I hope your week is going well so far! Happy Wednesday. I’m here to share the latest from Freshly Made Sketches and this week, I am the sketch designer. Slimline cards continue to be a trend and I wanted to give the vertical look a try.

For my card, it all started with a flower. This image from Sketchbook Florals by Taylored Expressions is everything that is good about floral stamps. The perfect size, easy to color, gorgeous! I watercolored it with my Daniel Smith watercolor paints and then die cut it with the coordinating die.

To “frame” it, I wanted interest but nothing that would pull away from the flower. I chose the Mini Slim Square Window Cutting Plate and it does the job perfectly. I popped it up on foam tape to give dimension after adding this sweet sentiment from the same set.

I hope you will come over and play along this week! The team has some amazing inspiration for you too! Thanks for stopping in. See you soon.

I have a fun sketch to share with you today! The always amazing Narelle has designed a great one for this week at Freshly Made Sketches.

Normally when I see big circles, I immediately think flower. And to be honest, I did here too. But then I remembered the pumpkins!! I wanted to bring these Patchwork Pumpkin dies back out to play some more. Instead of using the stamped designs (which would have been totally cute too), I just went with basic inking. I cut the elements from Hammermill card stock and then sponged on the ink. Super simple. I stamped the sentiment from the set and cut it out with its coordinating die. To add a little more interest, I chose a pattern from the Halloween Harvest Paper Pack. I love the purple plaid!! A few gems from the Halloween Harvest Gem Pack to finish.

Thanks for stopping in today! I hope you are having a great week. See you again soon!

Been a bit quiet around here for stamping. I am starting to work on some new projects for upcoming releases so I’m getting back to it. I find summer a time for for other focus most years and this year even more so. With the graduation projects in May/June, you probably can surmise that I’m preparing for my oldest to head to college. He is ready…me, not so much. And then there is this Captaining thing. As I work on this challenge, I find it takes a lot of new mental real estate. It is a good thing, but not great for my mojo. So with that….I have combined two of my favorite things for today’s card: Mix It Up Challenge #81 and Freshly Made Sketches.

I was so in love with the inspiration photo from the Mix It Up Challenge that I just immediately pulled out my distress inks to create a background in those ocean and sky colors. I love result! I took the panel I colored and cut it into the panels from the FMS sketch. WOW! Before adding it to the base, I threw on a few gouache splatters.

Again motivated by the inspiration picture, I chose one of the leaf dies from Botanical Branches cut from a distress inked panel. I added an embossed sentiment from the Everyday Sentiments set and then finished with some sequins.

Thanks so much for stopping in today. In case I forget to tell you, I so appreciate all of you! Have a great rest of your week!

Hi everyone! I’m happy to be here with the latest from Freshly Made Sketches today. Our wonderful Narelle is the sketch designer and I love her classic sketch.

I was inspired today by my own garden. I’ll share the pics below! I love this coneflower image from the Wildflowers Stamp Set by Honey Bee Stamps. I colored it to match my flowers and added some bees just like mine too! The coloring was done with Copic Markers.

The sentiment comes from the My Favorite Flowers Stamp set. To add a little texture, I pulled out the Quilted Dots Stencil and added a bit of texture pasted on the Fog Gray paper.

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Thanks so much for dropping in today! So happy to have you here.

Over on Instagram, the SugarPea Designs Team is doing our post-release Sweet 2 Repeat Hop. I hope you will come over and join us for a chance to win!

I pulled out the Sunshine Sentiments and SugarCut – Sunshine again. Combined with the Sunburst Stencil, this has a totally different look than my card using the same products last week.

I hope you will join us in our hop. You can start here: Jen’s Instagram Thanks so much for stopping in today. See you soon!

Whew, it has been quite a week of posting! But today I’m here with my regular Wednesday post for Freshly Made Sketches. Our wonderful Jen Brum is the sketch designer and I’m so excited to share my card with her great idea.

I still had my new Ellen Hutson All About You stamp set on my table so I thought it would be perfect for the sketch today. But what with it? I looked through my Ellen stamps and came across the Mondo Gerbera Daisy and knew it was just right. I did some quick Copic Marker coloring on the flower and then ended up fussy cutting it (but there is a die for those less inclined to do that).

