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Freshly Made Sketches #428

Freshly Made Sketches #428 published on 1 Comment on Freshly Made Sketches #428

I can’t imagine that any of you are feeling different than I am. Every day seems to show new obstacles. I am overwhelmed at times. Clearly working for an airline right now is challenging. But so is working pretty much anywhere. I have come to the conclusion that the only way to maintain my sanity is to try to share kindness. Like many crafters, I have an insanely large stack of cards. And now is the moment! Time to mail them. Medical personnel, first responders, other airline people, all of these people need encouragement. So that is my inspiration for today’s card. Our latest sketch for Freshly Made Sketches is designed by the lovely Amy O’Neill and I knew right what I wanted to use.

Mondo Hydrangea is a gorgeous set by Ellen Hutson. I love to watercolor it. And it jumped right out and I knew it would be perfect for the sketch. I stamped in VersaFine Ink and watercolored with Daniel Smith paints. The matching die was used to cut it out. I decided that the Nordic Frames layer would be a nice detail and I used it on Fog Gray card stock. Needless to say, I think this sentiment will be getting heavy rotation. It is from a new to me set called Everyday Sentiments from SugarPea Designs. It has awesome sentiments!! There is a coordinating die for it too (which I used).

If you are looking to mail some cards and don’t have any place to send them, message me and I’ll be happy to share the addresses. And speaking of grateful…I am incredibly grateful for all of you. These days are hard. Each of us has our own battle in this war against a wicked foe. We need to stay strong and we are stronger together! Make sure you go over to see my amazing teammates at FMS. They are some of the most remarkable people and I’m blessed to be a part of the team. Stay safe, stay home, let’s do this!

Erin Lee Creative March Release and GIVEAWAY

Erin Lee Creative March Release and GIVEAWAY published on 17 Comments on Erin Lee Creative March Release and GIVEAWAY

This is my second post for today. If you are here for Freshly Made Sketches, please scroll down.

I have wonderful news today! I have joined the Erin Lee Creative design team and I’m so thrilled. Erin is an amazing human and I had the joy of meeting her in person a month ago. And her new release is fabulous! She released it early (over the weekend) as additional incentive to stay home and craft! And today our team is holding a blog hop complete with a GIVEAWAY (details below).

One of the new sets is called Sweet Succulents and it is just that! Sweet! I took a few moments for watercoloring last week and I enjoyed playing with the greens and violets. I cut out the images using the coordinating dies. I then created a watercolor frame to highlight the violets but still needed a sentiment. The You Are Enough die is also part of the new release. I cut it out a few times and layered them to give the words a bit of dimension.

I hope you enjoy this card but now it is on to more inspiration! Here is a look at the whole team!

Hop details: 3 random winners who comment across all blogs will receive a $25 gift code to use in the ELC shop. Winners will be announced March 25. So be sure to comment!

One to the amazing Ceal who is sure to make you smile! Here is the whole hop if you get lost along the way.

Freshly Made Sketches #427

Freshly Made Sketches #427 published on 5 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #427

This is the first of two posts today for me. Our latest sketch for Freshly Made Sketches is designed by the lovely Narelle Farrugia. Another beauty for sure! First though, a brief update. Like everyone else worldwide, I’m finding my world turning upside down. A week ago I was on my way to Amsterdam when the first travel ban went into place. Since then, my airline has been trying to adjust and adapt. As pilots we are conflicted. We understand the need for social distancing but we also know there are circumstances that require people to fly. We love bringing people together safely. My airline is suffering (like so many businesses) and we have no idea what will come next. I’m trying to focus on one day at a time, as I’m sure you are too. So, with that, crafting! I’m thankful I have this hobby for respite.

I had trouble focusing even with such an inspiring sketch so I went to what makes me happy. I started with a stamp from a company I love (Gina K Designs) and colored it with my favorite Copic colors. After some debate, I just kept the rest of the card white. The pretty circle behind the butterfly is from Pinkfresh Studios and the sentiment is from Tonic Studios. All the links are below.

Our design team has created marvelous works of inspiration. How lucky I am to work with such an extraordinary group of people! My friends, as always I am thankful for you all. While we all have some turbulent days ahead, I have faith in the kindness of people. I have confidence that we can find our best selves. Please be safe, stay home and know that I hold you in my prayers.

Make sure you come back for my second post and a fun announcement too!

Freshly Made Sketches #426

Freshly Made Sketches #426 published on 4 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #426

I love our fun sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches, as always. Our dear Karren is the sketch designer and this is a classic you are sure enjoy using.

