Project: A Christmas card for Sketch Saturday

Happy Saturday! This week at Sketch Saturday we are playing with a sketch I designed, wahoo! I had a lot of fun looking through our Scrap N Dipity sponsor this week as there are so many sweet images to chose from.

I love these little penguins and I colored them with ProMarkers. I fussy cut them out so I could layer them on top of each other. I was pretty generous with the glitter glue, I think Christmas cards are a chance to be a bit excessive! I added a Art & co sentiment at the bottom and then topped it off with some stars.

I hope you have fun playing along with my sketch!

Project: Anything Christmas for MAWTT

This week at Moving Along With the Times we are doing an anything Christmas challenge. Great brief right. 

I decided to make something of a collage card as I've been doing a lot of CAS lately and I wanted to make something with a few more textures. I started by blending a green card and adding a text stamp that works really well for background. I die cut it using a stitched rectangle die and then added a few stamps from a Christmas vintage Recollections set. The newsprint card is a scrap that I've had for a while and I thought it looked better on kraft card than on white. I added some olive green enamel triangles for texture and balance on the layout. 

I'm really thrilled with it, I may just make a few more like this as it was a lot of fun to do the layout. Hope you have fun playing along!

Project: 2 takes on a teapot card for Sketch Saturday

This week's sketch for Sketch Saturday was a bit tricksy for me but I did two attempts all the same featuring an image from our sponsor LeAnn's World. 

I colored the image using ProMarkers and then die cut it using a scalloped and stitched square. I thought it was a good way of getting the edges on the sketch. I used a bright striped paper and then took some white scraps from my scrap pile for the diagonal stripes. I struggled to make it not so twee, I was hoping the colors would lift it a bit. 

This is my second take on it. I tried to get a watercolour effect on the teapot but I don't love it. The colors don't work as well but I do prefer the grey textured background paper. 

So a bit of variety with the same sponsor image and sketch! hope you have fun playing along! 

Project: Monster card for Sketch Saturday

Hello and happy Saturday. The sketch for today's Sketch Saturday has a couple of components but I hope you find some inspiration in our Little Miss Muffet sponsor:

The little monster was just too much fun, I decided to play with him in greens and yellows. The sentiment is an old one from my stash, I love how it works with the silly image. The spotted paper has been in my stash for ages and the colors worked so well. The strip along the side is blended with Distress Inks and I used the same Peeling Paint color to stencil some spots on the die cut circle layer. 

I hope you have fun playing along! 

Project: Winter animals for MAWTT

This week at Moving Along with the Times we are doing a Winter Animals challenge. 

I decided to play along with these little Christmas penguins. I colored them with ProMarkers and then fussy cut them out. I added plenty of glitter glue to the pompoms and earmuffs. 

The sentiment is from a Recollections set and I decided to feature it in white so it would standout on the blue. The background paper is a green damask that I thought worked well with the images. 

Hope you have fun playing along! 

Project: Pumpkins and punches for Sketch Saturday

This week at Sketch Saturday we have a lovely little sketch. I was struggling to make it work until I rotated it on my side and then it was a Eureka! moment:

Our sponsor is The Paper Nest Dolls, and I love them. I think their images are so cheery and sweet. I went for something a bit seasonal and colored her with ProMarkers before fussy cutting her out.

I added a strip of orange punched pumpkins as a border down the side to work with the sketch and then added a Tim Holtz sticker for the sentiment. I have a few vertical stamps but I like that this is a bit different. The background paper is ancient, I think I've had it for 6 or 7 years as I bought it with Claire following one of our very first playdates.

I added glitter glue to the sunflower on her shirt and a Wink of Stella touch for each of the pumpkins and her hair band. It's sort of lost in the image here but it looks great in real life.

I love that pumpkin punch and was delighted to have the opportunity to use it (especially since I used a scrap of orange paper exactly the right size, score!) so it was a card of perfectly found pieces coming together.

