fresh & fun

I made this sample for today’s sketch challenge as well as this weeks Color Challenge on SCS. Now looking at the sketch again, I see that I didn’t follow my own sketch! Oopsie!!!

The card base is a 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Basic Black cardstock.

The next layers were put together before adhering the 4″ x 5 1/4″ Western Skies Designer Paper layer on top of the card base with dimensionals.

The horizontal designer paper is also from the Western Sky pack and measures 1 1/2″ x 4 1/2″. A thin white strip was adhered to the left hand side. Over it a 1 1/4″ black circle punchout was placed and a Antique Brass Jumbo Eyelet with Striped Pumpkin ribbon added.

The Pumpkin horizontal layer is from the Bali Breeze Designer Paper pack and measures 2 1/2″ x 3 7/8″. A small scallop border was added on the bottom part. That scallop border was cut with a long rectangle Nestabilities die template. The top part of the pumpkin layer was paper pierced.

For the sentiment I cut a black scallop rectangle with my Nestabilities and cut Soft Sky and Whisper White layers to match. Then I went looking for a set that would fit and match the designer papers I picked. I ended up with True Friend and stamped the sentiment in black in the center of the white layer, with a second generation stamping of the flower in Soft Sky behind it.

Three 1/4″ black circles on the bottom with Ruby Red brads and a double photo corner with black brads finish off the card.

I knew I wanted to incorporate the quilted lines of the bed cover, the straight lines of the layout and of course the very elegant looking color combo from today’s inspiration piece. Here is what I came up with:

I picked Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky and Whisper White as my colors.

Bordering Blue and Close to Cocoa were a little closer to the inspiration piece, but I thought this combo was more elegant and went with that.

The card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock folded in half.

Adhered to that is a 3 7/8″ square of textured Soft Sky cardstock with a dotted white gel pen border.

For the center layers I took a 3 1/4″ piece of Whisper White cardstock and scored it with my Scor-Pal every 1/2″ diagonally both ways to get my  grid lines. Next I stamped the swirl from Baroque Motifs over it in Soft Sky and sponged the edges heavily, the rest of the cardstock lightly in the same color.

It was layered on a 1/4″ bigger piece of Chocolate Chip and the edges were paper pierced. 5/8″ wide Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon was tied around both layers before those were attached to the card base.

I stamped Thank you from Holiday Blitz in Chocolate chip on Whisper White cardstock and punched it out with my 1 1/4″ circle punch. That was layered on a 1 3/8″ chocolate chip and a sponged and dotted Soft Sky scallop circle before the inner circle was paper pierced.

I stamped the small flower from Baroque Motifs in Chocolate Chip on Whisper White cardstock, cut it out adhered it to the circular layers with dimensionals and added a Circular Ice Rhinestone brad in the flower’s center. The sentiment layers were attached to the card with dimensionals.

This week’s color challenge was not that easy for me, it included LOVELY LILAC. I hadn’t done a challenge in so long, I thought I would just skip another. I don’t know what changed my mind. I just did it (like ripping of a bandaid).

I love the Pretty Petals background stamp. It is so pretty!

I inked it up with Certainly Celery, Pretty in Pink and Lovely Lilac Markers, sprayed it lightly with water and stamped it on a 3 1/2″ Whisper White cardstock square.

Three of the corners were punched with the ticket corner punch. It was layered on a 3/8″ bigger piece of Lovely Lilac cardstock and paper pierced. Next I added a double photo corner to the unpunched corner on the top right, that was topped with three black brads. I added sparkle over the flowers and butterflies with my Clear Spica Glitter pen. It adds very subtles sparkle, almost like the images you add the glitter to are on Shimmery White cardstock.

The sentiment is from Many Happy Returns. It is stamped in Black Stazon on Whisper White, punched out with the small oval punch and layered first on a 1″ lilac circle, then on a celery Designer Label punchout. I punched a hole with my Crop-A-Dile where the sentiment would be placed and ran Pink Taffeta Ribbon through it. The sentiment was attached with dimensionals.

The card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Certainly Celery cardstock folded in half and toped with a 4″ black square, that had three corners punched with the ticked corner to match the upper layers. Those were attached to the card base with dimensionals.

What stamp set do you use when you can’t decide on one? One of your favorites of course. After thinking a long time about what to put in the oval of today’s sketch challenge, I decided on my old faithful bird from Always.

The card base is a 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Chocolate Chip folded in half.

It’s layered first with a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of Old Olive cardstock, then  a 1/4″ smaller piece of Spring Silhouettes Designer paper.  Each corner of both layers was punched with the ticket corner punch.

