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Playing Cards with Friends – April 2023

Playing Cards with Friends – April 2023 published on 5 Comments on Playing Cards with Friends – April 2023

Imagine my delight when my friend Michele Ferguson invited me to play along with her “Playing Cards with Friends” series! I’m a bit of a fan girl of her work so this is super fun! The parameters for this month’s creating are:

  •           April 15th Husband Appreciation Day! 
  •           Make a card for your husband
  •           Let’s include masculine colors:  shades of blue, and greens.
  •           Add alpha dies, or die cut words!

I thought that using a more graphic element would get this moving in the masculine direction. I used the Plaid A2 Hot Foil Plate with Spellbinders Black Foil. This is my first time using the black foil and I’m a BIG fan. It stretches the hot foil plates and gives a different vibe than an inked background. To comply with the rules, I spritzed a piece of card stock with Tumbled Glass and Lost Shadow Distress Sprays and then inked part of it with Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide Ink. I cut two different leaves from the Lovely Layers: Greenery set.

For the sentiment, I pondered and pondered the right words. And then I saw this one. Fortunately, it has a coordinating die set so I could cut it out and comply with the parameters! I don’t know about you but this is pretty much the perfect husband sentiment. Our lives are so crazy and we are forever going different directions. When we do have time together, it is usually local and really just NOT traveling. It really is the little things that are so big!

Now I cannot wait to see what Michele has created for today! Let’s head over to her blog now to see! Here is her link for today: Michele’s Playing Cards with Friends April

Thanks so much for joining us today. And for all of you out there with wonderful husbands, get to that craft room and make a card for him! A big thanks to Michele for inviting me to play along!!

Freshly Made Sketches #581

Freshly Made Sketches #581 published on 6 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #581

Hello friends! Long time, no see! I was off on spring break vacation with most of the family and finally home and back to creating. We went to Arizona where we hiked in Sedona, took a train up to the Grand Canyon and then spent some time in Phoenix. It was lovely! I was happy to have a few moments to create with this wonderful sketch at Freshly Made Sketches. Designed by our fabulous Cécile, I had all kinds of ideas for it.

As soon as I saw the leaf elements, my mind went to these Lovely Layer: Winter Greenery dies. And now there is a new Lovely Layers: Nest to add on to the family (and some new spring birds too!). Seeing some of my FMS teammates making holiday cards inspired me to make one myself. I spritzed some watercolor paper using Lost Shadow and Pumice Stone Distress Spray and then added colors to the panels for the different elements. LOTS of inky fun and not really hard at all.

I sat the cardinal on the side of the nest and then started working in the greenery. May have gone a bit overboard but I loved the process of building this. The sentiment set that is meant for the birds is a holiday one and this one called out to me. And aren’t the details on this die to cut out the words fabulous? I attached the entire thing to a Grain and Grunge woodgrain print.

Thanks so much for stopping in today. I hope you are inspired to join us over at the challenge. I’ll be back on Saturday for a fun extra post! Until then, have a great week!

Freshly Made Sketches #579

Freshly Made Sketches #579 published on 6 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #579

Welcome back for another week of Freshly Made Sketches. I am the sketch designer this week and I thought I’d go classic for the sketch. Something about ovals always seem so elegant to me so I thought I’d add one to the mix. Lots of ways to interpret this one, I think!

Living in Northern Virginia, the last couple of weeks have been all about cherry blossoms. So imagine my delight when I saw the new Lovely Layers: Cherry Blossoms dies from Honey Bee Stamps! I put those right into the basket as soon as ordering opened. I had the perfect examples for coloring them (the flowers in my photos are snipped from my tree) and I love how details the dies are. So pretty! Using Distress Ink in Spun Sugar, I added a pale pink to the flowers. Then on the centers I added Scattered Straw Distress Ink and a little bit of Saltwater Taffy Distress Oxide. At the base of the flowers I blended greens (Bundled Sage and Peeled Paint) into the Saltwater Taffy to mimic my actual flowers. I placed it all on a branch cut from Concord and 9th Mushroom Card Stock.

Once my branch was built, I cut an oval from this gray wood grain paper (Grain & Grunge) using an old discontinued die. Into the oval, I used a piece of white card stock that was embossed with the new Dogwood Blooms 3D Embossing Folder. Even though it is the dogwood, I love it with the cherry blossom too! I chose a pretty sentiment from Love You Bunches and stamped it in gray ink (Morning Mist Versafine Clair). A few white pearls from the Cool Pearls pack to finish.