Hope it works for your inspiration this week!

Project: CAS tag card for Sketch Saturday

This week at Sketch Saturday we have another great sketch by Claire.

Our sponsor Just Me Digital Stamps is great, and I was able to get a great sentiment that worked so well with the sketch. I colored the image with ProMarkers and then cut it into a tag. I decided after I'd covered it I was going to make it all white and mint green, despite originally thinking I was going for yellow! I added the ribbon to the tag and this lovely big striped paper as a background. I tried a few different things - buttons, flowers - on the bottom right hand of the tag but went with a lovely gingham bow in the end.

I was looking at adding a bit more but I decided to keep it really simple and just stop. The best cards are usually the ones without all the nonsense in my book.

Fun sketch I hope you find the sketch a good inspiration for your craft adventures this week!

Project: Masculine typewriter card for MAWTT

I love challenging myself to use some of my older stash, or things that I forgot I had, or things that I loved once but haven't used in some time...and today's card is a perfect example of rediscovering the joys of my craft room. 

Our challenge at Moving Along with the Times this week is to make a masculine card. While I have plenty of 'traditional' stamps and images I decided to make this for someone specific and tailor it to him. A really good friend is turning 30 and he's a writer so I decided to make his card featuring a Stampin' Up typewriter. 

I made the background card with an alphabet stamp that came with the typewriter and repeated it down a piece of white card, which I then die cut with a spotted border die. There are some awkward edges from the alphabet stamp but I actually kind of like it. I sort of wish I'd inked the edges for extra distressing but I didn't think of it. Oh well. 

I heat embossed the typewriter image in white against a black card to make it stand out and then I added a 30 in a white gel pen. It's a fun little card and totally meets the brief. Can't wait to see what everyone else comes out with this week! 

Project: Autumnal sketch for Sketch Saturday

This week at Sketch Saturday our sponsor is Fred She Said and I just love their images. This week I wanted something really autumnal to match the change in seasons and thought this pumpkin and dahlia image was perfect.

And because it's a 5th Saturday in the month (yay! more Saturdays!) it's a choose your own sketch week: pick any sketch from 215-532. I went for 514 as it was one I didn't get to play with originally:

I colored the image with ProMarkers and added A Wink of Stella to the flowers to make them shimmer. I love the contrast of purple, yellow and orange, I think it's a great combo for this time of year. I used some great papery flowers from Recollections that I got a while back that add joy to any card. And then a Tim Holtz sticker sentiment for the banner. I tried it on an actual banner and it really looked better plain against the textured paper. 

Loved having a browse through the sketches - I hope you find inspiration as well! 

Project: Birthday card with all the skills

The trouble with one of your best friends being a card maker is that you really have to pull out all the stops for their birthday card each year. It can't be some 'threw it together this morning as I forgot' nonsense that I get away with on other friends. Nope. For Claire, I have to make it technical and complicated!

So this year I was thinking what to do and I was reminded of a technique we did when we first started out - stamping over a few layers and splitting them out in the layout. We used to do this literally over multiple sheets but I wanted to feature dies so instead I did a layout over one sheet that I could cut out with nesting dies. 

I used a Studio Calico sentiment in the middle and then used some big graphic flower stamps from a magazine freebie arranged around the edges. I heat embossed everything in black, then blended using Distress Inks. I layered up the spotted rectangle dies because I liked the little dot details that it brought to the layout - makes it feel a bit more contemporary and tropical. I layered them up using foam tape and over a black card to make it stand out and tie back with the embossing. 

Happy birthday to my dear friend for life, Claire, who is crazy and loving and generous and brilliant. Love you man. The dog loves you most. x

Project: A fun skating girl for Sketch Saturday

I love when I see Claire's sketches in our Sketch Saturday challenges and I thought this was a really fun one to play along with:

The image is one that Claire gave me, she stamped a bunch of images for me from her stash and this is one I've been holding onto for a while. I decided to give her bubblegum pink hair when I colored her with ProMarkers. The balloons were originally part of the stamp but I decided to trim it down and have the balloons go off the card with a Stampin' Up balloon punch (and a felt tip pen to get the strings off the edge!). I decided to double down on the pink sweetness and use a pink chevron paper that I've had in my stash for a while. 

