Flying high in a balloon

Double dose today, it being 'crafty Monday'! Sketch challenges are not my forte, and I've been starting at the FMS sketch all week, determined to get inspired and produce something I was proud of. LIM came to my rescue with their 'balloons' theme, as this conjured up a collection of images that met the layout, in my mind. Construction-wise it is a single layer card, so lots of masking!

Colours - well, I was all out of colour combos from my favourite challenges, until I looked again, and spotted the inspiration photo from JAI. The blue was perfect, and I went one further and used a brayer pre-rolled over a scrunched up piece of paper to create the banner,inspired by the pool. We don't have the Australian sunshine here, but when I was thinking about the final element for the background some sun-rays seemed a perfect compliment.

I'm getting some cards made early, and this will go to a lad who is turning double digits later in the year, hence the sentiment.

Freshly Made Sketches #272
Less is More #313: Balloons
Just Add Ink #344: Photo Inspiration

Something new

A friend told me they are "spreading their wings" and moving to a new job last week, and I made this to acknowledge that fact.

The background is on watercolour paper. Inks directly applied to craft mat, card sprayed liberally with water, and then placed face down onto the inky mat. It's very much a lottery, but fun, and of the batch I made some were a bit light, others a bit dark, and not the colours were exactly what I'd hoped for. However, this was a good background for some simple stamping, all of which I embossed in gold.

I don't feel it's one of my best cards, but that's no reason not to share it, or acknowledge the challenges which provided the inspiration.

Simon Says Monday: Spread your wings
Shopping our Stash #287: All that Glitters is Gold
Color Throwdown #427: Mint Green, Pink, Aqua
CASology #233: Glisten
CAS Colours and Sketches #207

Tree of Hearts

I made this card, on request, for a friend's daughter to celebrate her going off to University recently. I'd made the topper when I was playing with inks and shaving foam one day, and then it had sat in a box waiting for further inspiration.

It felt like the perfect card to express a mother's love for her daughter as she started out on a new stage in her life, and a simple good luck banner and some shading seemed like all the finishing it needed.

The tree image was formed by pulling inky shaving foam through a stencil, and then it was given extra dimension by creating a shadow with pencils on one side. The background was the same inky foam dragged over a plain piece of cardstock.

Addicted to Stamps and More #226: Anything Goes
Simon Says Wednesday: Anything Goes
CAS on Sunday #100: Hearts
Allsorts #400: Let's Celebrate

Birthday wishes

I'm resolved to try and make Monday "Craft" day, so whilst I had various errands I had to run, I really wanted to sit down and produce something tangible today.

This little flowery scrap had been sitting on my workdesk for months, and Paper Players new 'flowers' challenge made me commit to doing something with it. Given it's also a CAS challenge, and wanting to use the Paper Play sketch I decided to just use a single layer on a card blank. Cue masking - I deployed lots of post its to create the coloured border, adding a doodled edging to enhance the depth. Then I decided how wide to make the inner strip, masked it off and brushed the same colours as the border through a stencil. I wasn't sure what to put in the background, other than I wanted it to be subtle, and what's more appropriate behind flowers than a brick wall.

Added a birthday sentiment, as I've got a heap of those coming up. 'Birthday' is one Clarity's fabulous word chains, and I created 'Wishes' from their complementary alphabet set.

Paper Play Sketches #31
Paper Players #328: CAS - Flowers
Addicted to CAS #103: Wish
Seize the Birthday: Dashes or Doodling (hope my squiggles count)

An unconventional wedding

When skimming through yesterday's challenges I was struck by the similarity of Sketch's Saturday's latest challenge to the layout of an unposted card I came across yesterday. Clearly I actually remembered to take photos of some of the cards I did manage to make last year, so now it can come out and be shared!

Whilst the sketch was the start, I think I probably gave the card a second glance because of the unicorn, and the story that went with it, which I shall briefly recount for you here.

This card was a commission from a friend, would you believe it, for a wedding card. Honestly, I jest not. As you do, I chatted to my friend to get some inspiration, and it was clear that a 'conventional wedding card' just wasn't going to hit the mark. What was I left with? Pirates (the groom was going to dress as a pirate) and unicorns (the bride was a big fan). Considerable mulling later, I remembered I had a horse head stamp that could easily be adapted into a unicorn, and a rope wreath stencil that could subtly bring off the nautical angle.

I started by figuring out the stencil and stamp placement, and then stamping the horse head into place. Then I ran it through my embossing machine with the stencil to create an embossed rope wreath, which I then coloured using dye based ink and brushes. Then I hand drew in the horn. The horse is coloured with Spectrum Noir pencils, I confess I wasn't sure whether I'd gone a bit 'My Little Pony' with the colour scheme, and gave my friend a first look before I put the card together. Reassured we went for it, even adding glitter for added bling, and I'm reliably informed that the bride and groom loved it. Makes me smile every time I see it, and I'm pleased I get a chance to share it now.

Sketch Saturday #447
Shopping our Stash #286: Fantastic Beasts
Uniko Studio #39: Anything Goes with an optional twist of Love (hopefully my bizarre wedding card counts!)

Back in the saddle - with a panel

Wow, it's a long time since I lasted posted. Card making has very much taken a back seat for a while; so although I've made a few cards for particular occasions, I've not been following challenges for months.

However, I want to try and remedy that. This week I've been keeping tabs on what's 'on the market' as it were, and yesterday decided to try and get back in the groove. Crafty mojo was a bit slow, but a lovely combination of challenges came together to create the little number below.

It's a one layer card (makes international postage cheaper!) for a friend's upcoming birthday, so there's a bit of faux layering. The panel uses flower stamps from Clarity, and the sentiment is theirs as well, as is the stencil in the pink background.

I decided to go DL, so figured out the proportions I wanted and then stamped out the panel, masking as necessary. Then I masked all the stamping and applied the blue foreground with brushes, then covered up the panel to do the pink background, which I enhanced with a little bit of over-stencilling. The flowers were overstamped in pale pink with a silhouette version of the outline stamp, and then coloured with pencils to further enhance the texture.

Hope you like it, a big thank you to the challenges who provided my inspiration.

CAS Colours and Sketches #206: Watermelon Wonder, Island Indigo, Flirty Flamingo
Addicted to Stamps and More #225: Photo Inspiration (I took the flower as my inspiration)
Freshly Made Sketches #271
Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes (optional topping, which I didn't use, is dashes and doodling)

Sad Symphony of Purple

This was my original thank you card, until it told me it wanted to be a 'sorry' card. Pretty and melancholic all in one go. I confess this has been brewing a long time, and sadly I think I coloured the flowers too dark so it's lost some of its clarity. Hey ho, it's all learning and I'll know better next time.

The flowers were stamped in versamarked and silver embossed, masking the central flower to bring it to the front. I then 'painted' them with distress ink, before covering them all up, and using a stencil as a mask to create the square in the centre. I trimmed it back a bit before going around the edge with a blending tool and then mounting up on grey. It's double mounted on a 'smooched' bit of card, using my various purple inks on my gelli plate, rather than using my craft mat, as I feel it gives me more control and more smoochability!

Just Add Ink #306: Just add Sympathy
Just Us Girls #338: Smooching (trend week)
Allsorts #358: Purple Passion
CAS on Sunday #80: Flowers
Clarity #38: Masking