Happy Wednesday to you! Hope your week is going well thus far. Here today with a super quick card. You see, I’m on Spring Break week with the family and we are off on adventures. But I did have a moment to make a card with this awesome sketch by our sketch designer Linda over at Freshly Made Sketches. As usual when I’m in a hurry, it seems that I didn’t quite follow the sketch. Sigh. Oh well, Linda will forgive me! *smile*
I was recently enable to try Catherine Pooler inks by my crafty friend Ardyth and boy was she right. I’m totally in love with these!! The clarity of stamping solid image is gorgeous! I purchased some of the families of minis and they are fabulous! I used the Give Thanks stamp set by Concord and 9th and sentiments by Gina K Designs. Clean, simple, fast!
Yep…it really is that short today. I hope to have more to share with you next week after all the spring fun! So glad you dropped in. See you soon!
You want to know a something funny? Even after all these years of being with Freshly Made Sketches, it makes me a little nervous to be the sketch designer. The team has a running joke about struggling to work with one’s own sketch. Crazy, right? You see we create our sketches on paper or digitally and in all degrees of “doneness” so it can come as a surprise when you get to your own and you don’t really have a plan. Well, this week, I actually had a bit of a plan! YAY!!
As you may have gathered, I’m the designer for this week’s challenge and I went with a pretty classic vibe and an off center sentiment panel. I made the focal panel a bit smaller so that the back panel can be the star, or a part of the design, or a simple base. For me, I chose to use is as part of the design with a spotlight effect. Using my trusty MISTI, I stamped on the base of my card using the Let’s Shake Our Tail Feathers stamp from Picket Fence Studios. Then I flipped the base around 180 degrees and stamped again. I did the same on a single panel that was the same size as the base to start. Then I colored the panel using Copic Markers in purples and blues. I probably colored a little more than I needed because I wasn’t sure how much I was going to cut down. Once I was done coloring, I trimmed off equal amounts from each side until the balance looked right. I love that pop of color with the detailing of the image! I added a sentiment from the Forgot to Say Thank You set by stamping in Versamark and embossing in white.
I hope that you will enjoy using the sketch and I know you will love seeing what the design team has created with it. Thanks so much for stopping in today and I will see you again soon!
So how is your spring going so far? I’m convinced that Virginia really hasn’t gotten the memo yet (although I did see some gorgeous hyacinths today so there is hope!). Clearly I had no other choice but to create a little spring in the craft room instead! And conveniently enough, our Freshly Made Sketches challenge this week leaves loads of room for flowers….even a Mondo flower! Big thanks to design team member Lee Ann Barrett for a fabulous sketch with room for images, techniques or designer paper prints.
I looked at all my Mondo flowers by Ellen Hutson but thought the new Mondo Gerbera Daisy was the way to go for spring. I’m not sure there is an actual Gerbera in this color combo but I’d love to have it in my garden if it exists! I used Copics to shade just the base of the petals and the center of the flower leaving the white space at the edges. I think having all the white makes the color pop even more. The sentiment is from the same set and I love this calligraphy look!
This is Lee Ann’s first sketch with FMS so I hope you show her some extra love and even play along. Designing sketches can be intimidating and her classic look will surely be a hit! Thanks so much for stopping in today. See you soon!
I’m so happy to share today’s sketch from Freshly Made Sketches with you! This one is from new design team member Jacquie Southas and it is awesome! So creative!
My mind was spinning with ideas but I settle on flowers (because, well, spring) and what better flowers than the Mondo Hydrangea from Ellen Hutson? I really love all the Mondo flowers but this one seems to be a set I come back to over and over. I stamped one of the single flowers over and over (giving a couple of extras) and then broke out the watercolors. I just played with some purple and green shading to see what would happen. Loved it, went with it!
I created a panel with a light green watercolor wash that would go with my Jelly Bean Green base (Gina K Designs). Then I added this awesome sentiment from the Lovely stamp set (Ellen Hutson). This one seems tailor made for the flowers in the sketch.
I hope your week is going well. I’ll be back on Friday with a share from my Picket Fence Studios blog post. See you soon!
Happy Wednesday! Today over at Freshly Made Sketches we have an interesting sketch that is sure to spur you on to create. The lovely Narelle is our sketch hostess and we all know that she has a special talent for layering. Her sketch reflects that perfectly and it lends itself to lots of different takes.
I went a pretty simple route, to be honest, and used flowers as the circles. I have this great set from Gina K Designs that is so pretty and seemed perfect. I stamped the flowers and leaves using Gina K inks and then die cut them with the set’s coordinating dies. I added a stitched square for the layering and then debated the sentiment. Fortunately, the set has this pretty script that has a coordinating die so that was a natural choice.
I have to admit that the call of the bright colors is upon me. Winter ice and yuck can be done now and I’m ready for flowers! Until the time that winter decides to cooperate, you can expect that I’ll just keep doing cards with sets like this. Thanks so much for stopping in today. I’ll be back on Friday with a card I created for the Picket Fence Studios blog. Until then, have a great week!
So you may have noticed (especially if you follow me in Instagram) that I have been trying hard to participate in the Daily Marker 30 Day Challenge as much as possible this month. I really am trying to eek out more coloring, even if only for a few minutes. So this card is a reflection of that as I found the perfect way to use the sketch by Karren Johnson for this week’s Freshly Made Sketches challenge. Karren is an amazing Copic colorist and this sketch lends itself to colored images, bold panels and word dies, among other things.
I chose to use this new Mondo Gerbera Daisy by Ellen Hutson as my focal image. I stamped in black ink and then colored it with my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers. I chose a number of corals/reds/pinks to play with the shading on the flower. It didn’t take long and I love it. The flower reminds me of the Gerbera Daisies my dad would grow when I was little. There is something velvety and special about these flowers and I was thrilled that Ellen came out with this one.
