics this time.

I stamped the image from Joyful Poinsettias twice and then colored. Dawn’s images have shading built into the design so I just followed her lead. I enjoyed spending a little time with my Copics! For the base I started with a light blue card stock and added Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire Distress Oxide Inks.

I decided to add some splatters with white gouache and some red pearls. The sentiment comes from the same set. I love all the options this set gives and I suspect you will see it in heavy rotation for this holiday season.

I hope you are having a wonderful start to your August. Thanks so much for stopping in today. I’ll see soon!

Honey Bee Stamps Vintage Holiday Release – Sneak Peek Day 4

Honey Bee Stamps Vintage Holiday Release – Sneak Peek Day 4 published on 1 Comment on Honey Bee Stamps Vintage Holiday Release – Sneak Peek Day 4

Welcome to the Honey Bee Stamps Vintage Holiday Release Sneak Peeks! Today is the last day of our peeks at the new release and, as usual, you will be totally wow’d by all the amazing sets.

Today I am introducing new Falling Snow Background Stamp and the Riding By…Holiday Style Stamp Set and coordinating Honey Cut Dies. (These affiliate links will not be live until the release opens for sale TONIGHT, October 14th after the Release Party on IG and FB at 8p CT.)

The Riding By…Holiday Style is an add-on set to the Riding By Set and Bicycle Builder Honey Cut Dies. I love all the options! AND, these images could be used just for tags or without the bike too. Love that. But I used it in the intended way. I stamped a bunch of the images in Momento Tuxedo Black Ink and colored in non-traditional colors of pink, teal and lime green. After cutting them out with the coordinating dies, I started playing with how I’d build my bike. I left the frame white and colored the tire in pale gray. I added a few pink accents too. I did cut two more of the “tire” die (not the spokes part) and the bike frame to give a bit more depth.

I used the Honey Bee Stamps Precision Glue to attach all the parts together. Then, I decided I needed a bit of pop from the background. I stamped the new Falling Snow Background Stamp in Versamark Ink and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I brushed on a bright pink ink and the emboss resist worked perfectly. I pulled some of the Bubblegum Confetti Mix out as the final accents.

So glad you stopped in today. Remember the release goes live tonight! I hope you will consider shopping with me via the affiliate links highlighted at the top of the post. Have a wonderful day!

World Card Making Day with Ellen Hutson

World Card Making Day with Ellen Hutson published on No Comments on World Card Making Day with Ellen Hutson

Happy World Card Making Day! Really. It is a thing. And it makes me super happy! I was lucky enough to be invited to help share some of the new Essentials by Ellen product line by Ellen Hutson and they are really fun. You’ll see that they were practically made for me!

As soon as I saw these products I knew exactly what card I was going to make. I wanted our little friend to be all ready to go on the adventures they have missed out on over the last year or two. Passport – check. Bag packed – check. Globe to spin for deciding – check. Ready to go! This adorable set is called the Bear Ware Grand Tour and comes with coordinating dies. I joined it with the new Planet Surface dies.

The bear is super cute, of course, but it is all the extra elements that really make the set. You can see the iconic buildings and there are fun details that go with each along with sentiments. I chose a few and used them like a banner.

Try not to fall over but I actually created a video to go with this card. I know, it is has been over a year since I made one. I thought it would be more fun to show you how I made this so hop over to check it out. I kept the video short and I’d love your feedback on it.

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/dAiZ5RrKr6s

I hope you enjoy this release and have some time to craft today. Below I have listed links to the new release (the first one should take you to the shopping page). These are affiliate links which help me but have no additional cost to you. Have a great weekend!

Wheatfield Dreams with Taylored Expressions

Wheatfield Dreams with Taylored Expressions published on No Comments on Wheatfield Dreams with Taylored Expressions

I have a real treat for you today!! I was lucky enough to get to use the new Wheatfield Dreams Kit designed by the amazing Lori Craig for Taylored Expressions. And what a dream these products are!

I started by stamping the sunflower in Momento Tuxedo Black and then just got to enjoy coloring with my Copic Markers. In full disclosure, Lori was my first instructor on Copic so I REALLY wanted to live up to the beauty of her design. After I was done, the coordinating dies in the kit make short work of cutting the flower out.

I thought that kraft would be the perfect background for this flower and I love a tone on tone look. The Burlap Background stamp is also a part of the kit and it gives such amazing texture. I added the Frame in Frame 2 scalloped rectangle as a way to focus on the wonderful sentiment from the set and then added a few gold pearls to finish.

The Wheatfield Dreams kit includes the following:

  • Wheatfield Dreams Stamp Set + Coordinating Dies
  • Burlap Background
  • Foil It – Wheatfield (12 panels for heat foiling)
  • Mini Embossing Powder – Copper
  • As always, this kit will be packaged in a zippered pouch with an exclusive kit pouch sticker, envelopes, and envelope seals to match. 

