I am so excited to be back with the challenges.  I hope you are too! Here is my sample. I couldn’t help myself and had to use the Friends 24-7 again. I just love that bird.

The card base is a 6″ square of textured Chocolate Chip cardstock folded in half.

On top is a 2 3/4″ x 5 3/4″ piece of Parisian Breeze Specialty paper.  The top and the lower right corner were punched with the ticket corner punch.  I sanded the entire piece with my sanding block for a lighter look.

I cut both circle pieces with my new Circle Scissor Plus. I don’t have the Glass Mat yet, it’s backordered, but it also worked with my Scor-Pal Mat. The bigger circle is cut from Parisian Breeze Specialty Paper. The round edge was paper pierced and the entire piece was sanded.  The smaller circle was cut from the Candy Lane Designer Paper.  Two 3/4″ circles of the same paper were adhered on the top left of the larger circle and topped off with Ice Circle Rhinestone brads.

I stamped the bird in Chocolate Chip on a 1 3/4″ square of Shimmery White cardstock. Again I stamped the Damask in Pretty Pirouette on the lower left of the image, distressed and sponged the edges. The entire piece was inked with VersaMark and embossed with Glassy Glaze Enamel. I repeated that process two more times, cooled the image in the freezer and cracked the embossing.

 It was taped first on a distressed 2″ square of Baja Breeze Cardstock and then on a scallop square of chocolate chip cardstock that I cut with square Nestabilities. It was attached to card base with dimensionals.

The sentiment is from the stamp set Elegant Cheer. It was stamped in Chocolate Chip ink on Shimmery White cardstock and punched out with the large oval punch. The Damask was stamped over with Baja Breeze ink, the edges distressed and sponged and the oval was layered first on a 1″ Candy Lane Circle, then on a 1 1/4″ Chocolate Chip circle.

Before adhering the sentiment with dimensionals, I tied White Taffeta Ribbon around the Designer paper layers. To finish it off I added a small flower from the Pretties Kit underneath it with dimensionals and adding an Ice Circle Rhinestone brad in it’s center.

For the inside I started with a 2 3/4″ x 5 3/4″ piece of Shimmery White cardstock.

The top right was paper pierced and the lower part was layered with designer paper that I used on the front. I had to throw in a Chocolate Chip strip punched with the Eyelet Border punch…just because….I LOVE that punch.

I can’t wait to see your take on the sketch! Have a great weekend. Hugs and smiles

Wednesday I actually created a card for the sketch challenge on splitcoast. It felt good to participate, even though I haven’t posted the card on SCS yet.

This looked like a tough sketch for me. The middle part I love and could make a great square card with, but how to make it that the right hand side didn’t look too blank?

I started out by looking around what I could use for the main image layer (4). Another have to have set from the new catalog came in mind: Simple Friendship. I love that butterfly. So that’s what I went with. I inked the butterfly in Tanergine Tango and rolled it’s edges in Riding Hood Red before stamping it on Shimmery White cardstock. It was cut out and set aside.

Next I cut a scalloped rectangle out of Kiwi Kiss cardstock with myrectangle Nestablities. The edges were sponged and it topped with a 2 1/4″ x 2 7/8″ sponged Riding Hood Red Rectangle. 

 I stamped the swirl from several times in Kiwi Kiss on the  lower half of a 2 1/8″ x 2 3/4″ piece of Shimmery White cardstock. A couple of Riding Hood Red small flowers were added. I inked up the flower again with Riding Hood Red, rolled the edges in Bravo Burgundy and stamped it on a scrap piece of Shimmery White, cut it out and adhered it with dimensionals to the main image. A Fire Circle Rhinestone bradfinishes off that flower. The edges of the white cardstock were paper pierced and the butterfly was added with double dimensionals under it’s wings and plain adhesive on it’s body.

The card base is a 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Kiwi Kiss cardstock folded in half, followed by a 4″ x 4 7/8″ piece of Urban Oasis Designer paper(love all that gray in there). A 4″ long strip of Shimmery White cardstock was punched with the Eyelet Border Punch and taped under the Oasis paper on it’s right hand side.

The Baja Polka Dot paper measures 3 3/4″ x 4 1/4″ and comes from the Parisian Breeze Specialty Paper Pack. I sanded it down with the sanding block and distressed the edges with the cutter kit.

The red paper measures 2 3/4″ x 3 1/2″, has distressed edges and a paper pierced border along with a small strip of Shimmery White in the right and is from the Candy Lane Designer Paper Pack.

I stamped the sentiment circle in Tangerine Tango on Shimmery White, punched it out with the 1 3/4″ circle punchand taped it underneath the main image. To balance it off, I added a 1″ Candy Lane Circle topped with a 3/4″ Shimmery White Circle, a small Filigree brad and a Ice circle Rhinestone brad on the upper left hand side.

The inside of the card is pretty simple.

A 5 1/4″ long strip of Eyelet Border punched Shimmery Whitewas taped to the bottom of a  3 1/2″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Baja Breeze cardstock . A 3/8″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Candy Lane Designer paper was added between both those layers.

The round sentiment was stamped again, this time in Basic Gray. It was colored with Aqua Painterand Classic Inks (Tangerine Tango, Red Ridinghood and Kiwi Kiss), punched out with the 1 3/4″ circle punch and adhered to the lower right of the card, over all three paper layers.

Have a wonderful day and a great weekend! Stay warm (as it is another COLD day here).