I had so much fun trying to copy the beauty of nature on this and, let’s face it, playing with new products is always great! I hope you will come join the challenge this week. Might be quiet here for a bit. Spring break is coming up so I’ll be enjoying some family time. Until next time, have a wonderful rest of your week!

Freshly Made Sketches #578

Freshly Made Sketches #578 published on 7 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #578

Thank you to all who shared such kind words with me last week. I so appreciate you all!

For this week’s sketch from Freshly Made Sketches, I took a more vintage turn. I love this classic look from designer Jacquie Southas and immediately thought of the seed packets from Honey Bee Stamps.

I was inspired by the new release of more designs for the Seed Packet die. While I waited for the order from Honey Bee Stamps to arrive, I pulled out this fun spring lemons image from Seeds of Kindness. I cut the packet from watercolor paper and then stamped on the image. Using Daniel Smith watercolors, I colored up the image and then added a vintage wash. I folded up the packet and used Distress Ink in Vintage Photo for the edges to make it feel more finished.

To make the background more interesting, I pulled out my Clover Petals 3D Embossing Folder. I inked up one side and then ran through some Desert Storm card stock. I love the effect the inking gives. To be honest, I actually ran it inked two times so I could see what each side gave me. Both were gorgeous, but this one just seemed to fit better on this card. And now I have another all ready to go for a different project. For the crossing panel on the sketch, I pulled out some old things from my stash. A pretty lace, some sequined thread, seam binding and baker’s twine.

Thank you for stopping in today. Hoping for some time for a little stamping over the next day or two. My oldest was home for a part of his spring break last week so not much stamping. But it was so nice to see him (and to make sure he got lots of home cooked food!). Hope you have a wonderful rest of your week!

Freshly Made Sketches #577

Freshly Made Sketches #577 published on 6 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #577

We have a wonderful new sketch up today at Freshly Made Sketches. This fun design is courtesy of our fabulous Judy Rozema and I love the options for those circles.

Like many of you, crafting is my respite from the craziness of the world. But with that, sometimes the craziness is what inspires what I’m making. The never-ending hate for anything that is different from oneself, the fear-mongering over things that truly cause no harm, the persecution of those who love differently — all of this weighs on my heart. I fear for the LGBTQ+ community. If one truly believes that we are made in God’s image and we understand that God is limitless, then how can we not also believe that there is no limit to the variance in humans? And that each and every person is the image of our transcendent God. We are losing young people (and older people) at alarming rates because we make them feel like there is no place for them. Each of us matters. What we bring to the world matters. Just like a rainbow, the beauty is diminished if colors are missing. We need them all. We need you all. And that is what was on my heart as I made this. Not saying this out loud seems complicit in the hate so today I will say it out loud. Love is love is love. And this world is better with all the love and with you!!

I loved these bird houses and sweet birds from the Little Birdies stamp set. I pulled out all the Copics (ok, I don’t have all the Copics but I pulled out a ton of them) to get the rainbow colors. The Barn Wood Planks dies are behind to match the sketch. The sentiment is from the Inside: Birthday Sentiments set, a beautiful and multipurpose set for birthdays and beyond.

Thank you for stopping by today. Please know that I generally keep this to only crafting but it is my space to share. I respect that there may be those among you that do not agree with my point of view. And that is ok as long as you are respectful that I am entitled to my perspective. Hateful comments will be deleted since this is my space to use as I see fit.

Freshly Made Sketches #576

Freshly Made Sketches #576 published on 8 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #576

Another amazing sketch from my friends at Freshly Made Sketches this week! This week’s sketch is courtesy of the incredible Amy O’Neill and I love the options on this one. So many choices!!

I’ll admit I had a few starts and stops on this one. One idea seemed smart until I started trying to line up the images and then…nope. So I moved on and started scouring through the stash. I came upon an old die that matched some washi tape from Pinkfresh Studio called Painted Florals. It is since retired but they have others that are similar. I thought the cluster looked a lot like the sketch so I went with it. I put the tape down on white card stock and then cut it out with the die. Easy as that.

And then I had an a-ha moment. I had not used the new Spring Medley 3D Embossing Folder yet and all I can say is wow. I mean really wow. I truly had underestimated my need for these folders (worry not, I’ll be fixing that). I cannot even believe how much it adds to this card. I ran some Concord and 9th Peacock Card Stock through with the fold and I’m in awe. I love how this folder goes with the image and I think it will be great with so many of my florals. I added a Pinkfresh Studio foil sentiment since the lines in the washi tape are gold and then put on a few matte gold pearls. For not a lot of work, this card packs a lot of texture!

