It seems that I have a theme going this week. But sometimes when stuff is out on the craft table, it cries out to be used more than once! We have this super sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week from our resident queen of layers and fussy cutting, Narelle. And while she gave us layers, she certainly allowed for some great ways to use the sketch.
I immediately thought of washi tape for the vertical pieces and thought this Floral Boutique Washi Tape was fantastic for the job. I LOVE those prints!! And frankly, the tape did the vast majority of the work. I have the new Essentials by Ellen (Ellen Hutson) set called Lovely that was designed by Julie Ebersole and it is a seriously great word set. I’ll be continuing to use it for a while so just plan for that, haha! Isn’t this one great?!! It is perfect for so many people I know!! I cut it out with a Stitched Circle and added the little flower from the Flourish Thinlets set that coordinates with the tape. Nothing too complicated but what a great sketch for another busy day. I got this one done so fast that I had time for a second. That almost never happens!!
Hope you enjoy this one. Hop on over to see the gorgeous variations presented by the team. Time well spent for sure! Thanks for stopping in today. See you soon!
Stamps: Lovely (Essentials by Ellen – Ellen Hutson); Ink: Night of Navy; Paper: Thick Whisper White, Night of Navy; Accessories: Floral Boutique Washi Tape, Big Shot, Flourish Thinlits, Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Stitched Mat Circles (LID), Stitched Rectangles (SSS)
This week at Stamp Ink Paper, we have a monochromatic challenge for you. I always love those and knew right away that I was going to pull out the extraordinary Floral Boutique DSP and the coordinating suite. Wow, am I glad I did!!
I love, love, love this print. I know it is just polka dots but they are really awesome polka dots, don’t you think? I cut it out with my Stitched Rectangles dies and started playing with different elements. I had not used a doily in forever and thought it was a nice touch with the pattern. And how could I not used these awesome flowers from the Flourish Thinlits? The delicate design of these really make them beautiful on so many things. To add a sentiment, I thought it best to stamp onto vellum so that it didn’t distract from the pretty flowers. I stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with White Stampin’ Emboss Powder. The flowers looked like they needed a little bling so I added some Basic Pearls for their centers.
Now don’t you love a monochromatic look?? Yeah, me too. I just know you are going to have fun with this one this week. Can’t wait to see you in the gallery! (Oh, and it doesn’t have to be blue!!)
Stamps: Flourishing Phrases; Ink: Versamark; Paper: Thick Whisper White, Floral Boutique DSP, White Vellum; Accessories: Big Shot, Flourish Thinlits, Stitched Rectangles Dies (SSS), Basic Pearls, Doily (SU Ret), Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Heat Tool, White Stampin’ Emboss Powder
This day has come again. For those of you who have been with me for awhile, you probably know that I write a little every year and tend to create something to commemorate this date. (You can read my previous posts here: 9th Anniversary, 10th Anniversary, 11th Anniversary , 12th Anniversary, 13th Anniversary and 14th Anniversary). Each one of those posts is special to me. I looked back on them to reflect before sitting down to write this year. In many ways, I suppose, after reading those you know a lot about me. The stuff I mostly don’t write about here. I usually keep my life as a United pilot and my life as a stamper separate….at least here. But on this anniversary, I find it easier to show how I feel than explain it sometimes.
For the first time this year, I have actually had a long conversation with my oldest son about my memories of September 11, 2001. Much of it I have already told you in my posts above. But he had not heard my story. It wasn’t as personal to him. I didn’t want to scare him. I didn’t want him to worry when I left to fly. But this year seemed like the time. Because he has started to learn about it in school. He has seen the pictures of those planes, my company’s plane, flying into buildings. He has heard the stories of the heroes of Flight 93. But he needed to hear my part of the story too. I also talked with him about my visit to the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York. I went when I was on a layover and chose to go by myself. I wanted to take it all in alone before I ever went with others, especially my boys. The Museum is emotional and heart-breaking and a beautiful tribute. One of the most moving pieces there is called “Trying to Remember the Color of the Sky on That September Morning” by Spencer Finch.
