Project: Sketch Saturday May 27th

Finally week as Guest DT at Sketch Saturday and I'm very sad this is the last of the posts. Happily the sketch was great to play with, I love a starburst!

The image is from AMB Illustrations and I decided to color it with Spectrum Noir pencils. I decided to tilt the sketch on its side to have the duck at the top and then have the starburst coming below as if it was the puddle spilling out. A bit silly but I liked the idea. The stardust is comprised of vellum layered over the colored card and I embossed some blue card with a Swiss dots folder to add texture. The sentiment is from Stampin' Up, it's a rare vertical sentiment and I thought it worked brilliantly with the original sketch. 

All in all I'm very sad to leave the Sketch Saturday family but it has been absolutely brilliant working with them and I've loved playing with them every week! 

Project 419: A color themed challenge

I realised that I needed to make an 80th birthday card for Olly's grandad as we're seeing him this weekend for a birthday lunch. Panicked as my craft kit is packed away (I have a friend staying this week and my craft room is my guest room) I decided to look for a good challenge that would allow me to focus my energy on my limited access.

I loved the colors at Retro Rubber this week so thought I would give it a go.

Spoiler alert: I ended up needing to use quite a bit more of my kit and had to sift through all the carefully organised boxes I had scattered throughout the apartment in a bid to make space for my friend's stuff. Sighs.

Anyway. I heat embossed a big birthday sentiment that I have had for about 4 years. Maybe 5 or 6? It is so old I don't remember where it came from but I know I love it. I used a turquoise powder that has a hint of iridescence that I like. I punched balloons in lime green, purple and two shades of turquoise with hand drawn tails, and added a stitched frame around it. Some bling number stickers and that is one fun little birthday card. I can't believe something that looks so simple could have caused such a fuss!

Project 418: Using die cut scraps

I had a fun little play date with Claire this weekend and while we were chatting on Skype we both did a bit of a desk clear out. I had so many scraps of paper, die cut things and random stuff on my desk I decided I wasn't going to do anything new until I had made a dent in the left overs. It's an eclectic collection but I am really pleased with the results!

Headline card: the feathers are a mix of dies from my stash; the blue was embossed and cut by Claire and gifted to me and the green is a die cut I made for another card but then didn't use. The stitched grey square is left from another project (another reject where I found a better pattern to use for that piece) and the red paper is the edge of a paper pad that I have had for ages. The bow and sentiment tag are also ancient from the collection. By intentionally ignoring color and pattern, I think it's actually come together really well instead of getting fussy about everything being matchy-matchy!

For these dog cards, I had bought this big die in a sale and then immediately got a bit afraid of him. He's really big! He doesn't always come out cleanly either as you can see from one of the examples, but I decided it was ok as long as the brow and fur at the bottom are out, it doesn't matter. Both backing papers are scraps that had been awkwardly cut but because I love both patterns I just kept them forever. Why?! The turquoise and tan card has a heat embossed sentiment from Creative Stamping magazine and the one with the tartan paper is stamped from a different magazine freebie. Even the white banner on which it is stamped is a scrap!

For this one I used a big sentiment cut from Claire's silhouette machine that I have been saving (again, why?) and some little stitched rings over a scallop circle. The paper is a bit too busy for the sentiment but never mind, I think the colors worked well here given they were all scraps and not cut for purpose.

Finally this little guy was made using a stamped and die cut bicycle from Sizzix over a blue die cut star. The red card was already cut to size and I embossed it using a Stampin' Up folder. A simple sentiment and some star bling and I called it a day. 

So relieved to have a clear desk, now all I need to do is clutter it up again :) 

Project: Sketch Saturday May 20th

Welcome to another Saturday with Sketch Saturday! As a Guest DT I'm having so much fun.

This week's sketch seemed tricky but ended up being a bit of fun to play with:

This image is great, it's from Crafty Sentiment Designs and she is great to color. I used ProMarkers and, having chosen the background paper first, I colored her to match. I chose some ribbons from my stash (I have so many ribbons - maybe hundreds? - that I love playing 'match that color') and used those instead of tags as I liked the texture against the paper. I fussy cut the image over the ribbons and layered her over foam to give her some elevation. The sentiment is stamped on a washi tape punch and I liked the way it mimicked the ribbon.

Hope you enjoy playing with the sketch as well!

Project: Sketch Saturday 13th May

Another week, another opportunity to show off my shiny Guest DT spot at Sketch Saturday this month!

This is the sketch this week and I found it a great joy to play with:

This week I used this wonderful image from Bugaboo. They are one of my favourite digi providers and I love this image. I decided to go for a really simple color scheme, and grey and blue felt like it would be unisex though now that it's done it is a bit more masculine than I intended. I used a patterned grey check paper and then layered up stitched die rectangles. I colored the image with ProMarkers and added a little Happy Birthday tag stamp that reminded me of a dog collar. I decided to add little paw print stickers to complete the sketch and a border of ribbon at the bottom of two of the cards to bring a bit of dimension.

I love the sketch and hope you do too!

Project 415: Butterfly challenge at MAWTT

This week we have a Butterfly challenge at Moving Along with the Times and I couldn't determine which stamp to use as I have so many!

I decided to go for these Inkadoo images, they are part of a bigger set and these two hadn't been used before. They are super cute. The sentiment is from another set, I got it in a Craft Superstore sale a year or two ago and just think it's so sweet. I heat embossed them in white powder and then used Cracked Pistachio and Broken China Distress inks to make it stand out.

I wanted to make it a bit more girly so I layered it against a black and white spotted paper, a flash of hot pink and then used a bolder spotted ribbon.

I love the colours, it was such a fun challenge. I can't wait to see what everyone else does!

Project 414: Special baby cards

A close colleague is having a baby and I wanted to make him something special for his wife to welcome their baby girl. Another colleague also commissioned a card for them so I thought I'd feature them both here.

The headline card is the one I'm giving them - I used a stencil Claire gave me and used Victorian Velvet Distress ink to get the subtle pink clouds. I punched a bunch of balloons using a Stampin' Up punch and stamped a 'Welcome Baby' sentiment on the biggest of them. I added some stamped strings, I kind of wish I had used real string but I like the bow.

This card is really funny. Our colleague's wife is Czech and they have this cartoon called Little Mole so I was commissioned to make a Little Mole card for her to give. I don't love the banner - I will keep trying it though. The top sentiment is die cut using an XCut die and the Little Mole is paper cut by hand.

Both really fun and different baby cards, I'm going to remember the balloon treatment for the future as I think that could have legs.

Project: Sketch Saturday 6th May

Hello friends - I'm delighted to announce that I'm going to be guest designer for the month of May over at Sketch Saturday. Wahoo! This is my first post for the month and the sketch was really fun to work with: 

My take on the sketch features a great image from Paper Nest Dolls - this one is just too much fun to color. I used ProMarkers and chose really spring-y colors. It's that time of year for cheer, right? I added a bit of turquoise ribbon and then a little rounded oval tag punch that I had in my stash from Claire years ago. I thought it looked sweet nestled on top of the ribbon but it was missing something so I knotted the ribbon and am much happier with how it stands out. The background paper is from Recollections, a gift from Claire so long ago! The turquoise ovals are origami paper - I never think to use it but the subtle print works well to add some texture.

Really looking forward to seeing what everyone has to offer!