Lucy's Lovely Lines Sketch Challenge

I am "craftingly" (? if it's an actual word) challenged today, not sure why!  So I needed some help and went on over to Lily Pad to look at Lucy's next sketch challenge which ends on the 4th of August.

And here is my interpretation.  At least I knew that I wanted to play with my favourite butterfly from the Hero Arts "Antique Engravings" set!

Paper: PTI cardstock; Neenah
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Copic Markers; CTMH Juniper dye ink
Stamps: Hero Arts (CL497; CL383)
Other: PTI Tiny Tags die

I first stamped the middle butterfly and then masked it in order to stamp the two on the sides.  I used all my BG Copic markers to colour the butterflies in various blue/green shades and then I was stuck for the spots on their wings!  So off to see the colour wheel and it suggested that orange red was the complimentary colour!  Of course, I had no such marker!  Oh well, I coloured them in orange, added a bit of red and went over it in orange again, I like it.

I used some CTMH Juniper dye ink, one of my favourites from them, and stamped a little leaf pattern on the tag and then adhered that to the back of the card.

I still think that you can add anything in a bright colour to a black background and it will turn out just fine!

We are luckily getting a bit of decent rain for the last three days, so the grass and flowers are happy!Have a fantastic weekend!

Lucy's Lovely Lines No.2

It's time for Lucy's second sketch challenge over at the pond, you can get all the details on the Lily Pad blog. Here is the sketch:

I felt like colouring in with my Derwent pencils today so I chose a fairly simple image from PTI and just had fun. 

Paper: Hero Arts Layering paper;
Ink: Derwent Coloursoft pencils; Memento Tuxedo Black
Stamps: PTI (Year of Flowers: Lilly of the Valley); Hero Arts (S5507)
Other: Corner chomper; Signo white gel pen

You see, just something simple.  I enjoyed figuring out how to get the white on the little bell flowers.  I coloured the insides with a "grey white" pencil, but for the outside of the flowers I applied a bit of white gel pen and then smudged it with a little sponge.  I like that it left it looking soft.

Well, eventually it's starting to look really dark out there and maybe we will have those thunderstorms and rains we have been promised.  We already saw signs of volunteer water restrictions yesterday, so we need the rain!

I hope you are having a wonderful day.  I am over the moon excited because my sister, niece and mom arrive on Saturday afternoon!  We planned this visit months ago, it's been a long wait!

Lucy's New Year Sketch Challenge Week - Day 7

This is the final sketch of the week from Lucy.  It's been fun playing and having someone else take care of the layout for a change (but, part of me still likes to be in total control!). Lucy's cards were so inspirational, all in all, it was a great lesson for me.  You can find Lucy's last sketch HERE.  Lucy is very kindly leaving the challenge open until month end, so go and play along.

Here is my card, it was a bit more challenging dealing with 3 circles one of which had to hold the sentiment!

 

Paper: Cardstock (PTI), Patterned Paper (Jacci R from South Africa), Hero Arts layering paper (Blue)
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Copic Markers, Versamark
Stamps: Hero Arts
Other: Gems, Nestability Dies, Clear Embossing Powder, Sewing, EK Success Scalloped border punch

I am not entirely convinced regarding this card, but I just loved the patterned paper so much and wanted to use it instead of hoarding it.  So I sewed a panel of this paper directly onto the kraft card.  I cut out 3 different sized circles using my Nestability dies.  I had to bend the sentiment, (thank goodness for acrylic stamps), in order to get it to go around the outer circle.  In between two of the sentiments I clear embossed a little star shape which was in the sentiment set.

Then as you can see I had not calculated my spacing very well so I had to compromise and add the 3 gems there, and in retrospect lets pretend that I did not forget to add the ribbon/twine as suggested on the sketch, but that I was rather creative and replaced it with 3 gems! (Yeah, right!).  You see, it all comes together in the end!!! 

That little cake stamp was also part of the sentiment set, and I decided to leave it almost blank because the paterned paper is so busy.  So I just added the tiniest touch of colour with my copic markers to the candle flames, the icing and the sprinkles.  I also stamped a sentiment on the inside and a scalloped edge with the same patterned paper. And that's it!  I think my creativeness is taking some kind of a dip.

