Freshly Made Sketches #400!!!

Here is the 400th Freshly Made Sketch! So much fun to play along with such a milestone sketch.

This one came together pretty quickly.

 I had stamped, watercolored, & fussy cut a bunch of the Tim Holtz flowers and had them in a dish on my scrap desk. One of those became the focal point of this card. The card was built on a white card base. I added a tan-colored piece of cardstock to the base and used foam tape to pop up the Blue Swiss Dot patterned paper. The green loops were created with ribbon sandwiched between the tan piece and the blue patterned paper. I created a tan frame using two stitched rectangle dies. The background behind the frame was created using an older Hero Arts background stamp, and the sentiment is from an older Hero Arts stamp set as well.

I finished the card with sequins and a bow.

Color Throwdown #558

Color Throwdown #558 this week:

I decided to go with a simpler card design this week, and I am pleased with the results. 

I die cut the card base using an older Simon Says Stamp heart die and then backed the negative spaces with Herma dot adhesive. Then, I ink blended Distress Ink in Worn Lipstick, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, and Mowed Lawn onto watercolor cardstock. I spritzed the whole piece with Perfect Pearl pearlized water. After the watercolor cardstock piece dried, I die cut it with the same heart die. Instead of removing individual sections to fill in the negative spaces, I carefully picked up the whole die cut cardstock piece and placed it on top of the negative, adhesive areas and pressed the pieces into place. It worked so well!! I was kinda expecting all the little dots to be a nightmare!

I finished the card with a die cut hello, a small stamped sentiment, and a few sequins.

(CAS)e This Sketch #336

I'm coming in under the wire & on the iPad tonight with this week's (CAS)e This Sketch.

I decided to go with a more masculine card this week because I need a few cards to give to my boys who are back in school.I want cards on hand to offer them encouragement when I think they need it. 

Blogging on the iPad is not my favorite & I will try to edit this post and link or share products at a later date when the computer is more cooperative. 

Have a wonderful evening. See ya next week!

Freshly Made Sketches #400 Week 3

Here is this week's Freshly Made Sketches sketch:

Since it is beginning to cool off a little here in the South, thanks to a few thunderstorms, I decided to start working on a few more fall-themed cards. 

I used one of my favorite woodblock stamps from Hero Arts called Design Block Tree (S5037) to create the larger rectangle. The tree was stamped with Versamark and then embossed in WOW regular embossing powder in Rose Gold. The ink blended tree colors are Scattered Straw, Wild Honey, Crushed Olive, and Fired Brick. The olive green rectangle is a piece of scrap cardstock from my stash. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Thanks and Leaves stamp set. 

As always, I finished the card with a few clear, iridescent sequins from my stash.

Color Throwdown #557

This week's color scheme was fun. I decided to go with some ink blending so I could deliberately avoid mixing the yellow and purple together. Yellow and purple together equals mud and isn't a good look on a card.

I also decided to do a predominately one layer card by embedding my sentiment into a background. 

I chose the "You Are Awesome" sentiment from Simon Says Stamp's  Big Scripty Greetings stamp set. I stamped it in black and embossed it on the smooth side of the Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock. I stamped the sentiment onto some scrap paper, cut it out and then adhered it over the embossed greeting. Using an older Hero Arts background stamp called Flower Dot Pattern (CG330) in my Misti, I stamped over the covered sentiment. Once I had a solid stamping on my background (it took a couple of times), I embossed the background as well. 

After I removed the sentiment mask, I used Distress Inks in Dusty Concord, Peacock Feathers, Salty Ocean, and Squeezed Lemonade to ink blend over the complete background. I used pearlized water, made with Perfect Pearls and water, to paint some of the background images. I also splattered the entire background with Perfect Pearl water.

After it dried completely, I added sequins and gems from Lucy's Cards to complete the card. 

(CAS)e This Sketch #335

A new (CAS)e This Sketch is up for the week.

Here is my take:

I remembered that I had bought this Simon Says Stamp Dot Scallop die a few months ago and I knew it would work well to create the wavy lines from the sketch. I have a board on Pinterest that is specifically for color and text inspiration, so I went there to find a color scheme. 

