SC507 -- Let The Paper Speak

Today's sketch at SCS was interesting -- and a little different.

I chose to let the paper speak. I purchased several different sheets of 12 x 12-inch paper a couple of weeks ago at my local scrapbooking store. As I was thinking about this sketch and looking at some of the different papers in my collection, this is what I came up with. The orange was a piece of scrap paper that was laying by the paper cutter. Layers 3 and 4 were from the same piece of designer paper and layer 2 was from another piece in the same collection. I just love how the papers go together.

CAS291 -- CASE

Today on the Clean and Simple challenge at Splitcoast Stampers we were to visit the gallery of tessaduck (Brenda) and CASE one of her cards. I really liked Brenda's style so it was hard to decide which one to use. I finally narrowed it down and then picked one. This is Brenda's card and a link to her gallery. I really loved the simple design and the embossing around the sentiment on her card.

On our card, we were to change at least two things. You can see that I made several changes -- color, image, sentiment and placements of elements. When I was making my card I ended up with two.

For this card I used a card stock called "Stardust" by Wausau Paper. The sentiment is from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps set called "Faith" -- one of my favorites and a Hero Arts stamp called "Exotic Bloom". The ink I chose was SU's Night of Navy.

For this card, I changed the orientation and used SU's Raspberry Ripple ink and mounted the stamped image on a piece of card stock from Bazzill called Berry Sensation.

 May you have a bright and beautiful day!

SC506 -- Rose Red Flower

Finished my card for today's sketch.

I was challenged by the CAS challenge on Monday to use crumpled paper. Thought I would try it again. I had made the crumpled piece Monday afternoon but could not decide how to use it. I had chosen several pieces of designer paper that I thought would work with the pink. But that is as far as I had gotten. Using today's sketch, this is my card. For the flower I used SU's stamp set "Mixed Bunch". The butterfly was made with SU's "Papillon Potourri". The leaves were die cut and I printed the sentiment on with the computer.

CAS290 -- Crumpled Paper

Crumpled Paper! This was something I had never done. I had watched videos (especially ones by Tim Holtz) where the paper had been crumpled and then inked. Well, I decided to give it a try. Before getting started, I downloaded and printed a copy of today's Mojo Monday Sketch. Could I put the two together? I set about the task and this is what I can up with.

I crumpled a piece of light gray card stock and then sponged it with a couple of different shades of gray ink that I have. The first step is done. Now, what will go with it? How can I incorporate this piece into the sketch?

I found a little scrap piece of paper that would work for the tall layer. It was from a 6 x 6-inch paper pad from My Mind's Eye. Finally decided on a second piece of paper from the same collection and I used both sides of that piece. In order to make my sentiment work on the circle, I had to bring it to the front. The flower was punched with the SU Petite Petal punch from the same paper. When I started looking for a card base, SU Not Quite Navy worked perfectly. I love so many of the retired colors, and I have only a few sheets left. The sentiment that I chose was from the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps set called "Sunshine & Flowers".

Thank you for being a part of my day.

SC505 -- Christmas Snowflake

I wanted to try making a Christmas card using today's sketch. It took me some extra time!

I changed the square format into the A2 size -- 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches. The "Merry Christmas" stamp was from Hero Arts. After stamping and embossing the greeting, I made a mask using the SU extra large oval punch, covered the greeting and then stamped the background using Our Daily Bread Designs "Snowflake Background" stamp with Memento Gray Flannel ink. I used a snowflake embossing folder for layer # 2. The snowflakes were punched from Stampin' Up's sliver Glimmer Paper using a Martha Stewart snowflake punch.

Cards This Past Week

Today I want to share cards that I have made the last week or so. When I stopped and looked at this card, I realized that I used "five" stamp sets on these two cards -- Kinda Eclectic, Gorgeous Grunge, You're Lovely, Papillon Potpourri, and Express Yourself. All these stamp sets are from Stampin' Up. With all these stamps, I only used two ink colors -- SU Crushed Curry and Memento's Rich Cocoa and two colors of card stock -- SU Crushed Curry and Recollection's brown.

Two week's ago the CAS challenge was "coloring". I made a card that I really loved. That one card led to a whole set. Then to finish the set I made a box for them and decorated it with a similar focal image.

And here is the box that I made to hold all of the cards.

SC504 -- Wild Wednesday

This sketch was a challenge for me.

I spent the afternoon with a friend "playing". We worked with several techniques and shared some of our cutting dies. We each have different ones so it was fun to cut some images with the other's dies. I did three color wash backgrounds using distress inks -- tumbled glass, dusty concord and spiced marmalade. (I love these names.) Later in the afternoon I thought about using a couple of the sheets for today's challenge. The colors worked well with SU soft sky card stock and of course I had to use black as my accent. The sentiment is from Our Daily Bread Designs set "Mini Tags 1". This is a great set to have.