Project: 3 takes on a sketch challenge

Claire found this amazing sketch challenge this week and we we had a little Skype playdate to play with it. She just gifted me a full set of new stamps and some mini stamp and embossing folders sets and it was a perfect challenge to play with them. The sketch is from CAS Colours and Sketches: 

The headline card features this amazing Stamping Bella Rosie and Bernie stamp. I used an aqua brush and Distress Inks to color it and I love the watercolour effect. I used a Wink of Stella shimmer on the unicorn horn but it doesn't really come out in the picture. The grey paper is form the stash - I've sort of lost count of where papers came from which is a shame! - and the sentiment was from Claire earlier this year. Such a fun first play with that set.

 

Now for some texture! The palm leaf embossing folder was a mini set with the flamingo stamp. The folder was a bit more aggressive than I thought it would be but the impression is really crisp. The stamp was colored with ProMarkers and embellished with a little tag and some great little Recollections flowers. 

And finally I decided to play with some texture paste and die it using Distress Inks. I used a stencil to create the little arcs and decided to go for a color match using a yellow foam circle lurking on my desk. The wishes die was cut using a scrap which I layered over white paper. I think I'll add a 'best' or something above it but I haven't decided yet - so it's nearly done but I'll finish it when I decide what to use it for. 

So there we have it - three takes on a lovely little sketch!

Project: A coffee cup for Sketch Saturday

This week at Sketch Saturday there is a fun sketch and the opportunity to be a bit CAS if that's your style! This is the sketch:

I loved the coffee cup image and thought it would be fun to use a busy patterned paper to make the coffee cup really stand out. I colored it with ProMarkers and then decided to use a stitched die to make it pop a bit more.

The sentiment is Stampin' Up, and I split it over two shapes, the stitched circle and a little banner for the Coffee portion. I had a lot of fun making it, can't wait to see what you do with it!

Project: Fantasy at MAWTT

This week at MAWTT we have a fantasy challenge - a really fun way of getting to use some of my lovely dragon stamps from Bugaboo!

This guy is an old favourite. I colored him with ProMarkers and then die cut it in a circle, layered over a scalloped circle. I added touches of enamel accents and glitter glue. The sentiment tag is ancient, I've had it for years. I thought it worked though I wish my little enamel dots were straighter! Oh well, not always perfect when you do things by hand.

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else does this week.

Project: Cheerful yellow cards

This weekend I had a little play at my desk and I am so pleased with this card. I have a little 2 year old friend who's birthday is on the horizon and I decided her card needed to be lots of fun. She loves animals and I regularly buy her books and toys that make animal sounds as she's great at mimicking them. She also speaks 3 languages (at 2!) and it's fun to get her to say the names of animals in different languages.

I decided to use the lovely Avery Elle set that has these amazing musical animals. I colored them with ProMarkers and die cut them out. My kangaroo is a bit poorly cut but I doubt she'll notice if I'm honest! I used a number 2 sticker I had in the stash and decided to forego the sentiment. Just a big number for kiddos - they don't have to worry about reading but get to see the number. I went for a yellow background as it's cheerful and gender neutral - she's not an overly pink girl so this works well.

And now a bonus card. This clear transparency came with something - a package? an item of clothing? I can't remember - and I kept it on my desk for nearly a year. I've been thinking it would be a lovely shaker card but couldn't decide what to do with it. I decided in the end to leave it on its own. I stencilled the background in Peacock Feathers distress ink to give it a bit of colour. Probably a touch too much but oh well! I added a big yellow foam ring and added some gold and silver sequins.

The transparency went over the card and then I added a big yellow chevron ribbon with a knot to mask the edge of the transparency that I didn't glue down - it was getting gummy and weird and I needed to hide it. It's a bit random and weird but then again it's a shaker so whoever gets it can have a bit of a laugh. Really fun day of playing with yellow in different ways.

Project: Cheerful balloon birthday blog challenge

I've been crafting in the margins rather than making it a priority lately and it's made me a bit sad - I love to craft and love to make time for it but sometimes life gets in the way. Sighs. Anyway - I saw the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch and thought it was perfect for a play:

I decided to make a colourful birthday card - and although my result is pretty simple I really couldn't decide for ages what to do. I must have looked at every single stamp I have, every die, everything that could be a big vertical feature before returning to one of my first ideas to use a bunch of balloons to form the exclamation point.

The balloon set is Stampin' Up - I used the stamp and punch set to match the colors to the fun paper that I've had in my stash for ages. I love bright printed papers but when they feature text it can be really hard to make it work. Even though the paper is busy it is the paper doing all the hard work and the balloons are all lovely solid colors (punched from paint strips if you want to know!).

The sentiment was an ad hoc stamp purchase I got in Paper Source a while back - it's an older wooden block stamp and therefore makes it a bit trickier to use when you're used to lovely perfectly aligned clear stamps. I am really pleased with it though, it's cheerful and bright but just about unisex...maybe. Pleased I got a chance to play at the desk all the same.

Project: An owl Mother's Day card for Sketch Saturday

Happy Saturday with Sketch Saturday! When I saw our Sponsor Little Miss Muffet's images I knew I had to use Celeste Amberglow Owl Always Love You. I love owls and I thought this was perfect for a mother's day card.

I decided to go purple and yellow in the colors to keep it cheerful. I used ProMarkers to color the image and then cut it out in a circle over a stitched background. I used spotted purple ribbon for the stripes in the background.

I tried putting the sentiment in a circle but it wasn't working for me so I went for a larger sentiiment and put it straight on the background. It's a bit streaky but I kind of like it. Instead of tags I used these gorgeous little flowers from Recollections.

I love the result and can't wait to see what other people do with our sketch!

Project: Arty little birthday card

This is a card that I started when I was in the US playing with Claire at Crop on the Cape. I made a bunch of backgrounds with Distress Inks and started stamping on some of them. I used one of Claire's sentiments and then the balloons from the Stampin' Up set that is an old favourite.

I love the effect, and even though it doesn't appear in the photo there are some great dimensions with Wink of Stella shimmer on the balloon. I love making cards like this, such a fun way to get color and texture together.

Project: A simple punch new home card

I have a housewarming party today and decided it would be fun to make a little card to take the couple. I saw this card on pinterest and thought it was perfect - I have dozens of balloons punched from paint chip cards and thought this would be a fun way to use them up.

I hand-drew the house and cut it out - I wanted something smaller than the house stamps I already had. I was going to use a sentiment but then left it off - it felt more CAS that way.

Simple and easy, which is just what I needed as I'm feeling a bit delicate today!