This wall is filled with individual panels all in shades of blue. Each panel commemorates a person. Each panel is a memory of a shade of blue since we all remember color differently.So, as usual, my inspiration is clear. My pictures of this art pale in comparison to the real piece. And the theme spoke to me in a way that I cannot explain. Because I remember the sky when I was flying that day. It was glorious. A perfect fall blue. The perfect day to fly. And in all that beauty, pure evil went to work. But evil cannot win. We must not let it. Because there is too much beauty. And even in our sadness, beauty helps us heal. It helps up move forward. It helps us find our things in common.
I created my card as a tribute to those things. The things we, as humans, share. The appreciation of God’s handiwork, the strength to move forward even after great tragedy, the expression of our feelings in art and music and mostly…and most importantly….love. I used two sets from Concord and 9th. The flower seemed perfect and the sentiment was what was in my heart. I colored using a few shades of blue from Tim Holtz Distress Ink and my Zig Light Gray Pen. Both seemed right for today. The blues for the sky. The gray for the sadness. Three sequins for the planes that found their mark and one missing for the one that missed because of the heroes aboard.
Thank you for letting me share with you. Thank you for the support you have always given me when I do. I’m grateful for the stamping community who seems to understand why it is important for me to create and remember. I wish you a day filled with love.
In memory of:
United 93: Jason Dahl, LeRoy Homer, Lorraine Bay, Sandra Bradshaw, Wanda Green, CeeCee Lyles, Deborah Welsh
United 175: Victor Saracini, Michael Horrocks, Robert Fangman, Amy Jarret, Amy King, Kathryn Laborie, Alfred Marchand, Michael Tarrou, Alicia Titus
American 11: John Ogonowski, Thomas McGuinness, Barbara Arestegui, Jeffrey Collman, Sara Low, Karen Martin, Kathleen Nicosia, Betty Ong, Jean D. Roger, Dianne Snyder, Amy Sweeney
American 77: Charles Burlingame III, David Charlebois, Michele Heidenberger, Jennifer Lewis, Kenneth Lewis, Renee May
After a summer hiatus, we are back to stamping over at The Card Concept! And we are starting you off on a happy note with a fabulous inspiration piece that you are sure to love.
As soon as I saw all those little plants in the bright rainbow pots, I thought of this stamp set from an old Paper Pumpkin kit (SU). The little coffee cut just begs to be colored and the sweet plant is a perfect touch. I want this in real life!! I added a sentiment from the Watercolor Wishes set. I just thought this font was a nice match for the image. All of my coloring is using Tim Holtz Distress Inks in a variety of colors. The pink is Picked Raspberry which I totally adore!! I added these sequins from Pretty Pink Posh that mimic the colors from the inspiration and cut the panel using my Wonky Stitches Dies from My Favorite Things. In keeping with the Clean and Graphic style, I put my image panel up on a white card base to complete it.
Just an admin note, this is my second post of the day. If you are looking for my card for the Freshly Made Sketches challenge, just roll down. Thanks for stopping in today. I hope you are inspired by the team and have a great time choosing YOUR style this week for the challenge! See you soon!
Oh do I have a fun one to share this week over at Freshly Made Sketches. The lovely Jennifer Brum is our hostess this week and she had this “out of the box” sketch for us that I just love! You are going to think of so many things to make!!
I pulled out my Pop of Pink DSP and Washi Tape and played around with some ideas before I decided….hang on…..to mostly keep it super simple. I know, shocker right?!! Haha!! I hadn’t used this flower die (Echo Park Paper Co) in a while and thought it would be great for the sketch. I thought it would be fun to use the die on this DSP and I like the effect. I took the coordinating Washi Tape and attached to a strip of white card stock. Not really the intended use but I just loved this particular pattern under the flower so….. The sentiment is from Paper Pumpkin (the same kit as my FMS card with the fall flowers last week). I think this curved font worked really well, don’t you?? A few sequins to finish.
This is my first post of the day but don’t be surprised when another goes up soon. The Card Concept Team is back from their summer break with a great challenge. So….three cards from me in two days. See, I have been a little more busy with my stamping! I hope you get some time to create too. See you soon!
