Copics

Twenty-four Years

September 10, 2025 Jentimko 6 Comments

“If we learn nothing else from this tragedy, we learn that life is short and there is no time for hate.”
—Sandy Dahl, wife of United Flight 93 Captain Jason Dahl

I started with this same quote last year but, honestly, it holds so true that it bears repeating. And yet, here we are. Everywhere around us, words of hate, actions of hate, finding ways to push other down instead of lifting them up. As I pondered how to approach this post, I find myself overwhelmed by the fear that we have totally failed. Those passengers and crew on United Flight 93 knew what had happened to the other planes. They knew that a target was set on a critical landmark. They banded together and said not on my watch. They didn’t ask who was an immigrant; they didn’t care about the color of skin; they didn’t care if someone was LGBTQ+. They chose to do whatever it took to try to stop the evil and it took all of them. They knew that they would likely die but chose to save others with their sacrifice. They counted on us to make it worth it. Have we?

As always for this anniversary, I focused on blue. The blue of the sky that day, United blue. The butterfly is from All Things New by Honey Bee Stamps and the background is Vintage Floral. The arch dies are from Spellbinders. The sketch is from Freshly Made Sketches designed by the incomparable Karren Johnson.

I have written my thoughts and memories for many years now. This is likely the last blog post for a 9/11 anniversary but I will say that it is these posts that have make me hold onto the blog for as long as I have. If you care to read: 9th Anniversary, 10th Anniversary, 11th Anniversary, 12th Anniversary, 13th Anniversary, 14th Anniversary, 15th Anniversary, 18th Anniversary and 19th Anniversary, 20th Anniversary, 21st Anniversary, 22nd Anniversary and 23rd Anniversary.

As I wake up tomorrow on a new day, I will be grateful for the lives and examples of the crews, the passengers and all those at the WTC and Pentagon that were lost on 9/11. I will mourn what could have been for them. I will try to find joy and beauty in everyone – and that is without qualifier. I wish for us all a world where each of us will do the same and choose to be worthy.

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

Freshly Made Sketches #690

June 11, 2025 Jentimko 3 Comments

We have a great sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches! Our amazing Karren Johnson has given us some great options and I knew just what I wanted to do.

I had a birthday card that I needed to make for one of my boys and he loves foxes. Naturally, I pulled out my Fall Foxes from The Rabbit Hole Designs and got to coloring. Even though it says fall foxes, I colored him as a spring fox. I love him! To shop for him and other cute things from The Rabbit Hole Designs, just click the link to the store above or you can use discount code on their site: STAMPINONTHEFLY

I chose a woodgrain background from Honey Bee Stamps and found a scrap of green paper that matched the leaves to help with the sketch. The sentiment is from the Mini Messages: Birthday set. But what you can’t see in the photo is that the fox is up on a mini action wobbler. These little gadgets are so fun!!

You can see the video here: Fox Wobble Card

And here is the sketch for your reference:

Thanks so much for stopping in today. Hope you like this and will come over to join us too! See you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #678

March 19, 2025 Jentimko 7 Comments

Another week has flown by. I’m teaching out in Denver this week but I was able to get in a little crafting time before heading out here. We have a gorgeous sketch at Freshly Made Sketches courtesy of our lovely Cécile Ribon. I didn’t vary from it too much but I see so many ways to use it (and so many flower options).

I opted for the incredible flower from the Bloom with Grace Stamp Set by Honey Bee Stamps. I know it isn’t really sunflower season but I didn’t think that should stop me from coloring this one. I took a bit of time working on shading and adding some rust colored shading. I love images like this that give room to play a bit and think about shadows and light.

For the background, I thought I’d experiment a little on BetterPress Cotton Card Panels in Bisque. I partially stamped the Vintage Flora Background Stamp in Vintage Photo Distress Ink. Then I added water to smudge and add character. I took my watercolor paints and added some variations on green randomly over the image and then added black splatters. For the flower and leaves, I actually fussy cut the images. I don’t do this often but for this I thought it intensified the effect. To keep the edges of the flower from looking too white, I took a black marker (I do this from behind to help avoid stray accidents) around the edges. Finally a sentiment from the Mini Messages Stamp Set using its coordinating die set.

