Project: A mermaid birthday card

Hello and happy Saturday! This week we have a fun sketch to play along with at Sketch Saturday. The sponsor is one of my personal favourites, The Paper Nest Dolls.

I started by colouring the image with Spectrum Noir pencils, I really wanted a gradient effect and found the blending easier with pencil than with marker. I have a mermaid-obsessed friend so I went with colours I knew she would like.

I decided to make the left hand panel blended Distress Oxides and got another gradient. You can't have too many rainbow/ombre effects with a mermaid card. Fact. The sentiment is a modern one that I got in a sale last summer and it is perfect for this card. It's modern and silly and completes the sketch really well.

Super happy with the result, can't wait to see what people play along with!

Project: A bee fairy for Sketch Saturday

Hello and happy Saturday! We have a great sketch for you at Sketch Saturday designed by the talented Mrs G! 

Our sponsor is Star Stampz and I just fell in love with this little bee fairy, I thought she was great. 

I decided to colour her with Spectrum Noir pencils and then cut her out and put her against a black background. The yellow card was stencilled with a honeycomb pattern and distress ink. The sentiment is an ancient one from my stash. I love how it came together, black, white and yellow are a favourite crafting combo and I think it works really well with the sentiment. Hope you have fun playing along! 

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: 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: 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: 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!

Project: Giant ring sketch engagement card

A friend at work just got engaged and I absolutely love his fiancé, she's a good laugh and someone I seek out at work events when people bring their partners. 

The sketch at Freshly Made Sketches looked like it would be fun to play along with so I did some sketching to see how I could make an engagement card work and it came together much easier than I thought! 

I started with a white piece of card and I die cut it into a rectangle with a spotted border die as I wanted it to match the spots on the sentiment. I then heat embossed the square stamp in a gold powder and then I really carefully blended the edges in Broken China distress ink. I just wanted a hint of blue as the white was really stark and I didn't love the contrast before I blended, it looked unfinished rather than CAS and the touch of blue evened that out. 

I die cut a piece of glitter stock paper into a ring using two circle dies and then used a big comedy heart gem stone from the pound shop.  All in all a really fun little card that stays playful and CAS. Job done :) 

Project: Blended mini card set with modern sentiments

I love mini playdate challenges and Claire and I had too much fun talking this past weekend, it really inspired me to do some silly things. She was testing herself with one stamp set x4 cards so I decided to do the same. I started with an image set but actually landed on a sentiment set. These sentiments crack me up and I thought, why not make a mini card set and give them to a like-minded friend? 

For each one I die cut a small square and then blended a two-tone color scheme, making sure colors overlapped from one to the next but never repeating the same combination. These then got stamped with the big hero sentiments and, just because they were feeling a little plain, I did a double mounting of white and then purple, pulling them all together but also giving them a bit more visually. 

I picked up my little bottle of liquid pearl dots and added some accents to the corners. I don't love it - truth be told - but I guess that's just experimentation. I like the vertical ones better than the horizontal ones so that's a learning. 

Finally I splattered some water on them to make them a bit more irregular. Love the set, definitely doing this again with a few minor adjustments. 

Project: Two takes on animal cards

This weekend I had a playdate with Claire and she talked me through using a new pull-off die she sent me and I decided it would be perfect to play with my fun little marching band animal set.

I started by die cutting the white strip on a scrap so I could see how it worked. I chose far too small a scrap so that limited my ability to choose the rest of the components! I know this for next time...I then stamped, colored and die-cut the animals. I stamped the first part of the sentiment on the tab of the pull-off and then on the backing piece added 'happy birthday' so there is a good reveal. I mean, it's an obvious one but I think the big adult kids in my life will love it.

This one has nothing to do with the first but as I was playing with Claire I decided to do some stencilling over a stamped image. See this post of her's for the inspiration she gave me! I stamped the hummingbird first and then stencilled over it using a mosaic Tim Holtz stencil with Distress Ink. I used his range of stickers as well as a bit of fun. Then I went old school and added twine and candies - it's like the cards I used to make in layout but with some more contemporary techniques. 

Playdates always encourage me to use the newer and more challenging tools! 

Project: a Hamilton 30th and mega bling

So these cards are totally different but I made them at the same time and decided it would be fun to blog about them both at the same time.