Supplies:
Stamps: Paper Pumpkin (SU); Ink: Versafine Onyx Black; Paper: Thick Whisper White, Pop of Pink DSP; Accessories: Big Shot, Flower Die (Echo Park Paper Co.), Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh and SU), Dimensionals, Glue Dots, Pop of Pink Washi Tape
I have something fun to share with you today! I get to be a guest designer with the Stamp Ink Paper Challenge over the month of September! Awesome!! And lucky for me they started off “easy” (for me) with a Less Is More challenge this week. Right up my alley!
Back in July I has colored this flower from Altenew’s Botanical Garden for the 30 day coloring challenge but never used it for anything. But there it sat calling out to me. I thought it would be perfect for this kind of challenge since a clean card allows focus on the flower itself. Just a couple of colors of Zig Clean Color Pens can create such a beautiful look! I love the wash on this flower! The sentiment comes from a Paper Pumpkin Kit (love that font!!) and seemed just right to match the style of the image. I cut the panel using my trust Stitched Rectangles dies and added a few Sparking Clear Sequins from Pretty Pink Posh. These have a touch of gray to them but also can take on colors behind them. My favorite sequins!
I hope you will join in with us for this week’s challenge. Super fun inspiration from the DT for sure! Back tomorrow with the latest from Freshly Made Sketches. Until then, I hope you have a great start of your week!
Paper Pumpkin is such a wonderful treat in the mail each month! I’m sure you have noticed how much I use the stamps well after the kit has been completed. In fact, many times my Paper Pumpkin stamps are my first go-to when I’m looking for sentiments. But I rarely show you what I make with the actual kits. Mostly because I make the kits exactly as designed or I give them to my boys to use for their cards. Yep….really! There was a kit in the spring (the May one, I think) that I simply opened and handed to my oldest so he could make thank you cards for his birthday presents. I showed him the directions, asked if he had any questions and left on a three day trip. When I came back the cards were made, written and ready to be addressed!!! Oh how I love you Paper Pumpkin!!!! *smile*
But I have to say that every now and then the original design is just not a “Jen card”. Certainly not a critique of the work from the Concept Artists since my work isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But I thought it might be useful to show you how I turned a kit into projects that are totally me and incredibly helpful to have in my stash. If you haven’t already seen it, I am attaching a link to the video from Paper Pumpkin on how they intend you to use the kit HERE. I just sat down with the elements from the kit and did a little mixing and matching. My favorite card is the one I posted above. Isn’t it adorable?? And so easy. It does include the only thing I used that wasn’t already in the kit, Mint Macaron ink. But I suspect you already have that! All I did was cut the fun Burlap Ribbon and place the Espresso Twine behind the circle that was stamped in the Mint ink. A glue dot to attach the fun wooden element! The card base is the smaller of the two from the kit.And here is the whole kit put together. You can see I did the gift card holder exactly as the directions showed. I just made sure I inked the sentiment really well to get a bold look on it. (Your Misti is helpful with this since you can stamp multiple times, if needed) I combined other elements remaining for the larger card. And yep….I did have some stuff left over. Which I feel confident you will see on other projects. Because Paper Pumpkin is the gift that keeps on giving!!
I hope that these alternate ideas are helpful to you. And please remember to keep those stamps in an easy to reach place. They are super fun, completely on trend and perfect for so many projects!! Thanks so much for stopping in today. See you soon!
Supplies:
Stamps, Paper, Accessories and Ink: Paper Pumpkin (Bold Botanicals – August); Additional Ink: Mint Macaron; Additional Accessory: Misti
Wow, has it already been a week since I posted?? Holy smokes August has flown by!! I think the end of summer flying just zapped my brain! Fortunately I am off this week and have some time to stamp. YAY!!!! First order of business was this week’s sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. And it is awesome, just like the sketch designer Karren Johnson! Ok….I confess that when I saw the 4 circles I had a moment of panic. But then I realized I could do just about anything for shapes. Naturally I chose flowers. Because, well, I love them!