I took advantage of the circle to use a new to me stamp from Erin Lee Creative called Coffee Girl. Isn’t she sweet? I met Erin at Stamping Away and found her to be such a joy (and super funny!!). When you see her fun line of stamps you are sure to enjoy the humor. This image was fun for working on shading and hair. A work in progress but always fun to play!

After coloring her, I used a stitched circle die to match the sketch. Then I went searching through my stacks of patterned paper and found this old set from Stampin’ Up. Perfect colors too! I thought this sentiment from the stamp stamp set was perfect for the little hearts and it is fitting for this week of the time adjustment.

It seemed easier to just show you which markers I used on my coloring that to write them all out. The top picture contains the colors for her clothing and accessories. The bottom has her skin and hair (the top row is hair, the bottom is skin).

I hope you have fun with this one and find inspiration from the team! So glad you stopped in today. Thanks for visiting and see you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #425

Freshly Made Sketches #425 published on 5 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #425

It is Freshly Made Sketches day and today we have one that is super unique and absolutely fabulous. Our sketch designer is the amazing Cécile Ribon so you should not be surprised!

After a bit of looking around, I found what I wanted…right on my desk! That order from The Greetery that I recently made hasn’t even made it into organizing folders yet (if you are one of those who organize right away, I invite you over to help…I need it!). I love the palm from the Caring Cross set and thought it might be just right for the element on top of the trio. As with all the sets, it layered up perfectly!

I brushed some pink ink onto card stock and cut it out with a banner die three times. It seemed like I needed a bit of something else so I added in the Nordic Frame die. The sentiment is also from Caring Cross and I love it!

I hope you like this sketch as much as we do and that you will join in too! Thanks so much for joining in today. I’ll see you again soon!

Here For You

Here For You published on No Comments on Here For You

A quick share today! I thought a pretty blue butterfly might be just the thing during our current environment of uncertainty.

I love this amazing butterfly image from the Butterfly Blossoms set by Reverse Confetti. The flowers in the set are created to be able to layer for dimension or you can just keep it to one layer. I opted to color the flowers separately and pop them up. All of the coloring is using Copic Markers.

I thought that playing with blues would be a nice change for a butterfly and I’m pretty happy with how the light blues here almost seem to glow. I’d love to claim that it was my intention but just a happy accident that comes with experimenting. The sentiment comes from the same set. Don’t you love that font?! The pretty panel uses the Lacy Scallop Frame dies, also from Reverse Confetti.

Thanks for stopping in today. I’m sure you are like me in not liking how unclear things are with this awful virus. My industry is affected strongly, as you might imagine. But I take comfort that my friends are here for me and I’m here for them. I hope you have a good day and know how much I appreciate you!

Best Day

Best Day published on 3 Comments on Best Day

I think the “hardest” part about going to Stamping Away (other than leaving) is getting started on stamping there. So many products, so much inspiration, so many talented stampers…oh my! So when it came to my first project I decided to go with what I know. A bit of Copic coloring on an image that wasn’t overly complicated. I looked through some sets and immediately gravitated to this Just Vines stamp by The Stamp Market.

Instead of just the yellow greens, I decided to combine them with my BG family for something a bit unexpected. So I sat for quite a while coloring and listening to the chatter and admiring the work others were doing and….it was perfect! I didn’t have a particular plan for the panel when I was working on it but quickly realized that it might be nice for a birthday card for my husband. So that became my mission. After a few starts (and fails) I finally just kept it simple. I found this sentiment from the For My Bestie set. A Pink and Main Sentiment Strip die was just perfect for the sentiment and I added on a few sequins to finish.

I love the overall effect of the coloring here and, though it took a bit, it was the perfect “warm up” for my crafting weekend. And it made me happy to make too! I hope you get a bit of time for some “just because” crafting this week. I’m trying to make sure it becomes a bigger part of my creative time. Thanks for stopping in today. See you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #424

Freshly Made Sketches #424 published on 5 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #424

I don’t know about where you live, but here in Virginia winter has kind of been a bust. In fact, I just saw some daffodils actually blooming. At the end of February. So, in that effort of accepting that we will have no real snow, I’m just moving on to stamping spring. Thankfully, the wonderful Jen Brum designed a great sketch for us at Freshly Made Sketches to enable me.

