Freshly Made Sketches #446

It's Wednesday, and that means a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! The sweet and talented Linda is our hostess for this week, and she has a slightly different kind of sketch this week: a slimline card!

I must admit, I had yet to try this popular size, and I did have fun making it! I used the Forever Fern Bundle from Stampin' Up, along with the coordinating designer paper.

I started by stamping and cutting the various foliage I wanted to use. To get the different colors of ink of one stamp, I just stamped here and there with four varying colors, and then used my MISTI to restamp to add more of one color or another.

In the coordinating die set, there are a lot of dies that don't have matching stamps. I used several of those for my little grouping, pouncing Delicata Gold on the ends, and then embossing with Gilded Embossing Powder from Brutus Monroe. I did the same for the sentiment banner, just randomly adding gold ink here and there.
I cut an oval to "hold" my foliage grouping, and stamped a few of the random dots stamp on it using Mossy Meadow ink.

I grounded the grouping with Krenik metallic gold thread across the bottom of the card. The card base has a canvas texture, and you can see a little of it peeking out on the sides behind the sentiment banner.

I hope you will join us with your take on the sketch this week! Our challenge is open until 3 PM EDT on Monday.

Click on the links on the FMS blog by each photo to see what lovely things my teammates have created on their blogs!

Stencils and Backgrounds

Good morning all!

It's kind of incredible that summer is slipping away when I still feel stuck in March. How about you? Well, I am still playing with stencils from the June release at Visible Image Stamps, so that tells me summer really was here! (That, and the fact is was 101 degrees earlier this week!)

I love working with my GelPress and making monoprints. Today's card shows one that I did awhile back (maybe even a year ago!) when my sister was visiting. I used one of my favorite texture makers, bubble wrap! The print was made with acrylic paint (Arteza) on the gel plate, paint on the bubble wrap itself, and then back onto the GelPress plate. I lay my stencil (DAISY DAISY) down on the dry monoprint, and blended both Picked Raspberry DOX ink, and Simon Hurley Crown Me dye ink to pick up the stencil design. Using my Wendy Vecchi Make Art STAY-tion board is a MUST! The magnets hold the stencil so I can easily move them, and there is no need for tape. I have both sizes!

I chose one of the new stamp sets, EQUALITY HOPE & LOVE, and stamped it using VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink. I embossed the entire panel with WOW! Clear Embossing Powder.

I found a beautiful purple cardstock in my stash, and used that for the second panel, with black cardstock for the base. I love how it turned out!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Challenges:

• We Love 2 Create  - #7 - Anything Creative/Mixed Media Goes

Freshly Made Sketches #445

It's Wednesday, and that means a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! The lovely Jen M is our hostess for this week, and she has a fabulous sketch for you to try.

I am using some yet-to-be-inked stamps from Doodlebug called FAR OUT. They have coordinating dies as well. The link is below. I thought this would be a perfect card for my two (soon to be three!) grandkids to let them know I miss them!

I used some gorgeous Metallic Silver cardstock (CutCardStock) for the stars. I colored the blue flame of the rocket with my Nuvo Shimmer Pen. It really adds sparkle in the light. The card base is a galaxy design from the Brutus Monroe Watercolor Galaxy Paper Pad. I took a little liberty with the sketch and made my rocket the center strip (a rather fat center strip!), and moved my stars to form a diagonal, rather than straight, line. My images are stamped with VersaFine Clair Nocturne.

I hope you will join us with your take on the sketch this week! Our challenge is open until 3 PM EDT on Monday. Click on the links on the FMS blog by each photo to see what lovely things my teammates have created on their blogs!

Freshly Made Sketches #444

It's Wednesday, and July 15, and it's my birthday! Wednesday also means a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! The lovely Jen T is our hostess for this week, and she has a classic square sketch for you to try.

I got some new goodies from Stampin' Up, and hadn't had a chance to ink them up yet, so I pulled out the Forever Ferns Bundle. The patterned paper was so pretty that I made it the focus, and my little stamped eucalyptus was the accent!

I used some gorgeous Metallic Peacock cardstock (CutCardStock) for the little piece at the bottom. It really adds sparkle in the light. The card base has a Canvas texture (Core'dinations).

