Going for a ride

I love bike riding and now that DH has a new bike, we're trying to go biking a little more.  So I thought I'd have some fun with this bike image from Rubbernecker Stamps. I used the current Sketch Saturday sketch (#269) for the layout.

The biker is black-embossed on a pale blue card stock.  I used the "out of the box" (or, in this case, out of the circle) technique when die-cutting, so my biker is popping out of the mats. I also added eyelets to the center of the wheels -- an old trick but a fun one that adds a little interest and color there to the center of the main image. And since I have a lifetime supply of eyelets, I used a few to hold the sentiment in place as well.

The background paper is some of my favorite summer paper -- the colors just look like summer and the striped one reminds me of a beach towel.  That qualifies this card for Victorine Originals challenge #64, to use summer colors.

Birthday card for long-lost friend.

Recently, one of my best friends from high school and I reconnected through the magic of Facebook. We even got to visit in person when she happened to be in town. Today is her birthday, and here's the card I made for her.

The image is by Rubbernecker Stamp Co.  I worked at the Rubbernecker booth during a recent stamp show, doing demos of the stamps the company has designed for the misted watercolor technique -- you color on the rubber with water-based markers, wet it with a mister and stamp.  It makes it look like watercoloring.  This coloring was done with Distress inks and markers.  (I added some green around the edge of the oval with Versacolor Bamboo ink.) All the embellies come from my stash and some, like the leaf, have been there for a while.

I'm entering this card in the current C.R.A.F.T challenge (#217) "For the Girls." 

Bird-day greetings

This is just a fun little birthday card inspired by The Alley Ways Stamps' Be-Inspired challenge #33. You can see the inspiration photo on the right here.  The stamps are all from The Alley Way Stamps.  The birds are paper-pieced in bright yellow, and I wrapped twine around the blue panel -- both inspirations coming from the photo, along with the entire color scheme and gray-striped background. 

The layout for this is Sketch Saturday Sketch #268.

Pirate's cove

The current C.R.A.F.T. challenge (#216) is a photo challenge.  Most of the people who have taken the challenge are posting idyllic beach scenes, but I went in another direction.  It is a beautiful beach, but with those ominous cliffs and the deserted look, I can see this being the kind of place pirates hide out. And since I have the new pirate set from The Alley Way Stamps, that's the tack I took on this card.

The image is stamped and then colored with pencils and OMS.  I don't usually do a lot of distressing, but since pirates aren't known for being shiny and new, I used a few distress techniques on this card as well. The dark blue panel is embossed and then roughed up with sandpaper  -- it you use a white-core card stock, this makes the white show thru in random places and gives you a nice distressed look. I also made a panel by splattering ink onto it. That gave me another distressed look.

The layout for this is Feeling Sketchy #65, although the original sketch calls for the image to be quite horizontal, and I switched it to vertical.

Gotta love that "arrgggh!" sentiment -- it covers so many different emotions all in one word.

Sew fun

This pin cushion really takes me back. I remember my mother having one just like it.

I got this image as an RAK, and I decided to play up the sewing theme by adding stitching around the image and using a button as my embellishment.  The image is colored with pencils with silver gel pen on the pinheads. The button is die cut, and it was originally hot pink. I sponged red on it to make it fit the color scheme for this card. The adhesive lace also seemed like a "sewing" kind of detail, so I used a strip of it, too.

The layout is from Sketch Saturday, sketch 266.
This is also for Tammy's Scrapin Corner challenge #70, to use animals.

The old red, white, blue

I shy away from doing red/white/blue color combos because I associate the combo with flags, but I decided to try making a non-patriotic card with that color combo.  I'm pretty happy with the results.

I used Feeling Sketchy #64 for the layout. Even though there are a lot of elements, everything seemed to come together easily for this one.  The image is from an old Stampin Up set, Country Morning, that I  got at a consignment sale. I've always liked these little bouquets but I don't think I'd actually inked up this image before.  Blue glass jars and red and white flowers seemed just right for this.  The image is stitched on a navy panel (and for once the sewing machine didn't act up on me. Yay).

The partial circle is embossed with dots to add a little dimension to that side of the card, and the flower image is up on pop dots, both for dimension and to accommodate the ribbon tabs. 

I am also entering this card in Victorine Originals challenge #62, to make a red/white/blue card.