Freshly Made Sketches #661

Hello everyone! 

It's Wednesday and time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches! This one is from the very talented Jacquie and here is mine!

I had a ton of fun making this. Dies are my favorite to work with! I used several different companies' projects on my card today:

Impression Obsession - Primitive Snowman die
Memory Box - evergreen trees
Paper Smooches - sentiment
Simon Says Stamp - snowflake cover palte
Papertrey Ink - snowflake die

Our challenge is open until Monday, November 10, at 3 PM EST. We hope that you will join us! Check out my amazing teamies' cards on the FMS Blog!

Freshly Made Sketches #593

Hello everyone! I hope all of my US friends had a wonderful Independence Day celebration! Now back to your regularly scheduled events :)

We have a new sketch today at Freshly Made Sketches! Our hostess today is spunky and talented Karren in NZ! There are several on the team that made the fun fold Bridge cards - I did not cross that bridge this week, and kept mine my usual top fold.

I knew I wanted to use the Layered Perky Flower Dies and the Garden Spires Embossing Folder I had just gotten from Simon Says Stamp. Those two fought with me a little in trying to get the placement I wanted, and keep the sentiment panel where it was supposed to be in the sketch! So I worked on individual pieces first, not knowing how it would all fit together. It took me twice as long as it should have, but working with new dies is sometimes a "learn as you go" event!

The flowers and stems were watercolored and then shadowed with Distress Oxide Inks. I actually cut six of the dies, to try for more color variation in the petal layers and make sure I had enough if I messed it up. There are three layers to the petals, but the stems/leaves and main petals are all connected in the die. A little black flicked on for fun dots and texture was fun (although always scary to me!).

I embossed the Garden Spires on heavy cardstock (and forgot to spritz!!) and then inked with Peeled Paint DOX. The sentiment is from In the Heart (Pinkfresh Studio) and stamped with a perfectly matched dye ink from Scrapbook.com. I rarely use anything but black for sentiments, so that was fun. Some torn paper, a little patterned paper from my stash, and my favorite gold metallic thread and rhinestones for sparkle finished the card. 

I hope you will join our sketch challenge, and add your creations to our gallery. This week's challenge will end at 3:00 EDT time on Monday, July 10. Be sure to take a peek at the designs my talented teamies have made (bridge cards and non bridge!) on the FMS blog to inspire you!

Other challenges for this card:

We Love Stamping - July (florals)

Freshly Made Sketches #527

It's Wednesday and time for a new sketch from Freshly Made Sketches! It is my pleasure to be hosting this week!

I always seem to come up with something totally different than my original idea when I am hosting. I expected to have three rectangles popped up with something cute on them, and an embossed background. :)

But, as you can see, that's not at all what the end result was! I am happy with how this turned out though, as I love blending inks!

Both of the images I used are from a spring kit from Simon Says Stamp from about three years ago! And this is the first time I have used them. So yay! 

I blended five Distress Oxide inks through a taped off triple rectangle (Post It Note tape - love it!). 

I hope you will join our sketch challenge, and add your creations to our gallery! This challenge will end at 3:00 EDT time on Monday, March 21. Be sure to take a peek at the gorgeous cards my teammates have made on the FMS blog to inspire you! 

Freshly Made Sketches #519

I love how a sketch can get your creativity going. Usually I have several ideas, and have to narrow it down. That is the case with today's sketch from Jen T and Freshly Made Sketches!

I had a lot of different ideas, but not a lot of time, as I have been visiting family in the Seattle area this last week. I chose this alcohol ink (Ranger) background on Duralar that was in my unfinished projects box, and created a fun big sentiment with Wilted Violet DOX ink, and new to me stamps/dies from Simon Says Stamp. I love the bits of gold alloy in the background.

I hope you will join our sketch challenge, and add your creations to our gallery! This challenge will end at 3:00 EST time on Monday, January 24. Be sure to take a peek at the gorgeous cards my teammates have made on the FMS blog to inspire you!  

I am also entering this in:

Ellibelle's Crafty Wednesday - Something New

 

It's Coffee Time!

Today is the first day of the Fall/Winter Coffee Lovers Blog Hop! 

I am playing along today with a fun background made with my Gel Press, and various coffee colors of acrylic paint. I used the SSS Cup of Love stamps and dies for my card.

I embossed my images with clear EP and colored with Copics. 

It has a lot of texture and will make a fun greeting for a coffee loving friend!

I made this short and sweet so you can keep hopping and enjoy the creativity of this crafting community!

Thanks for stopping by!

Freshly Made Sketches #511

Today is Wednesday and it's time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! The lovely Linda is our hostess today!

This watercolored pine bough has been in my "this didn't turn out like I expected but maybe I will use it someday" box for several years. Years! And while it wasn't what I had planned back then, it was perfect for Linda's sketch with all of the open space. I even had room to offset the card to the right, make a wonky layer, and distress the edges.