The Hamilton card is for a colleague (and friend) turning 30 who - like me - is obsessed with the musical. We listen at work, discuss the characters, compare London and Broadway cast members...we're totally nuts for it. I decided too get out the scalpel and do a bit of paper cutting for the figure on top, then added the star die beneath. The background is blended using Distress Oxides as I wanted the same aged effect as the famous poster.

This congrats card is completely different! I used a great pattern paper and die cut a small square. I created a ring out of glitter stock using two different circle dies and added my mega bling on top. That is actually a rhinestone from a necklace that broke so it looks a bit rough in person but I liked the effect. The congrats sticker is from a big pack I got at Hema.

I had so much fun making them and as they're both for personal friends I'm sure they'll be thrilled with them as well.

Project: Blended texture paste star card

I loved the layout at CAS(E) This Sketch this week, I had so many ideas but ended up going with one of the simplest:

I started with a piece of graph paper and blended it with Distress Oxides for a chalky finish. I then added silver Nuvo glitter paste through a star stencil for an irregular spray of sparkly stars. The sentiment is from a Lawn Fawn set that I got second-hand from a demonstrator.

I love playing with a few techniques in one go, and getting to sneak in glitter and a rainbow will always make the exercise a bit more fun!

Project: Blended giraffe with a stamped border

I got this freebie set of wild animal stamps and it came with a border stamp that I loved but couldn't figure out how to use. I have so many like this and I never know what o do with them! In the magazine there was a card made using the border and I thought, you know what, let's give that a go.

I blended the card using Distress Inks and then stamped the border on top. Quite tricky at times to line it up but I was happy with the result. I think next time I will be really meticulous and measure the space to fill it out. But it's ok for now. I added the giraffe from the set to the middle as I had kept the panel quite narrow and thought it fit the space perfectly.

I've left off a greeting - for now - as I couldn't make up my mind about what to use this for. But I love the colors and way it came out, some good learnings for next time.

Project: Wedding cards for Sketch Saturday

This week at Sketch Saturday we have a fun sketch for you to play with and an amazing sponsor MMedel Illustrations. Here's the sketch:

I rotated the sketch so the band ran across the top, with the little sentiment box on the bottom left corner. The image was colored with ProMarkers and then I die cut it out. In the headline card I used a square and the card below I opted for a rectangle. I added a spot of glitter glue to the flowers and the veil and dress. The background for each uses a big rose stencil and Distress Ink.


The headline card features spotted ribbon but I made a big oops on the stencil on the card below so I had to cover it with a bigger strip of paper! I used paper hearts from my collection (I regularly punch or die cut hearts in paper scraps as they are so handy) and then die cut the initials of two couples getting married this summer on top.

They are pretty busy but I think the attention to detail is fun. And happily I have two personalised wedding cards to give! Hope you enjoy the sketch as well :)

Project: Masculine sketch birthday card

I saw the sketch at CAS(E) This Sketch and loved it. I had a lot of ideas to use stamps and punches and stencils but I decided to keep it really simple.

I masked off two stripes and used Distress Ink to blend in the stripes. I used Peacock Feathers and Blueprint Sketch to make it really vivid.

The sentiment and texture stamps are from Studio Calico. I added Enamel Accents in white to the Y on both lines to add extra texture.

It's masculine and fresh and I'm giving it to my boss for his birthday on Monday. Maybe it'll be good enough for a bonus. Ha!

Project: A rainbow texture paste card for MAWTT

I absolutely LOVE our rainbow challenge at Moving Along with the Times this week. I decided to do something a bit artsy and I loved where I ended up. I used a big block stripe stencil to create my rainbow with Distress Oxides.

I then used a cloud stencil with white texture paste to create the clouds. I went over them a few times and I liked the texture being a bit irregular. I had to be very careful to make sure the clouds were fairly consistent as the thin initial layers were too transparent and didn't look white enough. The sentiment is one I got second hand and I think it works so well with the layout.

I wanted to keep everything else simple - I tried bling and glitter and all sorts of things but decided clean was the best way.

Hope the challenge inspires your entries as well!

Project 463: A country-walk inspired card

A colleague asked if I would make a card as a thank you for a weekend stay in the country. Specifically they wanted a card that was country-inspired without featuring too many flowers or animals.

The headline card was the one inspired by the brief. I used two magazine freebies to create the tree and fence scene which I heat embossed in black. I blended the background after die cutting the rectangle to make it a bit more atmospheric, I added the sentiment and birds using dye ink instead of embossing as I wanted the textures to be different. The touch of string was to add texture though truthfully I don't love it now!

