Sweet Sketch Wednesday #98

Happy Wednesday everyone! I'm sitting in a local Starbucks right now doing this post because our power went out last night right in the middle of composing and of course without electricity I don't have cable internet either. So I'm making do to bring this new Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge to you today and the card I made for it (we crafters are resourceful aren't we?!!!).

Our sponsor this week is Digi Stamp Boutique. The owner, Sally Ann, is graciously offering the Grand Prize Winner of this week's challenge 6 Digi Stamps of their choice from the Digi Stamp Boutique. I had a hard time picking one for my card today. Can you imagine getting six free?  Thanks for the terrific prize Sally Ann!

We're getting ready to celebrate a big milestone at Sweet Sketch Wednesday and we want you to be part of it. On May 4, we'll be showing our 100th sketch here and we're planning a blog hop and other fun things to mark this accomplishment.  Of course we wouldn't get here without all of our followers and loyal participants so please mark your calendars and plan to join in the fun!

Now here's the wonderful sketch this week that Arlana created. Can you image creating 98 sketches so far? I'm so amazed at the creativity of the sketches week after week. And this one is no exception to that. It's a really fun one to create with and I do hope you'll give it go and play along this week with us.

This darling image from Digi Stamp Boutique is called "Bella on Swing" and isn't she a cutie! I dress her up with Copics and cut her out to mount on the oval panel.  The coordinating papers are all Bo Bunny. I used an EK Success border punch for the strip running horizontally with the ribbon. All other panels were diecut with Nesties. A few flower brads from my long neglected stash finish the design.

I hope you play along with the Sweet Sketch Wednesday challenge this week. We love seeing your creativity. And speaking of that, pop on over to the Sweet Sketch Wednesday blog and oogle over the design team creations - you'll love the inspiration they provide.

Thanks for stopping by!

Doodle Pantry Challenge - DPDC5

What a fun day off I've had today. I had some extra time to just play in my craft room and decided to make up this darling image from Doodle Pantry and play in their challenge - DPDC5. This image is called "Branch Birds 2" and it just cracks me up with the sentiment "Dare to be Different"!  The challenge simply calls for using a Doodle Pantry image and that's fine by me - I love the cute and whimsical images that Laurie Wilson creates.

I used Prismacolor pencils with gamsol blending solution to color these adorable birds. I think the pencils provide a soft look here but still rich with color. I've used Basic Grey papers - Sugar Rush Pulled Taffy and Romani Collico and Stampin Up's Peach Parfait cardstock. The border punch is EK Success - just picked it up this morning at Joanne's while my son was at baseball practice next door (got to love that!).

That's it for today. Back to work tomorrow so I'm signing off early tonight. Thanks for stopping by!

Sunflowers of Provence - Play Date Cafe

The first thing that comes to my mind when you mention the Provence region of France is sunflowers - lots of them.  So when I saw at the Play Date Cafe the challenge was Provencal Style using the colors in the image below as the inspiration, I knew I had to start with sunflowers as a main focus. I also knew I'd combine that with a variety of colorful patterns that stand on their own when alone, but then when combined together look related and a perfect match for one another.

The individual patterns I selected here are from different manufacturers and designers and wouldn't be seen together in the store. However, when combined here they work in harmony for that Provencal feel.  These wonderful papers are from Creative Imaginations "Narratives" (blue and cream), October Afternoon "Fly a Kite" (yellow) and Basic Grey "Pattern Paper" (multi-color floral).  A little bit of distressing, using Tim Holtz "tea dye" distress ink, was done to provide an aged feel and some definition.  I also stamped french script lightly on the blue and cream paper to add some depth and for that Provecal tie-in!  Same with the Fleur de Lis punched edge on the SU Regal Rose paper.  If it's French you've got have a fleur de lis somewhere - right?!!!

The sunflowers stamp used here is new from Hero Arts.  I colored it with my Copic markers and sponged the blue ink (SU Bashful Blue) to pick up the blue in the background paper.  In the flower centers I used copper Stickles to add the bit of sparkle and depth needed for the image to pop.

For the finishing touches - a handmade distressed flower made from my SU scallop circle punch, a few Papertrey vintage buttons and some beautiful lace stitched on that I recently got at Joanne's.  The layout of the card is from the Splitcoast Stampers sketch challenge (SC288).

Merci for stopping by today.....  Au revoir et salut!

Wahoo! Another award for my work.  This card received an honorable mention in the Play Date Cafe Challenge PDCC37!  They call the honorable mentions "Cream in our Coffee"!  I call it WONDERFUL!!!!

Thanks to the design team!