The paper has some texture to it, and little flecks of colors here and there. The stamp is from the Christmas Pine set by Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps, using Always Artichoke (SU!) ink. The sentiment strip is from SSS. I added silver metallic thread from Kreinik, and red and white rhinestone gems from PFS.

I hope you will join our sketch challenge this week, and add your creations to our gallery! This challenge will end at 3:00 EST time on Monday, November 15th. Be sure to take a peek at the gorgeous cards my teammates have made on the FMS blog! 

Freshly Made Sketches #470

Hello everyone! We have a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, and my sweet friend to the north, Jen B, is our hostess this week!

For this week's sketch, I started with a background that I made using Nuvo Shimmer powders (Atlantis Burst and Green Parade). I adore these powders because of the shine and sparkle. Out of my box of leftovers and unfinished elements, I pulled this Hello Word Die from Simon Says Stamp that didn't cut all the way through (for a previous project), and decided to use it just as it was. I stacked two together for more dimension. I added a sentiment strip from Taylored Expressions on top. I had some stars cut from Ice Silver cardstock (CutCardStock) that I used for the corner elements of the sketch. I did some old school piercing along the top edge.

I hope you will join our sketch challenge this week, and add your creations to our gallery! This challenge will end at 3:00 EST time on Monday, February 1st. On Tuesday, we will announce the winner of this week's challenge who will be known as the "Queen or King of Clean". The team will choose other gallery favorites to be known as a "Perfect Princess or Prince". 

Be sure to stop at the Freshly Made Sketches blog, and click on the names of my teammates to see the beautiful cards they have created this week! 

New Release at WOW! Embossing!

Hello everyone!

It's a cold and snowy day here on the Plains. I think we got somewhere between 8 and 10 inches yesterday, but who knows. It's just a LOT. Schools and business are closed for another day, so it's time to tell you about some fabulous new products at WOW! Embossing!

Today I am sharing cards with two of the new products from the Tracy Scott Fiesta Trio. I used two of the three new Embossing Glitters. 

On my first card above, I started with the new Picket Fence Studios Pink Carnation Paper Glaze and a heart stencil from Taylored Expressions. I spread the glaze using a palette knife. It's a gorgeous soft pink! When that was almost dry, I sprinkled Sparkles on part of the glaze. You can see that some hearts have sparkle and some just have shine. That's why! I purposely wanted the glaze to shine on its own in some places. Next I cut my die (SSS) out of white CS and vellum, and then took the gorgeous Strawberry Daiquiri Embossing Glitter and covered the word die completely. I adhered all panels and the die using foam tape and Gina K Connect Glue.

On my next card, I used the same layout, but with different products for a totally different look. This time, I used Distress Oxide inks for the background, and white cardstock and vellum (again) for the sentiment. The "heart" word is dipped in the new Mai Tai Embossing Glitter from the Tracy Scott Fiesta Trio.

 
I love how each card looks with it's different vibe! You can find this new Trio and MUCH MORE at WOW! Embossing Powders HERE. Use the code WOWDTJR for 10% off your purchase! Be sure to check out the hop going on through the end of the month. You have the opportunity to win the entire release (so many new items!) TWICE! Check out the details here @joy_in_a_jar.

Find the beautiful new Paper Glazes at Picket Fence Studios HERE.

Freshly Made Sketches #452

Hello everyone! It's Wednesday, when I get to share the new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! This week's sketch was designed by Amy, and I know you will have fun creating with it.

My leaves are from Simon Says Stamp and the Hugs die is from Waffle Flower. Several months ago, I was experimenting with the Brutus Monroe metallic Aqua Pigments, and just sort of made a big blob. I had no idea what to do with it. So it has been in my mixed media pile for that long. Today, when I thought about Amy's sketch, I decided to use my newly acquired Hugs die, and was looking through the mixed media box. Lo and behold, there was the "blob." See for yourself:

At the time, I decided I wouldn't have a clue what to do with that mess I made. But I saved it anyway, because you never know, right?  I think it turned out pretty well! I added some more leaves with the gold metallic cardstock that became the card base, a vellum panel to ground the Hugs die, and a few Latte pearls (Kaiser) for elegance. I flipped the sketch, so the leaves would fit with the die. I think it's a little top heavy, but once you glue, what's a girl to do? What do you think?

You can see another card I made with Amy's sketch HERE. I hope you will join our sketch challenge this week, and add your creations to our gallery! You have until Monday, September 14, at 3 PM Eastern time to join us!

Be sure to stop at the Freshly Made Sketches blog, and click on the names of my teammates to see what beauty they have created this week!

 

Stamptember is Here with Picket Fence Studios!