Hope you like this one and are having a good week. Thanks for stopping by today! See you soon.

Freshly Made Sketches #661

November 6, 2024 Jentimko 4 Comments

Apparently I remain in a sunflower state of mind. This week’s sketch at Freshly Made Sketches is courtesy of our lovely Jacquie Southas and her split panel design is so great to use.

I pulled out my Copics to play with this amazing set from Honey Bee Stamps. There are three flowers in the set along with leaves and sentiments. I loved this side facing flower so that was where I started. I colored with a handful of yellows and browns and greens and then added some stippling for detail and depth.

For the sketch, I used the Fall Leaves 3D Embossing Folder on a piece of card stock and then just cut it apart. Easy peasy! The sentiment is also from the stamp set and is sweet, don’t you think?

Thanks so much for stopping in today. I appreciate you all!

Freshly Made Sketches #658

October 16, 2024 Jentimko 3 Comments

Super quick today. Another fabulous sketch at Freshly Made Sketches and this week’s designer is the lovely Narelle Farrugia. My two boys have been home from college (their fall breaks shared a weekend) and while they were here I had a request to create a birthday card for a friend. Can’t say no to that!!

I had the Meowgical stamp set in my workspace from last week’s card and he told me that I should use it. Specifically, to create a black and white tuxedo that looks like a specific kitty. Oh, and the kitty actually has a little cape that is purple as a costume! I colored over the tabby markings with my Black and T8 Comics and created a tuxedo face with a pen. My “muse” has a black and pink nose so yeah, definitely had to do that!

I chose some papers from the Spooktactular Paper Pack (Honey Bee Stamps). I inked on a little bit of Villainous Potion) to get the purples to match a bit better. When I tried sticking just to the sketch, the kitty was kind of just floating so I added a green circle to help ground him a bit. I thought a little bit of black metallic thread would be a nice touch too. I hope the lad’s friend likes it (but Nate is sure he will).

Hope you’ll have fun with this sketch and that you’ll join us in the gallery. Have a great rest of your week and see you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #657

October 9, 2024 Jentimko 8 Comments

Happy to share the fun sketch over at Freshly Made Sketches this week. Karren has really created a fun one with the angled panel and the tag element. I found my idea came together really quickly for this one!

It all started with these kitties….a phrase that pretty much describes daily life at my house! They come from the Meowgical Stamp Set by The Rabbit Hole Designs and I love them! A couple of weeks ago, I needed some coloring therapy and sat down to Copic color these two. I think I told you about a Copic “belch” and had to rethink a card. It was on one of these that I had almost finished. So I walked away for a bit and then came back to color again. As usual, I chose to make them Kate (the calico) and Meg (my gray tuxedo). I didn’t quite create Meg’s face flash but otherwise it is pretty much them.

There is a fun spider web image in the set and at first I planned to use it. But then I came across this paper from the Spooktacular Paper Pack (Honey Bee Stamps) and thought it was perfect for the sketch. I found this green texture paper in the same pack and used on of my “Free Bee” tag dies to cut it out (Honey Bee has freebies that come with certain order amounts…which I always seem to hit…and this tag set has other fun elements with it too). The sentiments from the stamp set are all so cute and punny! In my brain this is totally Kate casting a disappearing spell on Meg and Meg just looking at her all sassy after drinking some kind of immunity potion. And if Kate could make Meg disappear, pretty sure she would!! Ah, calico kitties!!! Also Kate has one of the loudest and purriest purrs ever so…. Clearly this will end up with one of the boys or someone who knows these two and their shenanigans.

I had an orange and white ribbon that, at first, I tried in the tag but it was too thick. Instead, I used it as a border detail and love the effect. All the ribbon and twine is from my “collection”.

Thanks so much for stopping in today. For the next week, I’m one happy mom. Both of the boys will be coming home for their respective fall breaks. A little staggered but both here over the weekend. For all of you who are in the path of the latest hurricane or have been impacted by Helene, please know my thoughts remain with you. Please take care of yourselves and know that we are waiting to support you in any way we can. See you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #647

July 31, 2024 Jentimko 2 Comments

Hope all is going well with you summer! Here we are at the end of July already. I had a little time to make a quick card for this week’s Freshly Made Sketches so I’m here to share. This fun sketch from our wonderful Karren Johnson was easy to use and I think it will be a popular one this week.