Recipe:
Stamps - SU French Script background, Hero Arts "Three Sunflowers"
Paper - October Afternoon "Fly a Kite: Dandelions", Creative Imaginations "Narratives", Basic Grey "Pattern Paper", SU So Saffron, Regal Rose
Ink - Palette Noir Black, Copic markers, Tim Holtz "tea dye" distress ink
Accessories - Nesties Labels 8, circles and scallop circles dies, EK Success fleu de lis edge punch, Papertrey vintage buttons, lace

Dad's Day

Here's hoping that all the Dads out there had a wonderful Father's Day and were appropriately pampered and adored by their kids.  Unfortunately, my dad was up north for the weekend and I wasn't able to join my folks at the lake.  It was a busy weekend at home with baseball playoffs (successful I might add) and other odds 'n ends!

This is the card I made for my Dad using the new "Guiding Light" and "Antique Map" stamp sets from Flourishes.  These are wonderful sets - perfect for the nautically inclined!

I started by stamping the map with Cocoa ink on Kraft cardstock from Papertrey Ink.  I tore the edges to get the shape and size (this card is about 5x7 inches) and then distressed using Tim Holz Tea Dye, Old Paper and Antique Linen distressing inks.  I curled the edges by rolling them up around a pencil.  The Blue Bayou layer was embossed using the newer Stampin Up' embossing folder and then the edges were distressed. 

The sail boat was stamped on PTI white cardstock and colored using my Copic markers and then cut out using Spellbinder's Label 4 dies.  Again, the brown cardstock underneath the image was just torn to get the size and shape.  The message panel was punched out after stamping in SU white craft ink with an EK Success label punch.  I used a heavy gauge twine around the card, strategically secured with glue dots.

I'm pretty happy with how this turned out for my Dad.  I'm sure he'll love it too.

Let me know what you think!  Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Easter Blessings

Just a quick post today with two of my favorite Easter cards that I made for my family.  The first one uses this wonderful rabbit image that I got nearly a year ago from a stamp show.  It's from Stacy Stamps and was new to their line last summer.  I colored the image using my Prismacolor pencils and gamsol to blend them.  I paired this with the beautiful DP called Old Fashioned Eggs from Karen Foster papers. 

The rabbit image was mounted on the vanilla cardstock that was cut out using the Top Note die from Stampin' Up that I first stamped with a script stamp and then distressed using Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Tea Dye and Antique Linen.  I also used a bit of Regal Rose in the distressing to pick up the subtle pink tones in the DP.  The background and accent cardstock is SU True Thyme.  SU and EK Success punches were used on the Thyme bands that run across the card and the greeting panel.  Papertrey Ink Melon Berry ribbon and buttons were also used.


The second Easter card uses the adorable "Chocolate Bunny" stamp from Stampin' Up.  I made this card for my niece Olivia who is a choco-holic to the max.  I knew she'd get a kick out of the stamp - she's a little stamper herself and of course I endorse and promote that with stamps, inkpads and cardstock as gifts to her.

The chocolate bunny was stamped in Chocolate on Close to Cocoa cardstock and distressed a little with Caramel and Cocoa ink (which is hard to see in this photo).  It was mounted onto paper where I had stamped the grass from SU "Inspired by Nature" in Celery and Mellow Moss.  The rest of the background was lightly sponged with Bashful Blue.  The eggs were cut from an older DP from It Takes Two.  I framed the image using Spellbinders Classic Frame die cut from Basic Grey's Green at Heart paper.  The other cardstock used is Celery, embossed with Cuttlebug Swiss Dot embossing folder and PTI's Plum Pudding cardstock.

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter and I thank you for stopping by my blog.

Flower Garden

This was a fun card to make and pretty quick to put together.  I loved this DP by Making Memories (Vintage Findings) for the bright colors, texture and glossy finish (which was hard to photograph without the flash creating hotspots).  Because the DP is so bold, it really didn't need much in terms of a stamped image so I selected Papertrey Ink's "Garden of Life" set for the floral images and for the butterfly.  I thought these flowers coordinated well with the flowers in the paper.

I used the rock n' roll technique for stamping the flowers to add some depth and interest to the images and try to pick up the same colors.  For the butterfly, I used a Martha Stewart butterfly punch with the same flower stamped image.  I coated it in Versamark and then heat embossed using SU Irridescent Ice EP to sparkle it up.  I used my Nesties Labels 9 dies to cut out the image panel and then distressed the edges with SU Soft Suede ink.  Both Stampin' Up and EK Success scallop border punches were used to edge the top panels in Bermuda Bay and Soft Suede SU In Colors.  I finished it off with Regal Rose ribbon to pick up the pink in the DP. 

Thanks for peeking in to view my creations!