Monday, 14 March 2016

Mother's Day card for FMS 227 and ctd 383

A very quick card today combining a sketch and a colour challenge.  The challenges were:

I've used the Sale-A-Bration set Flowering Fields that I love but haven't used nearly enough. I stamped with Basic Black Archival ink and watercoloured the flowers using an aqua painter and markers scribbled on an acrylic block.  I'm not that great at staying in the lines!  The Old Olive strip is embossed with a long retired embossing folder.  I cut out the images using one of the square framelits but the next size up was too much of a border so I trimmed the coloured layers.  I love the sketch :)






Product List

Friday, 4 March 2016

Botanical Birthday for FMS 226

Today I am super excited!  My entry in Freshly Made Sketches challenge 225 was chosen as a Princess of Clean!!! (not the winner but a special mention)  So nice to receive encouragement from an independent source (because you know your friends & family are kind of biased right?!).  You can see my card along with the Queen and other Princess's creations by clicking here!  The sketch is a great clean and simple layout that has so many possibilities.

I am really enjoying playing along with on-line challenges.  I used to spend a lot of time looking at pieces of paper and stamped images trying to work out how to put something together then giving up and CASEing something from my Pinterest collection almost exactly.  Starting with a sketch has given me a different approach and way of looking at my supplies.  I also usually set myself some sort of secondary challenges as well (use DSP or colours that are not in my usual palette - for me both very challenging, or use a stamp set that hasn't seen ink yet (we all have those don't we??) or an old favourite that's been neglected for a while).  I do still occasionally CASE some designs that I love but I like to think I am wasting less time 'pinning' :)

So today's card is for Freshly Made Sketches challenge #226.  It's a simple but super versatile layout. I also decided that it would be a good sketch to try using a piece of DSP.  Here is the sketch and my take on it:
Thanks for stopping by!




Product List

Monday, 29 February 2016

Butterfly Birthday for Try Stampin' On Tuesday challenge # 259

Today was forecast to be hot. It was already 30 degrees by 7am, so it's been a good day to stay inside & keep cool.  Since I wasn't working today I found a sketch challenge at Try Stampin' On Tuesday that I thought I'd have a go at.  It did turn out to be a challenge!  I didn't love my first attempt at the sketch using DSP's.  I struggle with using DSP's on cards, partly because I don't want to cut up the pretty papers, and because my cards tend to be fairly simple designs and the papers are too busy or have colours I don't love (I struggle with using colours too...).  For take two I reverted to a farily monochromatic colour scheme with neutrals and good old butterflies.  Here is the sketch:
And my take on it:



Product List


This was attempt number one - I need a card for a little friend's birthday.  I don't love it but still have another week or so before I need to post it so will try again.  I used papers from the Cherry On Top DSP stack which is 6x6" (somehow it seems easier to cut up ;) ) and I managed to get both pieces from one sheet as the designs I chose were back to back.  The sentiment is a little wonky because it is meant to be curved and I straightened it onto the acrylic block - a definite advantage of photopolymer stamps.  I don't think a 2 year old will mind, do you?


Product List

Friday, 26 February 2016

Mother's Day Card for FMS225

So I haven't posted for a little while.  Here is one of the reasons why...
His name is Scout and he is an almost 4 year old retired greyhound.  We have adopted him through Greyhounds as Pets (WA) about a month ago.  He has settled in easily - thanks to his foster carers who helped him adjust to being a pet, and is a very gentle natured boy (if occasionally a bit mischevious!).  He supervised this afternoon while I played along with Freshly Made Sketches challenge 225.  I have been making mostly birthday cards lately so I thought I'd get in early with a Mother's Day card and break out some old favourites - Butterfly Thinlits & Bold Butterfly Framelits.  Here is the sketch:
And my card:




Product List