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!