I love, love, love the jewel tones of this color scheme and wanted to represent it in my design. I chose Distress Inks in Fired Brick, Wild Honey, Crushed Olive, Tumbled Glass, and Chipped Sapphire. I ink blended each color onto watercolor cardstock, sprayed each piece with Perfect Pearls mist, & let them dry completely before die cutting them. I used DMC embroidery floss in coordinating colors to stitch the holes of each piece. I layered them on white cardstock and added a die-cut piece on the top and bottom of the cardstock to complete the design. 

The sentiment is from an older Cocoa Daisy stamp set. Using my Misti, I stamped the "Colorful" part first using  Distress Markers, then went back and added black ink to stamp the remaining portion of the sentiment. 

I added matching sequins from my stash to finish the card. 

Freshly Made Sketches #400 Week Two

Freshly Made Sketches is celebrating 400 Sketches by revisiting earlier sketches. Here is this week's  sketch:

This one was fun, and I had several different ideas before I settled on the card I made today. I made a list of some of the other ideas I'd like to try based off this sketch. Here is the card I finally decided to make.

I used a leaf image from the Simon Says Stamp Delicate Flowers stamp set. I stamped and embossed the image randomly on a piece of Tim Holtz watercolor cardstock. I then watercolored the leaves using a mix of Mustard Seed, Crushed Olive and Peeled Paint Distress Inks.  I mixed the Perfect Pearls powder with water. Once I completed a leaf, I went back and added drops of Perfect Pearls to cover the leaf and let it dry. I like how the greens are not all the same and how the Perfect Pearls dried differently on each leaf. It adds interest and depth to the background. I also splattered the Perfect Pearls on the completed background. It dried with a green tint to it because I was using the same brush to paint both green leaves and add Perfect Pearls. Love!

I then added a black strip to divide the background and to ground the die-cut Thanks sentiment, which is from the Simon Says Stamp Beautiful Flowers 2 stamp set. 

I added additional leaves to the die-cut sentiment and then added sequins to complete the card.  

Color Throwdown #556

Back this week with a fun color scheme from Color Throwdown.

I have quite a few family members and friends with birthdays in September. With school starting back up and the boys all playing sports, I have been trying to get a jump on getting birthday cards made before life gets crazy busy again.

This one was a lot of fun, I always think shaker cards are fun, and it is a challenge to try to figure out a quick and easy way to create the shaker part. I am not sure I have ever created two shakers the same way. Maybe one day I will finally come up with a shaker formula I love. 

This card is bigger than what I usually make, measuring 5 x 61/2.  The blue background was created by ink smooshing a combination of Broken China and Salty Ocean Distress Inks. The happy birthday sentiment was stamped & embossed on the blue background, and I added the shaker part over the top of that. Today's shaker formula was a piece of black fun foam with Desert Storm kraft cardstock adhered to it. I ran that through my Big Shot using two stitched rectangle dies taped together to make a frame. Before adding a bunch of different sequins, seed beads, and gems to the shaker, I used my anti-static pouch to cut back on the static that sometimes occurs inside the shaker. I also adhered a few sequins around the sentiment, so that even if the recipient stands the card up, sequins will still be visible. I  then cut down a piece of clear acetate and adhered another kraft frame on top of that. Using Scor-tape on the back of the acetate, I closed up the shaker portion. 

The stamped pieces along the frame are from Tim Holtz and Altenew. I watercolored them using Distress Inks in Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Gathered Twigs, and Walnut Stain. I always use multiple shades of the same color, and I also add additional layers of color, letting layers dry completely before starting a second layer. I think that multiple shades and multiple layers help add to the depth of the painted images. 

I finished the card with a hemp bow and more sequins. This birthday card is headed to one of my very best friends, who is a former scrapbooker and card maker. She will love it!

Freshly Made Sketches #400

I found a new-to-me card sketch challenge blog. Freshly Made Sketches stretches my creativity because I'm not a "clean" cardmaker. I am a splatter and Distress Ink kind of card maker most of the time. Here is the sketch for this week and then my card:

Since I am a school Library Media Specialist, I decided to create a card that I can give to a colleague when she needs encouragement.  This card was made using patterned paper scraps from my stash. The apple image is from an older Hero Arts woodblock stamp set (LP125: Four Apples) and is watercolored with Distress Inks in Fired Brick, Barn Door, Shabby Shutters, Mowed Lawn, and Vintage Photo. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Thank You Teacher stamp set (SSS101749).

