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!

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.

“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

 

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!

A quick hello and a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches this week. I’m the sketch designer and I hope you enjoy this one!

I’m about done with summer and ready for fall colors. Today, I pulled out a favorite set from Honey Bee Stamps called Garden Harvest Florals. I colored the images with my Karin Markers. I definitely have not used them enough and they were perfect for this watercolor look.

For the sketch portion, I used the Sweet Stacks: Circles dies to add a bit of dimension (and to follow the sketch). I love the bit of gingham peeking out. The paper is from the Gingham Galore Fall pack.

Thanks so much for stopping in today. I keep hoping to find a moment to catch my breath but I think that won’t happen until September…she says optimistically. Hope you have a great day!

The latest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches is by designer Judy Rozema and it is wonderful! And just what I needed to create a card my husband requested.

You see, his Air National Guard unit has a flying unicorn on the patch so they all have ALL the unicorn things. One of the men who has worked with him for a while is retiring so he requested a flying unicorn card. And I have a stamp for that that I have held onto for a while!

The unit is in West Virginia so blue and yellow are primary for the colors there. And the patch has a bit of red so I added some of that for variety. The set is an old one from Newton’s Nook Designs called Believe in Unicorns. Super fun and now you see why I have held onto it. I colored with Copic Markers and cut it out with the coordinating dies.

I inked the little rectangles (cut with Honey Bee Stamps Sweet Stacks: Rectangles dies) with Prize Ribbon and Squeezed Lemonade inks and added a sentiment from Honey Bee Stamps.

I hope you will come over and join us this week. The team has awesome inspiration and we love seeing what you create. Thanks for stopping in. See you soon!

Well hello, friends! Long time, no blogging. I have to say that, as you can imagine, the summer flying season is pretty busy right now. I am gone a lot, which has been a big adjustment from the last couple of years. I’m sure many of you are experiencing the same kinds of restructuring. When I am home, I’m trying to take advantage of the fleeting time with my family. So, something had to give and it has been crafting. I know that my normal creative pattern will return as we get into the fall and the house quiets down but for now, I’m enjoying the time I have with my guys. With that, I did find a quiet moment yesterday to create.

This new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches was designed by the lovely Amy O’Neill and it immediately sparked some ideas. The hardest part for me when I have been away from the craft room is jumping back in. So I turned to a favorite stamp set and an easy coloring method to keep it fun.

This pretty flower set is Meadow Motifs from SugarPea Designs. It is one of my all time favorite flower sets and you know I love a flower set. I did some watercoloring on the flowers and little butterflies and then cut them out with the coordinating dies.

I cut out circles from the same watercolor paper used for the flowers with a circle die from the Sweet Stacks: Circles Dies from Honey Bee Stamps. I added the Bitty Buzzwords sentiments using the same paper pad as the background with a coordinating stamp.

Thank you for stopping in today. I have missed sharing with you and hope to get a little more time this week for some more creative time. Until next time, have a wonderful week!