Happy Friday

Two things I am happy to see: 1) signs of spring and 2)  that vellum is back "in" for cardmaking. 
I played off both trends for this card.  The sketch is from Papertake Weekly Challenge, and the image is a digi from Stamping Boutique.  It's colored in pencils.

I ran a piece of vellum through an embossing folder. I like the look, but vellum is pretty fragile and it's starting to tear along the crease lines.  I may need to try a different folder.

I'm entering the following challenges:

Papertake Weekly, sketch 87
Sister Act Card Challenge, Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday, #121 Anything Goes

Shopping fun

Here's a quickie card I made with a shopping theme. The image and sentiments are all from a rather old set from My Favorite Things.

I used the current sketch from Feeling Sketchy.  The little tags made me think of price tags (the hand written ones on expensive boutique clothes. (They are sponged with Mint Melody and Baby Pink inks)

Images are colored with pencils, and the felt ribbon is from K&Co.  It's been sitting in my stash for a while; it was time to start using it. 

This card is for these challenges:

Feeling Sketchy #80, sketch.
Word Art Wednesday #121, anything goes
Sister Act #45, Anything Goes.

Hints of spring

After our snowstorms, we are seeing hints of spring. Hurray.  I'm celebrating with a spring-themed card.

I own exactly one jar of Flower Soft -- it's called sweet pea, and it's perfect for doing cherry trees. So every spring, I end up pulling it out to make a spring flower card.  These bare trees by Posh Impressions make a perfect canvas for the Flower Soft.

I used Sketch Saturday Sketch #297, using the sprig of ivy in place of the strip of paper shown on the sketch. 

Details:
Ink: Chestnut Roan colorbox chalk.
Dies: Tim Holtz  ivy; scalloped circle Nesties
Paper by DCWV

This card is for the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday #297, sketch
Totally Papercraft #207, Spring
Word Art Wednesday #120, Anything goes
Sister Act #45, Anything goes

Doodled butterflies

The technique challenge at Splitcoast this week was a new way to "doodle" by tracing around the edges of a die with a white gel pen before cutting out the image, so you get a nice little outline (unless your die slips, as one of mine did). Then you back the cutout with printed paper.  It's a nice way to use the reverse of the die cut.

I used kraft as my main color and backed it with a pretty wild and bright floral dp that would be too much if it were all showing.  The butterfly and colors were inspired by the latest Fusion inspiration.The beautiful butterfly die is an exclusive from Simon Says Stamp.

The sentiment is white embossed, and I doodled a little border as well.

This card is for the following challenges:

Simon Says Says Stamp Wednesday: kraft
Fusion #4:  (inspired by a butterfly picture)
Sister Act #44: Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday #119: Anything goes

Washi herringbone

The latest Technique Junkies newsletter featured a technique called Washi Herringbone, making a herringbone pattern with tape. This was my attempt to do that.  I had such busy patterns on my tape that I wanted to keep the card sort of simple, with lots of white space to tone down the busyness. I used Sketch Saturday's current sketch, #296.

The tape is actually probably not technically washi tape, as I got it at Hobby Lobby several years ago, before anyone was using washi tape, but it serves the same purpose.

Sentiment is from Stampin  Up.  Butterfly is sponged with Mint Melody ink.

I would like to enter this card in the following changes:
Sketch Saturday, sketch #296
Sister Act Challenge 43, Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday #119, Anything Goes

Ready for spring

I am so ready for spring, April showers and all, but Mother Nature appears to have another blast of winter coming my way. The weather forecast is for snow/sleet/ice for the next few days, and there was craziness at the grocery store when I was there at noon.  I snagged one of the last cartons of milk but the guy who checked out in front of me had about eight gallons of milk in his cart. Seriously, that's just hoarding.

My springy card features a cute image from Crafty Sentiments.  The bunny is colored with pencils and OMS, with Sea Breeze ink sponged around the edges.  I added Glossy Accents on the raindrops and puddle (oh, dear, does that look like ice?)

To create the sentiment, I used parts of two different stamps.  To get "Sunshine" I used a marker to color only that word in a Hero Arts stamp.  Then I stamped the Hello from another set (probably studio G, something small and clear, anyway).

The layout is from Feeling Sketchy, #79.

I'm entering this card in these challenges:

Feeling Sketchy --sketch #79
Totally Papercrafts #205 -- Hey Cutie (use a cute image)
Simon Says  Monday -- We love Stamps
Word Art Wednesday #118 -- Anything Goes

Watercolored effect

This is one of the stamps I demoed for Rubbernecker Stamps over the weekend.  To get the watercolor effect, you ink up the stamp, add some details with markers, and spritz it with water before stamping.  I love this image, and it works perfectly with the technique. 

The sketch is Sketch Saturday # 295.

This card is for these challenges:

Sketch Saturday, sketch 295
Challenges 4 Everybody #34, Anything Goes
Papertake Weekly Challenge, Anything Goes
Loves Rubberstamps #89, Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday #118, Anything Goes

Stamping tricks

I worked at a stamp show last weekend, demo-ing some stamps and techniques for Rubbernecker Stamps. One of the fun things was interacting with people who are pretty new to stamping, and also revisiting some techniques I haven't used for a while. Both of those played a part in this card.

This is a one-layer card designed to look like three layers. The first technique I used was reverse masking -- first stamping the tag on the card, then making a mask by stamping the tag again on scrap paper, cutting it out and placing it over the tag. That way I could stamp the swirly background to look like it was DP under the tag. And I used a ruler and marker to put the thin red edge around the edges of the card to look like the DP is layered on a red card.

One of the new stampers I met was fascinated by a card that used Glossy Accents -- she'd never heard of such products.  I ended up using some on this card to give the little heart some shine and dimension.

I'd like to enter this card in these challenges:

Simon Says Monday -- love notes
CRAFT challenge -- Valentine's

Just for Fun -- Love
Sister Act #42   -- Anything Goes
Totally Papercrafts #204 -- CAS
Word Art Wednesday #117 -- Anything Goes