This was another card I was just playing around with on my desk and it doesn't really work with the brief (too flowery) but I do like the simplicity. I die cut the tree and used distress ink to get the color and texture. I added these sweet little flowers that I got at Michael's just after christmas. I was going to add them to a square but decided the hexagon was a bit more modern. The thank you is also a magazine freebie.

A fun little session and a good mid-week brief.

Project 462: A celebration sketch card

I saw the challenge at Freshly Made Sketches this week and thought it would be a fun one at my desk.

I remembered the champagne bottle die and thought it would be a good one for the big shape. Gosh I forgot how fussy that die is! I used thicker card, a black glittery stock that I had a final scrap of in my stash. I ended up having to use a fair amount of scalpel cutting to get it to come away, and I put it through the machine a good few times. Still. It makes an impact.

For the left hand side I used a diamond stencil that was new from my birthday present from Claire. I used distress ink to get the color variance. The little oval tag features a sentiment that is ancient in my stash.

With the fussy cut of the die, this ended up taking a lot longer than expected. But never mind, it's still a fun card for the challenge!

Project 461: Masked blending animal cards

I had a play at my desk this weekend and decided to make a very card for a good friend. They both feature some masked blended features and fussy cut components. The headline features two stamp sets, the sentiment and rocket are from one set that is over 4 years old. The planet admittedly  was a new gift from Claire this Christmas. I heat embossed them, coloured them using Gelatos and a water brush and then fussy cut them out. I masked a circle and used Distress Oxides in two colours to get the space sky. I splattered it with water drops to give it bleached stars and then added actual stars to make it a bit more bright and cheerful.

Because of all the little dots and circles I thought I would enter it in the Retro Rubber blog challenge this week.

I had the chance to make another little card so I include this here as a bonus. I saw this Pinterest post and even though I lacked a panda stamp I thought it would be simple enough to try and draw. It's not my best freehand work but I think it's playful enough to be ok. I masked a stripe and used Picked Raspberry Distress Ink to make it nice and bright. I used a sentiment from Stampin' Up that is a couple of years old now. Maybe 3? The banner was stamped and then fussy cut out. I added little stars from the same Stampin' Up set. The little detail on the border of the die actually makes it fit the spots and dots theme as well which is a happy accident!

Project 456: A masked heart valentine

I saw the challenge at Freshly Made Sketches and thought it would be a a fun one: 

 I know it said any shape but the heart in the sketch layout inspired me. I also saw that Paper Players is doing a CAS Love challenge as well as CAS on Friday doing a Valentine's challenge. 

I started by die-cutting a heart from a scrap and I used the leftover bit as a giant stencil. I blended a heart in Broken China Distress Ink and then added some Seedless Preserves in a stencil of hearts. I then die cut a peephole heart in the bigger heart to reveal the stencil detail. I heat embossed an arrow from a stamp set I have had for ages and then fussy cut it out. I don't love it, I kind of wish I had left it as a strip. Oh well. I added some pearls and a strip of black bling to add more texture. Really happy with it, nice way to start my Valentine's collection. 

Project 454: A day of NBUS

My desk fun continued and I decided to take a break from challenges to play with some more new stuff. These cards are pretty unrelated in technique and style but all involve a bit of new stash.

The headline card is one that was made with a stamp Claire gave me for Christmas. I heat embossed it in black so it would pop out. The background was made using smooshed Oxides in purple and red. I love the effect. I die cut it and thought it looked better on black than white. All week I've been playing with the stickers in Tim Holtz Ideology collection and I thought this one was particularly relevant to the image.

This is a bit of fun I had with a patterned paper in my stash. I got a new label die in a Technique Tuesday sale and realised I could make the pattern stand out around a sentiment. I used a circle die that I had erroneously cut out for another project so thought it could save it and repurpose it here. The stamp is from Paper Source and I used some little star and flower dies from the same die set to mask a little ink oops. But it's really modern and sharp and I think it's great.

This was made using a new paper pad that Claire gave me and a new rose die I got from The Works. I blended the paper in dark blue before die cutting it and then I embossed it in glitter powder to make it pop a bit more. The sentiment is also from Claire, it's a lot of fun. I kept the rest of the card clean and ornament free.

Had a lot of fun just pottering around the desk, even if the output is a bit random!