I hope you’ll come over to visit the challenge and see all that the team has done with the sketch. An amazing variety! Thanks for stopping in today. See you again soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #575

Freshly Made Sketches #575 published on 4 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #575

Sorry to be so quiet lately. The “day job” has been taking over life a bit. I did have a moment to create a card for this week’s Freshly Made Sketches challenge and our fab sketch by the awesome Karren Johnson.

I know it comes as a shock that my first thought for the circle was a flower. But I decided I’d give another idea a go instead. I love this little honey jar from Honey Bee Stamps and they really do have the best little bees (naturally). Using my Copic Markers, I colored up all the elements and then chose some flowers from a different set. Didn’t have too but I just liked the flowers better for what I wanted on this. I love when art styles are complementary and you can mix and match!

I did realize that this Just Beecause set might be retiring so if you love it, I linked below where it is still available. The sweet gingham paper was sitting on my table and I thought it was just right for the panel on the sketch design. And I just love this little sentiment the set. A few punny little “bee” sentiments that are just such fun.

I hope you are having a wonderful week. Come over and join us if you have some crafty time! We’d love to see what you create. Hoping to have a little more time in the craft room this week but we’ll see. All the crazy weather in the system has kept me pretty busy and when I get home I’m zapped. My goal is just some coloring time, which is ALWAYS a good plan. Thanks for stopping in. See you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #573

Freshly Made Sketches #573 published on 4 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #573

I was in a bit of a time crunch for creating this week’s Freshly Made Sketches card. In fact, I thought I would just have to miss out. But Kim Singdahlsen created a great one and I had an a-ha moment. I thought that her panel could be a wood print and a card was born.

I chose one of the prints from the Grain and Grunge Paper Pack since it looked a bit like the pattern of the sketch. But then what? Yeah, I know it shocks you but I thought flower die cut! I went to one I had not used in a bit, Lovely Layers: Hydrangea. I love this one. As a total shortcut, I used another paper print for the flowers. All that color variation and texture…on the paper. No extra work for me!

The only thing left was to choose a sentiment. I love this one from the Seeds of Kindness set. It is great for a birthday or just to cheer someone. I added some Trinity Stamps Confetti Embellishments to finish. Simple, but I really love it!

You’ll see that the team has a variety of interpretations and that just means it is a great sketch. Come over and give it a go! Back out to work later today. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your week!

Freshly Made Sketches #572

Freshly Made Sketches #572 published on 5 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #572

The wonderful Linda Callahan is our sketch designer at Freshly Made Sketches this week and she created a great one! Truly because I had almost no time to create and her sketch “told” me what to make.

I just got the new Lost Shadow Distress Oxide Ink and Distress Spray (and the Saltwater Taffy is new to me as well) so I thought I’d play with those. The Lovely Layers: Anemones seemed like the perfect flower for the sketch. I spritzed some paper with the Lost Shadow Spray, let it dry then cut out the flowers. I brushed on the Saltwater Taffy and then added some Lost Shadow to the edges. A bit more cutting for the centers which I inked with Villainous Potion, some Lost Shadow and a mystery ink that was left over on my little brush but was probably a yellow (on the little ovals). Yep, keeping it real. Not on purpose but I liked it after the color showed up.

For the foliage, I cut the leaves from the set and added some Pumice Stone which skews green next to the Lost Shadow. I was pretty happy with being able to keep them pale and not too green. You may recognize the background panel from last week’s cardinal card. Yep. Same one. And the sentiment was in my stack of already foiled things. Look at me being smart by foiling multiples! All in all this came together pretty quickly.

I hope you’ll come over and join us this week. As always, the team has fabulous inspiration for you! Thanks for stopping in today. I’ll see you soon!

Lovely Birthday

Lovely Birthday published on 3 Comments on Lovely Birthday

One more birthday card to fit in and this one uses a gorgeous image from Alex Syberia Designs. This set was part of their first Kickstarter launch of physical stamps and I love it. AND, they just announced their second release. Super exciting!

I stamped the image from Hello Lovely in Versamark and embossed with gold embossing powder on watercolor paper. Then I pulled out my Daniel Smith Watercolors and started coloring. I colored this over a few days taking a little at a time. I keep working on shading and trying to learn to keep light colors and highlights without overworking.

Once I was done, I added some splatters with white gouache and gold metallic ink. I used the coordinating dies to cut out the image and chose a sentiment from the set and gold embossed on black. I thought the woodgrain was a pretty background that would not detract from the flower. I did add a few splatters to that too, because why not?!

Make sure to go over and check out the latest release at Alex Syberia Designs. Thanks for stopping in today. See you soon!

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