A super quick post today. I’m back at work this week and it seems harder that usual after spending time at my mom’s last week. Off to bed to be ready for winter weather fun tomorrow! I hope you have a great day and will play along this week. See you soon.
Glad you are here to visit today as I share the latest from Freshly Made Sketches. The always brilliant Cécile has created a unique and wonderful sketch for us this week. Such fun when you get to stretch your brain with something truly new.
I will admit that those triangles had me a bit confounded at first so I reverted to another shape. Circles! You’d think I’d have had my fill of those last week but nope. So I pondered what stamp set to use and how to make this work. And I came across this Hey There set by Lawn Fawn that had gone uninked….how is that even a thing?! Every image in this set is totally adorable. I stamped the barn, the cow and the fence (in my brain this would be the leaf element) and of course the speech bubble. Because why shouldn’t a cow send Valentine’s sentiments? I colored them with my Copics and started playing with the layout. Originally I started with no background shapes at all but quickly found that not to work. So I cut a landscape border for “grass” and then cut it out with a circle die (and cut whole circles from blue card stock while I was at it). That worked much better! It seemed for me that a square card worked better so I cut a square from some Lawn Fawn plaid and then layered my elements. I kind of love this quirky cow card and DH will surely chuckle. He thinks cows are hilarious so I think he will like it. I’m back in FL this week to work on my mom’s house….so off I go back to organizing. I hope your day is wonderful! See you tomorrow with the latest release info from Picket Fence Studios!
So you need a new sketch idea? Something you haven’t seen before? Have I got something for you! This week’s sketch at Freshly Made Sketches from the former circle-phobe Jen Brum is amazing. Not gonna lie, when she first showed me the sketch, I thought she was kidding since we have a long running team joke about her lack of love for circles in sketches. Well, she has clearly embraced Team Circle and the sketch is fabulous!
As per usual, my first thought when I see circles is a flower. But will all the circles, I needed to stretch a little. So instead, I thought about die cuts and different elements I could use. As I went through my stash, I came upon two set by Concord and 9th and knew exactly what to do.
First I took my Daniel Smith watercolors and painted some random splotches on watercolor paper. After they were dry, I piled on the dies from both the Monogram and Posie Fill In sets. The dies coordinate well so I just cut things in multiple colors to see what would work. I mixed and matched and played with a few backgrounds until I settle on a watercolor wash. To help follow the sketch a bit more, I added some Clear Drops from Studio Katia. The sentiment comes from the Monogram J set.
I’m so impressed with the variations on this sketch by the team. I think this week is going to be particularly fun and that there will be loads of creativity on display. I hope you’ll play along! Thanks for stopping in today. See you soon!
Hello my friends. I’m going to start off with a brief explanation. I know that my posting right now seems to come inconsistently. The truth is, I’m working very hard on balancing a lot of things. The biggest of them has been my mom’s estate. My mom lived in Orlando and I’m not there. That makes things hard since there are many decisions to be made and many beloved treasures to be sorted. So I’m going down there as much as I can to help handle that. When added to my flying schedule, I admit that my blog is the thing that seems to get the short end of my attention. I promised more details on my PFS January release and then promptly didn’t provide them all. I’m so sorry. Please forgive my distraction. The last trip was highly emotional for me and I’m truthfully feeling a bit overwhelmed. But stamping helps. And my family is the best. I’ll find my new normal soon but until the estate is handled, I think this is my normal. Thank you for your patience and support. It means the world.
And with that, I’m on to this week’s FMS card. I love this sketch by the lovely Kim Singdahlsen. It is fresh and clever! And, as usual, I think I may have stretched it a little too far. But whatever comes out of my head when I’m crafting is what I go with these days.
I love the Be a Unicorn of the Sea set by Picket Fence Studios and I thought it might be fun for the sketch. But what about the diagonals? Oh yeah….the new stencils!! And an idea was born. The Sunburst Stencil seemed perfect when I chose a few select “beams” and inked them with Distress Ink using the Life Changing Blender Brushes. I chose one of the small brushes because it fits in the beams perfectly without me having to tape and cover the others. Nice and simple! I inked up another piece of Bristol and then cut it out with a stitched circle as a background for my narwhal.
I have to confess that I love narwhal images. And this set is the BEST! The sentiments are such fun and useful for so many occasions. They are encouraging and kind!! I colored the narwhal with my Zigs to coordinate and then chose some Audrey Blue (SSS) as a background to make the colors pop. I love the Shark Bite Sequins too so of course I added a few.
Thank you so much for stopping in today. I’m grateful you choose to spend a few moments of your day with me. Make sure you hop over to see the inspiration from the whole team. See you soon!
Another week has flown by and it is time for the newest challenge from Freshly Made Sketches. The amazing Jen Mitchell is our sketch designer this week and her sketch is fantastic.
I thoughts I’d pull out my Daniel Smith watercolors for this one and create a bit of a wash for the rounded corner square. But what image to use as a focal point? After scanning through, I came upon the Little Lilies set from Newton’s Nook Designs and I thought it would be perfect for the job. I painted it and cut it out using the coordinating dies and then decided it would be nice to add a wash of color to the crossing panel too. So a little more painting (and waiting to dry). Finally, I found this sweet sentiment from Simon Says Stamp’s Beautiful Ride that seemed just right for the little flowers. A quick little card for a sweet sketch!
Short and sweet today. Out on a trip and then back to finish up some details for the big January/Creativation Release from Picket Fence Studios. Hop over and check out all the great cards from the DT this week at FMS and I hope you’ll join us. Have a great rest of your week and see you soon!
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