Because the image is so central, I used a tiny little sentiment just above the wrapped pink twine. I love the finished product, it brings me such joy and I know the perfect recipient. 

Can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with this week! 

Project: Ribbon card for MAWTT

This week at Moving Along with the Times we're doing a ribbon theme - and I freakin' love ribbon. I have SO MUCH of the stuff, it's tangled and balled and tied together and covering so much space...and I love it.

I decided to feature it instead of an image and cut 6 strands in dotted grosgrain ribbon, knotting them in the top third and then cutting them on the bias. I put them on a diagonal for a rainbow effect and then used Stampin' Up Endless Birthday Wishes set to split the sentiment in the top and bottom. I added a touch of mustard over the navy to give it a bit more of an accent.

I had so much fun shopping my ribbon stash for this I hope it provides you with the same entertainment as you craft!

Project: Macaroon sketch and color challenge entry

My friend Paloma and I love macaroons. One year she got me a cooking class voucher to learn to make them, another year we went to tea at Laduree for a celebratory meal; they are a constant in our friendship. 

I decided for her birthday card this year I would combine the perfect colors at Paper Players and the layout at CAS(E) This Sketch: 

I cut out the macaroons by hand - I mean, is there an easier or more forgiving shape than a slightly rounded little wedge? - and drew on the filling using ProMarkers in a slightly darker shade. The iridescent glitter glue really makes it pop on top and look more like the squidgy jelly fillings you get in real life. 

The background paper and paper in the little box are both old from my stash - I like the vintage, collage style feel but its so muted it doesn't make it too busy, it still feels CAS (at least to me! purists may disagree!) I inked up the little box using Distress Ink as the white was too bright for the piece. The hero sentiment is free from a card magazine, maybe Quick Cards? And the little 'Let us celebrate' is an old favourite from Stampin' Up. 

I really enjoyed playing alone, I love it when a challenge combination leads to something really personal! 

 

Project: Age is irr-elephant card

My dad loves a corny 'dad joke'. He cracks himself up, even when nobody else finds it funny. For his birthday this year I decided to use these silly animal pun sentiments to honour his sense of humour.

The layout at Freshly Made Sketches was perfect for this:

I started by stamping the elephant stamp directly onto a woodgrain patterned paper. I tried a few versions on plain paper and it was really lacking something. The woodgrain gives it depth and a bit more masculine I think.

The sentiment on its own was missing something so I added the black background. Smallest things make the biggest difference. I tried adding candies and other things but it was really best plain so I took off all the extras and stuck with it as it is. I had already been through a bit of detail drama as explained below...

Originally I stamped the elephant on this paper. The test I did was fine but when I finally committed it using my stamp platform it was way too busy. But because I was going for a one-layer look I couldn't get rid of the image and decided to cover it up. I used a Hero Arts sentiment and rainbow image stamped onto a circle die cut and then I found an orange paper to match the backing paper. 

So this oops got fixed pretty quickly - often these things kick around my desk for months waiting to be corrected and I decided to find something to fix it straight away. Glad I did, even if it is a bit ofw-center for my liking! 

Project: A simple anniversary card

This week it is my 8 year wedding anniversary and I wanted to make something fun but simple as a card for my husband.

I love these Gorjuss stamps, I have about 4 or 5 of them and they are so lovely but I find them a bit hard to use sometimes. Maybe I just don't try hard enough. Anyway, this one is a personal favourite, I think she was my first Gorjuss stamp and I love the little heart card she's holding. I decided it was perfect for the anniversary card.

