I chose this fabulous new image from Erin Lee Creative as the focal point. It is from the Tropical Leaves stamp set and will be available on June 12th as part of her new release. I colored with Copic and then cut it out with an oval die. I realized that one of the sentiments in the set fit perfectly so I added it on the oval. I did some scoring to complete the sketch.
Thank you for stopping in today. I hope you are safe and well. See you soon!
Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed the flurry of posts last week. It was such fun being part of that exciting release. Back to “normal” this week and up with the latest from Freshly Made Sketches. Our sketch designer is Cécile and wow, did she create a wonderful challenge.
At first the sketch had me a bit stumped. But then….an a-ha moment!! This City Stacks Stamp Set by Concord and 9th was perfect!! I stamped it onto white card stock with Momento Tuxedo Black ink and then pulled out my Copic markers. I kept to generally muted colors that seemed right for my imaginary city. And I’m going to be truthful, I love many cities across the country (and world). And I miss them. I miss traveling a lot. I miss the people I work with and I miss seeing friends on my occasional visits to their cities. And that is ok. Because I know I have also been part of a greater good. But won’t it be wonderful when we can gather again?!
I think you are going to find all kinds of ways to use this sketch and I cannot wait to see them! I hope you are able to join us. Make sure to go see all that the design team has created. Honestly, they are just the best!! Thanks for stopping in today. I appreciate you so much!
Today is day 4 of the Sweet Peek Week from SugarPea Designs! Are you impressed yet?! Well, we have just a little more to blow your sock off before unleashing you to shopping. Today’s stamp set and coordinating die are the Floral Envie Set and SugarCut plus the Handwritten Letter background stamp.
I am utterly in love with this envelope image. Just wow! The details are spectacular. If you love to color as much as I do, you will have so much fun with this. I colored the image using Copic Markers and just played with shading. To be truthful, I got just a bit lost in the process and that was such a gift!
Once I was done coloring, I cut the image out with the coordinating SugarCut die. It lines up perfectly and easily. Which is critical after all the time spent coloring for sure. I wanted to keep all the focus on my work so I used a piece of Kraft paper and stamped the Handwritten Letter background in Versamark. Subtle, beautiful, classic! I could not resist adding a couple of butterflies from the set popped up and the simple sentiment is from the Floral Envie set too.
Would you like to win a $50 Gift Voucher to the SPD store? Leave a comment below for your chance to win. TWO lucky commenters will be randomly selected from the Sweet Peek Week comments to win a $50 Gift Voucher! Winners will be announced on our blog: Monday, May 25th.
Three posts in a row! Don’t faint! It has been fun to be able to share different things with you and today I’m back to my standard Wednesday with Freshly Made Sketches. I am the sketch designer this week.
I started coloring these images over the weekend (and shared on Instagram) from the new Superhero Scrubs stamp set by Erin Lee Creative. Erin’s husband is one of these superheroes so the set is near and dear to her! I was really hoping that I could make them work for my sketch this week and I love how they turned out. I stamped them onto XPress-It Copic Coloring Paper. This paper is made just for Copic and it makes blending easy. I fussy cut them out and then went to work on the rest of the card. For the top, I decided to use the Tumbling Hearts Stencil from Newton’s Nook Designs for textured embossing. It is really easy with the right sandwich. I often say that stencils are a cost effective workhorse in your crafting and this is an example why. I stamped the bottom portion with a sentiment from the same stamp set. To add extra dimension, I glued the red card stock to the base and then popped up the white pieces. Red sequins seemed like a good addition so on they went.
The design team has created all kinds of wonderful takes on the sketch. What amazing talent they have! Hope you will join in and share with us too. Thanks for stopping by today. See you soon!
So happy to be here today with Crafty Friends Blog Hop day! We have another amazing company for our focus this month: Trinity Stamps.
I just fell in love with this sweet little set called Hopeful Flowers. That little watering can with the flowers captured me! I colored it using my Copic Markers and cut it out with the coordinating dies. In order to keep focus on the petite image, I kept the rest of the card simple.
The Thank You Senti-mini set has these “go-with” sentiments for the Thanks and Thank You. This one seemed just right for the flowers. I sponged on a little ink in a happy yellow for a bit of a halo effect and added Polkadot Party: Shiny and Matte White Confetti Mix sequins.
I continue to be so thrilled that companies are working with us to give you discounts for our hops. Shop with Trinity Stamps on Feb 20 – 21 and use the code CRAFTYFRIENDS20at checkout to get a 20% Discount. Click the graphic above to get to the shop.
Now on to the rest of the hop. I’m thrilled to send you to the lovely and talented Jenny Hall. Here is the list in case you get lost along the way:
I am happy to be back over at SugarPea Designs for week 2 of my April guest posts. First, I’m so grateful that many of you visited their site last week and did some shopping. I can’t wait for you to see the sweet box her products come in and the darling packaging. And if you didn’t have a moment to visit last week, I hope to inspire you to this week.
You know by now that I cannot resist a flower and these Meadow Motifs images are the best! Pretty flowers, extra images to pop up for texture. Beautifully designed! I blended pink into orange and then yellow to create the shading with Copic Markers. I went right to my YG markers for the perfect spring green leaves that also happen to perfectly match the Key Lime Pie Envelopes. I colored up one of the butterflies from the set in lavender as a contrast to the pink/orange.
Once I completed the coloring, I cut all of the images out with the coordinating SugarCut Meadow Motifs dies. To create the background, I inked some white card stock in Shaded Lilac Distress Ink and then cut the cover plate from more white with the SugarCut Large Striped CoverPlate die. The sentiment came from the multitasking workhorse Everyday Sentiments stamp set. Finally, I found some purple/green iridescent sequins in my stash to finish.
