Freshly Made Sketches #244

Hi all! Hope you had a good weekend. It has been H-O-T here. Gives me more time to stay inside in the AC and make some cards. :)

I recently made the plunge and purchased my first Hero Arts kit, and I LOVE IT. Did anyone else purchase this kit? I think they are all sold out now, but for those of you who were one of the lucky early purchasers, have you played around with the kit items yet? Honestly, I can't stop adding the stamps and die cuts to my cards. It is so perfect for July with the nautical theme, and I think the designers just did such beautiful work. My favorite stamp among the set is that turtle. Adorable! The jellyfish have such movement, too, and even the coral stamps come out beautifully. The ombre ink is so smooth and pretty, and the two specialty papers are amazing in person. If you're like me and you like the look of glitter and sparkle without the mess, these papers are for you!! I think it's one of those ones that I will go to again and again. A new personal fave!

And that leads me to this week's Freshly Made Sketches #244. Guess what set I jumped right to for this sketch? :)

Here's my take on it:

 I thought that turtle from the Hero Arts kit would add a different spin to the oval element in the middle of the sketch, so that was my jumping-off point. (I had die cut some turtles to have on hand when the kit first arrived, so that saved me some time when I went to put this card together. A good tip!) I also wanted to do something non-traditional to make a bit of a water-y look in the back, so I grabbed the shiny green paper that came with the kit, along with Papertrey Ink stencils. I used Blue Ribbon ink from Ranger and a blending took to make that background. I used a phrase from the Hero Arts set and Lawn Fawn Merman ink for the sentiment portion. For some finishing touches, I covered the turtle in Wink of Stella (this effect is so hard to photograph, but I promise it's there!) along with some PTI rainstones to reinforce the water/nautical theme. Then I just mounted this on a white card I had bought in a pack at Hobby Lobby, and that's it!

I'm sending this off soon to a friend with a July birthday. Hope you have a beautiful day! Until next time!