Thank you to those of you who have persevered through this post!  I hope to make it more interesting soon!

I do want to encourage you to go over to Joy's blog and check out the Blog Candy HERE that she has for her first Year Blog Anniversary, but more importantly for her awesome designs!  I love her cards, very "fresh" and "clean" in my mind.

Lucy's New Year Sketch Challenge Week - Day 6

I have no idea what I am doing! I received this Polka Dot Person (and it's Plaid mate) stamp from Hero Arts in my surprise package win for the last Blog Hop, and I am truly grateful, lots of other spectacular stamps accompanied these two.  BUT, for the life of me, I have absolutely Zero Creative Juices when it comes to figuring out how to use this stamp (and its mate)!  So, bear with my very simple design, (can I even call it a design?), and you can laugh with me too, or give me ideas, or else sometime soon I will have to give these two stamps away to a better home (sorry Hero Arts, it's not you, it's me!).

Wait for it!  Don't fall over laughing, ok, here it is:

Paper: Hero Arts Notecard, PTI cardstock
Ink: Hero Arts Chalk Ink - Punch, Versafine Onyx Black
Stamp: Hero Arts, PTI (sentiment)
Other: Cosmo Cricket Tiny Type Sticker (the "U"), Glossy Accents, Dimensional adhesive

That's it!  All of it! After a lot of deliberation, this is the best I could come up with for Lucy's Day 6 Sketch which you can see HERE.   I may have stretched the interpretation a bit, and I did not feel like sewing or doodling around the edge of the notecard - I don't think that there was anything that "I" could come up with to make this better.  However, I am sure that there are many crafters out there who would have had lots of awesome ideas!  Please share them.

No explanations required, I simply added lots of Glossy Accents to the "Person", and adhered the sentiment piece with dimensional adhesive.  When I was done I laughed because it looks like a construction worker who instead of holding up a "STOP" sign is holding an "I MISS U" sign!

Hopefully you get a good laugh out of it to end your evening if you are on this side of the world!  Thank you for putting up with my 3 posts in one day!

Lucy's New Year Sketch Challenge Week - Day 5

I know, I am a bit late with the Day 5 sketch of Lucy's which you can find HERE, but I really wanted to use the sketch, so here it is:

Paper: Hero Arts Layering Paper, PTI Rustic White cardstock
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Vintage Photo, Shabby Shutters & Worn Lipstick Distress Ink
Stamps: PTI (Beautiful Blooms 2), Ali Edwards (sentiment)
Other: Heart Dimensional Sticker (EK Success), Brad and Ribbon from my stash

No real explanation required really, simply that the flower is made up of 3 different sized layers, which is very nice for incorporating different colours.

My only challenge here was dealing with something that is "skew"!  I love straightening things out, "skew", oh dear, that is definitely out of my comfort zone for some bizzare reason I am sure!

Thank you for popping in.  I should be back later as I see that Lucy has Day 6 up on her blog and I would really love to continue playing!

Lucy's New Year Sketch Challenge Week - Day 4

Hi There, just managed to make some time tonight to play along with Day 4 of Lucy's sketches!  You can have it a look at her sketch HERE.  It's another great one!  Here is my card:

Paper: PTI cardstock, Patterned Paper (Doodlebug Design)
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers
Stamps: Hero Arts

No design explanations really required tonight as I think it is quite self-explanatory.  I love that patterned paper as it has some nice embossed hearts on it.  I nearly made a right old mess when I realised that I wanted to matt the little girl on the same green cardstock and did not have a big enough piece left, so I had to improvise and used my Copic marker to draw around the edge of the circle, it's not perfect, but it worked.

Sorry that I am making this a rather short blog tonight but I think I am still tired from a very long run I had on Sunday!  But thank goodness we are tapering now, which means that for the next 3 weeks my legs get to recuperate in order to do it all again plus some, at the end of the month!  But I am psyched and I feel totally ready to do this marathon.

Wishing you all a good night, it's raining here, totally perfect for crawling into bed!

