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Freshly Made Sketches #621

Freshly Made Sketches #621 published on 3 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #621

Hello, my friends! Long time since I have posted! I’m pretty sure I told you all that I would be doing some non-flying work for United and that is exactly what I have been off doing. I’m learning to teach a 4 day course on Leadership for new Captains and it is taking most of my bandwidth to work on (along with my required flying, of course). And then, I took advantage of a week off to jet away with my oldest – just the two of us – to Paris for a 4 day vacation. His time off has not aligned with the rest of the family since he went to college and he was in much need of a vacation. So I took advantage of my travel “privileges” (which mostly only work in off season travel) and off we went. He had a passport from right before Covid started and he had never used it. We fixed that! I have some photos at the bottom of the post if you are interested.

With that, I’m the sketch designer this week and in true form, did not even follow my own idea. In fairness, I created the sketch a while ago and well, all of the above things. I hope you will enjoy playing along with us at Freshly Made Sketches on this one.

I thought I’d better get back into crafting with something fairly simple so I opted to color just one of the flowers and pop it up. I went with older sets and things I just love to keep it easy. The flowers/leaves are from Friendship Blooms by SugarPea Designs and I did some Copic Coloring on that. The sentiment is from an Ellen Hutson stamp set.

Most of the work is done by my Misti. I stamped and colored first, attached the leaves to the flower and then just looked at the spacing for stamping. I cut the stamped flower part with a rectangle die so I could cut off a bit of the edge. I popped the image layer up and added a few pearls. Clean, simple and just what I needed to clear my head a bit from all the chaos.

For our trip to Paris, we hit the ground running and saw Ste. Chapelle and the Musée D’Orsay on the first day. We did a food tour in Montmartre (highly recommend) and visited Sacre Coeur while in that area. Of course the Eiffel Tower plus the Musée de l’Armée (a fabulous military museum) and most of a day at the Louvre. Whew….that was a lot in a short time! It had been a long time since I had been there so it was nice to return! A few photos of our adventure.

Thanks for staying to visit a bit. I hope your week is great! I’ll be back soon (really…I actually have another card ready).

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!

Wingin’ It with Ellen Hutson Essentials

Wingin’ It with Ellen Hutson Essentials published on 2 Comments on Wingin’ It with Ellen Hutson Essentials

Today I have a fun surprise for you! I’m the guest over at Ellen Hutson but I wanted to share here too. I showed you some of the new Bear Ware product line during the latest release and I have a new project using them.

I think you can see the motivation in today’s project! Did you know that only about 6% of commercial pilots are women? And far less of those are Captains (left seat and in command). There are lots of reasons for those numbers but it starts with young people understanding that flying is a career option for women. And THAT starts with a vision. If you can see it, you can be it!

And you know, it can be as simple as images for stamping. And THAT was my goal for today’s project. Normalizing the idea that women are pilots and that women are the Captain! I have all the how-to on this card over at the company blog including how I turned a pitchfork into a yoke (steering column). I hope you will go over to visit and leave me a note there. If you are inspired to shop, I’d appreciate you using my affiliate links below.

I hope you have a fabulous day! Thanks so much for stopping in.

Freshly Made Sketches #526

Freshly Made Sketches #526 published on 7 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #526

Another week, another amazing sketch from Freshly Made Sketches! This week’s sketch designer is Amy O’Neill and I love her classic vibe for this one.

I continued to play with the new Bear Ware product line and the new additions from Ellen Hutson. I fell in love with the teacher accessories in Bear Ware Dress Up 2 so that is what I used today. Let’s face it, teachers are all heroes and this sentiment could not be more true. I just stamped her, the desk, her computer and books and then colored.

She definitely needed some cool glasses so I added those stamped in a coordinating teal ink. I dotted in the eyes with a black pen to match the placement of the bear. Finally, I added some gold stars…because the sentiment said I had too. I stamped a bunch of them, colored them up and cut some out. I found this star pattern in some Honey Bee Stamps paper so just added the gold stars into the pattern.

I hope you enjoy this fun card today. Hop over to see all the inspiration from the team too. For any of you readers who are teachers, THANK YOU!! You all deserve so much more but the least I can say is how grateful I am for all you do for our children. Glad you stopped in today. See you soon.

You’re So Fly – Ellen Hutson March Release

You’re So Fly – Ellen Hutson March Release published on No Comments on You’re So Fly – Ellen Hutson March Release

Sometimes you get the feeling that a stamp set was made with you in mind. And today, I finally get to share one that just made me smile so much! The Essentials by Ellen – Ellen Hutson March Release is live!