I colored her using Spectrum Noir pencils and tried to make her hair a bit like mine (but hers is glossier and shinier as I'm too lazy to blow dry) and then I fussy cut her out as she's a simple shape. The heart is a giant punch and I stamped over it using a love stamp set that I got at a craft fair earlier this year. I added the sparkly 8 for our 8 year anniversary as it's the same color as the heart.

It's simple but sweet and I think it's perfect for the occasion!

Project: A bright balloon challenge card

I like something a challenge that makes me think differently about my stash and the challenge at CAS(E) This Sketch made me think about how to put something on the diagonal.

I looked through a dozen images and stamps and things before remembering that to get a rectangle shape you don't have to have a rectangle-shaped image, the great DT cards showed that in the challenge and I decided to make a shape out of multiple punches. The balloon stems, sentiment and punch are all Stamping Up and I decided to go for a classic rainbow color scheme.

Sometimes the simplest things are the cheeriest. The purple stripe and the very light hexagon-print background paper are all scraps from my stash, years old, and I decided the light pattern kept it from being boring and added a touch of contemporary print.

I like the sentiment being so blunt without a happy birthday or anything so I can use it as a congrats card or something other than a traditional birthday. Why not keep the options open?

Very fun to play with, thanks for the sketch inspiration!

Project: Vintage travel birthday card

This is a card for a good friend and it came together through happy accident. I saw the sketch at CAS on Friday and thought it would be fun to play with as it's so flexible: 

My friend likes to travel and so I started looking for papers that would have a vintage or collage-style feel. This paper had some classic vintage-style images pre stamped: a bike, a lightbulb, a postage stamp. I decided to use  a big 3D sticker that I've had for ages because I was waiting for the right use. 

The sentiment is a new classic: Claire got it for me earlier this year or maybe it was last year...I split it over the background card and middle panel. There's actually a sentiment on that red card beneath where the camera is but it wasn't working for me so I covered it with the sticker. 

I love the simplicity of the components but the overall vintage effect, it was a great challenge to let me use a few things from my stash for a good friend. 

Project: Masculine blog challenge

I was catching up on making some birthday cards for friends this weekend and the sketch at Freshly Made Sketches was too much fun, I knew it would be great for making a card for my friend Nick. 

 The featured sentiment is a favourite one of mine, I've had it for about 3 years and the bow tie stamp is about the same though it may be older - maybe 4 years? Either way I thought it would be fun to play along with the Anything Goes challenge at Retro Rubber: 

 

I liked how the sketch challenge had the sentiment called out so I decided to heat emboss it as white on a charcoal stock. I used a red ink on red textured card for the bowtie and fussy cut it out. The background is a fun paper that Claire gave me with fun little definitions and sketches. One was poking out under the sentiment strip and I thought it was a bit awkward so I added a little strip of a scrap paper that I had on my desk that I thought kind of went with the colors. 

All in all I'm really happy with how sharp it is, my friend Nick is very dapper and will get a kick out of it. Fun to get back from my vacation and get back into the blog challenge game. 

Project: Monster unicorns for Sketch Saturday

Hello everyone and happy Saturday, another chance to play with Sketch Saturday. I LOVE our sponsor, Oddball Art Co, every time I go on their site I fall a bit more in love with their collection of quirky but sweet images. 

I mean, look at these weird little unicorn monster guys and tell me they aren't just amazing. Impossible. And they went so well with this week's sketch: 

I rotated the sketch on its side so I could have the border not he bottom. I colored the image using ProMarkers and then die cut it using a spotted border die, adding a pop of pink. I used Distress Ink to blend the border and punched it with a Martha Stewart punch. The bottom is a bit frilly but never mind. Because the border is a bit fussy I decided to use the a Tim Holtz sticker sentiment. I usually cut these up and use them stacked but I like how it spans the full thing. And it's perfect. 

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else does with it! 

Project: Fairies and bugs for Sketch Saturday

This is one of the first times I've played along and got to play with my own sketch. Hilariously it's one of the hardest sketches I've ever played. Oy vey.