I pulled out my new BetterPress again for this one and used the Floral J and Sentiment Press Plate. Seemed like the right letter for me, don’t you think?! I inked it up with Momento Tuxedo Black with the intent to use Copics and it worked great! Just some easy coloring and I love the detail on this.

To keep to the sketch, I cut out the letter with the Stacking Art Deco Labels dies. In the background, I used the Dogwood Blooms 3-D Embossing Folder on white card stock and then cut it per the sketch. Like I said, a quick card!

Thanks so much for stopping in today. As always, I appreciate you! See you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #631

April 10, 2024 Jentimko 5 Comments

Hi everyone! Back with the latest from Freshly Made Sketches and I am the sketch designer this week. Not gonna lie, I cheated on the sketch and created it after I had colored my image for the card. I just HAD to use it!

This giant image is so beautiful and perfect for practicing coloring. In this case, Copic Marker coloring. I thought about a not-red rose but thought I’d just keep it classic for the first use of the stamp. It is the Big & Bold – Smell the Roses stamp and die set from Colorado Craft Company. I did the coloring over a few days and had fun playing with shading not just on the flower but on the leaves too.

The base of the card is 5-1/2″x 5-1/2″ so that I didn’t have to cut off any of the image. I used a woodgrain background and then did some “imperfect” stamping with the Vintage Flora stamp by Honey Bee Stamps. It isn’t as big as the card but I just inked up part of it with Distress Oxide Ink in Scorched Timber. I did some stitching around the edges and then I added some splatters in white gouache and black watercolor paint and a few black confetti pieces. Finally, I chose a sentiment from the stamp stamp set as the flower. Perfect for the red rose, don’t you think?!

I hope you enjoy this card as much as I did making it. Have a great rest of your week and I look forward to seeing you in the gallery!

Freshly Made Sketches #625

February 28, 2024 Jentimko 3 Comments

As I was coming over to write this post, I realized I never posted last week’s FMS card here. I did over at Instagram so a good time to remind you that I’m there as well: jentimko on Instagram. With that, we have a new sketch from Jen Brum for this week at Freshly Made Sketches and it is super fun. I took a little twist on the circle with a partial die cut edge to line it up with a die cut image.

I just got this sweet image from Colorado Craft Company called Finally Spring and thought it would be fun to use for the sketch. I love that the coloring only takes a few minutes since the images are so small. I used my Copics to create what I saw as cherry blossoms. Once that was completed I pondered how to make this work best.

I brushed on some Distress Oxides in Tumbled Glass and Broken China to “split” the panel. Then I added some Saltwater Taffy to an additional panel. Using the die for the image I did a partial die cut edge so that the image could nestle up in the cutouts. I make the image stand up a bit more, I cut two extra backing pieces to stack behind the image. Finally a sweet sentiment from the set.

I hope you like my interpretation of the sketch and will come over to join us. Thanks so much for stopping in today. See you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #623

February 14, 2024 Jentimko 7 Comments

Hi everyone! I have a fun card for you this week courtesy of the latest Freshly Made Sketches challenge. Our always awesome Linda Callahan is our sketch designer this week and the gave us a fun slant on her sketch this week.

When I first say the release with these element stamps from The Rabbit Hole Designs, I knew I had to have them! My BioChem kid needs cards, after all! The Fall Foxes set is also so cute and I loved this little napping fellow for the sentiment. Seemed perfect for the sketch too. I did a bit of Copic coloring on the fox blending some of my browns and reds to get “fox color”. It was fun just to play with it and I wasn’t sure it would even work but I like how it turned out. And I decided to make him a spring fox!

I stamped on the sentiment (there are coordinating dies for the elements if needed) and kept the rest clean. A strip of black card stock and some twine with copper threading which I thought was fun with the fox. All ready to head out to the lad!

Hope you are having a great week. Just got back from a real live flying trip and it was nice to get out in the system for a few days. Reminded me of how much I love getting people where they need to go. Hope your week goes well. See you soon!

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