I’m up for the social media team on Instagram for Honey Bee Stamps today. But I wanted to share here too! I took a class last weekend with the amazing Jenn Shurkus on all things Distress Ink. What fun! It encouraged me to pull out some things that I hadn’t really used in a while and just play. I strongly encourage doing that! It is good for the soul.

Using Distress Watercolor Paper, I stamped the Spring Blooms image with Versamark. Then I heat embossed with white embossing powder. Using Distress Oxide inks, I smooshed the ink down on my Waffleflower Watercolor Mat and then spritzed with water. I then took a small acrylic block and used it to pick up the ink for placement. I like using a small one because I can sort of control where color goes and then use the corner or edge to place more down.

The key here is patience. Just let it dry between colors. It also allows you to see where you need to come back with a little more color for variance. The Oxide inks have such interesting color breakdowns with water and they are fabulous to use. For colors I used Picked Raspberry, Abandoned Coral, Mowed Lawn, Rustic Wilderness, Squeezed Lemonade, and Mustard Seed. I chose a sentiment from the new Spring Joy Bouquet set, stamped it on Black card stock, embossed with white and then cut it out with the coordinating Spring Joy Bouquet die. I added a few Bubblegum Confetti elements to finish.

I hope you enjoy this card and will go give this a try. If you are totally new to Distress Ink, go visit Jenn Shurkus and sign up for one of her classes. You’ll be happy you did! I have some more fun coming this weekend from Erin Lee Creative and then a new release for her on Monday. See you then!

Today I’m sharing a project I created for the Erin Lee Creative company blog. I have said it before, I love Erin’s fresh take on products and her point of view is always unique and trend-making.

I love how she creates things that I didn’t even know I needed….at least until I see it! That was my starting point for today’s card. I love this Stay Golden Word Die!  Love it.  From the Urban Dictionary, “Stay Golden” means “Stay true, real”.  Yeah.  How better to cheer someone on who is struggling with confidence or a big decision? As a mom of a high school senior, I thought this would be perfect for him as he starts to make choices about next year.

I kept this clean (like almost always) but tried to make it a bit more wow by using glitter paper with the dies.  The Nesting Stars Die Set seemed like a perfect choice to go with the sentiment.   I love the overall shape of these and the varied widths make them fun to use together or apart.  I added a few gold sequins for a little more shine and decided to call it good.  There is only so much “stuff” a high school boy will tolerate after all.

I hope you like this card and are inspired to look through Erin’s amazing product line for the next trend! Thanks so much for stopping in today.

I’m happy to be able to share the latest from Freshly Made Sketches today. Our sketch was designed by the lovely Karren Johnson and it is another winner for sure!

I started with this dotted circle die from Pinkfresh Studio. Something about just cutting the dots into a base that I just love. I thought this flower from Folk Hummingbird was a nice fit for the sketch so I stamped it in Momento ink and colored it with Copic Markers. At first I just had white behind the circle but it got a bit lost. So I added a piece of pale blue card stock underneath and that was the perfect answer. The sentiment is from the same stamp set.

I hope you will have a bit of time to play along with us this week. Our team has created some beautiful inspiration and I would love to see you in the gallery. Back tomorrow with a card for SugarPea Designs. See you then! Thanks for stopping in today.

Today is the day!! Release day for the Winter Release by SugarPea Designs! Today (Friday) at 2p Eastern all the shopping go live! Don’t forget to enter the GIVEAWAY by commenting on the team posts.

I wanted to come back to the Friendship Blooms stamp and die sets today but with the addition of some products I had not shown you yet. I created the background with the Gradient Stripes Stencil. I love the potential for this one. It is gorgeous with this Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide Ink but would also be fabulous with embossing paste and other mediums. I added a layer from the new Stitched Scallops SugarCut which is just a fabulous basics set. I do love workhorse dies!!

Because I had started with Distress Oxide Ink, I thought that I should do some coloring with regular Distress Ink. I used Abandoned Coral and Picked Raspberry for the flower and then Bundled Sage with a touch of Rustic Wilderness on the leaves. I chose this pretty sentiment from the Floral Envie Stamp set to create a birthday card.

Would you like to win a $50 Gift Voucher to our 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, January 25th.

• SugarPea Designs
• Amy Kolling
• Jennifer Timko <<— You Are Here
• Linda van Wely
• Tatiana Trafimovich
• Tricia Barber
• Vera Yates

I have enjoyed sharing with you all week and I cannot wait for you to be able to craft with these amazing products. The release goes live today at 2p Eastern and I’d love for you to shop with me if you are so inclined. Thanks for all the kind words all week. You really make sharing so wonderful! Now, time for a Sugar Rush!!

Welcome back to the new year of Freshly Made Sketches challenges! We are starting off right with a bit of “slimming down”. Yep, Jen Mitchell created a clever slimline sketch for the new year.

I pulled out the new Love You S’more stamp set from the Love Letters release by Honey Bee Stamps. I didn’t use it during the sneak peeks so it seemed like a good time to show it. I stamped the images in Momento Tuxedo Black ink and Copic colored. I found a fun pattern in the Birthday Bash patterned paper and cut it to a slimline profile. Not quite the full slimline classic but 6″x3″ to accommodate the paper.