So which flowers?? I paged through my Paper Pumpkin stamps and came across this set from last year and it was perfect. Pretty flowers plus coordinating leaves! I stamped them on Tim Holtz Watercolor Paper with Early Espresso ink (embossed with Clear Stampin’ Emboss Powder) and colored them with my Zig Clean Color Pens. I used Lemon Yellow and Light Brown and love the fall feel they created together! Using a Border Builders die (Lil’ Inker Designs) I cut the white panel and layered it with a retired DSP pattern from SU. The sentiment is brand new from a set called Lovely from Essentials by Ellen (Ellen Hutson). Given how much I love a flower stamp, this set of sentiments was simply a must have for me. And it showed up super fast too! WIN!!! But I digress. I stamped the background leaves and the sentiment in Early Espresso with clear embossing (to match the flowers). After some debate, I stopped there. I thought about some Wink of Stella for the flowers (still might go and add it on) but I was pretty happy with this just like it is. You can totally tell I’m ready for some cool fall weather, can’t you? I’m willing it to show up!!!
Well, back to the stamp room to create some more. Lots coming up in the next few weeks and I look forward to sharing with you. I hope you’ll have as much fun with this week’s sketch as the Design Team did. I don’t even have to ask them….I just saw what they made!! I’ll be back tomorrow with a fun twist on a recent kit. Until then, hope the day is great! Thanks for stopping in!
Supplies:
Stamps: Paper Pumpkin (SU), Lovely – Julie Ebersole (Ellen Hutson); Ink: Early Espresso, Zig Clean Color Pens; Paper: Thick Whisper White, Retired DSP (SU); Accessories: Heat Tool, Clear Stampin’ Emboss Powder, Zig BrusH2O Water Pen, Big Shot, Border Builder Dies (LID), Dimensionals, Glue Dots
Another Wednesday and another fabulous challenge from Freshly Made Sketches! This week, the lovely Cindy Hall has created a sketch that is an instant classic! I love the traditional feel of it with all of the potential of layering.
I just had to ink up this new set from Concord and 9th called Give Thanks. It has an awesome combination of leaves and sentiments. Mostly this sentiment!!! Because I do love Fall!!!! Pretty basic stamping to create the back layer of the sketch and then some twine for the crossing layer. I flipped the oval because it showed the leaves a bit better. I can see I’m going to have lots of fun with this set!!
Ok, short post because I’m off to work today. I hope that you are having a great week and that you get some time to stamp. Come over and join us for the sketch! Thanks for stopping in!
Supplies (affiliate links included):
Stamps: Give Thanks (Concord and 9th); Ink: Tangering Tango, Crushed Curry, Early Espresso; Paper: Naturals Ivory (SU Retired); Accessories: Early Espresso Twine, Big Shot, Ovals Dies
I’m sure you have already been blown away by the amazing Cécile Ribon in her time as a Guest Designer at Freshly Made Sketches. Well, this week she took on the task of being our sketch hostess. And look at what she came up with!! It really is fun!
I wanted to play a little more with O Christmas Tree from Concord and 9th as a continuing celebration of their first birthday. The fonts from this set are so fabulous and the variety of images are super fun. I took a panel of watercolor paper and inked it up with Tim Holtz Distress Inks in a variety of blues. Then I splattered it with some water to see what would happen. True confessions….this was actually my third panel….I messed up the embossing on the first two….yes, it was THAT stamping day. The interesting finding in all this was the differences you get with varying brands of watercolor paper. This paper is the Fabriano 140 lb Cold Press but I has also played with the Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Paper. They have different textures (Tim Holtz has a smooth side and a rougher side) and the water spots move the ink in different ways. It is like a fun experiment to play with them!! I found that the Fabriano held onto the color just a little more and the texture really shows when you sponge on the colors. I think the effect on this is pretty and I didn’t want to distract too much from it. I added the snowflakes from the set by stamping in Versamark and heat embossing with White Stampin’ Emboss Powder. I pulled a snowflake wooden element from my stash (SU) and heat embossed it in white too. The sentiment was stamped onto a Night of Navy panel the same way. I added a few Sparkling Clear sequins which I love for how they morph depending on the background.
I hope you have a great time playing with this sketch! The angled panel allows for so many great options. Make sure you stop by and say hi to Cécile too. This is her first sketch and I think she did a great job!! Trying to fit in some more stamping today. Hope to have more to share soon. See you then!
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
It seems that I have a theme going this week. But sometimes when stuff is out on the craft table, it cries out to be used more than once! We have this super sketch at Freshly Made Sketches this week from our resident queen of layers and fussy cutting, Narelle. And while she gave us layers, she certainly allowed for some great ways to use the sketch.