New additions to the Bear Ware line of products are part of today’s release and I had such fun with them. First of all the hair for the bear. Oh my goodness! And while there are a number of professions represented, clearly I had to turn her into a pilot. I mean really. Like it was a choice. I gave her a uniform and a hat and then colored up the requisite black roller board bag.

I also took the airplane in the set and imitated the paint scheme for a certain airline I know. The clouds are from a Honey Bee Stamps die set and I have it listed below as well. And finally the sentiment. Not be be an airplane snob or anything, but I am so relieved to see a fresh sentiment with a flying theme.

I hope you will go over and check out the whole release. There are some some fun florals, great sentiments and, of course, these adorable bear add ons. You can click the graphic at the start of the post or click below on the products. All contain my affiliate code (with no additional cost to you). Have a great day!

Freshly Made Sketches #506

Freshly Made Sketches #506 published on 9 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #506

Happy middle of the week! Time for a new Freshly Made Sketches challenge and we have a fun one designed by the lovely Amy O’Neill. I think you will like the sketch too.

As soon as I saw the sketch, I knew I wanted to use the new Bear Ware Grand Tour stamp set by Ellen Hutson. This set is just so cute!! I lined up the sentiments on a block and just stamped them on the angle. A fun way to use little sentiments, don’t you think? Then I did some quick Copic coloring on the bear and a few of the elements.

After some debate, I cut the panel down a little and put it on a colored base to help it pop a bit. I think it was the right choice. And that’s it. Easy and fun!

Glad you stopped by today. Hope the rest of your week is good and I’ll see you Friday.

World Card Making Day with Ellen Hutson

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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!

Freshly Made Sketches #497

Freshly Made Sketches #497 published on 6 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #497

Quick post to share the latest from Freshly Made Sketches. Our sketch designer is the wonderful Jacquie Southas and I love this clever layout.

I thought it would be fun to pull out the Everything’s Beachy set again since the sketch made room for fun images. I love this surfer dude! Using the colors from some of the Team Tie Dye paper pack as a guide, I had a good time coloring the surf boards.

I hope you enjoy this one and will come over and play along! Thanks for stopping in. See you soon!

Everything Beachy for Ellen Hutson

Everything Beachy for Ellen Hutson published on 1 Comment on Everything Beachy for Ellen Hutson

Today is release day for the latest from the Summer of Stamping by Ellen Hutson. I’m so happy to share the new Everything Beachy stamp set with you.

The images in this set are ideal for scene building and that is just what I did. I stamped the umbrella, woman and towel and colored them with Copic Markers. Once colored, I fussy cut the images for layering. Next up, I wanted to figure out how to evoke a beach feel without tons more coloring.

To do that, I started with Neenah Desert Storm card stock and inked direct to paper with a Blueprint Sketch Distress Ink Mini. Then I added a bit of texture paste for the surf. Easy and it totally gives an ocean feel. I chose this fun sentiment and cut it using the Nice of You die set (it has something for almost any small straight sentiment!).

Last, I just had to finish the building. I added foam tape underneath all the images and the sentiment. On the umbrella, I doubled the foam tape closest to my bathing beauty to give if a bit of an angle.

I hope you enjoy this inspiration! Make sure you hop over to see all the new products from the release today: Summer of Stamping Release

All About You for Ellen Hutson

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I am THRILLED to be a part of the new Ellen Hutson Essentials by Ellen release today! I get to share with you the new All About You Stamp Set and coordinating All About You Dies.

I love all the variations of the sentiments that work with “you” and even more exciting, the print sentiments are intended to work with the Nice of You Dies which cuts the whole group out at once! As I was thinking of how to best show the sentiments, I kept thinking about which set would be best to use with it. Ultimately, I chose one of my very favorite sets of all time, Mondo Hydrangea. I created an alcohol ink background using Stream Alcohol Ink and Gold Mixative on Yupo. After I let it set, I stamped the Mondo Hydrangea on the background using Versamark Ink and heat embossed with WOW Rich Gold Embossing Powder and cut the image out with the coordinating Mondo Hydrangea dies.

Next, using the new All About You set, I stamped the “you” onto a piece of Yupo I had left over (so the white would match) with Versamark and heat embossed with the gold again. Then I inked up the whole sentiment grouping with Versamark and stamped onto vellum with followed by more embossing. Using the Nice of You dies, I cut them all out! You can see some of my extras in the photo and now I have them all ready for another project (YAY!). I added a little gold thread and used a Neenah Desert Storm base to finish my card.

If you want to see all the amazing products in the release (linked with my affiliate), just click the graphic or you can see it here: EBE NEW RELEASE This release is only available at the Ellen Hutson! I’m so happy you stopped in today! I hope you like this inspiration and cannot wait to hear what you think. Hope you have an amazing day!

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