I told you recently that I had just put in my order from The Greetery and guess what? It arrived!! I love the Let’s Have a Word – Beautiful die set for this sketch. And the little flower from Summer Sketches seemed perfect yet again. I started with a Strathmore Watercolor Card and brushed on Altenew inks from the same color family. The pretty yellow oranges seemed right for my spring mood. After brushing them on, I spritzed with a bit of water and got this pretty effect. I thought the words in black were a nice contrast. I stamped the little flower using the lightest (Sunday) and third (Snapdragon) colors in the set to coordinate. The little banner is also from The Greetery and comes from the Sentiment Suite Basic die set. I found some sunny sequins in my stash to match and done!

I hope you will join us this week for our challenge. As always, make sure you check out all the inspiration from the design team! Back tomorrow with a fun card (yes, created at Stamping Away). See you then!

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Gina K. Designs + Discount Code

Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Gina K. Designs + Discount Code published on 5 Comments on Crafty Friends Blog Hop – Gina K. Designs + Discount Code

One of the best days of the month is here! Crafty Friends day! My friends and I have a company focus this month on the fabulous Gina K. Designs and I’m so thrilled. Not only do I love her designs, but I have come to see that Gina herself is such a leader in the industry on how to succeed in business and still be amazingly kind and generous. Now THAT is something to celebrate for sure!

I chose the Tropical Blooms stamp set to work with since it remains a favorite of mine. Something about this image and the sentiments just simply works. I stamped the image onto watercolor paper with Versamark ink and then heat embossed with gold powder. The raised embossing helps contain the water and made this quick coloring even easier. I used coral and rose Daniel Smith watercolor paints to create a bit of variance in the petals. Then I played with a couple of greens and a bit of blue for the leaves. Nothing particularly fancy because I wanted the colors to remain pale on the flowers.

To help them pop a bit, I decided to blend on some green Distress Inks onto another watercolor paper layer. I started with Twisted Citron Oxide but it wasn’t the right shade. So I added some Peeled Paint regular Distress Ink over it to get it right. That is the beauty of these inks, they blend and mix and they are not overly persnickety. I cut the panel out with an old Pretty Pink Posh scalloped rectangle (it must be retired, I could not find it to link). I stamped on part of the sentiment and then used the die set for part too. All of the cut outs were popped up using my favorite Foam Squares by Gina K. Designs. For this I used white but they also have black ones that are great for those dark panels and images. Finally, after some playing around, I decided the base needed some ink too so I brushed Tattered Rose Oxide Ink onto it.

I continue to be so thrilled that companies are working with us to give you discounts for our hops. Shop with Gina K. Designs on Feb 20 – 22 and use the code CRAFTYFRIENDS20 at checkout to get a 20% Discount. Click the graphic above to get to her shop.

Now on to the rest of the hop. I’m thrilled to send you to the lovely and talented Amy Kolling. Here is the list in case you get lost along the way:

I hope you enjoy the hop as much as we do. Thanks so much for stopping in today!

Freshly Made Sketches #423

Freshly Made Sketches #423 published on 6 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #423

The newest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches was created by the amazing Kim Singdahlsen and oh wow! I’m sure it is not really surprising for you to find that I “think” in sketches when designing. When I see one, I usually know almost immediately what to make (I think it is my math brain). But with this sketch, I saw multiple choices right away! That rarely happens and usually means that it is going to be a super cool week.

I showed you recently what I gave for the gift exchange at Stamping Away but I was negligent in showing what I received. Well, this darling little stamp set from Avery Elle was part of my amazing package (also a wonderful paint palette and some pens that will live in my craft room without being stolen by certain teenagers because they are awesome and immediately identifiable!). The set is called Beary Good Friends and is part of the latest release. So many little images to mix and match! I love sets like this.

I stamped a bunch of images and just started coloring, not sure what I would use. Well, I pretty much used all the things! Because how could I not?! In keeping with the sketch I used a circle stencil and brushed on some Distress Oxide ink. I used a sticky note to block the bottom part of the circle. I used the bear as one of the horizontal layers and then built up the scene around him. To “ground” the grass a bit, I used another of the layers and brushed on green ink. By doing this instead of using colored card stock, it kept the depth of color throughout and keeps the focus on the images. I did the same with some yellow ink on the sentiment panel.

I guess it is not a surprise that the design team has come up with some pretty amazing cards with the sketch and quite a variety too. Make sure you go see what they made and come over and join us! Back tomorrow for this month’s Craft Friends Blog Hop. Until then, have a great day!

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