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Posts categoriezed as Tim Holtz

Freshly Made Sketches #693

Freshly Made Sketches #693 published on 7 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #693

Hello friends! Glad you stopped by today I’m happy to share a card for Freshly Made Sketches but first…a question for you. Recently I asked you all about the links at the bottom of my posts and was grateful for your thoughts. But now, I’m considering saying goodbye to this blog. I know, for some, you do not do social media and this is the way you see what I create. But truthfully, I’m not even sure you are seeing my posts. My mail service has started charging fees and I cannot tell if you are still getting my posts or for how long you will. (Note: If you see this in an email, I’d appreciate you letting me know) The blog as I have it set up cost more than I can ever make in running it. I pay for the domain, the access to WordPress and the layers of security. Nostalgia has been the only real reason to hold on with 15 years of cards, thoughts and sharing. But it seems blogs are going away as a whole. Before I just cut it off, I’d like to hear your thoughts to make sure I’m not missing something. Will you please drop me a comment or note to let me know what you think? Thank you!

Now on to my card for this week. The lovely Amy O’Neill is our designer this week and came up with one that is super clever. I immediately thought it might be fun to use die cuts so that is the direction I took.

I started with the Lovely Layers: Spring Greenery and Lovely Layers: Dianthus dies from Honey Bee Stamps. Using the Bitty Bunny Blending Brushes from The Rabbit Hole Designs, I inked them up with Distress Inks in a multitude of colors. My lighting on these photos is kind of meh but the greens have more variety in person (thunderstorms rolled in and I had to rely on my craft room lights instead of daylight).

I didn’t want to cover up all the inking so opted for a vellum piece and added a sentiment on top. That allowed me to have attachment points under the sentiment that remain invisible. With the size of the elements, I didn’t want to have to cut them down so I made a 5″x7″ card instead. Kind of fun to work with the bigger space. I did some embossing in the background with the Sandie’s Garden folder and inked the edges just a bit for contrast. A few pearls and done!

Thanks again for stopping in today. I appreciate all of you so much! As I figure out what to do with this blog, just know that I want to maximize the making and sharing part while minimizing the admin and cost part. Hope you have a lovely week!

Freshly Made Sketches #691

Freshly Made Sketches #691 published on 4 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #691

Our sketch designer at Freshly Made Sketches this week is our newest team member, Michele Ferguson, with her first sketch! And, no surprise, she has knocked it out of the park! I think it will be wildly popular this week.

At first I didn’t think I was going to have time to play (only two days off between trips) but with a sketch this great, I had tons of ideas in my head. I may have deviated a little from her intention but I really wanted to play with my new Lovely Layers: Butterflies dies from Honey Bee Stamps. I am completely in love with them! I cut them out of Distress Heavystock paper for easy ink blending and colored them using Distress Inks and Bitty Bunny Blending Brushes.

I was aiming at a rainbow vibe so I just decided what order I wanted the butterflies in and got to blending. You can see all the colors listed in my link below. Once I was done with the wings, I debated for a bit on what color to make their bodies. I opted to use my Copics in T1 and T2 for a pale neutral that was easy to do. I chose the Quilted A2 Coverplate to add a little interest and picked a sentiment from the new Always and Forever stamp set (both Honey Bee Stamps).

I hope you will come over and join us this week. If you are out traveling, keep an eye out for me. I think I’ll be at most of United’s major airports at some point this week. Have a great week and see you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #677

Freshly Made Sketches #677 published on 4 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #677

Hi all! Sorry it has been a bit. Had some family fun to do and a wonderful family wedding to attend! The weather was perfect for an outside ceremony in Savannah, GA and it was nice to spend time with much our our extended family.

Back to creating this week with a wonderful sketch at Freshly Made Sketches by our fearless Canadian adventurer Jen Brum. I was inspired by the weather and our impending cherry blossom blooming timeline.

I cut the base of the Lovely Layers: Cherry Blossoms out of a dark brown card stock and then cut all the layering flowers and leaves from white. I pulled out my Distress Inks and got to blending. As usual, I got lost in the process and just played with layering colors on the flowers and leaves. Once done, I glued everything in place and added an additional brown layer behind for more stability on the branch.

When the flower branch was completed, I started working on how to layer with the pretty sketch. I thought that some patterned paper designs would work well to make it pop and settled on these gorgeous patterns from the Vintage Love collection. I added a sentiment from the Inside: Birthday Sentiments stamp set and pulled out some pretty pink pearls from the Vintage Pearls collection (Honey Bee Stamps).