I hope you will join us with your take on the sketch this week! Our challenge is open until 3 PM EDT on Monday. Click on the links on the FMS blog by each photo to see what lovely things my teammates have created on their blogs!

Other challenges:

• A Place To Start - JULY - FLOWERS (FLOWERS, FLORAL PAPER, ETC.)
• Dream Valley Challenges - ALL OCCASIONS

The Picket Fence Studios July Release is Here!

It's always an exciting day for Picket Fence Studios when it's Release Day! The July release has some COOL products - yep! Christmas and Fall goodies so you have plenty of time to work on those cards for the cooler months.

Today I am sharing three cards for today's post; two are made to highlight the new stencils, and one is with a new stamp.

The first is a beautiful floral stencil called SHADING FLOWER STENCIL.

I used my Wendy Vecchi Make Art Stay-tion to hold the stencil on my cardstock, and then used Broken China and Peeled Paint DOX inks to color my flowers and leaves. I added some silver Krenik thread and sequins from the Spiked Ocean Water and Gin & Tonic mixes for embellishments and sparkle! The sentiment is from the new MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR stamp set, stamped with BLACK HYBRID ink. I'm linking this card up to Festive Friday Challenge #FF0063, using green, flower, sparkle.

My next card shows how easy it is to increase the 4x4 size of AUTUMN HARVEST COLLAGE, and line up the images beautifully in the repeating pattern using the MISTI.

The background and middle strip are made with the smooshed ink technique, using Dusty Concord and Twisted Citron DOX inks. Once that was dry, I stamped the background stamp four times (twice vertically and twice horizontally) to fill out the width and height of my card panel. I used VersaFine Clair Morning Mist - a little gray/blue ink combo. I finished off the card with a simple gold metallic thread from Krenik.

My final card today moves to Christmas with the FLOWER OF LIFE STENCIL. I again used my Wendy Vecchi Stay-tion (it makes stenciling SO much faster!) to hold my stencil in place. Festive Berries DOX was my color of choice here. I wanted to give the illusion of red poinsettias and/or Christmas plaid by fading out the edges. My sentiment is from the new BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE stamp set, stamped in BLACK HYBRID ink. I added clear rhinestones in the center of each flower.

It's a simply fabulous release, so head over to Picket Fence Studios to see it all! There is so MUCH MORE to check out! Shop {HERE} or click one of the links below!

Don't miss the BIG RETIREMENT SALE going on too! Lots of fabulous products at slashed prices. Grab them before they are gone!   

I hope to see you again soon for more cardmaking ideas!

Missing My Friends and Family!

Hello crafty friends!
I'm missing you all - and missing my family. Wasn't there just the strongest hope that summer and July would bring fewer COVID cases, and maybe some normalcy? Doesn't look like "normal" is even a thing anymore.

So my card today from Brutus Monroe fits perfectly with how I am feeling. That, and it's my last post as a DT member for them! I have loved the past four months - they went by so quickly!

The animals are nowhere in sight! It's quiet on the farm. I thought this was a cute way to say "Missing You." I used Farmhouse Friends, stamping in Raven ink, and I colored with Copics. I have a handcut stencil that I used for clouds -- I have probably had it for over 12 years! But it works like a charm and makes luscious fluffy clouds! I used a sponge dauber to make them. I cut one of the Farmhouse Friends sentiments apart and popped the words up with mini dimensional foam tape. I think it turned out really cute. This one is going to my sister!

Have a GREAT Fourth of July weekend, everyone!

Freshly Made Sketches #442

It's Wednesday, and that means a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Jacquie is our hostess for this week, and she has a fun layered sketch for you to try.

I got some new goodies from The Greetery, and they seemed to work great with the idea I had in my head.

I used the Brick Layer Die as a stencil, and created other layers on top of that for my roses. The sentiment I wanted was a bit too large (ha!) for the sketch placement, so I added it to the bottom of the card.

I hope you will join us with your take on the sketch this week! Our challenge is open until 3 PM EDT on Monday, July 6. Click on the links on the FMS blog by each photo to see what lovely things my teammates have created on their blogs!