Hi all!! I’ve been dodging weather around the country for the last week but managed to have a day to create a card. I opted to pull out a new to me die set that matches the sketch (although in reverse). Our sketch is courtesy of our wonderful Judy Rozema and it leaves lots of fun options.
The Lovely Layers: Dianthus dies have this little group of 3 flowers that I thought would work for the sketch…hopeful Judy forgives my flip. Using my Distress Inkds with pinks and oranges, I blended the flowers. I just love how they layer! Added the extra leaf layers for dimension and the flower was done. I wanted to use a dark background the make it pop but it seemed a little plain.
I added an extra panel that I embossed with the Sandie’s Garden 3D embossing folder. The sentiment is from the Lean on Each Other stamp set with white heat embossing on the same blue as the background.
Hope you are having a great week and will come join us for the fun! Thanks so much for stopping in. See you soon.
Hello everyone! Well, the last few weeks have been all that I promised…busy! But we got the youngest graduated from high school (and I didn’t fall apart), I got to see the oldest’s regatta and we went on a family vacation. Now I’m trying to get back to reality and out on a trip. We have a beautiful sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches from the lovely Amy O’Neill.
A bit of a simple take to get back into the groove (and to actually get it made). I was inspired by some beautiful flowers I saw when we were on vacation in Seattle. I think they are lupines but if you know differently, please let me know (photo below)! Using some paper that already had some Distress Ink stamping and splatters, I cut out the flowers and greenery. I added more Distress Ink for shading and character.
I chose a some pretty papers from the Grain and Grunge plus Vintage Love packs by Honey Bee Stamps and then added a sentiment from my go-to set, Mini Messages. I opted for gold embossing and added a few gold pearls to go along. A Captain that has led the way for many women is retiring this month so I thought it would be nice to make her a special card.
I hope this finds you well and starting to enjoy a bit of summer. As you can imagine, this is the beginning of the busy work season for me. I’ll create as much as I can but also I’m trying to hold on to every moment with my youngest before he heads out to college in August. Thanks for always being so supportive!
I showed a closeup of the flowers but there was a whole field of these. It was glorious! Thanks for stopping in today. See you soon!
Another week flying by and we have our latest sketch from Freshly Made Sketches. This week’s design is from the oh so amazing Cécile Ribon. At first, I was a little stumped and then I had some ideas… Well, the first ones were a big no but they led to me finding what I wanted to do. That is what the creative process is all about so I’m grateful for the challenge!
Weirdly, my card actually started at the back when I figured out I wanted to use this Sandie’s Garden 3D embossing folder on a black base. I thought about adding some patterned paper around the center and a sentiment but then pulled out a die set that arrived just last week. The Bold Backgrounds: Vintage Roses were in a release earlier this year but I finally just caved into getting the set. I love that these flowers can be stand alone or all together with the background. Using Concord and 9th papers (Sweet Pea and Carnation), I cut out the layers of the flowers and then inked them up with the coordinating inks along with Dragonfruit on the edges and to give depth.
To help with the sketch elements I cut leaves from the Lovely Layers: Autumn Bouquet from Parsley card stock and then inked them up a bit too. The flower centers are Buttercup paper and ink. I added a sentiment from my go-to Mini Messages set and added some green pearls from the Vintage Pearls set.
I hope you will be inspired to create with us this week. Things are getting ready to be a little bit crazy at my house for the next few weeks. The youngest is graduating high school, the oldest has an end of season regatta and mom is running around to capture all the time I can with these guys! Thanks for stopping in today. See you soon!
Another amazing sketch from Freshly Made Sketches this week. A clean classic from our classically fabulous Jen Brum! Lots of room for scene building, patterned papers or die cuts.
I wanted to play around with a watercolor look using solid image stamps and love how this turned out. The stamp set is a retired one from Honey Bee Stamps (Bold Botanicals) but you may have similar versions in your stash. Using Distress Ink, I inked up the stamp, spritzed with water and then stamped. On some of the images, I just stamped again for that faded look. I’ll admit that this is a bit addictive and fun to experiment with!
Once I was done inking, I distressed the edges of the paper (watercolor paper) and then inked more Distress Ink onto the edges and created more of an aged look. I splattered with some of the Weathered Wood and then set everything aside to dry. I tied up some linen thread with a button and added a sentiment with double banners. A friend has asked me to create a card for his wife who is pregnant with twins and I hope this will be a contender for him to choose from. I chose a basic sentiment with that in mind. You can only see it a little but I stamped some of the flowers on the corner of the envelope and finished an inside panel with a few more flowers in a bottom corner.
I hope you like this one. I’d love to hear what you think so I know if this feels special enough for my friend. Thanks so much for stopping in. See you soon!
It is coming up on graduation season and I realized that I need to get to work on some cards. Good thing the fabulous Kim Singdahlsen created just the right sketch to get me moving this week at Freshly Made Sketches.
I love that this is one that is fast to make and completely customizable for school colors. I found this striped paper in a holiday paper pack. Perfect for the red and white of my son’s high school! I added it to a white panel and then used a rectangle die to cut it down. I realized it looked a little unfinished so I cut a thin strip of black card stock and added it with my Precision Glue Press. It is perfect for a super thin line of glue!
For the sentiment, I used Thinking of You Big Time. Great, big scripty sentiments that are super focal points for cards. I stamped and cut it and then cut 2 more plain die cuts so I could stack them. I heat embossed the coordinating words and used a banner to cut them out.
I hope you are having a great week. Staying busy here with graduation approaching too fast for my youngest. Where does the time go?! Thanks for stopping in today. See you soon.
