Thursday 28 August 2014

Less is More 186

One of the silver linings of being off work and not very mobile is the luxury of time to look around the Internet so I have also discovered the "Less is More" card challenge. I've had a go at this week's sketch challenge because I've also been experimenting with sponging backgrounds and it was a chance to put that into practice.
Here is the sketch.


And my card


The cardstock is Very Vanilla. For the panel, I sponged So Saffron and Cajun Craze, then stamped using Early Espresso. The rain dots I did using Tangelo Twist. To give more definition and contrast, I mounted in onto a piece of Early Espresso. The sentiment is stamped in Early Espresso onto a piece of So Saffron. The front of the card was embossed using the Square Lattice folder. The main panel is raised on dimensionals.  The stamps are SU French Foliage and the sentiment a Hero Arts stamp.

I avoided the temptation to either add a sponge painted butterfly or to add twine, keeping in mind that Less is More.

Monday 25 August 2014

Freshly Made Sketches 150

I was tidying my craft room this morning and say my Aviary stamp set, which was in the first batch of Stampin' Up stuff I ever got. It gave me an idea for the Freshly Made Sketch this week and by the skin of my teeth, will manage to submit it.
Here's the lovely sketch.



And the card:

Ingredients
Card: SU Blackberry Bliss, Hello Honey, Whisper White, Moonlight DSP stack
Ink: Hello Honey, Blackberry Bliss, Black Stazon
Stamps: SU Aviary, Dozen Thoughts
Other: Black rhinestones, dimensionals

Music lover's card

Because my son is a classical pianist and a composer, I often think of music themes especially when he has performances coming up or a birthday. This morning, the new Paper Players sketch came up on Facebook and it immediately gave me an idea for a music card.




Although the focus is meant to suggest a vinyl record, perhaps it could also be a CD!

Update: Really happy to have this card chosen as a Cut Above at Paper Players. It's my first badge.

Ingredients list
Card: Bazzill black, Whisper white, Echo Park Botanical Ballad, scraps of red from the scrap box.
Other: Words from Darkroom Door word strip, Circle dies, Memory Box Virtuoso Music die.

Thursday 21 August 2014

Life's a Rarotongan Beach

Last school holidays we escaped the winter with a week in Rarotonga. Photos from this holiday are the basis of my interpretation of the latest sketch from Sketchabilities:




The title comes from a radio interview about tourism in the Cook Islands which said that most people who go to Rarotonga just want to 'fly and flop'. Exactly true in our case! 

I'm really liking the sea shell stamps from SU By the Seashore. So versatile, they made a great border of embellishments stamped, cut out, edged in Early Espresso and raised on different number of dimensionals to layer up. Really nice for a beach/ tropical island theme. Used my envelope punch board to make the faux file folder as a way of introducing some of the ocean blue and flipper blue from the main photo into the page.




Ingredients list
Paper: MME Sky's the limit, SU Early Espresso and Crumb Cake, Piece from American Crafts Mayberry: Strawberry Lemonade
Stamps and Ink: SU By the Seashore, SU Gorgeous Grunge, SU Rotary date stamper, CTMH Everyday Life stamps, Early Espresso ink, Marina Mist ink
Other bits: SU Essentials Hardware clip, SU Island Indigo baker's twine, Thickers chipboard letters, Peelcraft alphabet stickers, dimensionals, corner rounder punch.




Sunday 17 August 2014

Around the World Stampin' Up! Challenge 23

I'm now starting to get used to scrapbooking with crutches. It seems it's possible if you don't mind everything taking longer and only using things easily fetched! Which fortunately included my newly arrived In-Colour items: card, ink, ribbons and Moonlight Paper stack.

Today I had a go at the Around the World Stampin' Up Challenge, this time a sketch:


My time off work has meant a lot of time for viewing of blogs and videos, so I was very pleased to try out using a blending tool to create a background in this card. Turns out not to be so scary after all. The 'By the Seashore' stamp set was one of the first I ever bought at Stampin' Up and I still really like it.



The central panel and the starfish are both raised on dimensionals. Edging the cut shapes with my Early Espresso marker gave added definition to the shells and the word window. I used Crumb Cake for the shells and Soft Suede for the starfish to give more sense of depth.

Ingredients:
Card: Whisper White, Lost Lagoon, Crumb Cake and Moonlight Stack DSP.
Inks: Crumb Cake, Lost Lagoon, Soft Suede.
Stamps: 'By the Seashore' and sentiment from 'A Dozen Thoughts'
Other: Lost Lagoon stitched ribbon, Crumb Cake Candy Dots, Early Espresso marker pen

Update: This card was chosen a Top 3 pick.

Freshly Made Sketches 149

You would think that being at home with my leg in a cast would mean more scrapbooking time but alas, not so. It does mean lots more time to look around the Internet and so I found Freshly Made Sketches. This motivated me to stumble my way to my scrapbooking room and make this card. It is amazing to discover how many times the thing you want to use is just out of arm's reach and how some things you just can't do balanced on one foot and a pair of crutches! So, while it took me twice as long as usual to make this card, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Here is the sketch:
And here is my card:




Ingredients list:
Card: Whisper White, Island Indigo, Calypso Coral, Wild Wasabi
Inks: Island Indigo, Calypso Coral
Stamps: Flower Shop and Petite Petals, Hero Arts Thank You
Tools: Pansy Punch, Petite Petals Punch, Nellies Die, Nellies Oval Die Leaf Sizzlit
Embellishments: Gumball Green stitched ribbon, Candy dots, dimensionals