The Chocolate Chip scallop rectangle is pieced together out of two rectangles cut with rectangle Nestabilites templates and layered with two pieces of Bali Breeze Designer Paper. Chocolate Chip Poly-Twill Ribbon was rapped around the designer paper piece layers. On the bottom right the sentiment from Always was stamped in Chocolate Chip. On the top right, three 1/4″ Chocolate Chip circles were topped with Old Olive brads.

Both the Shimmery White and the Purely Pomegranate oval layers were cut with Oval Nestabilities templates. I taped the Shimmery White layer on top of the scalloped Pomegranate one and paper pierced the edges. I inked up the bird from Always with Purely Pomegranate, rocked it’s edges in Chocolate Chip and just to make sure traced the edges with a Chocolate Chip Marker before stamping it on my Shimmery White layer. Felt Flowers from the Flower Fusion Tin finished with a Circle Ice Rhinestone brad topped that layer off. 

 Check here for a tutorial on how to paper pierce curves.

Here is another card I made with this week’s BIC color combo.

I pulled out another old favorite set that had been neglected for too long.

I stamped the girl from Summer By The Sea in Brown Palette ink on Very Vanilla cardstock and colored her in with Watercolor Crayons.

It was layered on a 3 1/4″ square Old Olive cardstock and a 3 5/8″ square of sponged and distressed Chocolate Chip cardstock.

The sentiment is from One Smart Cookie and is stamped in Brown Palette ink on Very Vanilla cardstock and punched out with the small oval punch. It was layered on a 1″ sponged Pumpkin Pie circle and sponged Chocolate Chip Designer label punchout. I adhered the sentiment layers to the top right after adding a Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware piece with Olive Poly-Twill Ribbon.

The card base is a 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Ruby Red cardstock, folded in half. The card front was stamped with the swirl stamp from Baroque Motifs and sponged around the edges. A dotted border was added with white gel pen . Once it was dry, I sponged Pumpkin Pie over it to tone the white down and match it more with the rest of the card. The other layers were added with dimensionals.

For this BIC challenge, I just picked the colors.

The card base is a 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ piece of Pumpkin Pie cardstock folded in half.

The front was stamped with the Paisley background and Pumpkin Pie.

The sentiment was stamped in Brown Palette ink on Shimmery White cardstock. The flower from Heartfelt Thanks was inked with Pumpkin Pie, Ruby Red and Old Olive Markers, stamped off once, sprayed with my water misting bottle and then stamped three more times over the sentiment.

Oval Nestabilities were used to cut it into an oval and to create the chocolate scallop oval underneath.

The Chocolate Chip layer measures 3 5/8″ x 4 3/4″, the Ruby Red and Kraft cardstock were 1/4″ smaller to the previous layer. The patterned paper is from the Summer Picnic Designer Paper pack.  Pumpkin Pie Striped grosgrain was tied around the Kraft layer.

I punched three 1/4″ Chocolate Chip circles out and adhered them under the ribbon knot. Ruby Red brad topped the circles off.

Here is another sample for this weekend’s sketch challenge with this weeks Color Challenge from SCS.

I started out with cutting the Soft Sky card base with the largest Circle Nestabilities template.

Next I cut a Basic Black and Purely Pomegranate layer with the same template.

The Stitched background was stamped on the Pomegranate layer. It was taped to the black strip and paper pierced.

The sentiment is from All Holidays and is stamped in Black Stazon on a Shimmery White Oval. It was layered on a black scallop oval and paper piercing was added. Both oval layers were cut with Nestabilities as well.

The flowers were punched out with the Boho Flower punch, sponged layered and taped down. Half pearls from the Pretties Kit were added with mini glue dots.

I haven’t participated in SCS challenges in week. I miss it. So when I was working on my sample for today’s sketch challenge, I thought I use one of the recent color challenge combos that I had missed: Groovy Guava, Blush Blossom and Basic Grey.

My card base is a 6″ Blush Blossom square folded in half.

The Basic Grey cardstock layer measures 3 1/2″ x 3″ followed by a 3 1/4″ x 3″ piece of Groovy Guava Prints Designer Paper.

The vertical sides of the designer paper were paper pierced. I punched a hole with my Crop-a-dile through both the grey and designer paper layer and tied white Taffeta ribbon through it.

I stamped the sentiment from Enjoy Every Momentin Basic Grey on Shimmery White and cut the cardstock down to 1 5/8″ x 3 1/2″. It was layered on a Basic Grey scalloped rectangle cut with the long scallop rectangle Nestabilities template.

I highlighted the word with my Sakura Gelly Roll Stardust pen. The small flower was stamped in Groovy Guava on Shimmery white, punched out with the 1/2″ circle punch, taped in the center of the O in enjoy and a Pewter brad was set in it’s center.