P.S. Thank you to all the wonderful people passing by my blog and leaving me such wonderful comments, you are the greatest!

Lucy's New Year Sketch Challenge Week - Day 3

Lucy has posted her Day 3 sketch HERE, and it's another great one, so I visualised this card and went ahead and made it, I hope you like it.

Paper: PTI Rustic White and Poppy cardstock, Patterned Paper (unknown)
Ink: Versamark Watermark, Pumice Stone Distress Ink
Stamps: Hero Arts Friend Definition, PTI (sentiment from Embellishments)
Other: Clear Embossing Powder, PTI Eyelet Lace Border Die, Double Heart Punch

I stamped the Friend Definition with Versamark on the red cardstock and clear embossed it and added two strips of the Eyelet Lace Border above and below it. The centre panel is self explanatory.  I like that the patterned paper was already embossed, so nice!

Hoping that you are enjoying a fabulous Monday!

Lucy's New Year Sketch Challenge Week - Day 2

So, we wake up to a new day and a new year!  I hope that you entered the new year refreshed and filled with inspiration for every corner of your lives!  I know that my mind is reeling with ideas of better ways of living for every aspect of my life.  I also know that I will give it my best shot but that I most likely will not be successful in all my endeavours, but, life is a journey, and I need to accept that some things take a little more time to change!

Onto some crafting goodness.  I decided to try out Lucy's Day 2 challenge which you can find HERE, another fabulous sketch and of course, being Lucy, she has created an awesome card!  Here is my take on the sketch, I hope you like it, it's also my first real attempt at a "collage" type card, and I have to add here that the master of that just has to be Jacqueline, and you can find all her beautiful work right HERE!

Ok, my card:

Paper: Papertrey Ink
Stamps: Hero Arts, PTI (sentiment), My Minds Eye, Music Sheet (unknown)
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Black Soot, Chipped Sapphire, Brushed Corduroy, Tea Dye & Vintage Photo Distress Inks
Other: Brad (Recollections), Twine, Sewing, Glossy Accents, Dimensional dots, Clear Embossing Powder

The background on the kraft cardstock was created by stamping the Hero Arts "Stripes Pattern" stamp twice with Brushed Corduroy, but in opposite directions.  I sewed around the edges, intentionally going skew, and then inked with the same ink to smooth out the edges and give them depth.

The centre panel was firts inked with Chipped Sapphire and then stamped with various stamps including the "Old Letter Writing" stamp from Hero Arts, the Damask design in the corner is from My Minds Eye, the Music Sheet is from South Africa but there is no name on the wooden stamp, and the dragonfly is from the Antique Engravings set from Hero Arts. The sentiment is from a PTI set and it was embossed using a heat tool.  A bit of sewing in the two corners, a dragonfly covered in Glossy Accents and elevated off the card with some dimensional dots, and lastly, some inking around the edges of the panel with more Chipped Sapphire and Vintage Photo.

I added a copper brad and some twine to complete the sketch requirements.

The result is a very masculine card I think, and also not a bad first go at a collage!  Thank you for popping by, enjoy the rest of the first day of an awesome new year!

Lucy's New Year Sketch Challenge Week - Day 1

I have been busy making cards for OWH, they are in need of "missing you" cards that parents in the armed forces can send to their children back home, and then I came across Lucy's new sketch challenge HERE and decided that I could do something with it. I took something "out" of the sketch so to speak, but that really depends on how you wish to look at it, so here it is:

Paper: PTI cardstock, Neenah Solar White Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers
Stamps: Inkadinkado
Other: Glossy Accents, Sewing

As you can see, not a difficult card to make, and really not much to explain.  I did add the Glossy accents to the icing on the cupcake (would have loved to add glitter but it's a no-no for OWH as it puts the soldiers at risk if they get it on their clothing).

As it is 18h40 at night here in Texas, I think that this will be my last post for 2010!  Thank you so much for those of you who have been visiting my blog since I started a few months ago!  It's been wonderful meeting so many awesome people and I cannot wait for 2011 for the joyful ride to continue! 

May 2011 be everything that you are striving for, and may it be filled with many "sunshine" moments and not too much "rain"!

See you all in 2011!!!