So this is what I came up with - after a few attempts I should add! I kept the sketch the same but played on a landscape layout as I struggled with the portrait approach. The image is from Paper Shelter, our sponsor this week, and I colored her with ProMarkers. Because she's a bit ethereal and sweet I decided to play with that and use some fun bug stanps. The bugs are from a little stamp set I got in a sale years ago, and I love how much color and weird perspective they bring. I added a little Tim Holtz sticker for the sentiment. and then die cut it so I could get a little dotted border.

Hopefully you like playing along with it as well!

Project: Texture cards for MAWTT

This week at Moving Along with the Times we have a fun challenge featuring texture. I played a lot with this but ultimately decided on a really fun (and girly!) card featuring three types of texture: foiled paper, layered dies and a big pop-up embellishment.

The foiled  spotted paper was a freebie from Crop on the Cape this year and I layered it against hot pink. The die cut sentiment is a Sizzix set and I thought the pink on its own wasn't standing out so I layered it over a black die cut and really like the shadow effect. Finally these incredible flamingos are from Claire from Paper Source. Aren't they too much fun?! This card is making me smile with how sweet and yet weirdly sophisticated it is.

Hope it provides some inspiration for you this week!

Project: Strawberry girl scrap card

I often color two images when I'm doing a DT make because I like to be prepared if I need to try something different after I've committed something down. I loved the image from Star Stampz and wanted to use the duplicate I had colored for Sketch Saturday.

I used a scrap of gingham paper as it's super summery and cheerful and fit with my spirit of using the duplicates/scraps on my desk. The blue background was already die cut so I cut the image in the smaller nested circle so it would work.

I chose a green background paper to pull the color out from the colouring and I love the way the gingham looked against it. And it's extra pleasing as everything was a scrap so it feels almost like recycling.

Project: Patterned paper simple thanks set

A really simple post today! I am going to be seeing my sister and mom soon and I like to give them little card sets when I see them, trying new or different things each time as they are happy guinea pigs of my designs!

I have all of these gorgeous busy-patterned papers that can be hard to work with in cards unless you make them the hero. I decided to pick some of my favorite prints from a set I got at Crop on the Cape and cut out 4 papers for each set. I used scraps on my desk and blended them in Distress Ink to get the rich mustard color that I could cut the sentiment from.

I die cut the sentiments and realised that the busy candy print needed a strip of white to support it against the busy paper. But otherwise these are super simple and modern and I think they will love them.

Project: Unicorns and dinosaur new kit

Claire gave me some amazing new stamps this week and I had to play with them straight away. The hero is this dinosaur on roller skates and the funniest little sentiments came with it. I tried a few layouts but decided the one you see here was the best. I blended a scrap of white paper with Distress Ink and them stamped on top in Distress Oxide for a chalky finish, and die cut him out.

The graph paper is actually a scrap and I thought it was perfect to give this a bit more masculinity. The 'Roar!' works well on the graph as you can see it through the text and to enhance the look I did a hand-drawn border around the card to make it look more intentional and not like it as too small a background sheet (which is kind of what it was...)

Now for some unicorns. This sentiment is too much fun - it actually says 'I am a unicorn (for reals)' but I masked that because I thought it was stronger without it. For a sense of scale, this is a 3x3 mini square and I wanted to make sure the unicorn die fit above the sentiment. The image is a Lawn Fawn Christmas set (if you'll believe it) and I had already stamped and die cut a few from last year's Christmas assembly line. I colored the accents and added a Wink of Stella.

The background is blended Distress Oxide. I tried a few variants as you can see in these, I think I like the pink and yellow the best. I also tried colouring in the letters of the sentiment or accenting them with shimmer but decided that the plain version was the best.

These are such fun additions to my kit, I'm kind of surprised I was able to do anything else as I stayed at my desk nearly the full weekend!