The big flower was inked up with Groovy Guava, the edges lined with Basic Grey (with help of a Fantastix), stamped on Shimmery White cardstock and cut out. Next I stamped the circular flower stamp in Basic Grey on Shimmery White and punched it out with the 3/4″ circle punch. It was taped in the center of the big flower and topped with another Pewter brad. (Well….the Guava flower didn’t show up enough over the Guava DP, so I used my R14 Copic Marker to intensify the color a bit).

All layers were adhered with dimensionals.

Before starting to stamp my sample for today’s inspiration challenge, I thought I check out the newest CPS sketch. I hadn’t participated in their challenges for a long time.

It looked like fun and I played with it.

I cut enough the Tres Jolies Paper for a square as well as the rectangle version I shared earlier.

Of course for the rectangle version I completely strayed from the sketch and added the big image layer over it. But the sketch was my starting point.

This card also uses the same Prism cardstock as the previously posted card.

The measurement for the layers are 4 1/4″ x 8 1/2″ for the card base, 3 7/8″ square for the chocolate layer and 3 3/4″ for the dotted paper.

The horizontal strip measures 1 5/8″ x 3 7/8″ and has paper piercing on both sides.

Giggle is from the Unity Stamp set “Giggle Grove” and was inked with Jumbo Java Dew Drop ink.

I actually sewed on this card with my Janome Mini sewing machine.

I used Unity Stamp company stamps on both cards that were posted today. These are sneak peaks of sets that will be available starting May first. Why I got my hands on some of the stamps before they were released will be revealed tomorrow!!!

I actually stamped yesterday. Just for a little bit after cleaning the house and going grocery shopping. It felt good. I think it has been a week. It’s hard for me to get back into a rhytm after getting off track in my stamping.

Anyway…here is my card for today’s inspiration challenge. I went with all those dots and tried to find a background paper matching. This one is from My Mind’s Eye Tres Jolie series.

I actually made a second card to match. I will post more details later. I have to get Rebecca to school first. Its’ good to be back. Thanks for all the well wishes. Unfortunately the darn migraine stayed it’s three day course. I am all better now though.

Like I said, I started out with the patterned paper.

I tried several different stamp sets (swirls from Fancy Pants - I was thinking stamping them directly over) and a girl from She’s all That. Nothing really tickled my fancy. I decided that I needed to use outline stamps, preferably non-Su, since the paper was already contraband.

I still had my basket with Unity Stamps on the table and grabbed the set Giggle Grove. I think the images in that set are too adorable. So I stamped the tree in Brown Palette ink on beige Prism paper, let it dry and then colored them with my Copic Markers (Y13, YG13, BG11 and W1).

Okay…I have to tell you, I LOVE my Copic Markers. Not that I have played nearly enough with them yet, but here is what I like so much. You can go over and over previous colored images and add and blend. Like for example the tree. I started with coloring the entire “leaf balls (hehe…I said balls)” with YG13. It’s a light green. I added more color the lower right hand side of each ball.

Next I took the Blender Pen and removed some color, where I wanted it to be lighter. That’s right. Those blender pens take away color. Then I went over the entire image again with Y13 to add yellow. I did that several times, then added more green to the lower right side again, then the entire image. I added shadow with W1, a warm, light gray underneath the branches. I also used it to make the lower right side of each leaf darker. Can you tell I am having fun adding those layers? Last I added some glitter with my clear spica glitter pen. I like that this pen is truly clear. It only adds glitter.

I worked on the bird the same way. Again the image was stamped in Brown Palette Ink on the same Prism Paper.  It was first colored completely with BG11, a soft blue, . Next I added YG13 on the bottom of the bird’s body, it’s wings and a bit of it’s tail. Then I colored over it again several times in blue to blend both colors together. The beak is colored first with Y13. Next I picked up some R29 color the Y13 tip and added it over the beak to create my orange. The bird was cut out and added to the tree layer with dimensionals.

Okay…enough babbling about the copics. One more thing. Both of my Prima Flowers were colored with copics to make them match the other colors of the card.

The cardstock for the image was cut down to 2 1/8″ x 3 5/8″. I turned the image so it was facing down and scored lines 1/8″ from each edge to get the frame. The scallop background was cut with the long rectangle Nestabilities templates out of brown Prism Paper. That scalloped rectangle was a bit too long. So I cut it apart, cut two scallops off and taped it back together.

Both the 4 1/4″ x 11″ light blue card base as well as the 3 7/8″ x 4 1/8″ piece of chocolate are Prism cardstock. The photo corners were punched out of matching Prism cardstock as well. The layered photo corners were topped of with three celery brads.

The horizontal layer is the backside of the dotted paper. It measures 1 5/8″ x 4″ and it paper pierced on top and bottom. May Arts ribbon is wrapped around it.