It's the 11th Anniversary of Stamptember! And today the Picket Fence DT is sharing creations made with the exclusive PFS/SSS set: HAPPY WATER! You can purchase the Happy Water stamp set or the Happy Water Stamp and die set for a limited time, while supplies last. The exclusive collaborations are selling out in record time this year, so act fast if you can.

 

I decided to color my drinks thinking of actual drinks that I have made while tending bar at our community theater. I am the executive director there, and wear a lot of different hats! So tell me if you see: Martini, Long Island Iced Tea, Strawberry Daquiri, Bloody Mary, Margarita on the rocks, Frozen Margarita, Bloody Mary, Blue Hawaiian Cocktail, Cosmo:

I used my Lyra Rembrandt Polycolor pencils to color after stamping with SSS Intense Black ink. This is actually a one layer card for the main image. I added washi tape from my stash around the colored image to give the effect of more than one layer. I did add a small second layer for the sentiment, and cut it out with a circle die. I added a trio of sparkling pink pearls for embellishments.

Here is the complete set, with matching dies, but you can also purchase just the stamp set, as linked above!

Happy Tuesday and happy shopping!

Freshly Made Sketches #451

Hello everyone! It's Wednesday, when I get to share the new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! This week's sketch was designed by the kind and amazing Narelle (Stampin' Up Artisan DT!), and I know you will have fun creating with it. It's a versatile sketch, with some fun in the vertical rectangles.

I chose some softer colors, with an extra pop of pink (my favorite), and did some watercoloring on my flowers.

My images and die cut word sentiment are from Simon Says Stamp (Big Hugs and Stronger Together). I used my Zig Clean Color markers to add color to the images. I chose some soft blue music paper for my rectangle panels, and a light pink, embossed main panel (Darice EF). The card based is a lovely cool gray. This was a relaxing card to make!

I hope you will join our sketch challenge this week, and add your creations to our gallery! You have until Monday, September 7, at 3 PM Eastern time to join us! Be sure to stop at the Freshly Made Sketches blog, and click on the names of my teammates to see what beauty they have created this week!

 

Freshly Made Sketches #436

It's Wednesday, and that means a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Jen B. is our hostess for today, and has created a sketch with lots of room to play!

This stamp set from Simon Says Stamp really caught my eye when I first saw it. The sentiments were just so sweet. It's called Stronger Together. I knew if I didn't grab it right away, that I might miss out, and it's the perfect set to use to encourage others right now.

I started by stamping the foliage down the side, and coloring with Copics. There is a matching die for that image, but I decided to keep it one layer. Next I made my ink blended circle with a stencil mask and blender brushes. I don't usually clean my brushes very often, and just use a different brush for each color family, but this one had a little pink left on it, which created a lovely, very subtle highlight for the center with the Shabby Shutters ink I had chosen. I stamped the sentiment using my MISTI and added three little sparkly enamel dots from my stash. 

Finally, I used my clear Wink of Stella pen to add sparkle to the leaves. I love how it turned out.

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:

• Crafty Sentiment Designs - Anything Goes

Freshly Made Sketches #429

It's Wednesday (and April - yay!), and that means a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! I have the pleasure of hosting today, and have designed a layered sketch for you to try! 

I started by choosing my butterflies - I have had these three remaining from a set of six forever, and decided they needed to make an appearance on a card. April has always been a month of hope to me (spring and Easter and all), and I decided butterflies would be perfect for April 1st.

I then chose three DOX colors to compliment the butterflies: Shaded Lilac, Twisted Citron and Scattered Straw. I used a stencil to blend the circles. I then chose some patterned paper in my stash to match, and one of the sentiments from Simon Says Stamp's All The Thanks.

I hope you will join us with your take on the sketch this week! Our challenge is open until 3 PM EDT on Monday, April 6. 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:

• Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Spring Mood Board

• Paper Players Tic Tac Toe: I used pink (in my paper), butterflies, and flowers

• Crafty Sentiment Designs - Easter

Freshly Made Sketches #419

It's Wednesday, and that means a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches! Today's hostess is my sweet friend, Lee Ann, and she has given us some angled edges to work with. I love this sketch!

I used some gorgeous papers from Teresa Collins to begin my card. I knew with the large panel I wanted to highlight some of the paper that I hoard, and also use a big word die. Once I decided on the paper, I chose the Hello die from Simon Says Stamp, and cut it from some beautiful shimmery silver cardstock, which was a perfect complement to the designer paper. I decided to leave in all the "middles" of the letters to show more of the beauty of this cardstock. I added some Champagne pearls from Kaiser to complete the card. As you can see, I flipped the sketch, just to follow the direction of the word.

I hope you will join us with your take on the sketch this week! Our challenge is open until 3 PM EST on Monday, January 27. 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: 
Dragonfly Dreams  – (January) Anything Goes