I had a bit of the Summer Stems Paper from Honey Bee Stamps left over from a card on my desk and knew it was exactly what I needed (this is the back side of the olive gingham from my kitty card…a pretty olive ombré). I stamped the bold “you” and then chose this sentiment since it seemed to fit nicely with the sketch and the image.

So glad you stopped in today! I hope you have fun with this sketch and will come over and join the fun at FMS! See you soon.

WOW! After release-a-palooza last week, I’m taking a deep breath! I hope you enjoyed all the beautiful products from both SugarPea Designs and Honey Bee Stamps! Today I’m here to share the latest from Freshly Made Sketches and we have an amazing sketch from designer Amy O’Neill.

I never had the chance to show you this Paint Palette SugarCut Die last week and I really thought you needed to see it in action. It also happens to be perfect for the sketch! I cut the palette from some old corrugated kraft card stock in my stash and then added the fun little ink colors. They are cut from Tim Holtz Heavyweight Distress paper and then colored with Distress Inks. I cut the paint brush the same way with exception of the little silver ferrule which I cut from some silver paper. It is wonderfully fun to put this together and super quick too. I added a sentiment from Everyday Sentiments cut with the Sentiment Strips SugarCut Dies.

I think this sketch will be super popular and the gallery is sure to be wonderful! Come on over and join us! Thanks for stopping in today!

Welcome to the Let’s Celebrate Sneak Peeks from Honey Bee Stamps. And truly, it is something to celebrate! The release will go live on Monday, May 3rd after the release party on IG and FB that starts at 8p Central.

I am focusing today on a new stamp and die combination that will become a go-to in any stamp room: Bitty Buzzwords Stamp Set and Bitty Buzzwords Honey Cuts Dies (Release links will be live on May 3rd after the release party)

This set has all the potential to be one you reach for over and over to add sentiments outside and inside your cards. But I thought I’d show it as the focal point today. I used the partial die cut method with the word outline at the edge of my white layer. This left me room to show off a beautiful background which also helps the word pop! Usually, I would have to ink and watercolor and smoosh and….. But nope! I just pulled one of the Team Tie Dye prints instead. With one sheet, I created both cards.

When running through my Gemini Jr., placing the top plate is the key to where the die stops cutting. Mine was a little off of what I wanted and cut into the stock just a little below the word. After using a paper trimmer to cut each side away, I just cut the shadow from vellum and placed it over the card stock cut. Problem solved and I like how the vellum helps further define the word. For the patterned paper, I cut the 6″x 6″ paper to 4.25″ x 6″ and then in half again. That left a side piece that I used for cutting the words to layer on top. I just placed the dies so that they coordinated with the print showing.

I used the print part of the Bitty Buzzwords Stamps for the add on to the sentiment and I love the choices. To finish the card I added some Playful Pastels Gem Stickers.

Thanks so much for stopping in today. I hope you enjoy this peek!

I’m up on the SugarPea Designs company blog today for the SugarPea Designs Mix It Up Challenge #78 and I am also using the Freshly Made Sketches #482 challenge.

Our sketch today uses a slimline format which was fun to use. I used the colors from the Mix It Up challenge for inspiration. With Daniel Smith Watercolor paints, I painted the sketch vertical lines. Don’t you love the granulation on the gray?? I love how it broke into the colors from the inspiration photo!

My paint colors are Shadow Violet, Mayan Dark Blue and Mummy Bauxite. I reached for the Meadow Motifs stamp set (a continued favorite) and painted it with these moody colors. I thought I’d make this a sympathy card since they are always good to have on hand and you never want to have to make it when you need it.

Thanks so much for stopping in. Remember you have a chance to win when you participate in the Mix It Up Challenge! See you soon!

Today I have a project for the SugarPea Designs company blog to share with you. I just love the beautiful colors of spring and that was my inspiration for today.

I chose the Open Book SugarCut dies to create the wreath. After inking a piece of watercolor paper with varying green inks, I cut a bunch of the leaves for making the wreath. I cut a few of the other leaf designs too. Then I colored some more paper with pink and yellow and cut the flower pieces.

I glued the wreath together on a silicone mat for easy positioning. Before placing it on the panel, I splattered the background with the green inks. Then I glued it down. The sentiment comes from the Happy Word SugarCut Dies and the Happy Thoughts stamp set.

I hope you enjoy this inspiration. Hop over to the SugarPea Designs Blog for lots more! Thanks for stopping in today.