If you love this as much as I do, I’d appreciate you shopping with me via my affiliate links (at no additional cost to you): Taylored Expressions Shopping

Thank you for stopping in today! See you tomorrow with the latest from Freshly Made Sketches.

Freshly Made Sketches #500 – A Decade of Sketch Inspiration

Freshly Made Sketches #500 – A Decade of Sketch Inspiration published on 25 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #500 – A Decade of Sketch Inspiration

Yes, you read that right. Freshly Made Sketches is celebrating 500 sketches. A decade ago, the amazing Lesley started this challenge during a time when “clean” stamping was not a dominant style. She put together an idea of clean, but not always simple, designs based on layouts. BRILLIANT! I played along as a player from the first challenge and soon joined the team. It has been my biggest consistent inspiration in my stamping and it has been a great joy to be on this team for so many years.

As you can imagine, 10 years of a challenge is really worth celebrating. We have sponsors and the winners will simply be randomly chosen from all the players this week. Additionally, I have a personal prize too! As a thank you for the support you have given me over these many years, I will choose a winner from all who comment on this post. See the end of the post for details.

I love that Linda chose 5 layers for the sketch as a nod to the 500 milestone. I wanted to explore a little more on some of the products from the Honey Bee Stamps release we just featured. The Garden Harvest Florals is such fun to color and I thought it would be perfect for this sketch. All of the elements were colored with Copic Markers. I chose a pretty gingham from the Summer Stems paper pack that had a bit of a late summer/early fall feel.

The sentiment is my favorite part of the card. It comes from the Bitty Buzzwords: Fall stamp and die set. Truly, this sums up how I feel about this team. Some have been together for the whole 10 years, some joined us more recently, but all are amazing. In every possible definition of the word, our happy little group is a team. And one that has given me immeasurable joy!

For my personal giveaway, I will send the above products to one lucky winner, randomly chosen from those who comment on this post. Giveaway is limited to those in the US only. It include: Distress Oxide Picked Raspberry Ink and products from Honey Bee Stamps: Team Tie Dye Paper Pack, Precision Tip Glue, Bee Young: Blooms Stamps and Dies. Winner will be contacted via information left when you comment.

Again, thank you for playing along, supporting our fun challenge and for always sharing your time and talents in our gallery. We are so grateful you have included us in your crafty adventures!

FMS498 and SPD Mix It Up #82

FMS498 and SPD Mix It Up #82 published on 8 Comments on FMS498 and SPD Mix It Up #82

Happy Wednesday! I am here today with a combo card that joins two of my challenges, Freshly Made Sketches and SugarPea Designs’ Mix It Up Challenge.

When I looked at the inspiration photo, I fell in love with the colors! And then I saw Jen Mitchell’s sketch and I knew just what to do. I pulled out the Meadow Motifs Stamp Set and chose two of the floral sprays. To match the sketch I put the smaller one in the bottom right corner on Desert Storm card stock. Then I pulled out some fall colored Copic Markers in yellows, oranges and browns.

I love how those colors change the entire feel of the images! And it made me so very happy. For a sentiment, I reached to the Floral Envie Stamp Set. This sentiment is really beautiful and I thought it provided just the right balance for the card. I hope you enjoy this combination and will come play along!

Last week I promised a sneak peek week from Honey Bee Stamps. Well, Covid strikes again and there was a delay in shipping the release to the company. In order to make sure customers were able to order, the peeks were delayed. But they are scheduled to start this Friday. I cannot wait to share! Until then, I hope you have some time to craft.

Beautiful Birds for Gina K Designs

Beautiful Birds for Gina K Designs published on 1 Comment on Beautiful Birds for Gina K Designs

I’m thrilled to be able to offer you inspiration for Gina K Designs new release! It goes live tonight (when this post goes up) so you can head right over to see all the amazing products.

For today, I’ll be showing you Beautiful Birds. And the title says it all. The images are incredible and were designed by Melanie Muenchinger.

I’m sure Melanie had a specific bird in mind when she drew this but I decided it was a bluebird. Because I love them. The image shading is great for showing where colors go and makes it fun to color. I thought my bluebird would be perfect on a cherry tree (I “might” be looking towards spring) so I colored the branch that way and added another branch and leaves from the set too.

After splattering the Kraft card stock with some distress ink, I cut a vellum circle as a layer for the bird. All of the sentiments in the set are beautiful but this one called out to me. And how pretty is the combination of script and print on the fonts?

I hope you enjoy this showcase of the Beautiful Birds set. Again, the shopping is live and I’d very much appreciate you shopping with me here: Shop at Gina K Designs

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