Hope you enjoy this card and that you are inspired to create with this new sketch. Thanks for stopping in today. See you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #673

Freshly Made Sketches #673 published on 6 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #673

Well, as I type the winter wonderland is returning to northern Virginia. So beautiful (as long as I don’t have to drive around). But when it comes to stamping, I seem to have moved on to spring. I’m the sketch designer this week for Freshly Made Sketches and I had fun getting inky for my card.

I had a couple of ideas about what I was going to use for the decorative element but finally decided this sweet little spring umbrella was perfect for the job. All of the die cuts are from the Lovely Layers: April Showers set from Honey Bee Stamps. Using Distress Inks, I colored all of the flowers, the bird and the umbrella using both the Bitty Bunny Blending Brushes and the Beeluxe Blending Brushes.

I used the Spring Medley 3D Embossing Folder for the background and cut out a circle, inking it in Squeezed Lemonade Distress Oxide Ink. The sentiment is from the Mini Messages Stamp Set cut out with the coordinating Mini Messages Banners dies.

I hope you like my take on the sketch and will find some inspiration in all that the team has created. As always, their work is incredible! Hope to see you in the gallery!

If you’d like to shop with me, you can use the links above or click here (at no extra cost to you):

Scrapbook.com shopping

Simon Says Stamp shopping

Freshly Made Sketches #670

Freshly Made Sketches #670 published on 9 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #670

For those who regularly read this blog, I have a question at the bottom of this post and need your feedback. Thanks in advance!

BRRRRRRR!!! That is the official word of the week! At least here in Virginia (and all the places I have been this week) it is so very cold. Looks like some of you in the south have had snow in a way you haven’t ever seen before and I hope you are both safe and having some fun with it. I had a quick moment in my craft room yesterday to use the latest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches created by our ever so sweet Amy O’Neill. And speaking of sweet…

I have a few significant birthdays coming up in my family and realized I was tragically low on cards. I took the opportunity to make one tailored for one of my sons. He loves chocolate cake (and cupcakes) – check! Loves the color purple – check! And lots of frosting with sprinkles – check! I used the Lovely Layers: Cupcakes and More dies (Honey Bee Stamps). The purple/teal elements were all cut from a piece of ombré patterned paper (part of some “Free Bees” from Honey Bee Stamps). I cut the “chocolate” part from some kraft card stock and inked it with Ground Espresso Distress Ink and then the frosting started as white card stock and inked with Antique Linen Distress Ink.

I cut the little banners from another “Free Bee” die set and then decorated the cupcake with sprinkles and added a candle. I love being able to customize this and it was exactly why I bought this set when it came out.

Now for my ask: I have been linking in a list below my posts for a while now. I do this for affiliate sales but also as a convenience to you for finding products. Many companies have been changing their affiliate rules and even providers so I only have a few affiliates left that I’m in. While I love having the list at the bottom, my sales don’t really justify the cost I’m paying for that service. The question for you…if I only link my products and affiliates in my posts (bold words for ease), would that be something you would still use? Leave your thoughts in a comment or feel free to email me too. I very much appreciate you and want to make sure I support your crafting as much as I can.

Alright, thanks so much for stopping in today. And thank you for your continued support! Have a great (and warm) day!

Freshly Made Sketches #668

Freshly Made Sketches #668 published on 6 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #668

Hi everyone! I just got back from a week of vacation with my family so I’m doing the catch up game. I did have a few minutes to make a card for today’s challenge at Freshly Made Sketches and sort of, kind of followed the fabulous sketch by Karren Johnson. She is the forgiving type so I’m sure she will let me stay!

I used die cuts from the Lovely Layers: Spring Greenery set for this and just smooshed some Distress Inks onto the already cut greenery. This seems to be my go-to when I’m pressed for time and don’t have the brain space to actually color things. And it always makes me happy!

For the background, I used some Distress Oxide ink in Tumbled Glass and then spritzed on some Distress Spray Stain in the same color. I thought the Rustic Brick Wall 3D Embossing Folder would be pretty on the panel and I am glad my instincts were right. Love this texture!! For the sentiment, I used one from the Lean on Each Other Stamp set and put in on one of the “Free Bee” dies (October 2024) from Honey Bee Stamps. I love the fun gifts they send with orders! Finally a bit of crinkled ribbon and some confetti.

I hope this finds you well and not frozen! We returned to a pretty good snow event in Virginia and I must admit, I was happy to see the pretty landscape when I woke up this morning. Thanks for stopping in. Have a great week!