In case you missed my Instagram post yesterday, I wanted to do a quick share on a card I made specifically for an IG Hop with Honey Bee Stamps. There is a chance to win so please go over and check it out.

Thanks for stopping in today. So happy you dropped by. Back to flying a bit more this week so I’ll have a few days off. See you soon!

Happy Thursday! I’m super happy to be hopping along with Erin Lee Creative and her talented band of designers celebrating her new Coffee Lovers Kit. There is a great GIVEAWAY at the end of this post so make sure you take a look at that. Also, the kit is on sale this week for $39.99!! Wow!

I thought that I would use one of the stencils in the kit with the watercolor technique I have shown you before. You use the stencil as a guide to watercolor. Yep, it as easy as it sounds.

All I did was spray the stencil with a bit of Pixie Spray to make sure it stayed put. Then I put the stencil on watercolor paper as you can see here. I pulled out my Daniel Smith watercolors and a palette for blending the colors. I just added the paint through the stencil and the stencil keeps everything in place for you. I don’t let it get too wet but otherwise, not too much else to share. I left the stencil on as it dried back and then layered on a bit more color to shade and add dimension. Once it is all done just remove the stencil and….magic!

It looks like a hand drawn image but without actually being able to draw (in my case). The sentiment comes from the kit as well and seemed perfect to finish the card. I hope you enjoy this and are inspired to give the technique a try.

Now for a chance to win!

Prizes: 2 lucky commenters will win the Coffee Lovers Kit. Winners will be announced on the ELC blog Monday, December 14. Comment on everyone’s blog or IG for a greater chance to win!

On with the hop! Up next is the amazing Lynnea Hollendonner. You are sure to love her project. Here is the whole hop list in case you get lost:

• Erin Lee Creative Blog
• Dilay Nicar
• Jeannie Lieu
• Eva Costigan
• Ceal Pritchett
• Cheryl Knutti
• Michelle McDaniel
• Jennifer Timko <— You Are Here
• Lynnea Hollendonner

I hope you enjoy all the inspiration on the hop today! Thanks so much for stopping in.

Another week has flown by and it is already Wednesday! I’m here to share the latest from Freshly Made Sketches and our wonderful new challenge designed by the lovely Jacquie Southas.

The tag element in the sketch is really brilliant and super fun to use. I opted to create a tag with my brand new (fresh from the mail) set from The Greetery called Hoop Wreath. As with all stamps from them, the layered stamping and beautiful images are so well considered. And a sentiment that can be cut out too?? YES!! I pulled out an old tag die (from Studio Katia, I think) and just applied the elements after stamping. I do find it easiest to cut first, then line up the images with all except the sentiment. I added some ribbon and pearls from my stash to finish.

That’s it for today. I’ll be back tomorrow with a hop with Erin Lee Creative. Hope you have a beautiful day!

A super quick post for today. I’m so happy to share this week’s Freshly Made Sketches challenge with you. Our lovely Judy Rozema is the sketch designer and you are going to love this classic design.

I thought the sketch was perfect for showing off this new Cup Heart Die from Erin Lee Creative. It is one of the add-ons to her new Coffee Lover Kit and it is fabulous. I cut it out of watercolor paper and then just colored it with Distress Inks. Super easy! I created a wash background to match the sketch and then added a sentiment from the kit. I think this will be super popular and we have a hop coming at the end of the week to show you even more!

I hope you have a few moments to join in. The team has created a wonderful variety and I’m sure you’ll be inspired by them. Thanks for stopping in today. See you tomorrow and Friday for new projects with SugarPea Designs and Erin Lee Creative.

Just a quick drop in to share some Black Friday (or all weekend) sales from some of my favorite companies. If you are shopping, I’d appreciate you shopping from my affiliates. There is no cost to you and it helps me continue to run my blog. Thank you!!

SugarPea Designs

Erin Lee Creative

Ellen Hutson

Simon Says Stamp

Honey Bee Stamps

Picket Fence Studios

Concord and 9th

I am happy to be joining in again on Tracey McNeely’s 25 Days of Christmas Tags! Today, the featured company is the wonderful Erin Lee Creative.

You know how much I love Erin and her unique artistic point of view. It is so important to have a voice like hers in our creative industry! Also, she is truly a gem!

When it comes to tags, I’m very much a clean and simple fan. They make such a difference as a final touch in packaging but, let’s face it, mostly do not make it past the opening process. I saw this leaf from the Boho Rainbow Stamp Set and knew it would be perfect for my tags. I stamped it on two tags using Momento Tuxedo Black ink and then colored with Copic Markers.

The sentiment is from another favorite set, Winter Florals. With a little bit of masking, I split up the sentiment to make it tag friendly. My MISTI made this easy to duplicate, always a key in making tags. I added a few red rhinestones from my stash and finished with red ribbon.

There are all kinds of ways to win this month so head over to Tracey’s main post for all the details. Thanks so much for stopping in today! See you soon!