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Freshly Made Sketches #683

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Hi everyone! Sorry for the break. We had a lot going on here and sadly, after years of wonderful antics we had to say goodbye to our sweet calico cat, Kate. She has been my coloring muse for many years, the supervisor of all things in my house and a benevolent dictator. I didn’t have any creativity in me, to be honest, but since I’m the sketch designer this week for Freshly Made Sketches, I got down to the craft room to see what I could come up with.

I created my sketch based on a card from the talented Carly Tee and used the same die cut gate fold technique she did.

Using the Good Tidings Stamps, Stencils and Dies from Honey Bee Stamps, I created this holiday greenery. I flipped one and scored the die cuts could wrap around the back of the card. Then I used the Snowy Pines 3D Embossing Folder to create a layer underneath the greenery.

Here is a video to show you how it works:

Die Cut Gate Fold Video

To cover the attachment point on the back of the card, I simply added another plain white panel over that. It does make for a bulkier card but if you are doing a fancy fold, a little extra postage is worth it.

I hope you will come over and play along this week. The team has created all kinds of wonderful cards with the sketch! And we have two new team members to inspire you!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Hope to see you again soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #681

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We have another great sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week. Our designer is Amy O’Neill and she has one that is so clever. I have a friend who lost a sweet kitty suddenly last week so I thought I’d use the sketch to make a card for her.

I pulled out some older products from Newton’s Nook Designs for this one plus a sentiment from Honey Bee Stamps. The kitty is from Furr-Ever Friends and stencil is the Pawprints Stencil. Using some Distress Oxide blue inks I created the partial stenciled panel and a banner.

I added the kitty in black ink and stamped this sentiment from the Rainbow Bridge set and added another sweet one from the same set inside. I thought the clean lines of this were appropriate for such a somber occasion.

I hope you’ll come over and join us. The team has their always great inspiration up and I’d love to see you in the gallery. Thanks for stopping in!

Freshly Made Sketches #679

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Hi all! Been a busy week here. I have a sick kitty who is taking a bit of my time and my oldest came home for a quick trip so it was nice to spend some time with him. I did get in a tiny bit of crafting for Freshly Made Sketches and had a fun time using some new products for this sketch by our wonderful Karren.

I recently got the Flowers for the Soul suite of products from Pinkfresh Studio that was designed by Dawn Woleslagle. I learned with the holiday release that I really do love the quick results that come from the washi tape and quick was what I needed this week. All I had to do was attach the tape to some white card stock and cut with the coordinating dies.

After cutting out a bunch of the images, I just started playing around. I also got the Essentials: Elegant Circles dies from the new release and thought it would be perfect with the sketch. The sentiment is from the stamp set and is heat embossed with gold embossing powder. The edge die behind the banner is a retired die from Pinkfresh Studio.

Hope you are having a good week and that you get to spend a little time creating. Thanks for stopping in. See you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #678

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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 #677

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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

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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 #671

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First off, thank you so very much for your help on my links question last week. I think I will be moving back to just direct linking in my posts.

Birthday card palooza continues with another one for this week using our super fun sketch at Freshly Made Sketches designed by the wonderful Judy Rozema. This one is unique and made me think a bit.

I mostly used some older things or gifts with purchase on this one. The balloons are from one of the “Free Bee” die sets from Honey Bee Stamps. Last year, they had a series of tag sets and these were in one of them. I had not used them before and I thought they were super fun for this sketch. I just inked them up with Distress Inks and used the blending brushes from Honey Bee Stamps. They are sturdy and I love the size!

The paper is from an older pack from Honey Bee Stamps and I thought it look a bit like party hats. The sentiment was part of the design on the back side of the paper and I just used a sentiment die to cut it out. Could not be easier and a perfect match! And finally, the rickrack. I had this in my stash of ribbons and look at that…it seemed just right for the sketch.

I hope you enjoy this one and that you’ll pop over and take a look at all the clever ways the team used the sketch. Love those ladies! Wishing you a great week and I hope you have some time to create.

Freshly Made Sketches #667

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Happy New Year!! We are starting off the year at Freshly Made Sketches with a fun sketch designed by the lovely Cécile Ribon. I love that you can make it seasonal or not!

In keeping with the chaos of the season, I chose to use a little flower bunch that has been sitting on my desk for a while. A long while, actually. While I’m not sure I follow the sketch very well, it just seemed to work for me (once I opted out of making the card a square, at least). Oh by the way, these Sealed Wildflowers dies are on sale (link below).

I had a pack of “Free Bee” papers from Honey Bee stamps over where the stems were and found this one that seemed to go perfectly. A change over all the holiday cards I have been making for sure.

I hope you have a few moments to create as we move into the new year. I am grateful for you all and wish you much happiness as we move into 2025.

Freshly Made Sketches #666

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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

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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!

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