(CAS)e This Sketch #334

For this week's Case This Sketch Challenge, I created a horizontal card, which I had not done in a while.  Here is this week's sketch:

I love the simplicity of this sketch.

The background image is the largest floral stamp in Simon Says Stamp's Beautiful Flowers 2 (SSS101884) stamp set. The image is watercolored with Distress Inks in Abandoned Coral, Barn Door, Fired Brick, Fossilized Amber, Shabby Shutters, and Peeled Paint. The "wishing" die is from Simon Says Stamp and is heat embossed in Hero Arts gold embossing powder multiple times. The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp's Sending and Wishing stamp set (SSS101475).  To finish the card I splattered the card with Perfect Pearls in Sunflower Sparkle and added Simon Says Stamp sequins in Summer Gold.

Thanks for stopping by!

Color Throwdown #555

This week I am again playing with colors that aren't in my wheelhouse- Color Throwdown #555. I'm not always comfortable when pink and purple are involved, just because they aren't colors I usually reach for. As usual, I struggled to figure it out, then when I had the card completed, I was pleased with the results.

This color scheme screamed flowers to me, so that was my plan. I had seen a really pretty card that Yoonsun Hur created for Simon Says Stamp.

  

I did not have this particular stamp set & I also had very limited floral image stamps that were small. I ended up using an older floral stamp set from Hero Arts called Color Me Flowers (CG133) along with Simon Says Stamp Big Scripty Greetings (SSS101527). There were no stems or leaves in the floral stamp set, so I used a couple of floral branches from an older Cocoa Daisy stamp set.  The Distress Ink colors I used are: Wilted Violet, Dusty Concord, Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, and Mowed Lawn. 

I finished the card with a splatter of Perfect Pearls and sequins from Lucy's Cards. 

(CAS)E this Sketch #333

Back today, sharing a card I made for a "new to me" Sketch Challenge blog- (CAS)E this Sketch #333. I was drawn in by the sketch because I love to use sketches to guide and push my creativity.

August for us means back to school, and as a school librarian, that means that I am working on getting lesson plans made and getting the library back together to welcome students. I have many teacher friends in my building and also around the state, so I made quite a few cards to encourage and uplift them as we start a new year.

Here is one that I am sending to one of my very best friends who lives in the town where I grew up. She teaches Kindergarten, KINDERGARTEN! I can't wrap my brain around the patience and energy that it requires to teach Kindergarten, but she does it so well! 

I started this card by stamping Tim Holtz's Mini Schoolhouse Blueprint Stamps onto watercolor cardstock and water coloring the image with Candied Apple, Fired Brick, Spun Sugar, and Pine Needles Distress Ink.  The sentiment is from Simon Says Stamp Thank You Teacher stamp set, and it is stamped on a piece of patterned paper from my stash. The red and green patterned pieces are from my stash of paper scraps as well. I used the largest Stitched Rectangle Die from Simon Says Stamp to cut the black cardstock background piece. It is the perfect size to fit on an A2 card base.

I adhered the pieces together and popped up the apple image with foam tape. I finished the card with a few Summer Gold sequins from Simon Says Stamp and a splattering of Perfect Pearls in Sunflower Sparkle.

I enjoyed this sketch challenge and look forward to trying it again in the future.

Color Throwdown #554

 I loved the color scheme for this week's Color Throwdown.

I wanted to use the same basic materials and try two different techniques for the cards this week. 

Both cards were created using Neenah white 80lb cardstock to create the card bases. I also cut down Desert Storm cardstock and embossed it with older Sizzix embossing folders to create the backgrounds. 

All the stamped pieces are from Altenew's Beautiful Day stamp & die set. The card on the left was stamped in black ink and watercolored using Tim Holtz Distress Inks- Barn Door, Twisted Citron, Lucky Clover, and Peeled Paint. The card on the right was stamped in Altenew mini ink cubes in Red Sunset and Green Fields. Both cards have tan elements stamped in Vintage Photo Distress ink. 

The black pieces are cardstock from my stash and the green, and black and white pieces are washi tape that adhered to white cardstock and layered under the black cardstock. 

I used Hero Arts Gold Embossing powder along the edges of the sentiment strip and the background piece. I also sprinkled loose embossing powder and heated it from underneath on the completed cards to add texture and interest. 

Each card was finished with Gold Stickles and sequins from my stash.

Thanks for stopping by!