A wonderful sketch this week from our talented and oh so awesome Linda Callahan. She has created a fun design for us at Freshly Made Sketches, one that is sure to inspire.
I decided to put all the focus on this amazing embossing folder from Honey Bee Stamps called Sandie’s Garden. So much detail and so pretty! I embossed it on a panel of Spellbinders Betterpress Cotton Card Stock and then cut out the center rectangle. The center is popped up with some gold card stock underneath. Just a peek but I think a special touch.
I added some gold thread to try to comply with the sketch (probably a stretch but…that is how it goes sometimes) and added a pretty heat embossed sentiment. I love that this one could be for a wedding, birthday or just because! A few shiny gold pearls to finish.
Hope you will hop over and join us this week. Been a bit busy around here but still trying to get some crafting in where I can. Thanks so much for stopping by!
Welcome back for another sketch from Freshly Made Sketches! This week, our sketch designer is our one of the challenges fearless leaders, the amazing Jen Mitchell. I was so happy when I saw her sketch for the week because I was already working on the perfect thing to use.
I was so excited when I saw the Lovely Layers: Herb Garden set from Honey Bee Stamps on their last release. Like absurdly excited. First of all, I love growing herbs. But also, I love the idea of something that is easy to use for everybody on the card list! While the set comes with adorable little buckets, I immediately thought of the barrel from the Lovely Layers: Apple Barrel set and decided that was what I would use to hold my herbs.
I had a ridiculous amount of fun creating each herb and playing with the shading on greens and accents of browns and purples (all Distress Ink). The new Beeluxe Blending Brushes were key (I used the smallest ones, size 5 for the details and my Bitty Bunny Blending Brushes (from The Rabbit Hole Design) for the broader areas. Once I had them done, I moved on to the apple barrel. Bigger areas with my regular sized brushes, then working down to the tiny ones. I created the aged metal band and added a bit of Rusty Hinge Distress Oxide Ink. To create the illusion of dirt, I cut an extra of the back belly band and trimmed it off a bit, turned it upside down and made it black. Voilá…soil!
Finally, I created the herb signs to match the band. I found that if I did a little bit of brush work in a lighter gray and then did direct to paper with the ink, it allowed me to see the words better. A little extra Rusty Hinge on those too. Then it was just putting it together. I wanted it to look like a real garden so it is a bit haphazard with signs askew. I want this on my deck for real!! I did an ombré background and added the Burlap 3D textured embossing for a little more interest. The sentiment from Mini Messages is great to send just because! Finally a few sequins.
Hoping you have a great week and maybe even get to start thinking about your summer garden. I have some spinach in now and can’t wait until I can plant the rest of my faves. Make sure to go see the challenge blog and take a look at the beautiful creations from the FMS team. Thanks for stopping in today!
A sweet spring card for you today using some brand new products. Our wonderful sketch at Freshly Made Sketches is courtesy of the lovely Judy Rozema and it allows for some interesting variations.
I just got some things from the latest release by Honey Bee Stamps and wanted to pull these dies out right away. Are they sweet?! I mean, that bird…and then the boots and all the flowers. It comes with an umbrella (which I could have used for real today) too. I cut all the elements from Hammermill White Card Stock and then used my Distress Inks to color them. I cannot wait to try some other variations!
I pulled a retiring piece of ombré patterned paper (Honey Bee Stamps) and added the three rectangles from the sketch. I thought about some texture on those but when I tried it…nope. Instead a pretty script sentiment and some matching pearls. Quick to put together after I did the ink blending on the elements.
The pictures today are a bit dark and the colors aren’t quite true. A rainy day and I just couldn’t get any lighting to cooperate. Ah well. Perfect day for those rain boots! Hope you are having a good week!
Happy Wednesday, friends! Happy to see you today. I’m so happy to share the latest from Freshly Made Sketches. Our lovely Amy O’Neill is the sketch designer and I love her simple take this week.
My beautiful cherry tree is blooming in my front yard (just like the famous ones at the Tidal Basin in DC) and that inspired my card. I pulled out the Lovely Layers: Dogwood dies (they are a little less fussy than my Cherry Blossom die) and started playing with ink. Using Bitty Blender Brushes, I added Distress Ink on all the layers and then built the stem. Something about this always makes me happy, especially when I’ve been away from the craft room too long (like lately).
I chose one of the woodgrain prints from the Grain and Grunge paper pack and added a white strip to match the sketch. The sentiment is from Spring Joy (retiring) and I love the pretty font. I added a bit of twine and some pearls to finish it off. So happy to be back to the craft room…and I think I actually have a few weeks where I can get inky!
I hope you will come over to see the beautiful work done by the team and can spend a little time joining us this week. Thanks so much for stopping by! See you soon!
We have another fun sketch this week at Freshly Made Sketches and our designer, the lovely Cécile Ribon, gave us a great one. The half circle elements are particularly fun!
This card is directly inspired by the amazing Dawn Woleslagle. She did a live one night just playing with Distress Oxide ins and this background stamp from Honey Bee Stamps called Vintage Flora. She used exactly these colors! Her reminder was that when you are feeling a little flat on creativity, just pull out the inks and play. So I did just that! This background is the result and it is super cool.
This bluebird had been sitting on my desk for a few weeks waiting for plan and the background gave me just that! I added a bit of splattering and inking on the edges to match the style and knew it was going to work. With the extra ink after stamping the background, I had stamped again a few times. I used one of those and cut out the flowers, then added just a little more ink. I thought vellum would be perfect for the split semicircles and I love the texture it adds without covering anything up. Finally a little sentiment from the Mini Messages Set.
I hope this will inspire you to get out some inks and just play around! It is good for the soul! Thanks for stopping in today. See you soon!
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