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

Merci Beaucoup

I needed to make a card as a thank you to a lovely friend who hosted me on holiday, and made one then at the last minute changed my mind as to the sentiment. This was take two, quick, easy and prettily effective.

The zingy colour palette is from CAS C&S (thank you ladies, fantastic challenge as always, definitely sorry I'm not able to play along every week), and I'm going to unapologetically enter this as Addicted to Stamps and More for 'Holiday' week, although you may say it's not close enough to count :-) With the sentiment centre stage I'm also entering in a 'new to me' challenge focused on words.

The sentiment is coloured with pencils onto a old book page, and the background is distress inks brushed onto good quality cardstock.

CAS Colours and Sketches #168: Melon Mambo, Tangerine Tango, Daffodil Delight

Addicted to Stamps and More #188: Holiday

House of Cards: Use script and/or colour combination (I chose script without colour)
AAA Cards #62: Anything Goes

Grungy honeycomb

Most of the inspiration for this card comes from Stamplorations. I made it a couple of weeks ago for a friend, and the palette was then a current one, not so any more!

It's a bit grungier than normal for me, but I like the effect. The honeycomb is texture paste through a stencil, coloured with ink. The stamp is a Clarity stamp, coloured with Spectrum Noir pencils, and then distressed around the edge of the topper.

Stamplorations - March CAS (optional colour twist = yellow)
Stamplorations -  March Theme and Sketch (stamps and texture)
Addicted to Stamps and More #186 - Anything Goes

Easter Chick

This sweet little chap is another one of my collection of Clarity stamps, as is the egg behind him. I think I bought a bunch of Easter stamps last year, but haven't used any of them before. The plethora of Easter changes allows me to remedy that fact.

The colour challenge over at Just Us Girls is precisely that, a challenge. You may have noticed that I don't really do pastels, and I've also left my alcohol markers stranded in a box, so I fished out a few bits to do something different (for me at least).

I've included Addicted to CAS in my 'pile' of challenges as I think the colours are delicate, as is the leaf work in the egg, and adorable chick.

Just Us Girls #335: Pink, Purple, Yellow (Pastels)
Addicted to CAS #84: Delicate
Sweet Stamping: Easter
Allsorts #355: Easter
AAA #60: Easter
Friday Mashup #245: Easter (Sorry to hear this is the last MashUp)

Christmas Scene

I'm going to ask forgiveness from the conventional challenges today, as I enter another Christmas card into a ordinary challenge before Easter! I couldn't resist the Red/Green combo at CTD for this lovely (embossed) Holly Stencil. I then built the image in the centre in this lovely shade of lavender. The colour really does make me think of summer hedges of that beautifully scented flower.

One Layer Christmas Card #28
Color Throwdown #384 - Lavender, Red, Green
ABC Christmas - F is for Frills/No Frills (I went for the No Frills, CAS, one layer option)
CAS on Sunday #79 - Stencil it
Jingles Belles - Christmas Past/Vintage

Musical Interlude

I wanted to make a thank you card for a musical acquaintance of mine, who happens to be a lover of Edward Elgar's music. So the music represented on this card is an accurate representation of the opening chorus of his Oratorio The Apostles (The Spirit of the Lord is upon me). Perfect music as we approach Easter, and an I anticipate an unexpected twist on 'E'. I was going to stamp the staves, but it didn't work, so it's hand written instead (takes me back to childhood music theory classes!).

The hand made background, and layering piece, were made using ink on a gelli plate. The sentiment was enhanced using Spectrum Noir pencils

CASology #189 - Doodle (my doodle is the hand written music)
Colour Q #333 - Always Artichoke, Kiwi Kiss, Gumball Green, Old Olive
Just Add Ink  #303 - Just add 'E' (My E is for Elgar)
Shopping our Stash #243 - O Me Lucky Charms  (I've gone for the mostly green option)

Strutting his stuff

A young chap I know has a birthday this week, and I wanted something simple, arty and most definitely not feminine, I hope he thinks this fits the bill :-)

The cockerel stamp is from Clarity, and I've coloured it using the ColourQ palette with Spectrum Noir pencils. I've flipped the CAS on Sunday sketch, and added some grass with some little texture stamps.

Colour Q #332 - Brilliant Blue, Calypso Coral, Coastal Cabana, Summer Starfruit
Sweet Stamping - Boys to Men

Simon Says Wednesday - A bit O'Green
CAS On Sunday #78 - Sketch

Pretty in Pink

This card is the product of a variety of challenges, first and foremost of which was a lightweight card to send abroad.

Yesterday Sketch Saturday was a nice simple layered piece, so there I go again and decide to 'faux' layer it. I won't say it's my best attempt, in fact this is definitely not one of my best cards, but it works, and I learnt various things as I went along. With more time it might have developed differently, but I'm quashing my perfectionist streak, and saying 'good enough', and good enough to share. It's not as if I'm getting to get another chance to enter some of these challenges before the deadlines have come and gone.

It hasn't photographed very well, but you might just be able to make out some embossed flowers around the edge, which have been been brushed over with ink creating the resist effect.

Clarity #37 - All about the Girls
Allsorts #353 - International Women's Day
Sketch Saturday #402
Sweet Stampin' - Unusual Coloured Hair
Color Throwdown #382 - Hot Pink, Teal and Black
Simon Says Wednesday - Touchy Feely (Add some texture)

A slightly Italian Christmas

Christmas greetings in March. Forgive the dorky blog title, but I couldn't help thinking of the Italian flag as I coloured in the sentiment of this card!

Anyone who takes even the tiniest bit of notice of my blog on an ongoing basis has probably noticed by emphasis on colour. My biggest challenge is when palettes combines similar colours with different tonal bases, e.g. red and pink, or in this case cucumber green and mint/teal. Gets my brain going, and is probably good for me!

I'm finding it very therapeutic having the continued motivation to make Christmas cards all year round, so it was nice to be able to 'smash a few challenges' together with this card. I'll be honest I thought I'd made an almighty mistake when I added the snowflake. Then I abandoned it, went out for a few hours, and came back resolved to try and make the best of it. I'm glad I did, I'm proud of it now.

Shopping our Stash #241 - no white paper
One Layer Christmas Card #27
Addicted to Stamps and More #183 - Holidays
CAS Colours and Sketches #163 - Cucumber Crush, Real Red, Mint Macaron
Holly Jolly #66 - Add a sentiment