So a reminder about shopping with any of the craft companies right now, there are limitations, just like on all the other aspects of our lives. If something is showing as “sold out”, it may be because they cannot get to their warehouse or their distributor cannot come in to make additional products. Some companies cannot even ship. For now, SugarPea Designs is able to ship what she has in stock but re-stock may take time. Please just make a wish list or notify when available. These companies want your business very much but sometimes there is only so much they can do. When they do ship to you, go over to their social media sites and share photos! They LOVE this and are super excited when they see you happy. I hope you enjoy this bit of spring today. I’ll be back Wednesday for the latest from Freshly Made Sketches. Have a good Monday!
I mentioned the other day that one of the things I have been doing is just coloring for fun while listening to “Lives” or classes online taught by my friends. One of these is my dear friend Lydia Fiedler. Something about that dear woman’s calming voice and humor just makes my day better. I’d love to say I even did the basic work of stamping the image for this but my Crafty Friends teammate (and of course, friend) Sandi Maciver shared the image with me in the fall (Botanical Burst by Tonic Studios).
I started with my G series Copics on the greens (G20, G21, G24, G28) and played with shading. Once I got those right, I stared on the flowers using some pinks, oranges and yellows (RV09, YR68, Y38, Y17, Y06). I was just messing around with blending while listening to the lovely chatter about shading (with Lydia and Kathy Racoosin) and then while Lydia was showing some swatching. These wonderful friends who share their time and talents make me happy. Friends who send not only pretty cards but pretty things to colors are amazing! In all of this that is swirling about, I love that one my constants is the kindness of my creative community.
Most of the time I share things that were created with a “purpose” but I wanted to remind you that now is the time to create when the actual creating is the purpose. The coloring on this took about 4 days or so, just a little at a time. It is hard to pay back for how these people help but I can attempt to pay forward. Affiliate links are how many of us pay for our crafting blogs and products. They don’t cost you, the customer, anything additional. It just allows companies to reward those who create sales for them. Lydia and Sandi have affiliate links over on their blogs. So if you need a little something for your craft room, I promise they probably will enable you to go ahead and get it. Just click the links on their names above and you will be routed to the right place.
I hope you have a peaceful day. Remember to cut yourself some slack if things don’t be going how you think they should. None of this is normal. It is ok to be on your heels a bit, to feel like you have lost control of things. I know that is how I feel many days. But we have each other and isn’t that a beautiful thing. I’ll be back soon with more to share. Until then, stay safe and healthy!
This is the first of two posts today for me. Our latest sketch for Freshly Made Sketches is designed by the lovely Narelle Farrugia. Another beauty for sure! First though, a brief update. Like everyone else worldwide, I’m finding my world turning upside down. A week ago I was on my way to Amsterdam when the first travel ban went into place. Since then, my airline has been trying to adjust and adapt. As pilots we are conflicted. We understand the need for social distancing but we also know there are circumstances that require people to fly. We love bringing people together safely. My airline is suffering (like so many businesses) and we have no idea what will come next. I’m trying to focus on one day at a time, as I’m sure you are too. So, with that, crafting! I’m thankful I have this hobby for respite.
I had trouble focusing even with such an inspiring sketch so I went to what makes me happy. I started with a stamp from a company I love (Gina K Designs) and colored it with my favorite Copic colors. After some debate, I just kept the rest of the card white. The pretty circle behind the butterfly is from Pinkfresh Studios and the sentiment is from Tonic Studios. All the links are below.
Our design team has created marvelous works of inspiration. How lucky I am to work with such an extraordinary group of people! My friends, as always I am thankful for you all. While we all have some turbulent days ahead, I have faith in the kindness of people. I have confidence that we can find our best selves. Please be safe, stay home and know that I hold you in my prayers.
Make sure you come back for my second post and a fun announcement too!
I love our fun sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches, as always. Our dear Karren is the sketch designer and this is a classic you are sure enjoy using.
I took advantage of the circle to use a new to me stamp from Erin Lee Creative called Coffee Girl. Isn’t she sweet? I met Erin at Stamping Away and found her to be such a joy (and super funny!!). When you see her fun line of stamps you are sure to enjoy the humor. This image was fun for working on shading and hair. A work in progress but always fun to play!
After coloring her, I used a stitched circle die to match the sketch. Then I went searching through my stacks of patterned paper and found this old set from Stampin’ Up. Perfect colors too! I thought this sentiment from the stamp stamp set was perfect for the little hearts and it is fitting for this week of the time adjustment.
It seemed easier to just show you which markers I used on my coloring that to write them all out. The top picture contains the colors for her clothing and accessories. The bottom has her skin and hair (the top row is hair, the bottom is skin).
I hope you have fun with this one and find inspiration from the team! So glad you stopped in today. Thanks for visiting and see you soon!
A quick share today! I thought a pretty blue butterfly might be just the thing during our current environment of uncertainty.
I love this amazing butterfly image from the Butterfly Blossoms set by Reverse Confetti. The flowers in the set are created to be able to layer for dimension or you can just keep it to one layer. I opted to color the flowers separately and pop them up. All of the coloring is using Copic Markers.
I thought that playing with blues would be a nice change for a butterfly and I’m pretty happy with how the light blues here almost seem to glow. I’d love to claim that it was my intention but just a happy accident that comes with experimenting. The sentiment comes from the same set. Don’t you love that font?! The pretty panel uses the Lacy Scallop Frame dies, also from Reverse Confetti.
Thanks for stopping in today. I’m sure you are like me in not liking how unclear things are with this awful virus. My industry is affected strongly, as you might imagine. But I take comfort that my friends are here for me and I’m here for them. I hope you have a good day and know how much I appreciate you!
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