Freshly Made Sketches #666

Freshly Made Sketches #666 published on 5 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #666

I have the last sketch of the year for Freshly Made Sketches and our friend Jen Brum has given us one that will be fun to use throughout the holiday season. As soon as I saw it, I saw exactly what I wanted to use!

This beautiful NOEL is from the Floral Noel suite of products by Honey Bee Stamps. It comes with stencils, dies and a stamp set. I played with inking the stencils using Distress Inks and I love the fun result. Those little flowers around the letters can actually be inked without the letters too and there are separate dies to cut them. Makes this set versatile even after the holidays! After all the inking, I simply cut out the letters using those die cuts from the set.

I also inked up the banner from the same set and added a sentiment from the coordinating stamp set. For the background, I found this paper from an older paper pack and loved how the letters stood out on it. I added foam tape behind the letters for some extra dimension and that is it. Flat for easy mailing and I created an envelope for the mini-slimline card using an older envelope set.

The team was super clever in their interpretations and I think you will find it easy to use too. I hope you are able to get some crafting time in over the next few weeks and join us. I’ll be back tomorrow (I hope) with a new project. See you then!

Freshly Made Sketches #665

Freshly Made Sketches #665 published on 5 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #665

We have a super interesting sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches and I’m excited to see how everyone plays along with it. As always, our wonderful Kim Singdahlsen has created something fabulous!

For me, this one all started with the poinsettia. I wasn’t sure how I was going to use the five panels behind it so I just started inking the flower. I will say that inking these dies just doesn’t get old. I used a combination of of Candied Apple and Aged Mahogany Distress Inks for the flower and then Bundled Sage and Peeled Paint for the leaves. Once they were done, I thought they needed a little something else, so…splatters! White Metallic Ink and some black refill ink for those.

As that was drying, I decided that I was going to do the panel all in white but with texture. So I cut the strips apart, glued them in the sketch pattern and then let them dry a bit. Once done, I ran them through with the Snowy Pines 3D Embossing Folder and I’m so excited with the effect! The rest of the card was easy from there. I picked a sentiment from the Wonder of Christmas Stamp Set and cut it out with the coordinating dies. The textured panel is popped up on foam tape so you can really see the interesting shape.

The team has shown a number of ways to use this sketch and I hope you will give it a try too. Thanks so much for stopping in today. See you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #664

Freshly Made Sketches #664 published on 6 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #664

Happy Thanksgiving week to those who celebrate in the US! I am, shockingly, home this week…first time in a long time. Which means I get to cook and feed the hungry hoard of college kids (who are now home and I’m hearing the sounds of brotherly discussions of college, video games, etc as I type). We have a fabulous sketch this week by my lovely friend Linda Callahan and I love this little trio of options. No surprise, I didn’t really follow the sketch that closely but, well, that happens!

I started with the Lovely Layers: Winter Greenery and played with my new Distress Spritzes. I got two colors to experiment with (Bundled Sage and Salvaged Patina) and they are really pretty. There is a metallic quality to them and they have more shine than I could capture in my photos. For more coverage, I inked the card stock first with regular Distress Inks (same colors) and then added the Spritz. For the gray branch, I just inked it up with Hickory Smoke and then sprayed on Hero Arts White Iridescent Shimmer Spray to match the shine of the others. The little berries only have the Shimmer Spray on them.

For the background, I used the Snowy Pines 3D Embossing Folder. The texture and design on it is so pretty and it means I didn’t need to do anything else but add the sentiment. The Mini Messages: Holiday seemed just right for the sketch and I used the coordinating Mini Messages Banners dies to cut it out.

I hope you will have a little bit of crafting time this week. And if you are celebrating with family, I wish you safe travels and enjoying lots of delicious food and company! Thanks for stopping in today. See you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #663

Freshly Made Sketches #663 published on 5 Comments on Freshly Made Sketches #663

Happy to be back today with the latest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. Our designer this week is none other than one of our team leaders, the amazing Jen Mitchell. I think I may have broken a record with how fast this idea came into my head for the sketch.

I pulled out the new Floral Noel suite of products from Honey Bee Stamps. Super fun! I stenciled the flowers using distress inks and then cut with the coordinating dies. The sentiment comes in the coordinating stamp set and I embossed it with gold embossing powder. I love how the dies are so detailed when cutting it out, too.

Something about the combination of gold with rustic elements always makes me happy so I pulled out some burlap ribbon from my stash for the sketch crossing element. I added some gold card stock behind the white panel for a little more shine and then found this print in my older patterned papers (it is SU).

Hope you enjoy this one and will come over to play along too. Thanks so much for stopping in!

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